Canon AU ~ Clarice and Bill beginning

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Owwwwwwww...

There was a flash of magenta light and the shadow of a woman flying through the air at a rather high speed. What world had it been? 739? Mutants Everywhere Planet, let's stop a serial killer because the Talus said so planet.

A super powered serial killer who had been rather hard to hit, much less hurt, especially with the team down several members. She'd been able to create an opening, at cost, for the others to take, but now, well, she was bleeding. And dizzy. And oh, that was a knife in her shoulder, huh, what if teh cops had needed that for evidence..

...right back on track. The talus had flashed, they'd been getting ready to leave and the partner, the killers partner that the Talus had told them NOTHING about had come careening in with a scream. Her lower arm ached, dully. and trailed more blood from where she'd lost the Talus. It had been ripped away and she'd been shoved through a half-formed portal. Not a fun ride.

By the time she tumbled to a halt she couldn't tell left from right, much less what world she was on. There could have been snipers in the trees and giant mutant snakes rearing to strike at her and she'd have just said 'Wha?'. She was...hitched up against a tree. Nice tree, yeah, she was going to...pass out now.

Yep.

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[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Good."

Looking around, Bill found a chair to occupy and pulled it up so he was near the bed, but could also see the door.

"Don't suppose I could trouble you for a cup of coffee, could I?"

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"I'll send someone with too much energy to fetch you one." Dr. Mitchell snorted and patted Bill's shoulder. "Given the circumstances I"{m putting myself down as her primary. She has any troubles, even just checking back in, you bring her to me no matter where I am. We clear?"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Sure thing, doc."

Bill wasn't going to mention how they still had no idea who she was, or what sort of trouble she was into; Mitchell already knew that, and was willing to take on whatever it was anyways.

Just like Bill was going to give up on that beer he'd been looking forward to, and another night's sleep.

Resigned to his duty, Bill settled in his seat and waited.

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It was well after the coffee had cooled some before Clarice even gave a sign of stirring. When she did though, well, she came awake all at once, unstitched arm reaching up and back to feel for a quiver that wasn't there even as the rest of her was pivoting to get off the bed...

...damn armrail made her pause for all of a moment.

Apparently she wasn't the type to sit around healing. Nor the type to be comfortable unarmed. Once her eyes settled on Bill though she stilled a bit, fingers no longer flexing for a spike she couldn't find. "...you." Not who she'd been expecting but then again, at least she remembered him?

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Bill was halfway into dozing when her sudden movements startled him into alertness.

Getting to his feet, Bill held one hand up to her, palm out, and the other at his side; well away from his holstered weapon.

"Hold on now, s'alright. You're at the hospital, we brought you here t'get fixed up."

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"...I don't often end up in a hospital." she offered a touch wryly. "Sorry." She had manners!

In the fact the most recent time in her memory had been following TJ to the hospital; because she was worried and...yeah, that didn't end well. Poor TJ.

She turned to look at her shoulder and wiggled it a little experimentally. "Nice work. Yours?"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"S'alright." He lowered his hand, and gave her a small smile.

Shaking his head to her question, Bill tapped the badge on his breast.

"Nah, I'm the sheriff. Doc Mitchell did the fixin'. He said you'll be fine, after some of rest an' all."

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I'll have to thank him." And she would, later. For now she eased back so she could still lean against the bed and sighed. Sheriff...that was law enforcement and they usually didn't like people like her. Vigilante, mutant, Pink, Time skipper: take your pick and they generally didn't like it. That could complicate things because...

...yeah, that bandage on her forearm wasn't the Talus. She was stranded for all intents and purposes now. "You probably have questions." The wry tone was eking into a wry grin. May as well stay friendly right?

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Quite a few," he said, returning the wryness. "Most of it can probably wait, though. If you wanna lay back down... "

It was a suggestion, wrapped in an offer, and disguising an order.

She was stabbed a little bit ago, so being up and about most likely wasn't the best thing for her now.

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She made a face at him, obviously recognizing the layered order there, then compromised by hitching herself back up onto the bed with her good arm and sitting. "I've been stabbed before," And obviously done MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THEN too.

She crossed her legs, leaned her good elbow on a knee, then flopped her chin into her hand. "So, Mr. Sheriff, ask away. I warn you now though you may or may not like, believe, or understand some of my answers."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Sitting wasn't laying down, but it was better than her standing so Bill let it go.

Retaking his own seat, Bill bypassed the part about her being stabbed before for a moment, and started with the basics; he had manners, too.

"First I guess is, I'm Bill Pardy. I'd like t'know who you are an' where it is you come from."

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"Clarice Creed," She offered in kind. "A pleasure Mr. Pardy, I think." Maybe. Depended on how he reacted to the next bit.

"I guess the important question to ask you, before I answer the 'where' part is...what does this world know of mutants and mutations?" Otherwise her story would sound very much like science fiction.

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"It is," he replied, hoping that was the truth.

That might not be the case, though, as her question made his head tilt, and his eyes narrow a fraction.

"Mutants? What kind of mutants?"

If she was another one of those space alien hunting weirdos...

Bill had had his fill of those after the slug invasion, and wouldn't hesitate to run another out of town if that's what she was here about.

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She arched an eyebrow in a rather universal 'Really?!' look. Because, really? She lifted her head from her hand in order to use said hand to gesture at herself.

Hello, Pink? And weird? And, oh, pointed ears now that she was tucking hair behind one?

"Considering the lack of lynch mob I was hoping well known enough to be tolerant...or unknown."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Bill's expression shifted into confusion, and he looked at her shaking his head slightly and arching his shoulders in an obvious 'whu?' gesture.

"You're a mutant."

On top of the confusion there was also skepticism. Because yeah, she was pink, with the ears and carrying around pointy things, but...

Okay, yeah, maybe, but then, what the hell is a mutant?

"What the hell is a mutant?"

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"Unknown then. Right. This will be fun and sound an awful lot like a science fiction movie." She snorted and plopped her chin back in her hand. "A mutant is anyone with an X-gene, X for unknown despite popular idea that it's for 'xeno' or alien. Average humans have a dormant, inactive gene where mine is active and transcribed. Just like some people get blue eyes from genetics, I get pink, and glowy eyes, and teleporting."

She eyed him, trying to judge when she was going to cross the 'holy shit' line here..."Demonstration time? I know I babbled something about teleporting earlier right. Curious?" Yes, she was being very, very open. The sooner she established the 'weirdness' the sooner she'd know if she was safe.

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Bill sat and listened, trying to understand what she was saying.

The part about her being pink because of genes made some sense, that was how people got how they were, after all.

(Although pink was really pushing it.)

Then she brought up the teleporting thing again, and that part was where he had his doubts.

"Yeah, you mentioned it earlier."

The inflection in his voice was enough to make his curiosity known, and a prompt for her to go on.

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"Teleporting, the ability for me to bridge two points in space on a world that I know with my own weird energies." She lifted her chin again so she could free up her hand. "Spike. Failing that a pencil or something but it won't be a big portal." It was just how her power worked!

"Assuming you want a portal. Direct teleport is a little different, but then how would I get you back here?"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

It's a bit funny how much a person can say with a look.

Right then Bill's look was not only asking 'are you serious?', but also pretty clearly saying 'do I look stupid to you?'.

No, he would not be giving her any of the sharp spike things they took off her, especially because he was becoming more and more convinced that she was some kind of crazy.

Still, if he let her try and it didn't work, it might be easier to convince her to see a doctor or something.

Looking over at the tray where his cold coffee was sitting, Bill picked up the plastic stirrer and held it out to her.

"Here, try that."

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"Cute," she noted, lifting it up to peer through the inside. Not much to the thing huh? Not much matter at all, that meant tiiiiiny portal. Wow. "Don't blame me if you can't poke much through it." Probably not much more than a finger or two.

"Downside being it needs to be someplace I know on this world and...I don't remember where I landed well, which means wonderful exploration of this room." That said she balanced the stir straw on a fingertip and smiled, letting light flow up through the plastic molecules.

Ew. Plastic never felt right to work with. It was synthetic and odd, and lick pushing power through oatmeal, but needs must...

A negligent toss and it zipped to just in front of Bill, stretching into a small, glowing circle instead of a straw. "Go ahead, it comes out just the other side of the coffee cup. You should be able to poke the creamer."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Bill watched her, blinking when the stirrer began to glow, and staring dumbly at the glowing... hole in front of him.

Looking from her to it and back again, he shook his head.

"I'm not stickin' my hand in there."

He did look over at his coffee, cup, though, to see if there was anything there.

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Yep, a flicker of magenta light past his mug! She eyed him, eyed the portal, then sighed. "Really, because I'm TOTALLY going to hurt the guy who got me MEDICAL ATTENTION instead of SETTING ME ON FIRE or something." She thought she had a point really.

That said she grimaced and slid to the floor so she could pace over past the coffee mug and stick her fingers through to wiggle at him. "Believe it or not this is my main mode of transportation and so on and so forth perfectly safe yadda yadda."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Wood scraped on floor tile as Bill flinched back in his seat when her fingers came through to wave at him.

"Bwah."

Ok, so...

Give him a minute, and maybe his brain might start processing some of this.

"That's really fuckin' weird."

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"Gee, thanks." She snorted and drew her fingers back out of the portal so she could make her way back to the bed. God she'd taken a beating. No matter what anyone said, distracting psychos was painful.

"So, long story short, my world ended and I ended up 'displaced' in reality, got recruited into a team that fixes other realities, the device that was attached to my arm to help get us between world was ripped off and here I am."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Guilt finally made Bill recover, and he gave her an apologetic look.

"I just... I ain't ever seen anything like that."

And even though he was just a small town boy, Bill actually had seen a lot.

As strange and hard to believe as all of this was, there were still a few factors in it that Bill could grasp onto and work with.

Forgetting the pink, and the teleporting, there was still other problems to deal with; she was lost, she was hurt, and he needed to find a way to fix both.

"Who stabbed you? Did it happen here, or back where you came from?"