Chapter 2

Psychic energy flooded the room. Rupturing from her body as Ace struggled to contain it. It turns out that this universe is a little over a decade behind her own. Ace wished she'd known before making the cross-dimensional journey not that it would have stopped her; she didn't want to die. However, the information would have been helpful as her 14-year-old mind was now trying to fit into her 3-year-old body while bringing her entire psychic arsenal with her.

It was like trying to fill an empty glass with an entire lake.

The walls rattled as Ace started mentally sealing off portions of her powers her new body couldn't handle. After all, she didn't want to transfer from her old dying body to a new dead one. Ace could always retrieve her powers later when she could handle them until then she would bury them deep where they'll take up less space.

When the walls stopped rattling, and she could finally hear herself think again she closed her eyes. Taking deep breaths, Ace wondered if that little tantrum her psyche made when she arrived registered on the Richter scale. She'd guess a 4 not that she ever really looked into earthquakes before. Tired and with beads of sweat on her face Ace opened her eyes to survey the damage.

The roof was still there so it could be worse. Four walls to so that's a plus. Straining her weary two-year-old muscles, Ace sat up in her crib and say… Oh.

The Wide eyes of her doppelgangers parents staring at her, lost in an unending madness she could never pull them from. She made them lose grasp on reality as a certain clown might say. But she couldn't blame herself could she? The other Ace was about would have awakened her powers around this time and turned her parents into vegetables. Somethings can't be changed she supposed. She couldn't really comprehend what she did to her parents the first time around, what two years old could? She couldn't blame herself for it, and she can't blame herself for this…. Can she?

No.

It wasn't her choice, it wasn't her fault. With nothing else notable in the room, she finally dropped back down in her crib as sleep raced to claim her. Ace remembered that it took a couple of days for anyone to notice the families absence from the public eye. That meant a couple of days before the police, and then the government agents arrived to take her. Plenty of time to sleep, regain her strength and contact Batman

Looking back Ace really wished she had pushed herself and left while she could.

After all, there was no earthquake release of Psychic powers the first time round acting like a beacon to government agencies which were already on there way. Already equipped with telepathic countermeasures from studying martian powers they were ready for whatever threat had just arrived on earth. No matter how small it turned out to be.

Two men exited the vehicle as it pulled to stop 2 houses down from their target. The psychic shockwaves vibrated the city for nearly 10 minutes, plenty of time to pinpoint the source. The government had considered calling in an army but was worried that if whatever was in that house felt them coming they'd lose the element of surprise. No, better they try it quiet first and see if sector 12 could get a new pet out of this.

If they called in the army the league would no doubt get involved, then they'd lose whatever it is in there to a much more public program. One that had to be much more official so much more humane than they had to be. If they wanted a weapon against the freaks in tights, it had to be something they wouldn't see coming, something they couldn't keep track of.

It was lucky the Justice League hadn't sent someone to investigate. With most of their members busy on Mars dealing with some sort of plague and Riddler keeping the Bat busy in Gotham they had a short window to deal with this quietly. There were, of course, other leaguers around but with actual criminals running around, some psychic anomaly that hadn't hurt anyone yet (that they knew of) wasn't exactly high on their priority list.

Avoiding street lights the two men crept to the back of the bungalow. Carefully picking the lock on the door, they silently made their way through the house towards the only room with heat signatures in the home. Abandoning the infrared goggles, the agents prepared their tranquilizer guns. The two locked eyes silently communicating the plan as they counted down silently with their fingers outside the closed nursery. Five. Four. Three. Two…..

"FREEZE!"

Kicking down the door, the two yelled out to the adults on the couch only to be met with crazed unblinking States from the breathing corpses. Out of the corner of one of the agent's eye, he caught movement in the lone crib of the room. As Ace startled awake, she darted up.

Luckily for the agent years, of training and field experience meant the moment his mind registered movement, he swung his arm out and shot. With deadly accuracy, the knockout dart hit Ace dissolving into her system in only a couple of seconds. Before she even registered the situation, before realizing she was awake, before Ace could even think, she was already asleep.

"KAY that was a kid. You just shot a child!", His part half shouted half whispered to him.

"Shut up for a second Jay and look at the parents. They're catatonic, and we would be too if that kid was awake."

"You can't thin-"

"Look around at what the little monster did. The room is most messed up near the crib and while the parents can't even blink she shot up when we kicked the door in."

"... So what do we do, she's just a kid Kay. Can we really turn her over?"

"If we put her in an orphanage well just have a how's of dead children. Her life choices at this point are government weapon or mass murderer, and I'd much prefer the former."

A sigh of resignation escaped the younger man as he holstered his tranquilizer, "But she probably didn't even mean to do it. Can we really condemn her for this?"

"Maybe not." Kay holstered his gun while pulling out his phone, "maybe she'll be a mass manslaughter-er. Or maybe the brainiacs at section 12 will be able to train her to control her powers. It will be a hard life for her, but she won't know any different. She'll have to learn to love it."

"Your right, just wish it didn't have to be this way. I'll get her in the car." Nodding to the younger agent as he Carried the toddler away Kay called base, slowly walking out the house to the car.

"Hello, dispatch. This is agent Kay, passcode theta one one four. We have the package, a young out of control wildcat and are on route to the specialist farm. Package. Is sedated but will need on-site accommodations and restraints, over."

"Message received Kay, the farm will be ready for you."

"Thanks, Quou. Will need a cleanup crew at the pickup point, a young couple need help getting ready for their boating trip. We are on route to farm over and out."

As Kay hung up the phone, he lowers himself into the passenger seat and his partner speeds off out of the neighborhood. The sooner they had this kid off their hands and into section 12 the better.

Who was playing drums in her head? While Ace we no fan of killing she may just make an exception for whoever was making all that racket. Forcing her eyes open she sat up in… the backseat of a car.

Oh no.

Oh no no nononono no.

They weren't due for days why were they here. How could they have already got her? The last thing she remembered was falling asleep then abruptly waking up to being shot? Wasn't that a dream? That had to be a dream. Where was the cop coming to check on her family that original Ace accidentally broke? Where was the backup cops and reporters, that she also broke? Where was the frenzy of public wondering what kind of monster had infested their town?

She tried to reach for her powers but most her mind was still asleep. This body didn't have the same resistance to drugs that CADMUS helped build up in her old one. Ace could still feel the thinnest sliver of her power and grabbed onto it, gathering it and building it up.

Turning from the back window, she looked straight ahead. She briefly caught the eye of the older agent in the passenger seat, but he didn't seem to concerned; her drugged state must have been evident in her eyes. She only saw a brief twitch towards what she presumed was a tranquilizer. Or maybe he wasn't concerned because the car was already pulling to a stop.

Crap.

We had arrived at section 12. My 'home' before CADMUS. The only thing I really remember was that they were a lot dumber. Less efficient, less effective, less funded, etc. Miss Waller ran a tight operation at CADMUS, Doctor Scar as she called him, she never bothers to learn his name did not.

Ace was dragged out of the car by the two men in suits. They were still wearing their anti telepathy headgear so no luck there. Still pooling her power, she mentally ran through her options.

Running was off the table. Not even section twelve hired security incompetent enough to be outrun by a two-year-old. Fighting her way out couldn't be done; she was still too out of it with the tranquilizer going through her system. At this point, Ace could barely throw a ball of paper with her mind let alone a fully grown man. Diplomacy would be a great option if she were at CADMUS. Miss Waller actually had respect for her agents and would listen to them at the very least. Scar, on the other hand, would not because she was his toy not his agent. Not to mention her vocal cords didn't really have a lot of practice with full sentences.

The agents dragged her into a long corridor, midway down she spotted Doctor Scar holding what looked like a collar. So in the last universe, it was headbands in this universe it was collars. No matter the world they undoubtedly had the same purpose; they were a way to control her.

Damnit damnit damnit. If she couldn't run, couldn't fight and couldn't talk her way out what could she do? If only Batman were here.

…If only Batman was here. She could call for help! Ace gathered all of the power she was storing channeling it into a telepathic message as she was forced to stop in front of Scar. Focusing what on what little energy she could she started sending her message to the one mind, Ace knew other than her own. The one man who didn't change even across the dimensions she crossed.

Batman I neeAAAAAAAAARRGHHHHHH

The collar that fit like a noose around Ace's neck shocked her until she crumpled onto the floor, unconscious. Her little two-year-old chest breathing rapidly as she twitched on the floor.

Ace had no way to know that the first part of her message got through. No way to know that far away Batman was scrambling to find the source of the psychic child's scream. Going on to find the unusual supernatural event in a small out of the way town. Searching until he found out about the family with a little girl who went on holiday to nowhere, telling no-one and never coming back. Even discovering that it was a government agency that was involved.

Sadly without more to go on and hundreds of off the book agencies to chase down the trail for Ace would go cold for a long time to come.

Meanwhile, subject 11A was dumped unceremoniously in her new home. Sleeping off the shock from her new high voltage companion. Dreamily wondering how it all went so wrong so fast.