The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 17, 2398

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Marie has gotten a lot of steps today, already more than she had yesterday, and it’s not even evening yet. With every orbital pass, the map of the brain scanner errors updates, providing them with a new location of their current target in Paris, France. Whoever it is has been moving around a lot, and they cannot catch up to them. There is no pattern to their movements. Some of the places are good tourist traps, but others are just a random alley, and people’s homes. They appear to be on the move with great purpose. The distance from one location to the next is always short enough to reach within the timeframe, but in some cases, only if they’re being evasive. They never spend too much time in one place, suggesting that they know someone is on their trail, and they’re trying to stay one step ahead. The team is exhausted, and everyone agrees that they need a new tactic. Marie has come up with a plan, but it’s best done after nightfall, so they ignore the next two pings, and wait it out in their small Parisian safehouse.

Three hours later, Marie takes the auto-injector out of her pack. Ramses was embarrassed that they were still using regular syringes up until this point for emergency jolts of temporal energy, but it’s fine. She has it now, and it’s time to use it, even though it’s not technically an emergency. For some reason, she feels like this is going to be a bigger deal than the other times she’s used the stuff. It’s not. She jams it into her leg, presses the button, and feels the usually temperate surge of electricity all over her body.

“Tell me again why you can’t just give us one of those too?” Esmé asks. She just won’t let it go. She’s not a very good diplomat, which is annoying, but Marie isn’t in charge of choosing her own team. Perhaps if she had stayed with the organization fulltime, she might have more pull.

“This doesn’t give me the ability to teleport,” Marie explains once more. “My body was designed with the power. This injector reactivates what’s already there. If I gave you one, it would do nothing. At best, it would add a whopping one hour to your lifespan.”

“I’ll...take it,” Esmé declares. She pretends to not notice Marie rolling her eyes.

“It’s almost time.” Agent Filipowski holds the tablet in front of Marie’s face.

Specialist Cleary and Officer Sharrow take their positions on either side of Marie. “Keep an eye on our realtime pins,” she instructs Doric. She can only carry two other people with her. “I may have to transport our target to a third location.”

“Understood.”

The tablet beeps. “Shit.” They’re at the Eiffel tower. Ramses’ scanner can’t accurately distinguish elevation. They could be on the ground, at the top, or anywhere in between. Plus, even this late, there are going to be tons of people there. They can’t just jump around a few times to look for them. Marie has to make a split second decision, and the rest of her team isn’t going to like it. “I’ll stay in contact, I promise.”

“What are you going to do?” Esmé questions.

“It’s too risky to move in a group.” Marie pulls herself away from the other two, and makes the jump. She’s on the ground underneath the tower. It’s one of the many unusual things about this reality, which is strikingly similar to the main sequence, even with a profoundly altered historical timeline. The primary difference here is that the beams are made of steel, rather than iron. She calls Ramses. “Hey, are ya busy?”

“No, what’s up?” Ramses replies.

“Can you see where I am?”

“Gotcha right here.” The scanner has always picked up on the rest of the time travelers in the group, as they qualify as temporal errors. They have always filtered out and ignored each other, but it’s useful now. “Who’s that with you, Leona? We can’t get a hold of her.”

“No one is with me. The second dot is our target. I lost access to the map. How far away are they?”

“About twenty meters southwest. You better hurry. They’ll go out of range again within ten minutes at the most.”

Marie starts to run. There’s a larger group of people over there, so she could really do with an investigator, but she’s alone, and that was her choice.

“Stop!” Ramses warns. “Two hundred meters directly south of you.”

“They’re a teleporter.”

“Yes.”

“Just like me.” Marie focuses on visualizing the distance, then covers it with another jump. There are fewer people around here, but she still has no idea who she’s looking for. She starts to scan them, hoping to see someone suspicious. She does in a man who’s staring right back at here. Now she has a face. If she doesn’t get him today, she will later. He can’t hide forever.

He teleports away again.

“Jump to the ship,” Ramses tells her.

Marie looks up to the sky, and jumps to the main level of the AOC.

Ramses is waiting for her. He tosses her a handheld device. “He jumped another five hundred meters. Go get him.”

Five hundred meters. That’s an increase, but still not very far as teleporters go. He clearly realizes that he’s being tracked, and he doesn’t want to be caught. That’s fair, he doesn’t know that she could be a friendly. She doesn’t know that either, but she hopes she is. If he’s so worried, though, there must be a reason he’s not bailing to Madagascar or Argentina, or something. Either something is keeping him in the city, or his power has limited range. Regardless, they have to find him. If Ramses can learn why this reality isn’t suppressing his abilities, it will take them one step closer to solving the problem for everyone. She looks at the map, and focuses on the dot. She jumps down to him, and without giving him any chance to react, wraps her arms around him. She then makes one final jump, back to the AOC.

“Curtis Duvall.” Arcadia smiles at him.

“Oh, Leona.” The man goes over and gives her a big hug. “If I had known that you were involved, I never would have kept running.”

“Yes, Leona is involved,” Arcadia confirms, “but I’m not her. I was accidentally placed in this body. I’m Arcadia Preston.”

He nods like that makes total sense. “I don’t know who that is.”

Arcadia narrows her eyes at him. “Which timeline are you from?”

“I don’t know,” Curtis argues. “Why would I know that? What do you want me to do, give it a random designation, like Six-One-Six or Earth-X? I’m from the timeline where I’m from!” That’s a fair point.

“I don’t care about that,” Ramses says dismissively. “I wanna know how you can teleport when no one else in the world still has their time powers.”

Microstory 1121: Gérard Fortier

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Gérard Fortier never thought he would one day be working for a covert operations organization, but he also never thought he would join the military. His was a mundane and smooth childhood. He had decent parents, lived in a safe neighborhood, and received a good education. There was nothing in his life he could point to today and claim that it was the moment that led him to signing up for the French armée de terre. He could have gone to university, had he wanted, but he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, so service seemed like the most logical next step. After the end of his five-year contract as an engagé volontaire, he was intending to return home to look for work when he was approached by someone from the DGSE. He wasn’t technically a recruiter, but had heard about Fortier’s excellent record, and thought he would be a perfect fit for the agency. Again, he mostly agreed because he didn’t have any better offers. Two years in, he was approached again, this time by a member of the service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, known in English as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS. This was a major joint task force, composed of multiple competing intelligence agencies, for the purpose of exemplifying the spirit of allied cooperation. Branches were located in several key locations around the world, not only in participating nations, which included Canada, Portugal, Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as France. This was the perfect place for Gérard to work, for while he loved his country deeply, he always considered the whole world to be his home. He felt that, when allied organizations treated each other as competitors, it was the people who suffered. They wanted him to head up their main French office, but Fortier was disinterested in a leadership position. At the moment, the only other open positions were out-of-country, which he was fine with. He hadn’t grown up wanting to see the world, but it certainly wasn’t an opportunity he would pass up. He ended up flying overseas, and being stationed right in the middle of the U.S., in Kansas. It is here that he met the tight-knit team he would be working with, and would come to think of as his family. His partner was Yadira Cardoso, who came up through the Serviço de Informações Estratégicas de Defesa. It didn’t take him long to realize that she was not like the other agents. She possessed an uncanny ability to anticipate an opponent’s moves, making her a virtually unstoppable fighting machine. They were later transitioned into a three-person partnership, with a man named Camden Voss. Unlike Yadira’s, his abilities could not be explained away. He could jump through time, and there was no denying it. Gérard started to suspect that this entire task force organization was created by, or for, people with supernatural powers, but was surprised to learn it was not. They were recruited for their talents, but the organization itself was designed to foster the six-nation alliance that founded it. Powers were just a bonus, and Gérard’s skills and past experiences were just as valuable to his superiors as anything else.

Microstory 547: Solange Attar Coming to Wyoming

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Wyoming is one of the largest states in Usonia. It is also the least populated; we live in a few large cities, and also several sparse towns. We’re mostly​ farmers and ranchers, but like anyone else, we love music. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of musical artists tour in Wyoming. It’s just not practical when they can go to Chicago or Austin, and sell out with no question. Of course, city officials are always looking to enrich theirs, and Wyoming’s, economy by reaching out to anyone who can draw a crowd. But this is not what happened. For those of you who don’t know, Solange Attar is probably the most famous singer across Europe. She has a not insignificant following in Usonia, but many stateside still have not heard her name. According to an official statement released by her publicist, she is looking to enter the North American market in a big way. This is why the mayor of Gravely, Wyoming is confused as to why she would choose to make her first appearance on this side of the pond in what’s only the second-largest city in the state. His assistant did a little research, and learned that there appears to be no connection between Miss Attar and anyone in Gravely. No one on her team is from here, there is no street coincidentally named something familiar in one of her songs. There’s nothing. There is just no reason for Attar to hold a performance ​in Gravely, let alone use it for her Usonia debut. Whatever her reasons, the city of Gravely, and the state of Wyoming, are ecstatic for the move, and are working tirelessly to prepare to give her a warm welcome. Private citizens are called upon to do the same, and make our great state proud. Miss Attar’s publicist declined to comment on this story at this time.

Superpowers: The List (Part IV)

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“France. The one country that only has nuclear weapons pretty much because everyone else does, and because they have the resources for a program. Theirs is the most secretive and fickle, however, what with them refusing to report numbers, supposedly constantly switching facilities, and rejecting a healthy amount of international law. The only reason they’re allowed to go on as they do is because they don’t actually do anything wrong. They get along with the rest of Europe, and the majority of the Confederacy. They don’t go around starting wars, and the amount of foreign aid they provide is surpassed by no other nation.”

“All is as your opinion dictates,” replied Ambassador Tamboli of India.

Governor Stockton continued, largely ignoring the ambassador’s remark. “It is for this that the nuclear disarmament of France is the trickiest. Pakistan was the most dangerous, since we had done nothing like it before, and it required the most troops of mine. China’s taken the longest so far, and the most resources. And Russia was just violent and stubborn about the whole thing. But it is France that will ultimately give us the most trouble, because they’re smart, and we will never really know if we’ve gotten all of them. Following the events of Pakistan, they immediately modified their tactics for their nuclear arms. They quickly developed an impressive strategy of compartmentalization. I knew they would do this, which was why I haven’t relied on intelligence that I gathered before the mission, but I also spent months debating whether I should start with them instead of Pakistan. In the end, I could not, because the backlash from such a thing would have been too great. I had a number of parties interested in disarming Pakistan. Even though these parties were not outwardly happy with having been lied to about the specifics, they were secretly relieved. France, on the other hand, belongs to a collection of extremely powerful allies. Disarming them will be considered an act of betrayal.”

“I should say so.”

“And because of all this, I will not be able to continue alone. I am forming a new alliance; one loyal to our cause. Only non-nuclear nations will be allowed into this alliance, and the list of potentials is large, so I will need help whittling it down to a manageable size.”

“I would imagine that the more the better.”

“One might think so, but it would actually benefit the cause to have fewer, tighter allies, than dozens of countries who each feel marginalized and misrepresented.”

“I suppose that makes a certain logic. Are you asking me to assist you with your special list?” Ambassador Tamboli asked.

“I am,” Stockton answered.

Tamboli sighed heavily. “That’s all you had to say. Don’t know why you felt the need to go into such a huge speech.”

“You’re a diplomat. Aren’t speeches your drug of choice?”

Now Tamboli ignored him. “Let us see the list.” She looked over the sheet of paper that Stockton handed her. “Why is India not on here?”

“I can’t picture a world where you are not part of this glorious alliance. I didn’t put you on the list, because I didn’t want to risk you crossing yourself from it.”

“You know that I’m just the ambassador, right? I’m not the avatar for the entire nation of India. You can’t flatter me into joining you.”

“Yes I can,” Stockton nodded.

“I am also happily married.”

He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Tamboli sighed again and set to work on that list. She took a pencil and quickly drew squiggly lines through countries one by one, as if she had ruminating on the matter for days. “There.”

“I’m surprised you kept Sweden.”

“Their historically precarious relationship with the United Kingdom should prove useful to you. They have always been against nuclear weapons, and are only staying out of this conflict because they are terribly afraid of World War IV.”

Stockton nodded again. “That makes perfect sense. See? This is why I need you.” He looked back down at the list. “Why did you remove Switzerland? Do they not have the same stance on nuclear weapons as Sweden?”

“They do, but they also exercise a level of isolationism. Of your list, they are the most outspoken against your interference in the business of independent states.”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

“Have you been paying much attention to countries that you’re not currently focused on trying to disarm?”

“No, you’re right. I haven’t. Good point.” He looked to the list once more. Good points all around. I will not ask you about the others. I can clearly trust your judgment, sight unseen.”

“Again, no need for the flattery.”

“Your modesty knows no bounds.”

She laughed.

Governor Stockton spent the better part of a year cultivating relationships with the remaining nine countries on Tamboli’s list. While the first few stages of his mission involved relatively quick and decisive action, the next few nations needed to be dealt with delicately. The important thing about the alliance was that it needed to appear as if those were the nations who were agreeing to become part of it, rather than a set of enemies against other alliances. It needed to be more of a council, and less of a coalition. Instead of trying to use the alliance to make a play against France, he was actually intending to romance them into joining up and disarming themselves, much like India had. And it worked. It took a very long time, and as Stockton had pointed out in the meeting with Tamboli, they could never really be sure that they had cleaned them out entirely, but it did work.

France had a number of conditions, not the least of which was that they would act to destroy their stockpile on their own, rather than simply handing them over to Federama. The fact that Federama now controlled over 50% of the world’s nuclear armament had the potential to cause more problems than it was promising to solve. Federama, and the rest of the new alliance, insisted that they oversee France’s safe destruction of their bombs. Stockton’s plan relied on him having as many of the weapons to himself for a period of time, but Russia had probably provided him with more than enough to get his point across. And it just wasn’t worth bullying France into giving up on that condition.

When all was said and done, Stage Five of the mission was successful. Once everything was over, France as a whole seemed almost to smile, like an addict ceremoniously burning their drug stash. People were more surprised than they thought they would be about how good it would feel to be free of the burden. They didn’t feel vulnerable. They felt ready to move forward; excited for a future of peace and happiness. Stockton had succeeded in not only disarming another country, but in swaying the public opinion. No more were people angry about their interference. Though the governments of the UK, Usonia, and Korea showed no signs of relenting, the majority of their populace was in favor of it. And after enough time, that would be all that mattered. Yes, things were going well, but they were about to get bad. As Korea threatened nuclear war with Usonia, knowing that no one would be able to stop them, Usonia and the UK were only strengthened in their resolve to keep armed.

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Microstory 149: Solange Attar

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When you really get down to it, Solange Attar and her sister, Monique had wildly different abilities. Sure, both of theirs could be related to animals, but not inherently so. Monique could control the pheromones of animals and people, and use these to place a target in a form of hypnosis. Though she was strong, she was limited, and controlling her target’s actions would have been a reach. Solange, on the other hand, could mimic the sound of anything that she had heard at least once. This included, but was not limited to, human voices, animal calls, and machine sounds. Knowing no other way of using her ability, she decided to become a performer. Her fame spread around Paris, then across all of France, and then throughout the entirety of Europe. She would not only mimic sounds in her act. Her vocal cords also gave her what was considered to be the most beautiful singing voice in the world. People traveled from miles and miles away to hear the lovely and amazing voice of Solange Attar. One night, she was seeking some alone time on the Eiffel Tower when a man appeared out of nowhere. He had no memory of who he was, or where he was from, but he somehow had the ability to teleport himself and anything equal to, or lower than, his own mass. The family took him in and gave him the name of Gaston since it meant stranger. Solange and Gaston formed a close bond, and eventually fell in love. They conceived a daughter, Zoey, who developed physically at an astonishing and dangerous rate. They sought help from Bellevue, and collectively became four of the last six anomalies to be discovered by the organization besides the low number of Generation Twos yet to be born.