The Eldritch One (Celestial Forge)

[Optimal Robotics]

Earth Bet is heading towards an apocalypse. Humanity here is out of its 'barbarity as a matter of course' phase, but still in its 'led by shortsighted idiots' phase. Normally the powers that be would not interfere in such self made apocalypses, but this wasn't really caused by humanity. No, this was caused by an idiot savant species that stole a few bare scraps of divinity from a far more deserving civilization. These creatures have been marauding across the local multiverse cluster ever since stealing from and exterminating every civilization they come across. All in a mad attempt to eradicate entropy, only ever bringing it closer to them with each genocided species.

In this particular instance humanity lost by the barest of margins. They killed the central brains of the two creatures that came to their world. By hook, crook, and every tiny bit of power, stolen or otherwise, they could muster. Then a corrupted secondary mind killed their champion before she could finish the job. Their world has been circling down the drain ever since.

Well, if that's what they can accomplish all on their own let's give them a push. Let's rewind time, plug their champion directly into the source of divinity, and make it so my work here cannot be undone. Her shard parasite? Set to the side for now. She has the right to decide what to do with it for herself.

Powers gained this chapter:

Inertia of Self II (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (200CP)
You are protected against effects that would affect your mind and existence.
I: You are immune to any effect that would affect your memories. If someone turns back time, alters reality, or attempts to directly alter your memories, you retain both the 'original' and 'new' memories, instinctively knowing which set is which. Other than your two sets of memories, this perk does nothing to tell you who changed things or even what they specifically changed if it isn't otherwise obvious.
II: You are immune to any effect that would alter or outright destroy your body or existence. This protection extends to conceptual, temporal, and reality warping effects that work either directly or indirectly to destroy or alter you. This would prevent a time traveler from killing you as a baby or causing an accident that would leave present-you paralyzed. It would not protect you from a fireball created through temporal manipulation or having a time traveler frame you for a crime that lands you in prison.

Toggle (Young Justice) (100CP)
Toggle allows its user to forgo learning to control their powers by simply allowing them to turn their powers off when they aren't needed. This can be done per power, so there isn't a need to go without the ability to teleport because you don't want to use your super strength. Also works on out of Jump powers. You can think of this like a dial. It can be on, or full power, as well as off, or no power, and anywhere in between those two states.

Spoiler: AN

So I got a little bit of a hitch in my other story. Having trouble forcing myself to watch MLP. So here you go guys.

Oh, btw. I feel like Palpatine here can put in his own words how I feel about the Entity's methodology

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0SmgoSMg4&pp=ygUPYW5ha2luJ3MgdGhlc2lz

 

[Optimal Robotics]

Celestial Forge story guys! Using version three. Will be rolling for Domain, then Constellation, then perk, then subperk. If I have an unfinished subperk, then I will add a chance to roll to complete a subperk before the Domain. If I can afford it I may choose to buy the whole multi perk.

I reserve the right to veto perks and roll again if I don't feel like I can do anything with them. I did this once when prerolling the first seven perks or so. I reserve the right to choose perks manually if I think they would go particularly well with what I already have. I also did this once in the first batch of perks.

If I roll in the companions Constellation the roll will automatically choose QA. She costs 400CP. This also happened once in the first batch of perks. Couldn't afford it though.

I roll every 1,500 words. Subject to change

 

[Optimal Robotics]

Prologue:

Inertia of Self II (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (200CP)
You are protected against effects that would affect your mind and existence.
I: You are immune to any effect that would affect your memories. If someone turns back time, alters reality, or attempts to directly alter your memories, you retain both the 'original' and 'new' memories, instinctively knowing which set is which. Other than your two sets of memories, this perk does nothing to tell you who changed things or even what they specifically changed if it isn't otherwise obvious.
II: You are immune to any effect that would alter or outright destroy your body or existence. This protection extends to conceptual, temporal, and reality warping effects that work either directly or indirectly to destroy or alter you. This would prevent a time traveler from killing you as a baby or causing an accident that would leave present-you paralyzed. It would not protect you from a fireball created through temporal manipulation or having a time traveler frame you for a crime that lands you in prison.

Toggle (Young Justice) (100CP)
Toggle allows its user to forgo learning to control their powers by simply allowing them to turn their powers off when they aren't needed. This can be done per power, so there isn't a need to go without the ability to teleport because you don't want to use your super strength. Also works on out of Jump powers. You can think of this like a dial. It can be on, or full power, as well as off, or no power, and anywhere in between those two states.


Chapter 3

Plentiful Mouths (Haroun and the Sea of Stories) (300CP)
A Plentimaw Fish is called such due to it having dozens of maws [i.e., mouths] all over its body. You now have the same trait, with several dozen mouths scattered across your body. They can be retracted and concealed from the view of others if you like. When exposed, you can control the many mouths individually or in unison, such that they can speak in many different voices or all as one. As a result, you could say multiple statements, songs, or spells (voice-activated ones) simultaneously. But the greatest strength of having so many mouths is the ability to mix different things together. By absorbing different things in each mouth, whether it is normal food or various stories, they will all meet in your singular stomach and blend together into something new, which combines the best qualities of each ingredient into something special. For instance, two different power-ups would merge as one, and three stories would link into a single narrative. You can also regurgitate the combined mixture.


Chapter 4

Slime (Overlord - The Series) (200CP)
There are many types of slimes and oozes. All of them are uniformly next to impossible to hurt with physical attacks, but are incredibly vulnerable to one type of elemental damage (fire for a regular slime, ice/cold for a lava slime, etc) and also possess a slight weakness to magic in general. You possess the ability to take on a human form that will pass even close inspection, while losing none of the benefits that come with being made up of an amorphous slime-like substance, and possess physical abilities at least twenty times that of a human. Including speed, despite how odd that may seem. You can naturally fit through tight spaces, shape your body into unnatural forms, and can make as many 'feelers' or 'manipulator arms' as you like. In truth you're more like a uniformly colored Shoggoth than you are anything else, except without all the eyes and body parts. Slimes are also powerfully acidic and can inflict grievous acid damage on anything they touch; you naturally possess the ability to determine whether or not your acid will damage the things you are in contact with. All Slimes are naturally good at alchemy and can create alchemical substances and magical potions, if they possess the knowledge of their creation, directly out of their own body. Slimes, due to their nature, are ageless.


Chapter 5

Fuel Production Facility (Starsector v1.2) (100CP)
A large facility dedicated to the production of fuel. By default, the production facility is configured to produce antimatter fuel, but this can be changed to produce alternative variants of fuel at higher volumes. A single facility is capable of producing enough antimatter every month to supply around 10 capital-hull ships without a problem, or around 3000 units of fuel.


Chapter 6

Garage (Fast and Furious) (100CP)
You have a nice garage and parts supply. With a few days and some elbow grease, you could basically rebuild your car or cars from the bottom up; you probably have enough parts to keep someone else's ride running or give it an upgrade, too.


Interlude: Piggot

Environmental Tolerance IV II (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (400CP) (200CP)
You are not damaged by hazardous environments, though this does not provide you a method of propulsion.
I: You no longer need to breathe and do not suffer from temperatures between -100C and +100C (-150F to +200F). You are immune to most radiation (up to about 1,000 mSv; the amount experienced during unshielded exposure to space).
II: As tier I, plus you do not suffer from temperatures below 1500C (+2700F) or the effects of pressure lower than 1000 atmospheres (including the effects of vacuum). You are immune to the effects of radiation at all levels.
III: As tier II, but the protection extends to any non-magical environmental source.
IV: As tier III, but the protection extends to magical environments such as energy planes.
Last


Chapter 8

Environmental Tolerance IV III (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (400CP) (300CP)
You are not damaged by hazardous environments, though this does not provide you a method of propulsion.
I: You no longer need to breathe and do not suffer from temperatures between -100C and +100C (-150F to +200F). You are immune to most radiation (up to about 1,000 mSv; the amount experienced during unshielded exposure to space).
II: As tier I, plus you do not suffer from temperatures below 1500C (+2700F) or the effects of pressure lower than 1000 atmospheres (including the effects of vacuum). You are immune to the effects of radiation at all levels.
III: Completely immune to all nonmagical effects described in tier II.
IV: As tier III, but the protection extends to magical environments such as energy planes.


Chapter 9

Time Flies (Lords Of The Night Zombies) (200CP)
There are many talented old wizards who have devoted decades of work to achieving immortality, and they didn't even start that search until they were already skilled and experienced in their magic. And many of them fall short. You have a single decade. Good thing you can make the most of your time.
Any kind of extended work or project you're working on progresses unnaturally fast. Or at least, your contribution does. Specifically, it goes five times as fast. You can read a book five times as fast, set-up a ritual five times as fast, craft five times as fast, study or do research five times as fast, and so on.
This never works on action or dynamic set pieces. You could do five days of ritual work in a single day, but the high point at the end of the ritual, the part that must not be interrupted lest horrible consequences befall everyone? Normal time.


Chapter 11

Blank II (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (200CP)
Abilities which gather information about your past, present, or future do not work on you. This includes scrying, divination, mind reading, and even cold reading and lie detection. This ability not only affects your immediate person but also provides a degree of protection to items and people around you, making it difficult to predict the past, present, or future of any group you move with or vessel you travel on. If you have the Essential Mutuality perk, your affected companions gain the full benefit of your Blank perk even if they are acting independently.
I: You are immune to all supernatural and technological abilities and devices which perform the functions described above. You simply do not register to such abilities, though your own abilities function normally. Purely mundane skills at cold reading or lie detection will be less effective, but still function to some degree. Dsc: Sch/Ass/Arc/Sup/Lch/Bea/Dra/Exp/Hea
II: Even mundane versions of the above items do not function against you. Furthermore, you are able to detect when someone is actively attempting to discern such information through supernatural or technological abilities or devices and feed them false information of the type they expect. Thus, you can feed an image of yourself asleep in bed to a scrying spell while you're secretly across town beating up thugs or you can have a truth detection spell return 'truth' when you are telling a lie. Note that this does not protect you from compulsions to tell the truth or share information directly. Additionally, any items which you create have a measure of this protection, making it difficult to predict actions directly relying on those items and making it impossible to detect the items themselves with most supernatural abilities.


Chapter 13

Starting HUB | Satisfactorio Builder (Satisfactory-factorio Gauntlet) (100CP)
Satisfactorio Builder (0CP)
The buildy gun from Satisfactory. It can place down buildings and other artificial structures, either from parts or premade. It can deconstruct buildings and other artificial objects, either breaking them down or storing them whole. It can give orders to logistic or construction systems that you are authorized on (including the ones from this Gauntlet.) It can configure the settings of machines. It has an internal inventory that can be upgraded (to a limited extent until you leave the Gauntlet.)
Always fully charged, can be upgraded in other ways, automatically imports into similar handheld stuff, and syncs up with other inventory/storage Perks, Items, and items. If lost, stolen, or broken, it will respawn in an appropriate and safe place immediately, even during the Gauntlet.
* Builder is required to make use of the HUB, it is also a free item.


Interlude: Dean Stansfield

Environmental Tolerance IV (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (400CP)
You are not damaged by hazardous environments, though this does not provide you a method of propulsion.
I: You no longer need to breathe and do not suffer from temperatures between -100C and +100C (-150F to +200F). You are immune to most radiation (up to about 1,000 mSv; the amount experienced during unshielded exposure to space).
II: As tier I, plus you do not suffer from temperatures below 1500C (+2700F) or the effects of pressure lower than 1000 atmospheres (including the effects of vacuum). You are immune to the effects of radiation at all levels.
III: Completely immune to all nonmagical effects described in tier I.
IV: As tier III, but the protection extends to magical sources, and extradimensional environments such as energy planes.


Chapter 15

One-Man Industry (God Catching Meister) (400CP)
Despite being chained to the forge for hours on end, alchemists can make just a handful of works per day. Mixing, forging and enchanting take time and finesse, after all. Those who make items in masse tend to vomit works of low quality. In face of that, you trained and mastered the art of making things really quick without a loss in quality. About ten times as faster as your peers, in fact. While an alchemist with your same rank would take an hour to make a fire sword, you in the same span of time can make ten, and even give each different powers. This bleeds out to other aspects in your life. Time is money, after all.


Chapter 16

Librarian (Smash Up-Obligatory Cthulhu Supplement) (100CP)
You have a phenomenal memory and organizational skill, and a real gift for research. It's a rare day indeed where you can't find the information you need, or at least narrow it down to a single rare book.


Chapter 18

Taydenite (Ben 10) (200CP)
You have found yourself in possession of a large taydenite crystal. Both the rarest and hardest gem in the galaxy, it could be sold for a small fortune. The only thing known to be able to cut taydenite is taydenite. Taydenite is also used to power spaceships, so with some work you could use it as a power source.


Chapter 20

Glove of the East (Binbougami Ga!) (300CP)
This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! It's burning gri-... oh! Sorry, wrong show. This single glove comes in any color and style, and is actually quite useful! You can channel your spiritual energies through it to help you with mundane tasks; your cooking might turn out excellent, cleaning takes less work for better results, and massages work WONDERS when you hit those points. If you channel a LOT of spiritual energy, you might even imbue items and equipment to improve them and be more receptive to your spiritual/chi powers! Heart symbol optional.


Chapter 21

Starting HUB | Satisfactorio Builder (Satisfactory-factorio Gauntlet) (100CP)
Starting HUB (100CP)
Instead of starting with a box containing only the most critical components of the HUB, you start with a prefab base in a box. Set it up anywhere, and as long as you empty it out you can move it around. This base has a craft bench, equipment workshop, a molecular analysis machine, an RTG that produces a small amount of power perpetually, and a spot for the research dropship to land. In addition, it has a rack with a few standard storage boxes and a bunk room big enough for all of you. You start with all recipes that you get from completing the HUB in-game unlocked. Respawns monthly. In addition, you can keep this and drop it at your starting location in future Jumps, if you want.


Chapter 22:

Stone-age Otaku (Earth Girls) (200CP)
It takes a lot of patience and a lot of repetition to make a good blade from a stone. You don't bore, at all, and your hands are always steady. Between different attempts at the same task, you can pick out the tiniest differences between the last attempt and the attempt before that (and the ones before that...) to work out precisely what needs to be tried the next time.


Chapter 25:

Inexhaustible QE Comm Link (Eclipse Phase) (100CP)
Two fingernail-sized Quantum Entanglement communication arrays. If each is installed in a separate device, those two devices can communicate instantaneously no matter the distance. Unlike standard QE comms in the setting, the qubits are not expended when information is transmitted. It has the bandwidth of a high-speed fibre optic connection.


Chapter 28

Honor the Machine Spirit (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Astartes) (400CP)
Apothecaries tend to the bodies of the dead, Chaplains to their spirits. Techmarines tend to the spirits of the Machine. You are a skilled salvager. For example, while others might see a destroyed tank, you can see a way to salvage usable parts, perhaps restoring another vehicle to fighting trim or finding a way to save unique weapon systems to be re-used another day. This also gives you a strong grounding in the Rites of Reverse Engineering, able to examine unknown technology and figure out basic functionality by comparing it to devices you are already familiar with. You also have a much broader definition of the word 'damaged', able to restore machinery that others would swear was inoperable or destroyed given enough time and as long as you have enough of the original damaged parts to work with.


Chapter 29

Costumer (Terraria - Journey's End) (100CP)
Many objects, especially with regards to armor, place function over form. Now, you don't have to settle for armor that is good but an eyesore. You can take any item you possess and 'overlay' it on top of a similar item, changing the second item's appearance to match the first, while maintaining all of its functionality, protective qualities, etc.


Chapter 30

Common Magic (Nexus 2.0) (200CP)
Light is something everyone has, regardless if they are a fighter or not. As such, even the most common laborer will use it to their advantage. You find your abilities are easier to use when turned towards a profession that doesn't involve fighting. Crafting, farming, construction, cooking, and any other profession is able to benefit from your various abilities with great ease.


Chapter 33

Behold Haxcalibur (Modded Skyrim) (400CP)
Congrats, you broke the crafting system. Anything and everything you make, build, enchant, or otherwise create is now ten times better than it really ought to be. Make an ordinary dagger that does 12 damage? Now it does 120. Pick up an endgame weapon and enhance it for its supposed max of 200 damage? 2000. Guns that hold more bullets and do more damage, magic staffs that massively amplify your magic, armor that shrugs off OHKO's, potions that let you ignore 110% of fire damage, weapons with ten or twenty enchantments. And if that wasn't enough, you'll learn anything crafting related ten times as fast, just to blow the competition out of the water even more.

 

[Optimal Robotics]

I feel woozy as I wake up from half forgotten nightmares about my locker. Horrible burning dreams that barely made any sense. Was the locker a dream? No. No it was most definitely not a dream. It was far too hard, cold, and painful to be a dream. There were things gnawing at my insides towards the end there. I shy away from the memories before I throw up again. I don't want to think about it anymore.

I open my eyes to the bright sterile white of a hospital room. Sanitizer smell assaults my nose and makes a nice contrast to when I was last awake. I look around to see Dad asleep in a chair right next to me.

"..." My throat is way too dry. I started working my mouth for saliva but it's taking too long. Isn't there a button for this? I start fumbling around for way too long in my quest to regain control of my limbs. I find the nurse call button eventually, and by the time she gets over here I also adjusted my bed to have myself sitting up. When I see her I try to mime to her about water, but she's done this before.

"I'll get you some water, when I do I'll wake your father up." When she came back with the tiniest water cup ever, I shot her a dirty look. She ignored it with practiced ease to wake Dad up, then left.

"Taylor?" He goes to hug me, but then aborts the movement, seemingly unsure of himself. "Taylor are you okay? What happened?" I look to the side, ashamed. I still haven't told him about Emma.

"I'm... I'm not sure Dad." My voice is still breathy and quiet. "I can't remember much, and what I do remember I can't tell apart from the nightmares." He sets his jaw angrily.

"That would be the fever. You came here septic Taylor, are you sure you can't remember anything? This cannot happen again." I hesitate to answer. He sees me hesitate to answer.

"I'm sure." He grunts.

"Well, let's get you checked out of here. Sooner you can get home the better." I look to him, and then around us suspiciously.

"Dad where are we? Don't hospitals have those beeping machines?" He looks at me wryly.

"Honey, you were transferred to the psych ward for observation. After Panacea healed you, you were stuck in a coma of some sort occasionally screaming about the bugs being everywhere. It's Wednesday now."

"Oh."

The nurse came back a few minutes later with a slightly bigger cup of water for me. I continued to give her my angry eyes, and she continued to ignore me. Dad chuckled. Once we got to the point where I could stand on my own we started the stupid and long process of an early checkout. Dad seems in his element here, but I hate paperwork.

Then the weirdest thing happened. Or I should say I noticed it happening. I noticed that I've been seeing double this entire time. I only realized because a phone call came in to the hospital desk and also didn't? What? Then things started to diverge from there in the nurse station workflow. People start doing different tasks or each other's as different people became available at different times. I started getting a headache as two different nurses were checking us out at the same time. Then as quickly as it started it stopped. Only one thing happening at once, with the things that didn't happen having been retroactively false from the beginning. Oh, I'm going to need some aspirin for whatever this is, I can just tell. And then I started seeing double again. Joy.

By the time I went to bed I figured out this is some sort of time travel bullshit messing with my head. Is it a parahuman? Probably. Not risking telling anyone though. The closest recorded instance of a Parahuman coming to time travel was Dr. Haywire ripping through dimensions, and that almost started a war with alternate America. People take this type of stuff seriously. They make some good TV over there though. Honestly I'm not sure if it would be worse if people believed me or not. If they didn't I might get tossed back into psychiatric care, and my bullies do not need the ammunition. The effect can last for seconds, minutes, or hours. Not sure about days yet, it's only been an afternoon. They can also be fake from the beginning instead of just retroactively. Woo.

Dad pulled me from school the next two days. Then he thought again and went for three days to give me the week off. Most of that time is being used by him to negotiate with the school for a settlement. Only thing is that they know that we can't afford a protracted legal battle so I'm getting stiffed by the school. Just like always.

"Dad, why are we even bothering with this if we're just going to get screwed?" He looks over to me. We're in the school parking lot right now.

"Medical bills." I'm about to say something when he cuts me off. "Also, do you really think whoever did this will quit after you come back to school?"

"..."

"Exactly. Now Taylor, this is very important. I need you to look at me." I do so. "I got it in writing that they'll stop the bullying. When they start fucking around again, I need you to get documentation so we can make them find out." I nod.

"Don't give me that sullen teenager crap Taylor, I cannot overstate how important this is. You need to get me documentation if they start pulling shit. We cannot do or prove anything without it. We have to be able to prove something, anything, in the courts if they try something. It's the only way we'll get any kind of justice if Blackwell tries to weasel her way out of that contract. Do you understand?" I look him in the eyes and nod.

"Good. Let's go home."

---

When Monday rolled around I went to classes as normal. Girls and boys shoved me around. People made multiple attempts to steal my stuff, and none of the teachers did a goddamn thing about it. When my math class rolled around I was sick of it already. I share this class with both Emma and Sophia. Two of my main bullies. Today was basically a study hall so they spent most of it chucking small bits and bobs at my hair.

Then, by chance, the timelines collapsed, and a fake one opened up. This sense of mine has never been wrong about which timeline is fake. Fuck it, I'm taking this chance. In the fake timeline I get up and start walking towards Emma.

"Ooohh, did I finally strike a nerve loser?" I ignore her and keep walking.

"Taylor? Taylor sit down." I ignore the teacher too. Couple more steps and Emma is looking nervous. To my surprise none of my other classmates are stopping me. They're just sitting there watching. Is this what it's like being on the other side of the equation?

"Taylor? Taylor what-Oh fuck!" As I lunge for her, grab her by the hair, and start smashing her smug bitch face into her desk.

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

*CRUNCH*

"What the fuck Taylor! Stop it!" From Sophia I ignore her and continue on. I ignore everybody else too. For me and my adrenaline, there's just the violence right now.

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

Sophia somehow got behind me while I wasn't looking and has her hand on my face. I feel pain from my eyeball as she tries to pull me off. I'm not having any of it. I hold on with a death grip.

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

This goes on for a few more seconds with multiple people trying to pull me off of her. Not sure when it happens, but I eventually feel her slip my grasp. I look up with my good eye to see that Sophia turned Emma's hair to shadow to get her away from me. The room is dead silent for a couple seconds.

"What the FU-"



AN: Thoughts and feelings from Taylor on this in the next chapter.

 

[Optimal Robotics]

Once the adrenaline faded the sight of Emma's battered and bloodied face was, how should I put it... Incredibly fucking disgusting. There was blood splatter on my shirt, some on my hands somehow, and all over the desk. Turns my stomach. Not sure if I should be horrified or relieved at this turn of events.

Then there was the rest of the fake timeline. It lasted for hours. I thought I was mistaken for a while there. That it might have been the real one, but it did end. Most of it was waiting in the principal's office while being denied medical care and occasionally glimpsing the panicked flailing of Sophia trying to salvage what's left of her secret identity. That last bit was the funniest thing going on.

The issue in my actual life has now turned into unmasking Shadow Stalker without her killing me for it. The list of people who would do such a thing to an alleged hero is very small. Wait a minute, is it actually though? There's a, uh, significant number of teenage gangsters that attend Winslow. All it would take is the right rumor working it's way through enough of them. Hmm, food for thought.

Now most might that think that unmasking a Ward is kind of an escalation here. To which my response is are you fucking high?! She almost killed me a week ago! There is no escalating from that! This is the kind of thing national scandals are made of! Except I have no intention of dying before the media takes notice. Oh, she might not have known? That's even worse!! I refuse to let this dumb bitch kill me in any capacity. I've also already tried going to the authorities in the school. I somehow doubt the one in the PRT would give any more of a damn than the ones here. With so much more room to go wrong too.

In computer science class I spend my time making alt accounts for an email and various forums. Going to wait until the time is right before unleashing my storm. I actually got lucky enough for another fake timeline to start when I was waiting for the bus. Good thing the library stays open for about an hour after school. I started unleashing it all into the net. Unfortunately the timeline didn't last more than an hour.

---

The next day there was another hours long fake timeline. I'll have to document these stretches to see if there's any pattern. It is kind of vexing not being able to control this. First thing I did when it started was to get up and walk out of class.

"Taylor sit down." That would be the teacher. I ignore him and keep walking.

"Mr. Gladly, you are a failure of a teacher, failure of a human being, and everybody here thinks you are a sucker. Everybody. Fuck off." I flip him off and slam the door in his face. In both timelines I get such a rush from this. Oh my God, this is the good shit. Drugs? What are those? Can you eat them? Well, yes probably, but that's not the point. The point is this is the best I've felt in months. How does Sophia even get off on violence? It sucks!

The next thing I do is vent Sophia's identity as Shadow Stalker to the wide reaches of the internet at a library computer. Barely an afterthought really. Takes ten minutes with how fast I type. Next on the agenda is... Run around the school, see what I can find? Sounds like a plan.

"Taylor Hebert report to the principal's office." Over the intercom. Ha! Fat chance of that. Over in the gym behind the bleachers I find a couple jocks smoking weed. I try to turn around, but-

"Holy shit, is that Taylor?" Rrgh. Don't run, running gets you beaten. "Hey, did you really tell Gladly off? In front of everybody?" I look at the suspiciously.

"Yeah? What's it to you?"

"Dude, I told you it wasn't fake!"

"Tch, whatever."

"So, you here for some weed or are you down for some fun?"

"What the fuck! No!"

"Hey little lady, don't blame us for making assumptions. There are only so many reasons people come back here." I stomp out in disgust.

Not many more interesting things happening. Despite Winslow's reputation there isn't a stabbing in the hallways every Tuesday. When classes let out I creep behind a couple people and memorize a couple locker combinations for later. I get caught a few times, but who cares. Not like this will have happened by the end of the day.

When lunch comes around I decide to end this with a bang. I decide to just go into the lunch room looking for Sophia. Luckily she's still here. I go right up to her, no hesitation.

"Sup loser." And punch her straight in the face.

"Raaaghh!!" And just like that it's on. A real knockdown drag out fight. Specifically she knocked me down and dragged me out onto the lunch table to wail on me. Wow that was embarrassing. Lost in about two seconds. My thumb is hurting too. A couple teachers eventually broke us up. We're both led to the principal's office. And for once she has the time to see us immediately. It's a New Year's miracle I tells you.

"What did you do to her?" From Blackwell. There's some extra lady in here I've never seen before.

"Bruised her up a bit. Hey, don't look at me like that. I didn't start that fight."

"And her hand?"

"Not my fault she punched me wrong. Dumb bitch probably broke her thumb."

"This does not look good. Taylor, do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?"

"I have no idea how much trouble I am in." I say in my best deadpan. "Please tell me exactly and for what rules I broke. Paperwork to the effect would also be appreciated." Blackwell moves to reach into a drawer before the other suit stops her.

"Don't play her games Blackwell. Now don't play dumb with us little girl, you tried to unmask a Ward today. Why did you do it?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Bitch did what!!"

"Tried?" She puffs herself up all self importantly.

"The automated filters caught what you were doing and scrubbed your posts before they were sent out."

"I'll fucking-"

"Sophia!" From Blackwell. "Stop. Digging." She settles down into a sullen posture.

"So... Does this mean I'm going to be interrogated by anybody in the Protectorate? Am I going to get a nice big trial where all the relevant facts are put before a jury?" I give the mystery suit my most serene smile. "Because that would be very good for me. Come to think of it I don't think just some random grunt has the authority to do much of anything here." I feel the energy in the room shift at my calling of their bluff. They are on the back foot.

"Taylor Hebert you're under arrest for the attempted unmasking of a Ward." She produces some handcuffs. I suppress a flutter in my stomach. This is a new experience for me. I don't resist as she handcuffs me. I do my best attempt at projecting serene confidence and stare in Sophia's eyes the entire time. She's a bit creeped out by it. I really gotta get the small victories in where I can.

"Don't worry about the paperwork Miss Blackwell, I'll take care of it all." I'm frogmarched out to an unmarked van just outside, to the amusement of some. I'm even being filmed. It's almost too bad this never happened really.

It's here while I'm sore and in pain that I contemplate my situation again. What in the actual hell is going on here? Am I a parahuman? Sure as hell doesn't feel like my power I'm using if so. Am I seeing somebody else's power? It's just, it's just so goddamn bizarre. How would I ever use my power normally if so? Whatever, I'm not getting anywhere thinking myself in circles like this.

About an hour into our drive I noticed that we're moving out of the city.

"Excuse me, I can't help but notice we're not going to the PRT Miss..."

"Smith." Well darn, that's fake. "We're not going to the PRT because you're threatening a scandal that will cost me my retirement. You're not surviving the day." I slowly lean back in my seat. Not every day somebody admits to plotting to murder you.

"So how are you planning to get out of this?"

"Excuse me?"

"What is it they say? It's not the crime it's the coverup? You were only facing down a scandal before. Its probably all over social media and the school right now that the resident punching bag got arrested. Didn't a few students get you on video marching me out? Dad is going to be wondering where I was booked into. He's going to be wondering why nobody informed him. Hell, don't government cars have trackers on them? You're-"

"Shut up you little smartass bitch! You think you know everything don't you? You think the law will punish me when you're gone? Ha! I've seen law enforcement get away with things that you wouldn't believe. You're just one little girl. Nobody is gonna make any fuss about you."

"We'll see then, won't we." She grunts and looks back to the road. I continue my implacably calm staring contest with her every time she looks back at me.

---

Thank Christ that timeline ended before she actually killed me. For all my bravado I do not want to actually experience death. And what a sentence that was. The transfer of pain is weird between timelines. Ghostly but not. I vividly remember it, but it's all only memories. It's... Surreal. I can take it if it means getting my life back though.

Anyways, I have some goals. First up is locker combinations. Any time a fake timeline opens up in-between classes I'm going to be memorizing locker combinations and writing them down in one of my notebooks. Not keeping them in school for anybody to see though, that can only ever end badly. I'll collate them at home, and either memorize what I need or bring them with me when I need to open a locker. This is all to plant evidence that other people leaked Sophia's identity. Second up is making a more secure online account. I do this in less than a day. Just repeating my account creation spam in the city library. Signed up for the computer as Emma to cover my tracks. No cameras facing the computers, fortunately. Also not going to be spreading the information over the school computers. Not sure exactly what the automated filters do, but I'm pretty sure they're on the school's side of things. For example I doubt the PRT has any kind of power over the Gesellschaft owned forums over in Germany. I spread a wide net.

My final goal is to get better at fighting. Just in case. That means whenever a fake timeline opens up that lasts more than five minutes, and I'm not doing anything else I go and start a fight with Sophia. She beats me every time. It's not even close. It's all just as quick and dirty as the first time in the cafeteria. So frustrating. The worst part is that it's all so calculated. I've started noticing that every single encounter with me she has a plan to take me apart from the first second, and then she executes it. Flawlessly. Actually makes me kind of mad when I see how much control she has over the situation. Means every tiny bit of pain she's inflicted on me has been on purpose. Gonna take up cardio and go to the gym to help with this. Gotta put on muscle and work on my endurance to help with my situation. All the muscle memory in the world won't help me one bit if I don't have the physical capability to back it up.

I do technically have another option here. That is to get in touch with somebody up the chain of command in the PRT. They'll probably be more sympathetic to my cause than agent 'Smith' was. One does not simply jump to murder in the woods or wherever to cover something up if you think your bosses will help with the paperwork. Though there is the risk they will be sympathetic to her in some way and screw me over regardless. If I can find somebody I think will help I'll go for it, but I'm not holding my breath here.

And now we play the preparation game.

 

[Optimal Robotics]

It's Friday now and I've made some unexpected progress. I admit I haven't quite stuck to the plan. I get a little nervous about going to fight Sophia every day. Just a little bit. I end up procrastinating by swinging over by those stoners I 'met' on Tuesday. They're surprisingly decent people? I asked about drugs once and they were weirdly adamant about only smoking weed. Like that made it any less illegal. I even saw Sparky stop by once and smoke some weed. I can't really say I'm surprised about that. They're worried I'm trying to be a narc too, until I point out what they let happen to me in the locker. Fuck them teachers.

I also bought a list of what cameras work and don't work, and their usual field of view from one of the gangers. In a fake timeline of course. All the ones in the cafeteria, outside, and by the offices work. Most of the other ones inside do not. This actually makes some sense in regards to where everybody's favorite ambush spots for me are. It also eliminated some of my potential targets for framing for the unmasking. Good to know.

There's also the fact that, despite my best efforts, my don't give a fuck attitude is bleeding into actual reality. This is both good and bad for me. Good because people are now slightly more cautious around me for some reason. Even Sophia has physically held Emma back once or twice before she could go for me. Bad because all this has really done is make them gang up on me more. Eh. Kind of neutral really. I mean it's slightly easier to dodge big groups, but I can't always manage it. Some other bystanders have also approached me too, but I know how this song and dance goes. I try and befriend somebody and one or two weeks in it all turns out to be an elaborate plot to humiliate me, steal my shit, or beat me up. No thanks.

In fitness news I've started working my way up to my goals. Slow going so far, it hasn't even been a week. Though I did manage to find out that I was missing a piece of the fitness puzzle. Flexibility. Gotta limber up in order to not pull any muscles. Thankfully the gym teacher was able to show me a comprehensive stretching routine. I'm not going to be joining any gymnastics teams anytime soon, but I don't plan on slacking off either.

Unfortunately I'm checking in right now because Emma managed to corner me in the stairwell just after school. Probably managed it because she was alone. I've gotten used to only thinking of groups of people as threats. How silly of me.

"What are you trying to pull, loser?" I raise my brow. None of my illicit activities have made any kind of impact in any real timelines.

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about. Would you care to elaborate?"

"That! That right there! You're not afraid of me anymore! I'm gonna be fixing that right now."

"My God. You're actually mad I'm not afraid of you." She reaches into her pocket and starts inching towards me. Looks like this is getting dicey. "Emma, do everybody a favor right now. Run that back in your head and tell me exactly how sane it sounds." She continues inching forward.

"Ha! As if! You just- Holy shit your face!"

"Haha. Very original." But just to be safe I reach up to check. She did just take three steps back after all. And let's just say thank god I had plenty of practice keeping a straight face this past week. I felt a massive moist gash with teeth all along my left cheek, and I saw a goddamn zipper mouth in my forearm as I brought my hand up. No, no. Stop this bullshit right now and get away from me! And holy shit they closed right on up, thank Jeebus!

"You're a cape aren't you! No no no, it all makes sense!" She turns around and runs down the stairs.

"Emma!" A couple classmates finally see fit to enter the stairwell. I ignore them. "Emma what the fuck are you talking about!!" I yell on after her. No response. Well shit!

You know what, no I'm not worrying about that. A new fake timeline just opened up. Those are kinda rare in the afternoon, so I'm taking full advantage. Probably not going to last more than five minutes, but that was never a guarantee from any of these timelines. First I leave school and start walking downtown. I managed to find one of the few remaining internet cafes in town. Cash only so it's probably a money laundering scheme for one of the gangs, but beggars can't be choosers here. I do stop in a public bathroom to change into a brand new hoodie nobody has ever seen me in, make sure to hide my hair, and take off my glasses. I sign in as Emma again to stay consistent for the records. I suppress the fluttering in my belly as I spread Shadow Stalker's identity all over the internet again. This is only the second time I've done this. Hopefully it ends better than last time.

I have to walk home today because of all this. Takes me more than an hour, but I still get home before Dad. I lock myself in my room with the computer to monitor the situation. And there's not really a whole lot I can do to track the progress other than knowing I haven't been arrested quite yet. Still I head on over to CapeWatch and PHO to see if they've got anything going on. Hmmm, Stormtiger blew out an apartment about a mile and three quarters away from here. Witnesses said a black family lived there. Writing down the address to investigate later. Not much else I can do right now.

Back in the real timeline I'm currently stripped down examining the mouths all over my body. What in the actual fuck is this? The most prominent one starts at my forehead, goes down between my eyes, and ends at my chin after going across my left cheek. There's one on my belly, on my arm, two on my back, and all over my limbs. Makes me want to fucking scream. But weirdly not as much as I feel it should? It doesn't feel wrong exactly. Just the frustration of trying to learn how to write with my left hand about twenty times over. And they're all functional too. I can eat with them and it fills me up, and vocalize with them. They each have a different set of teeth and voice though. And I still can't actually talk with any of them, just make noises. You know what, fuck this. I'm putting them all away. This is just way too weird for me.

Back in the false timeline, it's lasting a surprisingly long time. It's ten o'clock now, and I'm asleep in the real one. If I could, I'd keep a dream journal like this. Makes my nightmares seem so silly in comparison to real life. I'm interrupted in my musing by a shadow creeping through the window. I left both the window and my door open for just this eventuality.

"Why hello there Sophia. What brings you here?"

"So you admit it. You outed me." As she levels her crossbow at me. I get up and start my stretching routine. Inching myself towards the door all the while.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Everybody knows I'm a useless nerd with no social life. I found out on PHO. Same as everyone else."

"Cut the shit. My brother is dead because of you. You outed me because Emma outed you, then framed her for it, didn't you?" I pause my stretching.

"That's very good to know." I return to my stretches. I'm not all that concerned about Emma. She only knows about those stupid mouths. Probably going to go scare mongering with her little network. I have an in now. Just call her sanity into question. If that doesn't work, well shit I don't know. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. "Hey remember when you made fun of me for having a dead mom?" Her grip tightens on her crossbow.

"If you think that means-"

"I think that means I don't give a fuck!!" She looses her bolt in either anger or surprise. Her aim was slightly off. It hits me in the shoulder. Oh goody. A new type of excruciating to catalogue. I bolt towards the door and close it behind me. Yeah, I'm not gonna be using that arm today. Good thing it was my left. I squeeze myself into the corner.

She bursts through the door in her shadow form not a second later. I manage to surprise her and shove her into the wall. Another thing there. I shouldn't have been able to pull that off. She must have either terrible or no eyesight in her shadow form. Another weakness to exploit. I run back into my room and slam the door while she's dazed. Won't last long so I have to act quick. I slide and jump out of my window. Not having to fear consequences makes this easier I think. I would normally hesitate at such a drop. Bit hard on the ankles though, even in the grass.

Wasting no time I push through the pain to run straight back into the house, making sure to jump past the broken step. Might not make much sense to go right back into a house with a psycho killer in it, but she'll have to jump down after me to see where I went.

*THUNK*

"Fuck!" Ah, one of the few advantages of having such a demotivated father. I rip through the house in order to get to the front door, making sure to leave plenty of tripping hazards. Once there I sprint across the street to my neighbor's yard.

*THWIP*

As I see a crossbow bolt stuck in the fence. Can't forget to dodge those now. I hop the fence real quick making sure to make plenty of noise doing so. For you see I know something Sophia doesn't.

"BARK!! BARK!! BARK!! BARK!!" That is that old man Jenkins here owns a very angry pitbull. And I only need to be slower than her to dodge him. I manage to jump the fence and dodge the dog to leave Sophia with about ninety pounds of pissed off problem. Judging by her screams and yelling it seems it is a slight hindrance to her.

"Yelp!" Or maybe not. Well I've got a good ten seconds head start. All I need to do now is find a nice and cozy hiding spot. Settle in with my aching ankles and bleeding shoulder. This is going to suck isn't it.

---

The timeline ended about an hour after that. It did indeed suck. Bled into my nightmares too. Well I do have one thing to look forward to today. I managed to convince Dad to sign me up for weekend self defense classes.



Powers gained this chapter

Plentiful Mouths (Haroun and the Sea of Stories) (300CP)
A Plentimaw Fish is called such due to it having dozens of maws [i.e., mouths] all over its body. You now have the same trait, with several dozen mouths scattered across your body. They can be retracted and concealed from the view of others if you like. When exposed, you can control the many mouths individually or in unison, such that they can speak in many different voices or all as one. As a result, you could say multiple statements, songs, or spells (voice-activated ones) simultaneously. But the greatest strength of having so many mouths is the ability to mix different things together. By absorbing different things in each mouth, whether it is normal food or various stories, they will all meet in your singular stomach and blend together into something new, which combines the best qualities of each ingredient into something special. For instance, two different power-ups would merge as one, and three stories would link into a single narrative. You can also regurgitate the combined mixture.

 

[Optimal Robotics]

Guys, I know how Coil's power works and I'm sorry for not clarifying earlier. I didn't think I needed to. Heck, I still might not need to. But this irks me greatly.

Coil's power works the same.

Taylor's power is taking liberties in how it defines time travel. Specifically that any sufficiently advanced simulation is indistinguishable from it. Kinda like how the Vex version worked in destiny. Don't quote me on that I never played the game.

A couple other reasons as well, but I think a very famous and handsome author put it best back in page one.

Rule of cool. Nuff said

Click to shrink...

 

[Optimal Robotics]

Monday morning is here and I've come to school armed with the knowledge on how to deal with the type of bureaucratic stonewalling that Blackwell loves. He dropped me off personally today, and then drove off to work.

Emma and her cronies, Sophia notably absent, gathered to greet me in the entry hall. Only for a fake timeline to split off, a bunch of paramilitary goons to start shooting into the air, and tell us to get on the ground. I complied because this doesn't matter to me.

And to my absolute shock and amusement they kidnapped Emma.

Coil: One Week Ago​

Today is nothing special. Just another Monday after the new year. I've finally established one of my Parahuman patsy gangs and I'm well on my way on enacting my actual plans for Brockton Bay. Life is good. Currently I'm splitting the timeline between work and my lair. Work to log in to the PRT computers personally and my lair to copy over the information to my computers. It's generally very slow going. Not because of my typing speed, no no. It's because I didn't have all the access I needed at first. I also fell into some misinformation traps early in my tenure here. Took me quite a while to undo the damage those did to my information networks. I did the gangs the favor of revealing those to them once I found out about them. Because I was feeling nice that day.

I'm putting in my standard four hour workday today, not really doing anything much productive. I can get away with this because I'm a consultant. I'm not really doing anything because I'm not being asked to do anything. Because Director Piggot hates me. By the same token she can't really fire or transfer me due to my contract making that basically impossible. When I'm not 'working from home' I get by in the office generally playing being at loose ends and filling out the occasional spreadsheet or something for one of our overworked clerks. Makes me very well liked, and easy to trade favors in the office building. Multiple times even with my power.

At this moment I'm burning through my favors in a disposable timeline to get access to a great deal of information I shouldn't have. Most of it is totally useless, but this is actually how I've managed to blackmail my way into having as many moles as I do in other departments. It's at this time an automated alert pops up on my screen. Hmm... Shadow Stalker's identity compromised. Got into a fight in school where she used her powers. Yada yada yada. Well I can't say I'm surprised about this considering what the little psychopath did to Grue over the holidays. Damn shame I couldn't capitalize on it. Though you never really know what the deranged are going to do at any given moment. Oh well.

The next day I'm doing it all again. Not really much new information, but I make up the time wasted in my other timeline. Getting loads of petty bullshit out of the way that I have to deal with in my lair. Then I get an automated alert. Shadow Stalker's identity compromised on Winslow computers. Well no shit Sherlock, it's already been compromised. That ship has sailed, the genie is out of the bottle. No reason to get so upset over it though, it's just a machine. Better to be sure though. When my shift is over I make my way to Deputy Director Renick's office. I'm waved in.

"Hello there Thomas, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm having some confusion about the alert about Shadow Stalker." He grimaces.

"Ah yes, that. While the lack of details are concerning her case worker is investigating as we speak." Ah good, he didn't notice that I'm not actually cleared for this information. Wait, what?

"Wasn't her identity compromised already? Just yesterday she got into a fight that revealed her power." He furrows his brows for a few seconds then starts looking it up on his computer. I wait patiently.

"Are you feeling alright?" I shift uneasily. This seems suspicious.

"Yes, why?"

"Oh no reason." As he subtly reaches for the panic button. Ah hell. Troopers slam the door open behind me and hold me down by the shoulders. "Take this man to Master/Stranger quarantine."

"Oh for fuck's sake." As I'm lifted up. "I take it that Shadow Stalker didn't blow her identity yesterday?"

"Correct." I end the timeline.

The situation here is an easy fix, and it has to do with the nature of my power. You see my power has an inescapable limit to how long I can keep going with it. That limit is the butterfly effect. You see my power relies on how closely the timelines match. I also need to be in a position of power to do anything within my constraints. This creates a dilemma for me. As a person of power walking the halls of power, however local they are, every single one of my actions has a disproportionate effect on the world. For example: taking the last pot of coffee in the break room without replacing it could piss off all the paper pushers in the building. This would lead to more mistakes and less productivity for the PRT overall for a day. That could have all sorts of knock on effects that I cannot measure. I can vaguely see the sequence of events here though. Something I did at work affected the PRT agent assigned to Shadow Stalker somehow and from there things went all caddywampus in Winslow. That said, I try to only use my power for three days or less at a time. I have gone for more, but that was mostly to make plays on the stock exchange.

My solution to the situation is simple. I'm actually going to go to work and apply my power there, while anonymously tipping off the E88 to be ready to capitalize on the Ward's unmasking. Only now it's Friday and no unmasking happened. Irksome. Well back to business as usual.

So it's Friday afternoon after my 'workday' and I just got finished torturing Tattletale. Not for fun mind you. Well, mostly not for fun. She's a forcibly recruited asset you see, and I have to keep her in line. Right now, in the timeline I'm going to keep, I'm instructing some of my mercenaries to dismantle her plans to escape me. Over the next few months I'm going to be periodically ruining her plans like this to instill in her a sense of learned helplessness. Hopefully that manages to get her settled in as my new underling. It would be most unfortunate if I had to burn such a useful asset. I turn to the mercenary just outside the torture room before I close the timeline.

"Did anything happen that I should be aware of while I was in there?" He checks the terminal I put here for just this purpose.

"Shadow Stalker was unmasked." My eye twitches.

"What." The man gets visibly nervous at my anger. He knows what I was doing in there. I push past him to power walk to my office. Checking the time it's 8PM right now. I start calling up every favor, spy and, threat I can to get information on this. First as Thomas, then as Coil. It takes an unacceptable amount of time to get a name here. Emma Barnes. I recognize that name, I'm absolutely certain she was part of the original incident. Phone records show that she had Shadow Stalker's identity and had already tried to unmask another cape that she possibly triggered herself. Just one more cape and she would be in the running for the Darwin awards. I end the timeline.

Come Monday I put together an operation in a disposable timeline to kidnap the girl in question. I'm going to get the answers out of her about what's setting her off, one way or another.

Three hours later​

Oh my God, she's certifiably insane. She couldn't even give me a straight answer to the most basic of her motivations when her life was literally on the line. There is just no telling what will set her off. She's far too deranged to predict!

You know what, fuck it, I just won't do anything all that important until Shadow Stalker is unmasked. Shouldn't be too long now. Just have to update my tip to the E88. 'Unmasking can happen any time within the next month.'

 

[Optimal Robotics]

"So has the bullying stopped?" I look up to Dad. We're having our Sunday breakfast. That was out of the blue. And rude. Now normally I would just dismiss him with a 'sure' or other affirmative response. But I've seen how quick people are to jump to straight up murder as a response to cover up for their own stupid actions in the past week. I think I'm going to need some other options to deal with the bullshit everybody is bringing to the table.

"Not entirely. Dad what am I supposed to do when the Principal refuses to hand me over any paperwork?" He freezes up. He carefully sets his mug down. His jaw and nose twitches.

"You escalate the issue up the chain. Normally that would go to the board of education in city hall, but I wouldn't trust those idiots to find their asses with both hands with how hard everybody involved is covering them. No, we're going straight to the cops and the hospitals. And immediately after you're refused documentation, or they try to downplay any more incidents you leave the fucking building and go straight to whichever applies. Alright?"

"But what about hospital bills?"

"You leave those to me sweetie, okay?" I nod. "Oh, and we're going shopping today to get you a cell phone."

"A cell phone? But what about-"

"You're not driving, and you need a camera for this. A cell phone is a lot less noticeable than a camcorder." And that, as they say, was that. After our shopping trip I went to the library to print off an article a few dozen times. Just preparation.

---

Monday morning is here and I've come to school armed with the knowledge on how to deal with the type of bureaucratic stonewalling that Blackwell loves. Dad dropped me off personally today, and then drove off to work.

Emma and her cronies, Sophia notably absent, were gathered to greet me in the entry hall.

"Hey there bitch. You think you can get your life back just because you grew a few extra mouths?" Oh my God, they're just doing it. A fake timeline splits off. I ignore it. Then the shooting starts right outside the school. I jump and look behind me in both.

"What, you scared?" Only in the real timeline. "You can run away you know, the choice is up to you." The gunmen are in the school now. They're telling us to get down and I comply. In the real timeline I set down my backpack and start rifling through it. In the fake timeline one of them zip ties Emma and throws her over her shoulders with her screaming bloody murder. They all retreat.

"Pahahahahaha!!" I almost do double over in laughter.

"What the fuck is so funny bitch!" I get up and pull the articles out of my backpack.

"Oh, holy shit I needed that. Guys show of hands, who here thinks this is actually a good idea?" I walk up and start handing out articles. I managed to find one that would fit on one page with a gruesome picture. Nobody is sure what to make of my insanity here.

"Because this is what happened last time somebody unmasked somebody in a school like this." I get to Emma and she throws it to the ground. "Google it." I notice that some of the phalanx have already quietly melted away into the traffic walking around our little group.

"Get her!" Nobody still here takes a step towards me. Looking at her face it's almost purple with rage.

"Hey guys, does anybody here appreciate our dear Emma gambling with your lives with this?" Nobody moves or says anything. "What a curious response. Say Emma I'm gonna do you a solid here. I'm going to give you a chance to put your money where your mouth is." I stand up in front of her, eyes closed, and legs and arms splayed.

"Hit me." Please please for the love of God be stupid enough to fall for this. I know for a fact the cameras in here work, and I want to spend the rest of my day in a hospital/police station and not in school.

I peek past my eyelids after about a minute. Nobody's in front of me anymore. Well darn. I pick up my bag and rush into one of the bathrooms. This is what I was talking about. After the locker Emma just really isn't that threatening anymore. And unmasking me? Well a smart person would've tried blackmailing me or something. Unluckily for me Emma isn't all that smart. Now I gotta deal with the Nazis that are probably going to try and recruit me. And I have no idea how I'm gonna tell my Dad any of this. I get into a stall and sit down. FFUUUUUUUCCKKK!! I lean back to relax.

Why the flying fuck did I just melt into the toilet bowl!!



Powers gained this chapter.

Slime (Overlord - The Series) (200CP)
There are many types of slimes and oozes. All of them are uniformly next to impossible to hurt with physical attacks, but are incredibly vulnerable to one type of elemental damage (fire for a regular slime, ice/cold for a lava slime, etc) and also possess a slight weakness to magic in general. You possess the ability to take on a human form that will pass even close inspection, while losing none of the benefits that come with being made up of an amorphous slime-like substance, and possess physical abilities at least twenty times that of a human. Including speed, despite how odd that may seem. You can naturally fit through tight spaces, shape your body into unnatural forms, and can make as many 'feelers' or 'manipulator arms' as you like. In truth you're more like a uniformly colored Shoggoth than you are anything else, except without all the eyes and body parts. Slimes are also powerfully acidic and can inflict grievous acid damage on anything they touch; you naturally possess the ability to determine whether or not your acid will damage the things you are in contact with. All Slimes are naturally good at alchemy and can create alchemical substances and magical potions, if they possess the knowledge of their creation, directly out of their own body. Slimes, due to their nature, are ageless.



AN: I would've loved to make this chapter longer, but sometimes these endings just write themselves.

 

[Optimal Robotics]

I fell into a goddamn toilet! Everything but my socks are drenched in piss water! Hell it's a wonder I haven't fucking flushed myself with how today is going. Flexing myself upwards at least lets me out. Oh, goody the mouths are back. A flex of will at least gets me back to human. I didn't soak through my clothes either, which is also good. I purposely let my concentration lapse for a second and I revert back to slime. Oh joy, I can't ever relax again. I turn myself human and open the door to the toilet to find one of the preppy girls looking around. Specifically one of the head Nazis bitches.

"Oh hey Taylor, I was hoping I'd find you here." I slowly blink. I bet this bitch didn't even know my name a week ago. "So I know you've been under a lot of stress lately, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with a party with me."

"You are a hypocrite and a jackal. Get away from me." I try and move past her but she grabs me by the shoulder.

"Taylor I don't think you realize what an opportunity this is." I breathe in and then out.

"Would I be correct in assuming that this is some sort of white supremacy thing?"

"Well, you see-"

"Because I don't have powers."

"So that little confrontation in the entry way was just a bit of play acting? Come on, I know how bad two weeks ago must've been."

"Yes. It was play acting. I was trying to trick Emma into taking the first swing on camera, but not get actually get beaten to death by my classmates. So I could go to the cops and sue the school. I was grifting!"

"But the locker-"

"I didn't get shit from the locker! It was another lie from Emma designed to ruin my life for..." I throw my hands up in an exaggerated shrug. "Reasons?Bad things do happen all the time to people, and almost nobody gets powers from it! Just ask everybody Oni Lee ever bombed." Almost mentioned the Empire there. Gotta remember who I'm talking to. "Hell, this isn't even a moral stance! If you tried to help me anytime before New years you might have fooled me. I was being shat on from on high by a black girl and her friends for over a year and none of you did shit! But now I might be the least bit useful, you suddenly want to be the bwestest of fwends.

"You are a hypocrite and a jackal. Get. Away. From. Me." She lets me leave this time, thank god. Past her two cronies guarding the door.

For my part I'm going to the office. I walk up with my phone, give it a once over of my drenched form, and walk up to the receptionist. "Hey there." She doesn't look up at me. "Ahem. So for the record, I need to go home and change. I'm soaked with toilet water." She doesn't look up.

"All absences need to be excused by a parent or guardian."

"Mom is dead, and Dad is driving to work without a cell phone. I wasn't asking permission though. I just got done with a major hospitalization. I was septic. I am not risking another infection. I will not be attending school in this condition." She looks up to speak to me, but then freezes when she sees the camera pointed at her. She tries to lunge for it, but can't do much from her chair.

"Delete that video right now!" I step back.

"Lady, what do you think 'for the record' means?" I stop the recording. She starts trying to yell at me, but I'm already walking out the door.

I take the city bus most of the way home and walk the rest of the way. Once there I start a load of laundry. Not leaving this water to stagnate in my clothes. I've had to throw more than my fair share of shirts away due to soda fueled mold.

Then I called Dad, he's probably in the office by now. "DockWorker's Union hiring office, Danny speaking." I swallow.

"Dad I think I messed up." He's silent for an uncomfortably long time.

"...tell me what happened." I tell him everything except that Emma was the ringleader. Also except for the fact I do have powers. That stays locked in a box forever with how messed up they are. After I'm done telling him the events of the day he lets out a big sigh.

"Almost none of that was ideal. Taylor how did you figure out people were going to say that you have powers?"

"Facebook." And it's even true. I looked it up to confirm they were going to start some shit, and I got a bunch of DMs from Emma threatening me about it.

"Taylor." He sounds disappointed.

"What?"

"Taylor, you need to stop keeping things from me. As your father I am on your side. If you found this out on Facebook then we already have all the evidence we ever need!"

"But, but..." But I don't want him to find out Emma turned on me.

"I'll be right there Taylor, then we can start putting a case together."

"Wait, could you call the school first? I'm technically skipping and I don't want to be in even more trouble for it"

"Sure thing."

*Click*

Shit. Well I don't think I can keep my powers from him much longer. He's like a dog with a bone. Barking and chasing at anybody who wants to take it from him. He's been hounding the mayor to reestablish the ferry for over a decade now and that's probably never going to happen.

---

Back in the fake timeline the PRT troopers have finished getting statements from the students. Apparently they're employed by a supervillain by the name of Coil. Well I guess I know what's going on with the timelines now. They're his. There is just no other way to interpret that timeline split. I mean I suppose it's possible there were some wacky sit com level hijinks going on there, but I don't think so. I skip school before they can announce that it's cancelled for the day. I mean it's a pretty sure bet here, and if anybody but me did this they wouldn't get in trouble anyways.

Once I get home there, I start practicing with my powers. Not liking them isn't an excuse to get blindsided by them and oh, say, fall into a toilet because of it. My slime form is really straightforward. I'm made of slime now, through and through. Hammers can't hurt me, knives can't hurt me, but can still cut into me, I can reattach with any severed body part, they even flex to do it from both parts, and I am highly acidic when I want to be. That last part is a real zinger here. I dissolved through my bedding in seconds, and it took a minute or two to get through the floor. Probably does incredibly disgusting things to the human body. I also have an incredibly sensitive motion sense in slime form that replaces sight. I also don't transform my clothes when I'm a slime, so I have to be mindful of that. Now my mouths? Those are a bit more complicated. Given a half hour of practice I was able to make them speak, but not with all that much coordination. Well, they're all functional. Every single one of them has a distinct voice, but that might not matter so much when I have just so many of them. I can make them disappear as needed, or make more of them at any time across any part of my body. Though that last part may be because of my amorphous nature. Who knows. I certainly never tested it before surprise slime time. They each have an esophagus that goes to a central stomach too. Not sure how much that matters when I can just totally dissolve my food in my hand though. I'm also absolutely certain I'm missing something here though. Knowing how the type of power I seem to have goes though, I'm not sure I want to find out. It's almost certainly horrific, disgusting, or both. Crawler of slaughterhouse nine fame comes to mind when you think about biological powers like mine. I did find a silver lining to all this though. It's that I can apparently go back to human if I want it bad enough. And I don't mean weird slime sack pretending to be human, I mean honest to goodness solid human. With bones and everything! I have to manually turn slime mode back on after that.

Enough of that though. Dad just got home in the real timeline. Time to channel my nervous energy into tunneling to the center of the earth! See what happens, catalogue how long it takes to tunnel through the foundations, etc.

---

"Taylor, you still here?"

"Yeah Dad, where else would I be?" I call down the stairs.

"I don't know. Come with me into the study. I need you to show me everything you can." I go down to him. The study isn't all that impressive. It's just a small cramped room where Dad keeps his computer and paperwork. Nothing from work though, he stays late if he needs to get more done there. He motions for me to sit down.

I start logging in to Facebook only to freeze up when I remember that it's Emma's vitriol that I'll be showing him.

"Go on honey. I need to know what I'm working with here. We'll never be able to enforce the contract or make them stop if I'm working blindly." I continue and show him my private messages. When he starts looking through it I feel him radiating anger behind me. I shrink down in his seat as his grip on it tightens.

"Dad I don't, that is to say I didn't-" I stop talking as he looks down at me. His glower lessens.

"None of this is your fault kiddo. Don't ever act like it is. It's theirs because they choose to do it. Now is there anything else that we can gather that reveals them to be at fault?" I open up my school email. We spend the rest of the day gathering various electronic records to requisition and back up.

---

In other news the fake timeline ended about an hour after Dad got home. Took me between fifty minutes to an hour to dig through the foundations, and it looks like I can't digest stone. Just dissolve it and displace the refuse elsewhere. I can digest dirt though, which seems like it should be a lot grosser than the nothing I'm currently getting from it. Oh well. I'll probably never starve, so that's nice.




Perks gained this chapter

Fuel Production Facility (Starsector v1.2) (100CP)
A large facility dedicated to the production of fuel. By default, the production facility is configured to produce antimatter fuel, but this can be changed to produce alternative variants of fuel at higher volumes. A single facility is capable of producing enough antimatter every month to supply around 10 capital-hull ships without a problem, or around 3000 units of fuel.