113 Disrupted Discourse

I ended up opening a portal to Taylor's living room. Of the options available to me, it turned out to be the best one. While I could probably justify driving over to her house in my civilian identity, there weren't many explanations for a prolonged visit. It was better to just be discreet.

Of course, I could also teleport over in the space of a heartbeat, but suddenly appearing in someone's living room was more than a little intrusive, even if you called first. Weirdly, manifesting a portal inside their house was the better option, probably because you didn't step through until you received permission. That was the best way I had to handle things. It wasn't that it was unobtrusive, it was just a better option than most of my other choices.

"Um, right." Taylor said, stepping back from the glowing gateway. "Please come in."

"Thanks." I said, stepping into her living room. The scratches on Taylor's face and neck were bandaged, the kind of professional bandages that you got from the hospital. Streaks of white cotton played across her face, carefully attached to the point where they were mostly unintrusive, though I could tell she was being careful about how she moved her face.

"How are the scratches?" I asked. I'd promised not to jump into the topic of the incident at Winslow High or the events that led up to it, but it felt wrong not to at least check on her.

"They still hurt." She admitted. "Not that bad, and they were really good at the hospital. Said they 'might' not scar."

"That's good." I said encouragingly. Taylor gave me a slight smile, but restrained the movement of her face when the bandages began to shift and bunch up.

What the hospital had probably meant was 'might not scar too badly'. It was clear that Taylor had gotten competent attention, probably because of the police escort and need for evidence pictures, but she had still been brutally clawed at by a girl who was, by all accounts, far from her right mind. That wasn't the kind of thing that you just bounced back from.

At least not ordinarily. Even the weakest of my healing methods would be able to deal with injuries without any scaring. Of course, having the injuries suddenly disappear would cause its own set of problems, but my nanites were nuanced enough to address that problem easily, emulating natural recovery for existing injuries while dealing with any new ones that might occur.

Of course, that was getting ahead of things. Personally I would rather not have combined the meeting to give Taylor her healing nanites, along with everything that implied, with going over the details of the situation at her school and the incident in January. It felt like an awkward clash of tones and topics, and I'm sure Taylor felt the same way. This was probably the last thing she needed, with her involvement in everything that had been happening in the city, and what that could mean for her and the future of the Undersiders.

I was trying to avoid jumping into that. I had come in civilian attire, for what that was worth. No matter how you looked at this, it was a meeting between capes, about serious cape stuff, no matter where it was held or whether we were in costume or not.

Though in Taylor's case Garment would no doubt be pleased to learn that she had embraced the clothing collection that Garment had made. It was just cover for the delivery of her armor, but Garment didn't phone in anything when fashion was involved. It was evidence that she could bring the same level of skill and insight to casual clothing that she regularly applied to cutting edge designs and high fashion.

"Um, I'm keeping an eye on the neighborhood." Taylor explained, watching the portal as it vanished from the living room. "There was no one who could have seen that." She assured me. "I mean, no one I can detect."

I nodded. Through the Dragon's Pulse I could feel the connection that ran between Taylor and every bug within her range. The actual mechanics of her ability were quite intricate. Actually a lot more intricate than I had first theorized. Now I had the ability to see the mechanics from both sides and understood exactly what was happening. Using her passenger to control insects in a four-block radius was like using a networked supercomputer to play pong. I mean, all passengers sandbagged their abilities, but it was kind of incredible how Taylor could have one of the strongest master powers out there and still not come close to what her passenger was actually capable of.

"Thanks." I said. "I've got things covered on the other side. No parahuman detection or tinker surveillance."

Taylor tensed. "Is that something I should be worried about?"

"Not specifically." I said. "But a lot of thinkers have been focusing on Brockton Bay. There are enough powers flying around that it's a good idea to be careful."

"Right. And you can detect that kind of thing." She muttered. I just shrugged. "Well, as long as it's covered." She looked towards the kitchen. "Would you like some tea?"

I had the feeling she was the one who needed tea, or at least needed the delay that making tea would allow her. "That would be great, thanks." I said, following her to the kitchen.

It was a rather mundane scene, with Taylor fussing with the kettle and picking out types of tea that were a good deal better than anything I had historically bothered with, but would probably absolutely horrify Aisha's current standards. While she worked I could pick up on the nervous energy coming off of her, in a quite literal sense. And not just through my ability to detect her physical state. She was actively pushing significant parts of what she was dealing with to the creatures she was connected with, using them as a kind of spill-over or parallel process for her own mental state.

It was a fascinating concept, and one that would have been a lot more interesting earlier in my career when I had been hunting for understanding of powers and effects I could analyze and develop. Now it was just a data point, a significant data point, given the strength of Taylor's power and the significance of her passenger, but not the kind of potential revelation it would have been just a week ago.

Well, a week of real time. I had very much been working at a different pace than the rest of the world, even before the ability to literally shift the flow of time in my workshop. That was important to keep in mind. I'd had years to deal with everything, to plan out my actions and come to terms with what was happening, but my team were the only ones who enjoyed that advantage. For everyone else it had been substantially more compressed and intense, with no assurance that my actions were being taken with any level of care or consideration for the wider implications they would have.

That was probably why Tattletale was so concerned about my reaction to Taylor's situation. I knew it was going to be bad, but I had some context for how bad it could be. Most of that context was from the after effects and reactions, but it should be manageable. And at worst, I would have ample time to deal with the situation, rather than rushing into the kind of reactions that she was probably worried about.

"Here." Taylor said a little awkwardly. Rather than just mugs with teabags in them she had opted to fish out a teapot and set it up on the table with cups, milk, and sugar. A touch excessive, but I think we both knew that this was more about giving her time to find her footing than the tea itself.

"Thanks." I said, pouring myself a cup and adding a small spoonful of sugar. Taylor further drew things out with a near production of preparing her own cup of tea, while also doing her best to conceal how much the rote actions were helping her calm herself for what was coming. I let things play out, watching her blow on the surface of her tea, take a sip, then set the cup back on the kitchen table. I could actually feel the shift in the connection between her and the swarm she was controlling in response to the action. Taylor took a breath, then looked up at me.

"So…" She began, her newly acquired calm and focus almost immediately beginning to waver.

I smiled at her. "I'm guessing you don't want to immediately jump into the situation at school?" I put an edge of humor into my voice, but I could see her badly masked discomfort even without the advantage of my expanded senses. She shook her head and dropped her eyes to the table.

"I know it's overdue." She said, "Really overdue, considering everything that's happened. I just never wanted to have this side of my life…" She sighed. "You know."

I nodded, which seemed to surprise her. "Speaking from experience, it's not easy to keep different parts of your life separate. Even if they aren't directly overlapping, what's happening in one part of your life is going to have an impact on the other parts, if only because it has an impact on you."

God knows I would have preferred to keep all the baggage of my family completely separate from the active disaster management that my cape career had turned into, but that hadn't been possible. Even if I hadn't been dealing with things through Alena, cutting everything off would still have had an impact on me, as much as I would have preferred it not to. I mean, I was in a much better place to deal with that impact, but that didn't mean it wouldn't have been significant.

Honestly, the entire situation with Taylor probably counted as part of that overlap as well. It had started from my passenger's predictions of her importance, but I hadn't seen her connection to Professor Hebert coming. That had blindsided me, no mistake. A throwback to a part of my life I was still dealing with, and an entirely new set of problems for me to deal with.

Problems that I was finally dealing with, on both sides. Not in a way I ever really anticipated, but I had the chance to address both Taylor's importance to the coming disaster and her personal situation, one that had almost certainly grown out of Professor Hebert's death. Of course, I needed to learn exactly how bad that situation was, and if there was anything I actually needed to do. I mean, beyond what was already in place.

"I guess." Taylor said, sounding a little despondent. I could understand that. I wouldn't have enjoyed having my school drama dragged into the world of Capes. Considering that was basically exactly what had happened to me yesterday, I could most definitely say that I didn't enjoy it.

I shook my head. "We can focus on the other stuff first, come back to the situation at school."

Taylor practically sagged with relief. "Thank you." She paused and quickly collected herself. "I mean, yeah, that sounds good."

I looked at her. "Taylor, if you don't want to do this, I can still look into things on my own. I understand you want to explain the situation, but it's safe to say you've been dealing with a lot recently. If you don't want to do this…"

"No." She said firmly, setting her cup down on the table. "No, with everything people are saying, the coverage this is getting…" She shook her head. "I can handle this."

"Alright." I said. "We can go through the cape stuff first, then come back to this."

"Right." She said, fidgeting with her cup. It was a much more subdued expression of the energy she was pushing out through her master power. I wonder if anyone noticed how agitated the insects in the area had become, or any of the fluctuations in their behavior? Probably not. It wasn't the easiest thing to pick up on unless you had similarly expanded awareness.

Taylor took a breath and continued. "Honestly, I'd kind of forgotten about the healing thing." She said, "I thought you had as well. After everything…" She shook her head. "What I mean is, the situation isn't like it was when we talked about that. Everything changed, so I figured it wasn't a priority anymore."

I nodded. "Leading up to the Ungodly Hour I was a bit more focused on counters for the ABB."

Which had actually been fairly effective, up to the point where I'd been blindsided by March. Well, March's power synergy with Oni Lee, something I couldn't have seen coming, not that Survey was accepting that as an excuse. Her aspirations to omniscience had been a lot less pronounced before the consequences of an intelligence failure had made themselves known in a rather brutal fashion.

"I understand that. And with the watches, I kind of figured you had things covered for us. For me." Taylor explained.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you didn't ask for anything else?" I asked. She looked at me with a confused expression. "I said you could, for anything less than weapons."

"I guess?" She said, "I mean, especially after the armor." She smiled slightly. "I didn't really need anything after that." She seemed particularly proud of that for a reason that I couldn't quite understand and felt vaguely concerning.

"That was enough?" I asked. It had addressed my main concerns over her safety, at least when she was operating in her cape identity, but it wasn't exactly a versatile item. At least not unless Heretical Adaptation had taken it far beyond my initial designs.

And a quick scan of the plates, hidden in the expanded shopping back in a corner of the basement, confirmed that there weren't any structural changes and only a slight augmentation in the pattern of the enchantments. The process of them settling and customizing to her, and from the look of things working to protect her hair to a slightly greater degree. Nothing concerning, considering the kind of stuff that was possible with Heretical Adaptation.

"Yeah." Taylor said. "Um, it helped with some.. I guess 'mobility issues' I was having." She smiled in a way that suggested she was proud of herself.

"…mobility issues?" I asked, not sure what she meant, but somehow knowing it couldn't be good.

She nodded. "I mean, the reinforcement thing protects from falls, so if I'm stuck up high somewhere, I don't need to worry about getting down."

I looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Because you can just jump?" I asked. "From buildings?"

"Yeah." She said with a firm nod. When she saw my expression a bit of her confidence dropped. "I mean, if I have to get from a roof and need to jump, I don't need to worry about hurting myself, um, right?"

I continued to look at her as my vast array of supernatural senses and methods of insight happily informed me that she wasn't speaking hypothetically. What's more, I could tell she was speaking from experience. I wasn't sure what experience she was speaking from, considering the only cape conflict she's been in prior to me meeting her was that undefined conflict with…

Oh. Okay, it was Lung. I probably could have put that together on my own, but my passenger was more than happy to confirm the details for me. Whatever had happened with Lung, there had been a point where jumping from the roof of a building had at least been considered, which said a lot about how that must have played out. And because this was Taylor, one of the first things she'd done when testing the armor was confirm that it could handle that kind of fall.

I really hoped that she at least worked up to any serious height, rather than just flinging herself off a tall building at her earliest opportunity. And, of course, considering the level of reinforcement that armor provided, she had probably significantly contributed to pavement decay in whatever area she'd decided to test it.

My only consolation was that she had obviously not focused too much on that aspect of the armor's defenses. If she had the Heretical Adaptation would probably have developed things in that direction, rather than the current improvements that seemed focused on making sure her hair was alright while she was in costume. Small mercy that at least she hadn't focused her practice on developing methods for piledriving opponents from the third story of nearby buildings.

"Right…" I said evenly. "If that was a problem, I could have made something to help you with that." I could have made a lot of things. A tremendous number of things, ranging from facilitating safe landings to allowing short range teleportation to full on flight.

"It wasn't that big of a deal." Taylor tried to assure me when I could tell it definitely was a big deal for her. "And I didn't want to bother you over something I'd already dealt with."

"It wouldn't have…" I began, but shook my head. This was unfortunately getting off topic, though in a way it was actually tangential to the topic at hand. I wasn't handing over a weapon system, but I doubted that effective immortality would make Taylor less reckless than the reinforcement effect of her armor had. "Anyway, we should talk about the healing technology. There's a lot we need to cover."

"There is?" Taylor asked, looking up from her cooling cup of tea. "I mean, it's the same type you used before, right? If there was anything wrong with it back then…?"

I shook my head. "There's nothing wrong with it." I said firmly. "Which is kind of the important thing." She gave me a confused look. "I'm not going to push something like this on you without explaining what it is and exactly what it can do."

"Oh." Taylor said. "Um, I know that a lot of people have had theories about what that could be, the kind of technology or power. Whether it's something crazy like power emulation or protein manipulation or nanotechnology."

"It is nanotech." I said directly

"Right, that would be…" Taylor blinked. "Nanotech?" She stared blankly for a second. "You're using nanotech? You've been using nanotech?"

I nodded. "It's not like the kind of thing people are worried about from the Machine Army or that kind of thing." I said honestly. No, these nanites were an entirely different kind of thing to worry about, and that was in their base level. There was a reason why they had been one of my first S-class threats to be entered into the numbering system that ultimately gave Tetra her name.

"Um, right." Taylor said, still processing it. As she worked through the fact that I had just confessed to one of the cardinal sins of tinkering, at least as far as the PRT was concerned, I felt the Forge move again, because of course it would decide this was the perfect time for that.

I had been more than a little concerned coming into this meeting considering the amount of reach I had accumulated, but by some miracle my power didn't end up connecting to one of the major motes. Instead it latched on to a small mote from the Alchemy constellation. In fact it was one of the smallest powers left in the Forge. As the mote detached and flew towards me I relaxed, grateful to have dodge a bullet in terms of major powers.

That was a mistake. It was in fact a significant mistake. The mote was from the same source as Kazooie Alchemy. That tiny power had appeared early in my career and had more impact than anything of comparable size. Probably more impact than even my major powers. It was what allowed me to make my duplication potions, as well as potions that let me turn invisible or generate a nearly impervious magical barrier around myself. Of course, the latter two effects didn't get much use. It had been ages since I'd used any of them, not since before the Ungodly Hour. Invisibility and magical shielding paled in comparison to the utility of my duplicates, and I couldn't combine the potions.

Well, I hadn't been able to combine the potions. But the new power was called Mixing Mixtures, and it specifically addressed that 'limitation'. A limitation that was hardly a limitation anymore, considering how far I had pushed that initially minor power. At its base level the effects had only lasted for a few minutes, but every time I had been able to improve the quality of the potion, that stretched a bit further. Every quality boost, every bit of insight into alchemy, every new manufacturing method, all of it.

The sum of my powers directed at that ability took the effect from a pair of copies who lasted less than five minutes and would vanish if you bumped into them too hard to nearly six hours of duration and a level of durability the point where they had only been dispelled by an attempt at fortune energy based divine ascension. My duplicates basically had to forcefully turn their soul inside out in order for it to register as enough damage to artificially end their duration.

And now that baseline had been thrown out the window. Mixing mixtures allowed me to create potions that bestowed multiple effects. There was a limit before things got unstable, but that limit was twelve combined effects, which when applied to this…

I took a moment to focus, activating the spiritron components within my neural implant. This was more than I had time to process, particularly when I was in the middle of a second major reveal with Taylor. Leaving this wasn't an option because that would mean giving my duplicates free rein for how to handle what was basically a massive shift in the dynamic that had developed over the time since I gained the initial ability. With an act of will I activated the same pseudo-spiritron mental realm that I had used to speak with Aisha, effectively slowing time to minutes per second, and opened a link to my Workshop.

"Took you long enough." My first duplicate transferred over the connection.

"Forgive me, I'm working without the advantage of a fully deployed Serial Phantasm inside a temporal acceleration field." I said sardonically. "But I'm guessing you've had time to go over this."

"Yep." He answered smugly. "Even got a trial combination set up. Knocked it out with the Mystic Forge."

I nodded. Works of Timeless Eternity was a good option when you were dealing with analysis on a fraction of a second basis. The second duplicate connected to the virtual space through the Workshop network without fully immersing in it. Through the link I could see him working in the Alchemist's Laboratory, brewing, combining, and analyzing potion variations. Each strike of my Noble Phantasm resulted in a fresh batch of blue potions to be mixed and fed into the beyond divine level alchemy equipment of the lab.

Actually watching the process unfold was a mishmash of various temporal rates. I was running hundreds of times faster than normal, but my duplicate was working inside a space that was accelerated by a factor of ten. Technically I was watching him in slow motion, but that was slow motion of my own crafting speed, with the potions being manufactured through my Noble Phantasm happening effectively instantly.

Really, the exact mechanics were secondary to the fact that the work was being completed fast enough for there to be meaningful results despite the fact that I had effectively put my conversation with Taylor on pause. Well, more super slow motion, but that was close enough.

"How crazy is this power?" I asked, considering just how out of hand this could get.

"Actually not that bad." My first duplicate sent back. I raised an eyebrow in confusion as he explained. "It's about creating potions with multiple effects, not just directly stacking results."

I blinked within the virtual space. "What, so it doesn't actually let us make more duplicates?" I asked.

"No, it does." He confirmed. "It's just that the effect cycles with combination." The analysis of the prototype potion was conveyed across the link. I dug into the report, which was Survey's contribution to the analysis, as he continued. "You have the baseline potion, then each subsequent application boosts one aspect of it in sequence. Duration, durability, then quantity."

Without the level of magical knowledge and analysis technology at our disposal the only way to figure that out would have been to down a potion and see what happened, but thankfully we were at a point where it was possible to tell what we were getting into before the fact. What I had thought I'd be getting into was a situation where I would have needed to deal with twenty-four duplicates at the same time. Given how overwhelming just the basic pair could be, it felt like that scenario was the kind of thing that would require a new disaster categorization.

Of course, just because the scenario wasn't quite that extreme didn't mean it was insignificant. The way the stacking of effects worked, mixing in a second potion doubled the duration, a third doubled the durability, and a fourth doubled the number of duplicates. Then the fifth, sixth, and seventh tripled the duration, durability, and quantity respectively. The eighth, ninth, and tenth quadrupled them.

Since the safe limit was twelve, that meant that while the duration and durability of my duplicates could be increased five times over, there was a limit of eight copies. Given how powerful this effect already was, that felt like some kind of hard limit, or possibly some form of practical compromise from the forces of the universe. As it stood, it was still more than I ever thought I'd have to deal with at one time.

"What's this about eight copies of Joe?" Aisha asked as she suddenly conferenced herself into the virtual space.

"Aisha." I said. "Are you running spiritron acceleration on your nanites for this?"

"Well, yeah." She said with a shrug. Her virtual form was in her usual projected attire of the purple softsuit of her armor, rather than the latest attire Garment had made for her. "Set it up while I was ducking out to pick up some fashion plates for Garment and definitely not just getting out of the way so that she could do fittings for Gully's cute form." Then she grinned at me. "I mean, you can't just set up pseudo psychic video conferencing and not expect me to use it when the opportunity comes up."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm pretty sure everyone on the team was already capable of actual psychic video conferencing. Telepathy isn't exactly uncommon in the group."

"Yeah, but this way has less of a chance of attracting the attention of the scary ghost girl." She said, not entirely joking.

"Oh, would you like me to get her?" Asked Tetra, suddenly within the space.

"Uh, no, I'm good." Aisha said. "And isn't she still afraid of you?"

"I think she's coming around!" Tetra said in an optimistic voice. "She keeps staying longer each time she manifests around me, and she doesn't stare as much as she used to."

Right, because somehow Tetra had become Alma's Alma without even trying. Which would probably be all kinds of complicated at some point, but right now we had bigger problems than the interdimensional game of tag between the manifestation of a reality warping psychic ghost child and a divinely empowered planet eating alien parasite who was also technically my best set of clothes.

"To answer you, I got the second half of the power that let me make the duplicates in the first place." I explained. "It lets me combine a dozen of the potions into one. Well, technically I can combine a dozen of any potion into a single dose without any side effects or negative interactions, but it's most significant with the duplication potion."

"And that's only eight?" Aisha asked.

"Sequential enhancement of individual characteristics." My duplicate explained. "In a way that leaves the last two slots open."

"How so?" She asked, pulling up her own copy of the report. And skimming to the specific summaries and sections that Survey knew she always focused on and made sure to include the key information in. "Huh." She said, looking up. "Is it like, trying to screw you out of the last two?"

"I have no idea." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I never expected this kind of upgrade. I'm not going to complain about it being fourfold instead of five."

"Yeah, it is kind of crazy." She said, "How is this going to work?"

"What do you mean?" Tetra asked, flickering over to Aisha in a way the simulation technically didn't support. "It's just like before, only more."

"Not really." They both turned to me. "And that's kind of the problem."

"What problem?" Aisha asked. "I mean, this is straight from your power. It can't be that messed up, right?" I gave her a flat look. "Okay, but it has to be at least somewhat useful."

"It is." I said. "It definitely is, it's just…"

"He's worried about how it's going to affect us." My duplicate said. "Or I guess the future versions of us."

"What?" Aisha asked. "How? It's just more of you, right?"

"Weirdly, the 'more' isn't the biggest problem here." I explained. Tetra nodded while Aisha just gave me a skeptical look. "Okay, it's still going to be a problem."

"Definitely." My duplicate said with a shameless nod that I did my best to ignore.

"The thing is, they're going to last four times longer." I said. "Four or five, depending on if they add the other potions or just stick with duplication."

"And that's the bad part?" Aisha asked before turning to my duplicate. "I mean, I know you guys get up to stuff in your twenty percent time, but this just means there's more time before that comes up."

"And more of it." I said while my duplicate smiled. "But that's not what I'm talking about." I shook my head. "It's what the duration does."

"What?" Aisha asked. "Seriously, I must be missing something here."

Fortunately, my duplicate stepped in to explain things, because this was not a topic I enjoyed. "Duplicate mindset is based on how long the duration of the potion is." He explained. "You handle things differently if you're going to be around for four minutes instead of four hours."

"Oh." Aisha said. "Wait, that's what it was?" She asked. "I thought they were just like, adjusting or getting used to things or whatever."

I shook my head. "No continuity between copies, at least not until I started backing up memories and experiences, and that just confirmed it. You have different outlooks for different duration, and this." I gestured towards the image of the new potion. "Is going to last for a full day, or possibly longer."

"Ah." Aisha said. "So you aren't sure how that's going to work out."

I let out a short laugh. "I've been flying blind with most of this duplicate stuff. Not knowing how this will play out isn't exactly a new experience."

"Any reason to think it's going to be bad?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Not bad exactly, it's just…"

My duplicate smiled. "Just going from 'final hours' to 'last day on Earth'." He said. "And still without having to deal with what comes next."

Aisha looked at him. "Right." She said. "I keep forgetting how fucked up that part of this whole thing is."

"We don't mind." He said with a shrug. "Plus, the next guys will have nearly five hours of twenty percent time. You know that's going to be fun."

"For a given value of fun." Aisha said dryly. "I'm still sorting through everything they made for my planet." She turned towards me. "That tree is a lot more than a mile tall, by the way."

"It started a mile tall." My duplicate said to her. "You know trees grow on their own, right?"

"Right." Aisha said, rolling her eyes. "Anything to be really concerned about here, or are you just getting your freakout over with ahead of time?"

I let out a breath. "Well, there is the durability boost." I explained.

"Yeah?" She said, "What's that worth? I mean, the current guys can handle surgery and teleporting into walls and stuff."

There was a flicker as Survey joined the conversation. It was actually the representation of a collaboration between the versions of Survey that were running in the computer core and her physical body, with their conclusions checked by the copy in Passenger Space, but the various aspects were all technically the same person. This was just a more obvious version of the kind of checks that she regularly ran in the background.

"While it will not be possible to confirm the exact parameters until the next set of duplicates is generated, based on the preliminary assessment of the combination effect, it appears that the enhancement in durability primarily extends through the spiritual aspects of the generated duplicate." She explained.

"So what does that mean? Tougher souls?" She asked.

"That means they might be able to survive an overload of fortune energy." I explained.

Aisha blinked. "The thing that turns you into a god?" I nodded. "Well, shit."

"Yeah." I said, reviewing the data again. "It might not be enough, especially if we leave out the last two potions in order to add the barrier and invisibility effects."

Which might be worth it, if just to head off the possibility of short-term ascension of my duplicates in the final hours of their duration. And because the barrier and invisibility effects had gotten similarly enhanced from the various quality and divine crafting effects I'd picked up. It was a LOT more than 'bubble shield' and 'transparent to visible light', with enhanced control, precision, range, and even metaphysical effects that bordered on conceptual in some cases. Actually useful, even at my level, but never enough to warrant passing up on a set of duplicates.

Of course, if I could overload duplicates with fortune energy, that was an even more powerful option. There weren't many problems that couldn't be solved by throwing eight short term deities at them. Of course, messing around with spiritual aspects on that level, to say nothing of the amount of fortune energy that would be in play, carried its own level of risk. It was orders of magnitude more extreme than my concerns over what the new standard of duplicates would get up to on their own, and that was assuming that it was even possible to ascend a temporary projection in a stable manner, no matter how spiritually robust it was.

Yeah, I had hit the point where the practicalities of theological engineering were a real concern. Well, I'd kind of been skirting that for a while, but this was a much more direct issue. It was something that we'd need to test carefully and under controlled conditions, as much as that was possible when you were dealing with these kinds of spiritual mechanics. If we shoved enough energy into a duplicate for them to turn into a fortune god, that energy wasn't just going to vanish when the duplicate's duration ended. We were going to be left with a giant mass of formerly divine spiritual and fortune energy that was going to have all kinds of complexities to it.

"So I'm guessing this is another of those 'emergency' options for dealing with Jack or the worse-than-Jack stuff?" Aisha asked. "Something on the 'Impossible Color' to 'Divine Mecha' scale?"

I nodded grimly. "I'd say 'assuming it's possible', but I'm pretty sure that with enough work it's the kind of thing we could figure out." I let out a breath. "I mean, 'Fortune God' was always one of the emergency options, this is just handing that off to the duplicates." Which would save me from having to do it, but result in an entirely new set of problems, which were really just a more extreme version of the problems that eight duplicates that would last for a full day would naturally bring.

"Great." Aisha said. "Anything else?"

"It will be necessary to revise projections of the Exsphere's development." Survey pointed out.

"Right, that." I said. It was a much lower concern than the potential of short-term divinity for my duplicates, but still worth addressing. "It's been charging from every set of duplicates, and getting more from the longer duration. More spiritual presence means more growth, so with this…"

"Cruxis within two sets of duplicates." I said, going over the analysis in my head. "Three at the most, and it will keep growing from there."

"That's just a booster, right?" Aisha asked. "Physical and magical stuff?"

"And energy wings. And another type of immortality." I said. Technically it was from halting your aging through suspending metabolic processes, which was unbelievably basic by my standards, but the multiplicative effect on my physical and spiritual abilities was a lot more significant. Of course, when I was already outgunning everything in the city, if not the planet off of nothing but pure power, this really only changed the collateral damage calculations.

"Wings huh?" Aisha said. "I'm sure Garment will be thrilled to design around the aesthetic."

"No bet." I said dryly, before checking on things with Taylor. She was halfway through a blink as she worked through the revelation I had just presented to her. One that barely registered as one by the current standards of my team. It was another reminder that the stuff that people were freaking out about was actually orders of magnitude less significant than the stuff that I was freaking out about. Not that I was in any hurry to clear things up.

I shook my head. "Power aside, the real problem is probably going to be logistical."

"Really?" Aisha asked. "Aren't you super good at that kind of thing?"

"I am when I'm coordinating stuff, but this is going to be me plus eight copies of me who are going to be around for a full day."

"Only a couple of hours with the Workshop time acceleration." My duplicate pointed out.

"Right, but still, this wasn't really a problem with just two duplicates, but with eight you're going to have them tripping over each other. I mean, unless we get some kind of system in place to organize things." I explained.

My duplicate just smiled. "Yeah, it sure would be convenient if we had some kind of preexisting standard for allocating items, tasks, and areas of responsibility into eight categories. One that we were all inherently familiar with and could default to in the event of any conflict between duplicates."

It took me a beat to figure out what he was talking about. "The trigrams?" I asked. "You want to divide things up based on the eight trigrams?"

My duplicate grinned at me while I received confirmation from the second duplicate, still working in the Alchemist's Laboratory. It was true that Trigram Knowledge and Manipulation gave me an inherent understanding of how the various trigrams related to any subject. And assigning one to each of my duplicates was probably easier than thinking of them as First Duplicate through Eighth Duplicate. I didn't know exactly how I'd end up referring to them, but considering they were versions of me it would probably be something I would come up with or at least be okay with.

Honestly, it was a little arbitrary, but it was as good a method as any for deciding who was going to handle a given task, or at least who was going to take point on it. The nature of Trigram Manipulation was the combination of trigrams to describe more complicated processes and concepts, so naturally you'd have overlap with different duplicates working together. I mean, that already happened on a much smaller scale, this was just about clarifying it to make sure it was clear who would be responsible for what.

"So when are you rolling this out?" Aisha asked. "I mean, I haven't kept an exact track of durations for the last set, but…"

"We're ready." My duplicate said. "Or will be once he's done with Taylor." He shook his head. "No reason to go overtime on this."

I nodded, though the topic of the end of my duplicates' existence would never not be uncomfortable. "There should be less 'overtime' going forward." I said. "We'd be up to about two and a half hours of outside time, rather than less than forty minutes."

"Hey, you can actually deal with long term stuff outside without the duplicates going batty." Aisha said.

"Yeah." I said. The way I was managing temporal distortions across the duration of my duplication potion was excessively complicated. Not having to micro manage things was going to be a relief, though I was willing to bet that the stress of having eight duplicates running around was going to more than make up for it.

"This is going to make a big difference, isn't it?" Tetra asked me with an excited smile.

I nodded. "Yeah. Not on everything, but this will make the projects we're dealing with much more manageable."

"It should be possible to assign a duplicate to consistently assist with efforts within Passenger Space without adversely impacting other projects." Survey suggested.

I nodded. Having a version of me on hand to help with any issues that came up was a big advantage. There were a lot of things that couldn't be handled even by the combined efforts of Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix. In those cases they normally worked around the issue until one of my duplicates could remote in and help address things. Having someone constantly on hand was going to be a big help with both the analysis of passenger space and the near constant obstacles to our analysis of passenger space.

Of course, even that wasn't going to be a magic bullet. Passenger space was immense, manifested from the combined effects of countless passengers, all expressed in distinct ways. There were consistent underlying principles, but each region had to be worked through sequentially. That was why it was so hard to come up with an effective solution to Jack's master power, or track down the source of Bakuda's signal. Both effects used passenger space as a carrier mechanism and required a frustrating level of analysis in order to work through their effect. And unfortunately there weren't many ways I could accelerate things without blowing a hole through to passenger space and dealing with the entire situation in person.

Which was going to happen at some point, just not while I was also juggling every other problem I currently had up in the air. Breaching actions to the source of parahuman abilities could wait until the Nine were good and dealt with.

"There are a bunch of other projects as well." I said. "We can afford to put someone on the longshot counters, see if any of them will come together. Even dive into some of the other members of the Nine and ensure we have everything covered on those fronts."

"Um, there's not actually a risk of us missing something, right?" Aisha asked. "I mean, I've seen the files."

"No." I assured her. "We have everything locked down. This would just be supporting information and closing out some of the details we aren't sure of."

It was unlikely that there would be any secrets hidden in the past of any member of the Nine that would impact the upcoming conflict, but driving home the investigations would ensure that we had everything buttoned up. If I had the manpower to spare, there was no reason to overlook them.

"Well, that's good." Aisha said. "Anything else for the octet of Joes?"

Aisha's question was answered by the unexpected manifestation of Fleet's digital avatar, with the Matrix alongside him. "There is one important matter that I believe we should be prepared for." He said with utter seriousness.

"What is it?" I asked, leaning forward.

"The ability to generate eight duplicates, combined with the existing members of the team and inclusion of the four Kerbal pilots, will allow all twenty grid positions to be filled in accordance with official Formula 1 regulations." He explained.

I looked at him. "What?"

"Formula 1 requires a total of twenty drivers. We are now able to meet that requirement." He explained again.

"Ah." I said. "And that's relevant because…"

It was the Matrix who spoke next. "It will allow us to make full use of the Formula 1 tracks that have been constructed." They said as they pulled up the plans of various courses that had been assembled, by the Matrix, around the Workshop, and assembled in the mere seconds since I received this power.

Well, no one could accuse Fleet of being idle. Or the Matrix of passing up an opportunity to build something. Build multiple somethings, hundreds of miles apart, with seconds of notice. The tracks had effectively erupted from the landscape of the outer areas of my workshop, all in rather picturesque locations. Or at least locations that would be picturesque once things fully settled.

The Matrix had taken advantage of their distributed position monitoring the Dragon's Pulse and Mantic Circuits within the Workshop to act in multiple areas simultaneously, using their alchemy, manufacturing capabilities, and earth elemental affinity to generate Fleet's requested Formula 1 tracks. Of course, as they had been generated in a fraction of a second the effect was less an act of construction and more of a carefully directed volcanic explosion. Still, they would look very nice once the debris finished pulling itself back into place.

And of course the Matrix had ensured that the various animals in the respective areas were safely relocated, though they were probably a bit confused as to why they were being conveyed to new locations in protective mass fields. Fields that were probably the only thing preventing them from being liquified by the speed at which they were being transported. This probably counted as environmentally neutral construction, though the various confused and disoriented animals would probably disagree.

"Well, that's good." I said.

"It does sound like fun." Aisha said as she grinned at me. "Especially if we do custom cars. Go full wacky racers."

"That would prevent true emulation of current Formula 1 standards." Fleet said. "However, given the limited power of current vehicles, some modifications would be understandable."

And there was no way the Kerbals would pass up the opportunity to build a set of monstrously over designed rocket cars for their pilots to participate in. And given the disposition of the rest of the team, that was probably going to be one of the milder offerings.

"Alright." I said. "We can plan this out for the next group activity. Maybe after the Nine." I could tell Fleet was disappointed by the delay. "Until then we can focus on codifying the rule changes and vehicle design."

That significantly raised his spirits, and got Tetra eagerly asking questions about fiber integration into potential vehicles and whether Spiral would be allowed. Meanwhile, I really needed to get back to my conversation with Taylor. She was starting to notice the pause.

"We should wrap this up." I said. "Considering I'm technically in the middle of a conversation."

"Yeah." Aisha said. "I mean, this was really just a preliminary freak out, right? It's not going to do anything until you get back and hit the next potion."

"There are advantages to evaluating the upcoming situation prior to encountering it." Survey added. "Though the level of concern initially leveled towards this ability does not appear to be entirely appropriate."

"That remains to be seen." I said in a flat tone and let out a breath.

"I'm sure it will be fine." Tetra assured me. "And it sounds like it's going to be fun!"

I had to smile at that, but Tetra tended to regard any interesting or novel situation as fun. I'm sure eight duplicates with hours of free time at the end of their duration and no concern over the consequences of their actions sounded like a great time. Unfortunately, I was the one who had to deal with those consequences, as well as the experiences of the duplicates.

That was the point I hadn't touched on, mostly because it was more of a personal thing. The psychic link between me and my duplicates on account of the Whispered power allowed the sharing of information and experiences. It was already a lot to deal with from two duplicates. I wasn't sure how I'd manage with eight sharing a full day of experience every two and a half hours.

That might be a concern, but I also wasn't going to let them fade away to nothing. Somehow I'd deal with it. Fortunately I had Mental Fortress and the reflection that had come from developing my aspect, so I was reasonably certain I could handle it, but it was still going to be a lot.

"Alright." I said, letting out a simulated breath. "We can deal with the rest of this later. I've got to get back to the situation at hand."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Aisha said. She exchanged a look with Tetra, Survey, and even Fleet and the Matrix, making it clear I was the only one who didn't know about Taylor's situation. That was a bit concerning. It was obvious that it involved problems at school centered on Emma and possibly other students as well, but that seemed like it should be a simple explanation.

Then again, 'problems at school' wasn't the kind of thing that got someone flagged as a priority case in a police system, or had the level of online discourse that Taylor's situation had drummed up. It was even more than could be justified by the improbably well shot video of her confrontation, or the association with Garment's show, or the unusually poignant and topically relevant nature of what she had said in the confrontation in question.

No, there was something bigger going on here, something seriously bad to the point where even my passenger was sensitive about the topic. And I was diving into it with the potential for a major power to still arrive.

Yeah, as significant as Mixing Mixtures was, it was comparatively small in terms of size and required reach. Reach that was still building, and should be enough for a major power the next time the Forge connected again. There was the possibility something would kick this down the road, some minor power or Workshop expansion, but really all I could hope for was something that didn't end up throwing a wrench in the sensitive topic that Taylor was working up to.

I focused briefly, deactivating the spiritron acceleration from my implant. The virtual environment fell away and I was back at Taylor's kitchen table watching her process the fact that I had admitted to using nanites in my healing technology.

You know, because that was still a serious issue by normal people's standards.

"And it's alright for you to use nanotech?" She asked. "And to tell me about it?"

I shrugged. "I'm sure there are a lot of people who wouldn't be 'alright' with me using nanotech, but there are a lot of people who aren't 'alright' with most of the technology I use." Taylor nodded, and I had a feeling she was empathizing more with those people than my own situation. "As for telling you about it, I'm not going to give you healing technology and not explain exactly what it is and what it can do."

"Well, that's good." She said, "But nanotech. Medical nanotechnology." She shook her head. "You had that when we first fought Bakuda. Even with the rest of what you made, how did you get something like that back then?"

I smiled. "I had help." I explained to her, but I could feel her irritation. "You could say the Matrix is specialized in that kind of thing."

Taylor frowned. "Is that something you could say, or is that what happened?" She asked. "I know you're trying to help, but people are always talking around me. Talking over me." She shook her head. "You have no idea how frustrating that is."

I had some idea, but I had a feeling this wasn't just about the situation at school. Even without my expanded senses, I would have been able to tell what set her off.

"That was about my team." I said. It wasn't really a question.

Taylor let out a sigh and shifted her cup in her hands before she replied. "Nobody knew about them before Somer's Rock. Not any of them, and apparently I was the one who was supposed to have known something."

Which wasn't really fair, but I could understand where the rest of the Undersiders were coming from. Talking obliquely about my team members had clearly struck a nerve, and Taylor was high strung enough.

"The Matrix does specialize in nanotechnology." I said. "It's not my place to discuss things further. I didn't mean to be flippant about things. I know this is serious."

The shift in tone seemed to help her calm down. "Yeah." She said, "I don't want to press you on this kind of thing, but at the same time this is serious, so it's like I can't not."

"That's why I'm going over this." I said. "I'm not going to hand off technology without making sure you understand what it does and all the implications behind it." I shook my head. "As for my team, that was a developing situation, and like I said, not my place to discuss things. If you want to talk to any of them you're free to, but it's not my place to speak for them. Or for you."

Taylor let out a breath. "I appreciate that. The privacy stuff. It can be frustrating, but it's nice that you take it seriously." She looked up at me. "So you're just handing out nanotech like it doesn't mean anything?"

"No." I said. "I'm handing out nanotech because I know how much it means." I slowly reached inside my jacket and drew out the glowing yellow sphere, identical to the one I had given to Flechette. "This is serious. Part of that is because it's based on medical nanites, but that's just the starting point."

Taylor looked down at the glowing orb. "The starting point?"

I nodded. "This is the strongest healing technology I can make. The absolute best work I can produce. I'm not sure I can even convey how powerful this is or how many resources went into it."

Taylor's breath hitched as she looked at the little yellow ball, now sitting about a half inch above the surface of her kitchen table. "This was supposed to be a shortcut for working out, so I could get into shape easier."

"The scope changed a bit." I admitted. "And I'm working with more than I had back then." I shrugged. "Not to underplay things, but you can still use it to get in shape. Like, pretty much immediately, to whatever level of fitness you want."

Taylor's lips pressed into a line. "That's underplaying things?"

"Comparatively? Yeah, it is." I said, giving Taylor a direct look. "This is the most powerful healing technology that I am capable of creating. It's powerful enough that it probably doesn't even qualify as just 'healing' in a lot of categories. By current standards it's pretty much off that map."

Taylor looked at the ball of nanites. "So, like Lung when he was ramped up?"

I shook my head. "Not even close. With this you wouldn't even feel the kind of attack that took him out."

Taylor's eyes widened as she looked at the nanites again. "If I use these, that couldn't kill me?"

"With these there's not much that could kill you." I said. "Including old age."

Her eyes snapped up. "What?" She asked. "That's…"

"Immortality, or the closest thing I can make to it." I explained. "Which is a lot to deal with, but I wanted you to know what you were dealing with."

"This is crazy." She said, then looked up at my face. "Isn't it?" Things seemed to be falling in place for her. "There's a reason you went this far, isn't there?"

I nodded slowly. "Last time we talked I said that my thinker power told me you were going to be involved in something important."

"I know." She said with a confident nod, that was definitely misplaced confidence. I managed to avoid sighing in response.

"Taylor, I'm still very certain that whatever you think I was talking about, it was bigger than that." I explained, utterly failing to convince her in the slightest. Knowing a futile battle when I saw one, I pressed on. "But this is important. Extremely important. I still don't know all the details, but I'm doing what I can to investigate and see if I can manage things myself. But if something happens, or for some reason I can't, it's going to fall to you." I said. "You and the other people who are involved in this."

That caused Taylor to look up. "There are other people?" She asked.

I nodded. "Other people who are important to dealing with this. Not to the same level as you, but they're necessary for this to come together. Key pieces." I looked down at the orb. "I made these for everyone involved."

Taylor shifted uncomfortably, shifting her grip on her cup. "How many are there?"

"Three." I said. "Including you."

Taylor nodded slowly. "Can you tell me who they are?"

Well, considering it was one leak away from getting out as soon as Flechette and Weld made it back to the PRT headquarters…

"The other two are Flechette and Panacea." I said.

"Heroes." Taylor said with a complicated expression. And an even more complicated mix of emotions.

I shrugged. "That's how it played out." It wasn't the case for all of the possibilities, but I wasn't bringing Bonesaw into this situation, and there was also the fact that Damsel of Distress or Scrub could sub in for Flechette, just not as well. "The bigger thing is that everyone connected to this is in the city at the same time, which is a lot of risk to manage."

Taylor just nodded, like that situation was the most natural thing in the world. And if she was assuming that whatever local mess she'd gotten herself into was the worlds ending disaster I was trying to prevent, then of course everyone involved would have ended up in Brockton Bay at the same time.

"So you made one of these for Flechette and Panacea?" She asked.

I nodded. "I've already met with Flechette."

"You know her?" Taylor asked, looking up.

I shook my head. "No, but I've stayed in touch with Weld and he's close to Flechette. I met with her and explained things."

Taylor looked at me in concern. "About the…"

"Not about you, and not about whatever you think this is about, which again…" And I was talking to deaf ears. "I didn't mention you, but it's possible she put together that you were also important to this, because of…"

Taylor nodded. "Because you've been protecting me." She looked down at the glowing sphere. "You're still protecting me." She sounded like she was conflicted on the subject, which as a teenager was probably natural, even without taking into account the issues with support and authority that could develop from ongoing problems at school.

I just shrugged. "This is literally the best way I have of making sure that you're safe."

She looked back up at me. "Do I need to be safe? I mean, need to be this safe." She shifted in her chair. "I know things are getting complicated with the gangs. I don't know if the Undersiders are going to get called into it, but Lisa thinks something is going to happen soon."

Something's definitely going to happen soon, though not for the reason Taylor probably assumed. Additionally, I had the feeling her assessment from Tattletale was a bit out of date. Then again, in the current situation anything more than twelve hours old was ancient history.

Huh. Probably why Tattletale had been running herself ragged trying to stay on top of things. Her and every other thinker, and most of the local capes as well. It was kind of frightening to think that my team could be the only ones in the city who knew what they were doing and were taking the time to plan things out properly, rather than just stumbling through with one desperate action after another.

"I don't know." I said honestly. "Your armor is enough for any conventional threat you could run into, but it has limits, and you don't have it all the time. A nanite array will cover those gaps, and it's enough to protect you even from the worst-case scenario that my power's warning me about."

That caused Taylor to pause. "And Flechette's already using her version of this?" She asked. "I mean, she accepted?"

"She did." I said, "But you shouldn't base your decision on that."

"Not just on that." She said, looking at the sphere. "Is it even okay for me to take this? I mean, with…" She gestured to the bandages on her face.

I nodded. "It's fine. The healing is directable. You can leave those to recover at a natural rate, but still ensure there's no scarring or long-term effects." I explained. "The same with your glasses."

Taylor looked up. "What about my glasses?"

"The nanites can let you see without them, but they can also adapt your vision to different focus conditions. If you need to see through your old glasses, or any other similar condition, you'd still be able to." I explained.

"Ah." She said, "So I can wear them, I just won't need them." I nodded.

She gave the sphere another serious look. The glow was muted in the well-lit kitchen, but there was a weight to it that I'm sure she was able to pick up on.

"Is there anything else I'd need to be concerned about?" She asked. "Not that I'm expecting any problems, but there are like, tiny robots, right? Do I need to worry about magnets or metal controlling capes of stuff like that?"

"Not with these nanites." I said, raising a hand and generating a hologram of the same model I'd shared with Flechette. "They operate primarily on quantum effects and direct atomic manipulation, and have secondary effects addressing any other concerns that would normally exist."

Taylor nodded. "Those effects, they're things like what you did for my knife, and my armor, right?"

"That's right." I said. "My powers let me impart additional effects to items, independent of technology. Examples of that go all the way back to the first things I made."

"The way the knives repair themselves." She said. I nodded. Taylor let out a long breath. "All this and I haven't even gotten into the 'immortal' thing." She shook her head. "That's big. Bigger than I can really deal with. Not with everything else."

"That's the default setting for these nanites. I can remove or modify them later if you want, but if there's some cape who can manipulate time, or artificially age people, I don't want to leave that as a point of vulnerability."

"Right." Taylor said, taking another breath. "Okay, so how do I do this?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're sure?"

"Pretty sure." She said honestly. "And I doubt this is anything terrible if you've already passed it out to a Ward."

I shrugged. "It's still significant, but not in any way that's dangerous or going to cause problems later."

Taylor nodded. "Then I'm ready."

I gave her a serious look. "Alright." I said. "Just grab the sphere. You should be able to press through the forcefield. Once you make contact with the nanites the rest is automatic."

She nodded again then reached down, taking the sphere in one, and then both hands. She flexed slightly, effectively crushing the sphere between her hands, only instead of crushing her hands flowed into the central mass of nanites. There was the familiar sound of an electric motor as golden circuit-like lines spread out from her hands, up her arms and across her body.

Taylor gasped, pulling her hands apart as the sphere evaporated. The glowing lines remained on her body for a moment, sitting on top of her clothes like a circuit board, before they also faded away. She blinked, then reached up to lift up her glasses. She looked around the room, then lowered her glasses. There was a second where her eyes refocused before she turned back to me.

"I see what you meant." She said, then lifted a hand to her face. "It doesn't hurt anymore." She said, gently poking the bandaged scratches. "I can tell they're still there, but they don't hurt."

"Part of the nanites." I said. "The recovery rate is so fast that most injuries won't have time to hurt, and any that do will be minor twinges at most." Of course, to get even a minor twinge you'd need to be going through near complete destruction of your body on a repeated basis, but it was probably best not to get into gruesome possibilities. "You're also covered for food, water, air, and sleep." She gave me a surprised look. "I mean, you can still eat, drink, breath, and sleep, but you won't have to."

"Right." She said, taking a breath. And then stopping. Stopping for quite a long time as she realized exactly what I'd been saying. When she started breathing again it was with no discomfort or relief. More like nothing had happened at all. "Probably should have asked about that. Or I guess assumed, from what you said."

"I know you dove into this. If you want to back out, or take more time to think about it…" I offered.

"No." She said quickly. "It's a lot, but it's not bad." She took another breath and rolled her shoulder. "None of this is bad."

I nodded. Taylor hadn't had any healing from me since before the Ungodly Hour. That was a long time for stress and wear to build it. It made sense that she'd be enjoying a break from that. And I was enjoying the fact that I no longer had to worry about Taylor getting herself killed. Or abusing my technology for destructive purposes.

Well, she could still jump off buildings onto people, but she'd been doing that already. And at some point she was probably going to figure out she had hysterical strength on demand and, with her healing taken into account, was actually stronger than Aegis. That was a bit of a scary thought, but Taylor becoming a low-end brute was probably a lateral move in terms of threat potential. At least there wasn't…

I reconsidered as I examined Taylor, or more specifically the connection between Taylor and the swarm she controlled. I'd already felt the way the connection mirrored some principles of the Dragon's Pulse and knew how aggressively her passenger was working to facilitate that connection, but there was now a new element to it.

The nanites included all of the technology at my disposal, including Mantic Cores. Mantic Cores weren't just an infinite power source, they were powerful devices capable of recording and restoring the environment around them. The more complicated something was, the longer it took a core to record it for restoration. They could easily reassemble a building, but living things were a lot more complicated, requiring more time in order to fully register.

That principle was why Aisha had included a miniaturized Mantic Core into the rebuild of Brian's watch. Well, that and because the Matrix had hundreds of the things ready to go and was desperate to foist them off on whoever was willing to take one. The point was, even if the defenses of the watch failed, the core could restore Brian to full health, or even back to life, providing it had enough time to fully record his pattern.

When it came to the nanites, the restoration function of the Mantic Cores was mostly intended to repair clothing and personal items that could be damaged in attacks. In extreme cases it could fully restore the person carrying the array, but it was unlikely to extend that to any other people. Constantly moving a Mantic Core disrupted its ability to record its environment, so it would only be able to synchronize with the person carrying it, and thus moving in relation to it.

The thing was, because of the way Taylor's passenger connected her to her bugs, they were effectively being treated as interacting with a stationary Mantic Core. And bugs were a lot less complicated than people when it came to recording their information for restoration purposes. If Taylor kept the same insects in her range for long enough for their data to be recorded, her nanites would start rolling back any damage they sustained.

I had just accidentally given Taylor the potential for an immortal swarm of insects. In terms of mistakes, that was a pretty big one. Not as bad as it could be, considering the power I was throwing around, and at least it was working within her existing capabilities rather than giving her some new and terrible power to experiment with.

"What?" Taylor asked, noticing my silence. I debated keeping this quiet and trying to roll out a hotfix, but there was a decent chance she'd notice it on her own before I could. Better to head things off and just accept what I'd apparently unleashed.

"Minor unforeseen effect from the nanites." I began. She gave me a concerned look and I made a placating gesture. "Not bad." Well, probably bad, but not that she'd see it that way. "The nanites incorporate a form of technology that can record data on the state of items in its environment and restore them if they're damaged. It means if your clothes get torn up or cut the nanites can put them back together."

"Seriously?" Taylor asked. I nodded. "Um, what's the 'unforeseen effect'?" She asked.

"Well, because of how your power connects you to your bugs, it looks like the effect is applying to them to the same degree." She gave me a blank look. "If you keep the same bugs in your range for long enough, your nanites will start restoring them if they get damaged."

"What?" She asked. "That's… my bugs can heal too?"

"It's not healing. Not like your healing. It's more of a regression to a previous state, but if you mean can they go from a damaged state to a functional one? Yeah." I said with a nod, fully aware of what I'd just unleashed. "They can do that."

"That's… that's just…" She swallowed. "Um, thank you, for that and for… for everything."

"You're welcome." It was a fairly basic exchange, given what we'd been dealing with, but basic pleasantries were still nice.

Of course, nothing nice could last forever, and I became well aware of that as the moment I'd been dreading was suddenly upon me. I felt the Forge move. The Time constellation swung towards me and my power latched onto the last mote in the constellation, and it was a big one. I braced myself as the nova of power detached from the array of the Forge and descended towards me with the energy of an exploding sun. I braced myself as the burning energy surged into me, infusing my body and mind with power.

…and SCIENCE! Suddenly, everything was possible! With SCIENCE!

The mote was called Strong Spark. It was a complimentary power to a minor mote I'd obtained ages ago. Scientist Machinery merely granted me a doctorate in mechanical engineering. It had been fairly significant at the time, but had been largely forgotten and overshadowed in the following weeks.

Strong Spark was in a completely different league. This wasn't the kind of power that got forgotten or overshadowed. It was the kind of power that did the overshadowing. It was effectively Mad Scientist, the Power. A frightening concept, and one that would have been significantly more frightening if I had gotten it earlier in my career.

This was a power that actually came with warning labels, or the equivalent of them. Yes, it granted me greater insight, understanding, speed of work, comprehension, logistical command, and for some reason diction, but all that was only the entry level of the power. The ability to nearly instantly master the most complex secrets of science with unparalleled skill and create masterpieces of engineering was what was considered 'base level' from Strong Spark.

The highest levels of this power rivaled what I was capable of producing with Superweapons. Actually, given the implied aesthetics and conventions of the two powers, that was an oddly appropriate comparison. Both powers allowed me to construct borderline impossible creations of scientific genius, capable of tremendous feats the likes of which the world had never seen. However, while accomplishing that kind of thing with Superweapons required a tremendous amount of resources, staggering quantities of labor, extensive construction periods, and the acquisition of a specific item that was consistently difficult to obtain for either legal or logistical reasons, with Strong Spark I just needed to get really, really mad.

Unfortunately, that was the classical use of the word 'mad', not a simple synonym of anger, though there was probably going to be plenty of that involved in any situation that could trigger the level of 'mad' necessary to start reconsidering the fundamental laws of the universe. The power, or the world it came from, even had a term for it. The Madness Place, which was what they called it when a 'spark' started to go full mad scientist.

Because with the context of this power, I could tell this wasn't some one off or outlier. This was an example of a phenomenon that was well understood, if appropriately feared. I didn't have full context for the world this power came from, but I could tell that mad scientists were not exactly uncommon there.

I could also tell that this power made me something of a standout, even by the standards of that world. Something that was effectively baked into their society, well established enough that when a scientist started ranting people knew to take cover. And I knew how bad that could get. How dangerous things could become when Sparks gave into that burning desire to prove themselves, to discover the mysteries that had eluded them, to show what they knew and their mastery of the forces of science and nature.

I knew it because it existed within my own mind. This power, as spectacular as it was, came with that same instability that was inherent to all sparks, and even more pronounced with 'Strong Sparks'. I could feel the way my body was processing every sensation, every scrap of information, drawing in data like a spring slowly coiling, ready to be unleashed. I could feel the unbridled potential, the temptation to give in, to cut loose, to unleash the pure and unrestrained power of science upon the world.

But I wasn't concerned. And not just because Sparks considered 'concerns' to be a thing that happened to other people. I could feel the power, the drive, and the potential, but that was the point. I could feel it. I was aware of the impact on my own mind, because I possessed Mental Fortress, granting me a sense of individuality so strong that my mind was impenetrable to mental influences. The proportion of how much of the effect of Strong Spark was an external influence and how much was an expression of my own mind was debatable, but at the very least I was aware of the state of my mental condition.

And in addition to Mental Fortress I had Katsujinken, the philosophy of the life-giving fist, which granted me a focused and calm demeanor. And I had Sei Ki, an inward focus of energy that allowed me to remain calm and centered, consistently thoughtful and aware of my surroundings. Even in the worst depths of the Madness Place, I wasn't going to lose myself or descend into cackling mania.

Okay, maybe a bit of cackling could be appropriate under certain circumstances, but that would be a measured and moderated response, mainly for the purposes of playing into a particular aesthetic or the proven stress relieving benefits of emotional outbursts, not because I would be losing myself to mania.

In fact, with Aspect Cultivation, the idea that I could ever 'lose myself' was ridiculous. There could be different expressions, different masks that presented fronts for my true self, but that true self would always be there.

That might have sounded like a platitude, but it was actually a very comforting element of the entire situation. The biggest concern I'd have regarding a power like this was the potential that I could lose myself. That I could black out and come to in the wake of some horrible act, something I'd never be able to live with. Only now I knew that no matter how far I went, I would always be me. I could be in the depths of the Madness Place, tinkering with the fundamental forces of reality on a scale I'd never dreamed of achieving, but I'd still be me. I had absolute confidence that no matter how far this went, I wouldn't lose myself or do anything that I couldn't live with.

And that was assuming I actually lost myself. I had no intention of diving into the depths of the Madness Place, and frankly I doubted there was any chance of that happening. You didn't just casually achieve a level of emotional distress capable of undermining the fabric of reality, and I didn't anticipate anything that could possibly set that off. At least not beyond the minor levels of impossible innovation that were relatively easy to come back from.

That was the real appeal of this power. Yes, you effectively had the risk of a disastrous scientific fugue triggering at any moment. Yes, you were walking on the edge of dipping into that state at any minute, but that was the thing about standing on the edge. The view was spectacular.

Yes, mad science was dangerous, but it was also passionate, engrossing, and fantastic in every way. Strong spark carried risks, but it also brought a passion and enthusiasm, a love for life and everything that there was to be achieved and discovered. You might be overloading your engine to dangerous levels, but that meant everything was faster, brighter, and more exciting. I could see the wonder in the universe and feel the joy and excitement at the unlimited potential before me.

Potential that I'd had to be so careful to restrain in a world where every major organization on the planet was on a hair trigger and knife edge when it came to my actions. Where every move, every word, every detail of how I presented myself had to be carefully curated to make sure that the powers that be didn't lose their security blanket and end up doing something unfortunate.

That had been necessary, but it had also been stifling. And I was so close to breaking free from those restrictions. By tomorrow morning the Nine would be gone and the Celestial Forge would break containment from Brockton Bay to wipe the stain of the Slaughterhouse's existence from the world. And after that there would be no stopping. The old restrictions would fall away and we would be able to act freely, with bold and decisive measures that would finally see the chaos of this city put to rest.

And yes, I knew that I was thinking in rather grandiose terms. It was kind of natural when your brain suddenly decided to overclock itself. I could at least recognize where the thought patterns were coming from and why I was engaging in them.

Which was mostly because it was fun. It was fun to see the world as an opportunity again. Fun to be able to take joy and delight in my capabilities. Fun to look to the future and know that I'd be able to handle whatever I might face.

And I felt a stirring at those thoughts. A force building on itself as it moved ever forward and upwards. Spiral, of course, was naturally compatible with the thinking of a Spark, and it was easier to draw upon that energy than it had ever been. Despite all the potential instability and uncertainty, I was feeling optimistic for the future.

I mean, after all that, how could I not?

Of course, Taylor's expression was enough to dampen my excitement over my new ability. I quickly schooled my expression while still smiling on the inside. "Sorry." I said. "I had to work through something there."

Taylor nodded slowly. "That was related to your power?" She asked. "To how you get stronger?"

I nodded. "Pretty well established by now, but yeah, that was another power increase."

"Um, anything I should be concerned about?" She asked carefully.

"No." I said confidently. "The opposite, really." She raised an eyebrow. "A lot of stuff is easier to deal with now. Projects I've been working on, new initiatives, that kind of thing."

"Oh." She said, "Um, stuff like the nanites?"

"That kind of thing." I said. "It would be easier to recreate them now, compared to when I first made them."

Taylor nodded. "When was that?"

"This morning." I said.

Taylor blinked. "This morning? And you're already better at it?" She dropped her head. "Right, right." She sighed. "It's still hard to remember sometimes."

I cracked a smile at her. "I never meant for the 'three day' thing to become a meme."

"I can believe that." She said, "But practically, is it actually three days?"

"It's variable." I explained. "And erratic. Not everything builds at the same rate, or is applicable to everything."

"But that was?" She asked. "I mean, if I needed anything else, like that mobility thing?"

"Well, I didn't need this to help with mobility concerns." I said. "And it's kind of secondary to that kind of thing, but if you need help in that area?"

"Um, maybe?" She said, "But I don't need you to go to any trouble."

I had to smile at that. "Trouble." I muttered in amusement as I looked around. "Hey, you have some cobwebs in the corner over the cabinets." I said idly.

"What?" Taylor asked, turning to look at them. "Oh, um, those must have been before I got my powers. I've kept spiders mostly in the basement since then, and I guess we haven't dusted there in a while."

"I've got it." I said, standing up and moving to the counter.

"You don't have to." Taylor protested as I reached up above the kitchen cabinets and grabbed the remnants of a long abandoned spiderweb.

"It's fine, and I just wanted the silk." I said as I strolled back, working the cobweb in my hands.

The fragile wisps of silk wove together into long strands of gossamer thread, then meshed together into a complex lattice. As I sat back down a flick of my wrist caused a silk cape to clutter out to full length. The design was halfway between spiderweb and the mesh of insect wings. Taylor just stared at the cape, her mouth falling slightly open.

"What is that?" She asked.

"Flight cape." I said happily, handing it over. She accepted it reverently, running her hands over the silky surface, feeling the complexities in the embroidery and the subtle changes in the weave of the fabric.

"Flight cape?" She asked. "This can fly? Will let me fly?"

"It's really not that hard." I said with a wide smile. "If you asked earlier, I could have put something together, but it's pretty much trivial now."

"Right." She said, still looking at the cape. "Um, how does it work?"

"Intuitively." I said. She looked up at me with an expression between confusion and frustration. "I mean, you put it on and when you want to fly it will change into wings." That part was basically a knockoff or the Icarus system, though without the obvious points of failure that came from using wax as your primary structural adhesive.

"That's it?" She asked.

I nodded. "I made it as simple to use as possible. It should let you stay out of danger when you're out in costume."

Taylor looked up at me with a surprised expression on her face, one that suggested that staying out of danger had been the last thing on her mind. I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but if she was going to throw herself into the thick of things, at least she'd have an effective exit plan.

"Um, thank you." She said, "I should probably get this put away with the rest of my costume."

"No need, it folds up." I said. She gave me a confused look, feeling the thickness of the fabric. I reached over and with a twist the entire cape folded down to a size smaller than a handkerchief.

"Oh." Taylor said. "That's… Thank you?"

"It's fine." I said, smiling again. "You can actually fold up the rest of your costume in there, if you want."

"I can?" She asked, "I mean, like the bag, only folded?"

"Sort of." I said. "You can fold it up while you're wearing it as well, if you want to change quickly." Taylor gave me a concerned look. "Um, you probably want to wear some normal clothes under your costume if you do that." I added quickly. I was managing the higher level of energy from Strong Spark reasonably well, but apparently it was still possible for me to put my foot in my mouth.

"Clothes don't fit under my costume." Taylor began, then looked down. "Unless they do, because of the cape?" I just shrugged. "Of course."

"Sorry. I know it's a lot to deal with." I said.

"I'm sure this is the kind of problem any cape would want to deal with. It feels stupid to complain about having your powers enhanced several times over." She explained. Then saw my expression. "What?"

"Well, I haven't actually done anything for your powers." I explained. "This was all ancillary stuff. Healing, flight, and even insects aren't directly related to your master power."

"Yeah, but it's not like you can just boost that, right?" She looked at me. "Right?"

"Well…" I began.

Taylor let out a breath that we both knew she didn't actually need anymore. "This is the power tinker stuff, right?" She asked.

I nodded. "A lot more serious than nanotechnology. Which is why I haven't fully confirmed it, despite the theories."

It was probably not a great idea to confirm it to Taylor either, but I wasn't overly concerned. Part of that was the enthusiasm partially born from Strong Spark that had me reveling in being able to present my work. Part of it was the confidence, also partially born from Strong Spark, that I could deal with whatever might come from this. Any level of Taylor related disaster, I was sure I could deal with it. Possibly by creating a slightly more directed disaster, but I would still be able to handle things.

"So you can really just affect powers like that?" Taylor asked.

"Sort of." I said. Taylor obviously hadn't seen the news about Gully yet, and I was fine sidestepping the whole 'Case 69' situation. "Actually changing powers is difficult, and sometimes dangerous. It's a lot easier to make things that augment powers, and even then most of the time you're just working with the original effect, rather than actually changing things."

"What's the difference?" Taylor asked.

"Well, powers work through a defined mechanism or effect. You can build things that work with that effect, like a focus for someone who uses light-based powers to give them more precision." I explained. "It would be like boosting your range using portals. You aren't actually affecting the power, just the conditions under which the power is expressed."

"Wait, you can do that?" Taylor asked. "Make something that would give me more range? Let my power reach further."

I nodded. "I could, but it's not the best idea."

"Why not?" Taylor asked, leaning forward across the table.

"Because portals go both ways." I said. Taylor gave me a blank look. "I could boost your range, but any parahuman who had a similar area effect power would be able to reach you through the active portal. It's why I don't use that method myself."

"Huh." Taylor said. "I didn't think that would be a problem."

"It's not a common problem, but there are a lot of effects that you don't want coming back to you."

Taylor nodded. "But there are other ways?" She asked. "Things that can boost powers without those kinds of problems."

I nodded. "There are, but there are limitations."

"What kind of limitations?" She asked.

"I can make items that interact with powers, change how they're expressed or boost their strength." I could see Taylor's eyes widen at that. "The thing is, they have to be kind of thematically appropriate to the effect in question." She gave me a confused look. "It's like with Dauntless. There are limits to what kind of powers he can imbue into different pieces of equipment. He could make a cloak or boots that let him fly, but that wouldn't work for something like gloves."

Taylor nodded slowly. "So for something like my power…"

"Mostly headgear." I explained, "That's standard for mental powers. Headbands, helmets, crowns are big for master powers." I could see that didn't land. "Or you could always go with staffs."

"Staffs?" Taylor asked.

"Surprisingly versatile." I explained. "If you don't mind looking like a wizard."

Personally I saw that as a positive element, but it was clear Taylor was about as excited by the prospect as the crown suggestion.

"Okay, I'm not asking for this, and I know there would probably be a lot of checks and stuff if I did, but those would be my only options? Crown or wizard staff?"

I shrugged. "Not a lot of other thematic items for animal control." I smiled. "Not unless you want to start playing the flute."

Taylor froze. "What?" She asked in a flat voice.

"Well, it's kind of a Pied Piper thing, but-" I cut myself off as I felt the massive spike of emotion from Taylor. I was unsure what had brought that on, but even as Taylor kept her face expressionless, I could feel the weight of what I had dredged up.

My passenger was happy to confirm that for me. Flute. For some reason, mentioning the flute was what triggered this. I couldn't think of any connection, none that I knew about, but I really didn't know Taylor that well. Even knowing her mother, I'd only heard the occasional mention.

Whatever it was, it was serious. My passenger was adamant about that. Serious, and connected to the situation at Taylor's school. A situation we'd be avoiding for as long as possible, but apparently that had come to an end.

"Taylor, I didn't…" I began. The exuberance I'd been feeling since receiving Strong Spark was shifting into an equally intense concern. That was the thing about being a Spark. Everything was more intense, good and bad, and there was a lot of bad to be had here.

"It's okay." She said, clearly not okay. She managed to blink away some tears before they fell before taking another unnecessary breath and looking up at me. "I guess we should probably talk about what happened at school. And with Emma."

I just nodded. I really hadn't planned to come into this discussion with an inherently unstable mad scientist power running in the background. I could literally feel how much this was weighing on Taylor, the amount of pain and conflicting emotions. Given how quickly a Spark could ramp up to dangerous levels, I was going to have to be especially careful about how I reacted to what was coming. While I was confident I'd be able to handle things much better than your typical Spark, I also knew what a low bar that was.

Given the circumstances, maybe Tattletale's concerns weren't completely unfounded.

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Mixing Mixtures (Banjo-Kazooie) 200:

Your created potions can bestow multiple effects you know, however mixing too many might cause surprises. You can Reliably mix up to a dozen elixirs without them interfering with the effects of each other.

Strong Spark (Girl Genius) 600:

Rather than having a weak Spark (Like a PEASANT who took the "Spark" Perk, which this is incompatible with) you have an extremely powerful one. You don't limit your scientific explorations to a single topic, but are a master of anything that meets your eye (well, at least once you're in the Madness Place). You go further and farther than almost anyone, and when you get working, you quickly stop caring about things like "fundamental laws" and "nature of the universe" and ... well, pretty much anything. Warping the fabric of reality is a pretty common thing. Unfortunately, it's also significantly harder to get OUT of the Madness Place, and you get sidetracked pretty easily as well. Last week you were trying to get a stain out of your carpet, and woke up with an army of death-ray-wielding mice obedient to your commands! MWAHAHAHA