Chapter Text
I was walking home from school, humming a little tune. I turned the last corner to get onto the street I lived on when a wave of dizziness hit me. I stopped walking and closed my eyes to not fall over. When my head stopped spinning, I looked up to find that I was somewhere completely different than before.
"What the hell?'' I turned around, trying to see something I recognized, only to be met with failure, the only notable landmark being a tall building with the name Medhall on it, the name scratching something in my brain before I shrugged it off and kept looking for hints to where I was.
After a few minutes of walking and looking later, I saw a man leave a newspaper on a bench near me; Picking it up, I folded it over to get to the front page before I stopped moving out of shock, I shook my head a few moments later and reread the title of the paper once, twice, three times, I looked back up at the building I noticed before, I collapsed onto the bench, the newspaper fluttering to the ground, the front page reading 'Brockton Bay Daily'.
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I sat on that bench with my head in my hands for several minutes before I thought to check the newspaper for the date, April 7, 2011. it read.
"Shit, I don't remember the timeline well enough, Taylor should fight Lung soon, or maybe she already did? I know it was early April, and the bank robbery was only a few days later...Shit! Dinah, how do I keep Coil from getting his hands on her? I don't have any powers, but if I go to the PRT he'll know. Dammit!'' Amid my panic, I somehow missed the sound of gunshots and roaring engines coming closer until said roaring engines were almost on top of me. My eyes widened when I looked up to see a monstrosity of a truck barrelling toward me; my life flashed before my eyes as I dove as far as I could to the side. The truck came screeching to a stop just passed where I had just been sitting.
A group of disheveled men jumped out of the truck and rushed toward a pharmacy right next to me; I just watched, stunned by what was happening before my eyes. Less than 10 minutes passed before the sound of a motorcycle approached the area. The men sprinted out of the pharmacy. The motorcycle was already visible when the first man reached the truck. In all the panic, one of them grabbed me and held a gun to my head. My eyes widened and my breathing sped up drastically as I was dragged to the truck that began speeding away as soon as everyone was back in with their 'loot', my vision started darkening at the edges, and my head was pounding. My mind focused some when the man loosened his grip.
''We lost that Armsdick motherfucker; toss the extra baggage'' I didn't process the words until I was being hefted over the truckbed and let go. I screamed, thinking I would die.
My mind blanked as I closed my eyes. The next thing I knew was the feeling of landing in water, I jerked as I opened my eyes, and water was filling my mouth as I realized that I needed to breathe, I swam up in a panic, coughing as my head broke the surface of the water, I looked around and swam to the nearest shore, as I reached it, I rolled onto my back and took big, gasping breaths.
For a few minutes, I just lay there, breathing heavily. I sat up quickly as the sound of a motorcycle entered my ears. Realizing that I wasn't ready to deal with the Protectorate or the PRT just yet, I scrambled to hide under a nearby bridge.
I held my breath as the sound drew closer; it seemed to slow down for a bit before speeding up again and leaving my hearing.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
‘They’re gone’ I thought.
Sitting back down, I started checking what I had on me. My watch seemed to have broken at some point after I was ‘’displaced”. My phone was mostly fine, but the sounds were warbled and distorted, and my water bottle was still clipped to my bag. I pulled my backpack open and was immediately glad I had gotten a water-resistant one. My laptop was undamaged, being encased within its protective sleeve. My multi-tool was in the side pocket where I left it, my notebook and sketchbook were fine, if a bit damp, and my pencils and markers still worked. I was even more relieved when I found my wallet underneath everything else, its contents dry and unharmed. Checking the wallet, I found $319.89, which will hopefully help me get by until I figure out what to do next.
As I was looking at my phone, I felt a deep-seated urge to take it apart and make something else. Plans and ideas rushed through my mind. I stumbled as it almost overwhelmed me.
It took me a few seconds to process what this meant. I was a parahuman, a tinker, and I had what I assumed to be less than a week to prepare for the bank robbery and Dinah's kidnapping. The newspaper hadn’t said anything about Lung, so I was hoping that hadn’t happened yet.
I tried to start planning, but with all of the stress I'd accumulated over the day, I found it difficult to focus. Feeling my eyes get heavy, I stood up to scan my surroundings. The area I was in seemed to be low traffic, which was safer for me to stay in currently, and the bridge would keep me hidden overnight, but I still felt it necessary to find somewhere to hide my backpack. I found a small nook behind a bush, it wasn't big enough for all of my stuff, so I had to pick and choose what to keep hidden and what to keep on my person. After some thinking, I left my phone, computer, and wallet in the hidden spot; while keeping everything else with me.
I settled into a half-sitting position in a spot that was more hidden from the street. Taking my hoodie off and putting it over my backpack, I put it behind me to both hide it and cushion my back. I closed my eyes and slept.