Chapter Text
Gold Morning Lisa Peggy Sue, to the day before Taylor's first night out.
Inspired by a comment on the Gaylor discord server.
I don't know if I have 300k words in me like the original comment says but here goes anyway.
Lisa woke looking at a familiar ceiling. It was one she had seen several times before
Lisa Wilbourn awake. Lisa Wilbourn feeling uneasy. Ceiling is familiar, loft. Lisa Wilbourn is in the loft.
She shook her head and looked around. it was the loft, alright. Every detail, from her computer to her belongings.
Belongings arranged according to preference of Lisa Wilbourn. Not in a simulation. Not hallucinating. Not in a recreation. Lisa Wilbourn in Undersiders Loft Base.
She blinked and opened her window blinds. She pushed the window open and stuck her head out. There were no pools of water from when Leviathan attacked. There were no time bubbles nor piles of charred rubble from Bakuda. There were piles of charred rubble, but they were from Lung, and they looked a bit more recent. There were no broken windows from the Slaughterhouse Nine, and no rampaging alien space whale god thing.
Temperature and weather patterns indicate Spring. Lisa Wilbourn in April of 2011. Lisa Wilbourn last went to sleep in June of 2013.
Lisa Wilbourn sent back in time.
----
Lisa walked out of her room to see Alec playing video games.
"Yeesh." Alec said upon noticing her. "You look like you just came back from the dead, Tee-Tee."
Lisa walked over to the kitchen and pulled out a glass. "You look like you didn't" she retorted, taking a painkiller and washing it down with cheap tequila.
"welp. That's enough rest for the wicked. I'm gonna go out and do some shit. What day is it?" she asked, grabbing her laptop bag.
"It's Saturday. Why are you working on a Saturday? I'm pretty sure that's illegal or something" Alec said.
Lisa rolled her eyes and left. She took the bus to a coffee shop close to the boardwalk. She set the GED textbook down on the table (Her cover story. She had already gotten hers, even by this point, but it would stop anyone from bothering her, and on school days, asking why she wasn't in school. It wasn't like she would even need to study for it anyways.) and got to work.
She started by creating a list in a notebook of "Already Happened" and "Not Yet Happened" events. Ruby Dreams: Already Happened. Browbeat joining the Wards: Happened, but not official or announced yet. The Travelers: still in Boston. Taylor-
Lisa let the emotions pass. This Taylor wouldn't be that Taylor yet. She had work to do, this Taylor didn't even know her yet.
She thought over her plans. Her old plan had actually worked, eventually, but it was slow. Slow, and she had new information this time around.
She tore an empty page out of her notebook and began writing.
---
"OMG! Are you Triumph?!"
Rory turned and looked over his shoulder at the teenage girl approaching him. Something about her put him on edge, but he put on the usual PR persona.
"How can I help you today, citizen?" He asked.
"Can I get your autograph?!" She squealed, holding out a torn piece of notebook paper. Not a full 8.5 by 11 notebook, closer to about the size of a passport. The tear line on top was neat.
"I'm sorry, but I..." He trailed off when he saw something was written on the paper.
He looked back up at the girl, but she was already walking away, into a movie rental store.
He glanced back down at the note.
4/14/11: Bank = distraction. Coil kidnaps mayor's niece. Don't tell anyone, or he'll get me too.
Rory put the note in his pocket and sighed.
----
Lisa walked back into the loft and set down her stuff.
Brian, Rachel, and Alec were all milling about.
"Hey everyone, I just thought I'd let you know. Lung gets back in town tomorrow, and he's not likely going to be all too happy with us. I have a plan for how to deal with that, but I thought I'd let you know to be on guard and ready for action in the next few days. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very important phone call to make." Lisa said, before heading into what Alec called her 'Tin Foil Hat Room'. The ball of red yarn she had purchased today really wasn't going to help with those jabs.
She picked up one of her burner phones and dialed 1800-MOUSE.
An automated (but very squeaky) voice read out a list of options before Lisa pressed 4 for "Urgent Information". She waited on hold for about 30 seconds before the call resumed.
"Mouse Protector squeaking, how may I help you?"
Lisa sighed. "The Slaughterhouse 9 are after you" She blurted out.
There was a pause. "If this is a prank call, I'm going to have to block your number."
"It's not!" Lisa said quickly. "It's not. I'm a Thinker from Brockton Bay. Listen, I need to ask a favor-"
"A Thinker from Brockton Bay? I don't know of many Thinkers from Brockton Bay. In fact, I can only think of one... Tattletail. (Lisa's power noted to her that despite saying it exactly the same, Mouse Protector meant it as a pun)" The Cheese Knight said.
Mouse Protector continued "Besides, I still don't fully believe you about the Sl-"
There was a knocking sound in the background on the phone. Lisa could make out a voice saying "Jack's Pizza. I got a slice of cheese for you here" There was a technological blip.
Mouse Protector teleported. Voice belonging to Jack Slash. Slice of Cheese comment has multiple meanings. Mouse Protector did not order pizza. Jack Slash not delivering pizza.
'Thaaaaaaaaanks power. Because I really needed THAT spelled out for me' Lisa thought.
Lisa Wilbourn lashing out at surroundings during stressful situation.
"Ok, I believe you." Mouse Protector said. "I can be in Brockton Bay in about 3 days. But I'm a hero. I'm not doing any crimes, I'm not helping you do any crimes, and if you do any crimes in front of me, I will bring you to justmice."
"That's more or less what I expected you to say" Lisa said. "I can agree to those terms. Call it a truce, I guess."
"Gooda! Now I just need to scurry away and warn the other local heroes!" Mouse Protector yelled and ended the call.
Lisa wrote two more notes, using up the last remaining empty pages of her old notebook. She put one in her costume's pocket and left the other sitting on her desk.
Lisa walked to the kitchen, as Alec made comments about her totally wasting a Saturday doing work all day. She ate a microwaved hotdog. She only had one second chance at tomorrow night, and decided to get some rest while she could. Lying down in bed, her mind wandered to all the big threats coming up soon. The ABB. The Empire. Leviathan. Coil. The S9. Echidna. The other Endbringers. Scion. And hardly anyone even knew.