Goddamn Teenagers (Worm, AU/time travel)

[dc2008]

Lisa eyed the now-familiar equipment with trepidation. "We're doing this again?"

The older woman nodded. "Yes. We are watching a different video today. The risk of cognitohazard is quite low, and I have reason to believe you will find the experience quite enjoyable."

"I should feel more conflicted about this. But the prospect that there is information that is too dangerous for me to handle, that bothers me. That bothers me like you have no idea."

Shortly thereafter

Lisa tried to disguise her nervousness as the video began. She didn't think it would work against the older woman, but she had her pride damnit!

PRT office. Security footage. Her power unnecessarily told her. Inter-office mail package on desk. Nameplate read Thomas Calvert.

Her breath caught. The man who entered was not in costume, and she had never seen his face before. But she knew that gait, knew that confidence. She didn't even need to use her power. Coil.

And then he opened the package, and she began to laugh.

"Hand grenades," the older woman offered with a smile. "Someone anonymously sent him hand grenades through the intra-office mail. Shortly thereafter he filed for medical retirement."

She sent them. Her power offered, and Lisa just couldn't take it. She laughed, and laughed, and laughed until she cried.

---

Note: You didn't think I would leave poor Lisa in the dark, did you?

 

[dc2008]

A couple of reasons. First, here the bandaid is getting ripped off fast. She got the whole mess very quickly. Second, this Lisa is younger and less jaded/experienced/traumatized.

When Coil switched from freaking out about the grenades to freaking out about Cauldron and Contessa, Lisa got something like He now thinks he knows who did this, and has worried they will send a teleporting assassin to get him. The woman in the room with me sent the grenades though, and is not surprised at Coil's double freak out, so she knows about the assassin and conspiracy. The woman who my power strangely told me was the most influential in the world. She runs the conspiracy (not quite true actually, but Lisa is missing he some nuances of what her power is telling her). But she works in RCB's office, oh noes RCB is in on it which means the entire PRT and by extension the US government AND ALL GOVERNMENTS IN ALL THE WORLDS are compromised by the teleporting assassin people (true but way overblown, again this Lisa has a long way to go in learning how to listen to exactly what her power tells her). She also picks up on vial powers, a sense that the conspiracy is doing something deeply messed up to give out powers, possibly involving something alien and other-worldly and eldritch that her power finds uncomfortable and unnatural but can't or won't fully explain, so Lisa's imagination fills in the rest.

At some point, law of large numbers says that she realizes that some internet conspiracy theory she saw once was if you squint close to part of "the truth", concludes that poster is some kind of thinker or pre-cog (this one is all Lisa, not her power), and then her power starts filling her in on other things that are "true" if you start on the assumption that everything some random internet nutter says is correct.

Basically she's doing a power-assisted speed run through the EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE spiral most teenagers go through at some point, aided because her power is curious what sort of nonsense new data it can generate by "assisting". Look! If you get a human in a certain mindset you can feed them snippets of context free data and they get Re ally creative! Much of the results are garbage but some are not! Neat!

Also Power knows from QA that Best Host wont let Power's pet human be permanently damaged by this so why not have fun.

Sort of the thing kids do with cats sometimes where they give kitty ALL THE CATNIP to see what happens.

TLDR Lisa is getting a mix of all of canon dumped on her at once plus OH NY GOD EVERYTHING VOID COWBOY SAID IS TRUE REALITY IS A LIE AND I AM CHEESE.

 

[dc2008]

"Was the video productive?"

The other woman adopted a serious expression. "Our not-yet-rebranded thinker quickly confirmed that Calvert has a lot of nasty skeletons in his closet. Then she had a sort of power-driven speculative fit and starting babbling about teleporting assassins, vast world-controlling conspiracies, and dead gods. Fortunately the cognitohazard reversion worked."

Emily looked at the other woman intently. "I can't say I'm surprised, but I didn't expect it to be that bad. Is it something we need to worry about?"

"It has been escalated. I can't speak about Calvert specifically but, well, one hears stories. Never official, never confirmed, about people too useful to lose and too knowledgeable to stand trial."

Emily's expression soured. That sounded all to familiar.

"But sometimes, it is said, they can't help but bite the hand that feeds them. And, well, one may be too useful to die but one might be surprised at what one can survive. I doubt those in this category much enjoy the experience."

"A sort of community service then?"

"After a fashion, I suppose. Less justice than one would hope, but more than can at times otherwise be obtained in this imperfect world. Perhaps if the Endbringers are ever resolved that might start to change."

---

Note:
If you'd asked her before coming back, jaded!Taylor would never have believed how well she relates to Piggot.

As for Emily, well, she's not entirely sure what to make of this unusual woman, but is pretty sure they are at least pointed in the same direction. Emily definitely (1) sees why RCB would have someone like her around and (2) finds her infinitely easier to deal with than most people from RCB's office.

Even if when interacting with the woman, Emily sometimes catches a glimpse of something dark she doesn't want to examine too closely.

Jaded!Taylor might actually be offended at the comparisons Emily draws between her and RCB, but of course jaded!Taylor is sort of in denial about the extent to which she resembles an RCB who grew the fuck up.

 

[dc2008]

"Brandish and Glory Girl, thank you, this should only take a moment."

Carol wasn't entirely sure yet what to make of Dr. Weaver. The request for an aura monitor had been discreet, reasonable, and non-confrontational. Still, Carol preferred to be the one holding authorities responsible, rather than the other way around.

Still, Carol maintained a professional demeanor. "Of course, how can we help the PRT."

"We constantly strive to improve the training we can provide our Wards. When conducting a review of incidence of inadvertent use of excess force statistics, it was noted that Glory Girl's metrics are substantially lower than what we would have expected in a parahuman of her profile. We would love to chat with you and your teammates in detail about your training regimen so as to replicate this success in the Wards program."

Carol did not like where this was heading.

"Of course," Dr. Weaver continued, "if there are additional incidents that inadvertently went unreported, we would be happy to make available to Glory Girl additional training opportunities."

Oh, Christ. Victoria's flinch was unmistakeable. Still, there were formalities to be observed. Carol forced a smile. "Certainly, let me check availabilities and I'll get back to you."

---

Note: Jaded!Taylor is, of course, cheating. She has spent decades hearing uptime!Lisa needle uptime!Victoria about control issues.

 

[dc2008]

Significantly, Victoria is not stupid. Basically as soon as she and her mother were in private she immediately confessed. She didn't realize how badly she had goofed until her mother explained in excruciating detail, but from Dr. Weaver's tone Victoria did realize that she done goofed. Again, Victoria is not stupid. Most of her problems can be summed up as "is a teenager".

Similarly, Carol is not stupid. She knows that this issue is being raised in what is basically the most low-key way possible, and a part of her is waiting for the other shoe to drop. She knows, for example, that if Piggot was the one delivering the message, it would not have been so circumspect. And she knows that if Victoria does not come clean now, the alternatives could be very unpleasant.

I might at some point write some or all of (1) jaded!Taylor giving reasons why she is being so nice, (2) Carol and Victoria's very calm and reasoned discussion or (3) other events going on around this. The messy details of whatever deal gets cut for Victoria will be largely or entirely off-screen because we've all seen that done before, in other fics, no doubt better than I could.

 

[dc2008]

Amy was drained. Her sister had just spent almost an hour tearfully apologizing for asking her to heal those late night gang members. Which was... a thing. That was a thing. Really, she loved Vicky dearly, but it's like her sister was only nowprocessing what Amy had been telling her since the beginning. It sounded like someone had read Vicky the riot act about something, perhaps involving potential leverage that could be used by villainous thinkers, or Victor, or both? Maybe something to do with those news stories about Empire moles? Amy wasn't really sure, and wasn't sure Vicky was entirely clear on the subject either.

Oh well, I suppose I'll get lectured about it eventually.

Amy's musing was interrupted by a politely knock. "Come in?" She said, confused. The only one in this house who knocked politely was her father, who had already retired early. Amy was thus surprised to see Carol enter, looking unusually serious.

"Amy," Carol said without preamble, "I know things have been changing lately. I want you to know, no matter what happens and no matter what anyone says, I love you, and I am so very very proud of you." And then Carol hugged her before, thankfully, fucking off.

What was that about?

 

[dc2008]

This occurs before the prior chapter.

---

"I have now activated a jamming device of the same type used to protect the most sensitive conversations of the Chief Director. Before we talk about Victoria, I would like to first speak of Amy."

Carol stared impassively.

"It is not uncommon for parahumans to be unaware of the full extent of their capabilities. This is especially true of young parahumans. Similarly, recent events have highlighted why a responsible parent might have had perfectly reasonable grounds to decline to share full details of their child's powers with ENE."

Carol continue to stare impassively.

"Thinkers, especially precognitives, are notoriously imprecise. And so when I say 'there exists a timeline', that is all that is meant. It merely speaks to a possible future, not a certain future. With that said, a very select group of persons, which does not at present include anyone in ENE, have recently become aware of two key pieces of information. Firstly, there exists a timeline where Amy plays a critical role in enabling a series of events which avert the death of a number of human lives greater than the current total known collective population of Earth Bet, Earth Aleph, and every other alternate we are aware of. The precise details of how this happens, why it happens, how it can be encouraged or avoided? These details are not certain. Similarly, there exists a timeline where an S-Class threat discovers Amy's potential before we do, and conducts a sustained campaign against her of physical, emotional and mental abuse which results in her becoming uncertain of her ability to control her powers and demanding that she be put in the Birdcage for the safety of the world, over the objections of relevant authority figures, to the extent of attempting to hold the world hostage unless her 'demand' was met."

Carol stared, dumbfounded.

"Needless to say, the Chief Director is now extraordinarily interested in ensuring Amy's continued health and well-being. As well as in determining what, precisely it is about her powers that gives her such potential. Oh, and whatever it was that gave her the strength to with such persistence hold out against such sustained hostile pressure, and to with such fervor insist on the greater good at her own expense."

---

Note:

Yes, jaded!Taylor is heavily slanting things here so as to ensure Carol reacts as desired. Principally, to (1) get Carol to cut Amy some slack and (2) give Taylor room to take such steps as Taylor deems appropriate to ensure that Amy doesn't go off the rails.

It's not that Taylor still has trust or control issues, no. It's just that, well, she knows best after all, and none of the people she spent years carefully vetting are around, so she has to rely entirely on her own counsel and nothing bad will come of it.

Finally, a reminder that Taylor here is older than Brandish.

---

More notes:

Taylor, for the first time in decades, is operating without her usual collection of people to tell her when she needs to rethink things.

Hence, plans like "I will manipulate a traumatized mother to allow me to insinuate myself into the life of her traumatized daughter, so I can reshape her as I see fit I mean properly guide her, so I can ensure the safety from her of my friend's counterpart and also the world! No, it's not grooming, it's a totally different thing for reasons!" Even young!Lisa could tell her that is a bit much.

For all that Taylor is trying to be better, and intellectually knows better, emotionally she never unlearned some of her bad habits around issues like trust and control. Kind of like Brandish in that regard, actually.

 

[dc2008]

Taylor eyed the room's other occupants with trepidation, while munching on her free bagel.

She thought she recognized one girl from a Winslow, and anyone who went to Arcadia was familiar with the Dallon girls. But the rest were a mystery, and ran the gamut from just older than her to a trio of younger girls eying each other suspiciously.

Her older counterpart did that thing she did, where suddenly everyone in the room was paying attention to her.

"Thank you all for coming. Before we get started, it is very important to discuss what these sessions are and are not. Principally, these sessions are about helping young women such as yourselves succeed in our trying world. Although uninteresting to some, this is very important and we will spend some time each session going over basic information you can share on the topic if asked.

"Now let's talk about what this is not…"

Ok so maybe this would be interesting.

A couple hours later

"Hey bro! I'm back!"

"Aisha, how was the thing?"

"I have a worksheet of stuff about girl power!" Aisha considered carefully, before continuing. "And we most definitely did not learn how to lie to the police."

Goddamnit, thought Brian.

---

Note: Aisha is trying

 

[dc2008]

The collective set of (1) people she wants to look out for (e.g., Taylor, Aisha, Sierra, Charlotte, Vicky, etc.), (2) people she doesn't trust and wants to reprogram I mean rehabilitate I mean ensure they don't follow the path of their uptime counterparts (e.g., Amy, Dinah), and (3) people who are in for Reasons (e.g., Missy).

Not willing to firmly and finally state the complete list yet, but the above names are definitely included.

Also, I'm not sure that Taylor has really thought through what the effect of including Missy will be. Uptime, she and Missy have after many years improved their working relationship to "that person you don't like and don't trust but can, sigh, work with" (uptime!Missy never really forgave uptime!Taylor for being Skitter). So Taylor doesn't really like uptime!Missy but also isn't going to excludedowntime!Missy from the super awesome secret club, because that's just what uptime!Missy expects and Taylor will show her! Oh and also downtime!Missy is an at-risk (pre?)teen, and a super-strong shaker, and has a messed up personal life, and is criminally under-utilizing her power, and that's totally the reason it's all to help this adorable girl and the world and stubborn spite doesn't play a role at all.

My take on uptime!Taylor is that she didn't so much get over or grow past certain of her main issues, but rather developed coping and masking strategies because when you are the most correct and right person in the whole world it is easier to present a lie to the world all the time than it is to admit you are wrong. Unfortunately, certain of those strategies rely on having someone (e.g., Aisha, Lisa, etc.) occasionally dope-slap her, and she doesn't have that anymore. I'm sure it won't cause problems.

 

[dc2008]

Armsmaster was surprised to find Vista, in civilian clothes and a domino mask, waiting outside his lab door on the Rig.

"Vista? I wasn't expecting to see you today.

"Oh," she said with feigned nonchalance, "I was out for a walk, had some ideas about my power, and figured I'd stop by."

"Out for a walk on the Rig?"

"No," Vista smiled. "Started at home, stopped by the Medhall tower and then I walked to the rig!"

Ok but that didn't explain WAIT A MINUTE.

"To be clear," Armsmaster said slowly, "you walked, the entire way from your house, to here, without taking a boat?"

"Exactly!"

"Why don't you come inside. I think we have a lot to talk about."

---

Note: Taylor, what have you unleashed!