Traveling 1.3
Monday, January 10th, 2011. Brockton Bay
There were benefits to having Trazyn living in my head, I won't deny it. I mean, don't get me wrong, he was a rude, presumptuous, selfish, sarcastic asshole that was in love with the sound of his own voice. But, he was apart of a packaged deal; so yes, I had to put up with him, and in return I gained access to all the shiny toys he had at his disposal.
For the moment, this was limited entirely to the lone scarab that he'd summoned to my house. I named him Khepri, and he was kind of adorable even if he (or it as Trazyn insisted, though I didn't hear any complaints about the nom de plume) was just a basic machine. Apparently though,
he was some sort of deconstructor/constructor drone that could theoretically recreate anything that the Necrons had made, so long as he had access to sufficient energy.
I had been skeptical at first when Trazyn told me that they had apparently mastered the art of converting energy into matter and vice versa, until he had given me an example, and guided me on how to direct Khepri. This was where our alliance became necessary; Khepri was a simple machine and should, supposedly, be easy to control. But he required the proper interface to function, which I obviously lacked.
However, Trazyn could act as a translator. What I mean, is that he could use the… implants that he'd augmented me with, to transmit my thoughts to Khepri, until we built a proper interface, which was the first thing I 'ordered' him to do. The only reason Trazyn couldn't do this himself, was that he lacked the 'processing power' to send more complex commands. All of my implants were dedicated to storing his personality and archives. My wetware was going to have to provide the extra boost to send anything more complicated than a 'come hither' command. Well okay, it was more complicated than that, but that was the basic gist of what he told me.
For my first command, I opened up the side of my PC and ordered Khepri to get work upgrading it. The computer was practically ancient by modern standards, and I rarely used it save for browsing PHO forums and typing up the occasional paper. Trazyn assured me that he Khepri could upgrade the systems quickly, and that I'd be able to understand whatever software it was that Necrons used.
Khepri perked up when I gave the order, made an affirmative chirp, and fluttered over to the exposed innards of the PC, his little legs wriggling with movement. A bright beam of green light shot from the underside of his little head, and wherever it touched, the internal components simply vanished. A faint green glow emanated from the edges of where the spotlight touched, but it moved surprisingly fast.
It took less than a minute for the scarab to strip the entire case of components, leaving only a bare metal box behind. Then it settled itself down inside with its legs spread, and emitted a darker beam. I jumped in surprise when tiny bolts of lightning crackled from the emitter, and something new took shape.
Unlike the deconstruction process, the construction time was far longer. What appeared to be some sort of smooth black stone was taking shape beneath Khepri's brilliant light, but it was at a pace significantly longer than the initial destruction had taken.
I leaned back on my bed and glanced up at Trazyn. "How long should this take?"
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully."Converting matter to energy is quite basic, if one knows the proper way of doing it. But converting energy to matter is a bit more of a delicate process. If either fails, it could create quite the spectacular explosion. So, best not to rush it."
I gulped, and found Khepri a little less cute now. The little robot paused, chirped, and then resumed building. Okay, only a
little less cute. I folded my arms and legs and thought for a moment. Given what Trazyn had told me, a Necron computer of equivalent size to my old one was probably going to be faster and more powerful than literally anything on the planet. Which raised the question of what exactly I was going to
do with it.
Again, I looked up at Trazyn and asked, "So, your tech. It
is compatible with human technology right?"
Trazyn sighed and rolled his eyes, "As compatible as one can be with a rock that's been tricked into thinking, but yes."
"Okay, good," I said, ignoring his sarcasm. "So, could we use the computer Khepri is building to… I dunno, make some sort of Necron virus that could mess with a database?"
He paused, and his eyes grew distant, a sign that he was in thought. Despite the lack of a real face, he could be surprisingly expressive with his eyes and posture. When he spoke again, his voice had taken on an almost mischievous tone, "Yes, yes we could. Why do you ask, child?"
I rolled my eyes, "First, it's Taylor. If we're going to be partners, we should at least show
some respect toward one another."
Trazyn stared at me blankly. I returned the stare, and my room was silent save for the hum of Khepri and the clicking of his metal legs against the computer case. Finally, Trazny chuckled and said, "Fair enough, Taylor. I suppose common courtesy is only fair. Now I repeat myself, why do you ask?"
I gestured around me, "Well, the way I see it, if we're going to actually going to make any real progress, I can't be wasting my time at that hellhole Winslow. But I can't exactly just drop out either without my dad knowing and I don't think I'm quite ready to tell him about the alien robot living in my head."
"I've interrupted enough family engagements in my time to know I have no desire to interrupt another," he agreed.
"So, we obviously need a way to get me out of Winslow without anyone knowing I left. I don't have much of a presence there, so all I need to do is make sure my grades and absences are consistent for the rest of the year. Could we make a virus that does something like that?"
Trazyn laughed, "With the pathetic excuse for computer science your species uses? Absolutely. It may take some time to fabricate the virus, as again, you lack the implants for proper-"
"We've been over this, I'm not adding anymore implants to myself." I interrupted.
He waved a hand, "Yes, yes, I know. My point being, it could take a few hours, even with my guidance, for you to code a virus that could do as you've suggested. It will be a very boring process."
"Great!" I clapped my hands together, "Then when Khepri is finished, we can get started!"
It took Khepri about thirty minutes to 'build' my new PC. The result was several large ebony blocks arranged in neat rows inside my computer case, each one perfectly lined with glowing green lines of energy. A tiny hollow cylinder was based at the bottom of the PC case, about as wide around as the palm of my hand. According to Trazyn, that was the 'reactor' and it was generating enough power to keep my entire neighborhood lit up for a week. Or to run the equivalent of a necron PC for a few hours. Necron power and how they got it was… weird, and I didn't understand it. Trazyn insisted I eventually would, but at the moment it was gibberish techno babble mixed with poetry. So utterly alien.
Regardless, with Trazyn's help, I was able to power on my new PC with but a thought. Two emerald screens flashed before me, one the size of my old monitor and the other forming keys in the Necron language. That I immediately understood and recognized.
I glanced from my chair up at Trazyn, "Is this because of you?"
He nodded, "I am in your brain. I can directly upload certain knowledge to the appropriate portion of your mind. Of course, this is a slow process, and I am being very cautious about it. It's easy to impart basic knowledge like this, but something more complex could risk damaging your more delicate components."
The thought of being rendered brain dead by the alien equivalent of an outhouse blueprint being uploaded to my brain certainly would rank high on the list of embarrassing ways to die. So I nodded silently instead, and reached out to the holographic keyboard. To my fingers it felt real and solid, like it was actually there. I almost instinctively knew that the keyboard was being projected by the computer, but that I could only see or interact with it because of my connection to Trazyn. Without him, it would just be a really large fancy paperweight.
Necron coding was just like human coding it turned out. In that it was complicated, confusing, and made my brain hurt. The difference was that I had that innate understanding as a result of Trazyn feeding me information as he taught me. I learned the ins and outs of how their computer technology functioned, how to start work on the virus, and even how to issue commands to Khepri via the interface. With a little practice and advice from Trazyn, I set the little robot to work again while I worked on that virus.
Honestly, what Khepri was working on was far more interesting than the lines and lines of code I had to assemble. If I got good enough at this, Trazyn insisted, I could eventually create simple intelligences to handle things like this for me, but he was fairly certain that that wasn't going to happen any time soon. So for now I was stuck tediously typing at my haptic keyboard, stopping only for the occasional bathroom break and snack.
About two or three hours after my lunch break, Khepri made a chirping sound that signaled he'd completed his task. I let out a sigh of relief and rolled away from my computer to him. When I had set him on his little task, I'd given him an appropriate amount of mass to construct the device that Trazyn had suggested. A few old clothes that I had long grown out of and some old boxes had gone into the thumb sized talisman that I rolled between my fingers.
"It looks rather… plain." I said. It was made of the same smooth black stone as my pc (I was noticing a trend) and a single green line ran around its thin edge. A rune flashed faintly along its surface, pulsing at my touch.
"It is the equivalent of a child's trinket." Trazyn explained, "But, a phase shifter will certainly be useful to you in the event of an emergency. This one can only hold enough energy for about a solid minute. You won't be able to use it again for another 24 hours afterwards."
"What's the maximum one of these can last?" I asked. A phase shifter, if the name wasn't obvious, was a device that shifted someone into another 'phase' of reality, and rendered them completely invulnerable, and ethereal. Necron constructs used them to make repairs to delicate machinery, so there was no need to remove panels or machinery to get at a broken part. The obvious usefulness of such a device had not been lost on me.
Trazyn shrugged, "Oh one minute believe. The larger the surface area it has to cover, the more power required obviously. But the larger ones can recharge within a few minutes, so long as they are connected to a quantum network."
Right, another item to add to my long list of things to build. A quantum network was basically a Necron power grid, only using quantum technology, duh. Their reactors would naturally form these networks over insane distances, and could use them to amplify their individual power. The more generators in a network, the greater the range and the greater the overall power. It was a quadratic effect, not a linear one, and was much higher on the list than other items, as cool as a 'Doomsday Ark' sounded.
I folded my hand around the talisman and stood up facing the mirror hanging from my door. Despite the bags under my eyes, I was smiling. My grin grew a little wider, "Right then! Well, let's test it so I know how to use it in the future."
"Of course." Trazny agreed. "If you wish to use the talisman as you are, you simply need to make contact with it and say 'phase' aloud. Just the word, if you say it in a sentence or as part of another word, it won't work. Otherwise one could accidentally activate it simply while in conversation."
Seemed simple enough. I held up the talisman and focused on its smooth edges. My heart hammered in my chest, from nervousness, excitement, from both! The computer had been cool, but this was something far more unique.
"Okay, here we go. Phase!" Emerald light flashed in the palm of my hand, and a tingling sensation like goosebumps ran over my entire body, making me shudder. And then my clothes promptly fell off me in a pile on the floor, leaving me standing naked in the middle of my room.
I screamed and covered my bits, while Trazyn clucked his tongue, "Oh my, that wasn't supposed to happen."
"No shit!" I shrieked, and fumbled for my clothes.
"Taylor, wait-" Trazyn started, too late.
My hand passed through the floor, and I tumbled through my room's floor and landed on the front porch in a heap. Oh right, phase technology. I groggily got to my feet, wrapped an arm around my chest and tried running into the house through the wall, and faceplanted into the front window and fell back on the ground.
"Minute time limit, remember?" Trazyn said as he appeared beside me.
"Fuck off!" I hissed while scrambling off my bare ass and running for the door. My face was flushed a brilliant shade of crimson and I sincerely hoped that no one in the neighborhood had seen that. Also, thank
god dad was still at work, I had no idea how I'd even begin to explain that to him.
I ran back inside and slammed the door behind me before scurrying back upstairs into my room. It took all my willpower not to chuck the damn talisman out the window in frustration.
"Okay Trazyn, what the hell?" I demanded. This time, I was much more cautious about picking up my clothes, until I was sure I wasn't going to fall through the floor again.
Trazyn reappeared in front of me as I pulled my underwear on, and said, "The talisman's effects only work on what it considers to be a part of your 'body'. Your clothing is not, therefore it phased through you when you activated it."
"And you didn't think to mention this before I used this?" I snarled while hopping into my pants.
"Taylor, I have not had to get dressed in over 60 million years. The thought literally never occurred to me."
I grumbled and glared at him, but couldn't argue with his point. Instead I sighed and rubbed my temples, "Okay, fine, that's fair. How do I keep it from happening again?"
"Have the scarab build you proper equipment." Trazyn said simply. "Honestly Taylor, it's not that complicated."
If looks could kill, I would've reduced that skeletal asshole to molten metal.
***
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011. Brockton Bay
So, that was a problem that I had to nip in the bud real quick. The phase taliman wouldn't exactly be that useful if I was left nude in the middle of the city in the middle of
winter. As mild as Brockton Bay's weather was, that was only relative to the rest of the north east. We may not have gotten any snow in the past few days, but it was well below 50 degrees on a warm day.
Thankfully, there was an easy solution, but it wasn't a quick fix. The metal that necrons used for their bodies, creatively called necrodermis or 'living metal' was easily replicable by Khepri, and could function as clothing that would properly phase with me when I activated the talisman. The reason for this was a bit more uncomfortable than I had expected.
To start with, I'd had Khepri get to work on some basic under clothes while I finished coding the virus. Living metal was evidently a bit more complex and energy intensive than the materials used in my computer or the talisman's construction, and took longer for Khepri to manufacture. I hid him under my bed to work for the rest of the day, until dad came home late that night.
Dad's work at the docks kept him busy even if business on the docks was slowly dying day by day. Sea trade was risky enough with monsters like Leviathan running around, but the fact that half the bay was filled with sunken ships had all but killed the industry. Dad still fought for it, but I was half convinced that he fought as hard as he did so he didn't have to come home. It was easy to forget about how quiet the house was sometimes since… well anyway, that's not important. Dad came home late at night, he hadn't heard anything about me skipping out on classes that day (thank god), and went to bed a little later.
I finished my virus shortly after dad turned in, finally, and was able to take a good look at the clothes I'd set Khepri to work on. Like I said, they were underclothes: the result was a simple silvery grey tank top and short shorts that would at least preserve my modesty. Satisfied, I had tossed them on the bed, and promptly collapsed into said bed.
An entire day's worth of coding had drained all the energy from me. I had at least been smart enough to set my alarm half an hour early, and snuck out of the house the following morning with a note for dad telling him I was heading to school early to talk with a teacher about a project before class.
The truth was, in my excitement I had stupidly forgotten to design the virus so I could just use it from home. I could fix it, but that would've taken several more hours of work; as annoying as it was, sneaking into the school's library to use one of their computers for my virus was easier. All I had to do was connect the virus via USB, and let the program run itself. Don't ask how I could store an alien computer virus in a USB drive, I didn't quite get it either.
Once I got one of the computers booted up and running, I plugged it in and just had to wait for it to peel apart Winslow's shitty security systems. The significantly weaker processor slowed the hack to a crawl, and I was left fidgeting in my seat. My necrodermis underclothes weren't uncomfortable, they were in fact
too comfortable. I had been more than a little disturbed to find that they basically conformed to every nonexistent curve of my body on their own accord, and it felt like I was wearing nothing at all under my normal clothes. Thus, I fidgeted in my seat while the progress bar slowly inched its way across the screen.
I was nervous of course; every minute it took, was another minute I risked getting caught. There wouldn't be a lot of kids in the library; hardly anyone used it except to get high, or sneak in a few makeout sessions (typically a mix of the two) but the risk was still there. I might've been able to wait until my computer science class, but that was the third period and I never wanted to sit through another day at this hellhole if I could help it.
Finally, after ten minutes of waiting, the screen flickered and shifted, taking on the familiar green glow of the necron 'os'. Trazyn had been very insulted when I called it that, but didn't deny that it was an apt if primitive translation of what it actually was.
As I got to work, I whispered quietly, "Trazyn, do you have any sort of enhanced senses?"
The self proclaimed curator appeared beside me, "I am, unfortunately, tied to all your sensations. I can only see what you see, and hear what you hear."
His eyes flashed with annoyance, "I can also feel what you feel. Stop squirming."
"This necrodermis underwear you suggested is incredibly uncomfortable," I hissed while typing.
"That's because its temporarily bound itself to your skin. Its less clothing and more of a second skin."
Great, that was why I was so uncomfortable, I'd gone commando in silver body paint. I rolled my eyes and grunted in annoyance, "Anyway, can you keep watch in case anyone comes this way? This should only take a few minutes."
Trazyn sighed and glanced skyward, "So this is what I have been reduced to, a glorified watchdog? Very well,
Taylor. I will keep watch."
"You're the best." I chirped cheerily, ignoring the glare he shot me.
I paused and added, "Do I have to talk to you out loud, or can I just think and you'll hear me?"
Another glare.
"Right, getting to work!"
School security, even by human standards, wasn't exactly top of the line. Since the Necrons were quite literally millions of years ahead of us, breaking through was a breeze. I had full access to every record Winslow had filed in the last decade, and could change it all at my leisure. It took me only a minute or two to setup a constant static loop that would mark me as still in attendance and keep my grades at a steady C and B average. I had debated pushing myself up to straight A's, which is what I definitely would have without the Trio constantly sabotaging my school work, but decided that might attract too much attention.
As I was setting this up though, a thought occurred to me. I had access to
everyone's records, not just mine. That included Emma, Madison, and Sophia's. It included the entire staff of Winslow. With a few keystrokes, I could punish them for everything they'd done. I could end their academic careers forever if I wanted to, or severely hamper them at the least.
"Well, I would certainly argue that they deserve it." Trazyn said from over my shoulder.
I jumped in my seat and glared at him, "You're supposed to be keeping watch!" I hissed.
He shrugged, "I can multitask my dear. As I was saying though, your tormentors have certainly earned your wrath. However, I would suggest that if you are going to act on such an impulse, be subtle in your vengeance. So many have fallen prey to grand designs in an attempt at avenging a perceived wrong. I'd rather not suffer should you follow suit."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "You of all people don't seem like the type to 'live and let live'."
Honestly, Trazyn seemed like the kind of guy that would tear an entire person's life apart to get back at them. But then again, reading him and his motives were was difficult. The necron chuckled darkly, "There is certainly nothing inherently unwise about righting a wrong. But, one must keep in mind to temper their wants with the reality of the universe they occupy. Arrogance is an insidious killer."
I listened to what he said, and stared at the computer screen silently. His point was clear enough, I thought; if I was going to get back at these people, I needed to be smart about it. Yes I could absolutely destroy their records… but that would only be the digital copies. No doubt they had hard copies somewhere. At dad's office, everything important that came through the computer's was given a hard paper copy in case something happened to the digital copy. Winslow was full of incompetent people, but I didn't think they were
that incompetent. Someone could put two and two together, and if they did, then there could be a whole investigation into the school network, which could eventually lead to me.
Obviously no one would ever find the virus, but that might actually make things worse. A normal hacking attempt would be one thing. A tinker trying to break in would catch the attention of the PRT and Protectorate, and then I'd have a serious problem to deal with.
So, like Trazyn said, I had to temper what I wanted with what I could realistically achieve. I couldn't turn them into flunky drop outs, but maybe I could at least expose the truth on what they had been up to.
After nearly two years of constant bullying, I had long since given up on telling the school about what was going on. Simply surviving day by day was easier than being turned away at the principal's office again. Unfortunately it also meant that the trio had grown creative in their methods. Even at home I hadn't been safe, they'd spammed me with hate filled emails from a dozen different false addresses. There was nothing I could've done at the time, but now with my full access to the school network…
Yup, there it was.
I couldn't track and go through every email sent to and from the network, but I was able to isolate their specific accounts, and from there it was easy finding the false accounts they'd made and taking a catalogue of all their hate filled emails they'd sent me. I debated what to do with them, if I would send them to the school or maybe even the police.
But no, that would be too safe and simple, and they might be able to weasel their way out of it. If I wanted them to pay for what they had done, I needed to make it far more personal, a twisted mirror of their twisted minds. That was going to take time to setup properly, but thankfully time was on my side. I made copies of what I needed and started the process of downloading them. This would take longer than it had for me to 'erase' myself from the records, but it was only 6:45; I had time.
"Oh my, what timing." Trazyn said.
My eyes flicked up toward the library entrance and my blood ran cold. Emma, Madison and Sophia had just walked in, casually talking to one another, Emma cackling at something Sophia had just said. They hadn't noticed me yet, which was good, I might be able to-
No, no no!
The download, it was still in progress! The bar moved at what felt like a glacial pace, inch by agonizing inch across the screen. Two or three minutes at least to finish, stupid public school computer's! That was practically a lifetime at the moment.
They noticed me. Emma of course, her pale eyes flickering toward me and a wicked smile crossing her lips. I froze, and sank slowly into my chair. No, no no! Why!?
Trazyn made a disgusted sound, "Pull yourself together,
child. Is that any way for you to act in the face of your inferiors?"
I spared him a panicked glance. He stabbed his staff against the ground and I swear the room grew darker. "You are above these cretins, Taylor Hebert. They exist only to destroy and undo the work and the power of their betters. Starving beasts too weak to fight on their own. You have endured them for two years, a large portion of your considerably short life. Yet still you stand, and you no longer stand alone."
He leaned forward, emerald eyes blazing intently, "And I will not stand as an audience to this travesty and endure childish insults. So pull yourself together, Taylor. Bide your time,
strike back. For two years they've torn you down. You want to do the same to them? Now is the time to start."
We both glanced at the computer screen. "You also have two minutes of waiting bar minimum, and I would rather you not be caught doing this. To be placed in a human prison is one experience I would rather avoid in my unlife."
Right, okay. Stall them, I could do that. This was my last day after all, and I'd built up plenty of things I would say on the last day I'd be here. Of course, those were fun fantasies, or imaginary arguments I had in the shower (that I always won, of course). It was one thing to win an imagined argument, it was quite another to actually have to live your fantasy.
I swallowed the pit in the back of my throat, felt it crash into my stomach, and forced myself to my feet. My legs were trembling, my throat was dry, and I felt on the edge of tears. I didn't want to do this, I really didn't want to do this.
Madison whispered to Emma as they approached me and the two of them broke into conniving giggles. Sophia wore a sadistic grin on her face, that only grew wider as they approached. Starving beasts, yeah right, more like hungry wolves. Wait, that was the same thing.
"Hey Hebert, we thought you'd finally snapped. Daddy force you back here so he wouldn't have to look at your pathetic face?" Emma sneered. "I don't blame him of course, considering what you did to your mom."
Funny thing. Rage is a hell of a motivator.
My terror and worry immediately evaporated, and I put on my coldest smile as I clapped my hands together and said, "Actually, Emma, Madison, Sophia, I was just about to come looking for you three. See, I wanted to congratulate you all."
That made them stop, if only out of confusion. I don't think they knew how to comprehend me being
nice to them.
"You won," I said. "That's it. Congratulations, you won. I am done at Winslow, I am leaving and never coming back. I just thought you might want to know that, since you all so obviously need a win in your lives."
"Wha-"
I interrupted, words pouring from me in a river, "I mean, look at yourselves. Emma I know you've always been insecure, but this is sad even for you. You spend all your time with a brainless thug that only hangs around you so you give her an excuse to hit people, and a vapid airhead with so much brown on her nose its racially offensive. I know I wasn't exactly the best friend, but this is almost as pathetic as you dying your hair red for, what, ten years straight now?"
Oh,
that was the wrong thing to say. That was really the wrong thing to say.
"Wow!" Trazyn said, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen a human turn quite that shade of purple before. Your species truly astounds me with its versatility sometimes."
"You're
dead Hebert!" Emma screeched.
I bolted for the library's emergency exit, ripping the USB from the computer as I did. Chairs went tumbling aside as the trio broke after me into a run. They'd catch me if I tried shoving the heavy metal door open, but I didn't plan on actually using the emergency exit. At the last second, I juked left, slamming my shoulder into Madison. I wasn't the heaviest person out there, in fact I was more bone than skin, but I was very tall for a girl my age, and Madison was very short. I practically barreled through her and went sprinting for the normal exit.
"Get her!" Emma screamed.
I stumbled out of the library into the hall, and sprinted for the stairs. The library was on the second floor, and thankfully the halls were mostly empty. Winslow wouldn't start to fill up with students for another ten or fifteen minutes, which left plenty of open space for me to run through. Unfortunately, that applied to my pursuers too.
The library door behind me banged open three more times behind me, and I could hear the squeak of sneakers and the clack of boots. Sophia was probably the main one chasing me, I thought as I gasped for breath. I was not in great shape, and she was a track star, it was not a matter of if she could catch me, but when.
The stairs loomed ahead, thank god, and I shot out an arm to grab onto the handrail. The sudden stop felt like it was trying to jerk my arm out of its socket, before I curled inward and started stumbling down the stairs. I could hear the trio getting closer behind me.
"You can't run forever Taylor!"
That was true, but I only needed to outrun them. I hit the bottom of the stairs and took off to my left, my sneakers squealing on the linoleum. My legs nearly went out from under me in surprise; Sophia was coming from around the corner, sprinting hard at me with murderous intent. I scrambled backwards and went sprinting in the opposite direction, hanging a right toward the rear of the school.
If I wasn't running for my life; I might've thought more about how the hell she beat me downstairs, but that was a minor problem at the moment. It was obvious to me that I wasn't going to outrun the trio, they were going to catch me if this kept up as is. Thankfully, I had my own ace in the hole.
I reached into my pocket as I ran, and felt the smooth surface of my phase talisman. Khepri had made another along with my new clothes, since the original was still charging. I was so thankful I had been smart enough to bring it, now I just prayed it would work with the living metal undies I was wearing.
An upcoming alcove between the walls of lockers came into view, and I ran straight at it. At the same time, I hissed,
"Phase!" and passed straight through the wall. Darkness enveloped me as I passed through the dusty internals of Winslow high, interrupted by the occasional flash of light as I ran through several empty classes. Then I emerged into empty frigid air, and fell face first into the dirt.
"...Ow…" I grumbled. Pain filled my body, a sore aching pain that ran up my legs and my core. I rolled onto my back, panting hard trying to catch my breath. "Pain… so much pain."
"Oh, my apologies." Trazyn said.
"It's just, your body is in such poor shape at the moment… I may have temporarily suppressed your sense of pain while we fled from your aggressors. My control over you is limited, but that was simple enough. Alas, I could only maintain it for a few minutes."
"I can tell." I gasped, and slowly pushed myself to my feet. That was a painful process, as my legs didn't quite bend how they were supposed to and I stumbled about like I was on stilts until I was finally standing up. New addendum to my plan, daily exercise was a must. If I was going to be a hero, a quick sprint should not leave me breathless.
I looked down at myself once I was standing, and saw that my silvery undergarments had remained firmly attached. I raised an arm and let out a tired cheer, "Whoo, I did it."
"Yeah, you go girl!" a voice called behind me. I whirled to see a group of sophomore boys walking along the street toward the school entrance, all of them hooting and hollering at me in my state of undress.
They cheered even as I flushed and ran straight for the locker rooms. I had a spare set of clothes in there, I could get changed and go home. The sooner the better, I'd only been outside for a few minutes and already the cold air had sapped all the warmth from my body. I hugged myself and my teeth were starting to chatter.
A thought occurred to me as I moved out of site of my abhorrent admirers, and it made me stop and curse.
"Fuck!"
The USB, the one with all those files I could use to get back at the trio, what I had risked a severe beating for? Yeah, it was a normal USB, no living metal or real modifications. Which meant when I activated my phase talisman, it dropped with the rest of my clothes. Which meant after all that, I still had to go back inside to get it.
