The Multiverse Mashup

Rallying The Troops

Ronnie Valentine. At one point he was the most feared teenage assassin in Britain. Nowadays he was barely even whispered about, a small footnote in an article about an unsolved murder five years ago. Ronnie sighed and glanced over at his suit, gathering dust in the pod that Cassandra had presented it to him in. What had happened? He'd taken a vow the night he killed the man who'd murdered his mother; that he'd rid the world of scumbags like that, one stinking corpse at a time. Half a decade on, and his body count still stood at a resounding one.

He slumped in his chair. It wasn't that there was no work to be done; if anything the number of rapists, paedophiles and murderers had increased. And it wasn't that he'd lost his motivation; Ronnie's hatred of such lowlives still burned as furiously as ever. He just couldn't seem to find the spark to will him to put on the suit and embark on his pest-control crusade. Ronnie suddenly realised he wasn't alone.

"Mr. Valentine?" He span around sharply.

"Who the hell are you?"

"All in good time, Ronald. Now, you've been feeling at a loose end lately, haven't you? Don't answer that, the state of your flat says it all. You've probably been telling yourself you're depressed, or that your slump is just a delayed manifestation of grief for your mother. But it's so much more than that.

"Your world is literally fading out of existence. You've felt it, the struggle to remember what's true and what isn't? That's why you've been revisiting the recount of your origins; trying to hold onto the reality that's erasing itself."

Ronnie glared at the stranger. This oddball was just spouting nonsense. He knew exactly what was real and what wasn't... Didn't he? He cast his mind back to the night his mother died, only to find the memories distorted, as if he was trying to watch them through a clouded-glass window. Ronnie stood up slowly.

"Alright, say for a minute you're telling the truth, and the world is collapsing in on itself. What the hell can a washed-up assassin like me do about it? And how do you know so much about all this?" The stranger put his hand on Ronnie's shoulder.

"Oh, my dear Ronald. Let's just say I've seen this happen before, a lot. And as for what you can do? Alone? Not a lot. That's why you won't be alone. I'm assembling a team from all across the multiverse, people like you who've lost track of how their story was meant to pan out." He threw a large orange disc onto the floor, which instantly began to emit a pulsing white light.

"Come along, Valentine. We've got three more universes to visit yet!"

Ronnie hesitated. This man had just appeared from nowhere and, without asking for credentials of any kind, recruited him on some inter-dimensional rescue mission, the specifics of which seemed a little too vague. Ronnie didn't even know this man's name, and he wasn't sure when or even IF he'd return. He looked around his flat, and a sea of empty bottles and discarded takeaway cartons stared back at him. He smiled a little as he made up his mind.

Whatever was waiting for him, it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. And the chance to help people and even save his planet? This was exactly the reason Ronnie had chosen this new calling for himself. And so Ronnie Valentine jumped into the circle of light, and the pair disappeared into the multiverse.

Hannah Evans was tired of running. For the past year since the day her ex-boyfriend had lost the plot and embarked on a genocidal quest, running was all she could do. Every now and again she'd have company, but for the most part she preferred to stay in solitude. Sure, it probably wasn't healthy for her to be alone with her thoughts for too long, but it sure as hell beat watching someone else she loved dying in agony.

Alone again, the burning question popped back into her head: Was this all her fault? Andy had been a genuinely nice guy until she'd broken his heart again. Was the heartache and grief she suffered every day just karma for the pain she'd inflicted on him? Hannah shook her head vigourously. "No," she thought to herself. "You broke up with him because you didn't feel the same way anymore and wanted to leave it while things were amicable between you. You weren't to know that he'd team up with his evil demigod ex." She let out a short laugh at how overly complicated the break-up had been, then turned to take in the aftermath.