"Paper Cuts"

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**"Paper Cuts"** is the third episode of KOllOK 1991: Bleach

## Plot

10pm, March 18, Universe 2430

In a universe where everything is boring and normal, that world’s Billy bemoans how boring his life in Kollok is and wishes things were different. As he is about to go to sleep the universe is destroyed around him and he finds himself in a queue of people having barcodes put on them by faceless people. When it is his turn he is taken away from the others into a separate room with 18 other Billy’s, one of them turns and indicates he should have a seat as “the pretender” is at it again. For months Billy 2430 has watched Prime B Billy. His frustration and anger rising as they hatch a plan to deal with him.

12:30pm, August 1

In the tunnels underneath the police station Laura retrieves a jar from Clyde’s camp, pocketing another set of pills. She returns and collects what she can of Cheese into the jar and she discovers that the remains may be still alive somehow. The group leave exiting the way they came in and Mickey A uses her powered legs to knock down the gate with the symbol, (a U with three dots) above it and the strange feeling that they have felt dissipates. Above the police officers begin to head out past Mallory to begin a search for the “escaped” Tibby and he radios the group to ask for an explanation, though Kenny is still present the group try to mask their conversation and ask for a pick up. Once outside the tunnel the group come across the body of Clyde that without a head had made its way out while writing the words “spinning, sinking, twisting,” backwards on the wall. Billy gives Mallory the directions he needs to get to them but Officer Warstone notices him and tries to get him to talk. Mallory manages to use the loss of his father to guilt Warstone off his trail and he and Kenny head off to get the others. Unsure whether to trust Kenny Mallory tries to keep it secret, however some quick talking from Kenny eases his mind and he confesses but asks if Kenny doesn’t record them to which Kenny lies that he won’t. While the others wait for Mallory to arrive Tibby brings up the potential of using Kenny to go public with his powers to prevent the police from taking him away but the others are uneasy with that idea as that could cause more trouble and they hide Cheese in Billy’s backpack. Mallory meets them at the rendezvous location and the group see Kenny for the first time, clearly recording. Billy blackmails Kenny to not record anything they don’t want him to and everyone piles into the car and heads to the hospital, “disguising” Tibby on the way. He confides to the group that when he causes pain it makes him feel good, as he’s taking the pain from all versions of the person he’s touching, unlike the guilt he feels of healing and placing that injury onto another version and after hurting Mike and killing the police officer he feels scared.

At the hospital the nurses at the front desk don’t know where Mike is so Mickey A uses her power and discovers that Mike is outside of Kollok on his way to San Francisco. The news upsets Tibby and seeing everyone staring at him he runs into the intensive care ward and begins to heal everyone he can, with Kenny secretly taping the whole thing. Tibby tells the group to leave him though Kenny does so they refuse and Laura asks Tibby to heal her as Mallory chases Kenny down. Mallory catches up to him at his van that was parked close by and Mallory tries to stop him but Kenny breaks his hand and draws a gun on him. Mallory backs off and Kenny heads out of town to sell the tape to the media. Laura kneels by Tibby him and gets him to heal her arm but when he uses his right hand that was damaged by touching Cheese, it causes a little pain for both of them, but her arm is healed. Knowing the seriousness of the situation Laura stuns Tibby with a quick blow to the head, sweeps him over her shoulder and starts to take him away from the group of patients and nurses that had gathered around him. The others follow quickly behind trying to cover up what everyone saw and join Mallory at his car, they get in and Em takes them to Mallory’s.

There, Tibby confronts the group as to why they stopped him when he hoped to save them from the fallout of his actions but the group remind him that he is their friend, they need him to save Mike and the police would have just put him in a cell. As they start talking about what could have happened they briefly explained to Em and Laura what they avoided before the summer. The group begin to fill Tibby in what he missed and it becomes a chance for them to talk about the things going on in Kollok, how with all the strangeness everyone seems that it is normal and Tibby comes out about Mallory self harming and having him heal his injuries. As the group start on Mallory he notices that his house has been turned over and he heads upstairs and finds his dad’s room is open and has been searched. The doorbell rings and Cassandra shows up looking for the Kolob tape. The group try to deny it but she knows they are lying and also reveals that she knows Billy doesn’t belong in this universe. She answers their questions begrudgingly and explains the tape has nothing to do with their universe, and hints at knowing about Mickey’s situation by mentioning that things from other universes should not be able to overlap. Cassandra takes Billy aside to get the tape and after threatening him with her centipedes that start to crawl up his body, they eventually make a deal, the tape in exchange for Cassandra guaranteeing the protection of his original family. She agrees, takes the tape and leaves with her centipedes releasing Tibby that no one had noticed had been trapped by them.

Mickey A tells Tibby not to leave her sight so she knows he’s safe and Cheese is revealed to Mallory. Tibby reveals more about what Mallory had him do and Em tells Mallory that he can talk to his therapist about everything because her mom already knows about the powers situation as she told both her parents. Mickey calls them out for not trusting each other with these secrets considering they are all meant to be close friends, but Tibby turns it back on her and points out her leg braces but she dodges the question. More truths come out including Laura’s situation which shocks Em as she thought everything they told her had been a joke and Tibby mentions that they knew an Em that died. Billy is truthful with them about his own secret, being an ego from another universe that was placed in this universe’s Billy Baker and Billy, Tibby and Mickey summarise for the others the events of how everything got started and how they defeated Clarity. Tibby admits that after all of that all their adventures playing together over the summer was the most fun he’s had since it all began and Billy calls Tibby out if that was true why he tried to leave and sacrifice himself without talking to him or Mickey, to which he doesn’t have an answer.

Billy gives him an idea about how to explain what he did in the hospital using similar techniques that televangelists do, pretending that it was a one-day miracle. They come up with a plan to revive the deceased police officer to at least stop the police coming after Tibby for killing him but Billy mentions that it would mean going to the morgue and running into the mortician, Bailey Mickey. Tibby mentions their past with him and Mickey A explains her power to the group. Laura asks if she could find her original body and place her three but Mickey A is unsure. Em blames herself for not using her powers and Tibby and Mickey tell her all about Prime A Em; what happened to her with her powers, her crush on Skye and how she died to protect them. They ask Mickey about her legs but she says she is missing time something Laura accepts due to many of them missing time in the tunnel and the others accept it as well. Bonding over the truths and accepting what they have all gone through the group come up with plan to deal with the events going on around them, creating a checklist and agree to start with reviving the police officer.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Aabria Iynegar as Laura Bennett
* Lucas Eubank as Billy Baker
* Matt Sohinki as Mallory Jenkins
* Mika Midgett as Embeth Pegg
* Shelby "Shubble" Grace as Mickey Jones
* Zac Lim Eubank as The Driver

## Rumors

1. Synchroneity took Mike
2. Department C took Mike (winner)
3. The Traveler took Mike
4. Sergeant Raker took Mike

## Notes

Some interesting things about this episode, or the making of this episode...