* Wednesday, 9:45 a.m., After the Funeral *

A silver piece of plastic sits between four teenagers. Table centered, none of them want to be any closer than necessary. The tallest one pokes it with a butter knife, confirming it's physical presence. It shifts an inch.

Sighing, she grabs it and wrangles the USB cord into a loaned laptop.

'Make sure that doesn't eat my hard drive or anything.'

'Sure Vicky. If it starts going Skynet on us I'll make sure it's singing Daisy instead.'

Two blank stares, though the third is a pained smile.

Chloe lets the laptop finish booting before plugging anything in. 'Really? HAL 9000, girls. 2001 A Space Odyssey. Monkey shines and monoliths and bay doors.' Disappointment sits poorly on her as she turns back to the computer. 'Uncultured heathens.'

'Be nice Chlo.'

All that answers is the rapid tapping and track pad swiping as the bluenette goes about her work. 'Okay, Vicky. Put in your password.'

'Why?'

'Because I need admin privileges if I'm going to set up a partition without cracking your security.'

Now three blank stares, and the third is more than a little surprised.

'I want to set up quarantine so that the bad stuff on this doesn't eat your hard drive.'

The pixie blonde leans over and quickly types.

'Really? That's your password.'

'Don't you dare say anything Price.'

'Fine, fine. Let's get started.' A handful of minutes pass. 'Okay. I'm ready. Here goes nothing.' The plug attached, Chloe types and swipes. 'Sorry but it looks like it's just full of movies. Lots of movies. Damn, it looks like Warren downloaded every B movie since the dawn of Hollywood.'

Dejected. Max directs the conversation. 'But why? Why is it here?'

A shrug. 'I don't know. Maybe you never gave it back?'

'Bullshit.' She covers her mouth. 'Sorry, Kate.' Wheeling back. 'I know I did. I handed it to Warren right before he had his butt kicked and you almost ran me over. I know I did it.'

Defensive hands try to calm the brunette. 'Okay! Calm down Max.'

Doesn't work.

'And the board from last week. I know we took it apart! I may have been on standby but you said you gave all the useful stuff to David. Didn't you?'

'I was pretty sure...'

'So there.' A solid stance, abrupt. Hands on hips. 'Someone is messing with us. It's the other girl.'

Chloe's bobbing head, negative. 'I don't know. I mean, how would she-'

'She's got Max's powers, right? Maybe more?' Victoria changes target. 'Could you do it?'

Yeah. I certainly could. 'The board, definitely.' A cloud obscures the sunlight streaming through the window. Half the room darkens. 'If I had a decent idea of where the stuff was and how it was set up, I could have done it. The drive?' Think it through. Plan it. 'If I could travel back to the right spot. That's as much luck as anything else.'

'How come?'

'Well, can't take anything with me. I need a picture at just the right time, preferably alone with the drive. I'd need to be able to move it somewhere it won't be disturbed. Call it a week, tops. And Warren-' No stutter. '-would probably be looking for it, had said something. So... so Friday. That would have been the best time to move it.'

'but...'

'But what Katie?'

The young woman tentatively puts forward her idea. 'But what if... if Max has these powers, there should be more people like. And some of them bad. But... what if they are different? Like mind reading and telekinesis. Flying. What if someone with time powers is stronger than Max. Doesn't need pictures.'

'We aren't in a comic book here.'

The look from Kate's eyes could melt steel. 'Vicky. Literal superpowers. Sitting next to you.'

'I don't mean that.' Victoria moves the laptop closer, hunching down to poke through as she continues. 'I mean, we don't have the Super Friends showing up at disasters or fighting villains. The most likely source of Max's powers is genetics. She's probably more evolved than the rest of us. Evolution isn't like X-Men. You can't just mutate and get a whole lot of different powers. For a mutation to not outright destroy the DNA it has to not mess too much with the rest. Change one tiny thing and you won't grow eye, or lungs, or the body tries to grow inside-out.' A smile crosses as the laptop spins around on the floor. 'Almost all the time there's a mutation, a baby never forms. The cells just don't do anything.' Pointing at the familiar double-helix on screen. 'Maybe you change this chunk and you can fly. But it was also coded to your arms, the DNA can't be read, no baby. You can only change the parts that can stand being changed. The way all this works means either Max is unique-'

'And we know there's another.'

'-or we are dealing with a very, very limited range of powers. Either directly time-travel or other weird mental powers. Maybe telepathy, telekinesis, stuff like that.'

A trio of smirks.

'What?'

'Nerd.'

Katie!

A bit of steel slides up her spine. 'So what I'm a nerd? People like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs run the world.'

Eh, it's more a compliment.

'I know. That's why you're so cool.'

Okay, let's not get carried away. 'Anyway, in spite of Vicky's geekipedia, how does this help us? I mean, it's nice knowing the likelihood that Superwoman shows up is next to nil but it isn't anything new.'

'Not true Maximus.' Chloe takes back ownership of the computer. 'If we can narrow down what we're dealing with, it can only help. If we can... you know...'

'I know... what?'

'If we can figure out how to, uh, beat you, we, uh, we can beat this other girl.' Color burns her cheeks. 'Not that I wanna, like, beat you up or something. Just if we could... figure out a weakness to your powers.'

That's kinda crazy. I mean- 'I have some glaring weaknesses with this power. I can only go back a few minutes. I can't do much without passing out. I...' What can I do? Really? 'I can move stuff around, and move short distances. I guess that's it.'

'That's not... true.' Kate leans forward on one knee. 'You could be Neo. If you used your power in a fight you could probably, you know, kick some butt.'

'But I wouldn't.'

'What if the other girl would? What if she can fight? Of if she carries a weapon, like a knife? What could she do with that when no one's moving?'

That is so-

'Not cool.' Victoria leverages herself off the floor. 'You girls are so much fun at a party. Haven't had coffee and we're talking about someone that can cut you to pieces in a literal instant. Come on Kate.' A playful push with her leg. 'We'll brainstorm while I get my caffeine on.'

'One second, I need-'

Another playful push, more forceful. 'Come on slowpoke.' A bit more prodding, mostly verbal, leaves the young couple staring at a screensaver.

'Weird.'

'I know. I mean, Warren was all into the nerd group, why wouldn't he change his screensaver from "pipes".'

'What? No, Chlo. I mean Victoria. She was acting hella shady just now. Trying to get Kate to leave.' Max looks over to her girlfriend. 'You think she's conspiring about something?'

The red of Chloe's cheeks contrasts terribly with her hair. 'What? N-no. No way. Why would you even think that? There's no reason to think they're doing something shady.'

I was mostly kidding but... 'Chloe? What aren't you telling me?'

'Nothing.'

I swear to dog- 'I will march downstairs and time travel the shit out of this if you don't tell-'

In a rush. 'Theyvebothaskedmehowtobeatatimetravelerbefore.'

They did what?!

'Max, don't freak. It's not like that.'

They wanted to know how to beat me?

'Max, just listen. It's wasn't about you.'

'Bullshit.'

'...Okay maybe Chase was. But Kate asked me about it on Monday on the drive here. It wasn't that she was scared or something. God, I don't think Kate actually could get in a fight. She was just talking about your powers and "how could you even fight someone like that" if it wasn't, you know... You with the powers. She seemed worried that you weren't the only one.'

Gritted teeth hiss out. 'And Victoria?'

Color rushes back to the bluenette's face. 'At the, uh, hospital. When you disappeared I kinda needed to vent and I, uh... I may have told them a little about... About the drive over.'

Tears, unbidden, leaking. Just sharing that with everyone? What she did to me? What I did to her? 'Chlo, I- I can't. How could you? You...' betrayed.

'Hey! I was pissed. Fuck, I still am. I bet you are too, if you think about it.' She walks to the window, opening it, and lights a cigarette. 'I will stop being angry about it sometime, probably soon. I'm not there yet. And I'm trying not to blame you or put anything on you because I forgive you. Yesterday, hell, before that. I don't want you feeling any blow-back shit because I'm still salty about things.'

'And at the hospital...'

'I just... just ranted for a few minutes to Vicky. Just had to get a few things off my chest. I'm... sorry if you think I shouldn't have done that. You, ya know, trusted her with your secret and I figured I could... try.'

Can you blame her? She has you but you were the problem.

Why bother me now?

I/we like strong emotions. We/I like to feel-

'-again, I'd do it over.'

'No, Chloe. It's fine. I'm actually kinda glad you're trusting Vicky more.'

'I'm not. I knew she was condescending but asking for a legit opinion, even when she's friendly, is somehow worse.'

'Oh, she'll grow on you-'

'like a fungus'

'So original, har har. Anyway you did totally screw up. "A few things off my chest"? You totally missed that one.'

Finally the bluenette smiles. 'Yeah but last time I took my shirt off you totally thought I was perving on you.'

'You were!'

'And?'

Incorrigible. 'Stop. We're way off track. Victoria. What's up with that?'

'Oh, yeah. She and I were talking about your powers. Range, duration. How often before you pass out. I mean, we don't have firm facts on this but we have used your powers a lot last week.'

I'll say. So, she's looking for... weaknesses? Because of me or because of the mystery girl? 'So, any thoughts? How would you or Vicky beat me?'

'Well, the only idea we came up with is the wear you out. You get tired, your power goes down. Other than, you know...'

'What? You mean-' Drugging me. Never. Never again. I'm not-

'Yeah. Which is kinda why I didn't, you know, bring it up. But if this other super is using her powers to mess with us-'

'-we won't have much of a choice. I get it.'

'Yeah... Sucks.'

'Yeah.'

That damn silence, that one that keeps popping up around Max.

She hates it.

She used to love it. Silence was golden. A part of a photo. An instance, when she stills light it creates a picture. Stilling sound creates silence. It is a part of her art. But now the silences around her have a weight. Density. They get so thick she can swim through them. Oppressing, suffocating, depressing-

She cracks silence.

'Let's get ready. We still need to get to the police station. Let's see if we can figure out who that mystery girl is.'

The bluenette comes back to herself. 'Yeah, yeah. I'll grab some clothes, you can change here. Hey.' A gesture outside. 'It's cloudy today. Maybe the weather is getting back to normal.'

I won't count on it. The door closes. I got the internet, thank Dog, let's check anyway.

But the first thing she sees is a little notice at the bottom.

External drive synchronization complete

Warren's drive.

Clicking through, a file folder pops up. He organized everything. Homework, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror. Browsing, Max starts clicking through categories. Doctor Who? Maybe he has the new episodes with Matt Smith. I haven't watched much since Tennant left.

A multitude of sub-folders.

Of course he organizes by Doctor. Let's see- Twelfth? Smith is the Eleventh. Did Warren find something out?

Inside she found multiple documents, some random ".exe" files, and several videos. Everything started with the same four letters.

DrMC

What the fuck?

The first video caught her attention. DrMC101420132342.

Sitting in front of her, Warren adjusts the camera, refocusing. Gaming headset on, staring right into the camera. The video quality is poor but the audio pickup comes in crisp.

'So I have a theory. Max doesn't have one power. It's two distinct powers that just so happen to both be time travel.'

The video becomes even harder to see as tears obscure. Only Warren's words cut through the pound of blood in her ears.

'The short-term traveling, the rewinding, is pretty much makes sense, sorta. If we look at her power in a closed system, all Max is doing is rewinding to rerecord over time. In this case I really don't see how we can have any major problems developing.'

The image on screen and the person watching take a breath in unison.

'But her time-jump is what caused last week. Even though it started as a rewind, I'm almost certain that the single event that caused the storm, in her alternate week, was the first time she photo jumped. When Max does a jump, she's not just recording over the timeline. She is adding in a whole new branch to the universe. That still kinda happens when she rewinds but, in these cases, she isn't present to do all of the recordings over. It's like she's splicing two cassette tapes together, except when that happens the new and the old try to exist at the same time. Hence the storm, hence the whirlpool. But I think... I think it's a lot worse now. Before going back and resetting, Max created a multiverse. I'm not sure if there really were multiple universes before- the theories are sound. They don't really agree, of course, and it isn't like the theory of gravity that is- no, sidetrack. The MM, Max Multiverse. I think... with all these alternate realities Max made... I think they want to be one again.'

Goddamn silence as even the blood rushing is gone.

'I think we might see these realities try to come back together. And I have no idea what that means.'