The gods must be bored, pt 1
M.C. Escher would have looked at the ancient/new ampitheatre/globe/meeting room and been inspired. Many other humans would have come away with vertigo or at least nausea.
"There is a... problem," said a woman on whose left shoulder was perched an owl made of brass and bronze and duralloy.
"Can it wait? I've almost got him," said Zeus, pointing at the game board.
"Please, you two cheat more than you make actual allowed moves," responded Athena, looking exasperated at the two. "Ganesha, I expected more from you."
The elephant-headed god shrugged and made a complicated gesture with his trunk. "When in Rome and all that."
"The problem this time is?" prompted Hephaestus, his attention mainly on fitting crystals together in a way that would make mortal eyes hurt.
"Those space whale worm things have found an Earth. WLDB-2071 if you want the coordinates," said Athena. "They call it Earth-Bet. And no - it has nothing to do with Toltiir's little meddling."
"And that is a problem for us?" asked Zeus. "We haven't had anything to do with the various iterations of Earth in... centuries. Or has it been millenia?"
"Because if the magic space whales do what they usually do, they will eliminate all instances of Earth within that particular axis of the omniverse," said Athena.
"Again, why is this our problem... oh son of a donkey's road refuse," said Zeus, noting Ganesha's move.
"Because WLDB-2079 is on that axis," said Athena.
"So Hephaestus loses a world that supplies videogames and art. There are others," said Zeus, showing his annoyance openly.
"There is over a 60% chance of the destruction wave crossing over and taking out DNKV-2131-B," said Athena.
Everyone present stopped and regarded Athena. Even Bacchus was looking sober. Well, relatively.
"THAT is serious," said Zeus. "That's the only world to get the Star Wars prequels and do them right."
"They're also the only one that get the live action anime movies and do a better than halfway decent job," said Hephaestus, his hands quickly disarming his crystal structure so that he could pay more attention.
"Exactly," said Athena. "They're also the ones that make that chocolate that Aphrodite likes so much."
"Those worms need to burn," vowed Aphrodite. Cut off HER chocolate would they?
Zeus frowned. "The multiversal agreement was that Earth was hand's off. There are treaties involved."
"Screw the treaties," said Ares. "I've got a decent group to play Call of Duty on that world."
"We can't simply ignore the treaties," said Zeus. "You know how Hera gets about that sort of thing."
There were a few nods about that. Hera WAS instrumental in putting those treaties out in the first place. And she had a temper.
"How about this," suggested Ares. "We do the old 'empower a champion' ploy. Been awhile for that and I think there's a loophole for that sort of thing as long as we don't make it TOO easy for them."
"A lone hero?" asked Athena. "At least give him an animal companion. Or two."
"Make it a 'her' and maybe Hera won't be as pissy," said Ares. "Native to the timeline. Someone who has undergone hardship and so on. You definitely don't want her to think you've gone back to trying to make demi-gods."
Zeus paled slightly. "No. You've got a point there. Native. Female. Athena, see if there's a suitable protaganist-material. If they don't have a pet, arrange for one. We'll come up with a suitable heroic empowerment or something when we've got a candidate."
Ganesha held up a hand. "I've a few contacts. This involves many. Oh, and triple word score."
* Annette Rose Hebert *
"I didn't even know there was a contest," protested Professor Hebert.
"Titan Engineering has been involved with Camp Olympus from the onset," the young-seeming woman told her. "One of your students nominated you, anonymously, and after the initial investigation found no reason to exclude you - your name was drawn."
"I'm not sure I can ethically accept due to professional standards," lightly protested Annette, though she did rather like the brochure she had on this summer camp.
"It wasn't in return for anything, and it was anonymous," stated the woman. "You had a child who could benefit, no criminal record other than that of association with the Lustrum movement, you do not abuse drugs or other substances, nor are you a parahuman with some probability-affecting powers so far as a cursory investigation could determine."
"Can I inspect this summer camp?" asked Annette, her eyes looking over her office before returning the woman seated in the chair opposite her desk.
"Of course," said the woman, apparently amused by something. "Address is in the brochure. The coin inside is a day pass, so merely show it at the gate. Call ahead though. We're not fully staffed at present or in the off-season. Our staff has to be thoroughly vetted and that does take a bit of time, so keep that in mind."
* An Eon or a moment later *
"I have... are you playing jenga now?" asked Athena. "With Thoth and Loki?"
"Your point?" asked Zeus.
"Both of them are better at cheating than you are," pointed out Athena.
"Your point?" repeated Zeus.
Shaking her head at the foolishness that was pretty much another day in Olympus, Athena went on with her news. "Found one. Fate swirls around the one named Taylor Hebert."
"I take it you consulted the actual Fates?" asked Zeus as he studied the rickety tower.
"And the Norns provided a second opinion," stated Athena. "She doesn't have a pet though."
"Easy enough to build one or provide one," said Hephaestus.
"Already arranging one," said Athena. "So, sadly perhaps, no bio-mechanical owls or cats. It will become a 'last gift from her mother before her tragic death'. Pity about that, but her Fate appears to be something the Fates say is set in stone."
"Ah, the old 'one parent dies and the other retreats into depression' trope?" asked Ares. "That's a classic."
"One of the usual signs of a hero in the making," admitted Athena despite her dislike for her brother.
"Do what you need to, just remember the mortal has to consent," said Thoth. "That's the loophole Zeus put in."
"Had to do something," said Zeus, carefully sliding a piece out of the tower. "You know how Hera can get if you try to work around her."
* April 15 2008 *
"It's a big responsibility," said Annette Hebert. "Are you sure you're up to it?"
"PUPPY!" practically shrieked Taylor.
"Aff," said the dog in question, ears going back.
"What breed is that?" asked Danny Hebert, not really knowing that much about dogs.
"Not sure," replied Annette. "One of the other professors, you remember Doofenschmirtz? His dog had puppies."
"The crazy one who is always talking about his tragic childhood?" asked Danny, immediately recognizing the name. Because, seriously, with a name like that it stuck.
"That's the one. At least some of which are apparently true," said Annette. "So, sweetie, you need to think of a name for this little guy."
Looking at the mostly light-colored puppy, Taylor scrunched her face up as she thought. She brightened a bit as she thought of one. "Apollo!"
* Outside time/space *
"Seriously? She named a DOG after ME?" asked Apollo.
"Yes, and don't tell me it doesn't give you ideas to work with," said Athena, waving off the complaint.
"I... huh, maybe..." said Apollo, not really wanting to concede the point immediately.
"You can influence the development in minor ways at this point," pointed out Bast, who was a bit disappointed that it hadn't been a cat.
"Smarter, stronger, faster?" asked Apollo, sounding a bit more interested.
"As long as it isn't too far above normal," said Athena, "at least at this stage of things."
* June 20, 2008 *
Danny blinked as the toilet flushed and Taylor was sitting at the table doing homework.
Apollo wandered in.
"You toilet trained the dog?" asked Danny.
"Who's a good boy, you are!" said Taylor, ruffling the dog's ears.
Apollo, of course, grinned a doggy grin. Also drooled a bit but you can't have everything.
"He does seem a bit smarter than your average bear. I mean, dog," admitted Danny.
"You should see him when I take him for our morning runs," said Taylor as she returned to her homework. "Sticks to me like a shadow."
"You should be keeping him on a leash," Danny informed her. "He's less than six months old and there are leash laws."
* September 30 2008 *
His family was broken, and he didn't know how to fix it.
He was a clever dog, but there were limits. He knew his name, of course, in the way that his family referred to him using mouth-noises. Apollo. He knew several of the words that meant he should do something specific such as sit down or come to them or that their morning territorial survey was about to commence. He knew to use the swirly-water bucket when he needed to do something besides mark territory or leave messages for other dogs. His water dish and food dish - important things for a dog to know. Strangers came into two categories: known and safe, unknown and suspicious. Four. Four categories. He could count to four because he was a clever dog.
Unlike that moron two houses over he occasionally played with. Nice enough fellow but there were message-posts that seemed smarter. What could you expect from a corgi?
So running into something he couldn't work out was a difficult hedge to jump. He was alone for long hours, and he used that time to ponder many things but this had him stumped. Well, he also slept a lot of that time, but he also tried to make sense of the two-legs.
Soft-scent-long-fur female, whose name was 'Taylor', hugged him. He didn't like hugs but he tolerated them as long as it was from her. He barely tolerated the not-pack-but-close female associate doing the same thing, but for Taylor's sake since it seemed important somehow.
Still, what could he do? Offer comfort, give them someone to make mouth-noises at. He didn't know the two-legs word. He knew many other words, including that his name was mostly Apollo but sometimes was "kiddo" or "boy" or "little guy" but they might not be names so much. He also knew that when they stretched his name out as "Ah-paul-oh" that meant he had done something they didn't like and he was going to be scolded.
He didn't like being scolded. It was much better to be a good boy.
So even though there was that bag of Pupperoni that hadn't been completely sealed teasing him with its scent, he was not going to get up in the chair and jump to the table so that he could reach the shelf with the bag in it. That would be wrong.
Oh, that's right. Back to how to fix family.
No, he couldn't see how to fix it. Family was important but he was pretty much stuck with what was.
Sighing deeply, Apollo went over to the moving-picture-box-thing and turned it on. It was that time of day.
"Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away, on my way to where the air is sweet! Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?"
Sun something something cloud something travel something sweet something interrogative name of thing. It might take him awhile but he was going to figure this mouth-noise thing out to some level.
Because he was not only a good boy but he was a smart boy. Taylor said so.
* June 28, 2009 *
Danny had noticed about the time that Apollo had started using the toilet instead of asking to go outside. He'd begun wondering if there was such a thing as a paradog, like a parahuman but considerably more canine.
Apollo was smart. Not human-type intelligence but a really smart dog.
While Taylor was away at camp, he'd brought Apollo with him to work. Not the first time he'd done that, but he'd noticed the same thing everytime someone visited the office.
Apollo's first reaction to a stranger entering the office wasn't to get up and demand skritchies, or to bark. No, the dog turned his full attention to HIM for a few moments before deciding how to react.
The dog was checking with him to see if this was an intruder or not. If he greeted the person with a happy tone of voice then Apollo would greet the new person with happy wagging and doggy grin. If he was more neutral, Apollo just sat and watched. When some sort of salesman came by and Danny had raised his voice, Apollo's hackles had gone bristly and he'd bared teeth and STARED at the intruder.
Some people immediately got that tail thumping against the wall and ear-flicking. Some, who were friends of his like Zephron, got an immediate walk up and request for head pats.
One time an employee came in and started growling angrily at Danny. Apollo had come around and bared his teeth and growled himself. Apollo could growl quite well.
Apollo watched things too. He rarely did it, but he opened doors if he'd seen anyone open a similar one. The only problem was that there was usually slobber on the knob or latch. Understandable considering the lack of hands, but messy. More than once he'd come home to find the dog watching TV.
"How much DO you understand?" asked Danny, aware that without the dog he'd probably have lost himself in depression. Instead he had two reminders that his wife had left a legacy. Some days it was enough to pull him out and notice things.
Apollo immediately noted that he was being spoken to and thumped his tail against a wall in response.
* Taylor *
Camp was the usual unusual thing.
Once, long ago, the favored camp for Brockton Bay Dockworkers children had been upstate New Hampshire - Camp Makepeace on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. Then had come a contest which her mother had won and Taylor had gotten a special deal to another camp on the shores of Lake Massabesic - Camp Olympus.
They really leaned into the pseudo-Greek architecture there as part of their theme.
Some of the sports and activities were strange. Sword fighting? Pankration? Hammer-throwing? All strange. Yeah, they had a Shop Class and Art and Wilderness Survival and such too. It was just some of the other stuff that was strange.
It was one of those things that she'd made friends, or at least acquaintances, that she'd repeatedly met at these little get-togethers. Some of whom HAD to be kids of capes. Otherwise why would Kyle have legs THAT hairy and feet that looked like they came off a goat.
They also had some of the capes that weren't so comfortable with the costume thing.
Take Nunzio. She was pretty sure that was not his real name. One of those 'case 53' types was what she had been told. Or was it 'case 54'? Maybe? Seven foot four with a slight beer belly, but pretty damn muscular and eight-year-old her had been given a shoulder ride and being able to see the world from ThAT perspective was something else.
Also the head and feet of a bull. Sort of. Mostly. Most painful thing about him was the Dad jokes.
Guido was the name of another one of those cape-types. He was made of rocks.
"I wish I could bring Apollo to these," Taylor said as she was working on hitting the punching bag repeatedly.
"Apollo? Ah, your dog," rumbled Nunzio, holding the bag casually while looking at something on his phone. "Why don't you?"
"...because he's a dog?" asked Taylor.
"So?" asked Nunzio. "Why would anyone try to remove a hornet's nest with a flimsy grocery store plastic bag? Oh, sorry - it's just the third video of someone trying to do that. Seriously though - why not bring your dog? Probably enjoy the woods."
"I've never heard of a summer camp that allowed you to bring your dog," said Taylor as if the idea had never crossed her mind.
"As long as they're well behaved, you clean up after them? No problem," said Nunzio. "Try practice your kicks. You can get more force out of those anyway. Back to the dog, you do realize that Michelle is an animal trainer - right? She does the falconry shows on Saturday, does RenFaire stuff in the off-season. She even has those two wolves hanging around."
"They're wolves? I thought they were just really big dogs," said Taylor, who then concentrated on kicking at the heavy bag.
"You can tell because dogs usually have rounder heads, wolves are more angular, also the yellow eyes are a clue. She usually has them running the perimeter looking for trespassers." Nunzio looked up as a hawk wheeled overhead. "Two more minutes, then stretches. Lunch'll be on by the end of that."
"What's this afternoon, Mister Nunzio?" asked Taylor.
"Well, there's a paddleboat race," said Nunzio. "If you don't want to do that, Diana's got an Archery class. I'll be doing a Storytime around two. Today's the tale of Grainne O'Malley, the pirate queen of Ireland."
Taylor nodded. Nunzio had a nice voice for storytelling.
* Olympus *
"So where are we in the timeline?" asked Zeus, looking for something to focus on besides his current losing streak in various games.
"Original timeline would have seen our Champion end up out of shape, basically alone with a dysfunctional father, and relying entirely on her association with Miss Barnes for much of her self-image and emotional stability." Ares had checked a clipboard before letting it dissolve into curls of smoke.
"Not the case?" asked Zeus.
"Much more fit, long distance jogging and keeping up with an active dog," said Ares, taking a curl of smoke and forming a picture from it. "Much more emotionally stable too and has some training in close-quarter-combat. Better with a bow or crossbow than a sword though."
"Did we replace the Queen Administrator shard then?" asked Zeus, taking the picture and looking it over.
"Warfare is warfare whether it is the direct brutality of spear and sword or the battles of information and security," said Ares. "I have my preferences but do dabble a bit. The anti-tampering defenses of these Entities is sufficient for other Entities and to some extent myself, but with Athena interested? I think it lasted three minutes. Less time than it takes you to finish a mug of ale."
"A good ale should be savored," griped Zeus, but allowed it WAS a fair point.
"So, at this point in the timeline - pretty good," said Ares. "Our Champion has the dog. Both her father and she are drawn out of their depression shells a bit by the dog. Go figure, dogs are awesome."
"I thought you didn't like dogs," said Zeus.
"Meh, they can and do get used in war, but admittedly they're better as defenders than attackers because of the whole territory thing," said Ares with a shrug. "Honestly would have preferred she get a bird for aerial reconnaisance purposes but maybe later. Anyway, see here - this happens."
* August 12 2009 *
"Go AWAY, Taylor! We're no longer friends! You make me sick! Get you and your ugly dog OUT of here!"
Apollo sniffed, stepped in between the two and bared teeth briefly. If anything, his look was more disdainful than anything else.
Emma's new friend scoffed and threw her soda can at the dog, expecting it to hit and the dog to go slinking away.
Apollo caught it, met the girl's eyes with her own as it crushed the empty can before dropping the now-pierced can at its forepaws.
"You need to leash that mangy mutt before animal control comes and takes its scrawny ass off to be EUTHANIZED," said Emma.
Taylor stopped for a moment, looking down at the leash in one hand and tracing her gaze up it to where it was clipped to Apollo's collar.
"You know what I mean, loser!" added Emma.
"Apollo, come. If we're not wanted..." said Taylor, turning and walking away.
"Huh," said the new friend. The queef was a queef, but that dog looked like it had some fight in it. It had kept its gaze squarely on HER, obviously sensing who was the greater threat. Dog deserved better than being owned by some piece of baggage, but it would be hobbled by having someone lame like that.
When Sophia moved she noticed the dog reacting by looking back at her before following its mistress.
Dog knew who was the top predator around here, made him smarter than the average gang member. Not that that was a high bar.
* Apollo *
That one smelled wrong, she did. Madness and anger and hate.
The friend-that-was spoke harshly to his Taylor, but her body language was all over the place.
Madness had spread maybe?
Friend-that-was was no longer friend. Humans made things more complicated than they needed to be. Friend-that-was was no longer packmate if he was reading it right. That could change, one ran off members of the pack and sometimes they came back anyway. There would be challenges to status within the pack, but that was normal. Perhaps that was what this was?
Whatever the case, there was no immediate threat. New girl had made her threat display, and he'd responded with his own. He would protect his own pack, but not interfere with the new pack because that was how things worked in the world.
Unless new girl's pack tried to trespass on his pack's territory, sought to fight his pack, or something like that. Then the teeth would be bared and warning given.
Because he was a good boy. He didn't look for trouble and he played by his own pack's rules.
Though there was a scent there. A scent he'd crossed a few times. Subtle but weird. His own pack had it but much more faint. It was stronger in the new pack's leader and was the wrong-mad scent.
What it meant, he didn't know - but he would figure it out because he was a good boy and protected his pack.
* March 5 2010 *
Taylor was unhappy. There was also much anger in her.
Danny was slipping into depression again and there was very little he could do about that. Even doing his "sit attentively while tapping him with forepaw" wasn't getting his attention.
Taylor was getting hurt. He'd tried to point to where her hurts were but Danny did not pay attention and Taylor didn't like him doing that.
* Sophia *
The queef could run.
She wasn't good enough for the track team, even one as pathetic as Winslow's. She obviously jogged or something though. Decent leg muscles and core strength. Probably walked that dog of hers.
Knocking the queef aside on the stairwell had shown that she did have some solidity. Not that much, but in better shape than Madison at least. Heck, probably better physical shape than Emma.
She just took whatever they laid into her with. Destroy her reputation, some physical harassment, some verbal slicing and dicing on her - nothing much of a reaction. Oh, she complained to the teachers and the principal - but nothing was going to be done on those fronts. Blackwell knew the score and was willing to sacrifice the weakest member of the herd for the survival of her paycheck.
Might have to step things up a bit. Maybe kill that dog of hers. No, that was too easy. Just leaving some meat with rat poison in their yard would do that.
Eh, some idea would come up.
* Olympus *
"Can I smite her? Pleeeeaassssseee."
"Don't beg, Ares. You're the god of offensive war and battle. If anyone was going to smite her with great smiting it should be Athena."
Hestia hmphed. "It may be a sign of the End Times, but I agree with Ares. Some people are just asking for a smiting."
"Hey, I haven't smited anyone in a long long time," said Apollo. "She's going to go after the dog she named after me. Doesn't that give me some priority here?"
"We could take turns smiting her," suggested Ares.
"No, Ares. We have to let the timeline play out. She won't take the deal until she's ready." Zeus shook his head. He really didn't like being the responsible one. Why was HE having to play that role?
"Never get to have any fun," grumbled Ares.
"Soon, Ares, soon."
* December 24, 2010 *
Raw meat in her yard. Raw meat with powder on it.
"What the hell?" asked Taylor as Apollo looked on.
Apollo turned his back to the steak and used his back leg to spray dirt on it.
Taylor picked the thing up with a shovel and tossed it into the trash can. She didn't have any proof, but she had her suspicions about who had done it and what that stuff was.
Okay, bad enough that they were going after her - but going after her dog in her yard now?
"Come on boy, we're going for a walk."
Apollo ran off, trotting back with his leash in his mouth a minute later.
The walk was brisk, there was overcast with the promise of something. Might be snow but it was a bit warm for anything to stick.
At one point Apollo came to a dead stop and was pointing, drawing Taylor's attention to a bus idling there at the curb.
Taylor looked it over, noting that it was a damn sight cleaner than most of the city buses despite the murals covering the sides.
The destination showing on it was... Was that literally Greek?
"Hello?" asked Taylor as she stuck her head in the door. "Where... Is that you, Guido?"
"Ah, little Taylor, this must be your dog then," rumbled the guy from Camp Olympus. "You know how it is. Job for the off-season and all."
"That... makes sense," said Taylor. "So you drive a bus?"
"Not just any bus," said Guido, tapping the hat. "This here is the Expediency Bus."
"The expediancy bus?" repeated Taylor.
"Right," said Guido, nodding. "Not the same as the Reincarnation Truck, much older and more worn, but still useful."
"I don't understand at all," admitted Taylor.
"Well, see, I'm here to take you round trip to a particular place, kind of like the rabbit in Alice In Wonderland," said Guido, the man made of rocks grinning with a gneiss smile at her. "Except I'm much more handsome and verbose and stuff, ya know."
"Oh, of course," said Taylor. "Round trip?"
"Yeah, standard kind of hero's journey kind of thing where the PTB (that's Powers-That-Be don'cha know) make an offer. Then you come back to your normal life and decide whether to turn yer back at their offer or go for the fame and glory. One path is safe, the other path is more dangerous, but I think that's kinda the way things work even without the PTB getting involved," said Guido. He got thoughtful for a moment. "Mind you, I don't think I was supposed to be that chatty. We'll just keep it between us, right?"
"Not a problem," admitted Taylor, now understanding a bit how Alice in that story always seemed to be a bit dazed or something. "So... it's okay if Apollo comes along?"
"Always wanted to meet yer pup," said Guido. "Just don't go marking territory in me bus, will ya pal?"
Apollo inclined his head a bit to the rock man and just followed Taylor. He didn't sense any threat here after all.
"Okay, you might want to strap in, the Plot Expediency Bus follows its own route," said Guido. "And go!"
Taylor blinked every time gravity seemed to indicate a different direction was down, then when gravity seemed to just give the whole thing up as a lost cause and go take a snack break somewhere. The view out the window didn't help as at various points they were underwater, going past an Arabian Nights bazaar, over a desert of red sands, up the side of a mountain, down a slide on the other side, through a Viking mead hall, waiting at a stoplight briefly for a yellow submarine to get through an intersection, Guido waving at a double-decker British bus as it went off on its own wild journey, along the ceiling of a tunnel where they were briefly racing a car that was doing the same thing with rockets flaring on its rear end, in and out of traffic despite there not being nearly enough room on a crowded bridge, going through a cape fight with capes she'd never seen before, and then through some place with tangerine trees, marmalade skies, and a girl with the weirdest eyes watching them go past.
Taylor waved. The girl with weird eyes nodded to her but didn't wave back.
"Not really safe to do that, y'know," said Guido, making a final turn and going up to what looked like a ship docking area. "And here we are. Be back in a half-hour to see if you're ready to come back. If you quit early I'll be at the deli over there. They got the best gyros."
* Zeus *
"Hey, you, get back to the gallery, she'll be here any minute," said Zeus as some new goddess went wandering into the amphitheatre.
"Wha What?" asked the goddess.
"Hmmm. Don't recognize you," said Zeus. "Not from Heliopolis, not tan enough. Not Asgard, not muscular enough. Not the Celestial Bureaucracy, don't see any stick up your ass."
"Eh?" asked the goddess.
"Nice blending-in mortal style raiment, but we want something more official, how about..." Zeus made a gesture.
The goddess screamed.
"It's a toga. Classic, refined, utilitarian," said Zeus. "I didn't get the belt too tight, did I?"
"What?" Zeus stopped, really looked at her. "Oh."
There was a snort nearby and Athena had to lean against a pillar she was laughing so hard.
"Right, you're here," said Zeus. "Okay, and... flick!"
"What. Am. I. Wearing?" asked the not-goddess.
"Did I get that wrong?" asked Zeus. "I thought spandex-style fabrics were de rigeur for the superhero crowd. Athena, you can stop laughing and help you know."
"No. Spandex," stated the mortal.
"Right, well, here's the deal," said Zeus. "Your world is in serious kimchi."
"No joke," muttered the mortal.
"Arf," said her dog.
"Seriously?" asked Zeus.
"Rowr ruff aff," said the dog.
"Oh, and flick. Is that better?" asked Zeus.
"My original clothes? Yes," said the mortal.
"Okay, anyway, your world is circling the drain and about to go down it, ending all life on it and multiple iterations of Earth," said Zeus.
"Excuse me, but WHO are you?" asked the mortal.
Zeus blinked, looked at his name tag, pointed helpfully at it.
"Zeus," read Taylor. "Aka Jupiter, aka Lightning Bolt Pappa, alias Daddy-o Zeus-eo," read off the mortal.
"Nobody calls me that since your 1950s," said Zeus. "And even then it was very few people."
"Father of the Olympian pantheon, Guardian of the Western Outer Gate, Buyer of Questionable Internet Trinkets," read off Taylor, wondering how all that fit on a little nameplate.
"Hera loves to get her little digs in, doesn't she?" asked Zeus. "Anyway, I have a proposition for you."
"I've read Greek literature. Not interested. I'm only fifteen anyway," pointed out Taylor.
"Not THAT kind of proposition. Seriously Athena - you can stop laughing," said Zeus. "Anyway, I have an offer for you to act as Champion for a number of different gods and beings of legend in return for saving your world and being a great hero."
"Do I get to fly?" asked Taylor.
"Yes, actually," said Zeus. "Ahem. In any case-"
"Yeah," interrupted Taylor.
"So the idea was to- excuse me?" asked Zeus.
"Power of the gods in order to become a great hero and save the world?" asked Taylor. "As long as it doesn't involve turning me into a monster or something."
Zeus blinked. "Okay. That was a lot easier than I thought."
"Ruff," said the dog.
"Of course you'd be included," said Zeus. "I mean the whole Marvel Family thing IS potentially on the table."
"Werf," said the dog.
"Yeah, that's also a possibility," said Zeus.
"Aff," agreed the dog.
"Now there's three methods we could use for your powers," said Zeus. "The typical route is to make you Captain Marvel by saying the name of the ancient wizard who usually grants such things - turning you into your superpowered identity when you say the word 'Shazam' - though we have changed a couple of lines."
"Okay," said Taylor.
"The other options are ideas that some of the others here came up with," said Zeus, sitting back on a table's edge. "Hestia here came up with the idea of altering something that your 'Eidolon' has. Basically setting you up with a power that has four slots, or sets of powers, that you can build upon. Every time you encounter a parahuman with a power, you have the chance to copy that power to one of those slots."
"Tell her the good part," said a slightly plump but attractive woman to the side.
"You can combine powers into new powers if you add a power to a slot that has an existing power," said Zeus. "For example if someone has superspeed and someone else has flight, you'd have superspeed flight. Metal body and shadow-phasing for density control. Things like that."
Taylor hmmmed as that DID sound potentially useful.
"And we get to the final one," said Zeus. "You can put your hand down, Hephaestus, this doesn't concern YOUR idea. You were outvoted."
The smith-looking fellow put his arm down and pouted in his chair.
"Just out of curiosity, what WAS his suggestion?" asked Taylor.
The smith answered. "Taylor Hebert. Super Genius." (dramatic thunder)
"Whoaa," said Taylor. "Was that dramatic thunder?"
"Yes, one of the reasons that idea was rejected," said a strangely beautiful but shallow-looking woman.
Hephaestus meanwhile grumbled something that sounded like Tinkers being bullshit and an insult to real engineers.
"Ahem," said Zeus. "The final powerset discussed was using Queen Administrator, but in Boost mode."
"What is that even supposed to mean?" asked Taylor.
"If there had been no intervention in your life, you would have had the Queen Administrator shard granting you a Master power over insects and a 12% chance of eventual success in the clusterfuck that is life in your world," said Hephaestus, sounding a bit sympathetic.
"Wha?" asked Taylor.
"I'm an engineer, if you want social graces try a politician," said Hephaestus. "Engineers have to deal with What Really Is and not things like Spinning PR."
"Uh huh," said Taylor.
"In this case, Queen Administrator deals with multitasking and control so it's just something a little less buggy," said a fairly handsome fellow surrounded by an aura of light. "So what if multitasking and control was over other people's powers where you could edit them? Remove limitations, add new ones, shut down some powers and change the nature of others? What then?"
"For example?" prompted Taylor.
"You normally end up meeting Shadow Stalker at some point," said the handsome fellow with a smirk that sent an alarm bell going off in Taylor's head. "What if, instead of shifting into a shadowy pass-through-walls power, you changed it to invisible-when-in-shadow power? Or enhanced it to a full dimensional shift ability where she was intangible and invisible? Or shut it down entirely so she was powerless?"
Taylor's eyes widened as possibilities presented themselves. Depowering supervillains. Going up to Alexandria before an Endbringer fight and boosting her powers.
"Mind you, the Boost power would need to be renewed every six months or so, but still..." said the glowy man.
"I... see..." said Taylor. Gee, being on the Triumvirate's speed-dial. Heck, being on EVERY hero's speed dial. Supervillains would try to kidnap her for that power but if she shut them down instead...
"You have five minutes to decide if you want one of these abilities," said Zeus, pouring himself a drink. "Or you could go back home as you are and never hear from us again. Choice is important - one of those lessons I learned over the centuries."
"Uff?" asked Apollo.
"Well, of course you'd have appropriate powers," said Zeus. "Either similar or complimentary to Taylor's of course. Depending on her decision."
"You could always give them spider powers," suggested some girl dressed like she was going hunting later.
"No, too obvious," said Zeus, leaning back and sipping at his drink.
"What about evolution powers? Whenever someone uses powers to affect her, she develops a defense," asked some old guy with a beagle.
"No, Darwin, let's just stick to the ones we agreed on," said Zeus. "And Marco, don't even think about it. You were the only one to vote for Anime Protaganist Summoning powers."
"But just imagine the Terrible Trio running into Bone Daddy Ainz," protested some geeky-looking guy.
"I'm pretty sure that having Ainz melt the flesh off their bones and then animate the corpses as her personal bodyguards would end up poorly for Taylor considering their nonsensical laws," said Zeus.
"Yeah, that might be a bit too much," said Taylor, holding fingers up as if pinching the air. She didn't know the reference, but the idea of skeletal minions would probably be some bad PR.