"Miss Hebert, I'm Thomas Calvert of the PRT," I had to nod at the PRT man, he seemed a no nonsense type. From his suit with its fancy pin, to the little visor clipped over one of his eyes; I had heard about those, Sega Glasses. "And this is Miss Militia, as you know. I'm certain you have an idea why we're here."

I gave a slow hesitant nod. "You... you're not going to send me to jail for guessing who Shadow Stalker is or writing those stories, are you? I could write non-cape stories..."

There was a pause from the PRT agent at my reply, and a not quite cough from Miss Militia. Mister Calvert spoke up after the moment of awkward silence. "Not quite. Normally, we would send a Ward to talk to you, explain the situation and such."

"Oh..." I could only swallow. This was a recruitment. If only they had approached me earlier. One supposes it might have been because of Sophia talking to them that they were here. But why would they bring in Dragon or need Miss Militia to talk to me? I wasn't that dangerous as to require her. That'd be like bringing one of the Triumvirate to recruit someone into the Wards. "You're going to try and recruit me into the Wards?"

"Ah, very succinct and quite accurate," He nodded, that smile on his face seemed almost grim. "Part of why we didn't ask a ward to talk to you is because of certain... irregularities and concerns regarding you and your powerset."

Now, I blinked at the two of them. "What... the ability to control insects is that scary? Seriously, I mean I had difficulty t-"

There was that look of disbelief from the two of them now. "What?"

"We meant the reason why we had to institute the use of Master and Stranger protocols and bring me in to do the recruitment pitch," There was that dry tone of voice from him now. "The use of a mental power on Shadow Stalker in her civilian identity."

"Ah, erm," I blinked at him now. "You do know that I didn't use any parahuman powers on her at all... right?"

Another blink from the two, before Miss Militia spoke up in disbelief. "Are you honestly trying to say that you did nothing but talked her into triggering a second time?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I did nothing, but I did talk to her, and I said nothing that wasn't true," Honestly, why did people disbelieve what I said? I hadn't told any untruths or lied. Deception by omission wasn't lying, after all. "But I solemnly swear that this is the truth, I did not knowingly use any parahuman powers on her."

"Interesting, you... you're not lying or believe you're lying," Mister Calvert spoke up with a raised eyebrow as he tapped the earpiece attached to his visor. "But are you honestly saying that you only have insect control?"

I smiled and nodded at him. "I don't lie. I'm honestly telling you here and now that my parahuman power is control over insects. You wouldn't believe how much trouble I had to go to think of ways to use it that wasn't outright villainous or biblical disaster."

"That does raise some other questions then," He nodded. "Still, that's- that's good to hear."

The question by Miss Militia was one that had me blinking. "So, you've thought over what you would like to do? As a cape?"

"If you'll excuse me for a moment," I had to nod at her before going to where I had kept the adjusted business plan for Weaver Clothier, before returning with it. "I was planning on starting my own business."

The two of them blinked and went over the business proposal that dad had corrected.

"That's ambitious, I'll give you that," Mister Calvert eventually nodded. "May we see a sample of your work?"

I smiled at him before heading into the basement. "If you'll follow me?"

There was a momentary startled look on Mister Calvert's face that echoed the other timeline.

.

.

I looked at the living room with satisfaction. It was as good as it would be if anyone dropped by.

The scent from the kitchen as well as the ding from the oven was a good hint that my tuna casserole was done. Quickly, I nipped into the kitchen and transferred the casserole from the oven to the stove top to let it cool down.

Sipping my tea, I thought deeply on what was happening. This schism in time was obviously the work of a cape of some sort. Perhaps some unknown shaker from the PRT or something. This... gave me an idea for a story.

Settling down at mom's old computer, and booting it up, I winced at the sounds coming from the computer tower. I would need to open it up and take the vacuum to it soon. Still, despite its age, it was still in better condition than the computers in the library. The only downside was that we didn't have internet at home, which meant that I would need to transfer any stories I wrote here to the school computers.

Naturally, I got to working on typing out the Janus Caper and started with an in media res introduction.

...

The sound rang out, loud and thunderous as the scent of sulfur hung in the room. I had to admit I had been frightened enough to stumble backwards and over the sofa, given the loudness of it all. The soft thud seemed almost superfluous.

I, Rose Taylor, had just had my home invaded by a masked man and then shot at. Luckily, I had successfully... ahem... dodged the first shot. The second bullet rammed home into my heart and ended my story.

But at the same time as I was being shot, I was also in the library doing some research. I blinked as one timeline was terminated by my death. The research I was doing was vital, thus time was split once more as I kept reading, while the other me left the library.

I had a murder mystery to solve.

My own murder.

...

I nodded at the introduction, it held a certain mystery that raised questions and introduced the plot.

Meanwhile, I kept an eye on the PRT employees in the open and in their vehicles. More importantly, I deployed some of my insects to investigate the container trucks as well as the car with Miss Militia and Mister Calvert.

This was a mystery, after all, because as everyone knows, the PRT only employed normal humans to provide oversight of the capes in the protectorate and to give support to the heroes and heroines.

My investigation revealed some things to me. One, tinkers are dirty cheaters who can make all kinds of things. The second being that I had more willpower than reveal I was spying on the people spying on me and reading my story. Somehow, they were able to see what I was typing and writing without any kind of connection to my computer. Third, critics were everywhere. Honestly, if they didn't like my story, they shouldn't be reading it while I typed it out.

Honestly.

Also, people liked to share dirty secrets and gossips. Even PRT secret agents because my bugs caught a startled look from Mister Calvert as he listened to the agent reading my story, echoing the other timeline.

.

.

Stepping into the basement, I opened the window as the black widows emerged from their hiding spots to come to me, my siren call to them was, after all, absolute.

For now, I didn't submerge my mind into the insects around me, I merely used a fraction of my powers to call the ones I needed.

"If you'll wait a while, my supply sources will be arriving shortly," Soon, the spiders started to arrive, one by one into the basement.

With that, I got about preparing the loom that I had left in the basement for the weaving of my costume's bodysuit. I had the spiders attach their webbing to the thread spools, spend the essence as I utilized one of the charms that I had learned from my guest and not just borrowed.

And magic was done as I hummed away, spider silk spooling and growing larger, thicker than they should normally before being used by me to weave. I had the mental image in my mind as I worked and fueled my Essence-Forging Art.

If I could see myself, I suspect that I looked like one of the fairytale artisans one saw in Disney movies as I wove a business suit out of spider silk with metal inserts here and there for better protection, and forged a domino mask out of solidified webbing into something akin to stone.

It didn't take very long for me to weave said outfit, it was after all, just a simple armored garment without any inherent special ability. Bullet and knife proof to be sure. But it was in the end, just a mundane garment.

There was a look of consideration on my guests' faces as I showed off what I had woven before them. "If you want to, I can put it on. It won't take more than a few minutes."

Another considering nod from the two of them as they returned to the living room, while I sent the spiders back outside and headed to the bathroom upstairs. It was a given that I kept an eye on those two.

"So, master, thinker, and shaker with that power being used subconsciously?" Mister Calvert seemed concerned now as he spoke in the living room softly to Miss Militia.

"Possible, or perhaps a breaker," I nearly didn't catch her reply. But still... with keen ears, I could hear them talk to each other.

I could also hear Dragon chip in on the network from the truck. It had been tricky, but I had managed to get some of my insects into the PRT command truck and listened in on the comments, it was also how I was listening in on the scathing remarks and criticisms of my story in the other timeline.

It felt... odd listening to Dragon calmly dissect what I had done with my Essence-Forging Art. Still, the assumption that I could only use my powers on insects and their biological secretions had me mentally shaking my head.

Dressing didn't take too long, and I soon returned downstairs to show off the outfit to Miss Militia and Mister Calvert. "I trust there is nothing wrong with me going into business and not joining the Wards as Weaver, is there?"

There was a look of surprise on their faces now as I turned about to show off the suit.

"Perhaps, perhaps not, there are certain advantages to being a Ward," Mister Calvert looked at me. "But as long as you don't break any laws as a rogue in running your business, there wouldn't be any actual problems. Just be mindful that you would have none of the benefits of being a Ward."

"Well, part of it is that I would be mostly a support type hero, it's hard to play nice and erm... give a good image with insects," I shrugged and sat down once more. "I mean, I can understand that insects can be creepy and scary to people."

I didn't bother to hide my incomprehension of such, but Miss Militia nodded at me in understanding as I continued on. "And I can do good just making costumes. I mean, I know that the Protectorate provides costumes to the heroes and so on, but I'm willing to bet that they're expensive, and there isn't such an option for the capes not affiliated with the Protectorate."

There were grudging nods from the two of them.

"More, I can expand into normal clothing for rich people. I mean, who wouldn't want nice stylish clothing that are knife and bullet resistant depending on the caliber?" I smiled at the two. "But I will take your offer into consideration and talk it over with my father."

"That would be acceptable, Miss Weaver," There was the hint of a smile from Mister Calvert. "That's all we're asking you to do. Here, if you do wish to join the Wards, just call us."

With that, I was given a mostly empty business card that only had a single phone number on it, and above it in bold font, 'The Protectorate'.

With that, the two left.

As they walked out the door, reality collapsed as the two timelines became one once more... and I had but a single regret.

I would need to type out the Janus Caper. Again.

Still, dad would be home soon, so it wouldn't be too bad.

.

Goblin Queen | Games will be fun or else

Worm / Exalted