At first, everything seemed to be going well.
Yes, they had trespassers in their home, but inside Intruder's hideout they were safe and could follow their movements without being seen. It was only a matter of time before the strangers got tired of searching, realized there was no one else in the house, and left. Day wished she could do more, and she was sure Rissa and Geraint felt the same way, but it was clear that Varadi was prioritizing their safety.
And then everything turned upside down.
It turned out that there weren't two strangers, but three. A third individual burst into the house, carrying Attie as a hostage. Day immediately felt a knot forming in her stomach and couldn't help but let out a slight gasp.
Varadi looked at her worriedly, “Day...” she whispered, but the girl didn't seem to hear her. The young werewolf's attention was fully focused on the events in the living room, where the strangers in red robes had Attie at their mercy and were trying to interrogate him, threatening him.
The girl didn't notice, but a growl was forming in her throat and black fur was beginning to emerge on the back of her neck and the backs of her hands. Her ears picked up the voices of Varadi and Intruder, surely trying to calm her down somehow, but she didn't really listen to them.
And then, the man who was questioning Attie pulled out a weapon, clearly intending to use it against the boy.
What little patience Day had left cracked.
The transformation of the common lycanthrope requires a minimum of thirty seconds, with cases in which it lasts up to a full minute or more. Enid Addams, being a creature in a category of her own given her status as the Volvaugr, the Guardian Wolf, can transform in a matter of tenths of a second.
Enid Addams also has another peculiarity in her case that is unique to her and that no previous Volvaugr has ever experienced.
Offspring.
Day and Rissa Addams are the first known descendants of a Volvaugr in the entire history of the multiverse. And Day has clearly inherited traits from her wolf mother that set her apart from other werewolves.
It is the only explanation for how the six-year-old girl was suddenly able to break through the wall with a howl that turned into a roar, flying through the air toward her target in a prodigious leap, and how, in the single second that this took, her body turned into a full wolf form just before she closed her jaws on Norman One's unsuspecting neck.
Things moved pretty fast after that.
“Shit!” Varadi exclaimed as she followed Day through the hole in the wall. Her exclamation was drowned out by Norman Three's alarmed cry.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?”
A loud noise of breaking bones and torn flesh was followed by a huge amount of blood spilling out when Day ripped Norman One's head off with one pull, decapitating him.
“Damn it!” exclaimed Norman Three, pulling a silver sphere from his robes that began to take the shape of a gun in his hands.
He couldn't use it, he didn't even have time to point it at the werewolf, because at that moment Varadi threw a punch. The young flesh golem's fist separated from her wrist and flew through the air like a missile with clenched knuckles until it hit Norman Three squarely in the temple, knocking him out immediately.
Unfortunately, Norman Two was still there. Taking a few steps back as his partner fell unconscious, he pulled some black spheres out of one of his pockets. By this time, Day had already dropped Norman One's body and positioned herself next to Attie to shield the boy, who was clearly in shock.
Sensing Norman Two's movements, Day turned toward him, at which point the man threw the black spheres at the lycanthrope. They exploded in the air, in a silver cloud that had an immediate effect. Day began to cough and fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
“Day!” exclaimed Attie, coming out of his shock and crouching down next to his friend. The lupine form of the young Addams was regaining a humanoid shape, although she was still covered in dark black fur.
Varadi prepared to throw another punch, but Norman Two had drawn his silver sphere. In his hands, it had become a device similar to a taser, which he pointed at the children.
“Don't you dare move a muscle!” he shouted, a hint of hysteria creeping into his voice.
Varadi frowned, the fist she had thrown floating through the air back to her wrist. Behind her, the others had come through the hole in the wall. If Cousin Intruder had had facial features, her expression would have been one of worried anger. Young Geraint growled, baring his fangs and extending his claws.
And Rissa... Rissa continued to maintain her eternal smile, although there was a steely coldness in her eyes.
Varadi noted that Day was still alive, but clearly unconscious. The young werewolf wasn't moving, but she was breathing, albeit with some difficulty.
“What was that?” asked Varadi. “What did you do to her?”
Norman Two ignored the question. “Not a step! Keep all your limbs on your body, whatever you are, freak! If you come any closer, I'll disintegrate these two!”
“Letting them live is the only thing that will get you out of this in one piece,” Geraint replied with an animalistic growl.
“Calm down, dog!” exclaimed Norman Two, “God, we should have seen this coming. A dimension full of weirdos, and not just the main Addams family. It's no surprise that our Prime fell here…”
“What have you done to Day!?” repeated a furious Attie. The boy was holding the unconscious girl, keeping her upright. Day seemed to breathe better the more vertical her position was.
Norman Two let out a nervous chuckle, “Did you like it? It's a mixture of silver and aconite in aerosol form. Ideal for knocking werewolves out of action. It's not lethal... well, at least not in adult lycanthropes.”
“Son of a...” Varadi began, making a move to step forward, but stopped dead in her tracks when Norman Two activated his weapon. He didn't fire, but he reaffirmed his intentions by pointing it at the children. A spark of green energy flashed at the tip of the device, illuminating Attie and Day's faces.
“Ah ah... not another step,” said Norman Two, laughing again, “I can deal with this. I can deal with all of you. Did you really think we wouldn't be prepared to face a werewolf?”
“And are you prepared to withstand an electric shock worth five hundred volts?” asked a new voice.
Norman Two had no time to respond or react before a bolt of electricity struck him, throwing him into the air and landing him on the ground right in front of Varadi and the others. His body was smoking and visibly burned, but he was still alive. Norman Two was in intense pain but couldn't scream or utter a complaint when a fist immediately struck him in the face with such force that his jaw was dislocated by the blow. After that, he saw and heard nothing else.
Two people had entered the room from outside during all the commotion.
One was a young man who bore a striking resemblance to Gomez Addams and was dressed in a gray suit with black stripes that could have belonged to a 1930s mobster, with a long black trench coat over it. Sparks of electricity still glowed in his outstretched hand. The other was a woman of the same age, with a muscular build and short blonde hair dyed black and red at the tips. She was dressed in an outfit that screamed “biker,” with a black sleeveless T-shirt, leather pants, and combat boots. The buckle on her belt was shaped like a wolf's head.
Varadi couldn't contain her smile when she saw the new arrivals.
“Theo! Dora!”
“Hey, little cousin,” Pandora Addams greeted her with a wolfish smile, wiping her hands after hitting Norman Two, while Theo knelt down next to Attie and Day, covering the little girl with his coat. ”Looks like things got a little out of hand around here... Where are our moms?”
Varadi exchanged a glance with Intruder (as much as you can exchange a glance with someone who has no eyes) before responding.
“The truth is... we have no idea.”
§§§
“Run, friend Taylor! Run!”
Taylor Galpin, in her fully transformed Hyde form, sprinted across the rooftops with Eneit Synklar on her back as an improvised rider.
The place where they had found themselves after overcoming the disorientation caused by Mr. Morningstar's involuntary dimensional jump was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Eneit had seen worlds far more technologically advanced than her own since she had met her friends and variants from the multiverse, but this place would certainly have been strange even to them.
An urban environment of towering skyscrapers, vehicles moving through the air in orderly chaos, neon signs and billboards, solid figures of light, and gigantic holograms filling the space between buildings with grotesque advertising...
And the air smelled like a thousand dirty toilets.
And if that weren't enough, before she and Taylor could even begin to plan their next move, vehicles similar to the motorcycles she had seen in other universes, but capable of flying and with no visible pilots, had appeared out of nowhere and begun attacking them, firing what looked like tranquilizer darts, forcing them to flee.
A mechanical voice emanated from the vehicles: “UNAUTHORIZED OUTCAST PRESENCE IN SECTOR ALEPH. REQUESTING REINFORCEMENTS. CITIZENS' COOPERATION IS REQUIRED.”
Eneit wasn't quite sure what it all meant, but her instincts told her it couldn't be anything good.
And how on earth were they going to find the Wednesday Addams of this place?
§§§
Parker knew very well that if necessary, the Addams could be terrifying.
Oh, she loved the family, and after smoothing over some rough patches, Morticia had been like a second mother to her (and certainly a much better mother than her biological one), but Parker Needler-Addams had also seen what any of the Addams were capable of to protect their own.
But even in the most intense moments, she had never felt anything like the aura of menace that seemed to emanate from the Addams family now sitting before her, in whose home she and her companions had materialized just half an hour ago.
It had all been a bit disconcerting. They were intruders in their home, and the Addams had invited them in for tea.
With pastries.
Sitting next to her, Eamon also seemed slightly tense, nibbling on one of the pastries they had been offered with their tea (which smelled like cyanide, but that was normal with the Addams). Shark, on the other hand, was smiling from ear to ear, reveling in meeting another iteration of her family and leading the conversation.
“So the whole family is in the business?” she asked.
“Well, most of them,” replied a smiling Gomez Addams, taking a puff on his cigar while holding Morticia's hand. Standing behind the seat where they were sitting was a young adult Pugsley dressed in an elegant business suit alongside a strangely tall Cousin Itt wearing normal clothes beyond his eternal hat and glasses, with his arms visible. Gomez continued speaking, “Our daughter, your... variant? Is that the right word?”
Shark nodded, “Yeah, one of many options.”
“Well, our daughter is going through a rebellious phase, joining the forces of law and order.”
Parker almost choked on her tea. A mafia Addams family, that she could roll with.
The idea of a police officer Wednesday? Now that was just plain weird.
§§§
Needler and Saint-Clair had to suppress another chill of atavistic horror and a surge of homicidal irritation as they continued to listen to the incessant chatter of the person before them.
They had materialized after the Jump in what was clearly a version of Nevermore. And they did so before the person who was now guiding them in search of the local Wednesday Addams, something she had graciously offered to do after the situation had been explained to her.
But that didn't make her any less obnoxious. Since they had arrived, she hadn't stopped gushing about how cool it was to have visitors from another dimension, and how they were sure to have an amazing adventure with “Nessie” (Wednesday) and “Nini” (Enid), who were her best friends in the whole world and the people she loved most in the world, and that they also loved her very much and had been through so much together that their bond was unbreakable, and...
Once again, they felt that something was wrong there. Very wrong. As if something in that reality was corrupt. Needler and Saint-Clair exchanged worried glances while their guide continued to drone on.
Saint-Clair didn't care what she said. No matter how much she claimed to be Enid's cousin from that universe, this Mary Sue Sinclair was not normal.
§§§
“Look up in the sky!”
“It's a bird!”
“It's a plane!”
“No... IT'S SUPERWOLF!”
Pup and Wod exchanged a brief glance before refocusing their attention on the height above them.
They had appeared in an alleyway in what looked like a retro-futuristic, art déco version of New York. After stepping out onto the street, the first thing they noticed was that the crowd seemed to ignore Wod's armor. At most, they gave him a few curious glances, but nothing more.
The second was the giant humanoid robot with an atomic symbol that appeared flying over the city and firing heat rays, melting the exterior of some of the tallest buildings before being struck and knocked out by a much smaller but considerably stronger flying figure. A blonde woman dressed in blue, with an S-shaped symbol on her chest and a long red cape, whose face both interdimensional visitors recognized instantly.
“Well, it seems we've found Lady Enid's counterpart in this universe,” said Wod. “It's a start.”
“Hey, what do you bet that the Wednesday of this reality lives in a gothic city and dresses up as a bat?” asked Pup.
“Although I understand that aesthetic might suit a version of me, and I wouldn't begrudge having more bats in my castle, that sounds strangely specific the way you put it.”
“Oh dear, all these years of multiverse visits and you still haven't read a comic book?”
§§§
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
Woe frowned at the deplorable spectacle unfolding before her, undoubtedly the result of the propensity for gratuitous drama inherent in all teenagers. At her side, Friday watched the scene with a little more indulgence, smiling with her usual affability and a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.
When they regained control of their senses and overcame their initial disorientation, the two Addams found themselves in what they recognized as the room at Nevermore Academy that had housed Wednesday and Enid during their years as students and had been their temporary residence during their accidental visit in the first interdimensional incident caused by Isadora Laslow.
But the decorations and furniture were different from what they remembered, the place seemed more worn... and they didn't have time to look around or investigate further when the door to the room opened and two female figures carrying books entered.
Woe and Friday had expected to meet the local versions of Wednesday and Enid.
Instead, before them stood two girls they had never seen before.
One was tall, with long dark hair, and although there was nothing in her appearance to indicate it, Woe and Friday instinctively felt that she was some kind of psychic. The other teenager was shorter, with unruly black hair tied back in two pigtails and adorned with bright pink highlights. The prominence of the fangs visible in her mouth, open in surprise, and the absence of sunglasses suggested possible lycanthropy.
And then, as soon as they saw Woe and Friday, they started arguing among themselves, taking us back to the scene previously mentioned.
“Don't tell me you haven't done anything! This stinks of another disaster caused by messing with time!”
“Come on, Sora, you know I haven't touched that grimoire since I brought my mom back from the past!”
“Well, explain to me where these two came from?”
“I have no idea!”
“Uh... if I may interject...,” Friday began, but the girls ignored her.
“Oh God, oh God, this year was supposed to be calm…”
“Hey, this isn't my fault. Really. I haven't played with space-time spells again.”
“Well, then tell me what's going on, because if this isn't your doing… Ooh, Principal Barclay is going to kill us.”
Friday sighed. And then Woe witnessed something she had only seen once before. The Addams woman in pink crossed her arms, and the affability of her face gave way to a mask of severe coldness worthy of any Wednesday Addams, before uttering a single word.
“Girls,” she said.
And the two teenagers stopped arguing instantly, their attention suddenly focused on Friday.
She had used the Mom’s Voice.
“Y-yes?” said the shorter one.
Friday relaxed again, and a tension that had inadvertently built up in the room dissipated. Even Woe noticed it, looking impressed at her counterpart.
“Our situation here is somewhat... irregular,” Friday continued, “and involuntary. But I assure you that neither I nor my companion pose any danger to you or the people of this place.”
Woe snorted. Friday glanced at her sideways.
“Well, not actively,” she continued, “You can call us Woe,” she said, while pointing to her companion, “And I'm Friday. And you are…?”
“Uh... er... Sora Toriyama, ma'am,” said the taller girl, using the stack of books she was still holding almost like a shield in a sudden gesture of shyness.
“And I'm Vega Addams,” added the other young woman, causing Woe and Friday to raise their eyebrows. “And could you tell me why you two look so much like my mother and yet are so different? Because it's freaking me out.”
NOTES
The Mafia Addams Family is inspired by the AU created by Karen Acobs (thatwomanlovingpotatofromtwitter on Tumblr and k-acobs.bsky.social on BlueSky). Great artist.
Vega Addams and Sora Toriyama are creations of Barbara_Lazuli (on AO3, barblaz-arts on Tumblr). Another exceptional artist in both drawing and fanfiction.
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