Fulgur has been quite insistent on exploring my powers over the past few days. Thanks to her though, we now know that I can pull an alternate version of myself into this reality from alternate timelines.
The trick is exhausting and if it's done for too long or too often, it becomes excruciatingly painful. However! When I do this, my consciousness is split between the two copies of me. I am aware of the sensory inputs from both copies, but I can do separate things with them.
For example, one can freeze an opponent, while the other can run away, fast-forwarding herself to increase the distance. If one copy is terminated, the other is left unaffected. I have been practicing maintaining this copy at the house and while on patrol.
The more I practice, the less it hurts to start and maintain. The best part? Both copies are me. The copy isn't a hologram, nor is it a machine. It is a sentient, autonomous human being capable of making her own decisions.
I can cancel or terminate either the copy or the original at any time. Either way, whichever survives then becomes the new original. That one is then capable of making its own copy and maintaining it until one is terminated or until the copy is no longer needed.
I'm on patrol with Castle. It's my first patrol with him. So far, I've only been on patrol with Fulgur. It's a shame I'll never be able to go on patrol with Vigilant. It would be nice to talk with a fellow precog. I would complain, but Castle's reasoning is solid.
He said that he and Fulgur are 'hard' targets. They can take hits due to their shields, and have offensive outputs (his forcefields and her lightning gun). That makes Vigilant and I 'soft' targets. We do not take hits well and we do not have great offensive output either.
Thus, when we go on patrols, we always have one hard, and one soft target. That way, Vigilant or I could use our precognition to provide Castle and Fulgur some forewarning before any threat approaches.
That's what I'm doing right now, practicing focusing my powers on our territory. Technically, according to Castle, our territory is inside Undersider territory (Grue and Imp). They haven't given us any trouble...and I don't think they will.
I am not certain of how I should feel towards Castle, Vigilant, or Fulgur. They have insisted on teaching me to be a 'normal' teenager. At least...we think I'm a teenager. I could be really anywhere between 13 and 20.
This has included getting me a bank account under the name 'Rose Fitzgerald', a cell phone, an email address, and showing me movies. They've shown me The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and all six of the Star Wars movies.
I didn't fully understand the point of it all, but it made the rest of them feel better so I let them. At least I now know more about my power thanks to Fulgur, although she is rather loud. I don't hate her for it, but it is bothersome. Especially when I get migraines.
We return to the house with no more news to share than when we left. Overall, tedious but I know why Castle insists on doing these patrols. Thankfully, this was just the midday one so it was pretty short.
The others spend the day sleeping, except for Fulgur who, according to Vigilant, doesn't believe in sleep. Me? I spend the day with my precognition, searching the future for dangers. Then I see it...the meetings. I've seen flashes of them before but...none this clear.
They all happen soon. I see Jack Slash talking to a young boy who's holding a baby. I see the Siberian approach Bitch. I see Burnscar talking to a girl with platinum blonde hair. Then, I see Mannequin attack Col-Armsmaster in the PRT.
I then see Shatterbird, well, shatter all of the glass/silicon in the city before approaching Hookwolf. Then...I see Crawler attacking Dinah, Coil, and the Travelers. Then Cherish is talking to Regent. Finally, it ends with Jack Slash coming to me.
I reach out for Dinah's help. Her power and mine...they don't magnify or focus each other...they almost inform or exchange our abilities. It allows me to get numbers from her, and lets her get details from me, making us both more accurate.
It's almost like calling her on the phone. Some days she picks up...and some days she doesn't. I sigh in relief when she does 'pick up'. I can feel our powers overlapping, forming a better, almost complete illustration of the upcoming chapters in the book of life.
I use her power to tell me how likely these events are to occur. I don't like the numbers. Basically, I can't stop most of them from meeting...but I can stop Crawler from reaching his target...Echidna. I know from Dinah who she is and what she can do...it's bad.
With Dinah's help, I can look further forward to see what might happen with Crawler. If I can warn Coil ahead of time, I can save Dinah from a week in migraine-land. I leave her alone so she can save her energy for later. She's gonna need it.
While my visions are an eternal hall of mirrors, her's are a house of cards that blows over depending on the questions she's asked and events that occur. I can watch my visions all day, but she only has a few seconds before the house of cards is toppled.
I stare at my wall as the visions float around me. I focus my power on the Slaughterhouse Nine, making any vision unrelated to them fade away. I ignore any vision not including Jack Slash or Crawler. They are my biggest concerns at the moment.
By my understanding, the sooner I leave, the better my chances of warning Coil. In fact, my best odds lie in going to Grue and Imp's hideout and getting them to warn Coil for me. With that in mind, I slide into my new costume.
My costume currently consists of a mask with a silver-white face bordered by black with eye holes but no mouth or nose holes. A skintight bodysuit that is also silver-white with matching gloves. There are soles built into the feet of the costume for cushion and to muffle my feet.
I wear a black belt around my waist with pockets containing migraine medicine, a pocket knife, a stun gun, and pepper spray. Overtop I wear a black cloak with long sleeves and a hood that comes to a point on my forehead.
On my chest is an emblem I designed myself, though Castle helped me sew it on. It is two blue arrows spinning around a central set of rings. The circles are bisected by two perpendicular lines running through the center.
The vertical line ends in an arrow pointing towards my collarbone with the other two arrows pointing towards each other on either side of the bottom of the vertical line. I'm not sure why I picked it, but I felt it was appropriate to my chronokinesis.
I open the window and use my power to shunt myself to the ground. Much faster than going downstairs and opening the door. There's only a 5.6724% chance Jack Slash approaches me before I return. Thank you Dinah for the number.
I know she can't actually hear that thought, but I'd like to think she does. Regardless, I use my power to shunt myself as far as I can. I make certain that I take my time with it so I use as little energy as possible to get me there. I want to be ready in the off chance Jack does get to me.
I finally find the warehouse that Grue and Imp are using as a base. I knock on the door. It takes a moment but the door eventually opens, revealing a girl dressed in all black, including a black scarf and a pale gray demon mask outfitted with black lenses.
It takes a moment for my power to register that it's Imp. "How did you find this place?" I shake my head "Don't worry about it. I won't tell anyone and it's not why I'm here." The girl folds her arms over her chest and huffs "Then why are you here?"
Her attitude is barely a blip on my radar as I press on. "Call Coil. Tell him that his best chance is to hide in the vault." "Huh?" I know she heard me so I don't bother explaining. I simply press on. Every second I'm here, the more likely I'll run into Jack. He won't approach if I'm not alone.
"Tell him Aeon told you so." She stares at me in silence. I don't know if her brother is here right now since there's a few places he could be and it doesn't really matter right now. Eventually she just shrugs "Alright." I nod "Sooner the better. He might die if you delay."
I say just before turning and fast-forwarding myself several blocks away. For a moment, I forget who Imp is...then I remember again as my power shows me what Imp will probably do next. So, I forget about her if I don't think about her...good to know.
I focus my precognition on the area between me and the house, plus the area surrounding it, as I walk. I'm not fast-forwarding myself now so I can better react to anyone approaching. I see a few visions become more opaque despite me trying to keep them all translucent.
Then I see why. My power is trying to warn me. The number of visions that are opaque are steadily growing now. I stop moving and try walking a different way. Still rising. I try shunting myself forward. Still doesn't improve my situation.
Damn. Each and every opaque vision shows me meeting Jack Slash. I force my power to show me my best options. It seems that Jack doesn't want to fight me. At least...not today. He just wants to talk. I don't like talking. I've never been good at it. But, to live...I might have to.
I make my way to a small playground in our neighborhood. The flooding has damaged it but the slide and monkey bars remain intact. The basketball hoop was not so lucky. Fulgur explained this place to me on my first patrol. I climb up onto the monkey bars and sit...waiting.
While I wait, I find the possible directions Jack will come from and bring those visions forward, pushing the others into the background, forming the barely visible holographic movies that are always playing in my head.
I soon see a man swaggering over to me. He's wearing a white dress shirt with the upper buttons undone, revealing a small amount of chest hair. He's tall and slender, with a long face and pale blue eyes. He's got a severe widow's peak which is only accented by his hair gel.
His beard and mustache are neatly trimmed into a goatee with sawtooth edges pointing inwards in the beard. He's also wearing ripped jeans and brown shoes. He's spinning a knife in his hand and his clothes have fresh blood stains on them. At least...I'm fairly certain they're fresh.
The man smiles at me as he approaches, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Well, for someone who favors solitude, it has been very hard to get you on your own." I refuse to entertain this man with conversation unless absolutely necessary so I keep my mouth shut.
He grins. "Well, you know why I'm here. And I know that you know why I'm here. And you know that I know that you know why I'm here. So I'm going to cut this off for the sake of everyone's-, well, I was going to say sanity but that doesn't really apply to either of us now does it?"
I won't deny that I am not entirely what most would consider to be a 'sane' individual, but I also won't let him know that. Thus, I narrow my eyes at him, waiting for him to get on with it. He sighs "I wish you were more talkative, it would make you even more interesting."
"Well, one does not normally talk when they intend to stay alone." He makes a face as though he's offended, though he might be joking. "Yes. Interesting how you, a self-professed loner, ended up with a group. Do you know how difficult that's made this?"
I almost smile, knowing that I've inconvenienced him. I think he noticed that though because he grins. "Anyway, back to business. I want you for the Slaughterhouse Nine. Now, I know what you're thinking, could I really be as great a killer as the infamous Jack Slash?"
I raise an eyebrow at him as he continues, a grin playing on my lips. "I say to you yes. You have just the right amount of apathy. You don't care about anyone. You wish no ill will to your team but you are not attached to them."
I can't deny that. I don't really feel anything to them. "And once Bonesaw gets to work on you, she can wire serotonin to make you enjoy the pain...and fix those pesky migraines." That last word was accented in a way that a salesperson might offer a coupon. Weird. But I get why.
I can see that he is trying to convince me to join through the possibility of removing my pain, which is what my team is doing, and bringing me some happiness...which nothing brings me at the moment. A decent tactic. He's not an idiot. He gives me a small sarcastic salute.
"Well, I've said my piece and it looks like your friends are coming." "Well, as you so graciously pointed out...they're not my friends." He lets out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. Teammates, associates I don't care what they're called." He says as he walks away.
He gives me a small wave as he leaves "See you around Aeon. Don't die. Don't disappoint me." I watch him leave as Fulgur and Vigilant approach. Fulgur looks between me and Jack and asks "Who was that?" "Jack Slash." I answer as I watch Jack disappear down the street.