Welcome to Remnant 0.4

Medicine

The man wearing white said, "Excuse me, mind if I ask who you are?"

This is either the best thing that happened to us since coming here, thought Brian, or the worst.

On one hand, they had found other people. They were human, presumably, and likely capable of dealing with demonic boars and birds.

On the other hand...After a day and a half with little food, less sleep, and getting attacked by a demonic boar and a few demonic birds, which came right after discovering that you were in a different world, which came right after a night spent fighting a half-human monster making dozens of parahuman minions, right after an evening when their boss made them fight Skitter, right after fighting the most powerful tinker on Earth, right after fighting the fucking Slaughterhouse Nine and…Bonesaw…well, the Undersiders weren't in the best condition to come up with a plausible story. Especially not one that wouldn't clash with what they didn't know of the world. Who knows how these people would react to people from another world?

"We're travelers. We ran into some trouble, and would really prefer to have a chance to rest and get in a decent headspace before we think too much about it."

Luckily, they had Lisa, who was not only a contender for the best con artist in Brockton Bay, if not the East Coast, but also hadn't gotten mauled by a demonic boar, spent less time inside Noelle than many, and probably got a better night's sleep than any of the other Undersiders. This meant she was quick-thinking and clear-headed enough to not only weave a simple cover story, but make the other Undersiders feel like fools for not thinking of it.

"We're hunting for a boarbatusk that's been terrorizing some local villages," the man in white said. "Did you run into it?"

"Yeah, and some…the bird things."

"Nevermores?"

"Yeah. Those."

"I've heard rumors of a nest of them somewhere around here…where'd you run into them?"

Lisa waved vaguely upstream. "Somewhere that direction. We've been following the creek here for a while. Met them along the way."

"Good. Now, I hope you don't mind all the questions, but—"

The man in brown spoke up. "Oh, yes, clever. 'I hope you don't mind doing what you specifically asked me not to do.' See, this is why you're the leader."

White rolled his eyes. "Where did you meet the boarbatusk? And, pardon, but how did you escape?"

Lisa waved upstream and to the left. "Somewhere in that direction, in a clearing. We hadn't found the stream yet. And we defeated it."

"…Really? How?"

"Lots of luck, for one. Hiding in a tree, for me and others."

"Impressive."

"Thank you. Of course, I don't think we could handle it again, especially with our injuries…"

"Well, I think we're done here!" exclaimed the man with the blue coat. "Shall we head home?"

"Or just to the nearest village. We should probably get a healer for these kids. You really shouldn't be fighting grim, you know."

"Oh, thanks. I'll keep that in mind, maybe next time make it easy for them."

What?

"That's not what I meant. I meant, stay home next time. Or get an escort. Or just wait until the next caravan leaves, that's probably best."

Alec chuckled. "Wish it were that easy."

The four turned around and started heading towards what could be assumed to be "home". Once they had done so, most of the Undersiders took a chance to glare at Alec before following. He had hinted at why they—or the people they would pretend to be—were travelling, given them information, restricted the lies they could tell. That could complicate things.

He was tired, hungry, sore, and—though he wouldn't admit it—scared. They all were. It would get worse if they couldn't make a decent lie because someone dropped a detail they couldn't fit in. Brian had been on both sides of that, one time or another. Either way, Lisa made it easier, while stupid mistakes would make it much, much harder.

They kept walking. "There are a lots of bugs around." said the man in red. "Notice that?"

Taylor glanced at him. "Um, hm?"

"Ever since about when we heard you arguing, we noticed lots of bugs. Everywhere. Flies, beetles, spiders. More than usual. Still are."

"Oh, really?"

"Just so. Have you noticed anything?"

Brian glanced at Lisa, noticing Taylor doing the same. Lisa was shaking her head slightly. Don't tell them. Brian understood why. They had all heard stories of people in third-world countries, and even fundamentalist places in the First World, burning parahumans as witches, or demonic, or simply for being too dangerous to keep around. If that was the case here, or if there weren't any parahumans at all until they came…best keep quiet.

Wheels began turning in Brian's head. The problem remained, of course, that the question stood to be answered. It wasn't the best situation.

"…Wow. Just wow," said Alec. "I knew we needed a shower or something, but I had no idea it was that bad."

Nervous laughter from the Undersiders, more genuine laughter from Blue and Brown. The latter added, "Excellent. Truly, none could be better at insulting themselves than you—though you have a bit of a natural advantage over me there."

That bomb defused, the journey continued.

~0~

The Undersiders and the strangers walked through the forest. They introduced themselves—Arthur Madson, a rich family's second son who wanted to hunt the monsters; Raul Sangua, a former soldier who moved across the world to hunt these monsters; Nardi Brak, a wanderer from a rural area who settled here to help Madson hunt monsters; and Rini Houtman, an old hermit who joined the younger men. Their conversation taught the Undersiders useful information; they were in a rural area, near a kingdom called Vale who protected them despite not being part of the kingdom proper. But in the process, the Undersiders had told the monster-hunters about themselves, and Brian couldn't help but wonder if they had told more than they should.

After a few hours, the space by the creek met a path that turned into a dirt road. Not long after, they reached the end of the forest. Beyond were farms, fields of grain and pastures with cows or other animals, all surrounded by stone walls or other solid barriers. Whenever they passed anywhere near a farmer, he greeted the four hunters and they replied in kind, but all involved had work to do, so the conversations didn't get much farther. After perhaps another hour, probably more, of walking through fields, they reached the village in the center.

The village consisted of several dozen buildings, mostly made of stone or brick but with a few made entirely of metal, surrounded by a steel fence reaching about eye-level for Brian. The gate was wooden, banded in steel, and held in place by a thick steel bar. Brian was no architect, but he had the distinct notion that the buildings were built far more sturdily than needed. Between that and the fence…you didn't need to be Tattletale to tell that the village was built to withstand attacks from something. Feeling another spike of pain in his leg whenever he put too much weight on it, Brian had no doubt what.

The whole scene gave Brian a chill. It was…buildings in Brockton Bay were (supposedly) built tough enough to withstand supervillain attacks, bombs, and just about anything short of a direct attack from an Endbringer or Scion or something, but they still made it feel like there was a city. Supermarkets were solidly-built supermarkets, not fortresses. Houses were solidly-built homes, not castles. Banks were…well…it was just the vault that was built like a fortress, the rest was just a reinforced bank. If he had to guess, Brian would say that it might be because people here didn't have the same idea of what a building "should" be like. If the…boarbatusks and nevermores and other monsters had always been attacking, they'd always have needed to defend against them. Maybe that was it?

Brian wasn't the only Undersider taking in the village, nor the only man to notice their response to the level of fortification in the village. Houtman noticed and smirked. "You should see the kingdoms. They have nice, big walls, hold back goliaths."

Sabah's eyes widened. "Walls? Around the entire kingdom?"

To be fair, she was only the quickest to speak. Aisha, Alec, and Rachel also wore obvious expressions of shock, and while the other half of the group was more composed, it wouldn't be hard to tell what they were thinking. Especially if anyone around was good at reading faces, which Brian imagined the group would need someone to be. Another mistake, another set of stories sealed off. How long until the truth was the most believable story?

...Probably still a while, but "these people are crazy" would be much more quickly believed.

People inside the village began noticing the Undersiders before they even got through the gate. In basically every house, men, women, and children of all descriptions went to the windows to gawk or even came outside to get a better look at them. The four warriors were walking quickly and with purpose, but they still exchanged greetings with everyone they passed. They hadn't passed more than half a dozen buildings before they were stopped, by a little girl—probably about eight or so—holding a piece of wood carved to look like a rifle.

"Mister Madson!"

"Hey, Min."

"Look what I learned to do!" She held up her "rifle", ran at Madson, and jumped. Madson drew his sword and swung it forward, blocking the rifle. A flash of yellow energy arced between the sword and Min, and she flew backwards, landing on the roof of a nearby building.

A woman, presumably Min's mother, began shouting. "Minerva Ayala Aurelius! What have I told you about climbing around on roofs?"

"But mom…"

Madson chuckled, and moved on. "Raul, can you remind me to talk with Min when we've dropped these kids at Aster's?"

"I can."

"Thanks."

It finally hit Brian, and he felt like an idiot for not realizing it earlier. They're not watching us, they're watching them! The hunters were hunting monsters attacking the village, that alone probably made them basically the local superheroes. They apparently also spent plenty of time getting to know the villagers, and…there was other stuff that Brian knew was there, and wanted to think he would have noticed if his leg wasn't distracting him. The eight young adults following them probably wouldn't be noticed, if it wasn't for the fact that they were with the heroes.

...Except maybe as strangers. Well, that could be a problem. Brian was born and raised in Brockton Bay, and while it was no New York, it was still a big city. Passing people you didn't know, had never seen before? Pretty normal. But this was a small town, a village. Everyone knew everyone, and strangers stuck out like sore thumbs. Especially strangers who couldn't explain why they were here.

They were lead to the house of who Brian presumed was the doctor or healer or shaman or whatever they had here. Brian and Aisha were put in the two beds in the room set aside for patients, while Aster prepared her medicine. Stitches, for both their boarbatusk wounds and the cuts the bird things left on most everyone. A powder Brian guessed was for Aisha's cast. More mixtures he couldn't start to guess the purpose of.

She started her work. Nothing Brian hadn't endured, for the most part, just more extreme and done by someone reputable (probably) who had more than the bare minimum of training and experience (he hoped). Nothing to do but wait, really. You don't want to distract someone sewing up your head...and they were still concerned about revealing or implying stuff they didn't want the locals to think.

The operations were finished. Brian and Aisha got to keep the beds, with the others sitting on the floor or standing. The doctor sighed, relieved at this being over, and smiled. "I haven't had this many patients in a while…Is there anything I can get for you?"

"Food," suggested Alec.

"Food would be good," agreed Lisa, "but I don't think miss…what's your name?"

"Aster."

"It feels odd to call an elder by her first name, ma'am."

"Aster Acea, then."

"Miss Acea doesn't have enough food for all of us, I'd imagine. We haven't eaten in a while, and we have had a rough few days. But in the short term…I'd like to know where we are. Do you have an atlas?"

"I think Oak has a decent one I can get."

"I'll come with. We're probably going to be staying here a while, I figure I should get to know the locals."

"I can't think of any reason why not."

Lisa left with Aster. Brian lay in bed, trying to let the stress that had been building up for hours—days—week—flow out of me.

It didn't work.