Crossover!
Cozy Indie Ink Fund Portal opens into a quiet village... Millcreek Village!!
First note: Sorry it’s late - Jake Wood’s listing of excuses… now…
This week’s Indie Ink Fund Portal Prompt sees the portal opening upon a quiet village where “No one seems surprised that you have arrived. In fact, they seem relieved.”
What a perfect opportunity to crossover my Portal stories with the Millcreek Village stories!
Quick Refresher:
Conduit - established hero, energy absorption and reflection
Blink - trainee, teleporter
Awareness - trainee, telepath - able to sense and send images and feelings
Reset - trainee, able to send himself back in time and change his actions
Millcreek Dave - A pleasant mid-50s experiment participant, runs Edgeworks Cafe and Bar - was cloned and miniaturized, his clone recently left for Story Ville
Reset woke to the sound of his phone ringing on his bedside table. Since it was still dark, the ringing meant it had to be Conduit calling about another “training opportunity” - that is to say, a new portal opening somewhere nearby. While it didn’t classify as a true emergency, there was a requirement to respond as soon as was feasible. Nothing had come through a Portal to this side, yet, but there was always that possibility. Had it truly been an emergency, Reset would have likely woken up to Blink standing in his bedroom.
“Hello” he answered, trying not to sound to groggy.
“Good… uh… morning, Reset.” Conduit replied, also trying to hide the cobwebs. “Got a new portal on the east side of the city, and the Agency would like us to do a standard recon. Are you at home?”
Asking was really just being polite. Since they were “on-call” they were all required to have their Agency headsets close at hand, which would show Dispatch where they were. Plus, Conduit usually woke Awareness first for these early morning calls. The Agency headsets were great, but nothing beat the direct sense Awareness had of her team. Not a prying, per-se, as she explained it. She had “gotten used to their mental fingerprints” and could pick them out at quite a distance.
“Yep,” Reset replied, “how much time until our superUber appears?”
Conduit barely contained a chuckle, “I’m calling Blink next, but Dispatch says containment is already on site. Sounds like it’s in the middle of nowhere, and was just discovered by chance. How does 20 minutes sound?”
“Sounds great, Conduit, I’ll be showered and packed when he arrives.” Reset disconnected.
They had very quickly settled on using their codenames, addressing Conduit as “Sir” just felt off, given that he was the second youngest of the four. And he had no official rank for reference. Heh… Captain Conduit to the rescue!
Reset had known of Awareness from company events, but they rarely had to address each other out loud, due to her powers. He had gotten used to the phenomenon of thinking, “Oh, I should say something to…” and seeing her looking directly at him.
Blink also worked for the same company, but had just been hired. It was easier for Reset to just refer to him as Blink, and vice-versa. So, they all just stuck to codenames.
After a quick shower and checking his gear, Reset went to his living room to wait for Blink. He was chowing down on a granola bar, wistfully looking at his French press when Blink appeared. He briefly considered resetting to before his shower and making coffee instead, but that seemed to be a frivolous use of his power. He sighed and gave Blink a nod to say both “hello” and “game on” as he scarfed down the last bite.
Conduit had not been kidding when he said it was in the middle of nowhere. The portal was set about two hundred meters back from a railroad crossing on a rural road. A shimmering oval hovering over the canola stubble, barely visible in the dawn’s light.
Reset could see that Conduit was getting a briefing from the incident commander, Awareness off to the side silently monitoring. It was a brisk morning and Reset was thankful for the insulation in his trainee uniform. Still a shock to the system to go from a warm bed, to a hot shower, to the middle of a chilly farmer’s field. He and Blink moved off the gravel road to join the rest and he could feel his boots sink slightly in the thawing ground.
“…just seems peaceful.” the incident commander was finishing with a smile.
Reset took a look through the portal, and he had to agree. It looked to be dawn on the other side. From what little he could see, the buildings would fit in to any Alberta village. Conduit gave him the nod and they started their preparations to enter the portal. Noting the time on his watch, and tightening his pack, Reset stepped through with Conduit.
“Hello! Welco…”
***
Reset registered the greeting as he instinctively bounced back to before they entered. The two stepped forward again, Reset keeping his eyes to the right as he passed through this time. He saw the man as he began his greeting.
“Hello! Welcome to Millcreek Village!” said the tall, cheerful looking man. Standing behind what looked to be a long wooden collapsible table… with coffee and pastries on it?
Conduit quickly stepped between the man and Reset, and Reset noted the time on his watch again.
“Uhh… hello?” Conduit began, “have you..”
***
Reset followed procedure and set himself back to his second anchor point.
“Uhh… hello?” Conduit began, “have you been waiting for us?”
“Sure have!” came the bright reply, “I was out for a morning run and spotted this… uhh… doorway? I don’t really recall seeing one of these before, but after a bit I started seeing activity on the other side, so I figured I’d get set up!”
At this, Blink stepped through the portal and promptly teleported away, back again, and then right in front of the table. “You have coffee!?!” he exclaimed.
The man, who was maybe a tiny bit shorter than Blink only seemed taken aback for a second before he eagerly replied in the affirmative. Awareness was through seconds later and also rushed the table to reach for an empty cup as she perused the pastries.
Reset saw Conduit lightly roll his eyes, but they all knew if Awareness approved, there was no immediate danger. Seeing no reason to delay, they also stepped forward. The coffee smelled good!
“Oh wow!” the man remarked, “Four of you! Glad I got properly set up. We were expecting new people, but we weren’t sure when… or how… they would show up.”
“You haven’t seen portals before, but you were expecting new people?” Conduit queried.
“Well, to be fair, I don’t really remember how we got here, so I guess a portal is as good an explanation as any! Oh… I’m forgetting my manners! I’m Dave!” Dave finished with his hand out.
Reset noticed a quirk in Awareness’ eyebrow, but she didn’t say anything and turned back to the cruller she was enjoying. Conduit took the proffered hand and introduced the team by their codenames.
“Oh neat!” came Dave’s reply, “superhero names, team costumes, the big guy seems to be able to teleport… are you a super team??”
Reset almost bobbled his coffee, the eagerness and earnestness was a lot to take in this early in the morning.
Conduit, ever the stickler for detail, remarked, “We prefer to just call our selves ‘supers’ and leave the ‘hero’ portion for the media. But, yes, the four of us work together.”
Awareness smirked and said, “Awww, Conduit, we’re a super team!!” but then got a little more serious and stated, “Dave here has never seen a super before.”
Reset saw Dave blink a couple of times as he processed.
“Uh, no,” he said slowly, “I mean I’ve seen some pretty amazing things over the last few weeks, but not sure I’ve seen anything like a costumed superhe… err… costumed super before.”
“Dragons!!” Awareness exclaimed in delight, causing the other four to quickly look to the sky. “Sorry, that caught me completely off guard, but the images were so vivid and joyful!”
Dave smiled and tapped the side of his bald head, “I guess that makes you the mind reader on the team, that’s awesome! Yes, I have plenty of fond memories of all the magical creatures I’ve run in to in Millcreek. Where are you all from, if I may ask?”
Reset could see that Conduit was still processing the idea of dragons and magic so he spoke up, “We’re from Calgary. It’s in…”
“Canada!” Dave interrupted, “Calgary, Canada! I’m from Calgary! …But I’m pretty sure Calgary doesn’t have super powered people.”
They all paused to process, with Awareness helpfully breaking the silence.
“Dave’s Calgary… Dave’s world doesn’t have supers. But other than that, it’s almost the same. Neither of our worlds have dragons, so…” she trailed off.
“I mean…” Reset began with a shrug, “given my power, is a multitude of similar worlds that far fetched?”
Reset was glad that Dave seemed blissfully unaware why the rest suddenly looked so downcast.
While Conduit and Dave commiserated about the latest Flames season in both their worlds, Reset sidled over to Awareness. She looked at him with a wide smile - something he wasn’t used to seeing. She seemed to be waiting for his question to be spoken, so he obliged.
“You seem exceptionally calm, what’s different about this portal?”
“The village is calm, everyone is happy, feeling like they belong, but still curious about their surroundings. And…” she paused, “Dave isn’t the only one to welcome us to the village.”
Reset looked around, then back to Awareness.
She smiled, “The mayor, Maple, seems to be able to communicate indirectly, and she told me we were welcome to explore.”
“‘Communicate indirectly’? Is she a telepath like you?” Reset asked.
“Well, I’m technically more of an empath, feelings and images.” She explained, “With Maple, I can actually hear her talking to me, as if she was standing next to me. And I think she’s either hearing my thoughts, or my projections are enough, and she’s intuiting the rest.”
“Another super?”
“I… I don’t think so? Maybe the magic Dave was talking about?” Awareness shrugged. “All I know is she seems very… in charge. But not in a bad way. She’s invited me to continue the conversation.”
“Are you going to go find her?
Awareness smiled at him. “I don’t think one just goes to meet Maple, but we can talk just fine like this. I might just go find somewhere out of the way to sit.”
It was nice to see her so relaxed. Even in the calmest locations, Awareness always seemed a little on edge to Reset. He finished his coffee, feeling the calm wash over himself as well. He’d still stick to procedure and set time anchors, of course, but it was nice to see everyone so relaxed.
Well, except for Blink, he was always a bundle of energy. Blink had butted in to Dave and Conduit’s hockey discussion and Reset overheard the gleeful shout, “You have a gym here!!” And with that, Blink disappeared, hopefully not startling any early morning gym users.
Checking his gear, Reset got ready to ask Dave a question when Awareness called out the answer, “Maple suggests you seek out a woman named Rose. She apparently has the best feel for the soil around here of all… the um… humans.”
He looked at her quizzically, but she shrugged in response. Fair enough, he supposed. At least Dave isn’t an animated character… or a triceratops… It’s been a weird couple of months.
Arriving at 123 Forest Lane (what a quaint address for a lovely village), Reset checked his watch. Partially to lock in an anchor, partially to make sure it wasn’t too early. The house seemed very still, a beautiful cottage with an amazing garden full of a wide variety of flowers and plants. He had to admit he was truly impressed. Given his experiences with some of his longer resets, he was learning to appreciate stopping to smell the roses, as it were. He once popped back more than twelve hours by mistake, and had a lot of time to kill before any action he took would affect the outcome. Since he was already in downtown Calgary, he had stopped by the Devonian Gardens to relax. (He’d changed his watch setting to a 24-hour clock after that…)
It was still early morning, but this village had a bustle to it, so Reset knocked on the door and waited. With no answer he decided the best thing to do would be to move out to the Lane and get his sample kits ready.
Holding one of the larger glass jars up to the morning sun to check the cleanliness, he was startled by an unexpected sight. As his brain processed it, it seemed like some sort of trick of perspective. A woman was… hovering(?) in the distance, but it almost looked as if she was sitting on the edge of the jar. He quickly moved it to the side to see this flying person better and realized his mistake. It hadn’t been perspective, she was tiny, and was actually sitting on the lip of the jar! And his sudden movement pitched her right into it with an annoyed shriek!
Fortunately, little wings on her back fluttered to slow her fall, but she looked really perturbed. Reset tried to hold as still as possible, afraid of disturbing the jar any further.
“What do you think you are doing?” came a tiny, muffled voice from the jar.
“Oh, I am so sorry, you startled me, I thought it was a trick of…”
“Are you just running around bottling up all the residents of Millcreek?” she demanded, little fists on her hips.
“I… uhh” Reset honestly couldn’t remember a time he’d been more flustered, including an argument with a anthropomorphic rabbit.
“‘I…uhh’” she repeated back to him, “Is that all you have to say for yourself?”
He tried to gather his composure, “I’m very sorry, miss, I… well, I wasn’t aware this village had Tinkerbells”
With that, she shot out of the jar and right up to his face - pausing so close to his nose he almost went cross-eyed. “I am NOT a Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell is a distinct character, I am a pixie! One with my very own name!”
Reset ran through a number of possible replies, shook his head and then…
***
Arriving at 123 Forest Lane (what a quaint address for a lovely village), Reset checked his watch. Partially to lock in an anchor, partially to make sure it wasn’t too early.
Reset rolled his eyes. He was glad no one ever truly knew when he used his powers. He’d have a lot of explaining to do for using them to avoid an awkward personal encounter! But, hey, if you control time, wouldn’t you?
Without knocking, he moved back to the Lane and waited patiently. All glass jars and assorted containers safely still in his pack. After a few minutes, the pixie flitted in to sight and flew up to him.
“Hello!” she said brightly, “Are you waiting for us?”
“I am waiting for Rose, I was not aware she had a pixie companion.” Reset replied amicably.
“You don’t seem shocked to see me.” the pixie commented, maybe pouting a little.
“Oh, you’ll find I’m rarely surprised.” Reset countered flatly.
The pixie introduced herself as Wonder and was helping Reset prepare his testing equipment. She was full of curiosity and questions and he was happy he had that second chance to make a first impression. Wonder saw someone approaching down the lane and excitedly told him it was Rose on her way home from fishing.
That was actually a stroke of fortune, the scientists at home were always bugging him to bring back “fauna samples”, but hunting and fishing were not usually easy to manage. He hoped Rose would be willing to part with some of her catch for the researchers.
Reset adjusted his uniform and checked his watch, out of reflex, and smiled at the approaching Rose.
“Good morning!” she called out as she got close enough, “Wonder tells me you are here for a visit!”
“I am!” Reset replied, holding out his hand, “My name… err… they call me Reset, and it’s a real pleasure to meet you. Wonder tells me you know a lot about gardening.”
It was the first time he felt awkward about using his codename, but he stuck to protocol. Rose didn’t seem to mind, as she warmly shook his hand and introduced herself.
“Are you a new resident in Millcreek?” Rose asked.
“No, we are just investigating a portal that seems to have connected our worlds. They only seem to stay open for about a week, and then move on.” Reset explained.
“Well, that’s disappointing, it would be nice to get some new people to fill up some of these empty houses! But, I am really curious about the nature of the roses here, so maybe you can help us out.”
“What is making you curious?” Reset was instantly engaged by her affable nature.
She smiled and told him, “The roses were around this house when I arrived in Millcreek Village. They never stop blooming. At first I couldn’t believe that no matter how many flowers you cut, another bloom replaces them overnight!”
“Fascinating!” Reset remarked. “Is it just when you cut them, or is it any damage?”
“Oh, I’ve even fallen on top of one, and the next day it was just as perky as it was before my accident.” Rose explained, “I’ve got plenty of empty pots if you’d like to dig a plant up to take with you. I’d love to know how they grow for you!”
“I really appreciate your offer, and I will take you up on it.” Reset pondered, “I wonder if the magical elements will carry on in our world.”
“That will be interesting to see, as there has been a recent change since our Lantern Festival, and not all of them are growing back the same.”
“Your garden seems quite full, what do you mean?”
“Some of the roses I dug up after the festival were not replaced, so I’ve taken to planting some tomato seeds I had brought with me.” Rose explained.
“Are the tomatoes acting any differently here?” Reset asked, genuinely curious.
Rose indicated a patch, “These tomatoes are from an old variety of seed called Brandywine, but I’m thinking about calling them Millcreek Red, because they seem to grow a bit differently here. The germination rate was 100%, much better than I’ve had before. They are bushier, and it seems, more prolific.”
“Very interesting!” Reset wasn’t a horticulturist by any means, at least not yet, but he had always been a fan of the scientific method. As he understood it, this garden had samples grown from local stock, and now samples grown from imported seeds. The scientists would be happy if he could provide both. “Would it be possible to get a sample of the tomatoes as well?”
“Please do!” was Rose’s eager reply.
Rose and Reset had a wonderful morning talking about plants and gardening and eventually joined the rest of the team for lunch at the Edgeworks Cafe - oddly located on the third floor of the gym with only a climbing wall for access. Rose was delighted when Blink offered to teleport her to the cafe, as she had been keen to try the twisty slide Dave had installed to get back down. What a unique village this turned out to be!
The team lingered much longer than their normal recon mission, in fact, Reset went so far as to set a new anchor on the Calgary side of the portal. Awareness let them know that Maple was happy to have them, but discouraged any others from making the crossing. Reset suspected the mayor may have been picking up on their desire to visit as long as possible, and was giving them an official excuse to do so.
It was going to be a lovely week!
Again, sorry this is late!! Life happens! - This is a response to the Indie Ink Fund’s Week Four portal prompt.
And special thanks to Maryellen Brady 💗📚 and Rose at Stories Sown With Hope for letting me use their characters for this crossover event!
Hope you all enjoyed!
Dave
(Also, thoughts on using the “***” to signify a reset, help or hindrance?)
Omstars Dave, this is GOLD! I love tjis crossover. You did a fantastic job.
What fun! I love this!
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to “reset” every time you managed to put your foot in your mouth?