The rip had gone from the Wild West to Guantanamo bay in less than a couple hours. It had eventually settled down to a nice Eagle Pass level of security. It was being treated as a border crossing. There were officers from most of the Federal alphabet soup there, but that was more in case of a problem. All in all this meant that the Ranger couldn’t just throw their captured SUPER agent in duffle bag and deposit him back in his home universe.

Noel had actually made this easier. Her doppleganger’s memories had been replaced with that of a homeless man they paid a couple hundred dollars to. This meant Nolan could be dressed up in clothes to look like a homeless person and just walked across the rip to his home universe. Give him twenty bucks on the other side and he was cool with it.

While this made Ranger’s life easier it did unnerve him. Nolan had a different flavor of Noel’s power and he had now seen what damage it could do when out of control.

Blessedly it was a colder day so Ranger could wear gloves. There was almost zero chance of skin to skin contact with Nolan. Noel had done what she needed to do to clear all important information out of Nolan’s head. Including her forgetting what her own face looked like. Ranger did not want to make it all for naught if Nolan was to accidentally touch him and lift a couple classified secrets… Or worse, information to point him back at Noel after SUPER inevitably rolls him back up.

A quick disguise and some fake identification was all Ranger needed to sneak Nolan back across.

Day trips had become common and as long as you didn’t cause a commotion, show up on a wanted list, or try to sneak back items purchased on the other side no one paid the travelers much mind.

Once on the other side Ranger led Nolan to Central Park. He would find the man a nice bench and leave him be. In and out, no fuss.

Returning home after the rip opened between universes had been a long ordeal for Rianne. Her time home even made her almost wish she was still stuck on the other side working odd jobs with Raine to keep afloat. Almost.

Her disappearance on the day of the rip had not gone unnoticed. As an NYPD officer, and not the only NYPD officer to disappear that day, she only had a mild headache to deal with. As the liaison with SUPER life got difficult. SUPER agent Trace Tanner had been the one that recruited her, the pair had a good work relationship, and Rianne had disappeared the same day that Trace had after going rogue.

It had taken weeks of interviews until SUPER had been satisfied with Rianne’s answers to their questions. This meant she had missed the timetable she’d given Raine. In addition to that SUPER was still overtly watching over her shoulder. There was no chance of her slipping back over to the other side to tell Raine what the law enforcement fallout of her involvement with Trace was.

Rianne just had to sit tight, do her job, and wait for the chance to cross back over.



A call came over the radio. Her SUPER radio. Alpha 2 had been spotted heading through the rip checkpoint, returning from the other side. He was with another male and she was to intercept them and bring Alpha 2 back for debrief.

Rianne put her squad car in drive and made her way across Manhattan. As she drove the bare minimum amount of detail came over the radio to her. Alpha 2 had been missing since an attack on a SUPER facility. She didn’t know where it was or what it did. All they told her was it was attacked, he disappeared, and now he had been spotted by a SUPER agent at the rip. Rianne was not in a position to ask questions.

When she neared the street SUPER indicated they had last been seen she slow rolled down the street. She spotted a pair of men, one who looked homeless. The radio told her that was the pair. Rianne drove past and parked the car. She left it running as she stepped out.

Looking back she saw what appeared to be a homeless man with a baseball cap on. And Michael Hunter… Her doppleganger.

“CTC confirmation through One Police Plaza. That is Alpha 2. Bring in both for questioning.” The sound cut through the silence as Rianne and Michael both stopped.

In and out, no law enforcement or SUPER intervention. That was the goal. Only a few blocks were left until Ranger would drop off Nolan and return when a squad car rolled past and parked. Ranger prepared himself for a possible confrontation when Rianne stepped out of the car. So things weren’t so bad…

“CTC confirmation through One Police Plaza. That is Alpha 2. Bring in both for questioning.”

The voice came out Rianne’s radio. She was stopping Ranger and Nolan, Rianne worked for NYPD but she also worked with SUPER.

”Howdy, Rianne.” Ranger said putting a hand on Nolan’s shoulder to keep him from wandering off.

”Michael.”

”Public disturbance call?”

”If only. They,” She stressed the word they and glanced at Nolan, ”want me to bring you both in. You know New York City, cameras everywhere. I have to do it."

Ranger nodded and looked around before saying, ”I’m not goin’ t’ SUPER.”

Rianne sighed, ”I don’t want to, but if I have to I’ll drag you both back with me. Michael Hunter, consider yourself detained.” She pulled out a pair of handcuffs and stepped toward Ranger.

”That’s not gunna work f’r me. Does that work f’r you? Ranger turned and asked Nolan. Nolan gave him a quizzical look. The man had no idea what was going on. ”Pop a squat over there. I’ll just be a minute.” Nolan shrugged and sat down against a building.

When Rianne was close enough she reached out for Ranger’s arm so she could cuff him. Ranger took hold of her arm and forced it away. Rianne narrowed her eyes and quickly snatched his arm, shoved his chest, and stuck a leg behind his. If he was going to be difficult she would meet force with greater force.

Ranger used his other arm to grab onto Rianne’s vest and drag her down with him. Once on the ground he rolled away, bringing her radio with him. They jumped back to their feet and Ranger tossed the radio to the ground and stomped on it. If she identified him over the radio getting home would be difficult.

”Okay. So it is the hard way.” Rianne moved in and threw a kick. Ranger stepped back before sliding back in and throwing a punch.

Ranger’s punch sailed past as Rianne ducked and moved to the side, she followed through the motion to spin herself and bring her backfoot up, spinning toward Ranger’s arm.

Catching the leg, Ranger grunted. There was a fair amount of force behind the kick and were it not for Ranger’s sheer experience in actual street fights… It might have broken his arm. Holding Rianne’s calf, Ranger said, ”Sorry ‘bout this.” And he spun around, the centrifugal force preventing Rianne from effectively fighting back. After a couple turns, Ranger released Rianne and sent her flying into the side of her police car.

The door caved in and an ”Oof.” escaped Rianne as wind was forced from her lungs. Her power increased the durability of her bones, allowing her to stand up and shake off the stars in her eyes.

”Michael… I could have found a way to help you. Now… Now even if I could I wouldn’t.” Rianne grabbed the bent in door to her squad car, ”Maybe from SUPER, but you’ll get to see the finest cell downtown.” Rianne ripped the door off its hinges swung it at Ranger.

The door whistled through the air as Rianne swung it. Ranger jumped back away from it, and Riaanne brought it back around for another swing as she closed the distance. This continued for a few seconds before the door smashed into a bench as Ranger jumped behind it. Rianne released the door and vaulted the smashed bench. ”Just give up! She barked as she came sailing down onto Ranger like an armored banshee.

Ranger propped one leg behind himself and met the oncoming wall of anger like an immovable wall. Rianne landed a punch in Ranger’s gut but he managed to bodily throw her off. She flew halfway across the road before landing ass-over-teakettle. ”I have dinner plans. In my universe, without y’.”

By that point a small crowd had begun to form, phones were coming out. Ranger didn’t mind, once this was done he was out of that universe. He grabbed the end of a car and after a moment of squealing tires, had the whole vehicle swinging at Rianne.

Rianne moved out of the way and on the swing back she caught it before it had accelerated. The two had bulging muscles as they fought over the car. The frame warped and the glass shattered. Eventually Ranger threw his end up and darted forward, under the ton of steel, toward RIanne who was trying to maneuver the vehicle to not come down on herself.