Multiversal madness
FEATURING: Nora Whitlock, Nora Malificicum, Cain Maleficium
WRITERS: ✨, 🌸, 💎, 🩸
"Why… uh- why are there two small children here." Nora Whitlock said out loud to herself. In front of her were 2 children, one who looked suspiciously like her at 14, and one who looked a little familiar, like she had encountered him before.
Mini Nora looked up at her, her eyes sparkling as she stepped forward. She managed to grab onto the front of Nora's jacket, tugging slightly. "Woah… you look… so cool…" Mini Nora said, inspecting Nora, and not letting go even when she tried to pull back.
The other child look confused between the two, his eyebrows furrowed together as he pouted his lip, pulling out a gadget from his pockets. He waved it around, "This is weird. I don't think we should be here." He said, his voice squeaking. It was only when he spoke that Nora recognized him. It's that 14 year old vigilante that for some reason has gotten really attached to her teammate Dogma. He said his name was like. Cain or something?
Cain continued wandering around a bit, staying close to the other two. "You look like Jaded Jewel… you both do. But you aren't dressed like her…" He said, still confused. His small device showed some red dots.
"Jaded Jewel? Who's that?" Mini Nora asked, turning her head back and tilting it to the side. "I'm Gilded Gem."
Cain fidgets with the device in his hands some more, turning the dials on it that expel a high-pitched screeching noise. Nora and Nora wince at the sound. "Okay. What the hell is going on?" Nora shouts, looking between the two. Mini Nora just shrugs.
Cain seems to completely ignore Nora's question. "This is really interesting." He taps a small screen on the device. "I think there might have been some kind of rift in the space-time continuum. People from other timelines and universes are being pulled into the Alpha timeline. I need to tell the others!" Cain pulls out a cellphone and goes to sit on his couch, texting the vigilante group chat he had made with the members of Bad Luck Squad.
It's only now that both the Noras are able to take in the room. Gadgets and gizmos aplenty lay strewn around the room. There are oil stains on every surface, and a strange boxy machine with a large screen in the corner that hums dully. Mini Nora suddenly gets a realization. "Wait… isn't this my secret hangout room? What did you do to it?"
Cain smiles, giddy with the excitement of something strange happening. "Well, maybe in your universe this is a hangout for you. But in this universe, its my secret lab."
Mini Nora stares at Cain, stunned. "A secret lab? Woah! That's so cool!". Stars form in her eyes as she bounces around the room, taking in all the whozits and whatsits galore.
Cain smiles to himself, appreciative of mini Noras interest. After sending his text, he cracks his knuckles, getting ready to explain every piece of machinery in an unnecessarily elaborate amount of detail. "Well you see-"
"So what's this about there being an interruption in the 'time-space continuum'?".
"Ah yes, yes I should probably elaborate on that. Well you see-".
A quiet knock rings in his ear.
"Uh, Cain? It's me, Atlas. and uh, Nora's here with me too. You said there was an emergency? Are you okay?"
Cain practically jumps off from the couch, and makes a beeline to his door, opening it probably as fast as a fourteen year old can.
"Atlas do I really need to be here? I don't have time for Cain and his stupid nerd toys. I really don't-"
Nora Nightingale looks in awe, at someone who appears to be an exact clone of her. For a moment, she wonders if its her, but the shape of her face and the length of her hair give it away. Another Nora, right in front of her"
"Oooh! You're dress is so pretty!! I like these little ties" Exlaims mini nora.
"what the fuck" says nora
Atlas, who apparently isn't Dogma, but who apparently is ripped now, and who apparently isn't Shepherd, looks from Nora, to Nora, to Nora, to Cain. And promptly steps back outside. And shuts the door.
"Nooo! Come back! We need all the help we can get!" Cain exclaims, waving his arms around. Not-Dogma Not-Shepherd Still-Atlas does not respond.
Cain sighs and shakes his head. "Okay, um… if he's not going to help, does anyone here know anything about creating rifts in the space time continuum?"
Nora Nightingale blinks.
Nora Maleficium and Nora Whitlock raise their hands.
"What the fuck?!" Nightingale squawks. "Why do they know-"
Cain stands up taller, puffing out his chest, a twinkle in his eyes, and exclaims: "Alright! Then let's get this show on the road!"
Nora Nightingale watches on in dumbfounded, uncomprehending anger (and fury. and frustration. and insecurity. and, damn, deep down, a little bit of fascination, like god, this is kind of cool, except wait, why do THEY get to know all this stuff, damn it!?). The two… other Noras are throwing around big, scientific-sounding words that probably weren't actually real until the time came that a 14 year old would have to transport two alternate universe versions of the girl who hates him back to their respective universes.
Hours turn into days turn into weeks. The alternate Noras and Cain see Nightingale leave, rarely showing her face again unless Cain needed to consult "reinforcements", in which her teammates, Not-Shepherd Not-Dogma Still-Atlas and… Nora Whitlock was particularly perturbed at this one, a Beckett Whitlock. When he'd been looming over their heads, Nora Whitlock couldn't erase the image of the cold, weird herbalist psychopath from her brain. At least he seems… tame, here.
(Nora Whitlock and Mini Nora had worried, at first, that the Maleficiums would worry about the two strangers that appeared in Cain's room. Whitlock had been concocting a lie in her head when he said, word for word: "No no it's fine they're from an AU! Or, AUs. Multiple! I've got it don't worry!")
Finally, after longer than any of them wanted, their magnum opus was completed. In front of them stood an impressive feat of machinery and genius: their very own Space-Time-Continuum-Rifter.
Mini Nora had been the one to pen the name.
And so, after several tearful goodbyes and promises to meet again, Mini Nora and Nora Maleficium were returned to their home universes.