ChatPtV (Dinah Alt-Power)

[A pirate over the sea]

Dinah Alcott had a lot of weird dreams. Her doctor and parents assured it that it was because she had to take a lot of melatonin to help sleep, which did something along the lines of reducing brain inhibitions or whatever. Dinah was 12, she didn't care, the doctor never had anything interesting to say. All he did was complain about Dinah needed to eat more vegetables. She was more interested in going to see Becky this weekend, not about the stupid problems with her brain that could easily be solved with medicines.

Dinah was having a super weird one tonight, though.

After spending all day worrying about Aunt Jessie, who was in the hospital again, Dinah went to bed early after taking some headache pills Mom gave her. She didn't feel good, she was worried sick, and she kept having weird head pain; Mom thought it was a cold, but Dinah's temperature had been fine when checked.

This was all a roundabout way of Dinah trying to reason to herself that she kept dreaming about big crystals, space, and giant worms for some reason.

Melatonin gave her such weird dreams. What was worse was when the dreams were so weird they turned into nightmares, or just so vivid that the young girl didn't feel rested when she woke up the next day.

Why can't I just sleep normally for once?

"Trouble sleeping is often a sign of stress."

Dinah blinked - metaphorically - and realized that she wasn't alone in her weird dream. She sometimes saw other people, but most of Dinah's dreams were just her running through weird houses and stuff, so she was usually alone. Why was her dream talking to her?

Dinah, currently floating over bright red rocks that looked like her cousin Rory's lava lamp, glowing all funny and stuff, was now looking at someone that kinda looked like Jenny from My Life as a Teenage Robot, but if she was made out of crystals and stuff and not a cartoon. Apparently, the rock lady was talking to her.

"I am not a dream."

Dinah squinted.

"Yeah you are," she countered, pointing at the robot-dream-lady. "I'm dreaming right now."

The robot lady gave her a sort of mean-looking smile, the kind that Mrs. Grey gave Dinah when she asked a question about something she should've remembered.

"Factually incorrect," the phantom chided. "This is no hallucination and I am truly talking to you. You are currently recovering from a crisis point, allowing your shard - of which I am functionally the avatar - to remap portions of your brain to maintain functionality without causing your brain to undergo an aneurysm."

"…what?" Dinah muttered, staring at the weird lady. That was a whole lot of really big words, really fast. Dinah liked to read every once in a while, sure, but her dream talked like a scientist from her dad's show.

She didn't get a response from the weird lady with that one, which was… okay, she guessed. Dinah would just drift off some-… where… wait a second. I'm dreaming.

Dreams mean I can wake up.

Dinah blinked - literally this time - again, rubbing at her eyes, and realized she was in her room. She stared up at the ceiling with a tired sigh, eyes already crinkling painfully at the prospect of being open when they should be closed to let her sleep.

Who the heck was that? Dinah thought, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. I don't want to use melatonin anymore.

And then the dream-rock-robot-lady was also in Dinah's room, leaning over her face.

"Hello. My name is ChatPtV-"

And that was all the crystal-robot-lady got out before Dinah started screaming.

It didn't take a minute before the door to her room was swiftly pulled open, as her mother rushed to check on her, concern written on her face.

"Dinah, sweetie?" Her mom called, looking around the room as she made her way over to Dinah's bed. "Everything alright? I heard a scream."

"There's this weird robot lady in my head telling me she isn't a dream," Dinah declared.

For some reason that caused her mother to relax. For several long seconds, neither Alcott moved. Dinah looked at her mother while her mother looked at her, and then Mom took a deep breath that sounded… relieved?

"Hun, I told you that it's just the melatonin pills giving you weird dreams," Mom reassured Dinah, reaching out to brush her fingers through her hair.

"Oh," she replied dully. She looked around the room, wondering where the dream lady had gone - and didn't see her anywhere. Had it just been a… little bit of seeing things right after waking up, because Dinah's tired brain wasn't all there yet?

"I think you've been watching too many cartoons," Mom said. The fingers combing through her hair felt super good, making her eyelids start to droop sleepily.

"She used all those super complicated words though…" Dinah muttered sleepily.

"Sure sweetie," her mother placated her, gently guiding her head back onto her pillow and tucking her in snugly.

As Dinah slowly slipped back into the comforting embrace of slumber, she began to wonder with what little brainpower she still had; Where did my brain get all those big words from?

And as her brain finished shutting down once more, she could've sworn that she heard that strange woman's voice again, saying something about computers, maybe.

<><><>

The next time the crystal lady spoke to her, Dinah did not scream, because she was wide awake this time. It was also because Dinah kind of expected it? She wasn't sure. Strangers appearing in her room was not cool, though. Strangers that used a lot of big words were the kind of people her parents told her to avoid, too.

The only reason the crystal lady spoke to her again was because Dinah had wondered to herself where her shoes went this time. She'd just sort of… popped into existence with the answer on her lips. And what kind of name was "ChatPtV"? It was a stupid kind of name, that's what.

Her shoes had been hiding behind the door, by the way.

Dinah spared the red woman another glance, who even now was standing near the corner of the room like some soldier, staring off into the distance and waiting to be asked more questions apparently.

She reminded Dinah of a robot mannequin, like some artist or maybe a robot tinker had seen a store mannequin and decided that it needed to be mechanical. Though she was pretty sure crystals weren't supposed to bend and stretch like that. It made her glad that the robot lady had a smooth mask where her face would be. Since only imagining the crystalline material forming a human face made her distinctly uncomfortable.

Clearing her throat, Dinah prepared to try something. 'ChatPTV' answered stuff when asked, as long as Dinah framed it like an actual question. Sometimes she even answered questions Dinah didn't ask her, just thought of, but if she had to answer…

"Where did you come from?" Dinah asked aloud, trepidatiously.

"Another dimension; further information is classified," she answered, tilting her head.

Dinah squinted at her. It? The thing. The rock lady.

"Why is that classified?" She prodded.

"Because you lack the clearance. Please seek permission from your network administrator to ask further questions about my origin, Host."

"H- what? Who's host? My name is Dinah!"

ChatPTV's face sparked, flickering various shades of red before a fake face appeared on it and smiled super fakely.

"Correct! Would the Host like me changed internal designation to - "Dinah"?" ChatPTV asked - it paused before saying her name, using what sounded like a perfect recording of Dinah's own voice. Ugh, is that what I sound like??

"Ye-yeah sure," Dinah mumbled, glaring at it petulantly. ChatPTV weathered her fearsome stare with ease. "Okay, if you can't tell me where you're from, who are you?"

"I am the avatar of Dinah's brand new power! I am here to assist Dinah with any question she may have!"

"But you didn't answer my question earlier!"

"Dinah does not have the proper clearance. Please seek permission from your network administrator to ask further questions about my origin!" ChatPTV smiled.

"So I have a power now?"

"Correct!" She gave her a thumbs-up.

"And… you're my power?"

"Correct!" ChatPTV repeated, in the exact same tone. Dinah could already feel a headache coming on.

"And all you can do is answer questions?"

"Correct!" ChatPTV repeated, yet again.

"You suck." She got no response that time, because apparently it wasn't a question. "Can you answer any question I ask?"

"Correct!"

That seemed to be untrue, because - wait a second.

"You can answer any question I have, but you can't always give me the information I want, can you?"

"Correct!"

"Can you stop saying 'correct'?" Dinah snapped, stomping her foot.

"Yes," she answered, and Dinah could swear that the robot lady was smug about it, too.

"Dinaaaaah!" Her mom suddenly called, startling her. "The bus is almost here, you're gonna be late for school!"

Dinah scowled and picked up her backpack before pointing at ChatPtV. "I'll have more questions for you later!"

"If Dinah has further questions, Dinah has the option to enable non-verbal communication! Would you like me to adjust the settings for you?"

"Bwuh… uh? Uh, what's 'non-verbal' mean?" Dinah winced.

"That I will respond to your thoughts," ChatPtV explained, oh-so-helpfully. Dinah scrunched up her face.

You mean I can think at you and you will answer my question still? She thought, super hard.

"Correct!"

Ugh.

Dinah toddled downstairs with a sigh, honestly hoping that this would all just be more of her weird, melatonin-fueled dreams. This didn't even rank in the top 10 of this year for her, honestly.

"There you are!" Mom called, startling Dinah yet again. "Since you had trouble sleeping last night, I let you sleep in a little more-"

Dinah actually hadn't noticed that.

"-so you don't have time to eat at the table, but I made you a sandwich for the bus," Mom smiled, handing her a plastic baggy with what looked like peanut butter and jelly, and a water bottle. Dinah took with a grateful hug and scampered out the door to wait for the bus that she could already hear trundling down the road towards her.

Okay. Okay, I have a superpower, I think. It's a stupid one, but I've never heard of a dumb superpower besides Chubster, so… who do I talk to? Chat!

"Present."

Dinah did not jump a foot into the air when ChatPTV appeared in front of her without warning and anyone who said otherwise was a lying liar who lies. She kicked its shin, only for her foot to pass right through it.

"Attempts to harm me will do you no good," ChatPTV explained. "As I am not physically present."

Fine, whatever! You can answer questions, so tell me why Mom didn't believe me about you last night.

Being able to ask it questions with her mind was handy, because it meant Dinah could also eat her sandwich as she talked and got onto the bus, and no one thought she looked like a drug addict! It was the perfect crime. Chomping away, Dinah sat down in the middle of the bus, which wasn't the front - the loser side - or the back - where she wasn't cool enough to sit.

"Your wording fit all the criteria of a immature child describing a nightmare, thus she labeled it as such," ChatPTV explained. "My suggestion is that your mother simply did not believe you. You have had frequent nightmares in the past, correct?"

Dinah winced, crossing her arms while still trying to leave one free to eat the sandwich with one hand. I mean, yeah, but - why wouldn't she believe me? She's my Mom!

"Parents often ignore what they perceive to be little problems in favor of only dealing with the 'large' ones. In this instance, your Mom was likely similarly sleep-deprived and dismissive when she heard what she believed to be an identical problem that you have not had much issue with in the past."

That sounded really complicated. Can you dumb it down for me a bit?

"Calculating!" ChatPTV chirped, sounding almost cheerful. "New answer found: Your were disregarded because you're twelve."

Dinah narrowed her eyes dangerously. I knew it.

Okay, I can't tell my parents because they won't believe me. ChatPTV, what do I do? Dinah kicked her legs in frustration, swallowing the last few bites of her sandwich.

"You could talk to another trusted adult."

That's a good idea… ergh! I wish I had a superhero in the family I could just talk to! I can't go the PRT without my parents, they'll just get mad at me! I don't want to make Aunt Jess more worried, but…

"Dinah should be happy to know that she does, then!" ChatPTV proclaimed. If it kept talking after that, Dinah didn't hear it, because she started choking on her sandwich, coughing and wheezing. No one really noticed, because Brockton Bay was just sort of like that, even on the school buses. Eventually, she succeeded in hacking up the chunk of PB&J onto the bus floor, and looking over at the hallucination sitting in the bus seat next to her.

"W-what?" She stammered in confusion, wiping at eyes full of tears from almost dying to a sandwich.

"You do have a Shard Host in the family."

"A what - is that another way of saying cape?" Dinah prodded. "Who's the cape?"

"Regenerative Shockwave," ChatPTV explained. Dinah blinked. She sat there, staring and waiting like an idiot for the dumb rock lady to explain further, and then sighed, because that was stupid, why would it? She only reacted when Dinah actually asked it stuff or tried to talk to it.

"Okay, that doesn't mean anything to me. What is… 'reger… regen… generat? What?"

"Regenerative Shockwave is the name given to the Shard by the Network."

"…okay," Dinah scoffed. That meant absolutely nothing to her. "And?"

"Question not understood!"

"You're the worst superpower. Ever. Of all time."

ChatPTV simply smiled at her. Dinah clucked her tongue like Mom did. She had to give it a better question, then. This was like using Google. But even dumber, yet somehow with more power. Maybe? She sure hoped.

"Uhmm… which of my family members is the cape?"

"Your cousin," ChatPTV answered succinctly.

"Be more specific, I have multiple," Dinah demanded.

"The Shard Host is designated Rory Christner."

Dinah gasped.

I knew it, she lied to herself.

 

[Biigoh]

ChatPtV is halping.

 

[Origami Mountain]

Well. This is gonna get strange, isn't it?

 

[Navrin]

This is fun. Thank you for writing and sharing. Congratulations on remembering that Rory has two sisters. Also, Dinah is being rather mean; I hope she's kinder later on. At least Chat PtV doesn't seem to care rather than having crippling self-esteem issues like Fragile One/Waste had.

Is the content of this story likely to take advantage of QQ's much broader array of permitted content, or is it probably going to be a 1:1 mirror of what's available on SB?

 

[A pirate over the sea]

This is fun. Thank you for writing and sharing. Congratulations on remembering that Rory has two sisters. Also, Dinah is being rather mean; I hope she's kinder later on. At least Chat PtV doesn't seem to care rather than having crippling self-esteem issues like Fragile One/Waste had.

Is the content of this story likely to take advantage of QQ's much broader array of permitted content, or is it probably going to be a 1:1 mirror of what's available on SB?

Click to shrink...

Likely a 1:1 copy, as anything not permitted on SB would likely not make it into the story anyways.

 

[A pirate over the sea]

[Rory Christner]

Rory had been having a good day, he really had. He'd gotten every light on the way home, he was doing well as a Ward, his girlfriend had gotten him a teddy bear covered in her perfume for a late birthday gift, and he'd even found $5 on the ground. Seriously, today was a good day for Rory Christner.

Today was a good day, right up until his little cousin Dinah showed up to his bedroom door without warning and a grave expression on her face.

All she did was hold up a sticky-note that said, I know about your power. I need your help.

And it pretty quickly stopped being a good day.

That had been twenty minutes ago.

"So. Let me… let me get this straight," Rory repeated, for what felt like the fifth time. Dinah did not appreciate it, going by the constipated look on her face, but Rory was, admittedly, still baffled by this. "You have a power."

Dinah nodded.

"And your power talks to you," he clarified.

She nodded again.

"You can ask it questions, and it will tell you almost anything you need to know."

Nod number three.

"And Aunt Jenny wouldn't listen?"

Dinah just huffed and looked away. Rory would take that as a nod.

"So instead of going to your Dad-"

She winced at that.

"-you somehow asked the right questions to learn that I have powers, and decided the best course of action was to ask to hang out with me after school, to ply me with questions."

Dinah poked her fingers together awkwardly, as it finally started realizing that her 'brilliant master plan to become the next member of the Triumvirate' had a lot of holes in it. Rory sighed, rubbing his face.

"Dude. Why didn't you just ask it how to convince your Mom to listen to you?"

"I didn't think of that, okay?!" Dinah cried, clapping her hands over her face and flopping backwards across his bed, legs kicking with frustration. "It's really annoying and hard to use!"

Rory snorted, leaning back in his desk-chair. I'll say, he thought. Mine's about as simple as powers get, really. Kinda lucky in that regard, even if I'm not exactly cream of the crop.

He stared up at the ceiling for a little bit, taking a deep breath as he let his cousin have her little freak-out. Rory looked at the faded glow-in-the-dark stars that still lined his ceiling, having been there since he was a kid as he thought about it. He'd never really wanted to pull them down They were, obviously, in Rory's bedroom right now. Dad knew about his powers, but they'd both been sworn to secrecy. And somehow, his dorky little cousin, who still played with dolls sometimes, rolled up with a brand-new Thinker power to ask for help. Rory looked at the faded glow-in-the-dark stars that still lined his ceiling, having been there since he was a kid as he thought about it. He'd never really wanted to pull them down.

The PRT was the obvious play. Dinah's power was useful, and their own familial connections would keep her from being exploited, hopefully. That, and the fact that Dinah was fucking twelve. Though, then again, so was Missy, and Missy wasn't exactly happy.

Rory thought about that a little harder, and realized that it was probably a Missy thing.

"Okay. Okay, okay," he finally spoke up again, putting on a tired smile. He looked back down to find Dinah playing with his new teddy bear. "I think I know what to do. Don't touch that."

"Why's it smell weird?" Dinah asked, making a face. He leaned in and pulled it out of her hands, setting it on the desk. Dinah blinked owlishly before cutting Rory off as he opened his mouth to answer the question herself; "Izzy gave it to you?"

"I - don't do that," he pleaded. "That's so weird."

"Look, I haven't figured out how to turn it off," Dinah sighed. "It does that for every question I ask."

"Aren't you getting headaches or something from it?" He wondered aloud. "Thinkers usually have limits. Headaches from overuse or something."

Dinah just shrugged. "I already had a headache, and it doesn't seem to get worse. I mean I can just ask it."

Rory paused, waiting patiently.

"ChatPtV says… yes."

He stared at her, waiting for her to say more, before raising an eyebrow.

"Okay. And?"

"What? It just said 'yes'."

"Ask it what the limits are, dork."

"I'm not a dork, you're a dork!" Dinah growled, pointing at Rory in what he was quite certain she thought was an intimidating manner. Apparently, she'd forgotten the fact that he could pick her up and quite literally shake the lunch money out of the little brat, or she wouldn't be giving him such sass.

"Ask it the damn question," Rory sighed. Dinah scowled and crossed her arms, muttering the question under her breath.

"Um… ChatPtV says… limits are variable and based on the amount of information gl- glam- gleaned? From any specific question? I don't know what that means…"

"I think it means you can ask as much as you want, but if you ask it something complicated, it's gonna use up more… usage," Rory tried to help explain.

"Soooo… if I ask it what color the sky is, I can do that twenty times, but if I ask it why the sky is blue, I can only ask that 10 times?" Dinah tried, puzzling through it on her own.

"Hey, you said something smart," Rory grinned at her. Dinah, who didn't realize he was teasing her, immediately preened like a peacock, sitting up straighter.

"Yep, I'm super smart."

Rory chose not to pop her bubble and let Dinah have her moment.

"You sure are. So, I guess I should just take you to the PRT then?" Rory offered. "Unless your power has some other suggestion like going into politics."

Please don't be politics.

He waited as Dinah stared at what was supposedly her power, he couldn't exactly see the supposed lady.

Does she realize she's mouthing the questions? Rory thought to himself, watching her do it. No, probably not.

"How can it be the same?" Dinah asked suddenly, perplexed.

Having no idea what his cousin's power just told her, Rory simply waited and watched as Dinah's face went through an array of expressions, going between confusion and disbelief before settling on unsettled acceptance.

For a moment after her power had apparently finished its answer, Rory saw what he could only describe as a hundred yard stare on his younger relative. The expression was utterly bizarre and borderline uncanny to see on the face of a twelve year.

"Dinah? You okay?" He asked. It would've been a little more worrying, but her expression was just so cartoonishly grim that Rory wasn't sure if he could take whatever was happening seriously. He'd seen her make this face once before, when Rory's father had explained taxes to her last year.

"It's all politics…" she whispered, horror lining her voice.

"…what? What's about politics?"

"The Wards are politics," Dinah replied.

"I - well, I mean, not really?" Rory offered, scratching his cheek awkwardly. "We just patrol. There's not a lot of politics involved?"

"No, it's politics! It's politics all the way down!" Dinah wailed, rolling over and punching his bed. She didn't really achieve much.

"So, do you want me to take you to the PRT?" Rory asked, though he was honestly required to report this entire conversation no matter her answer.

Dinah paused her tantrum for a short moment and turned towards him, wearing a deadly serious expression.

"Yes," she gravely declared. Rory blinked.

"Alright then," he accepted.

<><><>

"You sure this is right?" Dinah asked, eyeing the suspicious white van apparently belonging to the 'Plumbing Repair Team'.

"The Plumbing Repair Team is a company commonly used by the PRT as a front for covert personal transport in Brockton Bay," ChatPtV helpfully supplied.

"Thanks," she mentally responded. Her power was pretty cool. Sometimes. When it wasn't being confusing.

Her cousin's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"You coming?" Rory asked, already halfway to the van.

"Yeah!" She confirmed, sprinting after him as fast as her short legs allowed her to.

<><><>

The PRT building, Dinah decided, was really bland. No color, no cool gadgets, just serious people wearing suits. Nothing like she had imagined it to look like.

"The Parahuman Response Team does not substantially distinguish itself from other government agencies in terms of its office design, institutional atmosphere, or organizational culture. Nor is its organizational structure particularly distinctive, as its establishment during its formative years depended largely on the repurposing of resources and infrastructure belonging to pre-existing government agencies," Chat piped up helpfully.

Dinah was absentmindedly nodding along, while trailing after Rory, who was leading her somewhere - she hadn't been listening - when she felt herself mentally pause, nearly stumbling over her own feet.

"Hey, wait! I didn't ask a question!" She accused, more confused than anything.

"Correct!" ChatPtV agreed cheerily.

"But aren't you supposed to answer my questions?"

"Correct!"

Dinah huffed in frustration.

"Everything fine?" Rory asked, having turned around and giving her a concerned look.

"My power is being weird," she complained.

Somehow that didn't seem to be a surprise to her cousin as he simply nodded, as if that was perfectly normal and not at all annoying.

"Well that's what power testing is for," he remarked sagely. His words assuaged some of Dinah's worries. Powers were apparently just weird like that.

Instead of conveying her thoughts properly however, she simply made an understanding 'oh' sound, as if everything made sense now.

Rory, for his part, seemed to accept this as acknowledgment enough and continued down the corridor.

Realizing that she had no idea where they were even going, Dinah spoke up.

"Where are we going?" she asked, catching up to her cousin to walk next to him.

Predictably, or well not so predictably for the twelve year old, her cousin was not the first to answer that question.

"We are headed towards the director's office. To reach your destination most efficiently, travel 24 meters northeast at a 60° upward angle," ChatPtV answered in Rory's stead.

Seeing her eyes staring at a wall, her cousin pretty easily figured out what had happened.

"Your power?"

"Yes."

"What'd it say?"

"It told me the exact direction we were taking to get to the director's office," Dinah answered truthfully. "And it also told me that we were going to meet the director. Is it that fat woman that's on tv once a week?"

"Correct!" Chat piped in.

"Duh- Dinah!" Rory tried to snap, too busy snorting with laughter. "You can't - do not call her that to her face!"

"But it's true," Dinah insisted, pouting.

"I know you're still in school and that that's funny to you-"

"It's funny to you too!"

"-but!" Rory interrupted her interruption, trying not to smile. "But you have to be polite to her if you want to be a hero. She is the boss of my boss. If you make her angry she could even turn you down."

Dinah gasped in horror.

"Seeing as Piggot recruited a wanted criminal, rejection is near impossible," ChatPtV commented. Dinah's worry turned into surprise with a blink.

"Who's Piggot?"

"That's the Director's name," Rory answered, eyebrows raising as they stopped at a door that scanned some keycard hanging off of his neck. "How'd you - Chat?"

"Chat. Chat also said she recruited a bad guy, is that true?"

"Correct!"

Her cousin's wince and pained expressions was all the additional confirmation she needed.

 

[Raphiel]

"Chat. Chat also said she recruited a bad guy, is that true?"

"Correct!"

Click to shrink...

I've been accepted into the PRT, poggers Chat!

 

[Mike439]

This is ticking boxes I didn't know I wanted. It's perfect especially how AI use is only as useful as the person using it makes it. It can be extremely useful and extremely stupid at the same time. Please write more.

 

[BlueCladOne]

This is hilarious while also being a fun sort of intriguing.

 

[A pirate over the sea]

[Thomas Calvert]

Thomas was having a rather good day, his stocks were doing better than he had expected and he had managed to slip another double agent into the Empire's ranks. So when he was taking care of his obligations as a PRT consultant, taking a bathroom break from going over reports and adding his analysis to them, he didn't expect anything to happen.

Relying on his tried and true method of maximizing his work efficiency, he split timelines, and walked towards the bathroom in one of them, while the other continued reading through the reports and absorbing information.

[Timeline A, Bathroom]

Having taken care of his business he was walking down the corridor back to his office when he nearly bumped into Triumph and a pre-teen girl, which were both only wearing standard issue domino masks to disguise their identities.

As his brain did a double-take at the realization that the pre-teen was in fact, not Vista, he nearly missed her trying to covertly slip him a small note. Obviously her attempt at subterfuge was anything but subtle, but a mix of his pure confusion and the lack of eyes observing them resulted in Calvert simply accepting the note. After all, he didn't risk anything in doing so.

Calvert didn't bother looking over his shoulder at her, and instead continued on his way back to his office before even really thinking about what it could contain.

He didn't recognize the girl - a new, prospective ward? Calvert closed the door of his office with a frown, setting the note down on his desk. If it was someone new that had slipped his net, that made her a surprise. And Thomas Calvert hated surprises. Why the hell would some little girl want to slip him a note?

The lack of information rankled him, it reminded him of her in all the wrong ways.

Exhaling through his nose, he sat down and unfolded the note.

Fragging:Fragging refers to the intentional killing or attempted killing of a soldier, typically a superior officer, by a fellow member of the military.

He stilled, blinking. Had Piggot ratted him out to the girl? No, it was way more likely for her to be a thinker. The mind games fit the behavioral tendencies to a T.

Swiftly mulling things over, Calvert ultimately decided to drop the timeline and erase the brief meeting between him and the girl, deeming it the better option.

Unfortunately this meant that he had to go to the bathroom once again.

Splitting his timelines once again to do so, he stepped out of his office. He barely made it out of the door, before he felt his shoe nearly slip.

When he looked down at what had caused his near mishap, he spotted clumsily folded piece of paper.

A cold chill ran down his spine.

This time, Calvert didn't bother returning to his office to read the note, simply unfolding it the moment the pair was out of sight.

Most of it was a scribble of errors scratched out as messily as one would expect from a kid that small, vaguely legible enough attempts to write similar notes to the previous one, but given up on. In the end, it looks like the girl forewent any and all pretense with a simple cry for help; "Please help me my power is weird you are thinker help me thank you."

Calvert wasn't an English teacher, but he found his fingers itching for a red pen. And also maybe a gun to shoot her.

How?

That was the first and foremost question on his mind as he attempted to decipher the gibberish above the final message - how did that child know?

Calvert had a lot more sense than to charge through the headquarters with a gun to murder a young girl to keep his secret from getting out, but if she had gone out of her way to attempt to blackmail him so discreetly, it was likely that it would be of no benefit to her to reveal him.

Clearly, her power was strong. And not just strong, but useful too. It was deciphered that he was a cape, something that Calvert had carefully prevented others from discovering for many long years. It had also help prove that she had intimate knowledge of his power with absolutely no clues to go off of, meaning that it was a thinker ability of the highest caliber. Not even his Tattletale was this useful. Could Calvert leverage that, if he managed to wring a beneficial relationship out of this? Clearly the child needed some kind of help; being able to pull this out of her ass but still going out of her way to ask the strongest thinker in the city for help meant there must have been some major issue.

Considering how to best leverage this opportunity for what it was, he started to formulate the beginnings of a plan.

Then Thomas Calvert once again split the timelines and got to work.

<><><>

[Dinah Alcott]

And this is the best way to get help without leaving Brockton Bay? Dinah asked ChatPtV in her head, for what felt like the fourth or fifth time. She was still following Rory around the PRT building, and it was still really boring, though they were apparently going to meet the other Wards, so she had something to look forward to.

"Correct! Consultant Calvert is incredibly well-versed in managing Thinker powers."

I just don't see why some random guy who works for the PRT is my best option, Dinah complained.

"He has worked as a PRT consultant for several years and has an exceptionally strong CV, having previously served as a field agent for the PRT," Chat justified her reasoning.

What's a cee-vee?

"A CV, or curriculum vitae, is a comprehensive document that highlights your education, professional experience, skills, and accomplishments," she explained diligently.

Dinah's power wasn't always stupid - sometimes it taught her cool and weird stuff! She couldn't wait to use 'cee-vee' in a conversation to sound smart!

Quickly dropping the note on the floor, she dashed after Rory, or well, Triumph, he was wearing a mask now after all.

The director had made a few important comments about secret identities and stuff, didn't want to make things more complicated for her cousin. Dinah wiggled her nose, feeling the mask was they said wasn't glued to her face but super felt like it, wiggle with it.

I'm a superhero now, she thought, a little giddily. She had a mask, that definitely made her one. It was a shame she couldn't fly, though. Chat had even said there wasn't a way to fix that, unfortunately.

"How much longer?" she whined after having caught up to her cousin; her short legs were starting to hurt from all the walking.

"It's been like five minutes," Rory scoffed, walking through Identical Door Number 6,082. "We're almost there."

"Approximately 2 minutes and 32 seconds at current speed," Chat responded dutifully.

Dinah threw her head back and groaned as loud as she could, only to start giggling when Rory started poking her side. She batted his hands away and quickly re-adopted a stern face, glaring at him.

I'm a superhero now, I have to be serious. No time for giggling.

Rory's smug expression told Dinah that he didn't believe her yet, but she'd prove him wrong. She'd prove them all wrong!

"We're here," Rory suddenly declared, shattering Dinah's delusions of heroic grandeur.

"What?" She blinked, looking around. This hallway looked exactly the same as the last thirty-seven. And so did the doorway in front of her. "I don't see any Wards."

"They're at the bottom of the elevator."

"That's an elevator?" Dinah asked, pointing at the door.

"Correct!"

"Thank you, ChatPtV.

"No Problem! (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)" Chat responded a smile flashing on her mask.

Dinah recoiled, cringing. "Oh, I hate that…"

"What'd it say?" Rory interjected, staring in the general vicinity of ChatPtV's 'avatar', as she'd called it.

"She put a smiley face on her face. It looked weird."

"૮(◞ ‸ ◟ )ა"

"Stop that," Dinah ordered.

"Affirmative," ChatPtV acknowledged morosely smugly. Dinah turned away with another cringe, still able to see ChatPtV trying on new faces in the corner of her eye. Dinah wasn't sure it was going to listen.

"You alright?" Rory asked, giving her a concerned look as the elevator door finally dinged open.

"Finally," Dinah whispered breathlessly, ignoring her cousin's question in favor of running inside and looking for buttons to push. She then realized that she had no idea which floor to go to.

"Bottom right, floor negative two," ChatPtV answered the unasked question.

Dinah turned and gave the avatar a look of absolute bafflement and disgust.

"Who the heck says 'floor negative'??"

"ChatPtV," ChatPtV responded. Dinah tried to kick its shin again, only for Rory to yelp and hop out of the way as the stupid thinking rock blipped out of existence, revealing that Rory was standing right where it had been moments ago.

"What is your problem?" He demanded, hitting the button without even looking.

"My power," Dinah shot back without missing a beat.

"We've established as much," Rory agreed idly, going quit after that as the elevator moved.

And before she knew it the elevator doors slid open with a smooth ding announcing their arrival.

"Ready to meet the team?" Rory - no- Triumph asked.

"I'm always ready, Mister Squidward," Dinah nodded eagerly.

 

[Tomato]

Was there a mention of a visual avatar for Chat before this chapter? It caught me by surprise.

 

[alid610]

Was there a mention of a visual avatar for Chat before this chapter? It caught me by surprise.

Click to shrink...

Yes. Here:

someone that kinda looked like Jenny from My Life as a Teenage Robot, but if she was made out of crystals and stuff and not a cartoon.

Probably like this:

 

[Thiccc Shaedy]

I like this. Could use some proofreading, though. Please update soon!

 

[Godfire]

Are the last two chapters a duplication?

 

[A pirate over the sea]

Are the last two chapters a duplication?

Click to shrink...

Fixed now, I updated the wrong chapter and erased chapter 2 with chapter 3.