by Louis IX
Check first chapter for disclaimer and global warnings.
Unfolding RealityAnnette Rose died in a car crash… but not in 2008. She dies because, in the car, with her, were several other women, one of whom a parahuman, and they clearly intended to crash a "rally of old men" in order to "tear down the patriarchy".
In clear, they wanted to invade the Congress. Which was under heavy protection because of said parahuman's threats. They ignored the chains and the fence and the shouts of the first perimeter around the building. The first bullets through the car, from the second ring of protection around the building, only wounded three women. The third ring had higher calibre rounds – shot from a higher position, in order not to mow through buildings and people when targeting a single insurgent cell. The car was stopped dead, and the shooters stopped their deadly work.
But you can't shoot high-calibre rounds into a car's engine and not expect it to leak. The gas flowing over the hot mechanics took fire, and the car exploded.
It led Daniel Hebert down another path.
Law Studies are neither Science nor Social Studies. The sex ratio was fairly balanced, and there were enough students interested in each other to make regular couples right out of the gate. Alan Barnes met Zoe, who had chosen to enter those Studies only to appease her old parents, given that she was going to inherit quite a bit soon after all. And Daniel met Sakura Cornell, an Asian-American girl with quite an ambition for herself, as if she had to prove something to her distant ancestors. Or just her mother, who was the same.
She tried to inculcate the same into their daughter, whom they named Taylor, but with much less results. Taylor had good grades, sure, but wasn't obsessing on them all the time – perhaps, if History had been different, another girl would have been born and raised as Sakura… or even worse.
Taylor was also a dreamer, like her father – who, despite having studied Law, chose to help the downtrodden people in the Docks rather that join prestigious firms and win large lumps of money when defending criminals.
In fact, bar slightly slanted eyes and a keener intellect, Taylor inherited so many aspects of her father that some people joked that she might be practically a clone – if you ignored her long hair and the fact that his was receding. Even at fifteen, she was a tall and thin gangly thing like him, all elbows and knees, and people often thought that she was a boy with long hair.
When she sat on low seats (on the ground, for instance, or a cushion, or a small folding chair) next to someone her age, she looked normal, with her limbs folded in her large clothes. But she had, like her father, a way of standing up that made people stare, as it looks like she "unfolds" herself several times – such as unfolding her knees first, and then her hips, the imagery doubling again when she then raised her arms to stretch.
Perhaps she copied him. After all, she lived with him, after the divorce.
Yes, Daniel and Sakura divorced. When he made commitments to work with the "poor", it went perpendicular to his wife's wishes… but only in terms of reputation, as it reflected poorly on her when dealing with the upper-class clients she met regularly. For the same reason, she didn't want to make ugly waves, and they chose to divorce with minimal fuss.
That led the woman to a difficult position, because most people thought that Taylor would live with her, and she preferred that her "unambitious" daughter not hinder her career. Thankfully, for everyone, Taylor wasn't adverse to go living with her father.
They still continued to spend quality time together, when the mother had time, and part of that included inducing her to some arts that taught patience. Such as origami – the art of folding paper. Taylor liked the art and continued on her own, and her bedroom had a whole bookcase almost full of the stuff (there were books, too… about origami).
Living with her father saw her seeing him meet with the "boys" of the Docks, at home. Without question about her being a boy or not, a (light) beer was sometimes pushed into her hand, and a seat given to participate in card games, especially those needing an additional player to play (such as Bridge or Belote). That wasn't all the time, though, because they played Poker more often… and then money was involved. Her father lost a bit and won a bit, but he was also scrupulous about not impoverishing his charges, so he ended up paying them meals or the like when he won. He often folded, too, when that meant that one of his "boys" could win. In the end, he was all the poorer despite his otherwise higher hierarchical position.
Taylor played other card games, too. Given that she still had birthday gifts from her mother, year after year, she asked for something she had very little of, and got a large gift of it.
It meant that when she was at the age at which kids get interested in Pokemon, the card game, she got several cartons of it – each with hundreds of cards. When she was trying Yu-Gi-Oh, the next year, the same happened. And trying Magic the Gathering afterwards got her a dozen cartons.
Playing with her father was difficult, because there were many rules, but when the man decided to give her a rainy Sunday afternoon, he didn't complain playing her games. Or just discussing about things. Or watching a movie.
She was such a normal person, at home, that Daniel didn't think anything bad was happening at school. Sure, her grades were slipping a bit, but he joked that he was the same in his own times… and then he'd ask if she had a boyfriend. Which she would deny. And the subject of school was nicely side-stepped.
Taylor is too much like her father, that way: despite bringing friends from work, at home, they don't speak about the work, especially when she's there. Daniel has a temper, but knows how to swallow it when around her.
She has a temper, too, and knows to hide it when around him. The problem is that that temper is fuelled with what happens in school, without her getting a chance to relieve some pressure.
What happens in school is that she's bullied. As a girl not looking like one, she's scorned by both "teams". One of the teachers had even asked to see her naked in order not to send her in the boys' locker room. And the girls jeered, at that.
They also smashed the prized pieces of origami she had brought as demonstration for her Art class, something which annoyed her greatly – even if she could spend time (and money, as those coloured papers don't come cheap) to rebuild them.
Emma wasn't there, too, which contributed to her dismay: the redhead, daughter to rich parents, was enrolled in Arcadia straight away. That was the last nail in the coffin burying Daniel and Alan's friendship, already soured, a long time ago, by the former's decision to associate with both the Dockworkers and their Union.
Because Taylor didn't have the social crutch Emma had been, she was unable to cope with the bullying, and it escalated up to a point where she was pushed into a locker already half-filled with used tampons – and they had to fold her so that she would fit in the half-height cubbyhole.
Not really able to breathe, and with awful smells when she did, she really thought she was going to die. She needed to get out.
She needed to get out.
She.
Needed.
To.
Get.
OUT!
Space folded, and she was out. From her crouching position, she unfolded herself and took a deep breath. And then she let it all out in one god-awful scream, alerting the girls who were currently in the showers.
Realizing this, she wanted to get OUT again, and reflexively used her new ability.
Space folded again, and she was home without moving again, ready to take the shower she clearly needed, because of that reeking blood over her clothes – she didn't want to take a shower with her bullies, no, thank you.
That made her arrive in the bathroom, facing the full-length mirror, and she could see the strange effect that her folding space created – apparently, when she arrived, she had a split-second in the split-space to observe her surroundings. A failsafe from her power, perhaps, in order not to teleport into danger? Whatever the case, when she committed to the fold, she saw that the space facing the mirror, which had been pinched, expanded with her in it.
That led her to test it again, except that, apparently, the power worked differently according to the distance involved: from near the wall to closer to the sink, her departing self became thin and tilted, the same thing happening in reverse, afterwards, at her destination. As if her being was aligned into the axis of her move and then travelled through unknown means towards her target.
Visually, it looked like her image was a 3D projection on a 2D pane that was then turned to the side. And vice-versa at the arrival point. She also had knowledge of having travelled through the intervening space, even if that had been instant – she suspected that her other mean of folding space would lead to headaches, if she had the same knowledge, applied to miles of distance, crammed into her head.
When she got out of the bathroom, she met her father, who was here quite unexpectedly – she thought he worked all day long. He also had bloodshot eyes, and she could smell alcohol on his breath, and… she didn't want to confront his temper in these conditions.
She fled to her bedroom, using her new power, and grabbed clean clothes. And then she transported back into the school. Doing this, she was thinking that if he was as drunk as she thought, he might think she was a product of his imagination. And perhaps cut his drinking. Since when did he drink himself into such a state, anyways?
She was caught in those thought and almost caught on arrival. Thankfully, that split-second in split-space allowed her to notice that the locker room was full. She could then refine her target point so as to appear in an empty toilet stall, one in the upper stories and thus seldom used – even for taking drugs or selling them, as walking up stairs is tiring for those young hoodlums.
As her day continues, Taylor realizes that her bullies aren't there. Listening to rumours is easier when one can fold space and listen without being there. Apparently, some of the bullies got cold feet when hearing her scream, and were caught by the teacher when trying to open the locker. They named the others, who had the key, and opened. Thankfully (or not, as it would have implicated them, surely), she wasn't there, and only soiled tampons soiled their feet. Teacher included. Hence their going home for the afternoon.
Without them, Taylor decides that she ought to branch out. Without their constant hounding and harassing, she can make friends, perhaps? Seeing three boys playing cards on a table, she approached and got her own deck out. "Place for one more?"
They nodded, not even looking strangely at her. Sometimes, her boyish appearance allowed her to infiltrate groups of boys without hassle. She preferred those, even, as groups of girls with her inside invariably turned snide towards her appearance.
Playing Magic again, after discovering her abilities, made her think about the cards in a new way, especially those with gilded illustrations. Turning them this way and that, catching the light, she remembered her own appearance in her bathroom, at home. Could she use her power on her cards? Would she summon a goblin if she did so, right now? She felt her power start to churn and hastily played her card in a normal way, not really wanting the otherworldly creature to appear in school – and out herself, too.
Questioning turned to testing when, upon leaving school, she transported herself in the old trainyard. She smiled at her Mover ability and started to play.
Yes, she could move herself. She could also fold space somewhere not centred on her person, opening a portal to go through. She could move things from one place to another, as well, but it felt weird, and heavy, and exhausting. Still, she teleported a cart a few meters away, and reflected that by training, she could perhaps do more. And if folding space means "anywhere", according to her conclusions, she could teleport it anywhere with the same cost.
Yes, she could alter the trajectory of a flying item: throwing a pebble, she altered its trajectory once, making it end its flight back towards her. Catching it, she did it again, changing its flight several times by teleporting it higher and higher. And then, when it crashed, it had accumulated enough velocity to make some noise.
Yes, she could move creatures: seeing a spider web, she found the owner and folded space to put it in its own web, confusing the arthropod. She noticed a rat, further away, and folded space to drop it into a tall bucket, preventing its escape (and it biting her).
Yes, she could alter the structural integrity of something. She teleported at the farthest end of the Ship Graveyard, where she folded space around a large oval in the hull. The oval disappeared, allowing her to enter. And then she put the oval back in its place before teleporting out. No visible seam, it was perfect.
Yes, she could maintain that folded space for a while. She could even store three items in folded space, like that. But no more, or the first stored one appears again. And if she folds space to move herself, it counts as one such folded space. Also, things in folded space are always available to her, wherever she is.
Yes, she could transfer liquids from a place to another: she could fold space around a cube of water, keeping it away and letting the surrounding water rush in. And then she let it out, making some waves.
Finally, she tested her ability with the cards, as envisioned. She searched for the most innocuous animal (a 0/1 rabbit token card, in fact) in the lot and used her power on the card, held flat so that she could only see the side.
The card "unfolded", like she had done in her bathroom, at home, and she got herself a perfectly viable rabbit, perfectly resembling the one on the card. She could feel it move, and she could also feel herself using the rabbit's senses. She tested this further by lowering the rabbit to the ground and have it move around, all done mentally.
While the creature was there, Taylor could also feel one of her three "power slots" being in use. As such, randomly folding space around three items around her caused her creation to disappear, only to return as a card where it was (from where she teleported it back in her hand).
She summoned it again and tried to fold it again directly, to see how difficult it was. The answer: not at all, and she could even have it reappear directly in her hand. That was thankful, because she really wanted to see if her power would work with other cards – more dangerous. Starting with a 2/2 watchdog. As with the rabbit, she could perceive with its senses (with her power extrapolating that, as a dog, its sense of smell was quite acute), have it move around, or sit still.
As another test, she took a blank sheet of paper and used is to "fold" the rat (still inside the bucket, back in the trainyard) into a new card. That took a slot as long as it was there, though, and she suspected that "used slots" corresponded to anything unnatural she got going.
Speaking of unnatural, she could summon other creatures from the cards, even human-looking ones. However, none of them could do anything if she didn't devote brainpower to manage them. And she clearly didn't know how to activate the cards' special effects.
Regarding size, she soon realized that one of her power slot was enough to manage a summoned creature her size of less, but no bigger… unless she devoted two slots for it. The creature could then be up to twice her size. And she could double again if she used all three slots – but no teleporting her… or it (except back as a card in her hand). She suspected that her use of blank "cards" to store other creatures would suffer the same limitation.
When she headed back, time had passed, but no more than what her regular ride would take, between waiting at the stops and the traffic. Her dad was home, too, and he had taken a shower since their morning surprise encounter. His eyes were still a bit red, but he was sitting still, at the kitchen table, a coffee mug next to his hands.
"Taylor." he says. "We need to talk."
Cliffhanger! …or not.In short, he has lost his job. The whole Union had been disbanded, in fact, and forcibly evacuated. He knew that select police officers had been chosen to do the evacuation, with the front-line "grunts" being unionized themselves, with the rear guard being those actively against them. If one of those grunts had chosen to turncoat, he'd have been tried for dereliction of duty, treason, or something like that – easily forgetting that some cops do that all the time, now, to avoid being targeted by other mobs. Avoiding being arrested thanks to their not rebelling against their apologetic friends, the Dockworkers were still prevented from grouping there, or in nearby bars. That's why he had been home all day, drinking non-stop until he came across her. That had awoken him about his remaining responsibilities, and he had thrown up and taken a shower.
On her side, Taylor admitted to having bullied… and to having triggered into a parahuman, because of it.
That's when someone knocked at the door. "Good afternoon. I'm Thomas Calvert, and I heard about your plight. I'm here to offer you a job."
"Me?" Daniel asked.
"Well, I may have use of your services, yes, but I was talking to your daughter."
"What?" Daniel exclaimed, seconded by said daughter.
"New parahumans often scour the Trainyard or the Ship Graveyard when training their powers." the man said, shrugging. "It's so well-known that every major group of interest has cameras along the way. I'm just one of the fastest responder, with a better equipment. I'm sure the Protectorate will come after a few days – or a member of the PRT in relation with their Wards program."
"Why would we say yes, if the PRT has offers for Taylor's powers?" Daniel asked.
"Because we pay more. And it's not even illegal: my company, Fortress Constructions, does legal work building Endbringer shelters, among other things. And, sometimes, we do contract jobs for the PRT, too."
"How can I work for you?" Taylor asked. "I'm not even out of school."
"We have ways for you to transfer to another school, if you want, as well as relocate the two of you, to optimize transit times. Or, if you wish, you can test out. I took the liberty of bringing Lisa with me, she's a young parahuman too, and she can tell you more."
As if on cue, a blonde girl of one or two years older than Taylor entered behind the man. She smiled at them, and Taylor immediately thought of a fox, for some reason. And while this Calvert person started to speak with her dad, she got to discuss shop with another cape.
Cue squeeing… or not.
"Listen, I'm not a hundred percent sure of Calvert's motivations." Lisa started without preamble. "But what he says is what he offers. Contrarily to some, he's quite honest. He offered me a relatively well-paying job, and a place to stay, in exchange for a few hours of power use per day."
"And what is it? Your power?"
Back to the vulpine grin. "Sometimes, I want to say I'm psychic, but my power "only" infers things from the slightest clue… and then I blurt everything out. If I do too much of the first and not enough of the second, I get headaches like you wouldn't believe."
Taylor nodded, the topic of headaches having already crossed her mind.
"See, for that, I can already deduce that your power has a Thinker component, based on your registered Mover ability."
"Thinker? But…"
"Anything related to perception is lopped in the Thinker classification. You want to know what else I can infer about you?"
Taylor hesitated, but Lisa seemed on a roll. And she didn't want to inflict a killer headache to her involuntary guest.
"You're Mover, obviously, with high rating due to long-range teleportation with possible passengers – or people following you. And yes, I know that already because I saw a video of you doing things in the yard."
"A video? Mr Calvert said so, but if the gangs noticed…"
"Don't worry. In addition to my… social skills, I am also proficient with a computer, and there's no video freely available anymore. Now, I couldn't prevent Dragon from snatching a copy, since she seems to be everywhere, these days. Hence Calvert's warning about the PRT."
"Dragon? The Tinker?"
"Yep. But since it's not her jurisdiction, she just passes messages when interesting things happen."
Taylor nodded, unable to speak for a moment due to the surprise at having caught the interest of such a world-class cape.
"Thinker, we spoke about." Lisa continued. "And then there's the Master classification. Those card tricks you can do? They belong to that. Since you seem to be able to keep the creatures without cost, that means quite a high level too."
She brought a hand into a pocket and extracted a small box, which appeared completely sealed. "I took the liberty of buying this… and its content. It's a sealed container, usually used by divers to keep their wallet dry. Inside are a few cards, from various games, that you could find interesting. All sorts of animals, some mythological, some humanoids, some machines… we may add Tinker to your classification, too, because of it."
"Why? I mean, thanks, but why giving me this? We haven't said yes, yet."
That insufferable grin. "Yes. Yet." A pause. "A gift? A proof of honourable intentions? Take it or not, I know you have other cards, but I don't have a use for it so… feel free."
Taylor opened the box and took the first few cards out. She snorted. "An elephant? A rhinoceros?"
"You never know when you need muscle… or obstruction. That's what's very good with your power: it's versatile."
"I'm not sure I can summon an elephant. I felt an upper limit in what I could summon. Something like four times my size."
"Ah." Lisa wasn't one to stay crestfallen for long. "I know! We could help you train yourself, and gain some muscle mass, thus increasing the mass you can summon – perhaps not an elephant, yet, but, still… Besides, being healthy is useful for everyone, in the long run."
"No getting me fat, though."
"I yield. No getting you fat."
Taylor continued to browse the deck. "A unicorn? A Pegasus? A f-ing dragon?" She looked at Lisa. "Have you any idea how rare this is?"
Lisa shrugged. "I don't really care. As I told you, I'm very well paid. My power allows me to deduce things that I watch, and I watch the stock market for our (my, currently) employer. The laws say I can't do anything about it, like playing with the stocks themselves, given that I'm a cape – and a Thinker, at that. But the law doesn't prevent Mr Calvert from doing what he wants with the advice I'm paid to give him."
"But… I don't have any interesting talent, for him. I'm not into computers, or markets, or anything like that."
"Mr Calvert has many interests. Lately, that was Wall Street, with my help, but he has several branches. He spoke about his main company, right? They build Endbringer shelters. You can assist the construction, either by teleporting materials or people, or have your creatures lift heavy weights. As I said, there are many ways to help. He does have other capes, too, but he thought that me being a girl, and roughly the same age, would be better for the presentation. And let's not forget my natural charm, too."
Taylor laughed at Lisa's exaggeratedly guileless expression. But something she said clicked. "Are there other capes that… I mean… how are they?"
"If you stay at school, you'll probably meet a Tinker boy who makes vehicles. If not, you'll meet another boy who plays with people's nerves."
"Literally?"
"Not exactly. It's a remote twinge. He uses it to cheat at competitive video games."
"And?"
"In my age range, there are two young adults, both playing with darkness and shadow. Older capes are rare, as are very young ones – and he'd need parental approval for these."
Taylor nodded, storing most of this in her memory while scribbling a few notes for later – she had grabbed a pen and notepad, at some point. "And besides salary, how is it there?"
Lisa smiled. "Not that bad. He hasn't done anything wrong that I could deduce, so I'm fairly sure he's kosher. His company is growing, though, and attracting some attention from unsavoury elements, so he has to branch into shady businesses to keep the gangs away. He does have a mercenary detail at all times."
Taylor looked around. "Really? Where are they? I mean, it can be you, but…"
Lisa smiled again. "I'm not. I already told you what I do. And since he helped me test out of school, I do that without the pressure of that (and homework) added to it. You can do it too, I know you have the mind for it."
"How do you- no matter. You filched my school reports? But my grades…"
"Hey, inference genius, here. Your presence at the trainyard right after Winslow let out means that you just triggered, with a most probable cause at being bullied."
Taylor looked at her feet. "Where were you when I needed it?"
"I'm only one person." Lisa replied, not getting into sombre mode with Taylor. "Besides, you only attracted our attention after the fact."
Deep breath. Exhale. "Alright. I'm in."
"Excellent!" Lisa smiled, rubbing her hand in another exaggerated motion.
It reminded Taylor of evil protagonists in movies, and she wondered if she had made the proper choice. "Can I still…"
"Oh! Oh, yes, you can wait a few days for the PRT's proposal."
"It's annoying when-"
"I know, sorry. Habit, and power. Powers change you, you know?"
"You did it again! …and what is this about the powers that changes me?"
"You, me, everyone. My power pushes me to tattle everything I discover. Most powers have drawbacks. And, also, most powers push people into using them, in the most competitive way they can find."
"Truly? But…"
"There's a reason why gang members (the powered ones, anyway) don't spend too long in prison. Not only is there some game of cops and robbers going on, that I don't have all the info on (and it grates something fierce), but there's also the fact that, for most people, the most competition they can get is through combat."
"But… if's that the case, they can build an arena, right?"
"That's… an extraordinary idea!" Lisa gushed, and Taylor blushed. "Seriously, nobody has ever been in a position of getting the idea and go forth with it. If you join Fortress Constructions, you could even devise one."
"You're having me on. I was just reflecting on those card games, when adapted for the telly, always having arenas for their players to invoke their pocket monsters."
"I'm really not. However, I can see why it hasn't caught yet: to get gang members to participate, they would have to be scheduled, and present at given times… and that clashes horribly with police forces always wanting to arrest them on sight."
"But… why?"
"Most trigger events are horrible, and people often react badly. People with powers, in distress, and reacting badly? Other people died, and many capes have murder cases pending – even if, for most of them, it falls under the law for self-defence."
"Alright. Well, thank you for all this data dump-"
"That's me. "Data dump" is my cape name. Just joking, it's Tattletale. Welcome in your new world… Card Caster."
"Er… I haven't decided on a name, yet. Or a costume."
"We'll refine everything when you'll join. Or you'll do it at the PRT, if you choose to go with them. It that's your choice, don't forget to read everything they give you before signing – I know they like to play fast and loose with contract duration and image rights."
"You haven't given me anything to read, yet."
"Normal. I'm just sounding you out. Calvert does have the folder with your contract, though, and if I'm right, he gave it to your father."
That's when said father knocked at the wall near the door, signalling his arrival. And Mr Calvert. "Everything fine, Taylor?" he asked.
She nodded in return, standing up with Lisa. Soon, everyone shook hands and the two visitors left.
"Do we wait for the PRT to make a bid?" he asked. "Or do you want to go there now, ask for a recruitment folder, and compare the two as we read?"
"Good idea."
"Contracting is…" he frowned. "Was. My job, I mean. I still remember how to do a few things. Like not getting ripped off by investigating what the competition offers. The PRT might be mired in bureaucracy, thus delaying the interview, but we still should see what they have to offer."
"Let's head there, then." Taylor went for the door, only to see the darkness outside.
"It's late, and I'm sure their day offices are closed. Besides, there's another point of data we should discuss about it."
"Ah, yes. What is it?"
"The PRT seldom recruits cape family members. I'm sure I can find a job, eventually, but what happened with the Union has tarred most of us. I feel sorry for the "boys", too – especially Kurt and Lacey, as they just bought a house for the incoming baby. Mr Calvert can offer them jobs too." A pause. "I don't want this to weigh too heavily in your choice (because it's yours, Taylor, don't doubt about that), but all things being equal otherwise…"
"I know, dad. And even if the PRT's offer is better, I'm still leaning towards going with Mr Calvert."
"This Lisa, she convinced you already?"
"Not at all, she suggested we read all the fine print in both contracts."
"Nicely done. We'll do that. Tomorrow."
The did. And, despite some veiled threats that groups of capes not affiliated with the PRT were synonymous with gangs, they joined Calvert's team.
Yes, the man was ambitious, and they could see that immediately upon seeing the size of his base – a repurposed Endbringer shelter the city had commissioned before withdrawing the funds when it was halfway done. There, Daniel would work to alleviate contract work from Calvert himself, while Lacey would work as a general handywoman and Kurt as on-site nurse – he did have the necessary credentials.
The lodging he found for them was adequate, too, roughly between said base and Taylor's new school, Immaculata – because she still thought herself unable to get her GEDs early, and also because she wanted to meet other people her age… and see if they played the same card games she did. Get ideas from them. And improve her efficiency.
She got cards as ranged weapons, using folded space to change their shape – and any matter, compressed enough times, can be as hard as steel darts. And also unfold upon arrival, inflicting horrendous wounds on the few ballistic mannequins they used for realistic target practice.
She got cards as armour too: metallic cards, attached on only one side and each one hanging over the layers underneath it – in fact, it looked like a samurai's lamellar armour.
That gave her many sturdy cards in easy reach for quick-drawing a creature. And even if she was immobilized, she could still reach with her power, even at those at her back.
In fact, taking suggestions left, right, and centre, she tried and succeeded in doing with her power the same as the cards in her armour: having one side of a pane of metal hang… except it was over nothing. She kept space folded to anchor the thing, and it wouldn't budge. She wasn't able to lift one of these door-sized shields, especially when reinforced to hold against firearms, but she could summon it from her room whenever she needed it.
And since holding things in thin air was in her grasp, she could also fly… in a way: teleporting in the air, and then anchoring the soles of her boots, she could hover without losing effectiveness. True, she could also summon and use a flying creature such as a Pegasus, and since either option took one of her three slots, she could pick and choose which one she wanted, depending on the situation.
Calvert had offered the services of the military trainer who was already managing his mercenaries, and the man often discussed tactics with her. He suggested that, as a last resort, she could also teleport out of her armour and detonate it, showering the surroundings with shrapnel. It was deemed too gory, though, and indiscriminately lethal. And too much of Oni Lee's shtick.
When things went south, Taylor didn't explode things: she summoned heavy and tough creatures over them. Or items. In fact, with Lisa, they had deemed that when considering her "size" for a limit in what could be summoned and which size it would be, Taylor's power didn't take weight into account.
She could summon a statue made of lead, for instance. Or a cube of any metal, with her height serving to measure the sides. That's one slot. Twice that length (for eight times that volume, hence eight time the weight) for two. And four times her height (with a corresponding volume/weight increase) with the simultaneous use of her three slots.
That was quite a stopper when falling from a high enough altitude – given her power, there was no danger of missing, as long as she could react in time to fold space again. She was even able to twist a falling weight's course into a horizontal one, something that would make quite an impact, when needed. And when needing something that would roll over obstacles, she could always summon a cylinder, or a sphere.
Calvert was initially interested when she created a lump of gold, that way, but they found out that they couldn't use it: even damaged, it stayed in its folded space slot, and any part of it disappeared when the slot was recovered. Yes, even those parts that were taken and chemically altered, leaving dangerous remnants behind.
For the fun, she tried her power with origami, and it worked quite well: since she could fold space easily, she could create intricate pieces without touching the paper. And then she discovered that she could animate them, too.
One day, one of the capes helping with the buildings asked her if she could fold existing building matter and keep it that way. Such as taking a flat wall and add buttresses or bow windows or crenelations. It took some tries (at ruins) to get it right without crumbling the whole building, but she could. And since each of her new uses of power had some kind of interest for Calvert, she got paid more and more.
Of course, it couldn't last forever.
Cliffhanger! …or not, again – these are one-shots, after all.Unbeknownst to all, Mr Calvert had a power. It was to live each day like in the movie Groundhog Day: if he died, he woke up the same morning, with the knowledge of the previous tries. Sometimes, he even killed himself if the day didn't go well enough. He also knew that the habit of killing oneself when dissatisfied with small choices could lead to permanent death, if he wasn't careful. So he kept the small defeats, and the larger victories.
He also did whatever he could to make sure that his work couldn't be swept away like dead leaves in the wind, should the PRT actually label him and his group as villains. And that meant that, at one point, he had to jump through the hoops leading to being affiliated with them.
It created some stir because some people argued that it upended the balance of powers in the Bay – notwithstanding the fact that those people used old-school role-playing alignment scales of Alignment as a deciding factor: they saw New Wave as Lawful Good (with the "stupid" often associated with that, too); the PRT as Lawful Neutral; the Empire, Lawful Evil; Faultline's Crew, Neutral; and the Merchants, Chaotic Neutral – Chaotic Evil was reserved for people like the Slaughterhouse Nine. Whichever remaining alignment would be affected to Calvert's group would tilt the balance towards Good or Evil, whether Neutral or Chaotic.
Being that, as a group, they tended to bring jobs back into the Bay, Daniel argued for Neutral Good in an online forum where the debate was raging. His reasoning was that the various rogues, Parian included, could very well be classified as Chaotic Good, and that the Teeth may spread chaos, but they were more loyal to each other than the Slaughterhouse members, who were rumoured to "test" each other quite often – leading to a large number of dead people. Thus, the Teeth would be Neutral Evil, leaving only the Neutral Good side free.
…to which someone replied that no, they didn't want to complete the set by bringing the Slaughterhouse and the Teeth at Brockton Bay.
Too late.
Fighting the two groups at the same time was an exercise in frustration, especially as, even with a Truce negotiated between then, the Bay's factions couldn't keep away from doing as usual: the PRT yelling "You're under arrest!" to nominal allies, with the Teeth laughing and jeering… and the Slaughterhouse nominating and executing. Even in the Teeth. And among themselves.
Strangely, the Triumvirate was absent from all the fighting. Perhaps they thought that the Bay was safe enough? The thousands of dead civilians wished to beg otherwise.
Obeying her father's wishes for her safety, Taylor stayed as far from the action as she could, sending her creatures to fight in her stead. It allowed her father to take arms without worrying about her, and stay professional even when facing the infamous Jack Slash.
It appears that when facing that particular monster, the strategy of only sending the strongest capes was a Bad Idea, as a particular aspect of Jack's power was to detect cape intentions around him… and push them in random directions. With mundane humans, it wasn't the case, and he died liberally dosed with high-penetration shells, explosive shells, and lasers. Hatchet Face, who was right behind him, suffered the same fate – his power nullifier served nothing against normal humans, and his Brute rating was not enough compared to the firepower used. As a flying person, Shatterbird was equally ill-prepared to face snipers, and she fell to her death.
Well-trained teams and plucky heroes alike took turns fighting the invaders, getting most of them in the process (dead or away).
The last two were Mannequin and Crawler, and Taylor folded space around the two, transferring them to card form before sending of them as far away as possible.
For Mannequin, she tried the moon, and it was a success, even if the relative speed of where he had been and where he went made the impact quite detrimental to his casing.
Crawler, she did the same with the Sun. This story doesn't say if the man-turned-immortal-beast survives inside the Sun, but if he does, the pressure will keep him down for as long as the Sun exists.
Four billions years or loneliness and sensory deprivation, give or take, would make anyone mad. And no one to complain to, should the Sun decides to implode instead of going supernova, forming a black hole with Crawler still inside – because Worm universes generally spit on laws of physics.
The "my god, it's full of stars" citation he could make at that particular moment would be lost to eternity… if it hasn't been made before – hint: it was in 2001, a Space Odyssey.
Meanwhile……another space odyssey was going on.
Reality has folded and unfolded many times, and several realities got shot down when an Entity started to throw a temper tantrum – Scion had found his partner's corpse, and wasn't happy with mankind.
Taylor, like others, was busy finding escape routes for everyone. But while many used dimensional shenanigans to open portals to other words, she started folding space into space (ignoring Vista cries of "foul") and opened temporary portals to… other planets. Same as the others, except that those planets were nowhere close to Earth, in any dimension they could think of.
She got help, of course. First from Dragon, to determine the destination's coordinates. And relative speed.
She also got a visit from Cauldron, explaining things about Scion. And why humanity was confined to their slowly diminishing landmasses by the Endbringers – hint: it was to keep them penned in while Scion's lifecycle went full circle. And since the Simurgh blocked all attempts at physical space exploration, only Taylor's ability allowed people to escape their gravity well.
During that visit, she got to meet Contessa and Number Man, and she obtained a power boost from them – they couldn't have done it before because of her ability to predict her path: since it acted like precognition, she was blocking precognitives from finding her. Closer, Contessa could determine a better path for survival, and selected the proper power vial to give her the second trigger they needed.
And then she was able to keep her portals stable, and larger, allowing crowds and vehicles to transit. She was also able to fold spacetime, looping herself across many days to open as many portals as possible. Things were done in various places around the world, as long as Scion was elsewhere. And they succeeded in getting many people out, while Scion wiped the rest. And detonated Earth and its duplicates.
With the multiple seeds sown around the galaxy, some even reaching other galaxies, there were enough worlds for humanity to multiply again, this time trying not to overwhelm their environment while they were at it…
…which is quite a bit, when you're used to some comfort. And let's not forget that only by reaching that comfort level are the humans able to look over the rest of the world: if your daily struggle is to survive, you don't care for pollution or global warming. And if you move masses of people into an environment where nothing is ready for them (no housing, no sewers, no electricity, no signal for their precious cell phones), chances are that the first few generation will try to survive, first and foremost. Extinction will seize those who don't. And the hungry wild life and cold winters will take care of those vying for the right of animals to live in peace, and for eating only vegetables.
Such is the world of pioneers: not for the faint of heart. Such is the irony of humanity, that when you need them the most, they are bred out of existence.
As for Taylor herself, knowing from Cauldron's studies that parahuman powers don't survive outside of Earth, she knew she had no more value as another pioneer on a foreign world as any other young woman. That's why she waited for the last moment before leaving.
Happily-Ever-BeforeHer dad was already dead, and she had no friend left. Scion had done something to lock her way of travelling out of space, and he was descending from the sky in front of her. Like the avenging god everyone should have perceived him as from the start – or not.
It created quite the image, as most of the planet was already a ruin of upturned tectonic plates, floating in lava with their concave shapes breaking due to their sheer weight. It wasn't long before the planet's core would burst, and she was still there. She had needed to be there to ensure the last departures, and then close the last portal from this side, in order not to leave a hint to Scion as to where humanity has gone.
She would be lauded, in the planetary colonies, as a Saviour – yes, capitalized. But, right now, she was a bit terrified. People can make peace with death, but rarely with pain. And given Scion's expression, strangely more lively than for most of his stay, he clearly wanted to make her suffer.
Perhaps by transforming her into a new Shard so as to navigate with him? To see for eternity what the Entities did to civilized worlds?
"Not in this life." she mutters, preparing the largest expenditure of power she could conceive. "And not in the next!" And activate it.
She doesn't move. At all. She hasn't folded space, after all. She can't, because of his interdiction field. But! She has folded time. As far as she dared. And not in the manner of portals, either.
And then, without the Golden Man playing interference, Taylor got her happily ever after… before. Way before she was born.
She targeted Ancient Greece, because she learned that it was where democracy was born. Being quite used to her life, she didn't want to land into some third-world autocracy. Except that, as mentioned before, only comfort allowed people to think further than feeding and breeding.
On top of everything, she arrived in the fifth century BC, the early period of the Greek civilization. The Grecians of that time were mostly barbarians, compared to their neighbours – especially the sophisticated Persians, nearby.
Why so early? Because she had thought it best to go that far, so as not to shake the timeline too much: she didn't want to risk erasing herself by mistake – or, at least, that's what the Grandfather Paradox says. She had been introduced to paradoxes as soon as her time-travelling ability surfaced. She wasn't induced to the theory of chaos, though: going further in time could change nothing, true, but it could create larger ripples. A domino effect, if you will. Or the proverbial butterfly.
In truth, luck or not, her arrival did not change anything, because travelling that far changed causality: the impact of things she did, travelling with the speed of movement at that time, had a one-hundred percent chance of meeting an ancestor… or all of them.
Instead, unbeknownst to her, the universe did as it was programmed to, and another Earth spawned from the dimensional cluster around her own. And started to deviate quite a bit much, too.
Somehow, it was a good thing, because she had taken quite an impactful decision, right as she was ready to jump: use her remaining "slots" a last time, bringing two creatures with her. One to defend herself with, the other to flee, when needed. Not taking into account the fact that her familiarity with them didn't extend to ancient times, and the upcoming disconnection from her power, she had chosen a Chimera and a Pegasus. Creatures the Earth of that time had never seen in any reality.
In fact, they almost killed her upon arrival, because they acquired a mind of their own and lashed out. She was able to rein Pegasus with the help of a lad named Bellerophon, who was nearby, but the Chimera fled, charging through the Bosporus and the Persian empire. And then Taylor remembered the myths of the time period in which she had landed, and facepalmed.
The Chimera was a strong creature, and wrought havoc everywhere it went. The Pegasus ended up adopting a horse-like mentality, though. Both creatures were often left to their own devices, and tried to breed with others. Pegasus' descendants had their animal traits mixed haphazardly, ending up with hippogriffs and other creatures. Chimera's attempt to mate with local wild life, including lions and goats (and sometimes their shepherd too), produced even more varied broods. Some had scales, too, like her serpentine tail. Others had a human face.
At one point, the damage brought by the Chimera called for heroes to defeat it, and gain much treasure! Bellerophon was one, and he had the fine idea to steal Pegasus, fly over the Mediterranean Sea, and go kill its mount's "brother". He ended up unhorsed a hundred feet in the air, when Pegasus took a jet of fire to his very flammable wing.
It didn't mean that Chimera killed and ate Pegasus, no: recognizing a fellow creation, they stayed close, even mating at some point. And from then on, the descendants of Chimera got wings too.
Generation after generation, the ramifications of their unnatural nature expanded, with new variations coming up each time Chimera gave birth to another brood. But still the animalistic instinct to eat or be eaten.
People learned how to defend against them. To kill them. To harvest them properly, for food and leather while avoiding poisons and (surprise, surprise) explosions.
Some people, with an ascendancy quite certain at first (with the lady who brought the two creatures there with her) but soon diluted around the inner sea, found a resonance between them and the mysterious animal parts, a resonance that allowed them to briefly ignore the limits that the universe normally imposed upon its inhabitants: they could create fire from nothing, close wounds, and move earth, with new uses appearing each time one had an original idea – yeah, not everyday.
They coalesced the most potent animal parts into clay urns, and then attached them to staves, for better handling. Seeing that the staff was useful but the pottery fragile, they used their meagre engineering skills to make a long and thin hole inside sturdy branches from nearby olive trees, to store the parts there. The first to do so had her name lost to history, but her son said that his way of doing things was from "olive and her".
The art refined itself over centuries, leading to smaller staves that could be held with one hand. Like a conductor's baton (which would appear even later, though). Like… a magic wand. And Ollivander became the name of "makers of fine wands" from the beginning of that time.
And, if you haven't caught it before, yes, a young wizard was born on 31st July, 1980, as the seventh month dies, to those who have thrice defied the Dark Lord of that time… a boy named Harry Potter.
Around the same moment, approximately eighty billions realities zornwards (which is to say, back from the perpendicular direction Harry Potter's dimension took since Taylor's arrival, 25 centuries before), two Entities arrived on different versions of Earth, and started to spread powers like glittery confetti.
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To be continued… either way