Chapter Text

Split Infinities

The curator and the scientist move from inhabited planet to inhabited planet throughout the multiverse. Their self-assigned task to understand the laws of the multiverse well enough to dodge the heat-death of the multiverse so that their species can survive.

When they returned to a set of planets that had previously provided good data, an outlaw provided the scientist with a boobytrapped gift. This gift affected their ability to judge the distance to the landing zone. And so they crashed and were sufficiently damaged that one of the specially bred test subjects was able to permanently cripple their ability to recover with the aid of the boobytrap.

The test subjects then started harvesting the prepared tests, along with the monitoring equipment. Including deploying the terraforming drones that are only supposed to be used in late stage experiments, if the subjects fall to warring rather than cooperation, or for restoring the biome and accelerating the development of a new strain of test subjects that can then be left to develop naturally while they move onto another planet.

The story will be set on a world that the curator picked as an incubator for their offspring under the erroneous assumption that the scientist was dead.

Taylor smiles as she reviews the story synopsis that she’s written out. A couple of clicks sees the document uploaded to a secure server that her friend, Winged_one, set up.

In the group chat with Winged_one, Orca_boy, and Amethyst_fun she types,

 Bookworm: I’ve just uploaded my English Lit homework, what do you think?

While she’s waiting for Winged_one to respond, Taylor looks at the new wallpaper that’s adorning her bedroom. Something that dad could have never afforded last year, but seems to be one of a number of things that have finally been going right since January. It wasn’t much, just a small lottery win, big enough to cover her medical bills, clear the household debts, and enough left over for dad to not need to work for several months.

A few seconds later, Winged_one comes back with,

 Winged_one: That is awesome. I bet Madison’s going to get a great grade with this, and in a month’s time she’ll get an interview to die for.

Taylor smiles and prints the document out on her new printer. Which itself was a serendipitous find on dad’s part, as he managed to stall the car while looking for jobs for the association. The building he checked in first for a telephone was running a bankrupt stock faire using stock bought from D-tech when it went out of business last year. After borrowing a cellphone, he got the computer, printer, and a last generation Dracotech phone for $1000. Once his car got back to the yard, Hayden found that one of the sparkplugs was over worn, and the timing belt was going. Which was another bit of luck, as if that snapped, it could have cost dad thousands.

As she sends off the actual story summary by e-mail, Taylor muses that she’s getting better at understanding her little flashes of insight into the future and past. She’d worried that she might have Endbringer powers originally, but Winged_one stuck around when she freaked out in February as the Endbringer sirens went off. Fortunately, it was a false alarm in Australia, but Winged_one pointed out that none of the Endbringers can make plants grow faster or better, and they certainly can’t make traps or copy powers, or any of the other minor things she can do.

Hang on a sec, to die for?

Bookworm: Do you think that might be going a little too far?

Winged_one: She doesn’t have to steal your homework. All your teachers know that you’ll try to hand in a physical copy, but you’ll e-mail your homework beforehand.

Bookworm: 😊Have I thanked you for sticking around rather than going to your appointment in February?

Winged_one: You’re most welcome, and it really wasn’t an imposition. You just gave me an excuse not to do something I didn’t really want to do anyway. I’d much rather be doing my actual job.

Bookworm: Evolutionary Biology sounds so interesting.

Orca_boy: Marine Biology is better.

Winged_one: You just like swimming with Orca’s.

Taylor leans back and watches as they get into an argument on who’s area of science is the best and most important.

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 After another day at school, where the only class Taylor was able to get any work done in was Computer Science, she notes that Sophia seemed like she was actually timid for the first time ever. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that Shadow Stalker has been caught on camera using live bolts three times over the month. After all, it was pure coincidence that three complete strangers would stumble across her, and post the recording to PHO. Well, at least Taylor hadn’t had anything to do with it.

Taylor chuckles to herself as she phases through the back wall of the school grounds while the Trio are waiting for her by the gate. She’ll let them think that she slipped out early or something as she’s got her nascent career as an unsung hero to continue. She’s only been out three times so far, as it took Winged_one a long time to talk her into believing she could make a difference.

A twinge in the back of her head sees her grimace, as it seems like an actual disguise is probably in order today. It’s a good thing she’s going to be passing a mall. That twinge is back, and she turns away from her normal route to go towards the better part of town.

Or not.

As she’s walking, she digs her phone out of her backpack and opens the secure messaging app on it to see if Winged_one, or one of her friends has sent her anything while she was in school. When she sees nothing, she opens the map function and looks for any businesses in the direction she’s walking.

Hmm, a hair and nail supply shop, that will do.

As she’s about to cross the road, a black Humvee with blacked out windows drives around the corner without even giving her the courtesy of slowing down. With a huff, she jams the valve stems in on the two tires she can see. That will teach them to ignore pedestrians. Well it will in about five minutes when they hit a curb and it blows the valve covers off the stems.

Taylor clutches her head as she staggers across the road, as those flashes of precognition that far out are still painful when they happen. Flashes of a few seconds are much better.

Half an hour later, Taylor is wearing a ruby colored hair turban with a similarly colored dust mask and royal blue gloves. At a small parade of shops she picked up an oversized white hoodie to replace her nondescript black hoodie, which goes into her backpack and underneath the white hoodie.

She’s just considering if she needs anything else when a middle school aged girl runs into her. As she registers the sound of booted feet from the corner the girl came from, Taylor speeds up time around the two of them so that she has time to think. Not that she ever wanted to use this power on anything but the tomato plants in the backyard.

Taylor shakes her head and brings her thoughts to the here and now. Crouching down slightly she asks, “Hey kid, are you ok?”

The kid looks up at her with wide eyes and tries to dodge around her as she mutters, “Chance I’ll be caught if I take the first left. 43%”

Taylor catches the girl’s arm and says, “Hey, nobody’s going to catch you. Now, why don’t we take a walk to a police station and see if they can help?”

The girl struggles for a couple of seconds before looking at Taylor and muttering, “Chance I’ll be caught if I go with this person? 11.23%”

Taylor smiles reassuringly behind her mask, “First left wasn’t it?”

The girl nods as Taylor turns back the way she came from and keeps hold of the girl as they walk past a couple of cars moving in slow motion. As they turn into the access road, Taylor nods in thought, “This is a good choice to run to if you can hide.”

The girl looks up now that she’s caught her breath, “Why haven’t they chased us?”

Taylor glances over her shoulder, “Oh, I have no doubt they’re still chasing you. But we’re currently moving faster than they can run. I think that we can take the next right and follow that down to a main road.”

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 After bypassing half a dozen police cruisers, and two police stations, due to twinges, Taylor and the girl make it to Downtown, and City Hall.

As they’re walking past, the girl tugs at Taylors sleeve, “My uncle Roy works here.”

Taylor looks down, “Are you sure?”

The girl winces as she mutters something inaudible before nodding.

“Ok, though we’ll need to slow down once we get to the doors.”

“Ok.”

Taylor slows the two of them down as they enter the revolving door to one side of the entrance. Once they’re inside, the girl leads Taylor through the somewhat labyrinthine corridors and stairs until they walk through a side door into a small reception area.

The secretary sitting at a desk beside a heavy oak door looks up and says, “Dinah, what are you doing here?”

Dinah looks up at Taylor and says, “She saved me. Is Uncle Roy here?”

“Is this another of your fanciful stories?”

Taylor shakes her head, “When she ran into me, she was being chased by someone. We didn’t stick around to find out who.”

The secretary shakes her head disbelievingly, “I’ll see if your uncle is available.”

When the secretary walks through the oak door, Dinah looks at her curiously as Taylor grabs a sheet of paper from the printer and a pen. Then she scribbles out a page full of writing before folding it in half and clutching her head.

As she hands the sheet of paper to Dinah, Taylor says, “Give this to your uncle when I tell you to.”

Dinah looks like she’s about to say something when the secretary comes out, “Roy can see you now, but he’s very busy.”

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 As they walk into Roy’s office, Taylor winces at the bright light.

As she does, Roy looks up, “Are you alright Miss…?”

Taylor shakes her head, “It’s just a headache, sorry.”

“Are you sure, I can have Louise bring you some painkillers.”

“I’m afraid that over-the-counter medication won’t help. Besides, Dinah is more important.”

Roy looks at Dinah, “What’s this about you being chased?”

Dinah glances at the folded page before saying, “They broke in just as we got home from school, so I ran through the house and out the back door.”

Roy picks up the phone and looks at Dinah sternly, “If you’re making this up, I will be very upset. I’m already dealing with the aftermath of a hostage situation at the bank, and the deployment of city resources to restore traffic flow. Hello, Bernard, could you send a car around to 35 Dunehurst to see if there are any distur… You have? Is she alright? No! I’ve got her in my office, a hero found her. Thank you.”

Once he’s put the phone down, Roy says, “The chief said that a car had just got there in response to a silent alarm. Your mother’s fine, they just took some jewelry and her purse. What makes you think they were after you?”

Taylor winces as talking sets her headache off again, “Mayor Christner, Dinah has powers. It’s likely that someone else understands what those powers are and wants her for them.”

Roy shakes his head, “It would have been obvious if she had any powers.”

Taylor gives a smile that’s more grimace than smile, “Dinah, what are the chances that Roy will believe what’s written on that page?”

Dinah clutches her head before saying, “89.3%”

“You can hand the paper over now.”

As Dinah hands over the sheet of paper, Taylor adds, “Not all powers are flashy or easy to use sir. And I have a feeling she won’t be safe anywhere in this city.”

Roy’s eyes flick to the bottom of the page as she’s speaking, and then his eyes widen as he returns to the top of the page. After he’s read it twice, he looks up and says, “How?”

Taylor shrugs, “I obviously have my own powers that aren’t obvious.”

Roy sits down heavily in his chair, “What’re the chances that the bank robbery and this happening at the same time are a coincidence?”

Dinah cries out in pain before she says, “It hurts, it hurts! 6.85%”

Roy looks at Dinah in exasperation, “How are we supposed to deal with that?”

Taylor muses, “Maybe you should get Dinah some noise cancelling headphones and a disguise as a start. Then get her out of the city and approach the PRT, probably in Boston, as it’s closest, though I think there are regular flights to New York. Anyway, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got my own things to do.”

With that, Taylor walks past Roy’s desk and through the window, ignoring his calls of, “Wait, what’s your name?”