Another Heart: The Numbers Don't Matter

Dinah ran.

She had been running for the last 15 minutes and her legs were somewhere between sore and Giving out.

Gym had not prepared her for this. Dinah wondered what the chance was she would get to go to gym tomorrow.

22%

Damn. Dinah turned down the street and paused, her chest aching with each breath.

Dinah had been awake, having had fun with her powers. She always did it before bed. The headache she sometimes got from asking too much would be gone the next day.

That was what saved her.

People broke down her house's front door. The alarm on her door went crazy and then her father rushed downstairs.

There was a lot of noise. Dinah had only one question in her mind.

What was the chance she would be safe?

0.4%

There was no chance for her to save her parents, they would live, but there wasn't nothing she could do.

So she climbed down to the garage roof that you could get to from the bathroom window. Her shaking legs making their way over the old cigarette butts dropped there.

Dinah had thought her mother had quit smoking.

So she ran, down the garden path that lead to a lane between the houses with only an old pair of sneakers and a jacket to ward off the cold night air.

The chances of escape dwindled after every turn. No matter how high the numbers appeared, they changed once she took them.

They had never done that before.

Dinah started to run again, she could hear heavy boots on the sidewalk behind her.

If she turned left, would she escape?

86% %£%^%^$... 23%

Dinah grit her teeth, a headache building, and the chance that she would survive if she turned down the alley on the right?

%$£%^£"99999999999999%

Dinah nearly tripped at that answer.

Dinah had never seen such an extreme number. Usually when her numbers glitched out, it meant something bad.

So Dinah had a choice between a 23 and whole lot of 9s.

Dinah ran down the alley. The knocked over trash cans making her grimace. Her moment of hesitation meant that the men in black had spotted her and were in fast pursuit.

She didn't look back, didn't waste a single second.

There was single turn in the alley and she took it, cutting the corner so fast she ran straight into a soft wall of yellow.

Dinah let out an grunt and fell on her butt. She blinked and looked up, and up, and up.

Giant blue eyes stared down at her, curious.

It was a giant chicken. A giant yellow chicken.

Dinah stared, and after a brief moment, quickly stood up.

Would this chicken save her?

^&$"£7777%

Dinah nodded, and reached for the chickens back trying to make it sit. The bird quirked its head at her and then sat like duck, letting her scramble on with ease.

"Kweh?" it said and looked at her. It's eye's shiny in dull light. Dinah put her arms around the creature's neck as it stood back up, it was soft like her teddy.

-it.

Her parents didn't like the name, but that was because they never caught the bear eating Cookies.

"Go, mush, giddy up" Dinah commanded. The bird just stared at her. Dinah felt a wave of panic rise up. The men were seconds away.

Would the bird save her? She questioned again.

777%

The static was gone, but her power was still pretty sure she was doing the right thing.

Dinah didn't feel so confident. The men came around the corner at a run and like her, ran straight into .

Like her, they also bounced off.

Then there was a lot yelling and ordering as they scrambled to their feet. One of the men pulled out a gun and pointed it her way. calmly raised a clawed foot and kicked the man hard enough, that he went flying across the alley and smacked into the wall with a loud thud.

"Kweh." chirped, then he turned and ran.

Dinah's whole body suddenly lurched back as she held on tightly. ran out of the alley, his beak covered in a sauce of some sort and his eyes held a firm glint.

For such a large bird, he sure could move fast.

Maybe he was a super ostrich, or a cape bird! Dinah held on tighter as the men rapidly disappeared behind her.

As they rocketed down the street with increasing speed, she decided was very glad that was so soft. Dinah had ridden a horse once and the saddle on that beast had made her butt numb.

"Kweh? wark?" chirped inquiringly as he leapt over a car making her hold her breath for a moment. Dinah didn't speak bird, which was a shame in her eyes, as she had no idea what he was asking.

"Get us away from here!" she yelled as the wind blew her hair around. She then froze as a the sound of an engine roared behind them. Dinah turned and saw a car speeding up the street behind them. Dinah tightened her grip.

"Hurry!" she pleaded. What was her chance of seeing her parents again if she was caught by the men?

21%

"KWEH!" chirped loudly and speed up. The car wasn't to be out done yet sadly and followed them closely, the streets where mostly empty this early in the morning so Dinah didn't have to worry about being blinded by headlights.

However when the car pulled up closer to them decided to sharply turn down the road that lead to one of the cities main streets. Dinah let out a startled little yell as her ride began to duck and weave between the cars on the street, alarmed drivers screeching to a halt to avoid them. The men in black reversed their car and drove another way.

Dinah sighed and rested her head against the feathers of neck. It did not last as a van almost rammed into them from the opposite direction, turned at the last second with an angry squawk , Dinah sat up straight in fear as the vehicle missed them. She could see the man in the passenger seat, yelling at the driver.

A walkie talkie in hand.

If they kept going forward, what was their chance of escape?

88%3$

Dinah pointed past 's head at an alley between two buildings.

"That way!" She yelled. The yellow speed demon sped up to what felt to Dinah like full throttle and the van kept chasing them. Directly ahead in front of them was a chain link fence that look like it had managed to stop a few runaway cars before.

Dinah paled, the numbers had been wrong, her head pounding, but before she could risk asking another question jumped and sailed over the fence in a long arc, never stopping.

The van crashed into the chain fence and the entire thing popped from the wall on either side.

The van drove onwards, ignoring the fence stuck to its front. The car from earlier reappeared in front of them and neatly parked itself before them blocking the exit from the alley and Dinah thought would just jump over it again.

He didn't.

As they approached the men in black's car, the giant bird made a slight hop, his foot lashing out with blur of speed, Hitting the car with a crunch that spoke of impressive force. The side of the car buckled inwards as the entire vehicle was pushed 10 feet or so along the ground from the force. Its tires squealing and smelling of burnt rubber.

calmly stepped around the totalled vehicle as the van stopped before it could crash into the wreck.

Dinah looked back as they picked up speed again. The van was pushing the car even further in an attempt to shove it aside.

As they rushed forward, turned sharply, he clearly had a destination in mind.

Was the place he was taking her somewhere safe?

777%

Dinah felt that was pretty solid and snuggled back into the feathers. She felt herself begin to relax for the first time since she fled from her parents home.

"Kewh" sang cheerfully as the rode down the road. He turned his head to look at her.

"Kweh?" and Dinah, who was trying very hard to summon the ability to translate bird, shrugged.

"You are in charge, take me wherever."

The police station, the PRT and even her favourite park all had a 30% or lower chance of her safety being guaranteed. Anywhere she could think of, was dangerous.

The van, finally having pushed the wreck aside, was once again catching up as if to confirm her theory. Dinah glared at the men driving, she really wished they would leave her alone.

"Boco!" A voice suddenly called and Dinah nearly fell off the bird. Searching wildly she spotted a soft white ball of fluff floating towards them.

It was adorable and Dinah's mouth dropped open as it began to to talk to .

"Boco, there you are, kupo, there's trouble, Sabah needs us and...who's this, kupo?" The bat, fairy, teddy, thing said. Mr-...Boco let out a chirp as the B.F.T thing landed on his head.

"You rescued her? This sounds like you were breaking the rules again." The B.F.T admonished.

"Kweh! Kweh, kweh, wark!" Boco defended himself.

Dinah got it. She had gone crazy.

This was a huge dream caused by over using her powers and it wasn't real.

It just couldn't be real. It was just too...weird.

"Hello there, are you okay, kupo?" Oh the fluffy guy was talking to her now.

"What does kupo mean?" She asked without thinking.

"The end and beginning of all time and creation, kupo."

"Oh." Was he lying?

0%

Oh.

"Excuse me? Can you repeat that?" Coil asked calmly. The man on the other side of the phone stuttered.

"Yes sir, the target escaped on a giant yellow bird of some sort and is currently gaining distance."

"A bird?"

"Yes, sir,"

"Are you sure?" He asked. The man guarding his open door shifted slightly.

"Absolutely, it's incredibly fast, it has no trouble out pacing us."

"I see. Please see to it that a group of professional mercenaries are not out done by a simple bird, mercenaries that I happened to pay a lot of money for, mercenaries that will be fired in short order should they do not get the girl, are we clear?"

"Of course." Then the grunt disconnected and Coil stared at the phone. A mute button on his link to Tattletale blinking red.

"A giant chicken?" He said and steepled his hands together as he thought, he had a few seconds of rest before a soldier burst in, startling him.

"SIR! There's a been reports of a giant fire demon at ground Key!"

"...Could you repeat that?"

"...I see, kupo." Mog, as the little fluffball had introduced himself, said after Boco turned another corner.

"Well, we'll take you to someone we know, she'll help you, kupo." Mog said with a confident tone. Dinah nodded and winced as the van started closing the distance between them.

"We need to lose these guys first though, may I ask you something, kupo?" Mog asked her, Boco chirped and Mog nodded.

"What is it?" Dinah asked. Mog floated down to her.

"May I borrow some power from you?"

"Power? I don't understand." Dinah said, her head pounding.

"There is power in you, kupo, I want to borrow just a little so I can make the bad men go away, kupo." Mog said gently and Dinah thought about it.

One more question. Would Mog hurt her?

0%

Her head lit up in pain and with tears in her eyes Dinah nodded.

"Thank you, kupo. This won't hurt." Mog said and his red pom lit up as her headache suddenly vanished, her body feeling better. A flow of light appeared between her chest and Mog's.

"Done. You're pretty powerful, Kupo." Mog praised and then floated above her, staring at the van on their heels, the men pointed at Mog, looking alarmed.

"You aren't going to kill them are you?" Dinah asked and wasn't sure how to feel about it. Mog sounded amused.

"That's against our friends rules, kupo, I'm just going to stop their vehicle. After all death is symptom of entropy, and entropy effects everything, kupo."

Mog glowed golden and then dark red.

He lifted one paw and pointed at the car.

"DOOM" he intoned and Dinah watched as numbers flashed before him and then a giant ghostly 10 appeared above the van's roof.

It changed to a 9.

"What happens when it hits 0?" Dinah asked alarmed. Mog looked at her,

"Then the van stops, kupo." he said with a smug grin.

Dinah stared and asked another question now that her head felt better.

Chance that the van would still work?

0%

Dinah began to smile.