Worm loops: Inspired by Innortal/Saphroneth Infinite Loops. Unstable and possibly multi-timeline. Pick what canon you want.

All loops written here are not written by me unless otherwise noted. Loops found here can also be found on the SpaceBattles forum.

Loop mechanics (general):

One person in a Loop, often the main character, is an Anchor. They are the person who first starts time looping.

There is always at least one Anchor present in a given Time Loop snippet, though it may not be the local one.

The standard pattern for a Loop is that the Anchor (and whoever else is Looping there) come to awareness in a loop at a particular point in the story. From there, events will play out as influenced by the Loopers present, acting with the benefit of their foreknowledge, until either a predetermined end point is reached or all the Loopers have copped it.

To be Awake is to be aware of the Time Loops (that is, to have gone back in time this time.)

The Anchor is the only character guaranteed to be Awake. Even after others have started Looping, it is mostly random as to whether they will be Awake this particular Loop.

Crossovers, fusions, and alternate pasts can also take place. It is perfectly possible, for example, to have the characters Awaken into a Loop which conforms to a fanfic universe rather than reality.

Loops do not have to be in chronological order, but it is strongly preferred that they not require a mutually contradictory order (where A must be before B and B must be before A.)

Just about every Looper is very, very stir crazy.

The Time Loops happen because bugs happened with the Yggdrasil tree that administrates all of the Multiverse.

Some loops here use the storyline that the Worm universe was the 'Junk Space' for bugs, errors, and etc. from the rest of the Yggdrasil. Taylor is the administrator of the timeline because of her shard, but doesn't know how to use her powers, until taught by other administrators of the Yggdrasil. The Entities are viruses from the Yggdrasil.

A lot of this is explained in character in loop 1.13

Consolidated by gbear605

Thread on SpaceBattles started by Taron.

Worm written by the amazing Wildbow

1.1 (Taron)

"You really saved us a lot of trouble." I heard Brian's voice muffled from behind the helmet he wore as part of his costume. I looked over the team I had belonged to what I could only describe of as a future that hadn't happened yet. I briefly entertained the notion that what had happened was delusion I had had in the locker before swiftly discarding the notion; Lung had been here hadn't he?

Brian; or Grue had his hand held out. I decided to shake it this time.

"When we got word Lung was aiming to come after us tonight, we were pretty freaked. We were arguing strategy for the better part of the day. We eventually decided, fuck it, we'd meet him halfway. Wing it. Not my usual way of doing things, but yeah."

The meeting seemed to go exactly as I forsaw it.

"Lung is getting creamed. The fuck you do to him?" Said Brian as he looked over the edge of the building at a writhing Lung.

"Pepper spray, wasp and bee stings, fire ants and spider bites," Spoke Lisa for the first time.

And then something I don't remember happening happened. "So; you a precog on top of Bug Powers then?"

"I-"

1.2 (nocarename)

Last thing I remembered, I'd been shot in the head by a sniper. No doubt by 'mistake'. Ha. That'll teach me to try making waves before I have a bullet proof suit together. Still, it beat the times Simurg had decided to visit Brockton instead of Canberra.

Instead of a normal reset though I woke up and I stretched my back.

I was in a small rental apartment, it was a new morning and I was supposed to be getting ready for school. Choosing clothes was easy since there was a uniform. The colors weren't ideal - purple, green and yellow didn't really work for me or anyone else honestly. All the different after school clubs were crazy, the student population was huge, and the history here didn't make any sense at all.

Still, there were compensations.

No powers, no parahumans - give or take some mad scientists who might have counted as tinkers.

Eiken was annoying, yes, but there were no damn Endbringers, no Scion and I had cleavage.

One thing I've learned over the years: Take your wins where you can.

1.3 (Ridiculously Average Guy)

It was Sunday night and Dennis was nursing a mug of coffee, staring at the book on his table like it was going to knife him.

He had no doubt that if somebody (probably his father) walked in they'd think he was cracking up, but after the hell that book had made of his past two weeks he didn't really want to take any chances. After all, the thing was single-handedly responsible for the biggest security craze in the Protectorate since before he'd joined.

Too make things worse, it looked so innocent compared to what he had expected.

Granted, he might have demonized it a bit. But after a week of Master/Stranger protocols, then another week of constant testing and training exercises, Dennis had kind of expected an Endbringer in literary form. He was pretty sure he had heard somewhere it was whispering elderitch secrets at people whenever they got close- or, wait, wasn't he the one that spread the rumor?

Dennis sighed and leaned in his chair, rubbing his temples.

four or five nights of interrupted sleep do odd things to a man.

Regardless, after the second or third night he had begun to think of the book as the devil. Instead, what he got was a hardcover barely bigger than the safety handouts the PR department kept trying to get him to push.

He'd really expected something more...menacing, which was pretty ironic considering he was one of the first people to see it. Him and the rest of the Wards.

They'd all thought it was a prank when they'd each woken up that Monday by application of book to head. At 5 AM.

It wasn't until they corroborated stories, and realized none of them was the culprit, that things began to get serious. And that is when master/stranger protocols were initiated.

Somebody knew their civilian identities, somebody knew where they lived, somebody from outside the protectorate. Things seemed even worse when it turned out it wasn't just the wards, the entire protectorate had woken up with a copy of the a while everything was panic.

Things only began to calm down when the delivery method was figured out. It looked like a new cape had appeared in the city, some type of bug master. Somehow the master had figured out where everyone of them lived then dropped off the book in a cloud of flies and spiders, which might explain why the book itself was so light.

They probably would have spent another week in lock-up, narrowing down how things happened, if it wasn't for Armsmaster. Who's apparently recording himself in his sleep.

The wierdo.

It was only once the PRT had things figured out, and safety measures in place, that they actually took a look at the book.

Which lead to the last week. A hell of constant testing, of simulations, and of team training. More often than not with Shadow Stalker, of all people.

The worst part was how much it worked. He could honestly say he had learned to do more with his power in the past week then he had in the past year.

All because of this stupid book with a bug in a lab coat on the cover.

He didn't really want to read it. He was exhausted, and most of the blame for that rested on it's pages. Also, considering how much of the last day was just practice, he figured they'd covered everything in the book they'd needed to.

Buuut, Armsmaster wanted the Wards to read it. More accurately, he'd ordered them to memorize it by Monday before the copies would be gathered for destruction, the information therein considered to dangerous to let spread. Army apparently wanted them to "learn how to think like the author", and since he could apparently read Dennis' mind, they'd be tested on it to check if they half-assed it.

Sometimes- no wait, pretty much all the time, he hated that man.

He figured he'd dallied, *snort* dallied, long enough. Time to actually read this thing.

"Why you suck at using your powers, and how to fix that", Brockton Bay Edition

by {insert ascii stick figure here}

He smiled a little bitterly, the title didn't sound quite so snarky anymore.

1.4 (Peanuckle)

"Taylor, how can you just sit there! There's a gang-war going on!"

"I know, the gunfire is so relaxing, isn't it? Like cicadas chirping at night."

"Taylor, quick! The bank was robbed, we have to catch the crooks before they get away!"

"How many people were hurt?"

"Nobody, thankfully"

"Okay, I'm going back to bed. Wake me up when the city's on fire."

"Goddammit, Taylor."

1.5 (nocarename)

I saw the kid walk into The Place. Well, I say kid but between her height and her eyes she could have placed anywhere between fourteen and forty-five. Hair like a dark cloud of curls and not a lot of anything to her. If you couldn't see her face you might have thought she'd blow away in the breeze.

"I'm Jake Stonebender. Welcome to The Place," I said once she'd picked out a stool, "What'll it be?"

She blinked, like someone seeing light after coming out a long dark tunnel.

"What would you say if I said I was trapped in a time loop, reliving some of the worst years of my life and occasionally thrown into different and strange universes taking the places of other people who should have been there instead?" she asked with a soft voice.

It probably says something about my circle of friends that I am able to name a dozen people who would nod and accept this. It probably said more about them that we'd stayed friends for years, especially after the time we'd set a nuke off at Callahan's Place that one night. (It had stopped the alien invasion and no one got anything worse than a sunburn. Callahan's had been a special place, but we carried on the spirit as best as we could through the years.)

"First, I'd say that calls for an Irish Coffee. Second, I'd ask if there was anything I, or my friends, could do to help out. Is there?"

I pressed the button to start The Machine with a whir and a thump. She blinked at me again.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," I confirmed, "Around here, we raise hopes and build dreams. That and we have some experience with time travel and second chances. It's kind of a thing."

"My name's Taylor, Taylor Hebert and once upon a time, I wanted to be a hero."

1.6 (Slayer Anderson)

When I was young...and that seems so long ago now...

When I was young, and I had problems, I went to my parents. I went to the teachers. I went to the principal. I went to the occasional police officer. When I was young, I believed in authority. I believed in the idea that there were people who had the skill, ability, and obligation, neigh, desire to help individuals with problems. Of course, there comes a time in every persons life when that illusion of authority is shattered, when they come upon a problem that they alone can solve, for any number of reasons.

For me? That problem occurred when I was fourteen, and my best friend betrayed me.

No one would help.

No one would listen.

No one would grow a fucking spine and stand up to three teenage girls.

And then I triggered. I got powers. I was powerful. I could change my life. I could help people, people like me, people who didn't have anyone they could turn to. It didn't matter that my power wasn't amazing like some. It didn't matter that I wasn't strong, wasn't fast, wasn't anything a normal human would call 'impressive.'

When I was fifteen, I woke up in the hospital with the power to control bugs.

That was today.

That was a decade ago.

That was a century ago.

I sighed and opened my eyes, the familiar feeling of coarse cotton sheets, the background rumble of hallway traffic a welcome balm to the uncomfortable silence of Brockton Bay Community Hospital at night. Of course, I had just been admitted a few hours ago, so I shouldn't have any idea what this place was like at night.

But I did.

"...and now the medicine tray," I whispered.

There was a clatter, some laughter, then a barking voice of a doctor ordering the mess cleaned up. I sighed again, rubbing at my eyes.

"Note to self, cockroach armor is not sufficient protection for Behemoth's kill aura and Panacea can't heal you if you die of radiation poisoning." I dictated to the air around me, staring at nothing even as my mind opened to the swarms of insects hiding between the walls, in the ceilings and floors, under the beds, and everywhere else besides. I never trusted anyone that believed hospitals were clean, especially since I got my powers.

Reaching out, I pushed my range to it's limits, feeling the millions upon millions of insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and annelids in the blocks around me. My mind exploded with sensory data...tactile coming first, then smell, then taste, then hearing...and finally sight.

"Well, that's one good thing about this mess," I mumbled to myself, "I thought I was imagining it the first few times, but my range is definitely increasing. I've got...five miles? Just about that, now."

I pinpointed a few colonies of black widows guiding them to safe havens to begin weaving my costume.

Again.

"Again, again, again," I grumbled. What had it been now? Fifty times? At least that.

At first, I had thought it was a parahuman, maybe someone with a power like Grey Boy's, on steroids. That was, of course, after I'd figured out it wasn't a dream, or a delusion, or even some new power that caused people to experience illusions. I had thought this was maybe even Contessa's idea of Hell.

Or God's.

I hadn't ever considered the notion of an omniscient deity with any seriousness since I was became a teenager, even after learning what what Scion was, even after killing him. Even with everything I'd gone through...maybe because of everything I'd gone through, the idea of 'God' wasn't exactly an appealing notion.

Or maybe this was Scion's idea of Hell? Maybe he had condemned me to some kind of eternal punishment for killing him. But, then, if it was Scion...he had beaten me...more times even than I'd killed him. If he had won...then what was the point in continuing?

But...eventually, I'd made a mistake.

One of Grey Boy's clones had gotten me.

Reality had...well, I'd compare it to feeling that grinding noise machinery makes when something is broken-there'd been a terrible shriek of noise that wasn't noise and...

I'd woken up, back in the hospital.

Just like every time.

Every time I died, every time the world ended, every time I saved it, every single fucking time...I woke back up in the hospital, the day of my trigger, fifteen years old. I had beaten the Endbringers in a dozen ways, I had stopped Cauldron at least as many times, I had killed the Slaughterhouse-fucking-Nine by myself. So many things I once would have thought impossible...

..and it hadn't helped.

I couldn't 'win.'

My heart clenched, fingernails drawing blood from my palms as my hands followed suit. Whatever was going one, it was big. Bigger than Cauldron. Bigger than the CUI or the Protectorate. Bigger than the Endbringers. Bigger than Scion. There was something wrong with the world and only I knew. I had tried, and tried, and tried to fix it, to be better, and it hadn't worked.

I couldn't win.

I remembered when I first thought that, so many years ago, when I'd first woken up from my hospitalization, when I'd learned that nobody was going to do anything, even after all the pain and torture I'd been put through. I remember the moment I'd realized no one would help, that I'd have to do everything on my own.

I couldn't win.

I'd joined the Undersiders, I'd joined the Wards, I'd gone independent, I'd made my own team. None of it had worked, none of it had gotten me any closer to my goal of figuring out my real problem, but all of those attempts had taught me valuable lessons, shown me the figures behind the thrones of power, let me in on all their skeletons. I knew things nations would kill for, secrets so terrible they would shake the foundations of reality itself...and that was just from my first 'life.' None of that mattered, though. Nothing but my knowledge, my skills, my powers, carried over. If I was a powerful cape, one that needed time to build up, to train physical abilities, that would have been a handicap. As it was, remaking my suit was headache enough. But no, none of it really mattered. Defeating the Endbringers didn't matter, defeating Scion didn't matter...so I had a little more than two years before the world ended...and it didn't matter.

I couldn't win?

"Fuck that," I spat, my resolve hardening.

I'd come too far to give up now. If everything I'd tried hadn't worked, I just try something else. I'd gotten a tinker rating more than once in my 'lives,' it was time to see how far I could push it. Maybe I'd even join Toybox...they had done some serious research into the complexities of time and space. If I couldn't 'win,' this stupid game my way, that was fine. I'd win, then I'd find whatever had caused this nightmare...and express my displeasure.

My musings were interrupted when my father, his face red with anger from talking with the principal outside my door. It was a conversation I'd memorized through sheer over-exposure. I met his gaze as his eyes softened and he moved to wrap his arms around me. I pulled a group of bugs from beneath my bed for my demonstration.

"Dad," I began, "We need to talk."

...

1.7 (Noliar)

Go to the Discworld they said. It will be fun and you can learn Deja Fu. Ha. Last time (for a while) I take advice from a Watcher. If there's one thing not on the curriculum at the Quirm College for Young Ladies it's esoteric martial arts. Hockey doesn't count. Pretty different from Winslow - the dominance games are far more gentle but also far more serious when you know that everyone in the class is going to be a VIP.

Thinking of which, time to do some more discreet studying up on the Duchy I'm Supposedly duchess of.

Some time later...

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH SUSAN?

1.8 (nocarename)

"What the hell Taylor. What the actual hell."

I looked up from my laptop where I'd been juggling accounts. There was a surprising amount of number crunching in taking over Coil's criminal enterprises once you'd blown up both his secret bunker and his quiet suburban house at the same time.

You know, hypothetically.

"Lisa! Glad you could make it."

"Seriously Taylor, just looking at you is giving my power fits. How is this even happening," and here her voice dropped into a harsh whisper, "and why do I remember you as part of the Wards and running around menacing all the gangs with butterflies?"

I'd done that, but not this time through. This time had been strictly criminal and untraceable. Full of cheating, but untraceable.

"How do you feel about second chances?"

I saw her pale as her power connected a few more dots.

"It's not that bad," I said, "Just, a little repetitive. Now come on, I'm trying to keep this funded long enough to shoot Jack Slash in the face with artillery."

1.9 (Nikas)

"Taylor."

"Yes Lisa?"

Lisa buzzed her wings. "I don't know how, but this is all your fault."

Taylor checked her own carapace. "That is hardly fair."

Lisa shouted back "We are big horse shaped bugs! You have to be the reason somehow!"

1.10 (Archanon)

It had been a long, long time that I'd been in these resets and every time I woke up at the beginning, right after I'd triggered. Honestly, usually I just ignored Emma, Sophia and Madison these days; they simply don't register anymore. To be honest, they didn't register anymore by the end of my first life, let alone my twentieth.

On the other hand, by this point I've come to accept that I can't change the fact that I'm stuck reliving my life, no matter what I manage to do. And knowing that, every now and then it's nice to blow off some steam.

I walked into Winslow High with a bright smile on my face, contrary to what anyone would expect of me at this point in time. I could feel the insects all around me, in the walls... including the extras I'd spent a few weeks inducing to nest. My three 'tormentors' spotted me and moved towards me; they couldn't abide me being happy, after all.

"What are you so happy about, Hebert?" Madison asked, as they surrounded me. Predictably, none of the students or teachers seemed to care.

"Did you finally get a new mommy?" Emma sneered. That was really not one of her best lines. Though granted, it might have worked if this had been my first life.

"No," I told her, not letting my smile slip an inch. "I got something better."

This made Emma frown, and Sophia quickly stepped up to take her turn. "Oh, please, Hebert. Everyone knows that you're a wimp because you miss your mommy. What could you possibly have found that's better?"

"Funny you should ask!" I said. I called on the swarm. It boiled out of the walls, causing the students to begin running and screaming. Sophia looked angry; Emma and Madison looked like they wanted to run. "The answer is BEES."

I raised my hands, and my bees descended. I began cackling, acting as if I'd gone and snapped completely. "BEES! BEES, BEES, BEES! YOU GET SOME BEES, YOU GET SOME BEES, EVERYBODY GETS BEES!"

Internally I was, well, cackling just about as much as I was on the outside. I could never quite predict what the outcome of me letting loose on the school would be, but it was usually interesting, and the looks on their faces were so worth it, even if doing this meant my choices would be limited for the rest of the loop.

I wonder if they'd send me to the Birdcage again? It didn't happen often but it wasn't completely unknown. Next time, I was planning on usurping Teacher and seeing where that went. Maybe I'd get to find out soon!

"BEEEEEEES!"

1.11 (Rex)

I awoke. Hmmm. I'm in a bathroom, and I appear to be soaked in juice. Meaning… April 8, 2011 approximately twelve o'clock. A quick check of native memories…

A standard loop as far as I can tell aside from the slightly odd starting point. I'm sure that'll be relevant at some point, but in the meantime, I can continue my initial plan for this loop. I'm fairly certain the dye packs hit Khonsu before I got hit by one of his fields, so I'll count the last loop as a success and move onto my final target. Which means spending two years sticking as close to the origin as possible. Ah well, not like it's that much of a time investment. Now let's see, after the bathroom I head home and finish up my costume right? Sounds close enough. And then I get to fight Lung again. It'll be good to see everyone again.

My route decided, I set my body on course for home and moved the majority of my consciousness into my swarm. One of the more wonderful aspects of my powers that I had developed as a result of the loops is the ability to send my body on auto pilot while I did other things with my swarm. It wasn't good enough for conversation or combat, but I didn't have to concern myself about walking home or following a patrol route. All the spider's in the city started to quietly converge on a convenient abandoned warehouse in the docks, a quiet war began to rage against the rat population, and a discrete number of bugs was detailed to clean up my clothing.

Three days later and I was entering the docks when someone moved in the alleyway on my right side. I jolted my full concentration back to my body and prepared my swarms for a fight much harder than the one I had been headed towards. There hadn't been anyone I could detect in the alleyway moments ago, and more importantly there hadn't been anyone there in earlier loops. I didn't think I did anything that could have changed responses this early in the loop, which means that this person had knowledge from a previous loop. Depending on who they were, this could be a very bad thing. I took a good look at them through my swarm as she started to walk towards where I was standing. I didn't recognize her. This was bad. Very bad. New people would completely wreck my plans.

"Calm down." The woman spoke. Her voice was light and soothing, almost unnaturally calm. "I'm sorry for startling you." Her voice had a strange undertone to it, almost like musical chimes. And then I figured it out. Long platinum blonde hair, spread out over both the front of her chest and flared behind her shoulders. Coupled with the grey bandanna covering her eyes and the airy, loosely fitted silver costume she was wearing, this could only be one person. Or rather one being that currently looked like a human for some reason.

"Simurgh." I breathed out in a whisper. This would definitely derail my plans. Would it be simpler just to get myself killed rather than deal with her manipulations? It's not like death would stay with me for very long, but if she could interfere with the loops and had some plan to corrupt me then it would be exceedingly important that I prevent her from succeeding.

"Please don't do anything impulsive Taylor, I don't have any terrible plan or anything like that. I simply remember the last loop and have no desire to be dyed neon pink. Apparently, this is the path that best avoids that route, and since the impulse was removed last time around, I seem to be free of it this time around." The Simurgh's human avatar emerged from the alleyway, facing away from my current position, arms comfortably at her side. I didn't allow myself to feel to grateful for the respect, since we both knew that we both knew she didn't need her eyes to see me, or her arms to attack me, trying to present herself like a normal person would have just put me further on my guard and harmed her apparent goal of not picking a fight.

I blinked as I finished parsing that thought. Wow, dealing with precogs was annoying, no wonder Dinah and Tattletale could never get along very well. Still, on my own I couldn't beat Simurgh's precog. I could probably resist some of her mental compulsions, there was a reason I had spent so much time learning Occlumency and the mental aspects of the force, but I needed something extra to stave off her manipulations. So I pulled out my top of the line cell phone, one of the few changes I had made from my original life, and pulled up the Scion tracker app. He couldn't be followed directly by satellite, but with enough people tracking the disturbances and posting news about him, it was possible to figure out his approximate co-ordinates at any given time. I checked the numbers on the screen.

Latitude: -52.81412, Longitude: 166.34102, Distortion: 2.74

I took two steps forward, two steps to the left and spoke four words.

"What do you want?"

The Simurgh's posture noticeably relaxed and became far more fluid after I moved based on her biggest blind spot. She turned to face me, a small smile on her lips. Judging by the rest of her body language this was supposed to be a beaming smile.

"There we go!" Her voice was similarly much more energetic in tone and inflection, her previous words had reminded me of a badly damaged Dragon drone, but these sounded more like Cuff after a good sparring match. "I've still got my probability sense to figure out what's likely to happen next, and my post-cog can still figure out where you are, but my actual long term view of you is shot as long as you periodically keep that up." I raised an eyebrow and resolved to get a more secure and reliable brand of Scion tracking than an unsecured cell phone line. "Since you are the most interesting thing on the planet, my best chance for survival, and the person who taught me not to be an emotionless murder robot, we should be friends." She stuck her hand out for me to shake. I checked my phone again.

Latitude: -5.44331, Longitude: 91.89452, Distortion: 1.01

One friendly action, begin preparations for two takedown strategies, one word.

"Expressionless?" I asked. She certainly didn't seem that way now. I stepped forward to shake her hand, setting my spiders' to tying strands to the structural weak points of the closest building, and ready the strongest blast of force lightning I could manage.

"Almost completely." She nodded as she shook my hand twice before letting go. "Right now I'm acting like I would if I had my emotional depth and human understanding I gain in the future, but I don't have any context as to why I should do them, or personal impulse to perform them. I should develop such in the future, and will then explain it to my self that is now." She smiled and began walking along the course towards where Lung should be meeting with the ABB. Right, I should hurry if I want to get there in time. Although with my plan for this loop very much ruined, I'm not sure if I see the point. Having the Simurgh around will produce enough changes that the plan would be ruined anyway.

"I will grow to enjoy Tattletale's company. However, that probability is lessened if you are not a member of the Undersiders." The Simurgh stops and turns back to look at me. I think she is trying to pout. I shrug, deciding why the hell not go along with this. It'll be something new at least. If I could tolerate loops spent with Dr. Mother and the rest of Cauldron, then it's not like an Endbringer is that much worse. I begin to jog towards that oh so familiar roof top. I check my mental defenses one more time, and then start questioning my new future friend.

"What should I call you? What story are we giving Lisa and the rest? Has the Simurgh disappeared from orbit? And are you seriously planning on going anywhere in that outfit?"

"Highest probability has you calling me Sam without costume and Delphi when on the job. I am a recently triggered thinker with a neglectful father. I have some precognitive and extra-sensory abilities and noticed bugs acting strangely, I approached you and pointed you in the direction of Lung." She raises her hand and points along the route we were already following. "This is all true, but misleading, high probability she follows it down the wrong path and doesn't figure out my secret for at least two months." She shrugged, slowing as we came within a block of the ABB meeting. "As for your other questions, I have left a decoy in orbit, and to the best of my knowledge avoided any detection. As for the costume," She hunched defensively, turning her head away from me. "I only had a day or so to make this body after I recovered from my awakening. I'll come up with something better by the time you want to introduce me to the team." Finished pretending to be embarrassed her head snapped around to lock eyes with me. Well, eye and blank bandana. "I want to keep the eye covering look." She spoke with surprising vehemence.

"I could get you something workable in spider silk." I offered, that way no one would think to ask why it was grey. I must be mad, going along with this plan, but if I wasn't a little bit crazy after doing this for so many centuries, then I would be the only Looper in existence that wasn't.

"It will be my first gift, and I will attach strong emotional context to its continued existence." The Simurgh informed me, sliding back into her earlier modes of speech. "Unless you choose to alter your course, I will see you tomorrow." She stopped and gestured towards the fire escape I had planned to use. "It seems that I should now wish you good luck, although we both know you could handle this blinded, limbless, and three miles away. So I don't know why I should do so." She spoke in a whisper, in order to avoid Lung's super hearing. I'm not sure why she bothered, at this point in his speech, Lung was to busy preparing to be a dragon to get distracted by a single voice.

"It's a human thing. I'll see you at library after Tattletale arranges the meeting okay?" She nods. "Later Delphi." She nods again before turning and sprinting away, as I set my body on autopilot up the fire escape and check the positioning of Armsmaster, Oni Lee, and the Undersiders I also checked closely on the bugs near Dinah Alcott. I decided that Coil was going to be sorely disappointed in his attempts to kidnap her, but might be surprised by her decision to join the Undersiders. I could use a second precog around to help diffuse my paranoia about Delphi. Still, this promised to be interesting. I was bored enough to devote the past several years of my life to getting each Endbringer painted pink, so hanging out with one should provide a much better diversion from the endless waiting.

1.12 (Rex)

"Gaah!" Aegis had been walking a standard evening patrol with Clockblocker when his white clad friend suddenly threw himself forward with a strangled yell. Clockblocker quickly rolled to the left from where he landed on the ground, swinging up his left hand and stopping suddenly when he saw Aegis. "Oh. Huh."

Clockblocker regained his footing and rubbed his right arm, bringing his hand in front of his face and clenching it a few times before he turned his attention back to Aegis. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I asked if you were alright." Aegis repeated himself. Clockblocker had a strange sense of humor, but randomly flopping to the ground on patrol would have been a serious escalation of his jokes. Especially with how tense he had seemed for a moment. As team leader he should be responsible about this sort of thing.

"I'm fine man, just tripped is all. Hold on for a sec, got to send a text real quick." Clockblocker waved off his friend's concern. He pulled out his ward issued cell phone and sent a very short text. Aegis noted that he had had to type out the number it was being sent to. Another oddity, Aegis began to wonder if he should report this in and engage the stanger/master protocols. Clockblocker was acting entirely too strange. The time stopper had been about to put his phone away when it suddenly began to ring. With a shrug Clockblocker hit the answer button and put the phone up to his ear.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The phone was quickly removed from his ear. The laughter continued unabated.

"Clockblocker what-"

"Man, I don't even know." Clockblocker brought the phone closer to his mouth, keeping it well away from his ear. "Bugsy, this is Dennis. What the hell is going on over there? You're laugh is freaking me out more than that time I finally figured out who Sam was." The laughter didn't stop, but a new voice did cut in.

"Yeah, your face was hilarious." This voice was that of a teenaged female, amusement clear in her voice. "Whatever it is, she apparently felt the need to share it in a conference call with everyone in our little social circle. Dragon you have any insights?"

"Not really Tattletale" Aegis did recognize the new voice, although why the world's greatest tinker knew a two bit thief, Dennis, and an insane woman was beyond him. "She got me set up and such, mentioned she should start working on her suit and then this started happening. It seems to be a happy laugh judging by her expression."

"It's haha It's… I have Panacea's power. Hehehe" The laughter finally started to calm down, but the speaker was still quite giddy. Aegis saw Dennis frown underneath his mask and mirrored the expression. That clearly wasn't Amy on the phone, so how could someone else have her powers? Dennis interrupted just before Aegis could start pressing for answers.

"While terrifying, it's not like this hasn't happened before. So what's got you so excited." Aegis felt even more confused. What did he mean, happened before? Clockblocker had clearly gone crazy. Now Ageis just had to figure out how to alert the Protectorate without alarming his friend.

"I still have my normal power and-" The voice was interrupted.

"Dibs"

"Di- aww damnit." The first speaker had been Tattletale with Clockblocker half a second after. "Well, before you go join up with them, would you mind popping over to the hospital and healing my dad for-" Yet another interruption. Either everyone involved in this phone call was very rude, or they were simply close enough friends that they knew what the other would say.

"Already did it." Clockblocker gave the phone a quizzical look. Before he could pronounce his question the as of yet unidentified caller continued. "I wasn't finished speaking yet. I have my powers, Panacea's power and" Aegis flinched back from the sudden mass of bugs that descended upon them and formed themselves into a humanoid pillar. Clockblocker didn't even seem to notice. "The ability to use it through my swarm." Halfway through the last part of the sentence the sound was suddenly in stereo as the mass of bugs cleared to display a fully formed human female.

She was tall for someone her apparent age. Quite lithe and well muscled, with dark curly hair intelligent eyes, and a nice tan. The last aspect was particularly noticeable considering that, well.

"Clothes, Taylor. You forgot to make clothes." Clockblocker, didn't seem affected at all by the new arrival. Which just furthered Aegis's concern for his friend. Aegis was avoiding looking directly at the new girl, but Dennis had no such problem. It wasn't an appraising look, or anything like that, simply viewed with the same amount of interest as any other day-to-day event.

"Oh, right." Taylor's skin rippled and black, chitinous armor ripped itself into existence from under her skin. A grey, silk like material followed suit, covering everything the armor didn't. Her new look was completed when a pair of spiders grew out of her forehead and quickly gathered her hair into a loose ponytail.

Clockblocker sighed. "And now I can't enjoy women for the next several years and/or many many therapy sessions." He turned to Aegis. "Say, boss man. Do you like movies about Gladiators?"

"Sorry about that, I can recreate myself perfectly, but clothes are a separate step and I'm a bit distracted at the moment. With all the relay bugs and the extra refinement coming from every extra body I make, this is taxing even my ability to multitask." Clockblocker ignored the girl stepping closer to Aegis and clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"I said," Clockblocker repeated, raising his voice to speak over Taylor's next words, something about the great pizza place she had just found in New York. "Do you like movies about Gladiators? Or do you perhaps spend time hanging around the Gym?"

"No, I-" Aegis blinked and realized he was talking to himself. He looked around and noticed a sticky note had been stuck to his chest. He pulled it off and read it, unable to believe that Clockblocker had just used his power on a superior officer in the middle of patrol.

Quitting the Wards. Srry. But I for one, welcome our new insectiod overlords. See you later. Undersiders for life. :)

Aegis stood on that street for a good three minutes, trying to figure out what just happened. In the meantime, Taylor did a whirlwind tour of European eateries, killed every member of the Slaughterhouse 9, ruined Saint's day, and left Sleeper the hell alone.

1.13 (Zulaq)

I am tired.

I have been going through the same few years over and over again, endlessly repeating the same thing over and over again.

At first it seemed like a blessing, a chance to do everything over again and make things right.

Joining the Wards, sticking with the Undersiders, going rogue, join New Wave, I've done it all.

Beat Leviathan, Kill Behemoth, Destroy the Simurgh, Eradicate Scion, I can do it.

Keep the city intact, save lives, make the world a better place, it has been done.

But what is the point?

This blessing is nothing but a curse. My achievements, my friends, my family, all are meaningless in this endlessly repeating world.

I have done everything, except one thing.

Make it stop.

"Oh she's waking up!"

"Get out of the way Urd, I want to see!"

"Common squirt, we should let Belldandy deal with this."

Voices I have never heard before.

I opened my eyes. Hovering over me was a beautiful blonde haired woman, with an expression of caring concern in her blue eyes, and a soft smile on her lips.

"W-Who are you?" I asked, my voice soft.

"Oh hello! I am the goddess Belldandy, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Goddesses, that's what they thought they were. All three of the women present believed that they were goddesses. Belldandy, with her motherly kind looks, Urd with her skimpy outfit and Skuld with her tinker-robot, all thought they were goddesses. Are they nuts?!

"Oh no, not at all!" Belldandy said reassuringly.

Wait a minute! Did she just-

"-Read your thoughts. She's a goddess, of course she can." Urd interjected.

If I wasn't so sore I would have gotten as far away from the three nutters as quickly as my feet could carry me. But I was so tired and sore, and I couldn't feel any bugs, so all I could manage was a gurgling, "G-get out of my head!"

"Of course," Belldandy immediately replied, "I wouldn't dream of violating your privacy."

Before I could come up with a comeback, after all she expected me to belive that she'd keep out of my mind simply because I asked, Urd interrupted, with a frown on her face "We need to tell her now."

"But Urd, I thought we agreed that we'd wait until she was better!" Belldandy protested.

"We'll get nowhere if she gets it into her paranoid little head that we're her enemies." Urd explained, "So let's explain everything now."

What was she talking about, explain what?

"I suppose you are right." Belldandy turned to me again, her smile had faded but her eyes were still kind. She bowed to me, "I, Belldandy, goddess first class, unlimited license, would like to offer the apologies of both myself and all other gods and goddesses of Asguard to Taylor Hebert, and through her, her world, for our unconscionable neglect, and errors of judgment which have led to the current situation." She gave me a deep bow.

What was she talking about? A goddess apologizing to me, for neglect?

Urd spoke up, "You see squirt, we're goddesses. We're not some whacked out parahumans, or other such that you might have first thought. And it's our job to keep all of everything running smoothly. To do that we have what some of more limited minds might consider an eleven-dimensional supercomputer called Yagdrassil. Now like every computer, Yagdrassil can have the occasional bug, and being the computer which runs all realities everywhere, bugs lead to odd effects on the worlds we administrate. One of these bugs, (totally not my fault), caused Yagdrassil to crash. Fortunately we have backups, unfortunately the process of recovering the lost data which wasn't backed up will take billions, if not trillions of years, during which we can't have realities running as normal because they might be missing things. So we put everything on a holding pattern, we set each world to loop, centered around an anchor who we had the complete data set for. These anchors would relive segments of their lives over and over again, testing things out and stretching reality in predictable ways to aid our repairs."

Looping parts of their lives again and again? Did she mean that I was one of these anchors, and these three were responsible?

"Unfortunately, your situation is a bit more complicated than your average anchor."

I blinked. More complicated than all of reality crashing and having to repeat?

"Normal worlds are created in measured ways, every little detail is checked and double checked before even starting, and are subjected to constant review as they grow and expand. Occasionally we'll find glitches and bugs and we'll quarantine them before eventually deleting them. Unfortunately, we've been so busy with the reset that nobody has cleared the quarantine zone for eons. The various bits of leftover data coalesced into multiple worlds, all overlapping each other and without actual administrative oversight to ensure everything was working correctly. Your world is one of these."

Wait a minute, was she saying that my entire life, and the world it took place on, was some sort of cosmic mistake! I was angry, I was furious. How dare they!

"Now if we had our way, we would move your world and the others out of the quarantine zone and into some stable realities where we could work on stabilizing and properly integrating those worlds. But we kind of ran into a tinisy winsy problem. You see, the various bugs and malware which we dumped into the quarantine zone also coalesced into a bigger problem. And while they cannot leave the quarantine, they did usurp our control within the zone. They divided the admin abilities between themselves and spread out, going from one world in the zone to another, breeding and using the destruction of the world to go to another."

That sounded vaguely familiar… She was talking about the entities! So Scion was-a computer virus!

"While the virus entities stole the admin key, they were unable to actually use it to its proper potential due to the fact they convince the key they were actual gods or goddesses. The admin key became just one among many of shards which the viruses carried from world to world. Until yours. For some reason, on your world, the virus gave out the admin key, and you were the one to receive it. You could not tap into its full potential, it could easily tell that you were not a goddess, but you still used it well."

So my passenger was the key to my world? But what did that even mean?

"Then something occurred which I, and almost every other goddess, would have considered impossible."

I did not like the sound of that.

"You see, you tapped into your potential so much, and gained such abilities that the admin key, for just a moment, confused you for a goddess."

What?

"And it tried to bond with you in lieu of the normal Yagdrassil mainframe. Somehow it succeeded, and gave you administrative rights and access to all of the quarantine zone. Since you do not have the experience necessary to actually use these permissions, things weren't too bad. Then, right after your battle with the virus, you came to the conclusion that if you could, you would do everything different. With your emotions spiking you unconsciously accessed your admin permissions, and set your world to loop."

If I could, I would have laughed and cried at the same time. But first I needed an answer. "H-how do I fix it?"

Urd shook her head, sorrow in her eyes. "As you are now, you can't."

"B-Bullshit!"

"The only actual way for you to end the loops is if you were to ascend to a full admin. In order to do that, you need experience. Fortunately, you can gain plenty of that in the loops." She gives me a smile, "The closer you get towards the endpoint the greater control you'll have over your own loops. Eventually, down the road, you will get out of the loops."

The three goddesses bowed to me again, smiles on their faces. "And on that day, we will welcome you as one of us."

…

…

…

What.

1.14 (RedshirtZombie)

Piggot briefly lamented her damaged kidneys as she watched Dragon's footage. The fight against Simurgh had started out better than anticipated. While no casualties were reported yet, Simurgh's distinctive scream had been noted by several observing thinkers, meaning that the damage was being invested for future returns. The high point of the battle had been Dragon's combat units managing to get a ward close enough to affect the Endbringer directly.

Then Dragon's drones had promptly started painting the Simurgh pink. Something in Piggot's gut clenched; evidently, even Dragon had fallen to the siren song of madness.

Swarms of something were closing on the pinned Endbringer as well; probably controlled by 'Skitter', or whatever her name was. These brushed over various pink spots, detailing it with black marker- smilies here, a monocle around where an eye should be, a moustache with excess coiling there...

On ground level, it looked like there were arguments forming off-radio, A random radio check revealed an argument between neon-green polka-dots and a painted tuxedo pattern.

Finally, Clockblocker's powers wore off, and the Simurgh started to resume its attack - only to stop fighting, abruptly move to a somewhat-distant skyscraper, and stare at its reflection for a moment. It then floated back to the docks, waved its arms, and floated there. A giant wave rose from the ocean, crashed over it, abruptly lowered its crest, and doused every street within a mile of the shore just high enough to leave no cape un-rinsed. Its paint washed off, the Simurgh promptly flew back into the stratosphere, to the cheering of the crowd.

Despite her antipathy towards capes and her lacking paycheck, Piggot promptly began mentally scheduling an appointment with Panacea. Forget the paperwork, this kind of thing could not pass without sufficient alcohol.

1.12 cont (Rex)

"I said," Clockblocker repeated, raising his voice to speak over Taylor's next words, something about the great pizza place she had just found in New York. "Do you like movies about Gladiators? Or do you perhaps spend lots of time hanging around the Gym?"

"No, I-" Aegis blinked and realized he was talking to himself. "What the hell?" he muttered as he looked around. Everyone was dressed in grey jumpsuits and continuing about their business like nothing happened. However, it was suddenly overcast. He looked up and realized that the sun wasn't being blocked by clouds. There were huge swarms of giant bugs flying around above him. "Shit. What just happened?" Aegis usually made a point of not cursing in public, but felt that this situation warranted it.

"Citizen 597633, why are you not wearing your mandatory skittersuit? You know that if you are found in violation of the dress code, you will be sentenced to 11 bullet ant bites." The gray haired man shook his head at Aegis and quickly moved about his business, seemingly not wanting to be associated with the outsider. Aegis stepped forward to follow the man, but as soon as he moved the swarms in the sky reacted. The one closest to him swirled downward in a funnel, coalescing into a pillar of writhing insects with a woman's face attached to it.

"Citizen 597633. You are in violation of dress code. You have not submitted the paperwork for extraneous garments. You have not submitted the paperwork to register your parahuman abilities. You have not reported to your assigned work cycle for the past seven hundred and forty five day cycles. In light of these offenses, you have been judged a disruptive element to hive unity and will thus be summarily recycled for biomass. Thank you for your cooperation with this process." Her cold and monotone speech completed the pillar began to advance on Aegis. It was interrupted when someone ran in between him and the pillar girl. With the sharp red hair and familiar body structure, Aegis was able to recognize Dennis. He was dressed in the same grey jumpsuit as everyone else.

"Lady Skitter, wait for a moment if you will. Recall that Citizen 597633 has been timelocked for the past seven hundred and seventy five day cycles. I froze him on the first day of your awakening. In light of my long service and my personal relationship with the primary node I ask that you grant him lenience." Clockblocker finished his plea by dropping to his knees and bowing before Skitter.

"… Very well Citizen 17. Citizen 597633 shall be granted one day cycle to file the appropriate paperwork. However, you have deserted your assigned workplace. In light of these offenses you have been judged a disruptive element to hive unity and will thus be summarily recycled for biomass. Thank you for your cooperation with this process." And the bugs swarmed over Clockblocker. Aegis charged forward to save his friend but the bugs parted around him, easily avoiding his blows. The only thing that he accomplished was obscuring his view. The bugs cleared away from him, circling rapidly around him, Clockblocker was gone.

Aegis fell to his knees in grief. He had failed. As a friend, as a leader, as a hero. The world had fallen under control of an evil bug controller and he had been helpless to stop her from killing someone right in front of him. He barely noticed the bugs leaving the area or how the day cleared up very quickly. He did notice when someone walked into the area in normal clothing. And then another. A car drove by. When questioned, none of the civilians had any idea what he was talking about.

Meanwhile, in a refurbished warehouse across town…

Laughter. High pitched, low rumbling, cackling, muffled sniggers. A veritable buffet of amused sounds ran freely throughout the room. High fives were exchanged. Vista was congratulated on her increased skill at bending air to create the illusion of larger size. Armsmaster was thanked for his quick cordoning off of an entire city block, although he placed most of the credit towards Dragon's efforts. She was also praised for her teleporter working despite the interference caused by Skitter's bugs.

All in all, Clockblocker and Regent declared that this prank ranked highly on their list of most satisfying. Skitter was just glad it took less effort than the time they decided to try and make Contessa show up to the Brockton Bay Leviathan attack in a tutu and chase Leviathan off with the power of interpretive dance. The rest of the group was trying to figure out a way to make sure that Taylor didn't decide to take it as a business outline.

1.15 (Slayer Anderson)

"...next time, I take on the Empire. The ABB is just getting too easy," I sighed, palm my face as I looked down on the silk-bound forms of thirty asian thugs, Oni Lee, Bakuda, and Lung. All of them were covered in various insect stings, bites, and other assorted nastiness. It had taken a very specific set of actions to get Bakuda to come out with the other two ABB capes, a scenario which had taken five loops to perfect.

I was still debating whether or not it was worth it.

"Holy Hell," I heard an utterance from behind me, not surprising me in the least. My swarm had picked up the standard 'Undersiders Entrance' on Bitch's dogs, the massive animals easy to track through my expanded sense.

"You can say that again," Brian, Grue, said lowly. "Uh, hey-"

"-she knows we're here," Lisa, Tattletale, spoke up. "It's the bugs. She can...oh, that's broken. She can sense through them. Yeah, all of them individually and collectively. Fuck, and she's got a big range."

I felt a smile tugging at the edge of my mouth as I shifted some bugs about, attracting their attention as a mass shifted to a humanoid form. Their 'bodies' mimicked my own slightly off-proportion form with fully articulated arms, legs, torsos, even a mimicry of faces. I even went

the extra mile and placed a few fireflies in their 'eyes' for full effect. I'd been practicing. There wasn't much else to do.

"I can also use them to speak," my swarm said.

"I think that's simultaneously the creepiest and most awesome thing I've ever seen," Regent commented.

"And she's a hero," Tattletale said suddenly, her eyes wide.

"Shit," Grue cursed as the tension racketed up again. "Listen we're-"

"The Undersiders," I spoke up, turning to show off my outfit. It looked more 'heroic' than my classic Skitter costume. I'd decided to go for the Wards again this loop, if only because being a 'villain' was getting stale. "I know."

"Been planning to hit us?" Tattletale asked, then shook her head. "No...she knows us, more than just talk around town. She's...some kind of thinker? Yes, but not like that, damn."

"Tattletale, I kind of need answers here, what's up?" Grue pressed.

"She's a new cape, came across the Lung and his friends, took them out, she's disappointed. It was...too easy!? Damn, and this is her first time out? No? Yes? Both? Okay, what the fuck?" Tattletale cried, her hand pressed to her temple.

My lips were twitching now. I had been worried the first time Lisa had reacted this way. Usually, nowadays at least, I managed enough self-control to cover the tells and hints a normal person gave off. Still, every now and then it was fun to let her try and figure me out.

"She knows how my power works," Tattletale groaned. "She's fucking with us."

Bitch was staring at the byplay apathetically. "Are we gonna' fight or not?"

"No," I stated, nearly laughing. "I think taking down the ABB is enough for one night. Besides, the Undersiders are strictly small-time, as far as I know-"

"That's a lie," Tattletale interjected. "Only you're telling the truth. Okay, seriously, how the hell does that fucking work?"

"Could we stop trying to piss off the cape that just took down Lung and his entire gang?" Regent asked idly, almost curiously.

I waggled my hand, "Lie, truth, it's complicated. You guys should really get going, Armsmaster's on his way."

"Yeah, we should," Grue nodded, then paused as he turned to leave. "We didn't get your name, by the way."

"Weaver," I stated firmly. While trying to be the creepiest hero in Brockton Bay wearing my Skitter costume was fun, I'd done that a few loops prior, right after that one where I went New Wave. That was unusual enough to be fun as well.

And that's what it boiled down to, wasn't it?

Fighting off the boredom.

The endless repetition.

"Thanks, then," Grue said eventually. "We owe you one. A big one, for this. Not enough to turn ourselves in, but...if you ever need any less-than-heroic help, give us a call."

I replied in the affirmative, going back to studying my captures for the night.

"...yeah, next time I'm taking out the Empire. Lung's actually getting boring. Maybe I should give him a head start and let him ramp up? That might help." It said something that I was actually considering the notion, something crazy.

Then again, could I really say I was sane anymore?

The quiet whine of a tinker-tech motorcycle approached.

...I wondered if I would have to deal with Armsmaster when I took down the E88? Come to think of it, why was I meeting Armsmaster again? It was weirdly specific that he showed up almost every time during my first outing. Maybe there was some patrol schedule the senior Protectorate capes used that I hadn't been privy to. Ah well, something to look into, especially if it got me extra variety.