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.