“You haven’t mentioned them before,” Sama pointed out helpfully.

“I haven’t seen them in years. A Copied Ability fades at Renewal. Proximity to me would probably auto-absorb them, and without visiting Madrox, I’d have no way to bring them back out. They are considered ‘used slots’, so I can’t make any more while they exist, and unlike Madrox, my Dupes can’t Dupe, only Sim, unless they are in another alternity.”

“They are copies of you. There is no way they can’t stand out in some way,” Sama said gravely.

“Tatyana Oliyovchovsky, Isabella Cartier, and Maria Ilnandez,” I said to the most dangerous woman in the world. Dupes Quint, Hex, and Sept, naturally enough.

There was that silent pause on the other end, and THEN she drank. Hah, she wised up! “Bloody Powered. Tatyana is on the Alternity Watch. The Ice Queen, the most ruthless developer in Brazil, and Brazil’s hottest singing sensation.”

“Hah, Tat made your elite teams? Coolies!” I knew about the other two, because they generated press. Bella was fully capable of going up against the biggest crime lords, entrenched families, corrupt governments, mercenary Powered, and embedded corporations in Brazil to get what she wanted, and have tons of fun doing it. On the other hand, Maria was re-inventing Latino music and had followers across the world already, one of the hottest new rising stars in the entertainment business. Even the States couldn’t keep out her music.

Archtheurge Casting ability, go be a rock star. Sure, why not? My Dupes all had different personalities than I did. They couldn’t have kids, so what they got out of life was what they made for themselves. I wasn’t sure what Tat was, probably a Researcher happy about finding out the Laws of different alternities, but Bella was probably a Builder, and Maria an Artist.

Eh, I hoped they had fun.

“Have you noticed that the number of power-stealers out there is quite few?” Sama said leadingly. I winced despite myself.

“No Adaptoid. No Rogue. I’d heard there was a Mimic, but there’s no tales about him. Absorbing Man is around, but he’s not quite the same. Awesome Android is lower-end. Yes, I’d noticed.”

“Would you like to Ur the power of the Mimic? It may not be quite what you expect.”

I flinched in anticipation. “Are you trying to send me up to the High Guard or something?”

“You’re a NINETEEN. I haven’t asked you to lay out your build, but you are already capable of getting Shards past my Null. You should be with the High Guard, and probably running them.” Her voice was cool. “We didn’t give you a Nova Core just so you could gallivant off to Xandar for a side quest.”

“Sama, I am NOT the person my soul was split off from. Back on Terra-Luna, he is the Monarch of an Allegiance that encompasses a large portion of the surviving human population, and he is in charge of the final redoubt of humanity in case of another extremist invasion or attack. He likes being in that position because it keeps his brains busy and gives him things to do.

“I have no motivation to gain power over others here. I have not built an Allegiance. I like helping my friends, I support who I can and what I can personally. My ‘be the boss’ bone is simply not there.”

“Not unexpected for a soul-shard.” She was non-judgmental of that, which was helpful. “At the same time, Dyna, you are already likely among the most powerful Powered on the planet, and you haven’t even pursued true power, have you?”

I grit my teeth. “No...” I admitted. Bloody Truth. “I don’t even have any of my Inherents yet.”

“Mithar and his mutt.” I heard her take another swig. “One THOUSAND tons of gold? And you just didn’t bother?”

“They only stack on the mental side of things. It’s just a little additive on the physical. No incentive.”

“So you’re saying you could pull off thirty Miracles end-to-end if you suddenly needed them?” she promptly shot that down. “Quit being lazy and get them all. What’s it going to take to get you to Twenty and then Eternal?” she prodded me.

“Ugh.”

“That’s helpful. You don’t WANT to be a Twenty or Eternal.”

“I’m physically twenty-one, going on twenty-two, Sama. I’ve got nineteen decades of extended youth, before touching anything else. To be perfectly frank, I haven’t had the mortal experiences I need to leave behind when taking that step.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I barely want to make Twenty. Eternal is very low on my wish list at this time.”

There was a long sigh at the far end. “I understand. And you know that you don’t have that choice.”

I grit my teeth harder. “You’re going to be annoying about this...”

“Oh, extremely so. And since you know I’m right, it’s only going to get worse.”

Truth is sometimes a total bitch to know...

“There are things Briggs and I can do, and we’ve done a lot of them. The temporal shenanigans have largely been shut down, but in response, Terra here seems to be getting a lot of ‘accidental’ cross-alternity temporal traffic, with people like Thundra being an example. It’s like a lot of temporal cross-traffic is getting re-routed here because we don’t have any.”

“Or someone is diverting them towards us...” Yeah, that wasn’t too hard to deduce.

“Yes, because we are dealing with them. They are treating us as a garbage bin for their junk.” Just a wee bit of anger under there.

“Thundra is a minor thing. Who else?” I had to ask.

“Korvac. Three of them so far. Sise-neg, back in the thirties, twice. Several Kang and Immortus alternates, Rama-Tut, Zarrko... just too many, and they are all annoying.”

I grimaced. Natalya had told me about the one. “Shitting on us is right. That sounds more like a stealthy way to try to get rid of us.”

“Briggs and I cannot travel through time, even on different alternities. Once that initial connection is made, that is where the tie is.”

“Hence the Alternity Watch.” I was hitting my forehead again. “How long have you had time-travel ability?”

“Magically for over a century. Doom’s invention of a time machine is what earned him Latveria. It doesn’t work here, but it does in alternities.”

Thus enabling the Alternity Watch Teams to also be Temporal Teams without the limitations here. “Can time-shifters over there come back to our present or future?” I asked shortly, doubting it.

“No. Once the link is made, it is static, and they have to follow standard temporal flow. They simply get diverted to another timeline if they try it. Our past is fixed, and the future doesn’t exist until we get there.”

Wow, wouldn’t that just piss off everyone who loved messing with alternities and time. At the same time, it was a great chance to get rid of pests who didn’t realize it fast enough, and if our timeline was blown up, eh, no harm to anyone else, right?

“So, you and Briggs have to stay here to deal with dimensional threats and any cosmic blow-bys, I got it. And you want to send me out to deal with other stuff?”

“You can go where we can’t. It’s as simple as that.”

And the fact was I’d need to be unseemly powerful and versatile to do such a thing. Cosmic entities and supersverse. How wonderful.

“You’re making me think you talked to the Widow of the Web or something to set all this up,” I groused.

“Nnnn.” My hackles rose. “Met that one once. I think She noticed and made the opportunity Herself.”

“Tell me you’re kidding.”

“Fate-weaver. Were you invisible to Fate after you were cut free?” was her reply.

“Oh, bloody Hell.” I didn’t know whether to be pissed, annoyed, depressed, or relieved that it wasn’t an accident or coincidence. Happily, being who I was, I could be all four things, and more besides. “My skinflint arse of a Patron has given me exactly ZERO guidance on what she wants me to do, you know.”

“Or She has, and your Cosmic Awareness couldn’t pick up on it?” Sama lilted back.

“Arrgh!” She was really driving the point home. “I can’t do anything until Dealer has Sue’s kid, so don’t go sending me off-world or anything.”

“No promises.”

“I told you that Felicia set up Dupes in Thundra’s future.” There was a pause there. “You can’t tell me you didn’t think about the implications.”

“Is she willing to do that in other worlds?” Sama asked immediately.

“I personally think she would find it utterly hilarious.” And I would know.

“Having four or five Twenties loyal to us sitting in an alternity that is causing us grief would be hugely useful, Dyna,” she pointed out.

“She isn’t going to want to get Marked by you.” Rabid independent streak on that one, which my Fatale thoughtstream just nodded knowingly to.

“I trust that doesn’t mean all her Dupes will feel the same way.”

“That is totally true,” I had to agree, sighing again.

“I will send Callie down so you can Ur her power. Who you choose to Mimic is your call. There are limits based on Core size. She can only get half the power of the target, max, and if their Core is larger, she gets even less, or sometimes can’t use it at all. Maximum five templates at a time.”

Only five? That was still hellaciously powerful. “So, Michael Malloy?”

“Couldn’t touch him. 864-point Core. Not sure what the minimum is for a Reality Bender, but obviously higher than her limit.”

He hadn’t been able to divert his Core and form a mindblade, which had left him trapped in an Interdiction field, his mind constantly hammering away at reality with the slightest loss of control, making him feel that the universe was crushing down on him and binding him all the time, rather than him trying to tear it open and warp it to his will.

Eventually he had been Petrified and stored somewhere safe, his broken mind drifting in stone-sleep until they could figure out something to do with him. Just removing him from an Interdiction would probably instantly cause something on the devastation level of a nuke going off, so where he was being sequestered was very secret, indeed.

“Who does she usually Mimic?” I had to ask. Permissiveness was a big thing here.

“Primus, Comet, and Flux. She leaves two open for options.”

Hell, at that power level, why not? “Is she open to recommendations?”

“Always. Who are you thinking?”

“Either Kismet or Gladiator of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard.”

“She’s been seriously considering adding Kismet. It would immediately put her Reality Bending up there with Flux’s. A Strontian, however... that would put her physically at par or beyond Primus.”