"If I see her again, I'm going to talk to her...," Eri made the decision as she got ready to start her day. She'd spotted the strange teenager following her almost every day for weeks now and she'd had enough. She wasn't particularly afraid; Eri was quite powerful in her own right. And, she never participated in any villainy or heroics. As far as anyone else knew, she was a plain young woman working her way up the corporate ladder. The teenager was a savage killer and even the most powerful villains and heroes could not stand up to her; but, she seemed to only target heroes and villains. Eri had no idea what she wanted with her; but, the fact that she hadn't been attacked yet made her curious.
Eri was ready and headed out. She'd just left her apartment building when she felt a faint tingle on the back of her neck; she was being watched again. She walked forward along her usual route to work and turned right at the end of the block. She discreetly used reflections from the shop windows along the block to see behind her. It wasn't long before a pale teenage girl with long black hair wearing a solid black visor turned the corner behind her. She looked exactly like she did whenever newscasts showed her slaughtering Supers. Yet none of the other pedestrians around Eri seemed to notice the danger walking among them. Eri wasn't surprised, she didn't expect anyone else to notice. She didn't have a plan; but, she stopped walking and turned around.
"Can I help you?" she asked as she focused on the teen's visor. It was the best she could do for eye contact despite not being able to see through it to the teen's eyes. The teen stopped and looked around her as if confirming who Eri meant.
"Me?" she asked.
"Yes, you," Eri nodded as she closed the distance between them. "You've been following me around for weeks. Why?" The teen tilted her head at her.
"You noticed me weeks ago and you're barely asking now?" she asked.
"Why are you following me?" Eri asked. She wasn't going to let the teen turn things around on her.
"Don't know," the teen shrugged. "Just following orders." The teen reached into her pocket and pulled out a transparent glass card. "I'm supposed to give this to you when you spot me," she said. Eri accepted the card. "It's called a node. Well, that's done, see you around," the teen waved and turned around to walk away. Eri glanced at the card and the time appeared. It was the most advanced phone she'd ever seen, and she looked up again.
"Wait!" she rushed to catch up to the teen; luckily, the teen stopped and turned around.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"I need some answers," she said. "Who's your boss? What's this for?" she fired off the question. She wanted to eventually get around to asking why the teen was killing heroes and villains; but, one step at a time. "My name's Eridanus, by the way," she added.
"Yeah, I know," the teen nodded. "I'm Abby," she said. "My boss is Ms. Sharp, you'll probably get to meet her eventually. That'll help you make your AlterNet character and get around between universes," she gestured at the node.
"AlterNet Character?" Eri looked around at the pedestrians around them ignoring the known murderer. "This is the AlterNet right? I'm here... why do I need a character?" Eri was able to create portals and move between universes herself; but, Abby didn't seem to know that. In the back of her mind, she wondered if that had anything to do with why she received a node.
"Well, you really only need one if you're going to be playing Roller Derby or any of the other games, you don't have to make a character," she shrugged. "I was just told to give it to you, the rest is up to you."
"Do you have an AlterNet character?" Eri asked. Abby nodded.
"I'm a Paladin," she said.
"Okay," Eri nodded. She didn't know much about games, nor what that meant. But, it was an answer and she was ready to move on to other questions. Really, there was only one thing she was dying to know.
"Why are you killing all the Supers?" Eri asked.
"Huh?" Abby asked. She paused for a moment and Eri took the opportunity to elaborate.
"You've been showing up to battles and killing everyone, heroes and villains alike. Why?" she asked.
"Ohhh," Abby nodded, "Right, well, I needed something to do," the teen shrugged. "It was getting boring following you around waiting for you to notice me."
"That's...my fault..?" Eri asked. In general, she didn't care about the Supers that had been killed. She wasn't even sure how many of them were 'real people'. But, the fact that a real person may have lost their life because of her was hard to handle.
"No," Abby shook her head. "I'm the one that decided what to do with my time," she said. She looked up at Eri through her visor and smirked. "It's not your fault that killing Supers is fun."