Veil of Realities (Worm/Altpower!Taylor)

[Levelgap]

"It's confirmed. Danny Hebert is the Poltergeist."

In a white room, a gathering of five people is sitting and facing each other on the round table. The one who is saying that is a woman whose upper face is covered in a steel helmet.

Papers containing the image of the person in topic is laid on the table by the man only wearing a casual suit normally seen for corporate workers. His thin-rimmed glasses shines for a bit.

"... Head of HR from the Dockworker's Union?" A man wearing a hood asks. His masks glows a mysterious light as he looks at the others.

The woman in a steel helmet nodded before continuing. "I think all the Poltergeist case can only be attributed to him. Any assumption for his possible allies are false."

"How can you be so sure about that, Alexandria?"

Hearing the hooded person, she only grunted. "He has shown everything that Poltergeist can do." She said.

".... He's that strong?"

"Right." Alexandria gestured for the man in glasses.

The man in glasses turns the laptop he has been carrying for awhile now to them. Before playing the video that was already tabbed into the screen.

From there, they saw the footage of what happened within that conference room. A skinny man with a heavy duty suit enters the room and quickly shoots the balding man sitting on the table. In an instant it happens, a riot shield suddenly appears in-between them, causing the bullet to be deflected and unfortunately hits the PRT Agent's leg sitting opposite on the balding man.

After a split second, the man in heavy duty armor suddenly fell on the ground. The balding man has just flinched, seemingly processing what just happened while the PRT Agent who's leg has been hit seems to have not noticed it as he stood up. At the same time he manages to stand up, his form seems to flicker for a bit before the blurry image of his wounded leg seems to have become repaired along with the gash on his pants.

"Wait... take that back for a bit." The hooded person said, and the man in glasses agreed. Turning the video back for a bit.

They watched the figure of PRT Agent flickering, before returning to normal. Though his posture is still similar, the position of his feet and his aim is a bit off compared to before his figure flickers.

"What happened there...?"

"It is the same as what happened to the hospital where Poltergeist healed and even revive every patients within a single night." Alexandria stated.

"Those are the capabilities of both Flicker and Nightingale, which are tentative names for the assumed allies of Poltergeist." A dark skinned woman wearing a white lab coat said on the side as she reads the files pertaining all the Poltergeist cases.

"Which means... he is all of those mystery Capes. Danny Hebert is the one behind he Poltergeist cases."

"... Is he going to become a Protectorate member?" The hooded man asks.

"He has no choice on that matter. It seems like he is still denying that he is Poltergeist, and shows an obvious sign that he is oblivious about what is happening."

"Wait, he's clueless about it?"

"Yes." Alexandria simply said.

".... What kind of Cape doesn't know about their powers?" The man with a masked that glows mutters under his breathe before an idea came to him. "Is his Agent independently working behind him?"

"Possible." The woman in lab coat pipes up. "Poltergeist's Agent might be working on his subconscious desires." She said.

"Oh..." The man trailed off as he looks at the paper detailing Danny Hebert's life.

It shows how he was passionate about his work. That he seems to be working for the betterment of the city, and also the Dockworker's Union. How he always go to the Mayor's Office to request for the clean up of the Boat Graveyard, which is a local economic sinkhole based on the general opinion from the locals of Brockton Bay.

"This is... possible." He said, now seeing some sort of irony within it.

It's reported that Poltergeist can produce items out of nowhere, but can't move them or teleport them to somewhere. The only ones Poltergeist can teleport seems to be intelligent living entities like humans. There are no recorded state that says he has teleported any objects, only made literal copies of them.

That won't help him with taking care of his goals, which is taking out the oil tankers and the scraps all around the Boat Graveyard. The one they call as the "Agent" will possibly do that due to their own understanding.

"... Wait, this document states that his possible trigger event is about his daughter. Why isn't he healing her?"

"Another limitation of his powers, perhaps?" Alexandria said before turning to the other person sitting besides the woman in a lab coat. "What do you think, Contessa?"

The woman wearing a fedora, now known as Contessa looks at them. "The Path is constantly changing on his presence."

"Now it's proven. He is the source of why she can't Path that city reliably."

"What about that man.... I think he calls himself Coil?" The masked man said.

"We still don't know the scale of Poltergeist's teleportation capabilities. We will consider him compromised for now..."

"So leave him alone then... okay." The hooded man nodded.

"He is a useful piece for us. What are the plans for him?"

"After he joins the PRT as a Protectorate hero, I will immediately issue for him to be transferred on my branch." Alexandria replied to the woman in a lab coat.

The others didn't question that. Even if Danny Hebert is against it, they will still take him out of that city.

"The next Endbringer attack is near... I hope he can help with that." The masked man said.

Spoiler: Author's Note

Sorry, short chapter for now.... I'll try and write a longer chapter next time...

If you want to support me, you can go to my kofi account here.

Thank you for reading this!~♪

 

[Levelgap]

It's fine, my Dad is fine. Nothing bad happened to him!

Whatever that vision showed me is just a false one. It actually didn't happen. I made sure to dismiss the part that person successfully shot my Dad.

Still, how dare he try and frame my Dad as me!? Now everyone at the PRT are going to think that he is the Poltergeist!

I am the Poltergeist! Not him!

-"This is a bit unprecedented, but I think this proved beyond a doubt that Danny Hebert is Poltergeist!"

-"Yes. We got the scans, and while it shows an inactive Corona, it's also known that there are different ways the Gemma and Corona displays itself on each individual Parahumans. It is possible that his acted just like that. Which, while rare, is possible for Stranger type Parahumans."

-"And the way Mr. Calvert got instantly dealt with during that brief encounter... there is no question about it!"

Why do these Director and Protectorate Leader kept talking as if it was a fact! What do they mean from Corona and Gemma!?

Ugh, I should have taken my Parahuman studies seriously. This is what happens if I just focus on the heroes, and not the intricacy of the powers itself!

If they tried putting my Dad into this nonsense they call the Parahuman scene, our life will be over. Dad won't have a time to look at me again, and everything will return into that depressing time!

I refuse for that to happen!

Even if I try to tell everyone that I am the Poltergeist, it will be me that will be swept up by this hero and villain nonsense. I don't care about that anymore!

I just want to live peacefully with my Dad!

If not me and my Dad, then who?

How can I deal with this problem?

-I look at the Parallel World with a vast grassland. I am following a beautiful woman in a very stylish nun outfit who seemed to be praying.

-Surprisingly, the language she spoke is English. I wonder how it is possible, but decided to stop asking that. I am accessing Parallel Worlds, and I'm sure everything is possible. Having the same language as the one from our world shouldn't surprised me that much!

Wait a minute, what if I put the person from a Parallel World to the Original World?

Putting an alternate version of an existing person will overwrite their position and state into the alternate I put into the Original World. What if I pick someone who is non-existent?

Wait... there is no need to do that right now! I have no time to experiment at a time like this!

... But, maybe I do?

I can't think clearly right now. All I can think is to ask someone whether they wanted to act as Poltergeist or something?

Asking a nun to do that? I think it is inappropriate?

But randomly opening Parallel Worlds with my Visions just made me go to worlds that had no humans in there. Most of the time, it was either destroyed, barren, or infested with some alien creatures.

I need an actual person to play as Poltergeist. Preferably someone who can understand me.

I find some of them, but I have already dismissed most of those visions to give space to my visions on the Alternate Worlds. If I go beyond the limit, I think the stiffness of my Original Body will turn worse.

I don't know what will happen if it goes beyond the threshold of what my body can handle? Maybe I will be quantum locked or something?

Regardless, I try to limit myself. I only opened tens of thousands of visions awhile ago just because I am worried something bad will happen.

Something did happen, and I managed to react in time thanks to the amount of Visions that I had opened, but that's besides the point.

I have to limit myself!

The PRT needs a person that they can identify as Poltergeist. It didn't need to be me, or my Dad.

This nun is conveniently here. I simply have to convince her to play the part as Poltergeist.

There is no time! They are coming to my Dad!

-My other alternates threw materials at me, so I can begin speaking with this woman.

-I wrote what I wanted to write, and then dropped the book on the ground roughly so he can notice it.

-"Hm?" Great, she notices it!

-She took the book and look at it for a moment, before she opens it. I am glad she didn't read what was written out loud. Even I feel incredibly embarrassed writing something like that.

-"A Goddess!? And you have a mission for me?"

Good, this will work just fine!

-I saw her flipping the pages of the book. Well, it is more apt to call it a booklet as I only wrote a few sentences in it.

-Anyway, she looks at the words written on the book, and it takes her a few minutes before she is done.

-"If that is the will of the Goddess, then this humble servant will play the role of Poltergeist on this strange world! I swore upon my faith, and my whole dedication to your holy name!"

Uh huh. Good enough I think?

There is no time! The people are gathering at my Dad and talking some things, like trying to convince him that he is Poltergeist!

He is not! Look at how confused my Dad is!

I don't have time, so I simply threw the woman to an Alternate World, close and reopened some alternates of that alternate world, and then find an alternate where that woman wore something more concealing, mostly the face because she is going to act as an elusive hero!

After that, I threw her to the Original World, just besides my father.

All of that happened within a few seconds. Of course the people around are surprised at her sudden appearance, but I simply stopped that but quickly throwing a large whiteboard that I prepared on an Alternate World with something written on it.

"Who are--!?"

The PRT Agents are obviously surprised. Who wouldn't? A person just suddenly popped out of nowhere, and then there is also a white board besides them that suddenly appeared!

I am bit nervous whether this random stranger I whisked away is good, but thankfully she quickly got over her panic as she spoke to them.

"Greetings everyone, the Poltergeist you were looking for is this one. I apologize for the sudden intrusion, but I noticed that you are mistaking someone as me..."

Perfect! Just like what I told her!

I only told her that someone important to me is being framed as Poltergeist, and I want her to be the scapegoat. Good thing I lied as the one she worships.

It's all actually a guess, as I haven't explored her world fully, but I'm glad I managed to convince her enough, and she can act decently.

Though the next part will be hard. I didn't reveal to her what's my actual relation to Dad, only that he is important to me. Other than that, I asked her to make things up. I'll try and support her as much as I can!

-Looking at my alternate visions, I can see Armsmaster and the director of this gazing at her through the one way window.

... I think it's safe to say that they bought the ac--!?

-"She's lying." Armsmaster utterly crushed my hopes with those simple words.

... How!?

Spoiler: Author's Note

Here is a small chapter that will act as a replacement for Chapter 20.

As for what I am going for this, it's the fact that Taylor here got a tunnel vision. She clung to the solution that she needs someone to act as her, when she could simply just deny it altogether as an invisible entity through other mediums or through other means of convincing them.

I hope I managed to portray a passable scene of tunnel vision. I actually don't feel confident...

Hope you have fun, and see you later everyone!~

 

[Levelgap]

"She is lying."

Colin stated bluntly as he stared at the woman beyond the one way window. His new tinkertech had read it so, and so he would believed it.

"How can you be so sure?"

He frowned at the Director's question. His tech might have been not working on Danny Hebert, but he was confident that it would work on others.

"Facial and body gestures indicates that she is acting. Her vocal intonation also indicates that she is unsure of what she is saying. That's all I can say based on the scans of my lie detector."

"And Danny...?"

"We can't be sure whether he is Poltergeist or not, but that woman is definitely not the one we are looking for." He glanced at the masked woman in an elaborately concealing nun robe, as an idea occured to him. "But she did appear here instantly, so she might be one of Poltergeist's companion. Maybe she is Flicker?"

"Is she trying to cover Danny's identity?" Director Piggot looked contemplative.

Armsmaster also nodded at that. He believed that the sudden appearance of this woman was because she was worried for the abrupt unmasking of that man's civilian life.

"Should we call them out for it?" He asked.

In his mind, he thought it was natural they must do so. Though he was being careful. Poltergeist had shown incredible power since they debuted to the cape scene. If Poltergeist felt cornered, they might suddenly retaliate. They still don't know the full capability of Poltergeist other than those documented on their past incidents.

"... Let's focus on that woman for now. She managed to enter our facility without being caught. She is a lot more threatening than Poltergeist right now!"

He was dissatisfied, but knew it was reasonable. There might be a scuffle that displayed the possibility that Danny Hebert might be Poltergeist, but the sudden appearance of this woman added another problem.

Like how she managed to enter this place without being noticed. Even if she could teleport, she couldn't possibly teleport on a place she doesn't know, and their headquarters were deliberately made to be confusing and full of decoy rooms just as a preventative measure for cases like this.

Unless this person in a stylish priestess robes could mark something so they could teleport here, but if it was so, then what type of object they marked, or maybe who?

Most likely, it was Danny whom she marked, but there was also a possibility that they had used an item.

Poltergeist had displayed powers that summoned objects out of nowhere. There was that white board that popped out along with that woman, and the words on the white board reads that this woman was Poltergeist.

This might be the work of a Thinker. They couldn't possibly coordinate this kind of response when Danny was inside here for awhile now, and they had no way of contacting each other without them noticing it.

Regardless, the woman managed to enter their headquarters without warning. She just became the priority.

"... I see. We will do that then..."

---

The female handler that the PRT assigned to take care of me is trying to entertain me somewhat. She was trying to talk to me. Of course, I can only glance at her with my eyes, while half of my attention are busy on my other Visions.

-"Can you demonstrate your powers, Poltergeist?"

-The woman I whisked away from another reality nodded amicably before she pointed her palm on the front. "Then I will demonstrate an act of miracle. Behold, a new life will be born anew!"

New life? What do you mean!?

-Regardless of my own confusion, I flitted through multiple Parallel Worlds and dismissed anything as quickly when I haven't found any suitable life. It only took a few seconds of opening and dismissing Visions until I found a suitable one.

--Then I throw one of the bird on an alternate version of Brockton Bay, then opened more alternate versions of this alternate version where this peculiar white bird lives in a flock.

--After that, I grabbed every bird on this flock and then throw them at the Original World where the nun's palm was directed.

-"Woah!?" Now, on this wide empty room, a flock of peculiar white birds appeared.

-I noticed the nun perking up, and quickly clasping her hands together in a prayer. She muttered something about the miracle of god, though I hope no one heard it.

Anyway, I decided to double down on making her a scapegoat. The people at the PRT didn't believe her act because Armsmaster has a lie detector technology.

I don't know how that happens, but he is a Tinker so I should have expected as much!

They are still suspecting my Dad, but fortunately their attention was taken by the one acting as Poltergeist. Now he was just being led to the waiting room where I am located.

It also calmed me down, and now that I am, I quickly realized how stupid I am!

I should have just written on a wall that he is not Poltergeist or something. Maybe convince them that someone is Poltergeist without revealing it is me!

What's done is done. My powers has a weird limitation in it that makes me unable to take back what I put in the Original World.

I told the woman about it, and she said she is willing to help me, so she is now stuck in this world.

... I should have felt guilty about that, but I have to remind myself that I'm doing this for my selfish reasons.

The results are unsatisfying, but it isn't that bad. They can't corner my Dad, and I have some time to convince them that the woman is the Poltergeist they are looking for.

I hope I managed to buy some time.

"I'm back, Taylor." I got taken out of my stupor when I heard the voice of my Dad on the Original World.

I can only move my eyes and grunt in acknowledgement. It's really hard to move my body now.

He talked for a bit, and it seemed like they decided we can go back home, but there would be escorts. That post from PHO, which I discovered has been deleted by the mods, was still popular on the other sites of the internet. Snooping around on the alternate versions of this city, I heard from some desk staffs of this headquarters that there are plans to put a security detail to our family for our safety.

Ugh... there is so much happening. I am dumping all of this problem to my alternate selves, and letting them think about it. I'll personally let my original me take a rest for now.

This is giving me a headache!

Spoiler: Author's Note

Please tell me if the recent chapters are not satisfactory, so I can change it. I'm currently trying to write as much until I can get pass this part...

I forgot what I planned on this story, so I'm just winging it right now...

As for Beta Readers, yes, I really need one or some... I'm bad at everything in English, so I hope some will help me...