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Timelines and Where-Realms

Part 1

for Taiko and studley-destiny

by Draconicon

Studley was something of a stand-out, even in his standard, 'normal' form. A wolf of some height generally caught the eye to begin with, and the fact that he had a spiked collar and spiked wrist-bands without the usual accompanying black goth or punk gear, as well as being older than the average person in the bar, meant that he stood out for those reasons, too. Combine that with the half-there, half-not katanas that he carried, and Studley drew the eye just because of being so different, so weird, so not-quite-right compared to the reality around him.

It appeared that even the weirdness of Novus Ager couldn't completely get rid of that aura, either, as he was aware of roaming eyes drifting towards him even as he sipped at the whiskey that the bartender had brought over. He shook his head, adjusting the katanas slightly, ensuring that they stayed where they were supposed to be - that was, one reality over - and turned his head back to his current companion.

"...and that was how we dealt with the Blueberry Troubles. The cranberries were really happy to get anything out of that, really, so once we got them talking -"

"If I wasn't me, then this whole story wouldn't make any sense." Studley smiled slightly, leaning his head on one hand. "But then again, I am, so it's just funny."

"Hey, I'm telling you, the Fruit Wars are serious business."

"I'm sure."

The yellow-chested, green-limbed dragon on the stool beside him shook his head, turning to his juice and taking a sip. Studley shook his head, patting Taiko on the back.

"Sorry. But take it as a compliment, hmm? After everything I've seen, you're someone that can find something that honestly sounds too weird and different to be real."

"Heh, not as a good a compliment as you think, Studley...but thanks."

"Anytime."

He looked down at his drink. Not the best and not the worst whiskey that he had ever had. Just like Novus Ager was not the best and not the worst city. Not as glamorous as some, but better buildings and streets than others. Big enough to have options, but not small enough to have intimacy. It was one of those cities that, for someone like him, was a hefty dose of average.

Or at least, it would have been without the supers shooting by the windows every few minutes.

Taiko's wrist-watch beeped softly, and the dragon pulled his bathrobe up a little tighter, gripping hold of the bar. Studley took his lead from the wingless dragon, and good thing, too. A sudden whoosh filled the air, and the windows rattled in their frames a moment later as a high-speed flyer went shooting by. He didn't have the chance to see if it was an actual flying super or if it was a gadgeteer with a high-speed jetpack or something, but the sonic boom that followed had very nearly caused some property damage. He shook his head.

"I swear, this city is lucky to still be standing."

"You have no idea," Taiko said with a small smile. "I love it here. It's just...it feels like there's always a feeling of hope in the air."

"There's something, for sure."

"I mean, really. There's supervillains trying to take over all the time. There's mind controlling devices everywhere. There's little mean people, lots of horrible spirits, and everything else that should make the whole city a terrible place to live. But every day, people get up, they go to work, they go to parties, they have fun. They live. It's like...it's like there's something here that refuses to go away, something that refuses to let it be bad.

"It feels fantastic."

"You've been binging on Doctor Who again, haven't you?"

"I have, I have," Taiko said with a little giggle as he relaxed. "But come on, tell me that this place isn't wonderful."

"...I admit, I can't."

Studley shook his head. There was something about Novus Ager that really was strange, strange in a way that tugged at the wolf in a way that no other city had. It wasn't just the supers, either, but the very things that Taiko was talking about. The city itself seemed to have something that it wanted out of life, and that want pushed down all the negative things that were constantly trying to take it over. It was almost like the city had a guardian angel, or -

Nah, that was just a little too silly to think about, even for all the things that he had seen, and Studley didn't make a determination like that lightly.

He drained the rest of his whiskey, feeling none of the buzz, as usual. The wolf had more than just his appearance and his katanas, after all, to set him apart from the rest of the males in the bar.

"So, how did you get here, by the way?" Taiko asked. "I meant to ask that at the start, but you wanted to get out of the house for a while, and -"

"Yeah, not really sure how that happened. Maybe Morpheus hopped by and decided to play a prank or something, but I went to bed at home, woke up at home...and my home must have moved in my sleep, because it was in a little suburb here in Novus Ager when I woke up."

"Yikes. That must have been weird."

"Heh, yeah, but I've had weirder shit happen to me in the past. The weirder part was that all the water and electricity was hooked up already, so that wasn't too bad."

"Well, at least you had plumbing."

He nodded. He had fully expected to have to pull a few strings to get everything connected so that he had the basic necessities - or just check into a hotel, honestly - but whatever happened to get him here had obviously done a good job of making sure that he would be comfortable, as well. Not the worst sort of inter-world travel that he had gone through, that was for sure.

"Didn't take long for someone to come checking on me, either," Studley said. "I mean, barely up for a few minutes, and I had a two-toned mule knocking on my door."

"Mule? Oh, Nor. That's Nor. How's he doing?"

"Well enough. Seemed like he was more interested in seeing why a new house was in the neighborhood than anything else." He shook his head. "Only guy that seemed to notice that it was new, come to think of it."

"That makes sense. He has a special memory. I like to visit him - uh, quietly - from time to time, just because he has a better idea of what's normal and what's not."

"Someone in this city knows that? I'm shocked," he said with mild sarcasm.

"Hey, just because it's weird doesn't mean it's bad."

"I know, I know. I'm teasing."

The wolf smiled to himself. It hadn't been a bad meeting, for all that he was surprised by a mule in a jockstrap turning up on his doorstep. Nor had been good company, as well, having been very talkative once he'd been invited in and plied with a little alcohol.

Expensive alcohol, too. It took a lot to get that mule drunk.

"So...did he stay long after that?" Taiko asked.

Studley realized that there was a different tone besides simple curiosity in Taiko's voice, and he slowly turned to look the green dragon in the eye. His friend blushed, looking away.

"You're looking after him. Oh, that's cute."

"Look, he gets into a lot of trouble, and sometimes I think that it's a little unfair, and I -"

"And you wish you had a camera to watch some of that 'trouble,' I bet."

"...Not saying anything. Not. Saying. Anything."

"Hehehe."

The older wolf shook his head, nudging his whiskey glass back to the bartender when he came around again. It was rather adorable when he could get a dragon flustered. More fun than most species, as a matter of fact, mostly because they were so stiff and up themselves so often. They had the pride, which was good, but not the flexibility to admit that the pride needed to go to the right place. So, when he could get them blushing, or worse, he always counted it as a win.

The silver-streaked wolf leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. He wiggled a bit, getting more comfortable before he continued.

"Nah, he didn't stay long. He and I talked about where we were, he told me more of the basics of Novus Ager. The way that the city changes, the supers that keep the peace, all that kind of stuff. It sounds like something out of a game to me, but all things considered, not the weirdest world that I've visited. I think it'll be fun to hang out here for a little while, maybe provide a little back-up here and there."

"But you and he didn't..."

"Oh, we did, but that came later."

"Oh." Taiko opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"I got a recording, if you like."

"I wasn't going to ask!"

"But you want to see?"

"...Yes, please."

Studley smiled, pulling a flash drive out from under his collar. Taiko stared at it for a moment, then covered his blushing face once more, reaching out without looking and taking it away. As soon as it went into the pockets of his bathrobe, it seemed to disappear completely.

"I'm not a total pervert, I swear."

"Hey, he's a hot mule, and I can see why you'd want to watch."

"It...goes a bit further than that. But thanks."

"No problem."

There were questions there, of course, big ones, but Studley had learned a long time ago that there were questions that you asked and questions that you saved. The latter were ones that would eventually come about as a matter of course, and you could ask them when the situation was better, when the other person was more opening to answering them, and all those sorts of variables were not so complicated. If Taiko had a reason to keep an eye on Nor, he didn't mind letting that be something that stayed in the background for a little while longer.

Besides, he'd had a good time with the mule. A good fight together against a supervillain rampaging down one of the main streets had shown him that Nor had a good head on his shoulders during a fight - though he had a disturbing similarity to a certain bear he knew when it came to techniques - and Nor had better stamina than Studley expected, too. The sort of stamina that seemed like it came from more than just a standard sort of super-ability.

Again, there was curiosity there, but he didn't delve too deep. He didn't want to start wearing out his welcome before he'd even been there a day.

And besides, the fun afterwards had been more than worth it. Nor had come back to his place for a bit, some more alcohol had flowed - that mule was an expensive companion, more than anything that he had drunk with outside of werewolves and dragons - and then they'd gone to bed. Nor had a surprisingly good gag reflex, too, and Studley had taken full advantage of that to get his rocks off a couple of times before they shifted positions.

Still got it, he thought, remembering how that tight equine ass had squeezed his knot like no tomorrow. He came buckets when I finally let him.

Adjusting the slow-forming bulge in his leather pants at the memory, he sat up straight again, getting a bit more comfortable. Taiko was still blushing, and he wasn't sure if it was from the story or if the dragon had caught sight of his bulge getting bigger under the bar. Studley smiled regardless.

"So, what else is there to do in this city?"

"Uh, in Novus Ager?" Taiko blinked. "That's a long list."

"I bet you know most of the sights."

"Well, yes, that's true. I helped - um, actually, I shouldn't say that."

"Hmmm?"

"Uh, forget I said anything."

More and more questions, but again, he knew patience. He could wait.

Before he could come up with another tack to take, though, a loud ringing sound echoed through the streets. The wolf blinked, looking over his shoulder at the glass panes behind them, seeing a series of police cars going down the street. He cocked his head to the side.

"That sounds like a robbery or something," he muttered.

"It is," Taiko said, and he turned to see the dragon looking down at something that looked like an orange. That was, if oranges could produce holograms. "Looks like that's a jewelry store one block down. Robbery in progress."

"Hmm...mind if I take a rain check on the rest of our chat?"

"Actually, that's good for me. I, uh, have a few things that need doing."

"And one 'tool' that needs 'adjusting'?" Studley teased.

"I'm not admitting anything."

"Heh, no problem, Taiko. See you later."

He got to his feet, grunting as he stretched his arms over his head and then shifted his hips around. He limbered up, stretching down to his toes, and then he was off.

The door barely opened in time as he threw himself through it, the wolf lunging forward at top speed. He didn't quite have the same speed as a rampaging werewolf - yet - but he had sufficient strength and other powers to throw himself forward, even through the air, with considerable forward momentum. The air whistling through his fur was a wonderful feeling after being cooped up indoors for so long.

He had barely made it half a block before something caught his sight from the rooftops. He flicked his eyes upwards, spotting the familiar red and blue colors of Nor leaping from the rooftops. The mule superhero was already on the way to the jewelry store as well, and he was running nearly as fast as Studley was, pushing himself as hard as he did with everything else.

It was rather impossible to miss that fine muscled ass from his lower angle, and the wolf chuckled, shaking his head. He slowed down slightly, giving Nor the lead. All things considered, it might be better to keep himself as back-up. When it came down to a fight, restraining himself wasn't always easy, particularly in more fragile settings like this one. There were too many supers that a mis-judged blow might actually shatter rather than just disable. He had come too close to that with the supervillain that he had fought with Nor earlier.

He rounded the corner at the next intersection, taking a sharp right turn when a sense of 'uh-oh' hit him with all the force of a mental hammer. The wolf punched the air, a hint of telekinetic force leaving his fingers in the process, and he went flying towards the ground rather than continuing on his leaping path.

Good thing, too. A bullet shot through the space his head had just been.

Great. Robbery with guns.

Not that it mattered to him. Deadpool might have been the icon of regeneration, but he could take bullets like nobody's business. The bigger issue was letting anyone see him do it. He was trying to keep his powers a little more limited, thus why he had only punched the air rather than using something a little more dramatic to not be in the danger zone. If he was going to be running into a gunfight, even as back-up, he needed to pay attention.

The black and silver wolf hit the ground and rolled, looking at the situation. The cop cars had surrounded the jewelry shop from the streets, and the back of the small store abutted a large apartment building, so close that he knew that there couldn't be an alley back there. That was dumb, he had to admit. There were so many ways that might have been planned better if they'd just taken the time to find a different way out.

Unless they had?

He looked up at the rooftop of the jewelry shop, and he saw a silhouette moving along the top. They were crouched down, low enough to the rooftop that the cops wouldn't have been able to see from up close, but from a distance, he could just make them out. Feline-esque, as far as he could tell, with that sort of ears and that sort of tail. They were edging towards -

Oh, I get it. Get in, climb up to the windows of the building behind you, and then get to the rooftops and out. Not bad. Not bad.

Of course, that wasn't going to happen. Not with Nor already reaching the end of the buildings and -

Studley looked up as a red and blue shape jumped over the edge of the apartment building, falling with increasing speed. The feline silhouette saw the falling mule just in time to duck backwards, but the impact still made a loud thud, one that he could hear all the way back from the building. Same with the almost comedic 'sock' sound of a punch hitting someone in the guts. He winced, thinking that cat wasn't going anywhere for a while.

The cops were holding the perimeter, and Nor was already pushing his way into the jewelry shop. All things considered, it seemed like the situation was contained.

Then the gunfire noises started, and Studley gritted his teeth.

...Maybe I should just check that out...

The wolf took a few steps back, lining himself up with one of the closer police cars. He aimed down his arm once, twice, then started running. He beat feet all the way to the back of the police car, leaped onto the trunk, bounced off it like a trampoline onto the hood, and then, just as random chance happened to choose, the hood bounced him up. Studley rode that rising momentum right to the top of the jewelry shop, grabbing at his katanas. He kept them mostly in the other reality - using them directly was just going to cut through to places that were better left alone - but he drew just enough substance from them to draw them properly.

He cut a hole in the roof and fell in, a spinning spiral of metal and cutting edges. The bullets that came near him shattered into little more than tiny pellets, all redirected from him to the ceiling or floor.

Landing with a softer thud, he stood up as the gunfire stopped for a moment, twelve cats - no, wait, nine, Nor had already knocked out three, four if you included the one on the roof - turning to look at him as well as the mule. He flicked his blades the way that a gunslinger might have spun their pistols.

"Care for a little back-up?" he asked.

"...Yeah, that'd be nice," Nor said.

"Great. Been looking forward to a little fun."

And just like that, the gunfire started again, and the wolf was on the run through the jewelry shop, cutting only when needed to preserve his cover. Time to go to work.

Studley was honestly surprised at how easy it was to deal with the cat burglars. Literally cats, literally burglars, but stopping one step short of burgling cats. Somehow, he had half-expected that to be more of their modus-operandi, all things considered. It felt like the sort of city for that.

The unlucky thirteen cats were tied up and brought outside. Nor did most of the cuffing, while Studley just kept an eye on the thirteen of them as they were taken out, making sure that they really were subdued and not actually faking it the way that some criminals did. They were pretty slinky, as he had found out when they started dodging his low-level punches. Take it up one tier, and they were easy to handle, but they were more flexible and quicker than he had honestly expected from a group stupid enough to trip over a sleeping guard.

Still, it seemed like the whole thing was handled well enough. The bad guys were brought to justice, the mule was getting plenty of attention from the cops for being the one to solve the issue, and the cops had all but forgotten about the fact that the wolf had busted one of their cars by jumping off the hood.

Probably shouldn't remind them of that, Studley thought, sheathing his swords and letting them completely disappear again. No need to let them think of him as anything more than a punk-bystander that never grew out of that attitude.

As he watched the cops process the cats and take them away, he was aware of a distortion just behind him. He didn't turn to check it out, though; the feeling was just as familiar as ever. TARDISes ended up popping out of time all over the place around him, he felt. There were times when he brought in four different Doctors just by being in the area. Chance...well, chance had a way of swirling in all kinds of wrong and right directions around him, and it made for a chaotic sort of mess most of the time.

Taiko walked up to stand beside him, the dragon still in his bathrobe. He smiled slightly as he saw Nor.

"So, uh, everything went well?"

"Yeah, pretty well. Lots of guns this time."

"Guns? Guns? I didn't authorize guns."

"Implies that you have the power to de-authorize that."

"...I should," Taiko muttered.

"That telling me something I should know?"

"Uh, um...not really. Just a wish."

Studley had a feeling that it was a fair bit more than that, what with the way that Taiko had come through in a TARDIS rather than walking or flying like most dragons would have done. Curious, the wolf looked over his shoulder, expecting something grand, or at the very least, something that would glimmer with the sort of power and prestige that a TARDIS deserved.

Instead, he saw a watermelon the size of a small house parked on the curb. He blinked, slowly shaking his head.

"Taiko, you really, really are a unique kind of dragon."

"How so?"

"You keep finding ways to surprise me."

"Yay."

"Anyway, lots of guns, but nobody got hurt. Well, except that first cat, possibly. Nor had to sock him pretty hard to take him down quickly."

"Well, that should be okay. Fist-fights don't usually end up going too badly for the people involved. Long as he gets seen by a doctor, that should go well."

"That depends on the police doing their job."

"Here, they do."

There was something oddly intense in Taiko's voice as he said that, and Studley decided not to push it. Whatever it was about Novus Ager that Taiko cared so deeply about, it seemed to be true. Certainly, there wasn't the same problem between cops and heroes that he had seen in other worlds and settings, and there was more cooperation by far than he had experienced back in the last super-world that he had spent time in. Maybe this was a place where cops weren't being so out of line.

Regardless, he was still glad to get to see something like this. As much as he thrived on chaos, he rather liked to see things come together for a positive result. The last thing that he wanted was to be right that another super-city was on its way to an Alan Moore level dystopia, and so far, it looked like Novus Ager was avoiding the worst of that. He leaned against the nearby building, shaking his head as the felines were arrested.

"You know, it's weird."

"What?"

"There's thirteen of them."

"So?"

"It feels like a bunch of thieves would have looked high and low for one more member. They're almost always the sort that believes in bad luck, so why have only thirteen members?"

"Maybe they thought that it was just unlucky for everyone else?"

"Maybe..."

Studley shook his head. He was probably overthinking things, like usual. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Anyway, where were we?"

"Actually, about that, Studley. Do you mind if we take a bit of a longer rain check?"

He blinked, turning to look down at the dragon. Taiko shook his head.

"Not for...that kind of thing. Just...I need to get back to Vancouver for a while."

"Something going on?"

"Might be. I want to check on it."

"Well, with that TARDIS, you can just disappear and reappear. I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Mine's a liiiiiittle tempermental in that department. It might be better for you to assume I won't be back for up to a week."

"Ah, that kind of thing."

"Yeah, that kind of thing. So, uh...you take care, okay?"

"Heh, don't worry about me."

"I'm less worried about you and more about the city. Please don't break it, okay? I really, really love this place and everyone in it."

"I'll do my best."

"...I wish that was a little more reassuring."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Taiko didn't answer. Probably in a hurry, as far as he could tell. The dragon hustled back to his melon TARDIS, opened the side of it, and stepped inside. It made that typical engine sound, that same one that always reminded him of someone leaving the handbrake on, only for the sound to cut out halfway through its disappearance. He imagined that Taiko had found the stuck button and had finally pushed it to get the machine moving properly again.

Shaking his head, he began to turn back to Nor, only for something else to catch his attention. There was a second time distortion, something that had been hiding behind the arrival of Taiko's TARDIS. It was...

Yes, it was right across the street, coming from a very strange-looking tiger. He cocked his head to the side, slowly crossing the street to get a closer look at the feline that seemed to have a similar quality to some of his toys. He seemed to both exist and not exist at the same time.

He was halfway across the street before the tiger turned to look at him, blinking and then narrowing his eyes. Studley didn't stop his approach, either, lifting his hand in a neutral-friendly wave.

"Hey. What are -"

Time lurched. Studley felt himself drifting backwards, almost like he was being yanked along. He felt a memory that hadn't happened, a feeling that had not occurred. The sense of his toe catching a rock that hadn't been in the street, stubbing it just as he walked off the sidewalk, feeling himself tumbling forward, about to hit the ground.

But that hadn't happened.

Studley shunted that feeling off to the side, allowing that to be something that happened to someone else. It was something that happened in a different reality, a different time, a different him. Not this him, not this now, not this place. The thing that had tripped that person had not tripped him, and he was still here, still walking towards the tiger, as if nothing had happened in the first place.

It had only taken a half-second to sort through that timeline malarkey, but by the time that he did, the tiger had already looked away from him, as if business had already been taken care of. His attention was back on the jewelry shop, on the different felines being taken from it, and he was acting more and more like someone that Studley needed to take care of personally.

"Hey," he said again, this time with an extra note of gruffness in his voice. "You're looking a little faded there, pal."

The tiger turned back to him, the surprise and anger from the first expression returning with an extra dose. He looked at the road, then back at the wolf.

"...This should not be happening."

"We can agree on that. What are -"

"You shouldn't be talking to me."

"...Oh, you're one of those, huh?"

The tiger - somehow skinnier and fatter than he had been a moment ago, and then back to normal, and then not - went from a narrow-eyed stare to a proper glare. Studley blinked, feeling his memory and personal timeline under a strange assault, little bits and pieces changing from his time in the bar. He 'remembered' a ball of paper thrown at the back of his head. He 'remembered' the whiskey being far worse than it had been. He 'remembered' getting a brain freeze after accidentally sucking on an ice cube for too long.

None of those things had happened, though, and he realized that the tiger was something much, much more dangerous than anything else that he had found in the city thus far. If he had been any less aware of himself, then some of that might have actually worked.

As it stood, he felt more intrigued than he felt intimidated. He smiled.

"Heh, nice tricks. What else can you do?"

If anything, his comment seemed to irritate the tiger further. Then the feline flicked his gaze back to the shop, only to grit his teeth tightly.

"Too late."

"Part of the crime, are we?"

"Leave my city to me."

And just like that, the tiger was gone. He hadn't teleported, hadn't jumped away, hadn't gone invisible. Studley would have been able to track something like that. Nor he had gone to a different dimension, which was something else that the wolf would have been able to follow. No, he was just gone, and there was the disturbing feeling of the tiger trying to disappear out of his head, too.

That, however, he could do something about, and did. The memories stayed, though they were stretched compared to what they should have been.

Studley rubbed his forehead, making sure that whatever had stretched the memories out didn't take them in their entirety. The last thing he needed was to forget someone that could play with time to that extent. He'd seen some people that could hop up and down the timeline, but it had never been that much more than just using a time-machine power. They hadn't existed in one time and another at the same moment, hadn't had that ability to shift the timeline as much as they did. The fact that the tiger would have been able to keep them from meeting in the first place was concerning, considering how easy that had been done.

But there was something else, too. It was like he'd been all but invisible to the tiger until they'd been closer, like he had disappeared from awareness until he made himself noticed.

Hmmm...

While he was still ruminating, Nor walked across the street. He nodded at the mule, only to see that the hero was frowning.

"Something wrong?"

"Something we missed."

"...A fourteenth cat burglar?"

"Uh-huh. Looks like they had someone waiting just in case everything went wrong. After we got them all in the cars, someone must have snuck in behind our backs."

"What was taken?"

"Some kind of cursed gem. Diamond and carnelian, from what the shop owner says."

"Hmm...interesting combination."

"Yeah, that's not the half of it. Six dead owners in the last decade."

"Murdered?"

"Accidents. But really, really weird accidents."

Studley raised an eyebrow. There were times when a valuable item took on a cursed reputation when they got stolen over and over again, particularly if the former owner was killed for the gem to be taken, but this didn't sound like that. This sounded like something that might actually have some power.

A pity that the cat burglar that got away was probably the only one that knew where the boss was. If he was running a gang like this, he would have ensured that the thirteen that went in were unaware of who the employer was, who was paying them, and who the client actually was. That would ensure a certain security regarding just who the gem was for. The most that they'd probably get out of the cat gang was a name for their boss, and that wouldn't be enough to track him down. Not if they had any loyalty.

And gangs like this generally had a lot of loyalty. He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Alright. Well, I guess we keep an eye out for magic."

"Something happen, Studley? You seem...different."

"Just..."

He glanced at the spot where the tiger had been standing. There was a feeling of something off there, like there was still someone there and not there at the same time. It didn't sit well with him.

"Just something strange. You know any tigers with weird powers?"

"Probably, but...Studley, this is Novus Ager. You're going to have to narrow that one down."

"...Never mind."

Better to figure this one out on his own, he felt. Something this big felt like it might be over Nor's paygrade, and if it was someone new, he didn't want to give them reason to go after someone he was starting to care about. He might have been in the chaotic category, but he wasn't an ass.

The End

Summary: Studley has come to visit Novus Ager, and he seems to have plopped himself right into a rather interesting little situation, what with thieves and heroes and a strange tiger that has power over time involved.

Tags: M/M, Memories, Wolf, Mule, Felines, Tiger, Burglary, Memories of Sex, Anal, Oral, Fighting, Supers, Superpowers, Manipulation, Miniseries, Novus Ager,