'So, You Have An Older Evil Alternate Self...'

Location: Big Team base - Med Bay

Date: 17th of December

It had been a few days since the fight on top of the Halcyon Needle, when Sami had fought their alternate self ‘Titan’ alongside team members on both sides. The damage that the A.I’s bodies had taken was already repaired thanks to Dr. O’Shay’s robotic expertise, but Sami knew that at least one of their team mates hadn’t fared as well as he had.

Having heard that Violet had been transferred to the Big Team base’s med bay, Sami ran down the base’s halls to see how she was healing. Waiting just a second for the sliding doors to let him past, Sami looked for the first person they could find to ask for Violet’s location.

Nat sat near the foot of Violet’s bed, as she had since she’d first heard of Violet’s injury. In contrast with her usual maximalist sense of style, she was (relatively) dressed down in a simple pair of patterned leggings and a pink sweatshirt. Violet had been awake earlier, and was recovering well, but she’d gone back to sleep again, so now Nat just sat quietly, sipping at a mug of mint tea she’d slipped away to make a few minutes ago.

At the sound of the sliding doors opening, Nat leaned back and turned to see who was there. “Sami,” she called in greeting, just loud enough to be heard without waking Violet. “Are you here to check on Violet?”

Happy to hear a familiar voice, Sami nodded as they pulled a chair over to sit down next to Violet’s bed. “I heard that she had been transferred here, so I thought it would be the right thing to do to see how she was doing.” the A.I responded, making sure to keep their voice at a suitable threshold so as to not awaken their injured teammate.

“She’ll be alright,” Nat says with a small smile. “She’s got a healing factor, so she’ll be back on her feet in no time. It’s good of you to check on her, though. My mom was here earlier to check on her, too, and she says the most important thing right now is *for Violet to get her beauty sleep.”* Nat’s tone made it clear she was directly quoting Dr. Nixon.

Sami let out a relieved sigh as they heard the good news. They had been feeling guilty about having been unable to stop Violet from falling off of the Halcyon Needle, a feeling that hadn’t been helped when Nat had run into the hospital sounding very angry and distraught. “I’m happy to hear that.” They said softly as they looked over at Violet’s sleeping form. Turning back to Nat, Sami asked, “Have you been updated on what exactly happened? I know you know about the alternate selves and the Needle being broken, but do you know more?”

“No,” Nat admits, leaning back in her chair and pulling one leg up under herself. “I only know what I heard about on Chitter. I haven’t really talked to anyone else who was there - when Violet’s awake, I’m usually trying to distract her, not asking follow-up questions.”

Sami nodded at Nat’s explanation, happily absorbing the information about how to treat an injured person that had been supplied. “Well, if you want to know what happened I can show you, though we might need to leave Violet’s side for a moment so the sound of the fight doesn’t wake her.”

“Show me?” Nat cocked her head to the side, curious. When Sami said they’d have to leave to avoid waking Violet, she frowned a bit, glancing back at where Violet lay asleep in the bed. This was not the first time Nat had seen Violet hurt - even severely hurt - but the idea of letting her out of her sight clearly didn’t sit well.

After a moment, though, Nat seemed to shake herself a little, and stood. “Let’s go, then? I’d like to see what you mean.”

Smiling as they stood up, Sami tried to put Nat at ease. “Don’t worry, we don’t have to go far.” Pushing their chair back, the A.I walked over to one of the empty beds in the ward and pulled down one of the TVs that were attached to the ceiling. “We just need to turn the volume down and we should be fine.” Sami said as they sat down on the bed in front of the TV, gesturing for Nat to join them.

Nat starts to climb onto the bed, hesitates for a second, toes off her sneakers, and then sits cross-legged next to Sami. “Do you have, like, footage? From a camera or something?”

Not having yet come to the realisation that without explicitly stating so, most people wouldn’t realise that they were mechanical in nature, Sami tilted their head in confusion. “My Atlas body has many cameras that allow me to see.” He stated bluntly as he turned the TV on.

When the screen flickered to life, it showed a POV of a scene from within what looked to be a service elevator. In front of the camera, both Violet and Jenny were visible in frozen motion and so two were their evil counterparts, sneering down towards the heros.

“Oh! Oh, okay,” Nat says, nodding. “Gotcha.” Turning her attention to the screen, there’s a flash of fondness on her face at Jenny’s cowboy boots, but her face falls at the sight of the evil counterparts. “Yikes.” She looks between Violet and Atropos especially, peering at their faces and the rest of their build. “Where did they *come* from? My one of these was from another timeline, is that their deal too?”

“From what I’ve been told in the aftermath of the event, our doppelgangers are working for someone named ‘Mr. Tapestry’, and that it is likely they are from alternate realities.” Sami explained just as the footage started to move.

As Violet jumped out of the view of the camera, Atlas’s metal hands were seen crawling forwards out of the elevator, proving that they were the one who recorded the footage. Turning around, the camera revealed that Violet had tried to send the rest of the team away by severing the cable keeping the elevator up, but had been unable to do so. “I’m not entirely sure why she did that.” Sami confessed as they watched the footage. “She would have been at a large disadvantage going up against three opponents by herself.”

“I’m not surprised at *all,”* Nat said unhappily, frowning at the screen. “She and I have had a lot of arguments about her doing stuff like that. She has it in her head that she’s keeping everyone else safe, and *refuses* to get it through her skull that I - that people care about her.” She glanced back towards the bed Violet was in. “It’s not the first time it’s gotten her hurt, but…she’s usually better about it than this? She’s at least stopped trying to get me and Carmen to let her go off on her own…I thought maybe we finally got through to her, but…” she trailed off and sighed, putting her tea down on a side table and drawing her knees up to her chest.

“...I think I may have ‘dobbed’ on Violet accidentally.” Sami said with a slow realization. “I do hope she won’t hold any ill will towards me for showing you this footage…”

Nat shrugged. “I won’t tell Violet you told me if you don’t want me to. She probably wouldn’t get angry, and she’s going to get an earful from me sooner or later regardless. Which she probably knows. I just wish she would stop doing stuff like this - she’s always watching my back, and everyone else’s, obviously. But she’s *terrible* about letting anybody watch hers.”

Nodding along, Sami gave a small smile. “If it helps, I’ll try to do my best to look out for her, and the rest of my teammates, when on the field. My Atlas body is easily repaired and capable of taking hits that would incapacitate an average person.”

Continuing the video, both Violet and Jenny moved over to face off against their counterparts. Movement from behind the Needle proper drew Atlas’s attention, revealing their own doppelganger. With the Falcon & Fox logo across it’s chest, this almost identical robot started to taunt Atlas before the two started to exchange blows.

“Not you *too,”* Nat groaned, rubbing a hand down her face. “Hold on, hold on, before we keep going. Listen. Sami. Do you feel pain? Like, if something hits you, does it hurt? And does getting injured stress you out emotionally? Scare you, maybe?”

Sami paused the footage as they took some time to think. “I suppose it depends on your definition of pain.” They started, speaking in a contemplative tone as if seriously considering the question. “I do receive stimuli to recognise when parts of either of my bodies have been damaged, though said stimuli does feel different depending on which body as this one is more sensitive. And I do concede that I felt fear in that last battle, though I think it was more due to being out matched and being less capable of protecting the others.”

Turning to face Nat, Sami gave a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry that I don’t have a better answer. My time in the lab wasn’t spent much on psychological analysis, focussing more on my ability to function in general. On top of that, I have only been ‘free’ of the lab for roughly three and a half months now, so I’m still getting used to… personing…”

Nat waved her hands in front of her in a big gesture that could mean basically anything. “Don’t apologize, I’m not asking for, like, academic reasons. My point is that getting injured is unpleasant, even for you! So even if you can be repaired more easily than most others, that doesn’t mean that it’s okay for something bad to happen to you. You’re still going to have to deal with the consequences of that injury, even if they’re not physical. So it matters if you get hurt. Does that make sense?”

“I understand.” Sami said, confused as to why such an obvious statement needed to be said. “I’m not trying to get injured, and I will take steps to avoid it when possible. All I mean is that in a situation where someone getting hurt is inevitable, it is preferable that it is me due to my comparative resilience.”

“Okay, sure, but like, you don’t *have* to.” Nat says emphatically. “You know that, right? It’s fine if you want to, because, like, it’s important to you. Or something. But you’re not *obligated.”*

“I know.” Sami said with a smile. “When Dr. O’Shay rescued me from the lab I was born in, she told me that I was just as important as any other person, that just because I was not born the regular way does not make me lesser.” Looking past the TV, Sami looked over to Violet’s bed as his smile died slightly. “It might be selfish, but I think that I would feel more pain if my friends got hurt than if I got hurt protecting them.”

Nat sighs in relief. “Okay, good. Sorry, I don’t mean to be, like, condescending or anything. Sometimes people who do superhero stuff get it in their head that they *do* have to, and that sucks, so I just wanted to make sure. But yeah. I know what you mean, I feel the same way.” She looks back at the screen, looking at Violet a little sadly.

Not knowing what to say, Sami let Nat look over to her friend for a few moments of silence before gently asking, “Should I start the video up again? You said in a cheet that you had some advice about evil older versions of ourselves?”

“Oh! Right.” Nat seemed to shake herself a little bit. “Yeah, okay. So these people you fought, they were from another timeline?”

“I think so.” Sami said as they started the video once more, which quickly confirmed the idea as the other ‘Sami’ talked about moving through timelines with their employer. “I think the other me, Titan, is from a reality where I never escaped the lab.”

Nat nodded, leaning forward to observe. “Hm. Yeah. Mine was from another timeline, too. But she was, like, thirty-something years older than me? And she would never have worked for anyone, I can tell you *that* for free. But that’s more about the differences between, like, me and you than the differences between the situation in general, I think.”

Nodding along in understanding, Sami watched the scene that they had seen before. “Titan said they were much older than I am but didn’t know how much due to time travel stuff. He also said that I hadn’t figured out how to ‘be a person’ yet, which I think might be true, but I don’t want to be like them.”

It was at this point in the fight that the Needle on top of the building was blown off of it’s mooring, the evil counterparts using it as a distraction. The video’s Atlas ran towards it and somehow managed to stop it from falling, though it was clear from the sounds the metal was making that it was taking all of their strength.

“Yeah, I don’t think other-me ever learned to be a person either, really,” Nat said, curling her knees up to her chest again. “But not wanting to be like her was why she scared me so much. It wasn’t that she was super *different* from me, you know? Friends of mine kept trying to talk about that part, but it was more...” she trailed off and gestured widely with one hand again. “We were *similar,* was the problem. I could see the parts of me that turned into her. And I didn’t want to be her either, but since it was so obvious how that could happen, it really freaked me out. And, like, I didn’t have to fight her for a long while, because we actually went to her timeline first? And I knew about her, but we didn’t actually meet until much later. She didn’t even know I existed for most of that time.” Nat huffs a sardonic little laugh. “Which tracks. Considering how she was. *Is,* I didn’t, like, kill her or anything. Bet she wishes I did, but I didn’t.”

Sami froze up as they listened to their newest friend talk about her experiences. It was clear that what she was describing was affecting her, but the A.I. had no idea how to respond. Raising a hand, Sami awkwardly hovered it over Nat as they tried to decide whether to hug her or to pat her on the shoulder, before lowering it and hoping she hadn’t seen.

“To be honest, that sounds very different to my situation.” Sami said, trying to shift the conversation. “While they looked like me, Titan didn’t sound or seem anything like who I currently am. I think that’s what’s scaring me, that if Dr. O’Shay hadn’t saved me, I would have become like them.”

Nat did notice Sami’s indecision, but she wasn’t about to force anything Sami didn’t seem comfortable with, so she pretended not to. She propped her chin on her knees. “Honestly, I don’t know that that’s *so* different,” she mused. “When I ended up dealing with Other-Me - my friend Ryan called her Leftdenza, that’s kind of a whole story to explain, but it works. Um, but when I did end up fighting her, it was because she came here looking for Ryan and forced a fight. But I learned a lot about her that day, and like…” Nat shifted again; it was like she couldn’t hold still and try to explain herself at the same time.

This time, she folded one of her legs underneath herself and dangled it off the bed before continuing. “So, I didn’t used to be able to control my powers,” she explained. “I always wanted to be a singer, but any time I tried to perform people would get hurt. I joined Big Team because everyone was always saying I needed to practice and then I’d get better, and they ended up being right! Which is cool. But, like, before, I was really dangerous to be around. People got freaked out a lot, so I didn’t have a lot of friends. *Any* friends.” She shrugged a little self-consciously. “But the first mission I went on with the team, I was with Violet and Carmen. And we just…clicked. And I met other people too, and we kept clicking, and all of a sudden I was the social chair and I had *people,* you know? I never really had that before. And Leftdenza…I don’t know what the Big Team situation was in her timeline, but I know she never joined. She just started performing, and using her powers to force people to ignore the danger. And then later she just kept forcing them to love her. And I think it was because she never got any of that before, yeah? Like, the first positive social attention she ever got was that-” Nat waves her hands again as if to encompass her entire fanbase “-parasocial shit. So she got, like, addicted to it.”

Finally Nat’s hands dropped into her lap and she let out a sigh. “My point is,” she said with an air of finality, “I think Big Team is to me as Dr. O’Shay is to you. Like, the situation seems so different on the surface, but I don’t think it is, really. If nobody else had helped us and changed our situations, that’s who we’d be, maybe.”

Nat was right, at least a little bit. Sami could feel some similar beats in her tale in comparison to their own, and for some reason they couldn’t explain it made them feel happy. “It sounds like our situations before we joined Big Team weren’t too dissimilar. I didn’t have any friends before I joined, due to being an experiment in a lab, but everyone has just accepted me almost immediately.” Drawing their legs up to their chest, unconsciously mimicking Nat, Sami gave a short happy chuckle. “Maybe Titan just needs someone to help them…”

The screen continued to show the fight, finally showing the moment that Violet might get mad at Sami for showing. Having fought her counterpart for a decent while, Violet had decided to try another approach and hugged her. Unfortunately, her counterpart wasn’t feeling as emotionally flexible and ended up throwing Violet off of the roof as Sami watched helplessly, still holding the Needle.

Watching that part of the video, Nat’s expression clouded over, staring at the two Violets. In contrast with her earlier chatter and fidgeting, she was now still and perfectly silent. After a long moment, she visibly shook herself and forced an approximation of a crooked grin. “Wow. Guess that technique only works on freaked-out me.”

“I’m not entirely sure what Violet’s plan was there.” Sami said as they turned off the recording, sitting up to put the TV back in place. “I was hoping to ask her when she wakes, though perhaps I should wait a little longer.” Sitting back down on the bed, Sami looked over to Nat with a soft smile. “Do… Do you wish you could help your other self?”

“Hah!” Nat laughs. “No. She’s way past that. I saw her kill one of her own fans for singing along too loudly, because they might take too much attention from her. No, I sealed her voice inside of her. Nobody can hear her, and she can only ever hear herself. She’s got her timeline’s Ernest - The Weatherman, my mentor - on her side, and if she wants to learn how to be a person she can pick up sign language and fix her own problems.”

She looked back over at where Violet was, sadly. “The difference is, she made her own choices. Violet didn’t *choose* to do any of the things she’s done, but she still thinks she has to pay for them. I want to help Violet because she deserves it, and because she helped me more than she’ll probably ever really understand. I care a lot about her. I don’t know if I could help other-Violet. I guess it would depend on whether her timeline had a me, and how she and that me got along. I would like to, though.” Nat turned back to Sami. “What about you? Do you want to help the other you?”

Crossing their legs, Sami sat silently as they pondered the question. It took a while for them to reach an answer, but when they did they nodded slowly. “I think I do, or at least I want to try.” Sami said, speaking more deliberately than they normally do. “Although I think my motivation may be rather selfish. I think that by trying to help them, I might be able to figure out who I am and become ‘more of a person.’”

“That makes sense,” Nat said with a nod. “Dealing with Leftdenza helped me a lot. I was really scared for a long time, that I would hurt someone with my powers, and I always thought it was selfish for me to refuse to give up on singing. And then when I heard about her, I was even *more* scared, because she hurt people all the time and didn’t even care. But having to deal with her made me look closer and see the differences. I guess I might have helped her, in the end - without her voice, she *has* to find some other way to be, you know? And her version of Ernest will help her, because he loves her. She got lucky with that, at least. But it wasn’t my priority to help her so much as it was to keep her from killing me and Ryan and taking over this version of Halcyon. But anyway!” She claps her hands together. “Sorry. I keep rambling. It doesn’t seem like the other you wanted to talk, so much. Maybe you’ll have to fight them, too? Leftdenza challenged me - she wanted to kill me so she wouldn’t have competition, but she also wanted to give me a fair fight because we were the same. Maybe they’ll want to fight you fair, too?”

“Maybe, but as I currently am I don’t think I can win against them.” Sami said a little dejectedly. “They’re older, more experienced in combat, and their body is much more advanced than mine.” Sami let out a sigh as they ran the fight through their mind once more, analyzing every moment to try and see if there was any way they could have won if they acted differently. Once more however, the technological advantage that Titan had reinforced to Sami how overpowered they were.

“You said that Leftdenza was older than you, right?” Sami asked, hoping that their friend could help with their analisis. “How did you beat them in a fair fight when they assumedly had so much more experience than you?”

“Yeah,” Nat said with a nod, “she was from 2054, and we were both born in 2005, so she was, like, 50. Much stronger than I am now, which makes sense, since I keep getting stronger as I get older. Against her, it boiled down to control. I mentioned that I used to have a lot of trouble controlling my powers, and to get them under control it took me like a year of really consistent practice on Big Team missions, and with Ernest, *and* I go to AEGIS three times a week with A-Vis for their power control clinics. But the only thing she ever tried to control with them was, like…” She waggled her hand in the air vaguely. *“My* powers, when I use them a certain way, can make you pay attention. Like, get you to shut up and listen to me. I almost never use them like that, but because she didn’t have enough control not to hurt anyone, she needed it to get people to like her music and watch her perform. She practiced it enough to turn it into, like, emotional control? Not total mind control, I don’t think, but she could force you to love her, and not care that she’d kill her own fans for singing too loud.”

Nat made an exaggerated gagging face to show how she felt about that idea. “So when we fought, she had the raw force to beat me, but I could outmaneuver her. Once I stopped freaking out, anyway. Her control was so bad that once I had her on the ropes I could actually take some of *her* power, which is how I was able to seal it in her - I pushed it back inside, and then made a seal with our combined power, so no matter how old and strong she gets, she won’t be able to break it. I don’t know if the other you is as sloppy as she was, though. Probably not, I’d bet. But you could try a similar strategy?”

Sami’s face immediately showed that they didn’t feel that this plan would work. Scratching the side of their head, they tried to explain delicately. “Well… unlike a lot of people in the team my abilities are not really ‘powers’ and are instead  just technology. The only way I could really take control of that is to hack them, but I already did that last fight so I’m pretty sure they would already have built up defenses against that strategy now that it was used against them. Speaking of, I should make sure to remove that port on my Atlas body as well…”

“I don’t necessarily mean you should take control of them or anything,” Nat muses. “Like, hypothetically, I could find out Violet’s command codes and use them on Other-Violet, but there is literally no situation where I would ever even consider doing that. I just mean training something that Other-You doesn’t, or hasn’t thought of. If you approach the fight differently than they do, it might give you a leg up.”

“Hmm…” Sami murmured as they hunched over in thought. “To do that I would first need to find out more about them. Despite our encounter causing so much damage, it only lasted a short amount of time, so I’m not really sure just what they’re capable of. Perhaps if I did some investigations into Falcon & Fox’s plans for me in this timeline I could figure that out? But still..” Sami started to mutter about power sources and possible improvements to their Atlas body, having quickly forgotten the conversation they were having.

Nat grins over at Sami, letting them mutter for a bit. “If you need any help brainstorming, I can get pretty creative,” she offers. “I’m not, like, one of the ‘smart ones’ on the team or anything, but I’ve got a good imagination and a talent for stealing magic jewelry from ancient assholes. I’m sure if we put our heads together, we could think of something Other-You couldn’t.”

Upon hearing the term ‘magic jewelry’ Sami’s head jerked up. “Wait, can objects be inherently magical? Magic isn’t just something that people can use due to some difference in their form?”

“Yeah! Here, check it out!” Nat holds up her left wrist, which has a gold charm bracelet on it. Most of the charms look normal, but one clock charm and the chain itself shimmer slightly differently in the light. With a flash of light, the bracelet expands into a golden gauntlet that covers Nat’s entire hand and wrist. “This is a time gauntlet. It used to belong to Kronos - two-thirds of it still does? There were three of her from different points in her timeline in the fight where I got this, and I only managed to steal one of them, so the one I have is at one-third power. *And* its bond to me is pretty weak, since I’m apparently not excellent with magic stuff. But I can use it to, like, duplicate myself if I need a backup dancer or something, and worse comes to worst it’s great for punching.”

With another flash, the gauntlet reverts back to a charm bracelet. “I had to get Kurt - another mentor of mine - to help me figure out how to make it change form without sending all the charms *I* added flying,” she says proudly. “They go into a pocket dimension now. Oh, and I also have this!” She indicates her necklace: a wire-wrapped shard of a strange, blueish stone threaded through with gold. “This is a shard from a crown that was keeping an ancient alien trapped in dreams under the Bay. We woke him up and let him leave, and the crown broke, and everyone who was there kept a shard. It works basically like a passive ward to keep dream-based magic from working on me. Only catch is I have to leave it in a different room when I go to sleep, because if it’s too close to me I can’t dream and I wake up feeling like total garbage.”

“And you don’t need to recharge them, or power them yourself?” Sami asked as the metaphorical gears started to turn inside their head. “If so… That could be it! Having been born in a lab by scientists, I don’t think Titan would make the leap to using magic to power or enhance their body. Allowing my upgrades to go beyond the realm of just the physical… I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, but even just that one demonstration… I could even make my Atlas body capable of changing shape so that it’s size isn’t an issue.”

“That’s genius!” Nat beams at Sami. “My friends Kurt and Ryan aren’t on Big Team anymore because they’re both at wizard college. I can put you in touch with them if you want, or you could ask my cousin Sabine, or…I think there are still some magic people currently on the team? I’m not sure, but I could definitely check! I’d offer to help myself, but magic stuff is mostly *way* over my head. I just yell at stuff until it breaks.”

Letting out a well deserved chuckle, Sami nodded in appreciation. “Well please don’t yell at me. I just spent the last two days repairing the Atlas body.” Continuing to laugh at their own joke, Sami looked back over to Violet’s bed. “Yeah, I think that would really help. Thanks Nat.”

Nat smiled again, smaller this time. “Anything you need. I mean that - I want to help.” Looking back at Violet again, she added, *“Some people* get weird about accepting help. I hope you don’t feel that way. Your friends will want to help you. And even people you haven’t met! This is Ryan’s, like, third rodeo with dealing with a stronger and more experienced person with the same abilities as a Big Team member. They’ll have tons of ideas.”

Letting go of their anxiety, Sami wrapped their arms around Nat’s shoulders and pulled her into a big hug. Smiling widely, they laughed, “Thank you so much Nat! I really, really appreciate it!”

“Of course!” Nat hugged back enthusiastically. She looked happier than she had since she’d heard Violet had gone off the Needle, pleased to be able to help. “Anything you need, let me know. I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Before Sami could start talking about ideas, they heard Weaver stir slightly in the bed across from them. Smiling sheepishly, Sami pulled away from the hug and in a quieter voice said, “How about I send you a message on biscord and we can discuss it there?”

Nat was already halfway back to Violet’s bed, having leapt up the instant Sami released her. “Of course,” she repeated with a bit of a smile. She checked Violet over quickly, looking for signs of pain, and, finding none, retook her seat at Violet’s bedside. “I’ll talk to you then.”