Delusions of the Alternates

The Reinforcement's Plan

The journey back to Lilli's house was quiet. Bri, Octavia, and Brian were still processing everything they had just witnessed. Lilli, however, had a fire in her eyes. She led them through her front door, kicked off her shoes, and immediately pulled out her phone.

"Alright, sit down, get comfortable. I'm calling the rest of the team." She said, already tapping the screen.

Bri looked around the cozy living room. "The rest of the team?"

"My group chat. The people who actually know what's going on." Lilli clarified as she initiated a video call.

The phone connected, and four faces appeared on the screen. A girl with long orange hair faintly streaked with purple grinned wide. "Lilli! What the hell took you so long? We've been waiting!" shouted Paige.

A boy with short orange hair and glasses adjusted his. "Paige, let her talk," Nekye said, his voice calm but firm.

"Yeah, yeah. I see you got new friends," Tori said with a warm smile, her brown hair falling over her shoulders. "They look interesting."

"Those aren't 'interesting,' Tori, they look like they've been through a war," Cruz smirked from behind his own glasses, his blue eyes sparkling. He had black hair and was clearly the shortest of the group. "Especially the tall one."

Lilli took a deep breath. "Alright, listen up. This is Bri, Octavia, and Brian. They're from another universe. And they're my new allies."

The group chat went silent for a moment before Paige burst out laughing. "Wait, you're serious? No bs?"

"No bs, Paige," Lilli said, her voice dead serious. "We're dealing with something called The Operator. It's... it's a weird, powerful being that wants to absorb other universes into its own. And it has an army of us—like, alternate versions of us. One of them is literally a guy named Br!@Nn@ who glitches and has a six-meter-long jaw."

Cruz's eyes went wide. "Six meters? That's like... twenty feet."

"Give or take," Lilli shrugged. "And I have a plan."

She then spent the next ten minutes laying out her plan. It was detailed, intricate, and impossible for anyone without her specific brand of ADHD-fuelled hyperfocus to come up with. She talked about scouting routes, backup plans, how to deal with the glitchy Br!@Nn@ entity, and how to potentially use the Operator's own portal technology against it.

"So, that's the plan," Lilli concluded. "What do you guys think?"

Nekye was the first to respond. "The logistics are sound. But I'm worried about your safety, Lilli."

"I know," Lilli replied, her voice softening. "But I'm the only one who can do this. I have the ADHD, the ASD, and the conviction. I see the patterns they don't."

Tori nodded, her expression resolute. "Then we've got your back. You know we do."

Paige grinned. "Hell yeah! Let's bloody go!"

Cruz, still smiling, added, "Just try not to get yourself killed, alright? The group chat would be boring without you."

Lilli chuckled. "I'll do my best."

With the plan set and the group chat's blessing, she ended the call and turned back to Bri, Octavia, and Brian. The trio had been watching the entire exchange with a mix of awe and confusion.

"You people are insane," Brian finally said, but there was a hint of admiration in his voice.

"Welcome to the team," Lilli replied with a shrug.




For the next hour, they all just chilled. Octavia was curled up on the couch, petting Lilli's cat. Brian was browsing through Lilli's collection of weird sci-fi novels. Bri, however, watched Lilli with an unreadable expression.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Bri asked quietly.

Lilli paused, her eyes flickering. "Terrified. But being scared isn't a reason to stop fighting."

"I know the feeling," Bri said softly.

Just as the moment of peace settled in, Bri gasped, clutching her head. Her eyes went wide, and she looked at Lilli. "It's here. The pull. The next portal."

Lilli stood up, her expression shifting instantly to one of command. "Alright. Round two. Let's move."




Lilli led them through the quiet streets, her steps purposeful. The pull in Bri's chest was a magnetic compass, guiding her through back alleys and underpasses until they reached the outskirts of town. There, in the middle of an empty field, the air began to distort. The portal shimmered into existence, a swirling vortex of blue and purple energy.

"There it is," Octavia whispered.

"Alright," Lilli said, cracking her knuckles. "Remember the plan. We go in, we scout, we don't engage unless we have to."

She stepped forward, her hand reaching out to touch the portal's surface. But as her fingers brushed against the energy, a shadow detached itself from the darkness.

A woman stepped out. She looked exactly like Bri, and Lilli instantly recognized her.

Brianna.

"Brianna," Lilli breathed.

Before Lilli could react, Brianna's hand shot out, wrapping around her throat. Lilli gasped, her hands clawing at the grip. Then everything went black as Brianna's fist connected with her temple. Lilli crumpled, and Brianna effortlessly lifted her unconscious body, dragging her into the portal.

"LILLI!" Brian screamed.

Without a second thought, Bri, Octavia, and Brian charged after them. They leaped through the portal, their bodies twisting through a kaleidoscope of colours and dimensions. They landed hard on solid ground, gasping for air.

But when they looked around, they were not in the same place as Lilli. The air was thick and humid. The sky was a bright blue. They were in a rainforest under a burning orange and yellow sun.

"Where... where's Lilli?" Octavia blankly asked.

Bri's fists clenched. "She's gone. Brianna took her somewhere else."




Meanwhile, Brianna stepped through another portal, dragging Lilli's unconscious body behind her. She entered a vast, empty chamber that seemed to exist outside of reality. At the centre of the chamber, a being sat on a throne made of twisted metal and broken glass.

The Operator.

It was a swirling mass of shadows and static, a figure that defied comprehension. Before it, kneeling with its head bowed, was a six-foot-tall entity. Its skin was red, glitching in and out of existence. Its jaw hung open, a grotesque six-meter-long maw that seemed to stretch into infinity. Its eyes were pitch black, oval pits of nothingness.

Br!@Nn@.

Brianna let Lilli drop to the floor with a thud. She then stepped back and knelt; her head bowed in submission.

The Operator's form pulsed, and a voice that sounded like a thousand screams whispered through the chamber. "You have done well, Brianna."

Brianna did not speak. She simply nodded.

The Operator turned its gaze to Lilli's prone form. "The girl who sees the patterns. The one who could disrupt our plans. You have brought her to us."

Br!@Nn@ did not move, did not react. It simply stayed kneeling, a silent guardian before its master.

The Operator's shadowy form reached out, a tendril of darkness touching Lilli's forehead. "Now, let us see what you know, little one. And then... we will show you the true meaning of the Multiversal War."

The chamber filled with a low, ominous hum as The Operator began to probe Lilli's mind, the silence broken only by Br!@Nn@'s occasional glitch and Brianna's steady, unwavering kneeling.