The Conventional Adventures of Isabel Gonzalez: New York Comic-Con 2014 Chapter 1

The Conventional Adventures of Isabel Gonzalez

New York Comic-Con

Chapter 1

First chapters of Conventional Adventures do not take suggestions from the crowd as there is no crowd to get the suggestions from. Chapter 2 will use suggestions from the first day of convention; Chapter 3 uses Day 2, and so on.

The Conventional Adventures of Isabel Gonzalez
New York Comic-Con 2014

Chapter 1

It was January 20, 2014.

Isabel Gonzalez had been waiting for this day for the entire past year. Today would be the day she would finally see her friends again. And she was ready.

She smirked at herself in the mirror as she did a twirl, tightening the ribbon in her long dark hair. Her QWERTY jacket was freshly washed and ironed, not a single crease in its lime green color. She applied eyeshadow above each eye and gave another smile.

Claro, she thought to herself. I'm ready.

A year before, Isabel had sacrificed herself to save her world from disappearing. But instead of dying, she had been transported to QWERTY, an organization that existed out of space and time itself. QWERTY's mission was to help universes collide and separate, and Isabel was their newest member. Her training had paid off, and she was now a full fledged solo member, waiting to go on her first solo mission. But first, she was allowed to go on vacation. January 20th was the only day she could go back to the home world she had saved and visit her friends.

She pulled up her penguin socks and checked her clock -- 12:14 AM exactly -- and typed in her home world's coordinates. Within seconds, she was outside the Saint Arbucks on 72nd Street, and Carissa Lopez -- her best friend and confidant -- was waiting for her.

They spent the day catching up on life, on the details they had missed. Carissa knew about QWERTY -- they had chosen her as their world's guardian -- so Isabel was able to tell her about her training. Carissa told Isabel about her new classes, and her boyfriend Mac met them halfway through the day to do some basic shopping.

Towards the end of the day, Carissa and Isabel sat together over one more chai. "I got you something that I wanted to keep a surprise," Carissa said as Mac came around the corner, a small ball of black in his arms. When he turned it around, Isabel could see that it was a big, round, stuffed penguin.

"You shouldn't have!" Isabel said as she hugged the penguin tight. Isabel loved penguins, as evidenced by the knee-high penguin socks she always wore.

Carissa gave her a smile. "I'm gonna miss you," she said, as she could only see Isabel on January 20th due to the time and space dimensional laws.

Isabel smiled at her friend. "I promise to have lots of fun adventures, so you can live vicariously through me," she said. "That's my job, isn't it? To have lots of crazy adventures so you can hear all about them?"

"I suppose so. But don't get hurt! I wouldn't want anything life threatening to happen to you!"

Isabel leaned her head on her hands as she watched Carissa drink her chai. Carissa had the calm life that both of them had shared once upon a time. They used to go to school together, hang out after hours, have sleepovers and stay up all night watching telenovelas. But now Carissa lived in this world, and Isabel worked for QWERTY. She didn't belong to a world at all. She had to soak up this moment now, because it would be another year entirely before she would be back here.

She took her penguin with her right before she disappeared at the stroke of midnight, a modern-day Cinderella whom didn't belong.

The next day, Isabel went to Sarah Dealey's office to receive her first assignment. Her boss reclined back in her chair, sipping from a chocolate drink, high heels under her desk. Sarah had once worked in a huge office in her version of New York City, and Isabel knew that when she was in her office, her ego was as big as if she had never left.

"Miss Isabel," she said, running a hand through her long brown hair, "you've successfully become the most talented junior solo operative the Dealey faction has ever seen. Not only did you help the Dealey Five with assignment Y-MH-928-C, you were also able to recoordinate the training program for multiple universe blending. Not to mention you finally put a decent coffee maker in the break room. I can never thank you enough. But Leader Llorin has decided that it is time for you to go on your first solo mission. Are you ready?"

Isabel nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"You'll be traveling to world Y-MH-3313-C. Three worlds are blending into one. It's a tricky assignment, but world A is a template and world B is only inhabited by flesh-eating amoebas. I doubt they'll cross over, so it won't be a problem. Your job is to find a guardian for world C and manipulate the dimensional vortex so things don't get too crazy. You remember how things were in your own world, right?"

Isabel did. Entire sections of New York City had disappeared, and they would still be gone had she not made the sacrifice she had.

"Your assignment will start tomorrow," Sarah said, sipping out the last of her drink and putting the cup on the table. "Prepare yourself, Isabel Gonzalez."

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The suggestions for Thursday, October 9th are being calibrated and will be featured in tomorrow's chapter. Stay tuned!