See My Worm

January 10, 2011

I often wondered exactly how I seemed to always draw the short straw in life, but here I was again. Mom died two years ago while texting me and my Dad has been seeking the meaning of life inside of a tequila bottle ever since. My best friend turned on me over a year ago and has become my main tormentor during high school. I gave up a scholarship to Arcadia in the name of said friendship. Go me. My home was about to be foreclosed on… and I’m currently in the process of going insane, if one considers the fact that I am apparently currently standing in front of the most gorgeous woman in the world. A woman who has horns on her head, a demonic red glow to her eyes and a tail swishing behind her.

Oh. And she’s naked.

When had my bisexual leanings and curiosity gone full out lesbian?

“You’re not going crazy, Taylor Anne Hebert.” Damn. Even her voice is sexy. Deep and husky. Like dark chocolate on the tip of your tongue. “I’m just here to offer you a chance to succeed.”

“At what price?”

The woman offered me a sinfully decadent smile. I tried to ignore her nudity, but I was only human. “You called for me, Taylor Anne Hebert. In that locker. You begged for anyone to save you. You offered anything and everything.” She licked her lips. “And you’re out. I simply mean to go over the fine print of your enslavement.”

“You’re the Devil, then?”

“Devil. Old Scratch. Lucifer. Beelzebub. Satan.” She held her arms out from her body. “Any of them and all of them. In one incarnation or another. Sometimes even Wednesday Addams, but that’s another story.” Her appearance altered slightly with each name spoken aloud. When she was done, she returned to that of the twenty-something nude woman that she had been at the beginning of this conversation. Truthfully, it was the one that scared me the least.

“And what do I call you?”

She smiled oh-so wickedly at my inquiry. “Master. Mistress. Boss. Mommy. Whatever term of respect you feel debases you the most. I have so many wonderful ideas of how we can have some fun. I can’t wait for you to grow up. I’ll mold you into the perfect slave. You’ll worship me as a dutiful minion should… and you’ll love me for it.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to any of this.” I petulantly argued.

The Devil just grinned. “Well, that is true. There are a few I’s to be crossed and T’s to be dotted. Contracts require signatures, after all.”

“And if I refuse to sign?”

Lucifer nodded as if she had expected me to fight. “I can always put you back in the locker. You would have been in there a lot longer. Hours. Maybe days. You would have suffered so greatly. I don’t mind.”

“But I would have gotten out.”

“Oh, yes, Taylor Anne Hebert. And what a great life you’d have lived. You will Trigger.” At my hopeful gasp, she shook her head. “Bugs. You get to control bugs.” She smiled at the face I must’ve made. “Did you know that Beelzebub means Lord of the Flies?” She giggled cruelly. “Well, sort of. Anyway, you become a villain and eventually kill so many heroes. What a wonderful fate you have, Taylor Anne Hebert. Perhaps you are right. Let’s just put you back in that locker. You’ll be mine, anyway, by the time another so-called hero puts a bullet in your brain.” She began to gesture with her black painted claws/nails.

I wanted to be sick. A villain? Me? And I killed heroes? “Wait!”

She stopped and arched her perfect brow over at me. “Yessssss?”

Damn it. The Devil knew she had me. I ran over anything and everything that I could think of. “Can we bargain?”

“A bargain?” Smiling as she ran her forked tongue back over her lips. “I’m the Devil. Of course, we can bargain. What do you want?”

“My soul?”

She laughed… and I could hear thunder rolling somewhere far in the distance. “Now, Taylor. I can call you Taylor, yes?” I nodded. “Good. Now, Taylor… I want your soul. I’m willing to offer a lot for it. While you are quite the monster if we put you back in that locker, there are so many more wonderful things we can do together if we let that silly Shard go elsewhere.”

Shard? “What’s a shard?”

“Hm?” She looked into my eyes. “Never mind about that. We have a Bargain to work out now. So, let us say that you agree to make a Deal with me. For coming to the table, I pulled you out of that locker before you could Trigger and gain control of bugs.” She playfully did a full body shiver. “Ugh. Nasty. Anyway, that puts us back to even. I want your soul. What do you want for it?”

At her look, I realized suddenly that we were both sitting down across from one another at a beautiful wooden table. We both sat on very comfortable chairs and there was a parchment between the two of us. I started reading and noted that what she said was exactly what was written. The fact that I could actually read it helped convince me that this wasn’t just some elaborate dream.

“Nope. Not dreaming.”

“Would you stop that? Please.”

Lucifer seemed almost hurt at my tone. “Sorry. Occupational hazard. Too many try to lie to themselves. You can’t lie to the Prince of Lies.”

“Okay.” I offered. I’d hurt the Devil’s feelings. What was my life now? “What can I get for my soul?”

Who asks questions like that?

She smiled. “Well, standard is power. Riches. Love… which, by the way, is not very easy. I can give you lots of lust. I can even fake the love, but between you and me, try that out on your own. Too often, if you get the love without trying, you start to take it for granted and then it’s never pretty.”

“Can I get powers? Like a parahuman? Like Alexandria?”

I watched as she chewed at the quill’s tip. “I guess, though Rebecca cheated to get her powers. I don’t think we want to include those guys. They’re worse than the Catholic Church, and that’s saying something coming from me.” She ran her tongue over her left canine while she seemed to think. “We can definitely duplicate some of those things. Better in some ways, not as good in others.”

“What? Why?”

She sighed. “Free will is a real thing, Taylor. And Alexandria made her so-called deal with a devil elsewhere. If we make you too close to what’s already out there, you might not like what comes after.”

“Oh.” I scratched at my shoulder. All that talk about bugs had me thinking I could feel them crawling all over me. “I don’t understand.”

“Sorry.” She offered. “A lot of that will make sense later. Other things not so much.” She glanced at the parchment in front of her. “Let’s start with an opening offer. How about superhero powers that include… say basic grab bag? Flight, strength and endurance?”

“I get to choose?” At her nod, I smiled. “Flight. Strength. Invincibility.” I stopped. What else could there be? I wracked my brain while I considered the myths and legends my Mom used to tell me about. Those Greek and Norse Gods that were so powerful. Worshipped, even. What else did they have?

“Gods were usually beautiful.” Lucifer offered. At my look, her cheeks blushed slightly. “Sorry. Mindreading comes with the job description.”

“Can I…?”

“No telepathy.” She interrupted. She pointed up. “Rules. Sorry.”

Oh! I had an idea. “Immortality?”

“OOoooh.” She smiled. “Now you’re talking. If you can’t die, then I can never collect on your soul. Tricky, tricky. I like how you’re thinking now. Therefore, that is a big whopping no. I cannot offer true immortality. I can give you a scaled down version. Let us combine a really, really long potential lifespan and tack on eternal youth. That work?”

“Potential?”

“Well, being a hero comes with some dangers. I can’t promise that there might not be things out there that could actually challenge you. The Endbringers, for instance. Even Scion.”

“Scion’s a good guy.” I pointed out. “A hero.”

She looked at me for a few moments before nodding. “Right, right. Well, the Endbringers are definitely a threat.”

I nodded. “So, we have flying and invincibility and long life, plus strength.”

“I guess. What else?”

“Maybe some type of energy blast?”

“A regular Mary Sue, aren’t you? That’s it?” The Devil smiled at me. “So, you ready to sign?”

I looked over the parchment and considered what I was being offered. Escape from my tormentors, out of the locker, powers and beauty…. Wait! I forgot the beauty…

“I want to be beautiful, too.”

She shook her head. “You’re getting greedy now, Taylor. That would be a lot. How about you give up one of the others. With an energy projections, you don’t have to have the enhanced strength.”

I held up my hand. Lucifer stopped talking. “Not enhanced. I want super strength. I want to be powerful. A true force for good.”

“You ever read about Doctor Faustus?” The Devil asked. The name was somewhat familiar, but there were so many heroes in the world now that I couldn’t remember all of them.

“No. Is he a recent hero?”

Lucifer smiled widely at me. “Never mind.” She twirled the quill in her hand. “I’m not some random djinn handing out free wishes, Taylor. This is a Bargain. A Deal between you and me. We both are getting what we want, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Now. Let’s make this easier. You want superpowers. Basically, all of them, right?” I nodded. She reached over to the glass pitcher that was now on the table with us. The pitcher was filled with what looked like water. There were also ten tumbler glasses, empty, there as well. “So, this water is your superpowers.” I watched as she grabbed the pitcher and poured some of the liquid into one of the tumblers. “This is super strength.”

I picked up the shot glass. “Okay.”

The Devil then filled the second glass. “Flight.” She waited until I nodded. “See how the pitcher is about half full now? You can have as many powers as you want, but one the pitcher is empty, that’s it.”

I leaned back and considered what she was saying. “Can I put less water in each glass?”

“Sure, but then that power is not as super as it possibly could be. That can be your decision.”

“What about pouring the water back into the pitcher?”

“Pouring…” She frowned cutely. Lucifer closed her eyes for the moment before opening them again. She narrowed her eyes directly at me. I felt the moisture in my mouth dry up before she nodded slowly. “You’re good at this. You sure you do not want to just come work for me right away, skip all this playing super-cops and robbers. I have a great dental plan.”

I shook my head. “Can I do that?”

She waved her hand a there were now only half as many tumblers on the table, but now each was of varying size. “Okay.” The pitcher was smaller now, too. “The water is your power. The glasses can be almost anything you need or want them to be. Put in as little or as much as you want, but understand the limitations of using each alone or combined together.”

“How will I know?”

“You’ll need to learn, Taylor. Bargain, not wishes. Remember?”

Feeling properly chastised, I offered the Devil a small nod in agreement. I watched as she picked up the quill and starting marking through several lines and adding the changes we’d made so far. “Fine.” She continued to mumble under her breath before marking through up our Agreement. I watched carefully until she was done. “There.”

“What about beauty?”

“Taylor.” I watched as she leaned back in the chair. I tried to keep my gaze on her face, but my eyes darted to where her breasts bounced. Sue me. “Youi can use your power however you want.”

“No offense, but I don’t to suddenly turn hideous because I need to use a few powers at once.”

Lucifer sighed as she set the quill down. Watching as she leaned back in her chair, she ran her clawed hands through her hair. “I thought you wanted to be a hero?”

“I do.” I confirmed. “But there are other things I want, too.”

“There has to be payment. Your Soul is buying you many superpowers. And Beauty, too. What else are you offering? You want to throw in the Souls of a few others? Emma Barnes or Sophia Hess? They aren’t worth much… not like yours, but it would be a good start.”

“Is there anything I can offer still?”

She hummed a few moments before she put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. “Less free will when you return, maybe. A few hiccups with your powers. It’s all about balance. You being this powerful changes things for the good in most instances. Mary Sue’s are not normally appreciated in the greater scheme of things. A true hero suffers. They have to overcome a lot.” She arched an eyebrow at me. “You willing to suffer for the greater good?”

“I am.” Boy, I sounded confident, Didn’t I? Let’s hope I had what it took to pull it off.

She offered a small smile. “It will hurt, Taylor. And you won’t know what all is coming until it’s done. You are ticking off every box of the Seven Deadly Sins. Greed, Vanity, Pride… you’re a good girl at heart. It is why I value your Soul so much.”

“We could play a game for it.” I offered.

Her entire demeanor perked up at my statement. “You don’t play violin, by chance, do you?” I loved her smile. “I play a pretty mean fiddle, you know. Or a blues guitar? You play? Music is always a great way to duel.”

“No doubt.” I offered wryly. “What about a challenge.”

“You’re going to challenge me?”

“Sure.”

She slowly was shaking her head back and forth. “Taylor, I may be evil… and I definitely stack the deck to my favor, but you can’t win a challenge against me.”

“I can.” I decided to go for broke. “Give me all that I want if I win. Full stop.”

“Listen… no, Taylor... you’ve got a…”

“You can take the long lifespan and another tumbler away if I lose.”

She stopped arguing at that offer. Lucifer’s eyes went cat-like as she stared into my eyes. “So, you’d only keep eternal youth and beauty, using the pitcher for anything else with just four tumblers?”

“Yes.”

“At enhanced level only?” She countered.

The tumblers all were suddenly much smaller. I took a really, really deep breath. Here goes everything. “Yes.”

She held out her hand. “Shake on it.” I immediately grasped the Devil’s hand in mine. If she noticed how badly I was shaking, or the wetness in my palm, she didn’t remark on it. “Okay. What’s the challenge?”

“I bet I can give you a command that you cannot fulfil.”

I hated how beautiful Lucifer looked as she tilted her head to the side. “That’s impossible, Taylor. You have already lost. I am a cosmic entity. I was here before the Universe began… and I will be here long after it is gone. There is not a creature that has once lived that I do not know of. No time that I cannot revisit. No dream I have not already dreamt. No nightmare I have not seen. I have witnessed the Face of God. I am sorry, Taylor. I know the future just as well as the past and the present.” I watched as the Devil moved to start making the appropriate changes to our contract.

“Hey.” I spoke softly. I waited until she moved her gaze to mine. “Get lost.”

“…”

“…”

“What?”

I smiled. “I said, get lost, Mistress.” I ignored how she snarled when I called her that. “Now.”

The Devil sat there, still, as she contemplated my command. I watched as she opened her mouth to say something, before closing it shut. My eyes followed her as she stood and walked around the table. I wondered if she’d pop away, but Lucifer began to pace, back and forth. This continued for what might have been hours, but was most likely just a few scant moments. I began to worry, but Lucifer finally turned to press her crimson gaze towards mine.

I let a breath out at her smile. “Well done, Taylor. Very well done.” She gestured to the parchment. At my look, I was very pleased to see the Contract was now much, much larger. All of the things I wanted… even those things not spoken aloud, were listed. It looked perfect. “You see that you won. You get to be added to a very, very select few that have beaten me. Know that your trick can never be used again.”

I let out the breath I had been holding. “I understand.”

“Please sign.”

I picked up the quill and quickly wrote out my name. Once I finished, the Devil took the quill and carefully poked my finger, allowing for a single drop of blood to splatter over my signature. My eyes widened slightly as my middle and last name faded from view. I watched as the parchment began to glow before it blinked away.

“Okay. So, what’s next?”

“Next?” Lucifer smiled. “I have to have my revenge, you understand.” At my look, she nodded. “All those powers at varying levels that you can play with. You are going to make some very major changes to the timeline. It’s going to be so much fun, but I have to get mine back, you see. No one is allowed to get one over on me without retribution.”

“But…”

“Don’t freak out on me, Taylor.” She smiled. “You’re still my current favorite. We are going to have so much fun… but I can’t let you off without putting you in your place.”

“Oh.” I swallowed loudly. “What are you going to do?”

“Understand.” My body was frozen in place. I watched as she leaned over, her face filling my vision. “There were several things that you should have asked for… like, for instance, defining who and what you would become. When. Or deciding where and how this would all begin.”

“What?”

Lucifer kissed me then. My first kiss was with the Devil. As I said before, I often wondered exactly how I seemed to always draw the short straw in life… now maybe death. As Lucifer pulled away from me. I looked upon my own visage. Seeing me, Taylor, smiling with such an evil smirk seemed wrong, somehow. I wanted to question what was happening, but that’s when the pain began. A fire from where her lips touched mine, where her tongue had invaded my mouth, now spread from my lips to cover my entire face… then my neck and shoulders… my chest. I was already screaming by the time I thought to open my mouth.

“Good luck, my child. My avatar upon the Mortal World…”

..oo00OO*OO00oo..

“What do you suggest, then?” A voice spoke from somewhere nearby. I didn’t recognize it, so I decided to ignore it for now.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the pain all gone. Maybe my meeting with Mistress was all just a dream. Mistress? Why was I thinking Mistress when I meant to think Mistress? No, Mistress. Oh, Mistress! I licked at my lips and suddenly stopped the motion.

Why did my tongue feel forked?

Oh, Mistress, this was bad. Opening my eyes carefully, I repeatedly blinked due to the brightness all around me. I seemed to be laying on the floor, somewhere that I was not immediately familiar with, and apparently surrounded by several persons that were all too familiar to anyone that watched television or read the news or was generally alive and aware in Brockton Bay.

“Um, hi?”

I watched as Assault, one of Brockton Bay’s Protectorate, knelt down to where I was currently laying. “Ma’am.” He offered politely. “Do you require assistance?”

“Uh, well… maybe?” I responded.

The hero nodded. “Well, we have EMT’s on the way, though they might refuse to take you, considering…”

“Considering?”

Assault’s partner and supposed wife if the PHO could be trusted, Battery, approached. She carefully covered me with a blanket. “Ma’am. While we wait, could you answer a few questions?”

I lifted my hand to brush my hair from my face. As I moved the hair to the side, I felt a small horn protruding from the side of my head. I tried to not freak out as I used both hands to feel the horns that grew out from my temples, just as Mistress’ had, though much smaller. A sick feeling seemed to cause my stomach to rumble. Mistress had been beautiful. Super beautiful, in fact… and I hadn’t specified anything, had I?

“Are you okay?”

At Battery’s question, I offered a shrug. Not very easy to do when one is laying down. “Maybe?” I sighed. “Do you have a mirror?”

“A mirror?” She repeated. “Do you…”

“Please.” I interrupted. I felt moisture beginning to fill the corners of my eyes. At her sympathetic look, I tried to smile. “Yeah.”

She and Assault shared a silent exchange before he ran off, most likely to get me a mirror. I watched as the Protectorate hero licked her lips. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

I wanted to laugh. Remember? I made a deal with my Mistress. Yeah, no way that saying any of that wouldn’t get me locked up in the looney bin. My Mistress went down to Georgia. I silently sang in my head. I let the tears trail down my face. “Uhm. School, maybe.”

“School?” She asked. Battery glanced around. I had no advantage to see anything that she was seeing currently. “Do you go to Immaculata High School?”

Immaculata?

What?

I started to reply in the negative, but Assault decided to perfectly interrupt anything I might say by returning, the requested mirror in his hand. “I got this from the lady cop over by the front door. She wants it back, if possible.”

Battery nodded and took the makeup mirror and opened it. “May I?” At her inquiry, I simply nodded. She carefully turned it so that I could get a good look at my current reflection.

I was nude but for the blanket Battery had provided. Perfect complexion from what I could see was a long and graceful neck that drifted towards a heart-shaped face. My lips were full and pouty, stained a perfect shade darker than the rest of my pale skin. Long, dark lashes both above and below those demonically crimson eyes. Black hair, though not a natural shade since it seemed to absorb the light, no highlights reflecting from its shade. And there, just as I’d felt previously… those horns that had so fascinated me on Mistress’ head… now my head, just smaller. It was Mistress that I saw in the mirror. A younger version. I was still a teenager – a demon teenager.

I licked my lips and saw the forked tongue.

“Not what you were expecting?”

I shook my head. “Not at all.” Shifting slightly, I almost jerked in surprise as the tail… my tail, swept out from under the blanket. “Oh.”

Battery glanced to my tail. “You said you remember school?” At my nod, she smiled. “Do you know what day it is?”

“January tenth, maybe?” When she frowned, I knew that I’d gotten wrong. “Maybe not?”

She started to say something, but the EMT’s that they’d promised earlier had finally arrived. “We’ll talk later.” She offered as she patted my hand. I watched as she stood and stepped back. The Emergency Personnel took over then, carefully moving me onto the gurney and taking me to… somewhere.

Once they began moving me, I was able to see that I was in what appeared to be the shouldering remains of a high school. Immaculata was my guess considering Assault and Batter’s questions. A demon found in the ruins of a Church sponsored school. Who would have ever thought of that?

I wondered if they considered me the cause.

My start as a near immortal superhero was off to a wonderful start.

..oo00OO*OO00oo..

Standing in front of the two-way mirror, doing my best to ignore the fact that there were most likely a number of people on the other side, all watching me – evaluating me, well, it did very little to inspire any pleasant feelings. I had been waiting for nearly thirty minutes for this interview (i.e., investigation) to begin. I carefully turned and made sure everything looked okay. Getting pants to fit properly when one has a tail is not the easiest thing to have made.

That’s not even taking into account that my toenails were just as sharp and pointy as the claws at the end of each finger. No shoes could survive my lack of a good pedicure. I glanced down at me feet, admiring how the scales caught the light. Apparently, demons like me had scales placed carefully in places all along my body. The tops of my hands and feet, elbows, knees. Along the back of my neck down my spine all the way to the tip of my tail. My stomach, which no longer had a bellybutton, scales covered from the top of my sex to the underside of my breasts… a respectable B cup, now. I was a demonic dragon teenager. Forked tongue, tail and horns with claws of hands and feet.

At least I looked good. That was only partly sarcastic. Don’t get me wrong, Mistress’ body… my body now, was amazing. Everyone seemed to lust after me, and I adored the attention, but I began to understand why Mistress preferred to be nude. Maybe I could fight crime in a string bikini.

Where was my modesty?

Just because I now was in the perfect body of a teenager did not mean I was not still a barely fifteen-year-old girl inside. Right?

Right?

Any further inner reflection faded away as the door finally opened. I smiled as I saw that one of the people they were going to speak with me was Battery. It had been nearly a week since my return from making a bargain with Mistress. And I had learned very little in that time. Since I had been left in near seclusion while they confirmed that I was uninjured.

I offered her a bright smile that she immediately returned. I almost missed that Miss Militia followed in right behind her.

“Oh, wow.” I hated how fan-girly I sounded. “Miss Militia, too. I’m a big fan.”

At my words, both woman looked at one another before each turned and offered me a smile. Battery spoke first as both she and her fellow Protectorate member sat at the table. “How are you doing?”

“I’m better. Truthfully, I feel great.”

“That’s good.” I watched as Miss Militia handed Battery a file. From where I was standing, I could see a few scant papers with words typed with several photographs underneath. “Would you like to sit?”

I moved to the table and turned the chair sideways. I daintily say, my legs crossed, sitting with my butt far enough back that my tail wasn’t trapped.

“You okay?”

At Miss Militia’s question, I shrugged. “Learning to sit with a tail takes practice, I guess.”

“You haven’t had a tail long?”

I shook my head. “When I woke up was when I realized I had one.”

“A fifty-three?” Battery quietly offered. I watched as Miss Militia shrugged and said “maybe.”

‘Let’s go back to that day, if you don’t mind.” Battery said. I silently nodded. “You indicated that the date was…?”

“January tenth.”

“Of?”

“Of?” I glanced between the two women. “Twenty eleven?”

“You’re saying that you believed that you woke up on Monday, January tenth of twenty eleven. That’s correct?”

Nodding again, I started to explain my reasoning. “Well, I think I was at school that Friday, the seventh. I’m not sure what all happened that day, but since I don’t usually do anything except stay home on the weekends and I was obviously somewhere not at home, then Monday seemed the most likely date.”

I wondered again about telling them the truth about who I was and maybe what I’d been through, but every time I opened my mouth to say that… it was like trying to call Mistress anything other than Mistress. My mind wanted to say the words, but what came out was something different. I technically couldn’t even think the words other than what came out.

“Am I wrong?”

Instead of answering, Miss Militia leaned forward. “What do you remember from before? What can you tell me about your school? Or how about telling me where you live. A family member’s name, perhaps.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but my mind went blank. Why couldn’t I just say that my name was Taylor. Wait! I thought Taylor. “My name’s Taylor.”

“Taylor?” Battery smiled as she wrote my name down. “That’s good, Taylor. Taylor what?”

“Taylor…” And then my mind blanked. “Taylor…”

Miss Militia nodded. “It’s okay.” She offered in a kind voice. “It sometimes happens that those that Trigger cannot recall events from before. It often happens especially with those that can no longer hide their changes.”

“Hide?”

Battery made a gesture towards me. “You know that you changed, right?” I met her gaze directly. “You are possibly the most beautiful female I have ever seen, bar none, but you definitely cannot pass for a normal human being now.” I lifted my hand to run along the horn on the right side of my head. She nodded. “Black horns. The tail. Your fingernails seem to be naturally black and are more like claws than nails.

“And that hair color?” Battery continued. “I’d pay a month’s salary for a dye job close to that color. You’re like a wet dream devil from an Earth Aleph comic book.”

“Sorry,”

Both women waved the apology away. “We just want to get answers.”

“I don’t know what to offer. I still don’t know if what I’m telling you is right or wrong. And I want to answer your questions. I do. It’s like the words are there, but nothing comes out.”

Miss Militia lifted a hand to her ear. I assumed she was getting instructions from someone on the other side of the glass that was watching. I waited patiently until the one-sided conversation seemed to be over. I watched as the star-spangled masked woman nodded towards Battery.

“Well.” She began. “Let’s start with some of the basics. The date is Wednesday, June twenty-third.” I’d lost months? “Of twenty-oh-nine.” Wait. What? I had gained a year and a half?”

“No…”

Miss Militia was nodding while Battery continued. “We are supposing, currently, that you came from a different Earth, though there have been no reports of any dimensional breaches surrounding the date of your… arrival.”

Why had she paused?

“This is Earth Bet, right?”

Battery nodded. “You remember being from this Earth?”

I nodded, though much slower than previous. “I thought so…”

“Anyway, as we stated earlier, there are several instances where people have Triggered and their memories are lost. Maybe in your case, just scrambled.” Battery offered with a smile when I looked at her. “That you know your first name and remember going to school and things like that are good. You recognized me and Miss Militia, right? Other, too, I imagine.”

“Assault.” I nearly whispered. “Your husband, maybe?”

She grimaced. “Yeah, but we would rather keep that on the down low, okay?” After I nodded, she smiled again.

“I think I know all the Protectorate and Wards in Brockton Bay.”

“You’re from Brockton Bay?” Miss Militia asked.

“Yes, ma’am. Fugley Bob’s down on the Boardwalk. Arcadia and Winslow High. The Rig.” I paused and looked at them both. “The Boat Graveyard. This is my home.”

“You said you know all of the Wards?”

At Miss Militia’s question, I smiled. “Sure. I always wished I had chosen to attend Arcadia. Imagine having classes with Vista and Kid Win. Shadow Stalker or Browbeat. Clockblocker, even. And then Panacea and Glory Girl of New Wave…”

I stopped when I noticed the looks they were giving one another. I kept switching my gaze back and forth between the two women. “What?”

“You said Shadow Stalker was a Ward?” Miss Militia asked. “She’s a vigilante.”

My head was already nodding. “Yeah. It was fairly big news for a while. She got caught hurting a guy and she chose to join up with the Wards instead of jail, I think. Probation or something. She kept her name, but you guys rebranded her costume and weapons.”

“And Kid One, you said.” Battery offered while Miss Militia was back on her earpiece.

“Win. Kid Win. He’s a Tinker. Rides a floating skateboard. Armor similar to Hero’s. Pretty cool guy, I think.”

Battery smiled encouragingly. “And New Wave accepted new members, you mentioned?”

“I guess they had to.” I shrugged. “Victoria is Glory Girl, after all. Her sister, Amy, goes by Panacea.”

“What do they do?” Miss Militia asked. “Do you know?”

“Sure. Glory Girl is an Alexandria level. Flyer with strength and invulnerability.” Battery was writing quickly writing down everything I was saying. “Lights up the sky, bright as a star. Her sister, though. Amy?” At the two heroes’ nods, I continued. “She’s the world’s greatest Healer.”

“A Healer?” Battery asked.

“Yep. Everything but brains, as the PHO reported it. Really made a name for herself after healing so many heroes during the aftermath of the Simurgh’s attack in Madison.”

“What?!?” Battery yelped while Miss Militia stood, her chair crashing to the floor behind her. Why I noticed how the holster on her hip kept cycling through various guns and knives, I could not tell you. It frightening, however. “An Endbringer attack?”

“Oh, shit.” My eyes widened at the implications of what I had just revealed. How much of what I was saying hadn’t happened yet? I started to speak when the door behind them thrust open violently as Armsmaster stormed into the room. “It hasn’t happened yet.” I repeated aloud. “None of it.”

“You know when the next Endbringer attack is happening?”

I shrugged. “I think so. It’s what I remember.”

“What can you tell me? Now, girl!”

“Uh, December this year. I can’t remember the day. Third, maybe.” I closed my eyes trying to recall as much information as I could. “Madison, Wisconsin. Heroes drove the Simurgh away, but the city got quarantined. Like I said earlier, it was considered a major victory since Panacea was able to heal so many of the heroes that got hurt. Also, Dragon revealed a new suit of some sort. Those close to it were able to fight longer somehow.”

Even with his visor, I could feel the man’s gaze upon me. Judging me. After a moment, he nodded and turned to where both Battery and Miss Militia were staring at me. “I want to know everything she might know about the next eighteen months. Crimes, newspaper headlines. I want to know everything. Once that’s done, get her tested and then we need to start making plans. If this pans out, this could be the break we’ve been looking for.”

And then, just as violently as he had entered the room, I watched one of the greatest Tinkers in the world walk out. It was all I could do to catch my breath.

“Okay!” Battery clapped her hands together, the sharp crack pulling my attention away from where the hero had just exited. “Why don’t we get all that done, but maybe in a different order. Power testing, yeah? Now let’s have some fun. You up for it, Taylor?”

“Yeah.”

A year and a half ago. I time travelled. Was I still alive… out there… now… as… well… me?

Now if I could only remember my home address.

..oo00OO*OO00oo..