Questions

"Explaining this to the world isn't going to be easy," President Whitmore said. "There's been talk about an American superweapon, and a lot of questions about just how we beat the aliens."

"I think unity would have been easier if the whole world had been part of the war," one of the aides said. He looked up at me, and said hastily, "Not that you shouldn't have helped. There are probably three billion people alive because of what you did, but the world is looking at this as an American victory."

"The Europeans have been fighting," President Whitmore said, and so are the people in every country where you stopped the bombings. The countries that were bombed had their ships destroyed, and so they're still raring for a fight."

"People aren't good at dealing with enemies they can't fight. They start creating conspiracy theories and looking for someone to blame."

"Blame me," I said.

I'd only recently returned from space to retrieve the bodies of the Nine, which were worth money, and as many family photos as I could find. They'd scattered over the hours I'd been gone, and I had a feeling there were pieces I'd never get back.

Blinking closer to the sun, I'd sent as many of the Nazi bodies as I could find into a decaying orbit. They'd eventually end up in the sun, hopefully before these people developed space travel and wondered why there were desiccated Nazi bodies everywhere.

"I don't live here," I said. "I don't have to keep living here, although I'd be happy to help as much as I can."

"You deserve every medal we can legally give you," the General said.

"We're going to give you the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction." the president said. "It's for civilians who have made great contributions to the security and national interests of the United States or world peace-and distinction adds an additional level of veneration."

"There's not a medal for saving the world," the general said.

"I'm sure other countries will be happy to give you medals too," the president said.

"I'm not here for medals," I said. "I'm here because using my powers makes them stronger. I help people because it's the right thing to do."

"Heroes don't do it for the medals," President Whitmore said.

"Don't call me a hero," I said absently.

All of them thought I was being modest, not realizing that hero had a distinct meaning in my homeworld.

"Do you want me to help mop up the enemy soldiers?" I asked.

The general shook his head.

"Your skill set seems designed to work on large groups, but the aliens in Los Angeles have split up into small squads of three. We're doing a good job of mopping them up now that the Queen is dead and their hive minds are broken."

"The queen is dead?" I asked, surprised.

"She tried to escape," the general said flatly.

He wasn't lying or using a euphemism either. She'd killed three people trying to get away.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'd hoped to get more information from her."

"You were in a hurry," President Whitmore said. He grimaced. "As much as I hate to say it, spending more time with her might have meant the end of the world."

It hadn't been that close, but I didn't argue with him.

"What about the aliens off the waters of Washington DC and New York?" I asked.

"They don't have a single boat between them," he said. "We've kept them entirely pinned down, and we're hoping to capture their ships intact."

"I can help with that," I said enthusiastically. It'd give me a chance to upgrade Blade Storm and Bone Garden, and it would save whatever marines decided to storm the ships to face a hundred thousand aliens.

The general gave me a dubious look, and I rushed to explain.

"I don't want anyone dead because I was too lazy to do a little housecleaning," I said. "You're going to need every soldier you've got."

He nodded soberly.

"We've decided," President Whitmore said, "As long as you are agreeable, to hold a press conference and introduce you to the world."

I nodded.

"We're planning to hold it at the United Nations," he said. "Holding it in New York will send a message that we are not afraid."

Nodding, I said, "Do you want me to provide transport? I can hold three people in my inventory at a time now!"

"We've got it under control, ma'am," the Head Secret Service agent said hastily. Apparently leaving the fate of the president in the hands of a super powered teenager wasn't allowed.

I shrugged.

"We're holding it at three o'clock," he said.

"New York time, right?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Well, that only gives me three hours to exterminate some pests," I said. "Also, if somebody can get me a picture of wherever they're treating wounded soldiers, I can heal them."

"You can heal?"

"I copy powers," I said. "I get a weaker version of whatever power I copy, but the more I use it, the stronger it gets. I think I can get stronger than the original if I work a power hard enough."

"So most…what did you call them…parahumans in your world aren't like you?" the general asked.

"I'm on the high end," I said.

I could feel a palpable sense of relief in the room. It wasn't that they feared me, but they'd all read comic books, and where there were heroes, there were villains.

"There are still some stronger than me," I said. "But few as versatile as I am."

They'd been wondering about the plans they'd have to make to defend their world from the side as well as from above.

"Dimensional travel is actually illegal in my world," I said. "Or at least creating portals is. People worry about viruses and disease spreading."

At the sudden spike in their concern, I said, "I'm immune to disease, and I don't carry it. I'm careful going from world to world, too. Most people don't have those advantages."

"We'll get you what you need," the President said after a moment. "When you finish with whatever you're going to do in the ships, go to the UN building, and we'll have pictures of the locations of the wounded."

I nodded.

"I'll see you at three!"

The next two hours were useful. I chased aliens through their ships using Bone Garden and Bladestorm.

I killed a hundred thousand aliens over the next two hours. This was only half those in both ships, but it would likely make taking both ships a lot easier and it would reduce casualties.

Most importantly, I destroyed all the biosuits I could find, which meant the remaining aliens would have to fight back with tools and machines not meant for killing, and I destroyed their food stores.

This meant they would have to surrender eventually.

I'd gained two levels of Bone Garden, and three levels of Blade Storm.

I then appeared at the steps to the United Nations building. There was a security guard at the entrance, and he was wearing a bulletproof vest and had an assault rifle.

"I'm Taylor Hebert, and someone was supposed to have a couple of pictures for me?"

He frowned, then looked down at his list.

There were other guards all with bulletproof vests and assault rifles standing everywhere.

"Here it is," he said. He slipped a small package to me.

He had no idea who I was, and why should he? It was nice to be anonymous, even though that would go away in an hour or two.

"Thanks," I said, looking down at the first picture. I blinked out, wondering what his response to that would be.

I appeared at the gate of a temporary military hospital. It had numerous fences behind a hastily set up fence. It had been set up in the middle of a football stadium. Presumably the walls of the stadium would provide additional protection from marauding aliens.

"Taylor Hebert," I said to the guards, who had pulled their guns.

"I didn't believe it," one of the guards muttered. "Not when they told us. Call it in."

It took almost five minutes for a Major to come rushing toward us.

"Taylor Hebert?" he asked.

"That's me," I said.

"They tell me some pretty unbelievable things about you," he said.

I switched armored skin on, and stared at him.

"R…right," he said. "They say you can help us heal?"

I nodded.

"Take me to the most serious cases. I don't do dead."

He nodded, and led me to the first of a number of large white tents. They seemed familiar; apparently a lot of places used things like this to help the sick and injured.

I moved quickly through the tent, and wherever I went, soldiers started sitting up despite the horrific injuries they'd suffered.

The Major was staring at me.

"Next?" I asked.

I moved quickly from tent to tent.

My powers tended to be slower about rewarding me for this kind of grinding than for uses of powers in combat, but that didn't mean I wouldn't eventually level those powers up.

From tent to tent I moved, and the soldiers were quickly escorted outside the tents.

I was reaching the last tent, and when I healed the final man, he reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Are you her?"

I shrugged.

"Depends on who you're asking about."

"The one who blew up the ships and drove them off," he said.

"Yeah," I said. "That was me. I didn't have time to do anymore; there were a lot of ships."

"I had family in Los Angeles," he said. "They're alive because of you."

"You're welcome," I said slowly.

"My grandmother, my mom, my wife and my kids, my sister and her family, my brother and his…. they'd all be dead if it wasn't for you."

He lunged at me, and only astonishment at what he planned kept me from moving out of the way.

I stood stiffly as I felt a grown man's arms envelop me. I hadn't been hugged in years, and I didn't know what to do with my hands.

Dad had hugged me, back when Mom was alive, and Emma had hugged me in the past, but the only touch I'd had in recent years had been shoves and punches.

Even since I'd gained my powers, people had grown too afraid of me to treat me like a normal person.

It felt…nice, especially when I felt the utmost sincerity in his mind. He was a bear of a man, towering over me.

I patted him on the back finally, awkwardly.

"Lieutenant!" the Major said, sounding shocked.

"This is her!" the Lieutenant said. He put weight on his leg, the one that had been broken when an alien had stepped on his leg while wearing bioarmor.

I gently pushed him away.

"I've got other people to heal," I said gently. "I don't know if I'll be able to come back, but keep up the good fight."

The people at the next site were ready for me. They were a lot more respectful, but nobody hugged me either.

By the third hospital, I had the routine down.

I healed fifteen hundred soldiers and five hundred civilians, and that made me wonder how the battle was going.

Despite what the president's people had said, I slipped into the Las Angeles ship and killed a few thousand aliens. I destroyed their food source as well.

An aide was waiting for me when I got back to the UN. She led me past the guards, and to a restroom, where she was planning to wait at the door while I changed into the outfit she provided for me.

"You want me to wear this?" I asked.

"How you present yourself could help or hinder the process of the world unifying to fight," she said firmly. "You are the most powerful person in the world, but in a hoodie, everybody will treat you like a teenager. There are a lot of good old boys in governments around the world and they'll dismiss or try to work around you if you don't present the right image."

She believed everything she was saying, but it reminded me of what Vista had told me about the way the PRT tried to manipulate her image.

"I can make them listen to me," I said.

"Then they'll resent you, and that'll make it harder for the ambassadors to do their work," she said. "We're trying to do something that has never happened in the history of the world; we're trying to unite every country behind a single banner. It's going to be an almost impossible task as it is."

I nodded slowly.

"You want to appear strong but not overbearing, confident, but not arrogant. You want to be credible and charismatic."

The outfit I was holding was the most expensive thing I had ever held, outside of the Nail and maybe the cars. It was an Armani suit in red.

"Red projects power," she said. "It draws the eye. You want to be the object of attention so that people will listen to what you have to say."

She also thought that the suit would make me look older; being fifteen was a distinct disadvantage in having people take you seriously.

"Fine," I said.

I blinked it into my inventory, then switched it for the outfit I had on.

I froze.

It fit me like a glove, and it was a lot more comfortable than I would have thought.

I actually felt better wearing it; I felt older and more mature, stronger and more confident.

"Wow," I said. "Does it have a hat?"

She frowned.

"You shouldn't wear a hat into the chambers," she said.

"For later," I said. "I think a Fedora would look great with this."

I'd have to ask Alucard how he regenerated his clothes along with his body. This suit was too nice to destroy the next time someone threw me into a volcano or tried to bomb me.

"How much are these?" I asked.

"Five thousand dollars."

"I'd like fifty of them," I said. I frowned. "I wonder if they'd pay me if I put some satellites up for them?"

"I'm sure they'd be happy to give you whatever you want," she said. "But it will take time to get that many made."

I frowned.

Maybe I could get some tinkertech designs to Armani, and have him create bulletproof alternatives in return. Given the level of opposition I usually faced, even that wouldn't be durable enough, but I'd deal with that when I came to it.

"I'm serious about the fedoras, though," I said. "Fedoras are cool."

"I'm sure they are," she said.

She didn't believe that Fedoras were cool at all! I didn't know what she kept thinking I was a hipster, whatever that was.

"But it's time to get you into makeup," she said. "The even is actually at four, which will give us time to get you ready."

"You think I need makeup?"

It wasn't that I had any illusions about what I looked like. My hair was my best feature.

"Everybody does. You're going to be talking to the world, and you don't want the stage lights to wash you out."

I sighed.

Following her, I found the next forty-five minutes to be both impressive and disturbing. They made me look fantastic.

I'd have to get some skill books on makeup and style.

When she stood me up in front of a full-length mirror that had been delivered here only minutes before I had arrived, I almost couldn't recognize myself.

I looked heroic, almost.

Finally, the led me to the chambers.

"There have been questions about the role of the United States in the defense of the planet. Battles are being fought as we speak, although it is clear we will be the winners."

"There are rumors that you have a healer. Why has this healer been reserved for the United States and China?"

I blinked to the podium to stand beside the president.

"I've been busy," I said. "I've helped where I thought I could do the most good, but I'm just person."

Everyone was staring at me.

"My name is Taylor Hebert," I said. "And I am from another world. On my world, people began to develop superhuman abilities thirty years ago. I am one of those people."

The crowd began to speak all at once.

That had been my problem in China. I'd used a skill book for Mandarin, but people thought faster than they spoke, and there had been thousands of them. It had been hard picking out one set of thoughts in the cacophony. I needed some better books and I needed to practice until it became second nature to me. I'd understood the soldiers' commands well enough after all.

This was similar, except that I didn't know most of the languages people were thinking in.

I floated ten feet above the stage, and the crowd fell silent.

"My arrival here was an accident," I said. "A happy one as it turned out. I arrived in America because I am an American, at least my world's version of an American."

Everyone was staring at me, as though they'd never seen someone fly before.

"My powers are limited," I said. "I am only one person, and I can only be in one place at a time. I am superhumanly fast, but I wasn't fast enough to save everyone."

The crowd was still silent.

"I have managed to defeat this fleet, but they have a larger fleet twenty light years away. Once the message reaches them, they will be back, bugger and more horrible than ever. If humanity is to survive, they will have to work together."

They broke out into murmured discussions, and I could feel the almost universal anxiety about the prospect.

"I believe that by working together, humanity will be able to use the technology of the aliens to create ways to defend themselves that you cannot even imagine now. I'm here to help make that a reality. Any questions?"

Apparently, there were a lot of them.