THE MOMENT
Clyde identified her as trouble as soon as she walked in. He'd never seen her before, but she had a certain confident bearing as she headed to the bar. Clyde discreetly alerted his hired guards by running his hand over a magical talisman under the counter as the purple-haired woman sat on one of the stools. Her hair was a purple fauxhawk and she wore a black leather duster that likely hid an assortment of weapons.
"Evening, Miss, what can I get for you?" Clyde asked her with a practiced smile.
"The strongest and strangest thing you've got," the woman smirked at him as she set a small golden cube, the size of a sugarcube, on the counter.
"That's a shiny trinket; but, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for something I can put in the bank," he said politely without moving.
"I was afraid of that...," the woman nodded with a sigh. It was the smoothest move that Clyde had ever seen. She raised her hand as if to reach for the cube; but, he didn't actually see her pick it up. Her hand covered it for a moment; but, she pulled it away again instead of gripping anything with her fingers. She had to be a professional thief at the very least with that kind of skill. It lasted less than a second and she appeared to simply wave her hand over the cube once; but, when her hand was out of the way again the cube had been replaced with a trio of thick gold coins that hadn't made a sound. "...better?" she asked.
"Indeed, strong surprise coming up...," he nodded as he collected the coins. He shook them in his palm just to be sure they jingled appropriately, then he went to work preparing her drink. A few patrons left in the few minutes since the woman arrived and while Clyde made the drink. The group as a whole tried to be delicate; they ushered out innocents that weren't involved, and sat down closer to the woman half-attempting to surround her discreetly. By the time Clyde set the small glowing glass in front of her, the only people left were high level adventurers there to support the bar's owner.
"What is it?" she asked as she lifted the drink for a closer look. The liquid shimmered and clung to the sides of the glass; but, the entire thing glowed with a faint, sickly green aura.
"Fairy's bite; arachnid toxin and absinthe," he chuckled.
"Spider? What kind of spider?" the woman perked up and even leaned over the bar with a fair bit of interest. "What does the toxin do?"
"It's called the Fairy Widow spider," Clyde still considered her a danger; but, he was always willing to talk shop to anyone interested. He reached under the counter and brought out a jar with a spider inside. It had a lime-sized body and long, green spindly legs; it's coloring looked iridescent green that seemed to shimmer gold under the right light. "Too much of the stuff will knock you out for a few days; a direct bite will kill you. But, I only put enough in the drink to give you a good time tonight and a headache tomorrow."
"Can I touch it!?" she asked.
"You want to touch one of the most dangerous spiders in the world?" Clyde asked with a chuckle.
"Oh definitely, I haven't seen that one before," she nodded. "I'll tell you what, I'll even make it worth your while," she said. She discreetly raised both hands in the air and made a point to look around the bar at the few adventurers that were waiting for something to happen. "I don't want any trouble, I haven't started any yet.... but, I am here to do just that," she said as she met Clyde's eyes again.
"So, Boss Wyatt did send you?" he asked, the woman nodded.
"Since I'm trying to cut a deal, you can call me, J.J.," she said.
"And, you think that man is going to go along with whatever deal a henchman brokers?" Clyde asked. If nothing else, he was intrigued by her idea.
"Eeehhhh, it's a tad more complicated," J.J. shrugged. "He didn't send me, I'm a hired enforcer, same as these guys," she made a dismissive gesture at the group around her. "Technically, he engaged the services of my boss, and my boss put me on the job to come and accomplish a certain outcome. How I get it done is up to me, and if we can work out a deal over that spider, it doesn't have to be violent."
"Violence?" Clyde chuckled. "You do realize you're notably outnumbered?" he asked. "Everyone one else here is a high level adventurer. I feel kind of sad for Boss Wyatt. I had 15 years to cultivate the trust and earn several favors from experienced adventurers before showed up. I'm afraid he doesn't have any idea what he's dragged you into."
"Look, I'd really like to take a better look at the spider...," J.J. said. "So, I'll make this quick and easy," she snapped her fingers. Nothing happened at first, but, after a few moments, a mass ruckus was heard as ever adventurer toppled over unconscious.
"You say you've had 15 years to culivate trust... he's still a crime lord. He exists in your world too, you think he's not paying for overpowered adventurers, like me? You think he doesn't know about mimics?" J.J. kicked the stool next to her to make a point, it yelped, then moved down the bar to huddle with some other stools. His whole deal is twisting the systems in place to work for him."
"What do you want...?" Clyde asked. He honestly hadn't considered those details. He was confident in his power; but, it never occurred to him Boss Wyatt would have access to everything he had access too.
"That's where things get tricky. I WANT to touch your spider. I'm here because I HAVE to do a job. I'm supposed to get you to leave, whatever it takes," she said. "So, here's my plan. I set you up on a new Earth, as similar or different to this one as you want. You get to keep your bar, or make it even nicer, or do whatever you want on your new world. And, with you gone, I get to go tell my boss the job is done."
"A .. new Earth?" Clyde asked with a tilt of his head. J.J. nodded.
"There's a multiverse out there and Boss Wyatt doesn't even know it yet. You can go on and live the life of your dreams while he is just happy to have this little slice of nothing." If she hadn't put everyone else to sleep with a snap of her fingers, Clyde might have had more doubts. But, he was ready to believe her on the basis that his entire night had been weirder than expected.
"And all you want to do is touch this spider?" Clyde asked. "And you'll put me on a new Earth? Why??"
"Well, first of all, I think you're making it a bigger deal than it is. You'll see how easy it is in practice and realize going to another universe isn't that special at all. But, I have something of unique talent," she said. J.J. place her hand on the bar with the palm facing up.
"I can summon more of any spider I've touched from other universes," she said. As she spoke dozens of small spiders crawled out of the pores in her palm in various colors. "I've been to millions of universes, it's kind of a big deal for me to find a spider I haven't seen yet."