Reignite: Arc 6.1

Standing by the view port I allowed the silence of the room to run its course. I didn't need to face the guys to see their shocked expressions. It was a lot to take in all at once. Ridiculous didn't come close to covering it.

The only one mostly unaffected was little Alex, though he probably figured something was up as he was keeping fairly quiet with whatever educational games Sharee had him on today. Seeing him contently playing, I couldn't help envying him.

While everyone was digesting the insane info dump I'd just laid on them I allowed my eyes to check the only lit panel in our room. Every other vidscreen was purposefully dark while this one scrolled with data sequences that represented the suite of various security features we used to prevent eavesdropping. It was something I knew we were going to have to get back into the habit of. Not that any of them could stop Glyph or EDI from breaking through, had they the mind. Neither of our resident AI's seemed inclined to do so and instead seemed to respect our need for privacy. Something I was thankful for. Things were weird enough without that additional bit of drama to contend with.

In the end, though I shouldn't have been surprised that it was Steve who broke the silence first. Sitting in his chair he looked stunned and more than a bit confused as he asked, "We died?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"I mean, really? Like, we never got away with it? Not even once?"

"Seriously, man?" Greg asked sitting in his own chair. His amusement easily heard as he continued. "She lays this buckwild crazy ass shit on us, and that's what you're stuck on?"

"Dude, it was the Blues Brothers," Steve argued passionately. "We'd been saving that one for something special ever since we got powers. Years man, we've been waiting years to find something truly epic to use it for. Tell me you weren't thinking the same thing. There's no way we never pulled it off."

"According to Atlas, never without one of you getting killed," I broke in hoping to keep this somewhat on track. "I don't remember every single time, Steve. Do you really want to know how many times your skit, and incidentally you, died in past timelines?"

"No," Greg immediately answered.

"Kinda," Steve said.

Despite myself, I couldn't help smiling fondly at the goof.

"So, Dinah's been manipulating all of us and events," Paige summarized. "Greg found a way to lobotomize his power, and you're now Queen of the Rachni. Also let's not forget, there's an evil version of you and Shepard out there somewhere time traveling across dimensions doing who knows what."

"I know right?" Miguel chuckled. "To think we've been hanging out with the good Taylor."

"I'm not Queen of the Rachni," I corrected, rolling my eyes while ignoring Miguel. "Their social hierarchy doesn't work that way. Even if it did, that would be Hope Singer."

"But Elkita was calling you Defiance Singer," she pressed. "Hope Singer. Defiance Singer. The names of the two you brought with you start with 'Sings' and didn't you say they call Shepard Sings of Endings? Sounds to me like she thinks you're their queen."

A contribution only I could hear interrupted my attempt to argue. Being unable to ignore it, I waited for him to say his peace.

Thinking I was rolling my eyes at her, Paige asked, "what?"

Sighing fondly I answered. "Sings Curiosity of Voices Singing Among Foreign Stars just said that as he understands his instructions from Hope Singer, I am technically adopted. Apparently making me a small four legged Rachni Queen with a really funny accent."

Smirking at having had her way, Paige asked, "Does he mind if we just call him Curie?"

"He doesn't," I answered after a moment. "And before you ask, Sings Quiet Reflection Among Settling Ashes said 'Ash' is acceptable if we must shorten his name."

"Are you okay, Greg?" Sharee asked before Paige could derail the conversation further.

Paige glared at the girl, clearly wanting to ask more questions about the Rachni, but ultimately settled for turning back to Greg.

"He's Greg, if that's what you're wondering," Steve answered before the tinker could. "He's a lot more chill about shit and no blackouts, but he's still Greg."

"But he basically Harbingered himself!?" Sharee said looking more than a little sick at the idea.

"That's actually not too far off," he admitted sheepishly.

"Dude," Steve muttered, shaking his head.

"Why would you do something like that Greg," Paige asked worriedly. "Taylor said that asshole broke her power."

"Harbinger didn't break Taylor's power though," Greg said, all traces of levity leaving his face. "The scans of her corona gemma showed that there was only a slight scarring. But, her pollentia was different."

"You said her scans came back normal," Steve accused.

"Never mind that," I broke in. "What was different about my pollentia?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly dead but not alive either. Not like it was before New Canton."

Looking at the wide eyed faces around him, Greg blinked. "You guys don't see it, do you?"

"I don't think it's that they don't see it, Greg," I explained calmly. "It's that what they see isn't what you want them to. Spell it out."

"Okay. It's like this. In trying to indoctrinate Taylor, Harbinger accidentally attacked her agent. I think it's because indoctrination hits the same place of the brain the pollentia and gemma are, in parahumans, but I'd need to study regular people who had been indoctrinated to know for sure."

"Easier said than done, Greg," I informed him.

"Wait," Paige jumped in. "Agent?"

"It's what Tattletale called the source of our powers."

"Ah, okay. So what happened to her power, agent or whatever?"

"After Taylor took off on the Dragonfly, I started putting together the pieces of what happened," Greg said leadingly. "Harbinger didn't break Taylor's power, he broke her agent. Doing that might have messed with her a bit but it also like, calmed Taylor down. Maybe it was all just brain damage or a fluke or something, but I thought, what if?"

"Passing on Taylor's brain damage for a bit," Paige snarked. My raised eyebrow was missed as she continued, thought I was tempted to stick my tongue out at Steve who was smirking. "On a 'what if' you decided to give yourself brain damage?"

"Just a little bit," Greg nodded easily.

"Why?" she asked looking sick.

"To stop my blackouts," he answered firmly "To stop my power from hiding the tech it's hoarding and finally be a real tinker."

Not seeing the support for his argument he expected, Greg shook his head continuing. "You still don't see the whole picture though. See, Taylor's pollentia is usually lit like the Fourth of July but it was mostly dormant when I scanned it. Actually similar to yours, Paige."

"Mine?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah. That's part of what sold me on it. Of all of us, you're the only one who had an easy time settling down when we started Earth hopping. The one thing that makes you different than us…"

"Is that I'm sane?" Paige asked

"...that too. But the other thing is that you bought your powers," Greg finished. "You didn't trigger like the rest of us did. Just before she left Taylor was seriously chill. Think about that. Taylor, chilled, right after a big fight like that? Shit, doesn't happen. The last time I'd seen her that relaxed was just before Leviathan hit the Bay.

Greg nodded slowly as everyone seemed to think. "I wouldn't say I figured it out, exactly, but all of that sent me trying to replicate it for myself, because if I could, I was only going to get it right from scratch once. More importantly, I wasn't going to risk any of you guys on something that sounded like a serious long shot. Even to me."

"Damn, amigo," Miguel sighed. "If you felt like that, why didn't you say something?"

"I'd been dealing with it for years man," Greg answered honestly. "And I half didn't expect it to work. I honestly expected my power to sabotage me. I think Atlas might have done something to help, but I don't know. Didn't want to record any of it in case I killed myself. The procedure I came up with was pretty graphic, if you get me. Would have been bad enough when you found me without the vid of how it all went bad."

"No joke, I saw the room afterward," Steve muttered shuttering slightly. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he asked, "Does this tie into why Dinah looks like she's been partying with Merchants? Or whatever's up with you?"

"Yes." I answered.

"Thought so," he said. Sitting back folding his arms. Likewise, everyone else seemed more focused as they waited. "I'd like to hear about that."

Turning to look unseeing at the stars, I started explaining. "You guys know something happened to me on New Canton. Even I noticed something wasn't right, which means you guys probably figured it out almost immediately."

My comment earned a few snorts, and more than one knowing glance.

"Harbinger did something to me," I continued. "It wasn't what he was trying to do, but something. Little things about me were different. At first I chalked it up to stress. I'd been pushing hard for a while and things weren't going the way I thought they should have. But it kept hitting me at odd moments and I found myself thinking about things I never let myself think about before. Things I buried, or tried too."

"Huh. You bury stuff? I always kinda thought you were brooding on the past whenever you go all quiet like," Paige interjected.

I ignored her and continued on instead. Sadly, she wasn't entirely wrong. "On Omega I noticed my power acting strange. I had to think about it more to get my bug's to do what I wanted them to. Which was weird. I hadn't had that problem since I first got powers. My bugs weren't doing things by themselves like they used to. I've never really had to think about amassing a swarm, just happens. If they're in my range, they're mine, but ever since New Canton it hasn't been that way. Same with some other stuff while other things just came easier to me. At first, I figured I was just distracted or something. It was all a fluke."

"I thought that was weird," Steve muttered.

"What do you mean," Sharee asked.

Steve shrugged. "Just that when I was fighting the Blood Pack I didn't know Taylor was close until she sent a clone to tell me to hack the door. Even bugs she's not trying to control act weird when they're in her range. If you know what to look for, you always know when she's around. I should have known she was coming long before she was there but I didn't."

"I didn't know that. Why didn't you say something before?" I asked.

"Wasn't important," he answered. "Yeah, I see it, but we've been running together for a while, you know? It's not something most people would get. I mean, how many people spend a lot of time around bugs looking at them? Like, really looking at them to see if there is someone on the other side of the bug looking back?"

"Fair point," I conceded.

"So," Paige said leadingly, waving her hand in a circle at me.

"So, something changed," I continued. "Greg figured out what 'it' was first though. I didn't until I met with Hope Singer. But Dinah figured out something before any of us."

Everyone turned to the sickly girl. Shrugging slightly, she whispered, "kinda."

"You have to give us more than kinda, Little Mint," Steve chuckled caringly.

Half hiding behind her hair, Dinah's arms tightened around herself. When she spoke, the guys had to lean in slightly to hear her. "I didn't know what. I never could see the what or why. Most of the time nothing made sense. Like watching a dozen movies at the same time but all cut up, out of sequence and spliced into one big mess."

"Is that what happened on Omega when you had your backfire?" Sharee asked softly.

"No," Dinah said shaking her head. "This has been going on a long time. Almost since Taylor and Shepard rescued me from Coil."

"Does this have something to do with your nightmares?" Sharee continued her gentle prodding.

Dinah nodded. "That's where it started. I didn't get many back then because being around Shepard messed with my power but some got through. They got worse after he died. I'd see things. Usually involving either Taylor or Shepard. Which didn't make any sense because in one nightmare, Shepard was alive but Taylor wasn't. In another it would be the other way and a lot had them fighting each other. Most times they didn't act right or were a lot older but all of them had really high percentages. Even weirder, a few times I saw the Undersiders here, on the Normandy instead of us. Once or twice, there were people I didn't even know replacing them."

Moving away from the view port, I sat next to Dinah putting my arm around her. Leaning into me, she continued. "It was a couple of months after Shepard died, after you guys left the Bay that I started thinking there was a way to get Shepard back. Even after his funeral I kept having visions where something like him was still alive.

"I wanted him back. I wanted Shepard back and I thought, maybe, there was a way. So instead of waiting for the nightmares, I tried pushing to find ways to do it but never could gain any ground. I didn't until after the Merchants kidnapped me. That's when I had my first backfire."

"Man, was Mayor Christner pissed when his old lady told us about that," Steve chuckled grimly. Quickly, his amusement ended replaced by a frown. Obviously reaching the same conclusion I had. "Fucking Skidmark gave you something, didn't he?"

Dinah licked her lips, nodding. "A shot. Don't know what was in it but, the rush."

Shuddering slightly, she continued. "He wanted to know what you guys were going to do. How to beat you. Stuff like that. When the pain got blinding even through the drug, he gave me something else and suddenly I could use my power like never before. I could push it further, dig deeper, see more. I don't know how many doses he gave me, but eventually I had a backfire. That's when I saw it."

"Skeet shooting that cock sucker was too good for him," Steve muttered darkly. "Should have found a way to drag that shit out. For fucking ever."

No one disagreed with him, though Sharree looked blatantly annoyed at the language around Alex, and to a lesser extent, Dinah.

"Not now Steve," I said keeping my hold on Dinah. "What did you see?"

"A mass effect relay," she breathed. Her hand reached up to grasp the miniature relay around her neck that she never took off. "I was on the Exiled. Steve was asleep in front and you were next to me. Outside was the relay. It was right there, so clear and real. I heard you ask me how many fingers I could see, but all I could see was the relay. It was then I knew what I had to do."

The room was quiet while Dinah gathered herself.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to score anything after you guys decimated the Merchants?" Dinah chuckled bitterly. "Especially since I had to be very careful to not get caught. I knew what would happen if you guys ever found out what I was doing. But it was the only way. Half the time I had to use my power to its limit just to figure out how I was going to do it."

"Eventually I managed it. I got something good. When the Merchants were holding me I heard some of the complain that Skidmark was giving me the good stuff. Pure stuff, but when I finally got some for myself I didn't get what I was trying for. I saw that Taylor was missing."

"That was when Heartbreaker captured me, right" I asked.

"You called him Heartbreaker!"

Blinking at the fact Paige not only shouted loudly, but had also jumped off the couch to point at me, it took a moment to realize exactly what it was she had said.

"You haven't called him that since before…"

"...before Montreal, yeah," I agreed, with a honest smile. She wasn't wrong and it felt good to break that habit. "We'll talk about it later, alright?"

"You better believe we're talking about this later," Paige answered predatory. Next to her, Sharee nodded firmly.

"It really worked," Dinah quietly asked. Staring into my eyes as if needing their reassurance.

"I told you it did. Now, finish explaining. You need this."

"There isn't much else," she said. Lowering her head and seeming to shrink in on herself. "I found that some of the really exotic stuff worked better with less side effects, but it was super expensive to get. So I sold answers to questions to whoever would pay while skimming funds I'd need. Using pieces I got from the visions, I would nudge you guys. Then we were here but the stuff I'd been using hadn't really been working for a while so I looked around. Omega was the first opportunity to get anything without you guys catching me. So I did. Sharee needed my help to get Shepard out but all I could think about was what happened to you on New Canton."

Raising her head, Dinah looked up without seeming to actually see any of us. "It was like trying to see tie dye in a kaleidoscope of color. Like standing in a blizzard of mirrored fragments. I tried to make my power work. I was so tired of visions, I wanted an answer. Just this once, I wanted the answer I asked for to be clear. Something I could understand without guesswork. The whole thing shifted. When one part rotated, everything else did too but in bizarre ways. But it worked, I got a glimpse. Illium. You had to go to Illium. You had to go with a scarred asari woman. You had to go willingly and you had to go by yourself without talking to anyone. If you didn't do everything just right then something bad was going to happen. It was so bad..."

Shushing Dinah, I felt her deflate into me. Sighing, I nodded looking up. Everyone was staring at us. A mix of sick horror on their faces.

"I think we can figure out what that was now."

"Evil you," Miguel said for everyone.

"Evil me," I confirmed.

"Still weird saying that," he chuckled.

It was just enough to break the horror everyone was feeling. Even Dinah chuckled weakly against me.

Paige broke the silence that followed. Sitting on the sofa with her legs tucked under her and looking confused she said, "I don't get it."

"Which part?" I asked.

"Any of it really," she answered before clarifying. "I mean, I get what Greg said about himself, even though it confirms that he's crazier than you are. I can even understand Dinah's part. But, how do we deal with time traveling evil you and evil Shepard? I don't even understand how the whole time travel thing works. What they're doing isn't anything like what was explained to me before we left Earth."

"Yeah, but that was because it was point to point," Greg said interrupting me before I could start. "So to speak. Time travel isn't a real science anyway."

"Okay," Paige said. "But you're the one who explained it to us before."

"Yeah, but I was mostly drawing off stuff I'd seen in movies and games I'd played."

"Why am I not surprised," she muttered getting a chuckle from several of us. "I just want to understand this loop thing Taylor said we're in."

"Well, we might not be in a loop," Greg said not sounding entirely sure of his facts. "It depends on which side of paradox we're on."

"Why does that matter," Miguel asked from his perch on the arm of the sofa next to Sharee.

"Well a paradox is bad," Greg explained lamely.

"A paradox is bad," Paige deadpanned.

Not hearing the sarcasm in her voice, or more likely ignoring it, Greg nodded easily. "Very bad because it's a contradiction of reality. Like, something happening that can't happen. Like you kill your own dad before he bones your mom so you don't get born. If you don't get born, you can't time travel to murder your dad. Something like that happens and it's supposed to break reality."

"Bones your mom!" Alex shouted playfully.

Sharee's eye twitched.

"If you don't stop with the language around Alex, I'm going to break your reality," Sharee hissed while quickly finding headphones that would fit the little guy. Eyeing Greg threateningly the whole time she fussed making sure Alex's ears were completely covered.

Snickering lightly, I asked, "So what happens if reality gets broken?"

"No one knows because it's never happened," he answered. "That we know of anyway."

"Okay but there's theories right? About what would happen?"

"Sure, but what happens changes depending on the theory. The more common one is the end of everything," Greg answered blandly. "Which basically means the end of time and the end of reality. There's nothing after that point. We're back to before the Big Bang. Everything's just done, but I like the idea that paradox causes a new Big Bang. Reality blows up, resetting everything by wiping the slate of creation clean. Planets, stars, time all dusted and left to reassemble itself into a new reality. The ultimate reset."

"You like that idea?" Paige asked looking horrified.

"Well, not like exactly but you have to admit it makes things rather neat and would explain why we'd have no idea what happens after a paradox. The odds of things being reassembled the same way that led us to be here to try it again are like infinity squared against or something."

"You didn't say anything like that before we jumped here," she said loudly.

"Atlas said we didn't need to worry about it," Greg said . "I don't know if that was because he knew how to avoid it, or if paradoxes weren't even a thing to worry about. There's theories that go both ways and no one else seemed to care that much back then anyway.."

"But you built the drive that brought us here. You have to have known something about it."

"Did I?" Greg asked flatly which caused Paige to lean back into the sofa cushions. When she didn't answer, Greg continued. "I've built some weird shit over the years but after what Taylor told us, I'm not sure I actually built it. It's a safer bet Atlas built it or already had it and installed it while I was blacked out. I can tell you right now there isn't anything like that in my powers various tech trees."

"Alright, so paradoxes are bad," Sharee said repeating Greg's assessment earlier. Which was something you had to do with Greg on occasion. Made his tinker shenanigans easier to deal with. Sighing tiredly she continued. "But what about what they're doing? And us? We're obviously out of our own time and messing with our futures timeline, so how do we avoid it?"

"Depends on how time travel actually works."

"Which you don't really know."

"Yeah, but there's the popular theories and it's not like we have anything else to work with."

Committed, Sharee nodded. "Alright then. Explain."

I had to admit I was curious to hear where his thoughts were compared to mine but mainly I wanted to give the guys the chance to process the weird. I already did mine during the transit to save the guys from the Hierarchy. Instead of commenting, I hugged Dinah closer, rubbing her arm to comfort her. She'd been through a lot today.

"Well, according to the movies there's kinda only a few ways things could go. The first is a closed loop. It's the worst but most logical. Well, it's used the most in movies."

"Groundhog's Day or Terminator," Steve chimed in. "Mostly Terminator."

The others nodded getting the gist as both movies were high on his favorites list and he constantly tried, with limited success, to get them top billing during movie night. No matter how many times we've seen them.

"Right," Greg nodded. "Basically what happened will happen. What is happening is going to keep happening and what will happen is all wrote in stone so it's going to happen whether we like it or not. We don't know it, but we're going to do what we did and what we're going to do, we're doing right now. We don't get a choice, we can't do anything we didn't do. We don't get to choose. Everything's a done deal, you know?"

"Not in the slightest," Miguel muttered looking a little punch drunk. "I can feel my brain melting."

"So, no free will. We're, what, slaves to destiny?" Paige asked looking slightly nauseated at her own conclusion. "But that can't be right. What about how Dinah's power works? Or what Atlas told Taylor that she made a change by saving you and Steve."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we're not still in a Closed Loop," Greg cautioned. "Steven and I can still get killed, just in a different way."

"And that doesn't bother you?" she asked.

"Bothers the shit out of me but if we're in a Closed Loop, not much I can do about it, you know?"

After a moment when she didn't say anything, Greg continued. "See, no matter what we do, everything ends up the same way, just a different circumstance. So instead of the Big Reset, paradox bends everything into a circle to contained the damage to just that little bit of the timeline. No matter what you do, what changes you think you're making, none of it matters. Everyone just keeps doing whatever it was they were doing, except for the time travelers who just keep repeating the same thing over and over."

"That is utterly terrifying," Sharee muttered from her end of the couch next to Paige. "For a lot of reasons."

"Never worked well for the guys in the movies either," Steve noted. "But kinda sounds a bit like what's going on with Evil Taylor and Evil Shepard. Just by design, not accident."

While not bitter, there was something in his voice that gave that impression. I didn't say anything. My thoughts weren't much different.

"Yeah," Greg agreed. "But that's just one thing. Another type of time travel is the Multiverse Theory. Basically it's what it sounds like. Instead of a never ending loop, every change creates its own universe to do whatever it was that needs doing based on the change."

"Think anything Marvel or D&D Planescape," Steve simplified to the room again getting several nods. You couldn't be on the same team with either of them without having read, or at least heard them talk about one of their favorite comics. Or been treated to at least a dozen conversations involving them. Or walked in on them playing Dungeons and Dragons. Or…

"The problem with that is that the theory basically means every choice made by every single person in all creation at the same point in the timeline can and does create its own universe or reality. When you look at the numbers of people on Earth and add in the galactic census for any one of the worlds in our galaxy at the same point in time, it starts looking rather ridiculous."

"How?" Sharee asked.

"Well, say a Volus on Omega decides to go into Afterlife but suddenly changes his mind and leaves to go home instead. Meanwhile at the same time on Earth, Steve decided he'd rather have pizza instead of a burger. That wouldn't create just two new realities, but like six. I think. Something like that but the point stands. If that's going on for every single choice made by every single sentient being in all creation? Not to mention all the little shit from random chance. Like a stray neutron hitting a plant in one verse but not the other causing one to have three leaves while the other has four. Add it all up and shit gets exponential. Fucking fast. It all becomes one great big hyperdimentional cluster fuck."

"That is super confusing," Paige muttered. "And we already know multiple realities are real. We came from Earth Bet and planet hopped on dozens of Earth's before coming here."

"Yeah, that's a thing," Greg agreed before continuing. "And what was the difference between Earth Bet and Earth Aleph?"

"Powers?" Paige answered uncertainty.

"Close," he said. "But if I remember my history right…"

"Which you flunked in high school, dude," Steve through in helpfully.

"...Scion was the first big change up." Greg continued not missing a beat. "And so did you man."

"You're not wrong," Steve admitted. "Had the best naps of my life in that class though."

"Anyway, powers didn't start being a thing until after Scion showed up. So, him being on Earth is the big thing. Could mean that realities only split for big stuff, but it doesn't immediately disprove that small stuff doesn't make new realities either. We call the other earth Earth Aleph, but that doesn't mean it actually is. For all we know, It could be Earth Zeta and we came from Earth Beta Six One Six or something. The upshot is that paradox isn't even a thing. But really, neither is time travel if you think about it."

"It's not?" Asked Miguel. "But that's what we did. Didn't we?"

Smirking Greg explained. "The whole point of time travel is to fix shit, but the Multiverse Theory doesn't fix fuck all. You're just moving from one reality to another. The shit you're trying to fix still happens, and if you look at all the possible realities out there, it happens a lot, to a lot of versions of you. Most of whom go back in time thinking to change it but are really just reality hopping and maybe they get a reality they can live with, but most likely they don't and what you end up with is just a huge knot of bullshit where nothing goes right. All the yous in that knot are dead or miserable with like a handful in the whole fucking thing getting anything close to a golden ending. The likelihood of that being the actual current you, is like stupid against."

Miguel grunted, not saying anything. Paige and Sharee both looked a bit punch drunk.

"The numbers," Dinah muttered quietly. No one else heard her but I did. It did sound kind of like how her power worked, but even she didn't look very convinced of it as she mulled it over. Then again, that look on her face could have been from what she just went through. Or her detox treatment. Chakwas said Dinah would be sickly for some time while the narcotics she'd been abusing were worked out of her system.

Hallex cut with Red Sand, Chakwas told me, was a serious bitch to come down from in patients that had a history of long term drug abuse.

"Another type that could be a thing is the Flexible Timeline Theory," Greg continued. "It's kinda of like a Closed Loop, but with free will."

"Kind of?" Paige asked uncertainty.

"Yeah," Greg nodded. "If you squint really hard at it after being kicked in the head a couple of times, yeah. Kinda."

At this point the others just looked at Steve, waiting for a reference.

"Back to the Future or The Legends of Tomorrow."

"Pretty much," Greg agreed. "You go back and change something which sends out ripples of change rewriting the future in respect to those changes. If you do something that causes a paradox you get this weird buffer period to repair it under the theory that it takes time for time to harden into being the new reality."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Sharee said hopefully.

"Well, there's a couple of problems with this idea. The first thing is that if you fail to fix the paradox you accidentally create, you could end up erasing yourself entirely. If you're really lucky, it'll just be you but then that affects other stuff. Not that it matters much cuz you don't exist anymore, but you get the idea."

"No," Miguel chuckled having decided he was done making sense of this mess. "Not at all, but that's fine. Keep going."

Nodding, Greg did so. "The other likely thing is that you end up changing things you didn't mean to change. So, say, we go back to change something bad, and in doing that we say something to someone that changes what they do that day. Even though you do what you wanted to do and stopped the bad thing from happening other changes ripple outward and because that same guy decides to not take a stroll he isn't killed in a freak accident. He goes on to have a kid that becomes the next Hitler. When you go back to your present thinking you're going home to a better future you instead end up in Nazi world. That doesn't even account for the changes you actually intended to make, which could spiral in crazy ways that there's just no predicting."

"Nazi world?" Sharee asked skeptically.

Greg shrugged. "Okay, maybe not Nazi world, but you get the idea. It's crazy random chaos. Every little change acts like the multiverse theory except instead of it happening in other realities where it doesn't matter to you, it's reshaping the one you're currently living in.

"Now this can work in one of two ways. On one hand instead of paradox being something that ends all of reality, it manifests as chaos and you can't ever really predict what's going to happen when you go back to where you came from. On the other hand if you don't like those changes, you're stuck with them because if you try interfering with yourself or changing something you did while time traveling you create a paradox and whatever buffer you had is gone, and boom, you kill reality. Say hello to the big empty or universal reset via the big bang. Or whatever the fuck happens when a paradox gets triggered."

"How many other theories are there?" Paige asked looking even more confused than she did before this whole thing started.

"Tons," Greg answered. After a moment's pause he added,"but those are the big ones."

"My head hurts," Sharee muttered.

"If your head isn't hurting when your talking about time travel, then you're an emu on acid," Greg said sagely.

"I could use some of that right about now," Dinah muttered.

Looking down at her, I raised an eyebrow.

"Kidding," Dinah said weakly.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head at her antics.

"Okay," Paige muttered. "Alright. So, which of all that craziness applies to us?"

"Fuck if I know," Greg answered.

Giving him a deadpan look, Paige asked, "Seriously."

"Seriously," he answered. "All that stuffs just theory but we know for a fact multiple dimensions are a thing. We've known about them for years and seen them for ourselves. Taylor says the evil duo's been doing this awhile and from Shepard's stories of this time we've made changes. So who the fuck knows what's actually a thing or not? For all we know they're all right or something entirely different could be in play. You're guess is as good as mine."

"And what happens if we do one of those bad paradox things?" Paige asked. "Or they do it?"

Greg shrugged. "I guess we'll find out after. Which would actually be pretty cool. Assuming we lived, it didn't kill everyone in all creation, and we actually remembered any of it afterward."

Nodding resignedly, Paige looked around not seeing much help in anyone else's face for her plight as everyone except for Steve and me had the same look. Faceing me she said, "okay. What do we do then?"

"About what?" I asked.

"About all this. These loops or whatever hell we're going through. Paradoxes. Earth Bet. Here. Evil you. Evil Shepard. What do we do about any of that?"

After a moment to think about the question I answered.

"Nothing."

Turning away from the gawking stares everyone was giving me, I made sure Dinah was going to be alright on her own before getting up to check our security. A minor fluctuation caught my eye but whatever it was didn't get very far before it was stopped. Just to be sure it wasn't something to worry about, I set a diagnostic running to see if it could be traced.

"Taylor?"

Everyone was still staring at me as if they hadn't understood what I said. That, or couldn't believe I said it. Except for Greg. There was a knowing glitter in his eyes as he looked at me.

Miguel had gotten up while my back was turned and was now standing against the wall. Thick arms folded in front of him, counterpointing the confused and concerned look on his face.

Sitting at the end of the couch closest to him was Sharee biting her thumbnail. She was easier to read, but even an idiot who didn't know her would know where her thoughts were right now.

Next to her was Paige, no less concerned. In contrast, Greg was neither concerned nor brooding where he sat. Just thoughtful as if the news really wasn't much more than a piece to a puzzle he was working on. Steve, well, he was being Steve. Camped in his own chair in a way that put personal comfort over anything else and looking strangely contemplative.

"When we left Earth to come here," I said. "None of this stuff mattered to any of us."

"We didn't know about any of this then," Sharee said.

"Would it have mattered if we had?" I asked quietly.

Blank stares answered me from everyone except Greg. He nodded slowly. Turning away from everyone I looked out the view port.

"What started as an 'I wonder' turned into a couple of 'maybes' before becoming a few 'we really shoulds.' Before sanity could stop us we were burning hard twenty-six hour days to get here. Not once did any of us ever think why or care about the consequences. I know I didn't. In my head, I was already here."

"Maybe," Sharee hedged. "But we came here to stop the Reapers. We didn't know about all the other stuff going happens if they go and reset everything after we beat the Reapers? Or even sooner than that? For all we know they're doing it right now. Or could do it tomorrow or something."

"I'm not saying…."

The door opening stopped me from finishing. Datapad in hand, Shepard stood in the doorway which explained why it opened at all. It was only after he stepped in and looked up did he realize the rooms atmosphere was odd.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's fine. Just planning how best to assassinate the council, bar Anderson, if they won't listen to reason after we find proof," I lied easily.

"Together or separately?" Shepard asked.

"We were thinking together. Figured it would be easier with maximum surprise."

"Not hard to do if you did it during session. Extraction would be almost impossible unless you managed to disable the entire Citadel Defence Fleet. If that didn't bother anyone,it would be surprisingly easy to pull off."

"Extraction is where we got stuck too," I agreed while ignoring the strange looks we were getting from the guys. "Something up?"

Looking at the data pad seemed to remind him why he joined us. Nodding Shepard said, "Wrex asked for a favor while I was on Tuchanka. He received reports from one of his spies that told him about a cloning facility in the Eagle Nebula."

"Why would that interest Wrex?"

"Supposedly, they're trying to clone krogan."

"Ah," I nodded understanding. "After Virmire, that would get his attention."

"Right," Shepard grunted. "He wasn't happy about shutting that place down. At least, not at first."

"How good is the intel that they are actually cloning krogan?"

"Not good," Shepard confided. "But the fact they're trying to is enough reason to shut that place down. I saw first hand what happened when Saren managed it. We have enough on our plates trying to stop the Collectors without having an army of krogan to deal with.

"However, the real issue here is that whoever is running that place kidnapped an old krogan named Okeer. The only thing Wrex would tell me about him was that he was a warlord during the Krogan Rebellions and even his own people hate him."

"A sixteen hundred year old krogan with a hammer to grind that even other krogan hate. Sounds like the last person anyone with sense would want cloned," I agreed.

"Gets better," Shepard informed us. "What really caught Wrex's attention was the rumor Okeer was dealing with the Collectors before he vanished. Trading slaves for tech."

"That sounds promising for us. I take it you mentioned to Wrex we're hunting them?"

"Every source of information matters," Shepard confirmed.

"Still, the Eagle Nebula is a big place. Any specifics on where they might be hiding?"

"Wrex thinks its in the Imir System."

"That means Korlus," I said. "What's the murder rate there? First in the galaxy or something, isn't it?"

"For off worlders, yes," Shepard said. "Second highest per capita for the Terminus."

"Sounds like a wonderful place to get killed," I smirked. "And with all the junked spacecraft cluttering up everything, it's the perfect place to hide something like that and get away with it. Close to supplies too. Need me in the field?"

"If you feel up to it."

"I wasn't the one injured on the last op."

"Chakwas is an old hand at patching me up," Shepard smirked. "I could use your team's unique skill set in helping us find them. As you said, plenty of places to hide on Korlus."

"No."

Surprised, Shepard asked, "What?"

"I'm good, but there's an issue they're dealing with at the moment," I said feeling everyone's eyes on me. Thankfully, no one contradicted me. "We can take the rachni though."

"The rachni."

I rolled my eyes at his tone. "It would give you a chance to see them in action."

"I've seen them in action," Shepard deadpanned.

"You're going to hurt their feelings if you keep avoiding them," I pressed finding it hard to keep from smirking. "You're kind of their hero."

"Hebert," Shepard sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"If they are cloning krogan, we'll need someone on their level," I argued giving up on hiding my smirk. "And that means krogan of our own, which we don't have, or rachni. Which we do."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Shepard sighed. "But fine, we'll take the damn rachni. Just keep them from eating Mordin."

Turning slightly to listen to Ash and Curie, I laughed. At Shepard's confused look, I explained. "They said, and I quote, We would never eat a hive mate. Even if they are as tasty as Sings of Science Even When Asleep."

Shepard left without another word, shaking his head.

My amusement ended as quickly as the door closed. Once I relocked it, I turned back to the guys. All of them were looking at me with not a little apprehension.

"You're grounding us?" Steve asked for everyone.

"Like I told Shepard, you guys have something to deal with."

"That is," Steve asked narrowing his eyes.

"You guys need to decide whether or not you want an amp like Greg's."

"Whow, what?" Paige exclaimed. "You want us to put tinkertech in our brains?"

"If Greg can safely do it, yeah, I want everyone to think about it," I answered flatly.

"I can do it," Greg answered grimly. "I can't guarantee you guys will still have your powers after but I'm pretty sure I can negate the other risks once I check everyone out thoroughly. Especially since I can ask Chakwas for help now."

"Haven't you been paying attention," I asked looking at all the stunned looks staring at me. "Look at what Dinah and Greg has done. Fuck, look at the shit I've done. If anything, Greg proves what I discovered when Hope Singer healed me. Our powers are messing with us in ways we can't see and they're making us do shit. Making us do things like push when we should have walked away.

"I can tell you that for me, the change is noticeable to me. But, I'll still do what I have to do. Especially for you guys, but I don't feel like I have to. I just want to, because it's you guys. I'll do whatever I have to do to protect you. That hasn't changed, but I think how I do it is different now than how I would have done it. If that makes any sense."

Steve leaned back, clearly thinking. His eyes would track from Greg to me and back. As I watched Paige her eyes would light up as if things were clicking into place. Though the frown on her face showed she wasn't happy about it. Miguel being the only adult non-parahuman in the room simply stood there with his arms crossed. He was looking at Sharee with more than a little concern.

Sharee however was looking at Alex who, through all of this, was sitting oblivious to everything as he played on his tablet. A cute looking Volus was on screen with large bits of fruit and color blobs. Alex's head rocked back and forth making me think he was listening to music. Sharee didn't look happy about whatever direction her thoughts had taken. If anything, she looked badly scared.

"I'll do it," Dinah said firmly. Seeing everyone's attention on her, she repeated, "I'll do it. I don't even care if I lose my powers if it means that I wont feel the need to push it like I have."

"Don't decide anything right now," I cautioned. "Talk about it and think about it for a bit but don't just jump at this. There's no going back for any of us if we do it."

"But you're going to," Steve stated.

"I am," I answered honestly. "But this is a choice each of you guys have to make yourselves, for yourselves and not because I'm willing to jump into the fire."

"So why are you doing it?"

"Because of one thing that hasn't changed about me. The only one I want in my head, is me." I said clearly. "I think Greg's right that Harbinger broke my power's hold on me and I know Hope Singer broke the hold both Heartbreaker and Sebastian's memories had. I'm going to do this because I want to be absolutely sure that what I'm thinking comes from me and only me. I honestly believe only then, with a clear head that is my own, can I deal with that other version of me and Atlas. Only you guys can decide if that peace of mind is worth the risk for yourselves."