[A/N]: This is being copypasted over from FP, so some stuff might be lost. Yeah.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OMNIUNIVERSALIS, English Version, First Edition (22nd Century, Earth Calendar)

-written and translated by "Chrono"(Earth Alias)

-page 4,832,917 "Superpower Lottery; Earth"

NOTE:

Those terms in bold are Earth equivalent terms.

That which is in parenthesis/italics are edits made specifically for Earth/English.

The event known as the Superpower Lottery was the final achievement of an ancient civilization in an alternate reality, (whose name is unpronounceable in any Earth language, and for that matter, whose name has no appropriate English translation.) I prefer to call them the Originals, for no particular reason. They were neither the first nor original of anything.

They did create a device, however. A device (analogous to a time capsule) that left their home world in its final hour. Within it was contained the power of infinity. It was programmed to find a planet suitable to control its infinite source of power. This craft could intelligently search whole universes, and travel via hidden vectors to other realities. After a relative time of 10.5 billion Earth years, the craft encountered a problem. It, like any other object in the universe, is subject to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, as well as the Second Law Of Thermodynamics.

A gross oversimplification is that, the craft transports itself through universes via a type of reality-bending called absolute double inversion. A glitch occurred, and so when it entered the next universe, another gross oversimplification is that its quantum computer became inadvertently quantum entangled with something other than itself. This desynchrony-induced error triggered its energy to be released from the craft next circumstantially valid superposition. This happened to be in high Earth orbit, October 5, 2015.

The energy struck the Earth's surface in tight beams over the next eleven months. Many beams hit nothing of significance. Others struck humans, severely altering their biochemistry and genetics, and imbuing them with superpowers. At the end of the event, a total of 105 individuals had won the jackpot.(commonly used expression during the period)

Also refer to:

List of super beings originating in Earth fiction [p4943284]

List of super beings created by this event [p4943890]

2: CH1: Lightning Strike

CHAPTER ONE

= Lightning Strike =

Uploaded OCT 9

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, COLORADO

(Norad Headquarters)

3:14 AM LOCAL, OCT 5, 2015

NORAD was always busy.

Even at three in the morning.

General Carter didn't necessarily think this was a good thing, but America needed it.

For some reason everything bad happening with American airspace just HAD to happen at three in the morning, just so he just HAD to get up from bed and walk fifty feet to the control room, one of the few place in the world where you knew EXACTLY what was going on everywhere that mattered.

Unfortunately, there were only a few scientists and one guard up at this hour. Carter had found it strange that he be called to the room at this hour, without DEFCON being raised or anything. Very strange.

"Alright, could someone please explain why I am up at three in the goddamn morning when there isn't a defcon-worthy emergency?" Carter shouted when he entered the control room.

"Ah, is that a general? It's about bloody time."

The giant fifty-foot screen of the NORAD room was bustling with activity. One window displayed a two way video call with someone apparently called DR. WALLACE from CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.

Carter stared. "Will someone PLEASE explain why the hell we are in a FUCKING SKYPE CALL with the UK?

Carter didn't do well pissed. His rather gruff appearance and shaven head, coupled with his perfect military uniform that had a wall of awards on it, finishing off with piercing black eyes that screaming "I AM FUCKING IN CHARGE", you can understand why the scientists looked like they were about to piss themselves.

"Sir," one of them said, "We may have a problem of an extraterrestrial nature,"

"ALIENS?," Carter roared. "YOU CALL ME IN HERE FOR GODDAMN ALIENS?"

"No," Wallace said matter-of-factly, "not exactly."

"Then, what… the hell… is it?" Carter said, exasperated.

"Extraterrestrial simply being not on earth. Forty-three minutes ago, this base, and likely every other capable observation station on earth, witnessed an event taking place fourteen hundred thousand kilometers from our planet's surface. Something that the NORAD computers deemed 'nuke' at first glance. But when your scientists analyzed exactly what it was, the observed organic atomic emission spectra. Except that it was pure energy. The original event created many dozens of "energy packets", which broke apart in all directions, both towards and away from earth. All of these have EXTREMELY high energies focused in a tight beam, which very likely will wreak havoc wherever they strike. These beam are the closest things to a death beam we are likely to find, ever. The first of these will strike the surface of the earth in about ten hours, with the last, unable to escape the earth's gravity well, will strike eleven months from now. But there is a reason I in particular was called. I am an expert biologist, geneticist, and physicist. These beams are organic in nature, which should be impossible. Wherever these beams strike could have could have any number of effects on surrounding life. This is really bad, General. They sent me data. I have literally no bloody idea what will happen. But you're going to need my help to control this."

Carter stood there, thinking. "Fly him over. NOW!"

The president sat in his chair, looking at the scientific report he had been given, and the emergency top secret legislation he needed to approve attached to it. This was not a good day for the sanity of the world.

Days in the future, but not many…

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN NUCLEAR BUNKER

(Project Carthage Emergency Base Of Operations)

10:05 AM LOCAL, OCT 8, 2015

Wallace must the luckiest son of a bitch on earth, Carter thought as he sat in the briefing room. He gets to present to the fucking UN. Well, more like NATO, the EU, China and Japan. But seriously, really? Also, since when did Skype get to be the standard for the world governments to communicate by? He really didn't know, even if he felt like he should.

Wallace stood at the front of the room, in front of the projector where there was a PowerPoint presentation ready. A PowerPoint.

Eat your heart out, Bill Gates.

The biggest thing ever in the history of the planet is being presented via PowerPoint.

Well, Bill Gates probably didn't program PP himself, but…

Beside him sat a guard.

Beside that guard sat a guard.

And beside that guard sat the President.

Yep. And behind the President were about twenty video screens simultaneously communicating two-way with just about every country who wanted to know what the hell was going on.

Carter was not exactly even sure how to feel at this point. For the past three days, it had Wallace this, biology that, random internet searching. And now was when everyone (including Carter) would really find out exactly what was going on. Of course, he had been told a whole lot of things, but the sheer volume of shit was overwhelming. He wasn't a scientist. He was a general, damnit. He needed things to be understandable at the very least. But that was exactly what this was for.

"Gentlemen," Wallace began, "it is my privilege to present to the world Supers! Yes, no acronyms like the American government just absolutely loves. Alright, so let us start from the beginning.

Three days ago, an unprecedented phenomenon began approximately 1,400,000 kilometers from the earths surface. That's about four times the moon distance. A detonation of the gigaton variety occurred.

This is something we could not hide, however, the energy release only lasts about seven seconds, therefore the only people who saw it were looking for it.

Enter NORAD, as well as every other national observatory on earth. As far as we can tell, the original blast is completely dissipated. You can't even tell it was there.

Which would be strange if we didn't know what this blast apparently created. I suppose they have been dubbed Beams by several scientists, including myself.

These Beams are bolts of high energy photons in the form of gamma radiation, as well as some harmless neutrinos.

What was strange about this radiation was, that it was nonrandom, as well as their speed which is much, much slower than normal light. I cannot tell you must else about these Beams, because we honestly don't know yet.

However, they exploded from their source evenly. Some will escape the control of the earth. Most will hit the earth's surface over a period of about the next eleven months. Many already have. Which brings me to what all of you are here for, their effect upon hitting the ground.

I cannot hope to dispel any rumors you may have heard, but I can correct them. The beam width is about 3 meters wide. These beams usually do not cause direct structural damage, although they have been observed to light fires in certain cases.

And their effect on a person, is, amazing. To put it bluntly and simply: we are in the middle of a mass super-empowering event. That is, everyone, without exception, when struck, gains extraordinary abilities. Superpowers. I do realize this sounds like something out of science fiction, but that is exactly what this is. That's all I have to say."

"I do realize this is a bit overwhelming. Any questions?"

The President himself spoke up. "What is the scope of the mutations, if I may say?"

"Mutation might be a bit degrading, Mr. President. As for the scope, I honestly can have no bearing on it. At this point I can believe anything. If you told me there was a Magneto expy destroying the Golden Gate bridge this very moment, I could believe that."

The Japanese president had a question had a question as well. "Ah, would you advise keeping these… super people… in governmental lockdown? We have two…"

"Um," Wallace responded, "honestly I would just advise extreme caution. But it might do good to keep us updated."

"Thank you," Japan's president said.

France spoke up as well. "In general, do you believe we should keep these individuals alive? What are your thoughts on the matter?"

Boom. That was the question everyone was waiting for.

Two dozen heads of state all waiting expectantly for a response.

"Ah," Wallace began, "If I had my scientist hat on, I would say yes, however… I honestly don't know. I think this situation may just need to play itself out, as horrible as that sounds."

"I understand you are in charge here, General," the president said, turning to Carter, "what do you think?"

Carter gulped. "Well, Mr. President, I don't know enough to make an informed decision on the matter. I will contact you… in the future… if and when… my opinions change."

The President nodded. "Good. I expect to be updated daily."

After the meeting, the President himself walked up to Wallace. He looked up in surprise. "Hello, Mr. President, I hope I conveyed my full insight into this very stressful matter."

The President looked dead serious. "How many are here?"

"Four, sir, but-"

"Are they safe?"

"Yes-"

"I mean are they safe to interact with?"

"Sure, but-"

"I would like to see them."

3: CH2: Project Carthage

CHAPTER TWO

= Project Carthage =

Uploaded OCT 12

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN SUB-LEVEL 37

(Superperson Housing)

8:37 AM, OCTOBER 8, 2015

Perspective: Hayden

Hayden Connors awoke with a searing pain in his mind.

What? What the hell happened?

He forced his mind to focus.

He had been running, and…

He trying to make the thoughts connect, but they wouldn't.

He just remembered pain, and then white.

He lay on a soft bed of sorts, looking up at a paneled ceiling with fluorescent lighting. The sharp scent of antiseptic was in the air. A hospital? Had he had a seizure, or something? Heat stroke? He tried moving the arms and found they were secured to the bed. He couldn't move.

So maybe it was a seizure. Huh.

"Oh look, you're awake. Finally."

Hayden turned his head to find someone sitting in a chair a few feet away.

"Hello, my name is Dr. David Wallace. And you are Mr. Connors, correct?"

Hayden closed his eyes. "Yeah… what… what happened?"

"Mr. Connors, age 22, placed third in the Indiana State Annual Marathon?"

"Yeah… but…"

"Can you tell me what you remember?" Wallace asked.

"Uh…" He tried to remember. He went jogging with Jax, but he couldn't connect it with him fainting…

"I don't remember exactly what happened, but…"

"You remember everything else? Your life? Those things? Except just before you fainted?"

Birthday… Jax… his girlfriend… his apartment… what he ate for breakfast… Yep.

"Yeah? Whole life here."

Wallace breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's good. It seems like loss of short-term meory is the norm, after all.

"Wait… so did I have a seizure? Does Jax know I'm here? Is he here? Is-"

"Hold on, hold on." Wallace said. "In order, no, not exactly, and no." But he was the one who called 911. In any case, you're here and you're safe."

"Where is here? What happened?" Hayden asked.

"Classified. And I think it best if your new friends explain that to you; you would believe them."

Wallace pushed a button on the bed, releasing the clamps.

What?

"I think-" Wallace began, but Hayden wasn't even there to listen. Instead he bolted for anything, a door, anything.

Instead he slammed straight into a wall and blacked out.

And then he awoke in something akin to an tiny airlock. This place was already weird enough.

"Oh good. That didn't take long," Wallace's computerized voice sounded from somewhere.

"What? Where-"

"Just calm down, Hayden. You're here."

"Here… is in a fucking space station."

"More like underground base," Wallace said. "Through the open door is the common. You'll meet everyone there. Welcome."

"Am I allowed to lose my mind now?" Hayden asked.

"I don't think anyone would like that. You would give a bad first impression of yourself."

"To who am I introducing myself? Hayden mumbled, rubbing his head.

"Whom," Wallace commented. "People like you. Go on then. The door is open."

Just like an airlock, the small chamber had two doors eclipsing the end walls.

One had a light green, the other red.

Green equals open, stupid.

Right. Whatever. Like logic will help me here.

The door closed behind him as he went through it.

He whirled around and put his hands on the door. Damnit.

Well, now he was in… well that's… normal?

A giant underground gym. Go figure.

Except wood paneling went only about twenty percent up of what had to be something like a hundred-foot ceiling, which was covered in regular strip lighting. Which was apparently bright enough to light everything… never was just wide and long enough to host the quarter mile track that created its perimeter.

And in the center, well, if he were to sum it up in one phrase, it would be "Museum of Scaffolding". Which was basically what it was. Random construction went every which way. Hayden was no engineer, but it basically looked pointless. Some spires want almost as high as the ceiling itself. Well, sure, why not.

And two people were walking out of the mess towards him.

Two women. Well, at least there are ladies here.

"Hey!" one yelled at him. "New kid!"

He was about to yell back that he was in fact not a kid, but the other girl said something he couldn't hear.

"Oh, sorry! Wait until we're there!"

"Well I'm Sandra, or Sandy, and that's Ruth," the loud one said.

Sandra looked like she could stand out in just about any situation, with lip piercings, that hair, and a physique that looked like she could punch him into next week. And that hair. He only thing he could think of to describe would be if Curly and Larry pranked Moe by dying half his hair neon lime green, and the other half neon pink. That hair.

Ruth looked… basically her exact opposite. He was pretty sure she was at least eighteen. Thankfully her hair was way more normal, basically a sheet of brown that curled at the end. For no particular reason, he thought there might as well be a giant sign on her saying, "NOT AIRHEAD", but at the same time, her eyes didn't seem to ever focus on him, more like she looked through him. Well, yeah.

It was only now he noticed they both wore the same sleeveless white vest and pants.

"Why all the white?" he asked.

Sandy laughed. "Because it's normalizing, or something. Looks good on you, too!"

He realized he was wearing the same thing. Goddammit.

"So where-", he began asking, but Ruth interrupted.

"You are in a underground bunker of an unspecified location some amount of depth below the surface, dedicated to the housing of us supers."

"Supers, huh?" He didn't buy a word of it. "So, what're-"

"Prescient." He didn't even get to finish asking before he got an answer. Wow.

Sandy elbowed her. "Remember what we talked about with you letting people finish their sentences? You've annoyed Crow to hell and back with that."

"Sorry," she apologized.

"So who is-" he began again, only to be interrupted, but this time by Sandy.

"Aaron is the other super here besides us. You make four. At least now he'll stop complaining about there only being one guy. Excluding Wallace, that is."

"No, Wallace isn't a super," Ruth commented.

Hayden was almost, but not quite buying this. "Uh huh. Like I have powers."

"Yes," Ruth said. "That's the only reason you're here. You have some kind of power."

"Riiiiiight. You guys don't even have powers. Not really."

"I could punch you across the room right now." Sandy said.

"We could the whole 'choose a number' thing. Fourteen." Ruth said.

Wow. That fourteen. But no way. Instead he started whistling, because why not?

Ruth went from completely demure to total panic in an instant. "STOP!"

What?

"OW!" someone yelled from far away. "WHO… eegh. Sandy what was that?"

Both Ruth and Sandy looked at Hayden.

After a few seconds, she responded. "Hey, Aaron, you'd better get down here."

"Why? I'm still sleeping up here! And I don't think we'll need human names anymore.

Well, me more then anyone, but whatever," the voice echoed.

Sandy gave me a look like "this is what he's like", and yelled back: "Well maybe you'd like to meet someone new? Like some other actual guy that you could discuss fantasy football or some shit with?"
"Really?" A figure appeared at the top of the tallest structure.

Hayden thought he would climb down, or something, but instead he nearly gave Hayden a heart attack when he jumped off the eighty foot ledge.

But he didn't fall. He actually seemed to glide over to where they were having their conversation, and landed in between the girls and him with a moderate buffet of wind.

"Well. So you're new. I'm Crow."

"Aaron," both Ruth and Sandy corrected.

Aaron was slightly shorter, but not by much, and slightly more muscular, but not by much either. Sporting strangely white hair and green eyes that had a similar piercing intelligence like Wallace did. Sprouting from his back were the culprits to his aerial antics: a pair of black feathered wings whose area covering almost his entire backside. He definitely understood where "Crow" came from.

"Alright," he said while snapping his fingers like 'chop chop', "so, Do. You. Know. What. Your powers. Are. Yet?"

"Uh…" Hayden was still on wings. "Those wings are real, right?"

Crow rolled his eyes. "No, I just superglue plastic wings to my back because I can. Of course they're real! So, what about you?"

"I don't know."

"Well, now we get to find out!" Crow said with a glint in his eyes.

"Oh great. Here we go." Sandy groaned.

"No, it works!" crow said, turning to the ladies.

"Remember, that's how we found out how Ruth worked? And you too, if I can recall less than 48 hours ago."

A giant loudspeaker crackled to life. "Hello!" Wallace's voice announced. "Guys, please report to the southern end of the gym. Someone is here to see you guys."

"Oh my god," Ruth said.

4: CH3: Time Shenanigans

CHAPTER THREE

= Time Shenanigans =

Uploaded Oct 18

PALACE OF WESTMINSTER : LONDON, ENGLAND

1:05 PM, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016, LOCAL

For the first time in two hundred years, Parliament burned.

Actually, all of London burned, but Chrono tried not to think about that.

Out of desperation he ran, he had been running, trying to find her.

He clutched the lab coat he wore, the pocket watch he held.

They were the only things he had now. Except the silly goggles he currently wore, which did help block out the smokey fumes.

Of course, he was immortal, so they couldn't kill him. Nothing could.

But he could still fell discomfort. And pain. Especially emotional pain.

Everyone he knew had died, and while it wasn't his fault, he always felt responsible.

He was the time walker, after all. You would think he could fix it.

But his power extended far less than people always thought. Always he would use clever tricks and his knowledge of past and future to his advantage. Always clever.

No one could understand what being him was like. No one could see the rules.

There she was, in the middle of the bridge, on the Thames. Admiring the chaos around her.

He didn't know what he could do. Nothing could work. He simply ran up to her.

She saw him coming. "Well, Chrono. Come to accept defeat?" Her features had already become indistinguishable. He had not foreseen the Last Strike. She had, somehow.

He was still adamant. "No. I have come to ask of you something."

"Oh?" He would have guessed she raised an eyebrow, but it was impossible to tell.

"Yes, and that is WHY THE BLOODY HELL. YOU FUCKING. BURNT. LONDON." That was probably the first time he had ever 'flipped his shit', as Hayden would say, usually in regard to her, anyway. Stoicness could only go so deep. Everyone has emotion.

"Who told you?"

"The United States President, who, by the way, is alive. Like you killed him."

"Oh, well I suppose I'll have to go do that again." she said in a perfectly innocuous voice.

"No." he said with finality.

"No? You can't do anything, time walker. I've read you're so-called rules. We both know I've won."

Shit. No. "NO!" he yelled, and whipped out the watch for her to see.

"The Chrononavigator? Really, Wallace?"

He flinched. "Crow was right. Our real names don't matter. Only what we are perceived as.

And I perceive myself as a failure. I had no patience learning my powers in the void."

"Ah, yes. I suppose that is how you gain your insights, now is it? Letting eternity teach you to control your godly powers."

"And those rules," he snarled, "which you so claim to have read." He pushed a button of the side of the watch with his thumb, allowing the clock face to cycle between many alternating colors, like a rainbow, but not quite. "But what you don't realize is," he continued, he color settling at a searing white that completely obscured the hands of the watch, "there is always a way out.

Her eyes widened. "You would not dare-"

"TRY ME. YOU FUCKING BURNED IT ALL. THE WORLD. EVERYONE. I BLAME MYSELF. I WILL NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN." He felt like he was having a complete mental breakdown. Which he was. Essentially. Even though he could never know the consequences of his actions at the time, he would come to know later that it was the only way.

The way.

End universe.

TOTTORI PREFECTURE, JAPAN

11:05 PM, OCTOBER 8, 2015, LOCAL

Crashing a public bathroom is probably not the best place to sleep after escaping the Japanese government after killing… all of them. Well, of course not literally all of them, just everyone who tried to kill him. Which were a lot.

A public bathroom in the least populous prefecture in Japan, Sol Kuromeru wasn't very optimistic about things. Being covered in blood and having wounds every which where probably isn't the best start. Then combine that with the fact that he was pretty much running on pure adrenaline for the past six hours and hadn't slept in forty-eight… and anything seemed good at that point. Also, blood everywhere. Black hair plastered to forehead with blood, in case you didn't catch on to the pattern by now, hands bandaged, well, Marie was actually looking at them right now.

Marie Dureve, on the other hand, couldn't be more optimistic. Considering almost anything was better than a government that declares you a monster etc. etc., she was willing to settle for anything at this point. Both Sol and she had been chosen, atomized, mutated, whatever you called it. Together at the same time, no less. Apparently that was something they had never seen before, but, how many others could there possibly be? They were apparently the only ones in Japan so far, so… what could they actually do?

Not much, as far as they could tell.

"Sol, you really had to do that?" She was still a little bit in shock by the events of the past day.

"Well, yeah. I'm tired, Marie. I feel like passing out right here."

"Don't you think we could do better than a bathroom?"

"Uhh… well it has tiled floor. Good, I guess."

They, together, had gotten out of military confinement.

Well, Sol probably did all the work, she thought.

With all the blood-(insert weapon here)… stuff.

She couldn't get over how creepy that was.

Whereas he seemed to indulge in it for too much of his own good.

She couldn't help thinking that they needed real help. Fast.

Of course it seems that sometimes, a wish is granted.

A brief flash of light went off in the room.

A man in a lab coat and goggles around his neck stood there with an open pocket watch in his hand, as if materializing suddenly was perfectly normal.

He greeted them in English, but immediately realized his mistake.

"Konichiwa, Kuromeru-san, Dureve-san," he said in Japanese.

"Hello, Mr. Kuromeru, Ms. Dureve," he said again, in English.

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN SUB-LEVEL 37

11:05 AM, OCTOBER 8, 2015, LOCAL

The southern end of the cavern was complete concrete.

As if the government expected a nuke to go off there, which may not have been too far from the truth. The only feature in pretty much the whole of it was a glass observation window, about three by ten meters. Probably bulletproof. Probably reinforced.

Actually, both of those statements were true, as Wallace knew. Had to be. The president (plus a dozen guards) of the United States was right there. As well as several other scientists who had the golden ticket in here.

"Sir, Mr. President," one of the guards started, but the President cut him off.

"Proceed, Doctor Wallace."

"Alright Wallace, you are on… loudspeaker!" one of the control panel scientists said.

"Hello, everyone," he greeted the four in white that had assembled at the blast end of the cavern. "Is everything all right today?"

Sandra was always one to point out the inferable. "Wallace, you didn't give us enough time in here to get to know the new kid!" she yelled, pointed to Hayden.

"Yeah, you can't figure out powers in less than a half-hour," Crow added.

"I've got a surprise for you guys. Bet you can't guess what it-"

Ruth had an answer. "The President. Holy crap. You brought the President?"

Everyone went silent after that.

"How did she know that?" The president asked. He still looked completely blown away by everything.

"How about," Wallace suggested, "we just run through everyone. That'll make everything a lot simpler."

"Sure." The President still seemed at a loss.

"Alright. So. First I would like to say that currently, we can have no bearing on the limits, mechanics or applications of their abilities, only brief synopsizes. I would like to stress that they have only been here for a few days. Due to the fact that this facility was set up really bloody quickly, three of these four arrived at essentially the same time. Firstly, on the far right we have Ruth Hood, aged nineteen, whose only ability, although extraordinary nonetheless, is prescience, or the ability to see the future. I far as I can gather, the sight seems to follow a pattern of an inverse exponential, or decay function-"

"Decay? What about decay?" Ruth asked.

"It's probly something about math," Hayden commented. "Not really 'decay'."

Wallace continued. "Basically that she sees more closer to now than further away. Once again, limits, mechanics, applications, origin, et cetera, unknown."

"Next is Sandra Malcolm, age twenty-two. Extremely oversimplifying, extreme physical resistance via some method that isn't necessarily integrated directly to her anatomy, and super strength, which may or may not be correlated to the previous power. The extent of each of these abilities still remains at an unbound with our small amount of tests we did. She may or may not be the most dangerous, yet to be determined, just like pretty much everything else so far."

"Thirdly we have Aaron Calvin, age twenty-eight, who has already reserved to calling himself Crow, for his own reasons. If I were to coin a phrase that sums up Aaron, it would probably be 'anthropomorphic bird', in a nutshell. Contains body-size avian wings that should be biologically impossible, but they're obviously real, and functional. To an extent, combined with aerokinesis and heightened senses. A bird superhero."

"Yep," Crow called from down on the floor. "Pretty much that."

"And then Hayden Connors, also twenty-two, has unidentified mutations, but he arrived only a few hours ago, so there's that."

The President seemed confused by this point. "But then how can you tell he's different, I mean-"

"Well, it's really quite obvious if you look on a genetic level. Any scientist could tell the massive damage to their genomes, once they got a look."

"So how do you know then, that he is anything?" the President continued.

"I think it's best to at least have him here, temporarily. If anything. I think I've come to expect the extraordinary."

"Don't tempt fate," a voice echoed from somewhere.

Immediately three figures materialized on the concrete in the middle of it all.

One looked familiar, too familiar to Wallace. This had to be good.

And of course twelve presidential guards simultaneously drew handguns. Just brilliant.

5: CH4: Extrication via Exposition

CHAPTER FOUR

= Extrication via Exposition =

Uploaded Oct 20

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN SUB-LEVEL 37

11:11 AM, OCTOBER 8, 2015, LOCAL

Wallace found himself face-to-face with… himself.

He had just teleported from the ground below him to right in front of him, leaving the other two people behind.

"I'm going to borrow him for a moment," the not-Wallace said.

And then everything melted away except their bodies.

Wallace still felt solid ground beneath him, even though it was invisible, like everything else.

Surrounding them now was a huge black void.

It wasn't dark, however, their bodies staying obviously lit. Strange.

"This must be very strange for you," the not-Wallace said.

"Well, quite frankly, yes. I have a clone of myself teleport into a top research center and abduct me," he replied.

"Not exactly," his clone said. "When I said a moment, I meant it literally. When we return, no relative time will have passed."

Wallace was stupefied. "And how are you able to do that, and the teleportation and the transporting and the… you were about to tell me that, weren't you?"
His clone held up a finger. "Yes. You will have to learn a few things about me here and now so that what I am about to say will make some form of sense to you. Firstly, I am you, inclusively, but you are not me, exclusively. Secondly, everything I am about to tell you about past and future events is only indirectly relevant. Meaning, this has happened, but will not. Thirdly, my name is not David Wallace, but Chrono. Clear?"

"Not really," Wallace admitted. "And I suppose Crow's already gotten to everyone, or, should I say, will?"

"Kind of. Alright then, lets get on with it." Chrono pulled out a pocket watch.

"Wait!" he exclaimed. He proceeded to pull out the same watch.

"You still have the watch?" Wallace said incredulously.

"Yes. Although now it is far more functional," Chrono said as the watch surface glowed green.

Emerald holograms flew out of the watch and surrounded the pair at a distance. It began to feel like a giant planetarium, with changing pictures spanning the dome.

"Wow." He was speechless.

"Yes, I believe it was Chad who- anyway." He pointed to one in particular, which brightened while the others dimmed. It was a 24 hour clock plus the date.

11:11:05 = 10-08-15

"This is now. Right now. As of right now, nine people have already been given abilities. Six are here. Ninety-six others will receive abilities until…

The clock ran forward.

13:46:12 = 9-17-16

"The Last Strike. By then of someone who can harness it correctly and for the benefit of the world."

"But what causes these events to happen? Obviously you know? And if this strike is so important, why can't you just go there and take it? Why are you telling me? Why not the president, or the supers themselves?" he asked.

Chrono smiled. "I was just getting to that, now. But first you must understand exactly what the original detonation in space was in the first place. Without giving away any unnecessary information, it was basically a reactor meltdown. The energy source for something collapsed. This device was extradimensional. You needn't worry yourself about its origin. But the important thing is that when this failure occurred… I suppose an appropriate phrase would be 'the waveform collapsed'. Collapsed into your lowly three dimensions and released a near infinite amount of creative energy. This energy resolved itself into several hundred packets of energy which you already call Strikes. These hit the surface of the Earth, usually where people are located. This isn't a coincidence. The Strikes, due to the where they came from, are both vaguely organic and intelligent. Not life, really. Something important, something that is very obvious and confusing to you now, is that the genetic mutations are unlikely and impossible. The fact that they all survive is one. And not just survive, but thrive with abilities only found in your science fiction."

Chrono sighed. "The reason I am telling you, is because we are we, and no one else could even remotely understand."

"You just said I'm not you, I thought."

"I did. We are we."

"Your grammar is thoroughly confusing."

"The other reason why I telling anyone at all, instead of just going for it myself is that without my intervention, this timeline will turn out exactly like the other one. Two 'me's cannot happen. It is impossible. Therefore I must stop you from becoming me. Secondly, I cannot absorb the Last Strike due to the specific nature of both it and our, I mean my strike."

Chrono stopped talking.

Wallace wasn't sure what to say.

"Yes?"

Chrono closed the watch, the holographic dome disappearing with it.

"Don't go searching for Strikes. If you do, I'll be there to stop you."

"All right," Wallace replied, "you do realize that you can't really just leave me like this. Even though I know you will."

Chrono smiled again. "Well that's why I'm talking to you, now isn't it? I'm not telling you what to do in the slightest. I'm only pushing the timeline in a direction most favorable. It is all I can do. I cannot tell you why, because 'why', like 'when', has no meaning when applied to time travel."

And they were suddenly back in the control room.

"Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be off now. And you should be, too." And he was gone in a flash of light.

"Who was that?" the President asked.

Wallace had no answer.

"Who was that?" one of the guards reiterated.

"Not a problem. But yes, you should probably leave now." Wallace answered begrudgingly.

"No, what was that?" the same guard asked.

"No," the President said, "he is right. While no one, including myself, may like it, this is becoming something very out of our hands. We couldn't stop it if we wanted. Which is why Doctor Wallace and General Carter are the ones in charge here, not me. I have a country to run. Let's go.

Meanwhile, everyone took the time to greet the newcomers.

"Um, hello!" Crow managed. Everyone else was still a little shocked that they had just teleported in there with a Wallace clone, who was apparently 'not a problem'. Yeah right.

"Konichiwa, kuroi umo-jo no tsubasa o motta kimyona otoko. Watashinonamaeha Sol Korumeru-desu. Watashi wa anata no yo ni tokubetsudesu. Watashi ga shiranaikara, wareware ni wareware ga doko ni iru ka oshiete itadakemasen ka," the man said.

"Did anyone here like, understand anything he just said?" Hayden asked.

"WALLACE!" Sandy yelled. "DO THEY SPEAK. ENGLISH?"

"Um… not sure," came his reply.

"Yes," Ruth said, "he's just messing with us.

"Kuso, girl." the man groaned. "It was funny. I was saying I am Sol Korumeru. And that I have no idea where we are. The scientist said it was for our own good, that we would die if we stayed there."

"He said that?" Wallace said over the intercom.

"Doc, there were two of you. Please tell me you have an answer for that." Hayden said.

"Um… yes, but its really complicated. I think he's here to make sure that…"

"We don't fuck up?" Sandy suggested.

"Sort of."

"He seems like a very mysterious man. Yet he is not you?" Sol asked.

"Ugh, I think it is best that, for the sake of not confusing everyone on the spot, that I don't tell you. Apparently I'm the only one who really is supposed to get him anyway."

"Because he's you?" Crow said.

"Where are we?" Sol yelled.

There was a pause where everyone went silent for a second.

"Yeah, Wallace, where are we? You never told us, either? Basically I could only narrow it down to Underground, America." Crow reiterated.

"I did tell you guys. We're in Cheyenne Mountain," Wallace replied.

"Isn't that where the Stargate is?" Hayden asked.

Crow glanced over. "You know I wouldn't take you for a sci-fi guy."

"What? I can't watch movies?" Hayden shot back.

"Um, guys?" Ruth asked. She pointed back at the two who had warped in five minutes earlier.

Of course, a campfire in an underground base. That would probably be the least weird thing to happen in the past few days. General Carter had finally gotten down here after the President and men in black left. And of course Carter protested when Wallace told him that he needed to go down there to talk to everyone personally. Because it was too dangerous or something. Wallace responded with "Well, we can't just be a normal governmental removed and uncaring group of old sods who think they've found the next big super weapon. Because that's not what this is.

The fire, with the seven of them around it, was in the center of the mess of half-built structure. Wallace had simply been told some bullshit excuse: 'money was needed elsewhere'. It wasn't too bad, he supposed.

"I think," Wallace began, breaking the pseudo-silence, "that we need to figure out exactly what we want to accomplish by this conversation, because otherwise we're going to go off on unrelated tangents for hours at a time."

"What," said the Japanese woman, who had introduced herself as Marie before, "did he tell you?"

Obviously she meant the conversation Wallace had with Chrono.

Crow sighed. "Where are they from?", he said pointed to Sol and Marie, "Why did your clone bring them here? They probably have some sort of powers; what are they? Also we need to figure what Hayden does, too. Five questions in total. Done."

"First of all, he is not my 'clone'," Wallace began, "think of it as 'alternate future me', I think is the best way of putting it. And that I won't become him because he won't let me. Also he calls himself Chrono."

"See?" Crow replied, "my point is perfectly valid!"

"He's from a doomed timeline," Ruth said out of nowhere.

"What?" Wallace didn't need any new terminology to cope with.

"What I think she is talking about," Sol said, "is something happens in the future that he could not stop. The only way he saw to stop it was to go back in time and prevent an alternate self in an alternate timeline from acquiring his powers, which may be why he couldn't fix it in his own world line."

"What could seriously go so wrong that a time traveler couldn't fix it?" Hayden asked.

"We have supers running around the globe right now. Some of them probly want to blow shit up, not help it," Sandy put in.

Crow's eyes narrowed. "Wallace isn't telling us something. He had a conversation with someone who knows the future. He knows something."

Wallace sighed. "I'm sorry, but Chrono didn't say much. I suspect only what I needed to hear, what would direct me away from what will cause the events of his old reality."

"So, what're we going to do about it then?" Sandy asked what everyone was thinking.

"I don't know," came Wallace's reply.

Crow stood up. "Well, if I know anything about superhero stories, there's bound to be some problem within the week where the government will ask for our help. It's almost cliché.

[A/N]: Are you reading this author note? Kay.

6: CH5: Melon Death Count

[A/N]: Hi guys, sorry if that last chapter screwed with all your linear brain logics. Don't have much to say other than I've been gone a week, lol.

CHAPTER FIVE

= Melon Death Count =

Uploaded Oct 27

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN SUB-LEVEL 37

5:07 AM, OCTOBER 9, 2015, LOCAL

Hayden always went jogging at five in the morning. In fact he had done it for so long that he had no longer needed an alarm clock. For him, it had gone from exercise to habit. Jogging was always a good way to clear his head and think about things. The lights overhead were off, except the ones around the edge of the room, so he could vaguely see as he ran around the outside track.

He let his mind wander thinking about his superpower dilemma.

What can I do? I mean with everyone else it's kinda of obvious.

Crow has wings, no brainer.

Ruth has the "answer things before asked" tic.

The Wallace-clone has his whole flashing teleport deal.

He stopped. Wait… I guess that isn't a good rule to go by.

He wasn't sure what made Sandy's Mr. Incredible powers apparent, but Ruth and Crow seemed already keyed in.

Sol and Marie had been taken through the airlock last night, despite Wallace's protests, because the United States freaking government couldn't comprehend the fact the concept of two Japanese suddenly teleporting across the planet into a top secret facility. Aren't they informed about this kind of thing? That this could happen?

He was stuck in thought so long, he didn't notice that someone was behind him.

"Hi!" Crow's voice sounded, rather suddenly.

"Ah!" After recovering from sudden shock, he said, "Dude, what are you doing?"

"You figured it out," he said from a winged silhouette.

"Figured what out?"

"Your powers."

"No. I just ran around the track."

"Exactly."

"Ugh," Hayden said, putting his face in his hands, "I've got a question. How are you able to deal with being… you?"

"I mean," Crow sighed. "For everyone else, their powers don't come into conflict with anything. Like… they've just accepted it. Me, I accept it to. I mean it's still not that different, except it's staring me in the face twenty-four/seven. I just think it's better to accept it, and to not have a mental breakdown over it." He looked up. "By the way, that was you, when you first got here, wasn't it? Makes a lot of sense, I guess."

Hayden felt like he was missing something. "What are you talking about?"

Crow crossed his arms. "How fast a runner are you?"

Was he kidding? "Weren't you just watching me?"

Crow nodded. "Run a lap. As fast as you can."

Hayden took off. I'll show him, he thought, before he realized he was already. It hit him.

He was fucking Dash.

"I just did that."

Crow rolled his eyes. "You finally get it. Super speed. One check off the list of questions. By the way, I pretty sure you have some kind of ultrasonic something. I realized what it was when it nearly blew out my eardrums when no one else even seemed to hear it."

"Uh… sure. So why are you up this early?"

Crow shrugged. "Why are you?"

Fair point, I guess. "I'm used to it."

"So what do you think of this place?" Crow gestured around at the whole room.

"I haven't really had much time to really think about that. What with everything going on."

"Yeah," Crow responded, sighing. "I mean… I think we should think about exactly why we're here, and maybe warning you not to just go along with everything just because. I don't know. Maybe I'm paranoid."

"Well…," Hayden put in after a moment's silence, "This is all kind of going so fast… I'm not sure what to think. But hey, I guess we might be on the good side of superhero stories."

"What are those?" Sol whispered.

"Watermelons…" Ruth answered.

They were all back in the concrete end. Like before, Wallace sat behind super-glass doing his observing. Sol and Marie had come back from who knows where. They There was a ten meter tall pile of melon off to one side. Sandy decided to be the one to break the near-silence.

"Why the watermelons?"

After a second, Wallace gave the reply, "Because it seemed like a good place to start."

"For what, exactly?" Sol prompted.

"Well, we have to test superpowers in one way or another. So, here's a pile of government sanctioned watermelons."

"So you want us to play… with watermelons?" Hayden ventured.

"Apparently," Crow commented.

"Not 'play'," Wallace pointed out. "This is rigorous scientific testing."

"Like this?" Sandy ran over to the pile, picked one up, and threw it. Wallace figured she was aimed for the window in front of him, but instead it smashed full-force into the concrete above.

"Preferably try not to aim for me. And let's go one at a time. Before we start, congratulations to Hayden on figuring out what his powers are. Super speed and ultrasonic emission, which, by the way, Crow is affected by. I do have his physiology report right-"

"I'm sorry, what?" Crow blurted out. "When did that happen?"

"You were unconscious," Wallace replied.

"Of… course I… was." Then Crow grinned. "Well, I guess I can't blame you."

"Okay so, first lets have-" Crow was interrupted by Sandy.

"Aren't I already going?"

Wallace sighed. "Sure, just don't throw melons at me."

The next few minutes was a montage of Sandy crushing melons between her hands, putting her foot through them, throwing them in various ways, and generally seeming like she was having too much fun with it all.

"Um… so who wants to go next?"

"I will," Sol said.

"So, now you have decided to show off your skills," Wallace almost seemed like he was mocking him. Actually, Wallace was exasperated. Choosing now rather than all night seemed pretty strange to him.

"Yes, I have." Sol stepped forward, removing the bandages from his hands, revealing massive cuts all over the hands.

Wallace thought this was a little peculiar, even though he thought there was some connection between the cuts in the hands and his powers, but he had found nothing of significance whatsoever. Curious. His train of thought stopped completely, however, when blood started flowing from his right hand. And not just bleeding but literally flowing, like he had a river (of blood) right in wrist or something. And then it got weirder. In less than a second the blood formed a solid shape around his forearm and extending past his hand, parallel to it. If Wallace wasn't mistaken, there was suddenly a four foot long blade of blood attached to Sol's right arm. And he thought he was prepared for this sort of thing after what happened with Chrono.

Everyone stood there, frozen for about ten seconds until Sol broke the silence with:

"Could someone care to throw a melon at me?"

Sandy ran for the pile of fruit, but Crow beat her to it. Generating a wind current by moving his hands and wings together, he popped the topmost melon off the stack and sent it flying right at Sol.

He probably wasn't expecting it, but Sol still managed to cut the melon in half, mid-air, the two halves hitting the ground behind him. The blood blade disappeared, moving back into the cuts on Sol's hands. "I can manipulate my own blood in various ways, this sword model being the only one that's very demonstrable. And I'm sure the American government is going to so very scared." No one could tell whether he was kidding or not. Wallace eventually came back to reality with a slow-worded "Uh, yeah. Well… thanks for showing us… anyway." He then put a hand to his head. "Why me?" he muttered, a little louder than he meant to.

"You're probably the most qualified," Sol pointed out.

"And you're not a dick," Sandy commented.

"And you brought this giant pile of melons!" Crow called out from the top of the melon stack.

"Well, more like the collective anonymity of government brought it. But you're welcome anyway, I suppose."

"Just be glad no one's completely wrecked downstairs here," Hayden pointed out, "because this probably already cost America more than it wants to spend on this. And now that I've said that, there is pretty much a guarantee that some evil super is going to get down here and set off a nuke. Somehow, that's going to happen."

Marie somehow seemed to always be able to make everyone listen to her. "But, don't you think they would be out there somewhere destroying things, rather than in unknown top secret cavern hundreds of feet below the surface?"

"Chicago." Ruth blurted out suddenly. Most everyone had forgotten she was there as well; she was so quiet.

"Alright, so we are going! To Chicago, that is." Crow announced.

"Wait, what?" Wallace seemed baffled. "Why… Chicago?"

"Something is happening there right now. Not later, but now," Ruth said.

"Do you have any idea what?" Wallace asked. "This seems way too sudden."

"Really bad. Need to go now. They're in danger there."

"Who? Why? What? Explain from the beginning." Wallace was completely lost, like everyone.

Ruth sighed. "Something bad in Chicago. We need to go now. End," she summarized.

"Or else… what?" Sandy asked.

"Bad things," Ruth could only reply.

"Probly the understatement of the century right there," Hayden said, "but who knows?"

[A/N]: dat end. uhhh... next chapter then.

7: CH6: Chicago Showdown

Chapter Six

= Chicago Showdown =

Uploaded Nov 19

GOVERNMENT AIRPLANE, SKY ABOVE CHICAGO

1:05 PM, OCTOBER 9, 2015, LOCAL

Everyone figured Wallace's conversation would have made a lot more sense if they were able to hear the other side. Crow had tried listening in on the call, but the voice on the other end came through with static and faded tones, making it difficult to parse anything.

Hayden, Sandy, Crow, and Sol sat in the cargo bay of the airplane, wearing yellow and black jumpsuits and parachutes. Except Crow, because he had wings.

Wallace stepped through the cabin door.

Hayden spoke up. "These are the worst superhero costumes ever."

Wallace sighed. "The government doesn't like us doing this. But I guess it likes the idea of fighting fire with fire, considering we have it pretty much confirmed that there are supers down there destroying everything."

Sol raised an eyebrow. "When was that found out?"

"Ruth gave us a little more information. Surveillance cameras confirm. Although we have no idea what we are against."

"So Marie and Ruth are staying behind?"

Wallace shrugged. "They're not exactly useful in this situation."

"Marie would be," Sol commented, "she just has no confidence in herself. Or she's scared."

"So," Crow interjected, "is there any plan at all?"

"Kick ass and take names," Sandy said.

"Well, if I were to put it more formally," Wallace said.

1. Stop whoever is destroying the city.

2. If they are uncooperative, still try to stop them, without damaging yourselves or the city in the process.

3. Gather information about who they are, or bring them back to us.

"By the way," said Wallace, "the city's evacuated. Or rather, at least the part where they currently are."

Sol was satisfied with the plan. "That's good. Now I am guessing you do expect us to jump?"

"Yes. Your parachutes are automatic."

Crow seemed excited. "Alright! Yes, now Wallace, leave so I can hit that," he said, pointing to a big red covered button that read REAR RAMP, "and we can begin!"

"Wait," Wallace said. He dug around in his pocket and pulled out four little things. "Earpieces."

The room, plus four earpieces and minus one Wallace, was ready.

"Ready!" Crow removed the cover and hit the button.

The ramp unsealed with a small hiss and began opening slowly with the power of hydraulics pistons. Wind began roaring around them. "Everyone okay?" Wallace's voice sounded in everyone's head.

"Yep," came Hayden's reply "just about to jump out of an airplane, no big deal."

"Exactly!" replied Wallace.

"Yeah!" Crow jumped straight out of the plane without fear, zipping down to the ground below.

"So… who's-" Hayden said but was by Sandy's "YEEEAAHHHHH!" of jumping off.

"going next…" Hayden finished.

In a few minutes everyone was on the ground. Huge skyscrapers surrounded them as they stood in the canyon of a cleared main street. Exactly as given, no people were here, although some cars were still parked and more than a few indoor lights were left on as well.

"So, we just leave our parachutes here?" Sol said.

"Sure. We're heroes. I think that's a given." Sandy put in.

"I think it would be a good idea maybe Crow and I scouted around," Hayden said. "Crow?"

He was already gone. "On it," he said over the radio.

Suddenly Ruth's voice was there. "Crow, get back there. Now. They're coming to you."

It took Crow a few seconds to respond. "I see them. Ruth's right. South, guys."

Sol, Sandy, and Hayden all turned in that direction to see three figures rounding the corner.

At a distance, an immediately obvious fact was that the one on the right was a giant robot. Like someone had ripped a twenty-foot tall mecha from an anime. As well as the one on the left being straight up on fire without his clothes burning at all like it was no one's business. The one in the middle was the first to speak.

"Well then," came a woman's voice, "I guess the fact that you three all wearing identical jumpsuits all put you on the same side. And that side would be the government?"

"Hell yes!" Ruth cried.

"Crow, where did you go?" Hayden whispered through the earpiece.

"Sneak attack," Crow said back.

"That actually could work," Wallace called. It was easy to forget he could hear everything they were saying. "Try it."

"I could've done it without your permission," Crow snarked, "but thanks anyway."

"You know, I could give a long-winded monologue about how you should join our side, but those never seem to work. So what are you going to do to stop us?"

Crow landed silently behind them.

"Stop you from doing… what, exactly?" Hayden said.

"I think taking over the world was kinda obvious," Sandy said. "That's like, the single most common supervillain goal. Right?"

"And you plan to do that with three people," Sol said. "I say that is not very possible."

"Well, we have a giant robot, a pyrotechnic, and me. So I'd like to see the world stop us." the woman said.

"That's weird. I don't see anything in the short term for you guys…" Ruth commented from who-knows-where.

"That's worrisome," Marie said.

"First off, I think we'll be perfectly able to deal with you," Hayden said, directing the comment at the woman, but at the same time letting Ruth know they would be fine.

"Second-" Hayden began.

"What makes you so special?" Sandy put in.

"You'll never find out." She smirked. "These two are more than a match for you three."

Sol smiled. "Expect the unexpected. In the past four days I've gained superpowerful abilities, escaped a government facility, likely incapacitated some people, not really sure, then teleported halfway across the world to another government facility, wherein the man who took us there was an alternate universe future immortal time-traveling counterpart of the scientist in charge of it all who gave us watermelon to break into pieces as practice for our superpowers. I think unexpected twists are a given at this point."

Crow was basically standing right behind the woman. None of her companions noticed.

"So, this is your last chance? Do any of you surrender to the genius of Neurotica!" she said.

"That's what you just came up with?" the robot said. "That is somehow less intimidating than the last name."

"It makes you sound like you… make porn… or something," the man on fire said.

"Shut up! I'm in charge!" she shot back.

"Really? Then I think you should be considering surrender as well," Sol put simply.

"Why-eeehhe?" And she was gone. That was what Fire-Guy and Mecha saw.

Everyone else saw Crow grab her by the waist, and with a boost of wind, yank her straight upwards.

Before she realized what had happened, they had already cleared the skyscrapers.

Neurotica couldn't breathe. "What… what? Who?" she gasped.

Crow carried her higher and higher. "Oh, hi. Had to stop you before you started monologing. No way that's happening. Also, the fear of falling from 5000 feet is a good way to convince people to stop their crazy evil plans."

"What? Who?"

"Me," Crow said. They still went higher and higher.

The pyrokenetic and mecha suit guy were still looking up.

"She's already twelve thousand feet up," the robot said. "Whatever happened, it's definitely not done."

"This is incredibly anticlimactic," Sol said.

"So, do you two have equally lame names?" Sandy snarked.

"I think I settled on Pyro," the flaming man said.

"Titan," the robot said.

"Both equally unoriginal, but definitely not as lame as, well…" Hayden said.

"You two don't seem very villain like," Sol said.

"Well, she's our leader; all we're doing is making ourselves known, I guess. But now that you guys are here…" Pyro trailed off.

Titan continued. "She kinda had us convinced that we would never ever go back, but since you guys just dropped in like the freaking X-Men, I guess we don't know what to think."

"So what can she do? Doesn't seem like she's more powerful than you guys," Hayden said.

"Well, she's got this whole set of psychic crap up her sleeve…" Pyro stopped for a second, and looked up. "Oh shit."

They were both falling at terminal velocity.

"We can stop anytime you know," Crow said, smiling. "Just stop your omnicidal rants for one second."

C'mon, concentrate! Neurotica thought.

Crow hadn't realized it, but she was rifling through his brain as fast as humanly, or psychically, possible. She readied her mental maps of Pyro and Titan's brains as well. Got to do this all at once. She kept scanning. Point of weakness, point of entry, something. Anything?

This was hard to do normally, but falling through the air like this?

There! Holding on to her focus, she hijacked all three brains at once.

"Pyro! Pyro, you okay?" Titan waved a giant hand in front of him.

Sandy, Sol, and Hayden all heard a distinct click come from their earpieces.

"Guys," Wallace said to them, "We just lost Crow. I mean my connection to his earpiece. It's gone."

"What?" Hayden said.

"Your friend is a part of us now."

Everyone looked at Pyro, who had a blank expression.

"Alright, what bullshit are you trying to pull?" Sandy inquired.

"Dude," Titan began, "she's hijacking you. I'm going to need you to come into my suit to break the connection, if I'm correct in that that is the reason I'm not a slave… or, or something…"

Pyro pointed a finger at Titan. "You're more flammable than you think. Step closer and you explode," he said flatly.

"Hey, whoa whoa whoa," Hayden interjected. "We're not starting this."

Pyro turned to the rest of them. "Any of you come at me, you die. Plain and simple."

"Hey man," Titan began, but was immediately blasted by Pyro. He exploded just like he said he would, and it knocked everyone unconscious. Pyro had gone by the time everyone has regained consciousness. He and Neurotica, as well as Crow, had completely dropped off the map. Gone.

[A/N]: Maybe too much whiplash. A lot of plot. Tell me what you think!