*Shakes wrists* Ok, let's see how badly the rust has built up, shall we?

== Sapphire Skin ==

= Prologue: A Life Reborn =

High above the planet, a creature watched everything. She was a being of incredible power. A being feared by those on the planet below. She was not feared for her skill in combat, rather for the power of her mind, and the effects she could have on the minds of others.

Yet, for all her power, she was blind. Yes, she could see everything that happened in the past, and yes, she could see what could happen in the future. But sadly, the being was blind to the present. The here, and the now.

And it was the here and the now that she wished to see the most. She had seen what had happened in the past. An accident, a parent lost, a family broken by grief. The daughter staying strong, not happy, but accepting reality, and beginning to move past the tragedy, the loss, the sadness, and despair. She then left her closest friend, left her father, if only for a short time. But the being knew, that even the shortest of times, of looking away for even a moment, can change everything. And that's exactly what had happened. The girl returned home, but not to what she expected, not to what could have been.

Time moved along. How long exactly, the being could not say. The sun rose and set, the moon completed its cycle, and she was still there, watching the possible futures, waiting for the past to be made.

Now the past was the past, and she was still waiting to see what had happened in the present.

Now, the girl's father was distant, and her friend had turned on her. A new girl had entered their lives. A girl of violence. A girl that sought to hurt the girl recovering from grief, to prove she was stronger, a predator; and she had, unknowingly at the time, recruited the girl's closest friend to do it. Together, with others, they sought to torment the girl, and succeeded in their endeavors. Soon though, their actions would go past torment; they now, unknowingly or not, sought to break her completely.

Almost all the futures showed that it would happen, that the girl would break. Sometimes the attempt differed. Most of them though, involved her being trapped inside a metal coffin of filth, and left there by her tormentors. No matter the future she gazed at, the being had no doubt that it would come to pass.

The outcomes differed even more than the event itself. Sometimes the girl accessed great power, became a warrior unlike anything the world had ever seen. Sometimes, her power even lead to the being's own destruction. Sometimes, the girl was granted power from forces outside the known reality, the power she would then possess crossing entire universes to reach her. And in others, the girl simply perished.

The question was… what about now? What was happening here, in the present? What was it the she could not see yet?!

Though it was only symbolic, and would even considered petty by the humans if they knew, but she wished to let it be known something had her attention. So it was that, in her low orbit around the planet, she turned her body to the blue and green orb below. Her unpaired wings moved, uncovering her porcelain doll-like face, and set the gaze of her 'eyes' down toward the subject of her attention.

She saw the futures where the Woman made of Code recorded her every movement, and sent an alert to her comrades and superiors when she faced the planet. The only futures where she didn't send the alert were the ones in which the being stopped her. She didn't. She knew the roles that had to be played, by both herself and the individuals below. This juncture though, with the broken girl, was by far the most crucial. The future of the planet, everything on it, and everything that could be would be determined by the outcome, by the future that was chosen in the well of possibilities.

And so she waited, continuing to watch the potential futures as the possibilities wound down. The ones where the girl perished vanished first, followed by the ones where something happened where she wasn't trapped in that... locker, by her peers. Shortly after, there weren't any left where the girl didn't acquire an ability, a Superpower, as the humans called them. Yet at the same time, the futures where outside forces became a part of the equation didn't fade either. How... strange.

Time moved on again, shorter this time. The planet continued its rotation and orbit around its sun, and she continued to orbit the planet in turn. All the while, her gaze never faltered, she never stopped looking in the direction of the girl, the one who, for better or worse, could change so many futures, and end so many others.

Now, it was time. The possibilities had faded. When the being stopped looking, there were simply variants of one real possibility. Far too many possibilities, too many tiny ways the 'chosen' event could branch or deviate to make watching the futures useful. Watching the one path that had already unfolded would be easier, even if she still desperately wanted to have to ability to watch the events as they happened. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. The 'now' had become the 'then', the present had become the past, and the being could finally see what had transpired.

It seemed, something from the stars had fused to the girl. The outside forces at work, the being had no doubt. A powerful piece of technology, one that was meant to make the girl a slave to those who made it. Whether the people who crafted the piece of tech still existed was... unimportant right now. What was important, was the device fusing itself to the girls spine. And the reason it fused to her specifically... seemed to be the very reason she was able to resist its take over.

The girl's mind had, as she'd seen in the various futures, broken. And when it broke, when she was pushed beyond her limit, her mind gained access to the power of another being; a power granted by the Golden Man. Using that new power, the child's mind reached out, searching for something, anything to connect to. The power almost took hold of the tiny insects that inhabited the filth around her, but the signal from the outsider technology was stronger, more solid. It was easier for the girl to take hold and not be overwhelmed by it. That had changed when the the tech arrived at the girl's location, and began its fusion with her. The pain of the new connection, as well as the tech's attempt to usurp the girls mind, the last pieces of her control, overwhelmed her once more, pushing her over the edge yet again. And once again, the Golden Man's power came to the forefront; except this time, it didn't have to search for a connection, as one was already made. This time, the shard of the Golden Man's power overwhelmed the connection, and took control, preserving the girl's mind from any future torment.

As the girl passed out, the machine, which was shaped like a large version of one of the planets insects, and colored a deep sapphire, slipped beneath her skin so it would not be discovered, and it's systems entered a state akin to hibernation, of rest, of peace, just like it's host.

And that was it. The choices had been made, no going back. Potential futures had been laid to rest, but countless new possibilities were not far off. The only question was if the child could accomplish what she choose to do when she awoke. And of course, no one knew what would happen, not even her. She could only see what could happen. And honestly? If she were human, the being would say something to the effect of "she liked what she saw"...

Before closing her eyes, and using her wings to cover her face, the being wanted to make sure something marked the events that had transpired today, as they would one day become needed, important... even if only she knew the finer details for now. So, she made sure her face could be seen by the Woman of Code, then she gazed down at the girl, who she would call 'the Child of Change', still trapped and unconscious on the planet below. Finally, the Simurgh's face lit up in a soft, gentle, genuine smile...

…and then she flew on.

-][-

A Prologue to a Worm story. In this one, our Main Character becomes the Blue Beetle from DC comics.

If you haven't read Worm, I'd recommend it. Just search for "Worm a complete web serial", and it should be the first link. It'll give you some good backstory.