Existential dread.

I returned to Brockton Bay, and spread put my nano swarm again, in case they had more of their goons hiding around.

The ship's signal was down with all the light pollution going around so I can't put down the anti teleportation forcefield. Which means I am stuck here for the next couple of minutes, at the least, until the signal returns.

I sighed.

Note to self, FTL signal systems are flawed. Create portal based transmitters.

In the meanwhile, I better check back on Star. The blast earlier pushed everyone away. And while Star is half celestial and practically immortal, I would still rather not have him hurt even if he'll heal right up within seconds.

Sending out a search request to his tracking chip, I waited.

Nothing.

"What?" I muttered absentmindedly.

I scratched my head, pushing my technokinesis into my contacts before I realised.

Oh right! The tracking system is also in the ship, and my backup probe was melted through by that beam.

Without the signal, I can't use the tracking system.

I sighed. Another thing to add to the to do list.

Guess I'll do this the old fashioned way.

"Find Star." I ordered my nano swarm. It was already spread out. Might as well use it.

Within seconds the swarm pinged him some ways to my right. I walked over to a pile of rubble, and dusted it with the swarm revealing a pool of blood leaking out from within.

My blood froze and my eyes went wide.

"Star?!" I cried out, my swarm beginning to turn the entire pile of rubble to dust, when Star replied.

"Papa!"

"Star? You okay little buddy. Papa is coming. So just hold on, okay?" I assured him, taking out a CodeRed syringe.

"Blood...so much blood!" He said, pitching his hand in it, that I could see now.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?" I asked.

"No..... I don't know. I can't see." Star replied.

I had half a mind to just create myomer muscles and lift the rubble myself, but that could cause accidents or collapse the street into the sewers below and that would be worse.

So I waited patiently as the swarm worked it's way through the concrete debris.

The process took less than a minute but it felt like hours.

The last slab collapsed into a cloud of cement dust as the swarm exited it's structure and I finally had a clear view of the situation.

There lay Star and there was....someone hunched over him. Protecting him.

It wasn't Paige, that much I knew. There were no feathers in their dusted gray hair.

They had a rebar lodged in their chest, straight through them, as blood dripped from their chest into Star's eyes, blinding him.

I looked at Star, going over him, and sighed in relief. At least he is safe.

"Thank you, dead person, whoever you are." I said, patting the person's shoulder, pushing them aside unceremoniously.

"I'm still alive you bastard!" A pained groan came from the person.

"Tattletale?" I asked surprised.

She didn't seem like the sort to risk her life for her own family, much less some random kid.

"What are you after?" I asked, narrowing my eyes, as I picked Star up, wiping her blood from his eyes, and jabbed him with a CodeRed injection just to be sure.

"Papa!" He hugged me happily, shaking his head into my chest.

I patted his back comfortingly, my gaze still lingering on Tattletale.

She was clearly dying and my swarm alerted me that none of her teammates were concious.

This was the prime opportunity for me to take her brain and turn it into a super search engine.

"What? Not even a ...." She spit out some blood, "Not even a thank you?"

"Yes. Thank you very much. You have my gratitude for doing the right thing. Do you need a medal too? Wanna meet the president?" I mocked.

Though I still relented and jabbed her with a CodeRed, pulling out the rebar from her chest.

I hate owing people. Just this once, I'll let her live.

"Tch! Tch! Tch! How ungrateful! Your type of people discourage good samaritans." She clicked her tongue.

"Oh is that what you are? You saved him out of the boundless ocean of compassion and kindness that is your heart? Don't even start, Lisa. I know you have an ulterior motive. You protected him because your power told you to." I replied.

"You sure are smart! Real genius." She shot back, sarcastically.

I shook my head.

"Well, you saved my son, I saved your life. We're even as far as I am concerned. So whatever your little scheme is-" I said.

"Don't be mean to lady, Papa!" Star interrupted, pouting, "She helped me! Mama said, we should repay those who help us tufull!"

"Two fold." I corrected, "And she isn't all that good."

"She saved me!" Star insisted.

"Star." I said, sternly, "Let Papa handle this."

Star shrunk back, head downcast.

Ugh. Fine.

"In the meantime, how about you go help out the others who are trapped? Okay? You want to help, don't you?" I patted his head.

"Uhun." He said, "Okay, Papa."

I kissed his forehead, and let him down.

"Papa loves you." I said, as he ran off to run rescue.

Just to be safe, I also attached a few nanobots on him to track him.

Though he is unlikely to get into trouble right now, given he is chalked up healing blood.

"You're a good dad huh? It's kind of surprising." Tattletale spoke.

"What do you want?" I asked, squatting by her side.

"Take me with you. I can help, I'll be-"

"No." I rejected her request nefore she could finish.

"Let me finish at least!" She whined.

"No. Because I know your power has given you a perfect script to convince me. And I'm not listening."

"What do you need from me? I can do it. I can... I'll do anything! I'll ... I'll" She tried jumping into a kiss only to be palmed into the ground.

"Now that's just insulting, Lisa. This is a new low. Even for you." I said, holding her face down.

Indignation flashed in her eyes as she snapped.

"Oh now you want to act like a paragon? I know you're attracted to me. You want this, you-"

"Is that what your power told you?" I asked, disdainfully.

"No point in hiding it. I can tell." She said, with smug satisfaction.

"And you were willing to fuck me to get a ride out of here? You think I'm an idiot? I know you're asexual, Lisa."

"You don't know that! It's just my power. It tells me what everyone wants or says before they even open their mouth. It's a turn off! If I didn't have this I would-"

"You would what? Have a normal life? A boyfriend? Girlfriend? You know it deep down too. Don't lie to yourself, Lisa. It'll save you a shit ton of pain down the road, or be the cause of it."

"What do you know? You think I don't what a normal life? I'm not-"

"I'm the only one who knows, Lisa. Before my powers messed with my brain chemistry...I used to be like you too. Just accept who you are. Cherish it. Being straight isn't all that fun. Look at me. I'm straight now and what did that get me? A dead wife and a quest to a death world in the hopes of reviving her. Just ... don't make the mistakes I made, kid. Be who you are."

"I'm not a kid. I'm 17. I'll be 18 soon! No one needs to know!" She said.

"You're still on that?! Sheesh.

I will know, Lisa." I said, "And while I'm not a moral person, I'm not into kids either."

"Your body says otherwise." She said.

"Your power says otherwise." I corrected.

"You rely on your power too much. It's a tool not a crutch. Don't let it live your life for you."

"And how do you suggest I do that, jackass?" She grunted.

"First step, stop using your power. At least for the rest of this conversation. Say what you want to say, not what your power is feeding you." I advised.

"You don't think I would if I could?" She cried.

"Try it." I insisted, "You can't stop using it because you don't want to. Your ego is holding you back. You want to be the smartest person in the room. And your power makes you feel like one. So subconsciously you allow it to do what it wants, never stopping to think if you should. Let go of your ego, Lisa. It'll make it so much easier to control your power."

"Sure Socrates, whatever you say!" She quipped.

"You're doing it again. Hiding behind a mask of intelligence and irony to justify your ego, and hide your real thoughts. Tell me Lisa, how has that been faring for you?" I asked.

"What do you care?!" She snarled back.

"True. I don't care. The only reason I'm even entertaining you is because you saved my son's life and because my ship's signal is down. The moment it comes back on, I'm out of here. So tell me," I repeated, "How has that been faring for you? Are you over your brother's death? Over your fear of Coil? Or rejection? Have you gotten close to anyone, truly let loose?"

Lisa had triggered in the aftermath of her brother's suicide from the everyone blaming her for it. This caused her to run away from home and get captured by Coil. In that time of her life, her most formative years, she had been homeless, on the street and that had shaped her into the snarking, sarcastic girl who never let anyone too close.

In the rejection of her family, she had closed herself off to the world. And it was there that her power had taken over her, giving her comfort in intelligence born of foreknowledge.

She looked lost in thought for a moment, clearly consulting her powers.

"So I was right." She whispered, holding her head in her hands, clutching at her hair, "This isn't real. I'm not real. This is all fake! I'm just a character in some fantasy world."

I sighed.

"I told you to stop using your power." I said, slapping her straight across the face, as she looked on in shock, before she realized.

"My powers?!" She gasped, "What did you do?"

"I shut your power down for a minute. Take this time. Think for yourself." I said.

"What is there to think? What does it even matter? This...this is a novel or comic or something. I'm just ink on paper. My friends are scribbles and my family is distant mention.

My life is a fucking lie! This world is a fucking lie! Why am I even ali-"

Slap!

I slapped her again.

"That pain feel like a lie to you?" I asked.

"It's probably meant to feel like it, the same way placebos feel real. It's a trick of the mind, whatever fake mind I have! It's a joke. It's a big fat joke. Why do I even exist? What purpose is their to my life? Just to be a writing prop in some sad sack's stupid fucking book?

It's probably not even a real book, like a fanfiction or something!" She cried, shivering, running her hands through her hair, pulling out a couple of strands.

"Everything is a joke, nothing is real.

Nothing is a joke, everything is real.

Nothing matters. You can't change it. So no point stressing. Get over it. No one exists on purpose. Eveyone is going to die. Just relax.

And if it's any consolation, you are real. You exist. The multiverse is a concept so far out of your understanding, out of my understanding that it won't matter either way.

But trust me on this, because I have been around the multiverse.

In the multiverse, eventually, everything is real. All concieveable and inconcievable realities exist simultaneously.

Including a world where you're real and one where you are man and one where you are a sentient pizza slice. Even the one where you are a character in some story. If you let that throw you off then living will be hell.

What matters, truly matters, is what you believe. Do you believe that this is a world of a story? Or do you believe this is the reality where you are real?

Because the fact that I could come here, the mere fact that I am sitting here, talking to you is proof, actual tangible proof, that you are real. This reality is the one where you are real." I said, pulling her hands off her head and into my own hands.

Just then, my contacts buzzed to life and started spamming alerts, as my focusing shifted to them.

The signal was back on.

And the reports showed external senors being fried from the cosmic radiation. The portal projector was busted too. That will need some work.

Another thing to do.

I felt something soft press on my cheeks, and returned to the moment as Lisa pulled away.

A resigned but grateful smile on her face.

"Thanks. That ....helped." She said, standing up.

"Still not taking you along." I repeated, just to be sure.

"Of course." She replied with a mischievous smile.

"Your face tells me otherwise." I added, "Just remember, if you try to steal from me, I will kill you."

Simultaneously, I made a mental note to kill her later before leaving this world.

She had her uses for now, but her power makes her dangerous.

Given enough time, an year, maybe three, she could recreate the portal gun tech just by using her powers to make educated guesses if she really wanted to.

I can't have that.

Yup. the moment I'm done here, she dies.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Now can I have my power back?" She replied.

"Yes." I said, as I stood up and touched her face, connecting to her shard, reactivating her power.

"Star!" I called out, putting down the anti teleport field, and opened a portal back home.

"I'll see you later then. Take care of Paige in the meantime." I said, walking in, as Star ran past me.

"I would have, even without you asking it." She replied jerkily, lost in communing with her powers again.

"Good." I said, and closed the portal behind me.

Time to tinker.