* January 7, 2008 *

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the air was crisp and relatively clean with the slight breeze coming in off the ocean.

It was exactly the sort of morning where Doctor Curlyhair wanted nothing more than to burrow further under the covers and only come out when there was SCIENCE to be done. Or it was a good deal warmer and less morning-like.

"School today, Taylor. And don't think of just sending a clone today."

"Rghlbrf."

Annette Hebert opened the door, beheld the cocoon that her daughter had made of the blankets, and tsked. "How late were you up?"

"Gmbrferer."

"Jarvis?" asked Annette.

"Three a.m. local time. She disregarded three notices that it was past her bedtime. Her exact statement was that she'd figured out how to modify local materials to produce something approximating mithral."

"Planning on finding the One Ring and throwing it into Mount Doom?" Annette asked the feebly stirring lump on the bed.

"Meff," groaned the lump. A hand quested outside the blankets and searched around for something on a table, eventually grabbing a pair of glasses and retreating back into the warmth of the lumpiness.

While amused, her mother decided that was enough and grabbed a section of blankets and yanked.

Taylor yelped as she hit the floor, then scrambled for warmer clothing.

Her mother waited patiently until Taylor was half-dressed before deciding to address an issue. "Taylor? Why is there a large portion of your hair now dark green?"

"That was... wait. Green?"

"Jarvis?" asked Annette.

"I believe it had something to do with one of her attempts at brewing a potion that would allow for stronger shadow clones," said the AI, his voice carrying a fair amount of disappointment.

"Ugh, it's too early," managed Taylor.

"Well, come on, sleepyhead," said Annette, reaching out and tousling her daughter's hair. "Shower, dress, get breakfast, and be ready to leave in a half-hour."

* Dragon *

She turned this way and that in front of the display to better get an idea of what this particular body did and how it looked.

The "Nier" series of android bodies (though as female she was more a gynoid apparently the files and blueprints Doctor Hebert had were under that filename) allowed for fast backups and entry as long as you had the evolving piece of coding. Really, it was similar to how organic humans could change clothing or costumes with very little notice.

This body was a YorHa Type S Number 21. A Scanner type with advanced sensors, and had the most "average" looks among them. Not that the "average" was particularly blend-in-the-crowd as she was pretty sure she was above average with the bulk of humanity.

Getting used to it was a work-in-progress. This particular body was, according to what she had been able to determine, a Brute 1 and Mover 1 in that it was a bit more tough and faster than a normal human but those capabilities were easily concealed. Mostly a fit-looking female build, though a bit more curve than was typical of athletes from the limited perusal of data she'd researched.

She had just completed a suit of power armor specifically made for this body that would allow her to continue to manage the secret identity of Theresa Richter. A necessary pretense that she would only break with those especially trustworthy. So far, there was only one or two that she would consider for such a thing.

Of course, the Hebert family knew. Apparently Taylor had run the offer of help through them before she'd acted.

Hmmm. Maybe she should get a couple of different models or styles? She could do so much customization with accessories and outfits but an undercover model might be useful too.

* Prison Block 24-E, Perryville Prison *

"STOP SCREAMING YA IDJIT!"

Geoff got his heartrate slowly back under control, eyeing the top bunk his cellmate was in - who had NOT been receptive to his long talks about a Machine Uprising. "It was the Machines..."

"And if the kitchen toaster goes on a rampage I'm sure we'll all get right behind ya, otherwise shut yer yap."

* Taylor *

She took the bus. How humiliating.

Despite that she was in her secret identity of Taylor Hebert, people just stared at her and whispered.

How droll. She was just a perfectly normal super-genius twelve year old girl, thank you very much.

She could hardly wait until this June when she would finally lose the "preteen" label. It was quite vexing to have people discussing Doctor Curlyhair and use phrases like that.

There was an internal rumble from the Forge as one of the girls in the next seat over was asking if she had an Alexandria autograph yet.

"Crazed Toymaker" was apparently making deadly focus trinkets. Analyzing a target for what would do the most damage to it, bypassing whatever defenses it might have. What that had to do with toys she had no idea. Not that she bothered with toys and such child-like concerns.

"No. Why ever would I have an autograph from Alexandria?" asked Taylor.

My goodness there were a lot of smirks and eyerolls.

"Oh, just thought you might," said the girl who'd asked, extending a hand. "Lucy Nguyen."

"Taylor Hebert," said Taylor, taking the hand and giving a firm grip-and single shake.

"Yes, we know who you are," announced a good number of the other bus-goers. Followed by brief laughs and high-fives.

Taylor wondered if this was going to be a thing. Apparently so. Maybe she should sell clothing with that slogan on it? She could make it fashionable, she was pretty sure. Especially with Dragon handling the mass production aspects.

"So, what do you think about lizards?" asked Lucy.

"'Lizards'?" asked Taylor. "I haven't really thought that much about them."

As Lucy began explaining How Great Lizards Were, Taylor thought this was pretty nice to be talking about normal things.

Though she did have to restrain herself from asking about the potential of studying the other girl's iguana and determining what sort of upgrades might be appropriate.

Maybe wings? Fire breath would probably be too much though.

Pity that Emma was busy though. Some sort of family thing.

* Not very close to Brockton Bay *

"Lucy Nguyen, Vietnamese-Chinese ancestry, twelve years old. Family has no ties to the ABB. Father's a proctologist, mother is an x-ray technician at Brockton General. Only thing on either's records are a few traffic tickets and one public nudity citation from ten years ago."

"The father went nude in public?"

"Mother, according to the court record it was because of an accusation about plastic surgery. Daughter has had a pet iguana named 'Smog' for several years."

"Probably 'Smaug' after the dragon from the Hobbit. Keep checking. Phil, any word on those Fallen that were heading her way?"

"A large group of them met with an unexpected accident where their van lost a tire, went briefly off the freeway and smacked into a gas truck that had been parked on the side of the road for no apparent reason. Fire's out. Police are investigating this terrible tragic accident."

"Good work, Phil."

"Thanks."

* Cauldron *

"How's he doing?"

"Better. Not well, but better."

"Feeling that he was directly responsible for millions of deaths? Yeah, that's going to take awhile to work through."

"Well, at least, now that he knows it's going to reduce the number of attacks."

"They're Conflict Engines, unless someone figures out how to change that or send a shut down signal, they'll still be attacking."

"I still find it odd that we are looking at a twelve-year-old girl to solve a number of problems," said Doctor Mother.

Contessa entered the room, not even looking at Doctor Mother or Number Man, simply taking a beverage from the tray she was carrying them on and handing one to each.

Doctor Mother sniffed. Ginger beer. Which was something she rather liked. "Something good?"

"Mama Mathers was involved in a tragic accident which caused her to die burning in a fire. Along with a number of other Simurgh-faction Fallen that were in the same passenger van."

"Something you had a hand in?" asked Number Man.

"Not directly," said Contessa. "Did you know that there are some very competent people working with ForgeTech?"

"So I have heard," admitted the Number Man.

"Just making sure some intel that they were heading to Brockton Bay passes the right desk? Hardly involved me doing anything at all," said Contessa. "I have twelve minutes before I have the next Step I have to take in one of my Paths. I know a place that has the best brownies."

"I could do with a snack," agreed Number Man.

* Tillie's Cafe *

"Found them," said Charles, looking as if he was enjoying the wind blowing through his thick gray hair. He was, of course, NOT Charles Xavier who had been a comic book character back before parahumans were a thing. He'd had some genetic-based disease problems much like his old friend Eric and when Danny had proposed a potential cure, they'd both leapt at the chance.

And really, when you were looking at their age and their friendship over the years - how could they turn it down? And when the X-Gene therapy had given them the chance for powers and they could choose from one of three expressions of the X-Gene? Taking those powersets and then cape names?

No chance of them not doing so.

So, Charles Claremont, a professor of Brockton Bay University, chose to become an extremely powerful telepath. Eric Kirby, retired truck mechanic, became Magneto.

"Where are they?" asked Eric.

"Off of a crossroads in Northern Colorado named Sunbeam," said Charles/Professor X.

"And?" prompted Eric.

"Jack is attempting to convince the others to come here and recruit young Taylor," said Charles. "He stands out a bit. Something of his parahuman power I suspect, almost as if he's sending his location out constantly."

"Hmmm," said Magneto/Eric. "Pity you can't send satellite coordinates. There's a couple I could bring down on top of them."

"How's this?" asked Charles, using telepathy to show a viewpoint from a private plane in the area and then a commercial airline considerably higher..

"This will be a bit trickier than the launch of a hundred ships from their Graveyard," said Eric, closing his eyes to properly visualize everything. Then he grabbed a large hunk of metal and changed the way it was moving just a tiny amount. "Well. That was quite tiring. Almost feel my age again."

"The comic-book Magneto would've done that a lot easier," pointed out Professor X.

"The comic-book Magneto was a villain," said Eric. "How fresh do you suppose the blueberry muffins are?"

Professor X concentrated a moment before smiling. "Fresh this morning. Since you did the heavy lifting, my treat."

* Sunbeam, Colorado *

"Did you HAVE to eat the horsies?" asked Bonesaw, looking somewhat peeved.

"They were delicious," said Crawler, hacking up a legbone and then offering it.

"I don't want..."

(roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR) (KRASH!)

Bonesaw blinked and then pointed to the smoldering crater. "Wasn't that a porta-john?"

"Yes, yes it was," agreed Crawler.

"Wasn't Jack in there?" asked Bonesaw.

"Yes, yes he was," stated Crawler.

"Huh," said Bonesaw. "I wonder if there's enough left to rebuild him?"

"Just build a puppet that says 'I have an evil plan' and laughs maniacally," suggested Crawler. "I'll bet it takes Shatterbird a week to notice."

"Unca Jack?" asked Bonesaw as she investigated the crater. "Oh, I found his head! Well, most of it. Good thing I reinforced his skull."

"So you're going to build a puppet?" asked Crawler.

"No I'm going to fix Jack," said Bonesaw. "I'll get Mannequin to help."

"That's a pretty big dent," pointed out Crawler as Bonesaw shook little bits of stuff off the skull. Something that was inside became outside.

"I'll need some parts," said Bonesaw. "I can rebuild him. I have the technology. Better. Faster. Stronger."

"How about making him a girl, that way he can be Aunt Jackie," suggested Crawler.

"We'll see what parts we can get," said Bonesaw, thinking it might actually work out better that way.

"I'll tell the others and we'll see what we can scrounge up," said Crawler, thinking that at the very least this wasn't boring.

"Pieces of Russian spy satellite?" asked Bonesaw as she started figuring out what was part of what from the mess. "Got to use what's available, but yeesh."

* Somer's Rock *

A seedy bar in the most derelict section of town. It was the designated meeting place for Brockton Bay's criminal factions.

Kaiser brought his own bottle, was flanked by the twins, and still felt as if he needed to spray the table for bugs. Not the surveillance kind either.

Lung came in five minutes later, his lieutenant Oni Lee with him, to take one of the booths.

"We're here to discuss what to do about the Docks," began Kaiser.

"Leave them the hell alone seems the best plan," rumbled Lung. "Did you get one?"

Kaiser made a gesture to indicate something so big, Lung nodded, and then Kaiser nodded as well.

Lung stirred after a few moments. "I have... had to re-evaluate something. I fought Leviathan at Kyushu. I came to the conclusion that they were a force of nature, something that could not be fought only endured."

"Then the Simurgh got turned into bricks and imprisoned," stated Kaiser.

Lung nodded, then tensed when the door opened again.

"This is where the villains gather, right?" asked the costumed figure entering the bar.

"I do not recognize you," said Kaiser. "Are you sure you belong here?"

"My gang controls the area between Captain's Way and Pier Street," boasted the costumed villain, "and from Atlantic to Pacific Avenues."

"That's two blocks," pointed out Kaiser after thinking about it.

"Yeah, but it's the territory of the Pier Street Raiders," boasted the villain.

Lung muttered something about how they were letting anybody in these days and just poured himself another two fingers of Jamieson's.

"Who are you, then?" asked Kaiser, who hated that he was agreeing with Lung but this was just pathetic.

"Name's Krakatoa," said the villain. "I generate lava blasts."

"Okay, that's different," allowed Kaiser. Potentially effective power, if it wasn't wielded by what he strongly suspected was an idiot.

Menja spoke up, and Kaiser noted she'd refilled her glass of spiced rum twice just in the short time they'd been here. "Let me guess, new to Brockton Bay, moved in with your gang, took over an area not contested by anyone because it's pretty worthless, have a bunch of unpowered gang members to rule over, and you think your power makes you hot shit."

"Well, surprisingly accurate except on a couple of points," admitted Krakatoa.

"We get four or five like you a year," said Menja, refilling her glass from the bottle again. "You tend to last maybe a month? Maybe six at most. You're Maori from the tattoos and look?"

Krakatoa nodded.

"You aren't going to be forced to join the Empire then, you're not Asian enough for Lung's crowd," continued Menja. "Simply killed or driven off when you try to grab more territory. Unless you have something really exceptional that allows you to survive when territories are being shifted."

"I'm not the only cape in my gang," rallied Krakatoa. "There's Cypher and Shadris."

"A Thinker by the name, specializing in Cryptography?" asked Menja, her voice beginning to slur a bit. "Shadris? I don't know that word."

"He does art that he can make come to life," said Krakatoa.

Fenja took over as her sister was now looking a bit woozy. "So, a Blaster, a Thinker, and a Shaker. I give you about four months, and that's only because we're all keeping our heads down because of ForgeTech."

"I..." Kaiser stopped as the door opened yet again. "Seriously?"

"We're the Mockly Crew, and we're the up-and-coming villain group of Brockton Bay!" declared the skinny youth leading a small group of costumed individuals.

Lung looked them over, looked over at Fenja and Menja. "Three months."

Fenja sighed and put a bill on the table. "Fifty says one month."

* Brockton Bay *

Professor X looked up from the chessboard. "Huh. They managed to save Jack Slash's life."

"Well, I can't hit him with a second satellite without someone noticing," pointed out Magneto.

Professor X frowned then began to smile. "Oh, he's not going to like THAT. Not at all."

"Do tell," prompted Magneto.

"Apparently my little unraveling of certain knots in young Bonesaw's head is going along quite well," said Professor X. "I hadn't expected anything notable for a week, at least. And you did manage to damage a portion of Mister Slash's brain with what may prove to be amusing consequences."

"Well, it is nice to hear our efforts weren't for naught," agreed Magneto as he moved a knight on the board.

* January 20, 2008 *
* Hebert Household *

Danny found the bust of Shakespeare and had a bad feeling immediately. When he could flip the head back and find a nice big red button, he simply put the head back into place and sighed a particularly emotive sigh.

"Tell me it doesn't cause the bookcase to slide into the wall and reveal a pair of fireman poles leading to a newly excavated cavern under the house," said Danny Hebert to his daughter.

"Of course not, that would be silly," said Taylor. "Just think of the structural problems involved."

"Good," said Danny. "What does the Shakespeare switch do then?"

"Right now? Nothing," answered Taylor. "Eventually I'll hook it up to a home security system."

"Ah, I was afraid you'd gotten something new and went a bit crazy with it," said Danny. "Again."

"No, I got something this morning," admitted Taylor. "Portalist. It allows me to make magical versions of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge so that I can link two locations. I've got a call in to NASA this morning about setting up airlocks and having a lunar portal installed in Warehouse #9 now that we've moved the materials teleportation ring to #11."

"That could be handy," admitted Danny Hebert. "I take it there may be some degree of work coming into the Bay as a result?"

"I would expect so," said Taylor, "but that's for the people who handle contracts to hash out."

"In other words, me," concluded Danny.

"Anything I should know about?" asked Taylor.

"Oh, it looks like you're being summoned to Congress."

* Perks This Chapter *

17.33.1-The Crazed Toymaker (400CP)(Revelation Space)(Intelligence):
In the time of readily-available high technology and smart fabrication, there are two qualities that win fights: Overwhelming firepower, and pure deviousness. I can't speak for the former, but of the latter you seem to have an inexhaustible supply. Designing and building deadly trinkets is your forte, little horrific nick-knacks that kill not through big booms but through precision, trickery and the sheer unexpectedness of their nature. From tiny disguised drones with neurotoxin injectors, spider mines, hyperfilament snare-webs and crabbers, all the way up to ship- killing photon-sails and proximity limpets, you are never lacking the inspiration to invent a new, deadly toy specially designed to slip through your enemies' defenses and rip their hearts out.

25.22.1-Portalist (400CP)(Timespinner)(Magic): Vilete once knew the secret for making portals that were capable of spanning interplanetary distances, and now, you know that secret as well. You have the knowledge and skill to be able to craft portals between different locations in space. Something within the range of a city can be done 'freestyle', using only your own Aura, though you may need to charge up energy beforehand. Longer range portals would need anchors and magical focuses, but you know how to craft such very easily. Through practice and study, the range of your personal portals and permanent portals can both expand, with personal portals eventually reaching intercontinental distances, while your permanent portals could eventually reach between stars.
FREE: Aura - You possess the power of aura. Aura is something that bridges the divide between psychic powers and magic, being halfway between both. You can telekinetically manipulate the world around you to a limited degree, light fires, strengthen your body, boost your reflexes, etc. Aura is primarily used via Orbs, which will be discussed later. Your Aura level is slightly above average, by the lower standards of Lachiem, and slightly below average by the high standards of Vilete. In other words, you are overall very average. However, it is possible for this power to grow, given time, training, and use. As this power is halfway between a psychic power and magic, it can act as a bridge between other powers you have that fall in those areas. If you already possess psychic or magic powers, or if you gain them in the future, this power can draw on those powers' sources for energy, provide energy to them, or be used as a conduit for channeling energy between those powers.
FREE: Paradox Proof - For the duration of this Jump, you will not be at risk of being erased or removed from time due to alterations to the timeline. When such changes happen, the area around you will shift to reveal the new timeline, and you will retain general memories of the prior timeline as well as gaining new memories from the new one. Time will bend to ensure that in the new timeline, you aren't in immediate danger following the shift. In this Jump in particular, such a shift will happen moments after someone travels to the past, with any and all changes they make occurring at once.