A Strange & Different World, Part One

With the gunshot, I closed my eyes as if that would matter. Maybe I just didn't want Charlie seeing me with my eyes wide open when she found my body. Truth be told, I didn't want to be dead, because Charlie had lost enough people recently. Yeah, just her dad, but that was enough.

After a few seconds, I didn't feel any different, so I opened my eyes and found myself not in the laboratory that I'd just been in, but in an alleyway instead. I looked around, listened, I heard the typical noises you'd hear and saw the typical sights you'd see anywhere in East City, including but not limited to car horns, people shouting at others, the occasional mugging gone bad, police sirens, fire engines, ambulances, etc. How did I get from a laboratory somewhere to a regular old alley?

Either way, I wasn't going to find out the answers there. I checked myself, making sure everything was there, and then I made my way to the street, where I saw absolutely nothing wrong, nothing out of the ordinary. What was going on? What would be the magical things I would see? I continued on down the sidewalk, rounding the corner onto Montieth Street, where I found a newspaper stand.

That was where the problems started. I grabbed the latest copy of the Brigade and must have looked like I saw a ghost.

"BABY ELVIS FOUND IN CHICAGO! ALIENS ASSUMED TO BE THE CAUSE!"

What?! Baby Elvis?! What?! Did I actually read that? I thumbed through the paper and found one page of tabloid trash after the other, none of it something that the Brigade would really publish. What the hell was going on?

"Hey, kid," the news stand man said, looking up from his hot dog, "this ain't a damn library. Either pay for it or put it down!"

I quickly shelled out the buck twenty-five, only to find I still owed thirteen cents for tax, so I pulled that out of my pocket and then asked, "You got anything here that prints actual news? Like the Brigade used to?"

He looked at me with a weird look. "What the hell are you on, kid? Brigade's been a bullshit tabloid as long as I've been alive."

I gave him as weird a look as he gave me, then I wandered off, out of his sight. I had to find Charlie, ask her what the hell was going on. I quickly made my way to her apartment.

A couple days after Charlie's came home from Larsen City, she and her mom (and her little brother) moved back into their old apartment, despite the memories. They'd needed to, since her mom's apartment only had one bedroom and really wasn't set up for two and a half people to live in, even when one of them is out swinging around the city almost every night. It made things easy for me, since I always had to keep asking Charlie where it was her mom's apartment was, and I remembered their old apartment easily.

I bolted up the stairs and knocked on the door, and much to my surprise, there stood a very much alive Henry Harkins, looking like he was about to head off to work. "Can I help you, son?" he asked.

Rather than blurting out something ridiculous sounding (to everyone but me, anyway), I asked, "Is Charlie home?"

He looked at his watch. "No. Matter of fact, she's at school, which is obviously where you ought to be, too."

I nervously laughed. "I'm homeschooled." I quickly thanked him for the information and ran, making my way to Charlie's school. I didn't know what was going on, but a brunette who can spin webs and cracks wise while she's doing it shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

***

Why did I have to be wrong? Why is it that in a building full of teenagers, a single brunette that I spend every day with would be difficult to locate? She's the one I love, goddamnit! Why the hell can't I find her?

Either I'm somebody no one would notice, or I tapped into another power, because nobody was looking at me. I walked past three teachers who didn't ask me why I wasn't in class. I peeked in every classroom window, and nobody saw me. Clearly, I had somehow found some sort of invisibility power.

I decided to use this power to my advantage. If I was visible, there'd be only one place I couldn't check, and that was... The girl's restrooms or locker rooms. Pervy as hell, I know, but I needed to know what the hell was going on, like why the newspaper I worked for was suddenly a tabloid and why my girlfriend's dead father was somehow still alive.

I found the nearest restroom, slowly snuck inside - and found nothing. No one. Great. One down, I-don't-know-how-many to go. I kept it up, sneaking into every restroom I could find while still checking around classrooms. It was actually pretty tedious, since, apparently, people in this school choose not to use the bathroom in the middle of class.

The final place I had to check - after school was out, no less - was the locker room. By then, I was tired. I simply sat down on the concrete in front of the lockers and decided to rest. Lucky me, I guess, because at about that very moment, in came what I can only describe as my girlfriend trying to look like a pop star, because Charlie was wearing a denim miniskirt and a sleeveless top that bared her midriff, which I assume was way beyond the school's accepted dress code. The oddest thing about her, however, was the blonde hair. She looked an awful lot like... oh, crap... Actress, she's on Nashville, and that one Bring it On movie (I watched it for the hot cheerleaders, okay?). I can't remember that chick's name for the life of me.

I slipped out of sight as Charlie and a few other girls drifted to their lockers, chatting up this and that (mostly about boys, I noticed; I thought that was a cliche...). They were changing, and I was even more shocked when I saw Charlie change into a cheerleading outfit. Charlie had never seemed to have much school spirit in her, but then again, she wasn't a blonde before, either, and I'd just been with her a few hours ago.

Charlie told her fellow cheerleaders to head out onto the field without her, and I quietly moved closer to her. I assumed I was still invisible, and that assumption proved correct when Charlie spun around, looking in my direction, and said, "I don't see you, perv, but I know you're there, so just come out!"

I hesitated for a second. This clearly wasn't my Charlie, and this, coupled together with all the other weird things I'd been seeing today, pretty much told me that I was in some sort of alternate reality, or something, one where Charlie may or may not have her powers. I had no way of knowing, unless I found a way to turn visible again and explained the whole situation to her. I thought about it for a second. How would the heroes in Charlie's comics do this...

My decision was made for me, though, as Charlie walked forward and bumped into me, knocking us both to the floor and knocking me visible. I immediately jumped to my feet and tried to help her up, but she scrambled away from me. "What the hell?!" she screamed.

I raised my arms. "I'm not in here sneaking peeks at you, I came here to find you!"

She slowly got to her feet, never taking her eyes off me. "Why would you be looking for me?"

"This may sound weird, but - "

"It was already weird enough when you popped up out of thin air, okay? This explanation? Piece of cake, so spit it out."

I sighed. "Okay. I'm from another reality."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"No joke, I'm from an alternate reality, like, um... Like this is the Ultimate Marvel universe to the standard Marvel universe, okay?"

She waved her hands. "I don't really know what you're talking about, but it sounds nerdy."

I raised my eyebrow this time. "You're not a comic book nerd?"

She motioned to her body. "Do I look like I'd be a comic book nerd?"

"You look the same in my reality, save for the hair, and you're still a comic book nerd. I wouldn't know what I know if it weren't for you."

"Whoa, stop right there! Me? A nerd? Looking like this?" She pointed to her chest. "No way. Not in any way."

I sighed. "Look, I think I mentioned different realities, right? That's where I come from, a reality where there are people who fly and... a girl that I love who spins webs and crawls on buildings."

She stood up and walked closer to me. "Is that supposed to be me?"

"Yeah. My Charlie, who's a sexy, nerdy spider girl, and..."

She cut me off. "That's totally crazy, and I need to get out there on the field, okay? Don't follow me, or I'll tell my dad you were stalking me in the locker room, he's a cop and he's really protective of me." She turned around, made her way to the door, then turned back to me for a second. "I hope you get back to where ever it is you need to go." And with that, she left the locker room.

***

"Great," I said aloud, to no one, "I'm stuck here, in an alternate reality, and nobody's heard of a super hero. I have no idea how to control my powers, no real idea why that Benefactor even gave me powers, and I'm stuck here, in a reality where Charlie just... Isn't Charlie." I looked at the empty sky, nothing to answer me back except the silent skyscrapers. "What the hell do I do now?"

When I didn't get an answer, I sighed and said, "I'm talking to the sky. There's something wrong with me."

***

Charlotte Harkins dropped her bag on her bed and sighed, thinking back to that guy. She hadn't even learned his name, but the way he spoke... He creeped her out. She pulled the curtains shut on her window, just to make sure he wasn't peeking in at her from the rooftops, for whatever reason she thought he might be on a rooftop. She didn't even want to think about where he might be.

She heard her mom calling her out for dinner. She put thoughts of that guy behind her and slipped a hoodie on. She walked out to the kitchen table and sat down, then grabbed the chop sticks for the Chinese food her dad brought home. "Chinese again?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It's a block away from the station, what else am I supposed to get when I want to rush home?"

She sighed. "Okay, I guess that makes sense."

Her mom sat down across the table from her. "So, Charlotte, there was this boy here today..."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "What?!"

Her dad sat down, next. "This kid show up at your school?"

She stammered out, "Um... Whu - What did he luh - look like?"

"About five-nine, brown hair, looks like a paper boy."

She smiled, weakly. "Nope, nobody like that today." Her dad gave her a glare. "What?"

"Charlotte Elaine... I think I can tell that you're lying." He leaned forward. "This kid got a name?"

Charlotte sighed. "I don't know. He... he was saying some weird things, and he sounded like a psychopath. I told him to stay away from me."

Her dad leaned closer. "What did he say, baby?"

She didn't answer him.

***

I stood outside the motel and looked in my wallet. I had thirty-six dollars, and that wasn't getting me anything in this place. I sighed. I had nowhere to stay while I was stuck in this alternate reality with no way of figuring out my powers. Great. Lucky me, the ability to jump a thousand feet in the air unlocked itself at some point, so I jumped toward the city and landed on the roof of a building, completely unsure of what to do next.

I sighed. So far, the abilities I'd found out that I had were invisibility, extreme Super Mario jumping, and some weird one that exists as a tingling in my head. That Benefactor guy made it seem as though he had a ton of powers, though, so I wondered just how many I had. Too many powers might be a problem, though.

I dropped from the rooftop down into a nearby alleyway, where I looked at all of the random graffiti on the wall. This would occasionally calm me down before, at least when I didn't have Charlie to hold on to. The weird thing being that I didn't feel like I wasn't calm, I just felt wrong, but I assumed that had more to do with the fact that I was in an alternate reality than the fact that I had powers. The powers thing was kind of cool, if I could figure them all out.

Stand Tall Against Rising Terrorists! read one notable piece of graffiti. It caught my eye very quickly. Rising terrorists? That sounded awful damn familiar to me. I rummaged around in my pockets, but then I realized that I didn't have my phone. Wait a minute, though, I had my wallet, why? That bitch Harmony picked me up in my pajama pants, why would I have my wallet?

Unless, of course, the Benefactor put it there. He did seem to know that I was going to be taken somewhere, probably using one of his powers. Wonder why he had so many powers, when Charlie only had a few. Do some Chosen get a ton of powers, while others get only a few? It was hard to keep track of this stuff.

I jumped back up on the roof and found a corner to go to sleep in. I hoped it wouldn't rain. I felt that weird tinglng again, but I pushed it aside to sleep. I was almost asleep when I heard the sound of wings flapping. I opened my eyes and nearly jumped off the building in fear. There was a freakin' angel hovering above the roof!

Or, at least, I thought she was an angel. At first. This woman was wearing a figure hugging cloak, hood pulled over her head, and her wings were solid black in color. She landed on the roof and walked toward me. She spoke, and her voice was low, "You are not supposed to be here."

I gulped. "I... um... I know."

"Why are you here?"

"I was in another dimension, my own reality, and I... um... was picked up by this guy who called himself the Benefactor, and he... um... injected me with this stuff, and - "

She cut me off. "Be quiet." She placed a hand on my head. "You come from a world in which we are not hidden."

I raised an eyebrow. "Not hidden?"

She pulled her hand away. "Your world, can you return?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I imagine I can, but I can't figure out all of my powers."

She shook her head. "Your power is insignificant, you must not be able to travel between worlds. This person you spoke of must return for you."

For some reason, maybe because I was happy I had so many powers, I took offense to that. "Hey, I might not be able to use 'em all, but I've got tons of powers, and I'll figure 'em all out, okay?" I sounded extremely confident.

This enraged the angel, and she raised up one hand. In the pale moonlight, I saw her fingers go from standard human fingers into talons that a crow or a raven would have, and just before she sank those claws into me, something grabbed her hand from behind. I looked around her and saw something that made my heart start doing belly flops in my chest (given the fact that I don't know what all of my powers are, my heart very well could have been doing belly flops in my chest).

Charlie Harkins, holding this woman's hand back with her webbing.

I rolled out from under the woman and stood up, halfway between this woman and Charlie, and waited for this whole thing to play out.

"You're not hurting this guy, Raven," Charlie said.

"If we find this benefactor he speaks of, we can leave this place. He lives in a world where we are not fugitives."

"I don't care, leave him alone, got that?"

Raven ripped the webline off of her wrist and let out a disturbing sound, then flew off.

"You know that invisibility trick you can do?" Charlie asked. It took me a second to realize that she was talking to me. I nodded. "Good, take my hand." I grabbed the hand of the girl who looked like my girlfriend and concentrated. I assumed I was invisible, but I couldn't tell. "Did it work?"

"I dunno."

"Well," she said, over the sound of whirring helicopter blades, "we're about to find out."

A helicopter lifted up from over the side of the building and focused its enormous spotlight on Charlie and I. The only hint that I had that we were invisible was the slightly disturbing fact that we weren't casting a shadow from the spotlight. I don't know why it was disturbing, maybe I thought I was a vampire. I don't know why I thought I was a vampire, because that's mirrors that they can't see themselves in. My brain was going into overload, there.

After realizing that there was nothing on the rooftop to see, the helicopter spotlight swung upward, focusing on the woman known as Raven. After the helicopter moved away from us, Charlie let go of my hand and I concentrated on making myself visible again. Thank God we were on one of the tallest buildings in East City. Not many people would see us, if they could at all.

Charlie sat down on the edge of the building. I practically fell onto my ass. "What the hell's going on here?" I asked her.

She pointed in the direction Raven took off in. "That was Raven. She's a little nuts, since she claims she can see the future and everything that's supposed to happen. She tracked me down after I saw you at school, asked me what your deal was. I didn't tell her anything, but she had her heart set on finding you." She let out a small laugh. "You got anybody like that in your reality?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've read about sightings of some woman named Angel, but I don't remember hearing anything about claws."

She nodded. "That figures. According to this girl named Monica, there's bound to be bigger differences between our realities than just the fact that your Charlotte's a hot nerd."

"Um... Do you prefer Charlotte? Mine prefers Charlie."

She rolled her eyes. "Figures. So," she leaned forward, "what other differences you see?"

I stood up and walked over to Charlie - Charlotte - and knelt down in front of her. "Well, Chosen aren't fugitives, like that Raven chick said."

She raised an eyebrow. "Chosen? Is that what we Powers are called in your reality?"

I nodded. "There's a group called HARP that hates Chosen, they call them Powers."

She sighed. "Sounds like START. And what about your... Charlie? What can she do?"

"Same things you can. You have, like, Spider-Man's powers, right?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what Spider-Man is, besides a movie that I refused to see."

My God she was so different from my Charlie. "You spin webs, climb on walls, that sort of thing?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Yeah, she does all that."

"So, were you Chosen, or are you just a weird freak that has powers?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. The Benefactor told me I was Chosen, but I wasn't Chosen the same way Charlie said she was."

"So, no weird creature showed up in your bedroom and told you that you'd have powers?"

I shook my head. "No. This Benefactor, a guy with a whole bunch of powers, injected me with something and told me I'd have all the same powers he did. I don't even know what all my powers are, yet."

She nodded again. "Okay, so you can't get back home yet."

"Right."

She stood up. "Well, be ready to try and escape Homeland Security a lot. When people find out you have powers, they're gonna try and kill you. I'd take you home with me, but my dad's really protective of me. Find a place to stay the night that isn't this rooftop, and meet up with me after school tomorrow, got it?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

She turned to jump off the rooftop, but then turned back to me for a second. "I can see why Nerd Me likes you. You're kinda cute, in a geeky way." Then, she leaped off of the roof and shot a webline out of her wrist and swung away, avoiding the street lights below.

I sighed. That's the girl I love, alright. Now, if only I could get back to mine.

***

I stood out on the school lawn, waiting for Charlotte (that was still taking some getting used to) to finally leave the building. I probably looked like a crazy stalker, standing there in a black hoodie. I should have bought a simple jacket, or something. Stupid, stupid me, I guess.

The worst part about this past day was that I discovered no more new powers. The only clue I really have toward knowing that I have a lot of powers is that statement the Benefactor made. I hoped I'd figure them out soon, then maybe I could find my way home. It would be nice to see my Charlie again.

Speaking of some kind of girl that shares my girlfriend's name (okay, that confused me, too), Charlotte walked out of the building along with all the other students in the school. She walked directly toward me, which made me wonder if people in black hoodies hiding behind trees didn't look like psychopathic stalkers.

"So, figure out anything new?" she asked.

"Other than the fact that my powers clearly don't all work on command, no." I pulled back my hood. "Looks like I'm at the mercy of whenever one of them decides to show itself."

She nodded. "That sucks. I know what all of mine are."

"Nice to know. So, what are we meeting for, anyway? You have some way of figuring out how to make all my powers work?"

"Well, kinda. I need to take you to see someone, she'll need to examine you, though."

I raised an eyebrow. "Examine me?"

"Yeah. She seems to know some way of making our powers work just fine. She helped me figure out the tingling in my head."

I looked her in the face. "Tingling in you head?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's a danger thing, warns me when there's trouble headed my way."

"And bumping into the invisible man yesterday didn't count?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't seem to work around you." She walked out to the curb and flagged down a taxi. "C'mon, we've got to get going."

***

Raven sat huddled in her cell, nibbling on a cracker that she'd been given with her meager amount of food. Cold soup with no flavor always tasted better with crackers, though she wished she'd been given more than one. One cracker wasn't enough to sustain her for however long they'd keep her in her cell.

In walked a man she didn't particularly want to see. He was wearing a finely tailored suit, shoes that didn't look like they'd ever seen the outside of the box they were purchased in, and a pair of black leather gloves, each one marked with the Homeland Security logo. He knelt down in front of her cell and tapped at the bars with his knuckles. "Bernice," he said, "please, look at me."

She shook her head. "No."

"Bernice, please."

"No!" she screeched. "My name is not Bernice! My name is Raven!"

He made a tsking noise and then stood up. "It's sad that you won't work with us, Bernice. We could help you. Calm the feelings you have when you see the futures you see. Maybe even make some of those nastier futures go away."

She backed up to the back wall of the cell. "Go away! I will not help you!"

The man smiled. "We'll see."

***

Raven was alone for a long time. She was glad that the man in the suit had left, but she wanted to be free to fly again. She hated being stuck in a cell. She pulled at the chain and tried to see if there were any weak links. She hoped to have at least a little freedom in the cell itself, even if she couldn't be outside.

She heard footsteps. She crawled over to the front of the cell and watched the man with the gloves walk in yet again. He knelt down, opened the cell, and pulled the chain off of her. "Go now," he said, offering her a helping hand.

She looked up at him. "Why?"

He pulled the hand away, retrieved something from an interior pocket, and the grabbed her hand and pressed what looked like a pneumatic injector against her wrist. He pulled the trigger and she felt a sharp pain.

"Because now I know where you're going, my little Bernice."

She screeched at him, then retreated back further into the cell. He grabbed her by the wrist again and pulled her out. He slammed the cell shut and stared down at her.

"You're going to do what I tell you, understand?"

"I will not! I cannot!"

William Brand knelt down in front of her, reached out, touched her face. "You're going to do what Daddy says, or else I'll have to let the extraction team do their job on you, and that's quite painful."

A second time in so few minutes, Raven screeched at the man who used to be her loving father.

***

Annette Simms sat at the reception desk, waiting for someone to actually show up. Ever since taking the job at Banter Industries' East City headquarters, she'd rarely done anything. The boss was never there for anyone to actually come visit, and so Annette's job was more akin to being a personal clock-in/clock-out manager, as opposed to someone who actually met people before they went upstairs to see the boss.

Today, however, was her lucky day.

She watched these two kids walk into the building, a skinny blonde girl and a young man with scruffy brown hair wearing a black hoodie. They walked up to the reception desk and Annette put on her trademark smile. "Hello, and welcome to Banter Industries, East City division. How may I help you?"

The girl spoke first. "Charlotte Harkins, I'm here to see the boss. She's expecting me."

Annette tapped a few buttons on her holo-display and found that the boss was expecting this girl, and likely the tag-along boyfriend as well. "I see." She pointed down the hall to the right side of the desk. "Take this hallway to the elevators, sixty-eighth floor, Mrs. Brand is expecting you."

The girl flashed her a smile, then nodded, and then the two of them made their way toward the elevators. Annette sat back down in her chair and sighed. It wasn't much, but just being able to tell anyone where the elevators were was a relief to her. It wasn't often she got to see fresh faces.

***

I followed Charlotte down the hallway that the receptionist (I swear I've seen her before) said led to the elevators. We found one that was already open for us, tapped a button on the holographic display, which brought up floor numbers. Charlotte scrolled through the floor numbers until she came to sixty-eight and then the most comfortable elevator ride I'd ever felt happened without me ever even noticing. Didn't even take five seconds to get from the ground floor to the sixty-eighth. Now that's an elevator.

Charlotte took the lead again, but it honestly wouldn't have been difficult to find who we were looking for. The room was enormous, well-lit, spacious and full of technology that would have made Tony Stark (Iron Man, if I've got my comic book characters correct) have an orgasm. I couldn't even describe what most of this stuff looked like, let alone what it did.

Charlotte led me over to the one human being in the room, a stunningly beautiful woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a pair of pajama pants and a ratty tank top that looked like it had seen better days in the eighties. She looked extremely busy.

"Hey, Penne, can't I at least get a hug, or something?" Charlotte asked the woman. She turned around and immediately brightened up, then embraced Charlotte in an extremely friendly hug.

"It's about damn time you come visit me again! How's your folks?"

"Well, Dad just got promoted to captain, and Mom's still a stay-at-home mom taking care of Chris."

"And what about you? Any boyfriends?" She looked over Charlotte's shoulder at me. "Like this handsome young man?"

I reached my hand forward for a handshake. "Uh, Tim. Timmy Saul."

She looked me over. "Hmghf... Cute, in an I deliver papers to make a living sort of way."

I sighed. "I get that more often than I want to. So, Charlotte says you can help me?"

"First, let's get introductions out of the way." She shook my hand. "Penelope Brand, billionaire extraordinaire."

"Penelope... Banter?"

"Banter's my maiden name. Brand is my married name, and now my still-have-to-use-it-even-though-I'm-divorced name. My ex-husand's dragging me through a circus of legal hell over trying to get my name changed back. So, what does Charlotte think I can help you with?"

Charlotte answered for me. "He's... like me."

Penelope's eyes damn near glowed at that. "He's a Power! Oh! This is so exciting!"

I turned red-faced. "Uh, yeah. In my reality, they're called Chosen."

She raised an eyebrow. "Your reality?" She turned to Charlotte. "The hell's he talking about?"

Charlotte shrugged. "He says he's from another reality, where these Chosen that he talks about aren't hated or hunted, like we are here. Apparently, his girlfriend is his reality's version of me, who goes by Charlie and has brown hair."

Penelope looked at me again. "Is that how you knew my name? Is your Penelope Banter still single, or did she get her name changed back easily?"

I tried to think about it for a second, then I remembered a magazine article I read about her a couple months ago. "Um... My Penelope Banter is engaged, to a Frenchman named Kevin, I believe."

She sighed. "Good. At least some form of me realized that marrying William Brand was a stupid mistake. So, how did you get here?"

"Somebody, um... shot me."

"Say that again, please?"

"Yeeeaaah... This guy named the Benefactor kidnapped me, injected me with something that gave me every super power he has, and then shot at me. That sent me here, I guess. It's weird, but it's the only explanation I've got."

She nodded. "Well, you're right, it's definitely weird. But, then again, six months ago, my daughter sprouted wings and told me she could see the future, then she started going cukoo."

"That Raven chick is your daughter?!"

"Bernice, yes. I don't even get to see her often anymore, except when she flies by the building and gives me an evil glare."

"She nearly took my head off last night."

Penelope sighed. "I'm sorry about that. Like I said, she's been having some mental issues ever since she developed her powers. Not everybody gets good powers, like Charlotte did." She came closer to me, grabbed my arm and turned it this way and that. "So, what have you got?"

I sighed. "Well, some form of dimension hopping that I can't seem to figure out how to control. Invisibility, super jumping, some weird buzzing that happens every now and again, and that seems to be about it. I can't tell what others I have, but the Benefactor told me I'd have all the same powers that he does, and he made that sound like a lot."

Penelope made an inquisitive-sounding noise, but I couldn't tell what it was she was trying to say. She eventually checked my other arm, then pointed at something behind me. "Go sit down in that chair over there. If you're anything like the other Powers I've helped, there will be a new lobe hidden within your brain that will help us to determine what it is you can do." She smiled at me. "This should be pretty exciting, if you really can do so many things."

I gulped.

***

Raven sat perched atop the Parker Building and looked down upon the city. She didn't want to be there, doing what her father had her doing. She regretted that she'd have to find that kid with the reality powers that the extraction team had  pulled from her memories.

Though, secretly, she hoped to find him so that he could take her somewhere else. She didn't want to be there, hunted like an animal. She hoped to find him, and make him take her to a different reality, where she could live in peace.

She screeched, and then leaped from the spire at the top of the building and flew, flapping her wings as hard as she could, as fast as she could. The faster she could find that boy, the faster she could be somewhere where she wouldn't be treated like a monster.

***

"Jesus Christ!" Penelope said. I only wished I could move my head and find out what it was she was seeing. "You really are from an alternate reality!"

I sighed. "I told you that already!"

"No, you don't understand, I'm looking at your memories here, kid, I can literally see the differences between this reality and yours!"

"You're looking at my memories?"

"Yeah. This is a machine I designed to find the hidden lobe that contains your powers. In order to get there, though, a trip down memory lane has to happen, because the lobe is tucked behind the brain's memory center. I can't believe this... Here's the other Charlotte, right here, doing... Oh my God, she's kissing him!"

Charlotte groaned. "Look, he's cute, but he's not my type."

I groaned, this time. "Can we get the hell on with this? I'd like to learn how to use my dimension hopping powers so that I can get the hell back home."

Penelope laughed. "Okay, okay, just give me a min - Oh... Holy shit."

"What?"

"That Benefactor guy you keep talking about... He wasn't making any sort of exaggeration."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Teleportation, levitation, telekinesis, telepathy, spider webs, agility, time travel, enhanced strength, metal manipulation, tissue regeneration, jumping, danger warning sense, super speed, full-on flight, geokinesis, matter manipulation, enhanced hearing, immortality, light amplification, electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, aquakinesis, cryokinesis, time manipulation... I'm really tempted to say... I don't know what you can't do."

I leaned as forward as I could, which wasn't much, and almost whispered, "No shit?"

"No shit, kid. The least shit anybody can ever have about anything. You're a walking super weapon. The goddamn Death Star would be afraid of you." She tapped a button on her hologram and released me from her device. I just sat forward and took in what I'd just heard. "You feel any different?"

I held my hand out, concentrated, and a small ball of electricity formed in my hand. I closed my eyes, opened them again, and the electricity was replaced by flame. Again, and the flame was a floating mass of ice. "Oh yeah... I feel way different." I concentrated again, and the ice melted, the water evaporated, and the steam cleared. "But I still don't feel like I can... Move between realities, I guess. How do I do that?"

Penelope shrugged. "I don't know. I could try and shoot you, I guess."

Charlotte scoffed. "Penne!"

"Sorry, but, hey, it worked once, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah, unfortunately, it did. Still, I'd rather find out how to make it work without threat of impending death. If I had to wait for that to happen, it would take too damn long, especially if I have tissue regeneration." I hopped off of the examination table and put my shirt back on. "So, maybe there's some other way to do it."

Penelope shrugged. "Couldn't tell ya on a bet, kid. You're on your own, so far as figuring out your reality power goes."

"Yeah..." I was about to say something else when the glass exploded.

***

Raven burst through the window and grabbed her mother by the arms. She screeched loudly, trying to scare the boy into doing something. Unfortunately he wasn't doing anything.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had somehow rended the metal from the floor, and was using it to pull Raven down, all the while the blonde girl was using her spider webbing to keep Raven on the floor.

"Stop!" her mother shouted. "She's down!" Her mother knelt down and touched Raven's face. "Bernice, what's going on?"

"I am Raven!" she shouted, sending spit into her mother's face. "And I want the boy who can move between dimensions! I want to be away from here!"

Raven screeched , and tried to move, but the metal wrapped around her torso stopped her from moving, along with the webbing, which kept her stuck to the metal. Her wings were bound, and every time she swiped at her webbing with her talons, she just clawed at herself.

"Bernice, please, listen to me, I want to help you."

Raven screeched at her mother, and then her screech was drowned out by the wound of an explosion. She looked around and saw helicopters hovering around the building. No! Daddy!

***

I lost my concentration and the metal I was somehow controlling (this is still happening involuntarily, I guess) let go of Raven and dropped her on the floor. The helicopters each fired missiles that hit one thing or another. I somehow managed to use my own webbing to pull Charlotte and Penelope away from some of the falling ceiling, but some of the debris still hit me in the back. It hurt like hell, but I could already feel my body healing itself.

I guess, thank you Penelope Brand's deus ex machina power activating machine. I couldn't have asked for anything more convenient.

I coughed as dust particles floated around us, in my mouth and in my nostrils. Shadowy figures appeared in the dust-filled smoke. Six of them, five carrying assault rifles and one unarmed. Using what I can only describe as shape-shifting, my arm mutated into a flesh colored sword. The sheer amount of things I felt like I could now do was amazing, and all thanks to five minutes on a freakin' examination table.

Two of the men with assault rifles came close, and my body moved on autopilot. I reached outward, and outward, and outward, and I mean literally, because my arm was stretching further than humanly possible, and the closest guy with an assault rifle was suddenly impaled by my sword arm. My other arm reached out and grabbed the second man wth an oversized hand, which closed around the man's head and cut his air supply off.

Great, two seconds after I learn about my other powers, I'm suddenly a murderer, I'm doin' great. I had to calm my powers down and focus on just knocking these guys out. It's not self-defense when you can heal and they can't.

I pulled my arms back and focused on just using my super strength. I didn't want to kill anyone. The man without any weapons motioned for his people to back off. "Don't do anything foolish, men, this one has some real power." He moved closer to me, and I finally saw his face. Lo and behold, William Brand was standing in front of me, wearing a finely tailored suit (that didn't look dirty at all, despite the heavy dust and smoke in the air) and a pair of gloves that each bore the logo of Homeland Security. "Nice to meet you, son, my name is William Brand."

I nodded. "I've met you, kind of. It was in my realitiy, and I was at a press conference."

"Is that so? You're a little young to be a businessman, and I doubt I would have been speaking at a high school." He smiled. "Even if this was an alternate dimension." He and one of is goons walked over to Penelope. "I see you've met my ex-wife. Penne and I had a little falling out once I stole her technology and used it to extract the power lobe from you Terrorists' heads."

Penelope spat at Brand's feet. "Fuck off, William."

He nodded to his goon, and the goon shot Penelope in the head, blowing her brains all over the dirt covered floor. Next, he turned to Charlotte. "Charlotte Harkins, as I live and breath. We've been trying to find you for months, and here you are, right at my fingertips. Maybe now your father will start complying with me on the Terrorist raids." He turned to his goon. "Tie her up and take her to the chopper on the roof." He turned back to me. "Now, mister... what was your name, again?"

Okay, this one, I didn't care about. I was killing this guy. I stretched out with my arm, grabbed him, and threw him right out the window. His men opened fire on me, but my telekinesis kicked in somehow and held the bullets aloft.

That was when this asshole version of William Brand walked up to me and playfully picked up several of the bullets. "That was impressive, but ultimately useless." He smiled. "Who better to hunt a Terrorist than a Terrorist?"

I grit my teeth. "Teleporter, huh?"

He nodded. "Penelope had hyper intelligence. When Bernice developed abilities as well, I finally realized that I needed to heed the President's call and start rounding you monsters up."

"I'm not staying here, you asshole, and I'm not gonna let you run free here!" I called the metal out of the floor and turned the floor beneath him into spikes, which shot straight through him. Then, using the super speed that I finally figured out how to control, I ran forward, grabbed Charlotte, and jumped out the window. Just before we hit the ground, I closed my eyes, and imagined us elsewhere.

***

I woke up to Charlotte covering what I assumed were wounds with some of her webbing. "It'll sting like a bitch when you pull it off, but it'll stop the bleeding." She then plopped down beside me and I finally realized where we were: this reality's version of the room the Benefactor had held me in. I laughed at the stupidity of it.

I sat up and the second thing I realized was that my leg was broken. Seconds later, however, it healed itself, just like the wounds Charlotte had covered up with her webs. "Thanks anyway," I said, ripping the webbing off to reveal the clean, wound-free skin beneath. "Must not work unless I'm conscious. That's nice to know." I rubbed at my forehead. "Is this where I brought us, or did you haul me here?"

She shook her head. "No, this is where we landed, a couple dozen blocks away from Penne's place." She wiped tears from her eyes. "That monster killed the only friend I had that knew what I was."

I nodded. "Yeah, well... take heart in knowing that he's dead now." I stood up. "Is that what Chosen have to deal with in this reality?"

She nodded. "Unfortunately. It was worse when they first set it up. There were people being pulled from their homes, people who probably didn't even have powers. My dad just barely managed to keep me from being taken in, thanks to his pull as East City's Premiere Hero Cop."

I sighed. "I'm sorry you have to put up with all this." I turned to her. "And I'd stay if I could, but I - "

She nodded again. "You have to get back to your reality, I know. You don't deserve to be stuck here, anyway. You think you've got cross-dimensional travel mastered yet?"

I smiled. "Was that a little sexy nerd speak I just heard?"

She smiled. "What can I say, I used to stay up late with my dad and watch reruns of The Outer Limits."

"You and Charlie would get along well."

She shook her head. "I doubt it, but it's the thought that counts."

I nodded. "Yeah. And, yeah, I think I can figure it out. If all goes well, I won't be here in a few seconds."

She walked over to me and hugged me. "I hope I find a Tim Saul here. You really are cute."

I kissed her lips. She tasted like Charlie did. "I know."

After that, I stepped away from her, closed my eyes, and felt something happening. Too bad I just didn't know what, yet.

***

When I opened my eyes, I swear I must have pissed my pants, because there I was, looking out at what looked like a city-wide industrial zone, but then I just realized that there were giant smoke stacks coming out of every building, and people were driving hover cars. I looked around, trying to figure out where it was that I was, and the only clue I had was a floating sign that said... I actually couldn't read it, because it was in Korean. Great. I was in Korea. I hope. Hell, maybe I was in Spain, I really don't know.

I really didn't even want to think about this place. I closed my eyes and concentrated again, this time opening them to a far more normal-looking East City. I breathed a sigh of relief. This time, though, the differences between my reality and this one were a little more apparent, all thanks to the giant statue of Guardian and Knight standing back-to-back in the place where the Parker Building should have been.

Oh well, at least this reality had a Knight, unlike the last one I was in. I wondered what the deal was with this place. Did I go from a reality that hated Chosen to one that praised them? I teleported to the base of the statue and surprised a group of people that all brought out their cameras. They snapped pictures of me and asked for my autograph. Hey, now I know what Charlie feels like.

"Um... Hi, is there any chance I can see one of these guys?" I asked, jerking my thumb toward the statue.

"You ain't from around here, are you?" one of them asked me in response.

"No, I'm not."

"Guardian and Knight died over a hundred years ago, man."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah," a woman responded, "they both died when Gustav Hammond opened up the Hellgate and brought out Satan. If it hadn't been for the Benefactor, the world would have ended."

I imagine I had a look of pure shock on my face. "The Benefactor?"

"Yeah, he's our savior."

Well, it wasn't what I wanted to hear, but maybe this reality's version of the Benefactor would actually not be a dick who shoots sixteen year old kids in the face. "Can somebody take me to see him?"

***

After they brought me to some obnoxiously large tower, I took the elevator to the top floor, where the receptionist looked awfully damn familiar. Penelope Banter smiled at me from behind her desk. "Hello, how may I be beneficial?" Must be this world's version of help, I guess.

"I'm here to see..."

"Yes, the Benefactor is expecting you, please go on through."

This place was starting to creep me the hell out. I walked past Ms. Banter and entered a large office that looked like it probably dwarfed the entire White House. There was a large aquarium on one side, containing a small whale and three dolphins. The opposite wall was a giant window with holographic screens dotted around it, in no particular sequence. The wall opposite the door I'd entered from was another window, but this one just looked out upon the city.

The room was sparsely furnished. A couch dominated the center of the room, and a desk sat in front of the plain window. Behind that desk sat the man who pointed a gun at my face, who kidnapped me, who injected me with powers I truly can't help but understand. I balled my hands into fists, grit my teeth, and sped toward him with the super speed I forgot I had (I have so many powers, how can I keep track of them all?).

I didn't make it there, however, because before I even hit the couch, I was suddenly suspended above the floor, the Benefactor's hand wrapped around my neck. He smiled. "I wondered when you'd get here." He threw me to the floor and walked over to the aquarium. "You took a little longer in the other reality than I expected."

I rubbed at my throat and coughed. "Wait, you're really not the Benefactor of this reality? You're the one that stuck me with the goddamn needle?!"

He turned back to me. "There is only one Benefactor. I'm an anomoly, and I've made you the same." He turned back to the aquarium. "So, how was the last reality?"

"You mean the one where everything was in Korean?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, child, the other one, where you slaughtered two Homeland Security troops and impaled William Brand the teleporter with a great deal of metal, did you enjoy the idea of that reality?"

I stood up. "No. Now, if you please, I'd like to go back to my reality, now!"

He turned back to me and smiled. "I can't do that."

"What?!"

"That job is up to you. The only way I can send you back to your home reality is to go there myself with you as a passenger, and you can't trust me to do that."

"I'll take the goddamn risk."

"I won't, I'm sorry."

"This is bullshit!"

He patted me on the shoulder. "You really do remind me of myself when I was younger."

I growled, "Why? Somebody do this to you, too?"

"In a manner of speaking." He walked over to the couch and sat down. "Timothy, you'll return when you've fully mastered your teleporation ability. Once you've done that, you can return to your reality any time you want."

"And how do I do that?"

He shrugged. "That's up to you. I personally suggest meditation, but I know you'll have some trouble with that."

I turned and started walking toward the door. "The hell with this."  Before I hit the door, he was in front of me, a hand placed cautiously on my chest. "I wouldn't. I'm starting to get pretty good with those powers you gave me."

He smiled, laughed. "Not as good as me, Timothy. Billions of millennia more experience than you've had."

"I don't care, man, I just want to go home, understand?"

He nodded. "You're not ready yet, however."

"I told you that I didn't care, right?"

He smiled. "Fine. Go home, then."

I grit my teeth, closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was standing on water just outside the city. And, unfortunately, it was still the same reality as before. I could see the Guardian/Knight statue from here. I sighed. This was going to take some getting used to.

***

I walked down the street and stopped in front of Charlie's school. Maybe I'd be lucky, and she'd be there. Though, honestly, if Guardian was dead, what were the odds that my dainty little girlfriend who just shoots spider webs out her wrists would still be alive?

Pretty good, apparently. I watched as Charlie - brown hair and plain clothes and all - emerged from the front of the building, looking like the happiest girl in the world, talking to her friend Cindy. I wanted to run up to her and hug her, but then I remembered, much as she looks like her, this isn't my Charlie.

So instead, I just watched. That was the best I was gonna get until I could get home.

***

Days passed. I used my invisibility to steal food when I was hungry, but that wasn't often. Apparently, tissue regeneration also means tissue replenishment, because I barely ever felt hungry, except usually just after waking up. Nice to know, I guess.

Most of the time, I just sat on the roof of the ECPD 14th precinct house, thinking about what it was I could try to figure out my reality hopping power. The Benefactor said meditation. Maybe that worked for him, but I doubt it'd work for me. I have trouble just sitting still, probably some form of ADHD that never got diagnosd.

So, for awhile, I slept.

***

A headache woke me up in the middle of the night. That was about when I realized that throbbing pain in my head was back. It got progressively worse, so I rolled out of the way just as a fireball hit the roof, right where I was sleeping. I jumped to my feet and then rolled out of the way again just as a piece of metal sliced at where I was standing. More throbbing alerted me to a solid blue buzz saw slicing up the section of the roof that I'd rolled to, so I jumped off of the roof, and into a small puddle in the road. That, unfortunately, was not the best move, because the puddle suddenly came to life and tried choking me to death.

I used my own water powers (I vaguely remember Penelope calling them aquakinesis, which didn't even sound like a real word to me, but what the hell, ninety-nine percent of my super power knowledge comes from my girlfriend) to get the water off of my throat, then I got out of the water and looked around for whoever it was that caused that.

In front of me were six Chosen, each wearing disturbing clown make-up. One of them was a woman with stretchy arms; another was a young girl who was standing atop a tornado; the third was another older woman who was using water wrapped around her arms as tentacles; number four was a girl, slightly older than me with a weird glow coming from her right hand; the next one was a guy about the same age as the glow girl, but his hands were coated in fire; and the final one was another guy, covered in metal plates.

Oh... shit.

"It's so very nice to meet you," a voice said, though it didn't come from any of the six Chosen who were staring me down. It was a voice I recognized. I turned around and saw the face of a man I had never wanted to see again, and hoped that all that talk about him showing up in Pine Ridge was a lie.

The Joker.

"There's so very few out there, after everything that happened." He clapped his hands slowly. "And one that doesn't stand on either side, well, that's even more rare."

I coated my arms in fire as well. "Get away from me you psychopath!"

He smiled. "Psychopath?" He laughed. "No one's ever given me a compliment before!" He looked past me at his goon squad. "Tech!"

Metal lashed out at me, but I dodged it just in time. In doing so, I spun around to face the Chosen, and threw fireballs at each one. Most of them dodged my assault, save for the one who looked like he had fire powers. I switched to electricity, but the tornado girl was there to stop that attack. The metal one threw another metalic whip in my direction, this time I grabbed it and used it against him. I curled the metal around his neck and shot electricity through it, straight at his head. He fell over, in extreme pain but nowhere near dead yet.

My defense against Metal Head gave the others a chance to retaliate, unfortunately. Aqua Lady turned into a tsunami and tried washing me away, but I dropped the metal and jumped up, sending a bolt of electricity into the water below. It wasn't until I kept going up, however, that I realized Tornado Girl was keeping me aloft. I was pelted with fireballs next, courtesy of Fireball Man, and a long, rubber arm wrapped itself around my throat. Why did everybody want to go for the throat today?!

I created those arm-blades again and sliced Rubber Band Lady's arms off, then my time manipulating powers kicked in with my knowledge and I saw Tornado Girl inside her tornado. I flew toward her, knocked her out of the tornado, and slammed her head against the asphalt. These guys are Chosen, I can kill super powered people in self-defense, right? Stupid moral questions. How does Charlie do this every day without wanting to web somebody's airholes closed?

Fireball Man didn't stop shooting fireballs at me, though, and despite the fact that my skin was healing before it even burned, I still felt the pain of the fireballs hitting me. I used Aqua Lady's water and sent gallons of it down his throat before I realized what I was doing. I stopped just in time to get hit by a blue sledge hammer straight in the face. I rolled away, and a solid white wall appeared between me and the hammer. Whatever power that girl had, clearly I had it, too. Great. I pushed the wall forward, then wrapped it around Blue Matter Girl and looked around, wondering if I missed anyone.

The metal spike through my chest told me that I had.

I turned around and saw Metal Head standing beside the Joker. He was covered in electrical burns, but he was otherwise just fine, and healing, it looked like. I ripped the spike out of my chest and it fused with my arm. I walked up to Metal Head, grabbed him by the shoulder, and shoved my spike-arm into his crotch. I held him close and whispered, "Grow those back."

The only ones left were me and the Joker.

"I told you to get away, remember?" I asked him. "Now, leave. Oh, and just because I'm not around," I motioned towards his fallen Chosen, "doesn't mean these guys will ever catch up."

***

I walked up to Penelope Banter the Receptionist and said, "I wanna talk to him again."

She nodded. "He's been expecting you."

I figured. I walked through the door and teleported from the door to his desk. He didn't even turn the chair around to face me, he just said, "It's about time, Timothy." Now he did turn the chair around. "You want my advice, and that advice was already given: Meditation."

"That's not easy for me."

He nodded. "I know, but either way, that's how you're going to do it. I suggest you find a quiet place where the Joker and his thugs aren't going to find you, and spend the day meditating. Once you do that, the answer should come to you rather quickly, but I wasn't wrong when I said I couldn't send you home."

I shook my head. "I don't care. But mark my words, I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me."

I swear he smiled. "I'm glad to hear it."

***

I sat on the street corner, not the quietest of spots, and tried to concentrate on my reality. It was tough, though, so I just gave up a couple seconds later. I needed something, some place to go. This didn't seem like it was going to be easy. I stood up and started for the docks. Plenty of empty warehouses over there.

"Hey!" someone shouted, someone I recognized. I turned around and saw Charlie Harkins standing there. "You look familiar, have I met you before?" she asked.

I wanted to say yes, but I just shook my head. "No. You probably have me mistaken with somebody else."

She stood there, placed her index finger on her chin like she was thinking, then shook her head. "No, I've seen you before. You have way too cute a face for me to have you mistaken."

Oh, man, this was hurting me. I shook my head again. "Nah, 'cause I'd remember you, and I don't. Sorry. It's nice to meet you, though. Tim, Tim Saul."

"Charlie Harkins."

"You're a pretty girl."

She blushed. "Thanks. Maybe we can do something sometime?"

I shook my head. "Doubt it. I'm only here... uh... seeing family."

She looked upset. "Sorry. I'd really like to get to know you."

I nodded. "Me, too. I'll... see ya some other time, I guess."

She nodded, then leaned up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I couldn't believe just how much better that made me feel. The only problem was that it reminded me just how badly I needed to get back to my Charlie. I thanked her, and then teleported away when she wasn't looking.

***

The man known as the Joker looked over his two remaining toys and smiled. They'd do just nicely, yes they would. He swiftly ran his hands along their bodies and loved what he felt. "You two are going to do your old uncle Joker proud, aren't you?"

In unison, both women said, "Of course we are, Mister J."

He smiled again. "Good, good. Now, go find that little whelp who thinks he's as strong as the Benefactor and tear his face into a smile!"

And both of them nodded.

***

I sat in the middle of the abandoned warehouse and tried, tried, tried. It was difficult to concentrate. Maybe I'd eventually get the hang of this, but I didn't know. I just knew I needed to get home, so I tried to focus on getting home.

And that was when the walls exploded.

I leaped to my feet and readied myself for whatever the hell it was I was going to deal with now, and wasn't too surprised to see that both of them had that disgusting clown make-up on. When I got back home, I was so never going to the goddamn circus again.

One of them I didn't recognize, the other one I did. Harmony Sprite, or, this universe's version of Harmony Sprite. She obviously had powers, just like the other Harmony did. I don't know what powers the other girl had, but I figured she was plenty powerful, if the Joker had saved these two just for hunting me down. I jumped up, landed on the celing, and then jumped again as an explosion tore the ceiling open. That came from Harmony, so I focused my first attack on her, which turned out to be a bit of a surprise. Remember that solid white wall construct I accidentally made before? Yep, except that this was a full box, and it crushed her to death. I'm getting better at killing, at least. Didn't make me feel all that good.

That just left the other girl, who lashed out at me with electrical whips that slashed up my skin in quick slices, but those healed quickly and easily. I used my geokinesis (geo = ground, apparently, I didn't know that before, I figured it meant shapes) and lifted the ground she was standing on up into the air, but she countered this by jumping off and hovering with the help of some... weird... electricity thing that I couldn't possibly understand because, well, it looked weird. Instead, I broke up that piece of ground I was levitating upward into head-sized rocks and used my telekinesis (this one was easy to figure out) to throw them at her. She shot each one of them down by using a weird shockwave that somehow used electricity (who knew someone could do so many things with electricity?!).

I figured out her game, though, and realized that I probably had a similar power, but when I went to use it, I instead soaked her with water. Clearly, my powers don't always know when to do what I say. The good news is that the water thing worked, and I knocked Lady Lightning Rod unconscious. I landed beside her and said, "Now, be a good girl and stay here until the cops show up, okay?"

I was out of breath. I used some metal to keep her restrained, then walked outside to find the nearest payphone, but I collapsed instead.