Chapter Text
"Oh my god, they just had to wreck the whole place," said Sue, surveying the wreckage of her home. "Bad enough the Buddycops chased me down after the Manticore thing, but my own apartment..."
She picked up her favorite jacket from the floor - red leather, perfect for riding a motorbike, just like the pair of opaque goggles that held her long and curly purple hair in place - and turned it over in her hands.
"At least I don't have to find another one of these," she muttered, slipping it on over her t-shirt - a retro computer graphic design depicting a pixelated sunset.
"Miss Susan Dusk, if you please? I have an important matter to discuss with you," said a voice from across the room. A woman with long and curls of blonde hair, sitting in one of the only two intact chairs left in the apartment, who certainly was not there moments ago.
"Oh my god, what now? This is already a complete mess."
"I agree that this is quite the mess. Forgive me if I've caught you at a bad time," said the stranger.
"I wasn't expecting company." said Sue. She picked up a table leg - the surface of the table (and its other legs) lost somewhere in the wreckage - and gave it a swing before hefting it onto her shoulder and eyeing the woman.
"What are you, another kaijin? One of the Chimera Foundation?" demanded Sue, menace creeping into her voice.
"Not at all." The unexpected woman raised her hands in front of her, not quite defensively. "There's no need for a weapon. You and I are quite incapable of harming each other here."
Sue stared at the woman in silence for a few long moments. She was at least in her 20s, making her a few years older than Sue (who'd have graduated highschool recently, had her educational career not been left in tatters by strange circumstances).
"You'll have to forgive me for not exactly feeling that right now."
"Here," said the woman. "Is my card."
She held out her hand. True to her word, A glowing card appeared between her fingers.
"So you're a buddy monster." Sue made no attempt to move closer and inspect the proffered card.
"A Cosmo Dragoon, to be precise. I am a knight from the distant future of Star Dragon World."
"Star Dragon... Oh my god, don't tell me," said Sue, slapping her own face with one hand.
"Cassie's little Recon bot buddy ratted me out. Again." Sue sighed.
"Not precisely," said the woman. "We've been aware of you for quite some time."
"Don't start with the time puns!" snapped Sue.
"Cosmo Dragoons are named for the pioneering minds of your time. Authors and poets of great repute. Those codenames dictate our roles."
This lady had a calm and confident voice, and looked human...ish. It was always hard to tell with buddy monsters - many had SD forms that were considerably less intimidating than they could become in battle. Her hair was exceptionally long, some of the strands reaching to her waist even as a few of them were tied in a style resembling an elaborate bow on the top of her head. She wore a simple green dress, and her only jewelry was a small gold hair decoration.
"So what does that make you - HG Wells?"
"HG... ah, 'The Time Traveller'! Very clever!" The woman smiled, giving off the air of an English teacher impressed at a student's analysis of some symbolism more than the knight she claimed to be. Her dress sense almost made Sue think of her as a librarian. She tilted her hand further towards Sue, silently reiterating the offer to take it.
Sue stepped closer, still suspicious, taking the card in one of her own hands (though keeping the table leg at the ready). "UK29: Le Guin? If that's an author, I've never heard of her."
"My role is to seek out certain temporal anomalies. Anything that could prematurely end the timeline is, of course, top priority."
"So what," said Sue. She felt herself tighten her grip on the makeshift club. "Here to deal with me?"
"You are in a unique position." Le Guin shook her head, smiling a little. "As we are from further in the timeline, there is only so much we can change in some instances. Nudges, rather than shoves. But you're not bound by our particular constraints, and we're here to ask for your assistance in a pressing matter."
"You want my help?" asked Sue, somewhat incredulously.
"We want your information."
"For a second there, I thought you were going to say data," said Sue. "Or worse, brain."
"You've been having troubles recently."
"You think!" Sue raised her voice, shrugging her shoulders as she looked at the remains of her furniture. "The furniture? Sure, second-hand, easily replaceable. But the games consoles? Where am I going to find another Dreamcast? They haven't made them for decades!"
"I feel it would be more constructive, if we spoke about what led to this situation. I think you'll find we have a common purpose."
"No way. Got stuff to do," said Sue. "My friend just got attacked by some wind-up sleepwalking nightmare in our own apartment, and I've got to get to the bottom of this. Only got so much time to call up Liana and send her their way."
"You'll find the current situation is less pressing than you may think," said Le Guin. She gestured behind Sue with an open palm. "Would you care to look outside? The view will be quite interesting, I promise you."
Sue raised an eyebrow at that, and glanced at the large hole in the wall left by a battle mere minutes ago. She sighed in resignation, and picked her way across the debris.
The sight that greeted her was that of a late afternoon, as viewed from the 9th floor of an apartment building. Cars on their way about the city, people chatting on the streets, and a bird flying past. Except...
"It's stopped." Sue stared at the bird hanging in the air outside her apartment. "Everything's... just stopped."
"More slowed than stopped, but for our purposes it's close enough." The Cosmo Dragoon once again glanced at the empty chair opposite her. "We can't do this forever, of course, but there should be ample opportunity to talk. Please, have a seat."
"Oh my god, I'm going to have to, what, get interviewed by a time cop?"
She dropped her makeshift weapon, and took a seat across from Le Guin.
"You know, why not. After the last couple of months this might as well happen."
"I'm not quite a 'time cop' as you put it, but that's something I'll explain later," said Le Guin. "Instead, let's start at the beginning. Let's start with you."
She emphasised the word by clasping her hands together, fingers curling in until only the index fingers remained upright and pointing them at Sue.
"You're gonna have to be a bit more specific than that," snarked Sue.
"That's quite fair," answered the Dragoon. "Well. You've moved around a lot - not just over the last four years as your official records say. One could say you've never quite found a home until somewhat recently."
Sue folded her arms. "One could say, 'bite me'."
"One time-traveler to another, why don't you tell me about why you chose to stay in this town."
Sue gave a sharp intake of breath through her teeth. "That's kind of a long story."
"We have, as they say," repeated Le Guin, smiling. "All the time in the world."