Reality Intrudes

Part Ten: Unreality Check

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]

Taylor was in the locker again. But before she could panic, she felt her heart rate slow. Her body moving with purpose, she placed her hands on the back wall of the locker and pushed. In disbelief, she felt the metal at her back bending and tearing free of its mounting, and she stepped back into the corridor.

Am I dreaming? What's going on here?

It was weird. She recalled reading the letter from Morrigan and destroying it, and she'd gone back to bed after that. After lying there staring into the darkness for a long time, she'd eventually drifted off to sleep.

So, this had to be a dream.

But it wasn't like any dream she'd ever experienced before. She saw herself striding through the school as if riding in an illusory passenger seat. Everything was sharp-edged, and her body moved with purpose. It just wasn't following her purpose.

The weird thing was, every detail was sharp, even things at the edge of her vision. It wasn't like a memory, where things she hadn't focused on were absent. While her dream-self entered the classroom and dragged Emma out by the ear, she wondered what was going on. Then, just as they reached the bathroom, she got it. It was like watching a movie.

A highly entertaining movie, she had to admit. It had a certain amount of schadenfreude to it, all of which Taylor enjoyed tremendously. The moment when Emma tried to flee, only to have her nose broken on the washbasin bench, was … therapeutic.

But then her dream-self took a phone from her jeans pocket, one that Taylor had never seen before. Where did that phone come from? What's going on here?

Taylor concentrated on the phone call, ignoring Emma's pathetic attempts at scrubbing the horrific stains from her clothing. Who was the 'Operator', and why did Taylor want to smack him?

The person piloting her body, Morrigan, wasn't thrilled with him either. This sounded like a long-standing rivalry. When Morrigan explained how she didn't just want to 'pull out' (this was already the weirdest Mastery case Taylor had ever heard of) and leave Taylor holding the bag, Taylor wanted to hug her. How bizarre is it that this woman I've never met, who's puppeting my body without asking first, is still the nicest person I've met in years?

When Sophia came in, Taylor wasn't sure what to expect, but standing there and getting hit was not it. Yeah, been here before. The phone left her dream-self's hand and skittered under the bench, and she mentally winced in expectation of a follow-up kick. But whatever the reason Morrigan had for taking the first hit, she flipped acrobatically to her feet in a way Taylor could never have performed to evade it.

Then she stood still again as Sophia threw a punch at her face. At the same time, in the corner of her picture, Taylor saw Emma scoop up the phone and drop it into one of the discarded shoes. You bitch. I hope she kicks your ass all over again.

At the very last instant, Morrigan faked Sophia out, blocking the blow and putting her in a hold. From the look on Sophia's face, she was just as surprised as Taylor herself. How the hell did she make my body move so fast?

And then came the next surprise. Just as Morrigan was asking Emma about how the clothing was coming on, Sophia's arm dissolved into black smoke just for an instant, reforming outside the hold Morrigan had on her. Holy shit, she was right. Sophia is Shadow Stalker. It wasn't that she'd disbelieved, exactly, but it had been hard to wrap her head around.

Still assimilating that, Taylor was almost too distracted to see the follow-up. This time, Morrigan was taking no shit. The first punch, she knocked aside. There was a second that Taylor didn't even see, that Morrigan caught full-on. And finally, a glorious, beautiful head-butt that knocked Sophia cold.

If Taylor had had a physical body of her own inside the dream, she would've been waving pom-poms at this point. But all she could do was cheer inside her own head as Morrigan stole Emma's blouse and boots, and Sophia's jeans. And then, once she discovered where Emma had put the phone—helped when it conveniently started ringing—she took everything except their underwear and dropped what she didn't need in the trash can outside.

Taylor was still giggling over that when Morrigan got back on the phone with the Operator. Between the highly fascinating conversation and how the person piloting her body chose to go downstairs—jumping, a flight at a time—she was mentally out of breath by the time Morrigan got outside. With a dramatic dive-and-roll, no less.

Taylor could've told her what the Operator already had; police response to Winslow calls was … slow. The running joke was, they preferred to wait until the bodies stopped twitching. After all that action, leaving on a bus was a distinct anticlimax.

When Morrigan discovered that Sophia had owned two phones, Taylor was intrigued, though what was on the older one barely surprised her at all. She was more than a little perplexed by just how much effort all three had put into planning to make her life hell. Couldn't they have found a less time-intensive hobby, like overthrowing third-world nations?

What got a lot more interesting was when Morrigan called the obnoxious Operator for the PIN code for the newer phone … and he gave it to her. Plus, he alluded to how Sophia had tagged them in the bathroom, which implied he'd been watching somehow … maybe?

And the 'what the fuck' rating just jumped another notch when Morrigan was looking at a list of the Brockton Bay Wards … and didn't know who they were. Even Taylor knew who they were, so long as she had a list to look at. Where is this woman from?

She flicked through the contacts, then sat back and apparently relaxed for a bit. Taylor figured she needed to unwind before doing whatever she did next. Things had been getting a little hectic.

When the Operator guy rang back to warn her of a trace program on the phone, Morrigan said something about 'agents' which made Taylor wonder if the NSA or FBI were involved. Taylor just wondered how he'd known about what was on the phone in Morrigan's hand, even when it wasn't being used to make calls.

Bullshit hacking skills are bullshit, I guess.

When Morrigan went into the library, the first thing she did was check out PHO. Which was reasonable; Taylor kind of wanted to know what was happening back at Winslow herself. But she didn't go there. She went to the Wards page.

Specifically, to Shadow Stalker's page.

It took a few seconds for Taylor to realise that this was where Morrigan had figured out for the first time that Sophia was a cape, and who she really was.

The reminder pissed her off so much that she nearly missed Morrigan going into the wider PHO, and her reactions to stuff everyone knew, like Behemoth and Leviathan. From what she and the Operator were saying, they'd never seen this stuff before. Any of it.

Taylor began to thoughtfully formulate some questions of her own, such as:

Where are these people from? Because they aren't from Earth Bet.

Who's the Operator?

Who's the Captain?

What's the rest of this stuff they're talking about?

She was still mulling these over when Morrigan piloted her body out of the library. First, she went and got a snack (with Taylor's money), but Taylor got to enjoy it as well, so she couldn't be too pissed about that. But then … she went and got herself mugged.

Or rather, she let someone try to mug her.

Taylor had seen a hint of her capabilities when she beat up Emma and Sophia, but the beatdown she laid on the muggers was … spectacular. She frisked (and robbed them) with ruthless professionalism; by the time Taylor realised this had been the point of the whole exercise, she'd jumped onto a dumpster with one of the muggers over her shoulder and was running up the fire escape. With him still over her shoulder!

There was another phone call, something about 'checking the code' that Taylor couldn't quite figure out, then Morrigan started interrogating the guy while casually holding him out over the alleyway. Specifically, she wanted to know about the gangs, and where the nearest Empire Eighty-Eight stash house was. He told her, of course. Taylor couldn't imagine a circumstance where people wouldn't tell Morrigan what she wanted to know. She had a certain way about her.

Taylor was more or less settled in for the ride now. She knew her body would end up being okay; this was what had happened, not what would happen, so there was no anxiety there, but she did want to know what Morrigan had done in the meantime. The subsequent phone calls with the Operator didn't get her much more information, except that he was good at deflecting phone calls, and there was a mention of something called 'blue-pills'. The conversation ended, leaving Taylor puzzled.

Did that sound like what I thought it sounded like? Because to me, it sounded like they were talking about the real world having computer code applied to it. But that can't be right.

Can it?

Taylor was already mentally composing the letter to Morrigan in her head. Most of it was questions so far; but of course, they were going to have to wait until she was back in charge of her body, with a pen in her hand.

She wondered if Morrigan had known she'd be able to go back through these memories like this. From the tone of the letter, she suspected not.

Morrigan definitely had a plan, and Taylor still hadn't forgotten the mention of having dealt with Victor and Alabaster, but it was interesting to watch it all come together. First was the shopping trip, where she got a nice hat and a seriously rocking long coat. Then …

… then she went and raided the stash house.

It was exhilarating and terrifying, and beat the living hell out of any action movie Taylor had ever watched. A stolen truck, guns everywhere, and Taylor got to watch Morrigan just go through the bad guys like a combine harvester in a field of ripe wheat.

It got really scary when she ran into Victor and Alabaster, though. Alabaster just kept getting up, and Victor kept coming after her while his buddy ran interference. Taylor started to worry when Morrigan started missing shots she'd hit with before.

Then Morrigan made the phone call, and that was when everything changed. Taylor could feel it like she was plugged into a high-voltage powerline, the current pouring through every muscle and into her brain. Morrigan was back up to speed, and she pulled the most ridiculously bullshit move Taylor had ever seen. Even in the trashiest action movie, they'd never blown a guy's head all the way off while doing a backward somersault off the wall. But she did it anyway. And Alabaster didn't get up again.

Once she got rid of Alabaster, Victor was easy; Morrigan barely broke step as she killed him. Then she went downstairs, robbed the place blind, and set it all on fire. Taylor just wished she had popcorn.

After that, things eased off. Morrigan had clearly gotten what she wanted, so she took a cab to a gas station and washed up in the bathroom, scrubbing with the cheap soap, probably to get rid of the smell of gunshot residue. Then she went to the Market and bought some cheap but comfortable clothes. Emma's and Sophia's clothing went into a Goodwill bin; the phones, separated from their SIM cards and batteries, ended up in the duffel.

If she'd been impressed before, Taylor was downright astonished at how well Morrigan sneaked into the house while her father wandered around keeping an eye out for her. Getting through the kitchen and down into the basement without making a sound was pretty cool, too. There was an old coal hatch that had been boarded up years ago; Morrigan had the cover off in five minutes, and the duffel stored inside (along with the perforated long coat and the neat hat) in another thirty seconds. Then she went back upstairs and let Dad think she'd just come in.

Dinner was excellent, even experienced second hand. Morrigan had told the truth about what her father now knew, which clued in Taylor enough not to give the game away. After that, Morrigan apparently dipped into her memories (as she'd done to get into the house and talk to Dad, duh) to get her pyjamas from her room, have a shower, and go to bed.

Well, not all the way to bed. She sat up for a while, pen in hand, carefully writing out a very familiar-looking letter. Then she climbed into bed, put her (Taylor's) glasses aside, and turned out the light. After wrapping herself in a cocoon of blankets with the folded letter in her hand, she opened the phone in her other hand and pressed the button.

"Operator."

"I've done what I can. Pull me out."

"Roger."

The dream ended, and Taylor sat up in bed. Carefully, she put her feet on the floor and crept over to her bedroom door. The corridor was in darkness, but that didn't matter; she knew every inch of the house anyway. And she had to know. Down the stairs she went, and around through the kitchen to the basement door.

In the basement it was even darker, despite the grimy windows set high in the wall. Taylor closed the door, then found the dangling light cord and pulled it. When the bare bulb clicked on, the light dazzled Taylor's dark-adapted eyes for a moment until she blinked them clear. Tiptoeing down the stairs, she went over to the coal chute, stared at the cover for a second, then opened it the same way Morrigan had closed it.

The duffel was there, as were the long coat and hat.

It was all true.

"Holy shit," she murmured. "Holy … shiiit."

Carefully, she closed the cover again, went back up the steps, and turned off the light before opening the basement door. She was thirsty, so she got a glass of water from the sink and drank it while looking out the window at the back lawn, dimly lit from the street.

If she'd needed proof for what Morrigan had said in the letter, she had it all, and more.

But she also had questions.

Lots of questions.

Morrigan

I grunt as I roll out of my rack. The shuteye was nice, but that insertion was the roughest one I've done in quite some time. Plus, the emergency upload of combat skills has left me with an unpleasant tingling at the base of my skull.

I shamble along to the head and splash cold water on my face, so I feel halfway human. Then I pull on my genuine imitation blue jeans, head through to the mess hall, and dial myself up a nice, tasty bowl of gruel (yes, that's sarcasm. Glad you noticed). Already, I'm missing the coffee and pastry I bought with Taylor's money yesterday.

The first spoonful is halfway to my mouth when the PA system chunters to life. "Morrigan, report to Operations. Morrigan, report to Operations."

"Ohh, fuck me sideways," I mutter as I get up from the table. But they never said not to bring food along, so I do just that. Besides, I'm hungry as fuck.

When I wander in through the hatchway to Operations, Loki is already there, coffee cup in hand, with Captain Hornblower leaning over his shoulder. They both turn to look at me. I eat a spoonful of gruel and look right back at them. "What?"

"We have a potential problem," Captain Hornblower informs me. Far from giving me the stink-eye over the bowl of gruel, she looks like a person with much more pressing issues. "Loki discovered it when he was checking to make sure Taylor Hebert had suffered no ill effects from the insertion yesterday."

I eat another spoonful of gruel. Hey, I'm hungry. "So, what's the issue?" I hope nothing's happened to the kid. She doesn't deserve the shit that's been dropped on her from a great height.

"The issue," Loki says in the tone of someone handing over a problem to someone else, "is that the connection you made to Taylor Hebert somehow recorded the entire insertion where she could access it. She's just lived through the whole thing in a dream state. Every second of it."

I blink. "Well, shit." Looks like the letter I wrote her wasn't really necessary after all.

"Is that all you've got to say?" demands Loki. "If you don't recall, we talked about stuff on the phone that she would've heard. Stuff we don't want her knowing!"

I eat another spoonful of gruel. "Stuff you don't want her knowing," I correct him. "I already wrote her a letter and explained basically what was going on, in terms she'd understand. Now … I guess she understands a bit more. So when she asks me questions about that …" I look at Captain Hornblower and raise my eyebrows in a question.

Hornblower looks right back at me. "You're the lead Operative on this mission," she says. Which is a fancy way of saying I'm the only Operative, but I'm not complaining. "I leave it to your judgement."

I'd be touched, but I seem to recall her also pointing out how I'd be likely to ignore orders to do what I felt like anyway, so I just accept that she's a realist. "Thanks, Captain. When do you want me to go back in?"

She considers this. "Do you have a time limit you need to meet?"

I finish off my gruel and put the bowl down right in front of Loki. Yeah, I'm totally petty like that. "I was thinking about going out at five or so tonight, local time. Give her the chance to get through a day of school on her own, without those other hell-beasts there on her back all the time. Once it's dark, I'm gonna need to go out and start beating up blue-pills and shaking the bushes until I've got a lot better idea of what's going on under the surface. Maybe give one of their crime lords another kick in the teeth."

Captain Hornblower nods. "Sounds like a plan. Rest and relax, but stay close to Ops in case she gets in danger, and you need to go in and bail her out."

"Hey," says Loki, taking a drink of his crappy coffee. "She just got up. Check it out, Mo-Mo. You got yourself a pen pal."

Feeling rested and refreshed, Taylor sat at her desk in her pyjamas, the morning sunlight slanting in through the window. Taking the pen in hand, she carefully wrote her reply to Morrigan's letter.

Hi.

I totally believe you.

I have some questions, though.

Where do you come from? Are you even really here? Are you even really human?

What's a blue-pill? Is that what you call people like me, or just capes?

Who is the Operator? He sounds like an asshole.

Who is the Captain?

Is the Matrix a computer simulation of Earth Bet? Are we all programs? Do powers really cause glitches in the code?

Where do powers come from?

Do I have a real body, and if so, where is it?

More questions as I think of them.

Taylor

I'm laughing so hard I have to lean against a console while the Captain hands Loki a cloth to clean off his console and screen, where he sprayed his crappy coffee. Privately, I resolve to do something nice for Taylor Hebert. Her 'He sounds like an asshole' line hit the mark perfectly, just like Loki's coffee did.

"So, she knows," I say after I catch my breath. "Well, shit."

Captain Hornblower nods acknowledgement in my general direction. "Indeed."

This mission just got a whole lot more interesting.

Good thing I enjoy interesting.

End of Part Ten