Traveler - 26 (Patreon)

Resident Evil Dimension
Raccoon City, Colorado, USA - September 1998

Ben glared at the elevator control in front of him. It was a puzzle like the many, many others that Umbrella loved so much.

"I've seen those symbols before," Claire spoke up.

He nodded, then smashed the console with the butt of his shotgun. Claire gasped as Sherry let out a little scream.

"What are you doing?" Claire snapped.

Ben pulled the puzzle pieces out of the way, "Creative problem solving. I don't want to backtrack across the entire station."

He dug into the internals of the machine. The mechanisms were simple considering it relied on a puzzle. There was a satisfying CLICK after moving a couple of pieces around. The secret elevator slid open. Claire glared at him.

"Don't do that again," She grumbled. "Are you sure this is the right way?"

He tapped his forehead, "I've seen it. It leads to a portion of the sewer that connects to the Umbrella tunnels underneath the city."

"Sewers," She muttered. "Wonderful."

The trio squeezed into the elevator. There were only two buttons on the controls. Up and down. He pressed the down option. There wasn't any elevator music to fill the silence. In its place Sherry started humming something that sounded close to Mary Had a Little Lamb. He had started to wonder if she had forgotten the song until Claire joined in. The two began to softly sing words that I didn't know to the melody to a familiar tune.

Sherry looked up at him, "Are you going to sing too?"

"I don't know that song," He replied with a small shrug.

"Really?" Claire raised an eyebrow in question.

Ben nodded.

"Do you know any songs?" Sherry asked.

He smiled, "I know a song, but it's not a lullaby."

"Please," Sherry gave a mega-watt smile that melted any resistance.

Ben nodded, "Well, my daddy left home when I was three..."

He launched into a halfway decent of A Boy Named Sue. Johnny Cash was a big hit in the Mojave. He taught a few reformed Powder Gangers the song Folsom Prison Blues for the hell of it. Sherry giggled through the song. She gasped when he reached the 'Son of Bitch that named you Sue' part. Claire glared at him.

"It's part of the song," He shrugged with an innocent smile.

"Can you sing another one?" Sherry asked.

The elevator came to a grinding halt before he could answer. It opened up on surprisingly clean sewer tunnel. The smell wasn't as bad as he had expected. In fact, the tunnel looked to be regularly cleaned. If this was the game they would have had to detour to the Orphanage to rescue Sherry then track down an anti-viral to save her once they reached the lab. The anti-viral was a detour worth taking. They could keep it for research instead of using the single dose on Sherry. Unless she got sick. He wasn't sure, but he thought she only started showing symptoms after being captured by her father at some point. They would have to wait to find out if he was right.

"Claire!" Sherry yelled.

Ben turned around to see what was wrong. A group of zombies were shambling toward them from the other end of the sewer. There were only a couple at first, but the number kept growing.

"Go on," Ben said stepping to the side. "I'll catch up."

Claire studied him for a moment before giving him a nod. She took Sherry and started down the passage away from the small horde. They were all dressed in Umbrella branded clothing. The zombies ranged from clean-suits to office workers and a couple of security among them.

"I hope Kendo didn't rip me off," He muttered taking aim at the first zombie.

Instincts honed by years in the Mojave had him moving in tight, controlled motions. Aim for the bridge of the nose, fire, move to the next target, and repeat. The first magazine emptied faster than he had hope. A quick swap reloaded a fresh seventeen rounds into the weapon. He repeated the process from before as the numbers thinned. The slide on his gun locked back as the final round flew downrange. Three remaining zombies continued to shamble toward him. There was still a bit of distance until they got to him.

Ben holstered his pistol then reached into his pocket. The denim let out a little groan of protest as he pulled out a machete. It had slain numerous ghouls in the Mojave, so it only seemed right to kill some zombies with it too. He stepped closer and swung. The first zombie suddenly lost the top half of its head, the second was cleanly decapitated, and the third he finished with a solid chop splitting like dry kindling.

Silence settled in the tunnel. He carefully slid the machete back into his pocket before drawing his pistol once more. The shelves of his Cube had plenty of ammo. However, it lacked the proper magazine to fit the Glock. Ben smoothly loaded them up before sliding a fresh magazine in place. The shotgun was still slung tightly over his shoulder. Using the pistol in the enclosed space was loud enough. His ears were ringing, but he could still hear. Shooting a shotgun in the tunnel would have likely deafened him. The security zombies didn't have their weapons, though he did get another magazine for his Glock.

Ben hurried to catch up to Claire and Sherry. He found them at the elevator with the train turntable. Claire was supposed to fight Birkin here in the game. He watched as she opened the door to the compartment and led Sherry inside. Her movements were hurried in a closely contained panic. Ben didn't understand why she was worried. He had cleared out the zombies without an issue. She should have been able to hear the gunshots.

"Claire!" He stepped out on the platform as he called her.

Her eyes were wide when she looked at him. His brow scrunched in confusion until he realized she wasn't looking at him. She was looking above him. Ben looked up just in time to see a mutated Birkin drop from the wall. It already was shirtless with the monstrous arm with an eye on the shoulder. In the game he would have been fully skinless and looked kind of like a mega licker. If they were lucky that would mean he wouldn't be at the wall of meat stage when they made their escape.

Ben dove out of the way. He slung his shotgun into his hands. He burned through the five shells so fast it sounded like rolling thunder. Birkin roared and stumbled back. He collided with some crates, falling into a tangle of limbs.

The sound of flesh tearing made Ben shudder. Birkin got back to his feet as Ben reloaded the shotgun. The mutant was here for Sherry, but that didn't mean he and Claire were safe. Birkin would destroy anything and anyone in his way. His other arm began to deform to match the other without the shoulder-eye.

He only had two shells loaded before Birkin was bounding toward him. Ben dodged to the side, sending both shots into the shoulder-eye. Birkin roared, landing on his front and sliding a little before coming to a rough stop. A freshly grown claw tore into the floor as he stood.

The elevator lurched into motion, sending Birkin back to the floor for a moment. It gave Ben time enough to get a three shells loaded. He aimed for Birkin's knee, putting both in the joint in hopes of slowing it down. Going for the eye or his head would trigger another mutation. He hoped that his legs would take him longer to recover. Ben burned through the three loaded rounds as Birkin crawled back to his feet. His leg held on by a thread of muscle. Ben watched as the limb dangled for a moment before a twist of muscle emerged from his thigh. It connected with the lower piece that then pulled it back into place.

At least he didn't mutate.

He slung the shotgun back into place on his back. The sling made it easy to wing it into his hands when he needed it but needed some direction to get it 'holstered' again. He had his pistol out once his hands were free. Ben cursed his memory. He couldn't remember how this fight was supposed to end. Did Birkin collapse and play dead until mutating? Did Claire manage to kick the monster off of the elevator? He was going to have to keep shooting it until it stopped moving.

Ben hadn't planned to get any weapons from his stash. He had thought he'd come across a better selection through the night. Unfortunately, skipping a chunk of the plot meant they had missed some of the opportunities to get them. He reached into his pocket grabbing one of his harder hitting pistols. In the future he would need to remember to account for a larger opening to his Cube. The edges of his pocket frayed as he pulled the 12.7 Pistol.

Claire joined the fight. The sound of her weapon snapped his gaze to her. Somewhere along the way she had picked up an SMG. He didn't know where she got it. Most likely she had picked it up from a dead Umbrella Operative at some point. He wasn't going to argue. The added firepower kept Birkin off balance.

Ben leveled his 12.7 and fired all seven rounds in a tight grouping into Birkin's back. He aimed for the shoulder blade on the side that had the giant eyeball. The mutant let out a sound somewhere between a roar and a scream at the of them. Ben reloaded as Claire started shooting again. Birkin was losing chunks of himself as the two continued their assault.

The mutant gurgled as it flopped onto the floor. It jolted a couple of times before going still. Ben took a step closer and put two more rounds into the top of its head.

"Are you ok?" Claire asked.

Ben shrugged, "Yeah, are you?"

"Get in here," Claire waved him over. "I saw some bandages."

The pain hit as his adrenaline faded. Strips of fire burst to life along the left side of his body. He looked down to see five claw marks across his ribs. The wounds were bleeding freely.

"When did that happen?" Ben said through grit teeth as he stumbled to follow Claire.

He paused at the door as his vision started to go gray. Sherry was sitting with her knees up to her chin on one of the bench seats. Claire was busy digging through a First Aid kit. She had a familiar spray can in her hand.

"Claire," He called.

She looked over her shoulder at him. Her face went pale at the sight of him.

"It's too late," Ben wobbled on his feet.

He set both pistols on the bench before carefully adding his shotgun. The loaded magazines for the Glock were next followed by a couple of pre-loaded ones for the 12.7 pistol.

"What are you doing?" Claire hurried over to him. "I have some first aid spray, sit still. I'll get you patched up."

Ben started to stack shells on the seat, "Don't waste it."

"This isn't a waste," Claire snapped.

"Take the gear," He had to fight to keep his eyes open. "You're a good person." He turned a tired gaze to Sherry. "It was nice to meet you."

Sherry was crying. She didn't want to get too close with all the blood. He understood. Ben stepped back out onto the elevator. He closed the door then stumbled over to the edge of the elevator. Birkin was missing, because of course he was. Ben didn't know if he was going to turn. It was better to be safe. He found a loose bit of chain, wrapped it around himself, and clipped it tight. Ben settled against a nearby crate now that he properly tethered.

CUBE
Outside of Space and Time

"FUCK!" Ben yelled as he appeared in his Cube.

Technically, he couldn't go back. In actuality, there were tricks he could use, but he didn't know if he wanted to. Raccoon City wasn't nearly as fun as he had hoped. Survival Horror was interesting to watch, buy not his style. It was a good lesson to learn.

He needed something to clear his palate. It was time for some research. The fact that research happened to be watching movies, shows, and playing videogames was a sacrifice he was willing to make. He wanted to be powerful again. Walking around as a mortal was fun, but he had two dimensions of normalcy behind him now.

Superheroes sounded like a good plan.

Ben flipped through the extensive media library he had acquired. He focused on the superhero genre. Time travel could get him back into the Marvel Dimension without much hassle. It was a bit jarring to meet his heroes. Tony Stark being wary of him made sense, but he had hoped that he would join the Avengers. He hadn't been to the DCU yet. It didn't feel quite right at the moment. His superpower was basically a Superman knock-off. It was mostly that he didn't know which version he wanted to visit.

His browsing paused at the perfect destination.

The Boys Dimension
New York City, New York, United States – July 2019

Ben appeared in an alleyway in New York City. It was kind of annoying that so many superhero properties were set in the same city. Marvel was one of the worst. He had purposely avoided the city in his original world. Having so many people packed into one place never appealed to him. His favorite city was Seattle. There was just something about the Pacific North-West that felt like home.

He was in his usual superpowered identity, but without his suit. Wearing Asgardian Armor would be a little he would be stepping on Maeve's toes. It put him in the tricky position of not having a super suit. He wasn't going to go to Vaught which left him to piece together a decent version from street clothes.

At least he had the correct style of cash for this dimension. Walking around with notes that were out of date was annoying. It was still mid-day, so the stores were still open. He didn't think that he could just walk into a store to grab a suit. Granted, there were probably costumes of the popular heroes on the shelves. If he was going to skip his Asgardian armor then wearing a knock-off costume wasn't an option.

When in doubt, check out the options in the sporting goods section.

§

An hour and eight-hundred dollars later he had something that was passable. A black, long-sleeved compression top, black pumper pants, and black military boots. They were a lesser brand that didn't have a prominent logo. On top of that he added a red hoodie and a white scarf tied around his lower face. The clerk gave him a flat look as when he checked out. He didn't want to be recognized after he made his debut. Just for the hell of it he ripped off the sleeves on the hoodie in tribute to the Scarlet Spider from the Clone Saga.

The next stop was somewhere to say. He still had plenty of cash. It was a nice discovery to find that hotels here didn't care that he didn't have a local ID or credit cards. Cash was king. A few extra Fifties helped things along. They didn't even care that his luggage consisted of a few shopping bags. The suite had a bedroom, living room, and full kitchen.

He took a moment to get his improvised suit in order. Ben took a seat on the couch once that was finished. He needed to get a mental list of things he wanted to do.

Dealing with Homelander took priority. Ben scoured his memory to add to his list. Things would go a lot smoother once Homelander was out of the picture. Then there was Stormfront. He couldn't forget about Deep or that creepy guy with invisibility. Practically anyone that joined or was on The Seven were valid targets. Soldier Boy was currently a Russian experiment. He had no idea when or where Robin was turned into roadkill. Sure, it was outside of Hughie's job, wherever the hell that was. It was a big city. Killing A-Train was a valid option. Black Noir was a Vaught loyalist as well as Homelander's friend. The only member of the Seven that deserved a chance was Maeve. Starlight too if she was already a part of the team. She was in for a different experience.

Did the pro heroes actually do any good? The entirety of the Vaught Corporate, aside from the support staff, would be better in the ground. Stan Edgar would be hard to kill simply due to wearing Giancarlo Esposito's face. Damn that man was amazing.

Time to get to work.

§

It took a quick search on Gaggle to find Hughie. He changed into his 'suit' as he flew toward the electronics store. Super Speed was awesome. Movement caught the edge of his vision. A-Train was moving as a blur along the street. A quick glimpse down the road showed he was heading straight toward a happy couple.

Perfect timing.

Ben dropped in front of Robin and held out a hand. Hughie pulled her out of the way. They both screamed as the suddenly headless form of A-Train rolled to a stop along the sidewalk. Ben stood holding the decapitated head. A-Train's brain hadn't realized he was dead. His mouth moved but it wasn't attached to a neck to speak.

"Pedestrians have right of way," Ben said as the light faded from A-Train's eyes.

"Who are you?" Hughie screamed. "You killed A-Train!"

Ben dropped the head as he turned to look at the duo, "I held out my hand, he ripped his own head off at his top speed." He paused. "Imagine what that would do to a normal person. A woman about to street for example."

Robin's eyes went wide, "You mean me."

"Got it in one," He winked at her. "I suggest getting the fuck out of here. Things are probably going to get messy." He looked at the head and the swath of blood that lead to the decapitated body. "Messier."

The two rushed away as he watched. He looked around the area trying to find a good spot to wait. Why track the Seven down one person at a time when he could have them come to him? He needed a to find somewhere that wouldn't cause much collateral damage. There was always a warehouse district in superhero shows.

Ben grabbed the package of Compound-V then returned to the sky for a better look around the city. That did not need to be out in the world. It vanished into his Cube Space with a thought. There was a visible decline in the quality of architecture the further away from the main cluster. It made sense, but he didn't expect it to be so blatant. He hoped it was the genre influence.

It had taken them a couple of days before they figured out the invisible man knock-off was gone. A-Train wasn't on duty today; he was delivering Compound-V to somewhere. He had a hard time watching the show. There was a difference between being subversive and grim-derp. He forced himself to watch the first season. Anything after that wouldn't matter after the changes he was making.

Grim Derp. The phrase always made him think about Worm. Maybe he should stop by there next to clean up some things. That dimension needed some good luck. Unfortunately, that would mean he would have to read more of it to get the timeline right. The Wiki would help, but the Cliff Notes didn't have all the details. There had to be an audiobook out there.

He had always meant to get tested for ADHD, he just kept forgetting.

The sound of something fast cutting through the air brought him back to the present. He turned toward the noise to see Homelander approaching at top speed. Killing a member of The Seven in the middle of the street raised more concerns than a disappearing invisible man.

Ben cocked his head to the side as Homelander got closer. He was slower than expected.

Homelander's cape flowed around him in practiced style as he came to a stop.

"You killed my speedster," Homelander crossed his arms, trying to be intimidating.

Ben shrugged, "He was in the middle of the street. I didn't have enough time to react."

It was the same cover story that Vaught had used for Robin.

"If it was up to me," Homelander glared at him. "I would rip your arms and legs off then watch you starve to death in the in Arizona."

He chuckled, "But you aren't in charge, are you?"

The leather of his gloves groaned as Homelander clenched his fists.

"Don't pout, Johnny," Ben rolled his eyes, the one part of his face visible.

"That's not my name," Homelander growled.

"Failed experiment just doesn't have the same ring to it," Ben sighed.

Homelander screamed as he charged Ben. He leaned his head out of the way. Homelander was so slow. The 'fight' continued with the desperate supe trying to punch him. Homelander let out a wordless yell before switching to his laser vision. Ben decided to test something. He held up his hand to block the laser. Homelander stopped after a few moments as smoke blocked his vision. It cleared to reveal Ben without a scratch.

"Tingles," Ben flexed his hand a couple of times.

"NO!" Homelander roared launching into more wild punches. "Stop moving and fight me."

Ben shook his head, "But you're such a disappointment." He slipped a few more punches as he talked. "Do you know how to fight?"

He caught the next wild punch. The impact created a sharp snap about as loud as a gunshot.

"Aren't you supposed to be stronger?" Ben asked.

He squeezed. Bones audibly snapped as he added pressure. Homelander screamed as he experienced true pain for the first time in his memory. He cradled the broken hand against his chest before launching another haymaker. Ben let the punch connect with his jaw.

"Hm," Ben nodded. "That one didn't break."

Homelander had a wildly desperate tint in his eyes. He turned and flew off just as fast as he had on approach.

It looked like not every Superman knock-off was created equally. There were signs he could see now that he thought about it. Homelander couldn't save a plane crash. Even the CW version of Supergirl was able to do that in the first episode. Anyone in the CW not on Arrow had been nerfed to a frankly ridiculous degree. He should stop by there sometime. The shows were connected to each other, but not to the other DC properties.

Ben gave him a five second head start before following.

~~
NOTE:
This story was poking my grey matter over the weekend.