Give Taylor Hebert a peaceful life.

Twenty-one steps. Simple - the path amounted to nothing more than neutralizing her shard completely, stabilizing her injuries and dropping her and her father off in Earth Aleph.

My handgun is drawn, and aim is taken. Two bullets, straight through. Minimal collateral. One for the Corona Pollentia, one for the Gemma.

I abort the path before it squeezes the trigger. Was this what we owed her? A peaceful life? No… we can do better by her.

Give Taylor Hebert a happy life.

One-hundred and thirty-four steps. A bit more complex, but nothing in comparison to what I typically work with. Cripple her shard's connection. Heal her injuries. Describe to Glaistig Uaine how to reach a very particular dimension untouched by the Gold Morning. Send a message. Drop her off alone in the perfect location.

My aim is adjusted. One bullet, partial destruction of her Corona Pollentia, clean through the head. Negligible collateral.

The path squeezes the trigger.

I'm thrown through a door, my body tumbling across the earthen ground of a dense forest. The last day had been… an experience. Glaistig Uaine had spent hours healing me, cycling through powers, under cryptic instruction from Contessa. Each one clawing back another scratch of sanity from my passenger.

While Panacea and Bonesaw may have agreed that their experiment won't be reversible, Glaistig Uaine's seemingly bottomless bag of dead Capes seems to have proved them wrong, to an extent. Where the experiment had traded my range and my sanity for sheer power, The Faerie Queen seems to have traded my power in exchange for sanity.

I had no control over bugs anymore, and my range remained pitiful. I could still sense the few hundred insects in my sixteen-foot range, but not much else. Yet, I was sane once more.

I was thankful, really - a small part of my damaged mind had expected an execution, but Contessa seems to have decided to give me a second chance.

She hasn't spoken to me once, since she had shot me. I don't know what to think of that.

The Faerie Queen had only said a short goodbye. I had expected something philosophical from her, but I eventually managed to figure that something about me saddened her... She seemed to be struggling with something - conflicted.

I couldn't figure out what in particular.

My body slides to a stop, facing back through the portal. Contessa throws a duffle bag through after me, and it thumps to a rest beside me.

She goes to turn around, but stops, her face conflicted. "Despite what you may think, humanity owes you a debt that we cannot repay. So, truly, thank you, Taylor. Have a good life." A small smile graces her face before she leaves, motioning to Glaistig Uaine to close the doorway.

I'm left by myself.

The medical paralytic that I had been under wears off moments after the portal closes, and my muscles relax. That was it, then?

I hadn't been able to ask where I was going, nor had Contessa said, but I could make a reasonable guess. The message was clear: thank you for everything you've done, but you aren't welcome here anymore. You've done enough.

Exile.

The question was to where, exactly? An uninhabited world? A world soon to be struggling with the emergence of superpowers? A world inhabited entirely by normals?

I don't know, and Contessa certainly wasn't around to tell.

I pull myself up. My new arm was indistinguishable from my old one. My muscles didn't ache, and I felt refreshed - as if I hadn't waged an interdimensional war against an alien parasite god mere days ago. My fall through the portal doesn't seem to have hurt anything, either.

My costume had been repaired - a side effect of one of the more esoteric healing powers that had been used on me. Something to do with reversing time, I had noted.

I shake the thoughts from my head and open up the bag. My mask stares back out at me. A hodgepodge of other spare costume parts are folded behind it.

My eyebrows jump up. Was this a message? Knowing Contessa, it almost certainly is. But, what does she mean by it? Be a Cape in this dimension?

That was the most obvious one that she could be sending, but why? I sighed, pushing the thoughts from my mind. I can deal with it later. After a moment of indecision, I put on my mask. No use in accidentally revealing my identity now if I do decide to become a Cape later.

I rifle through the bag, taking stock of the rest of the contents. A Bowie knife, sheath and belt clip included. Four unmarked plastic water bottles, empty. A blank leather pocket notepad and a ballpoint pen. Four unmarked glass mason jars, empty.

No food, no water. I figure that means that they won't be terribly difficult to find, then.

I clip the knife to my belt - the pockets of my costume had been emptied by Contessa earlier, so it was the only weapon I had. Another message? Maybe. With another moment of consideration, I retrieve the dark grey spider-silk shawl from the bag and slip it onto my shoulders. I might need the additional protection - best to be prepared, just in case.

Besides, it would cover the bright white chitin armour pads on my upper body nicely - no use in being easy to spot if I can avoid it. Looking PR friendly may have been important once, but staying alive takes priority for now.

I take the pen and pad and put them into my back storage compartment. In a pinch, I could use the pen as a shiv. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but there was no use in being unrealistic about things.

Alright: I need a goal. Short term? Find food and water. Long term? Learn more information about whatever dimension I'm in. I can decide how I want to join this dimension's society - if there even is one - once I know more.

Food was easy - the bushes in these parts were laden with all sorts of berries. I had observed animals from a distance to determine which ones were safe to eat, then tested whether they were safe for humans with a small portion. I had enough faith in Contessa to be reasonably sure that they were - she wouldn't drop me in a forest without food only to poison me with the local berries. No - if she wanted me dead, she would have finished me with the first bullet.

On that note, the local fauna was outright bizarre - I had seen brightly coloured red, green and blue monkeys, strange pink mammalian bipeds and green animals that were disguised as plants yet moved about busily within hours of my arrival here.

Was this world in it's megafauna stage? I don't think there was any place back on my Earth that had such a high concentration of large animals. I hadn't spotted any Dinosaurs, so if it was it was a strange one.

They had all stayed well away from me, and I had stayed away from them, so I hadn't had to deal with any predators yet.

Water was easy too - not far from where I had been dumped was a clear stream. It seemed fairly safe, so I quenched my thirst and filled my bottles.

I had been scouting for a suitable place to make camp for the night when a shrill, alien screech pierced the quiet of the forest. It was clearly from an animal - a predator, perhaps? I started moving quickly in the direction. I want to know what I'm up against.

I found the source quickly. A pair of giant beetles locked in a fight to the death. The sight stuns me for a moment - they were both about two-thirds of the height of a person. One was a deep blue and sported a single, pronged horn sprouting from the top of it's head, resembling a Rhinoceros Beetle. The other was an earthy brown and had a pair of wickedly spiked prehensile horns on its head, resembling a Stag Beetle.

Were these somehow related to the insects I know from Earth? Or was it a coincidence? The rest of the normal sized insects were unremarkable - almost identical to the ones that I know. Perhaps these were the result of a biotinker experiment let loose?

The pair was currently locked in a headbutt. The brown beetle seemed to be trying to get the blue one in a grapple, while the blue one was simply raining punches and chops down on the brown beetle.

A giant beetle-sized furrow of earth lead to a shattered tree trunk. Had one of them thrown the other earlier? And the fight was still going on after such a blow?

What on Earth? The pair were showing… technique in their fight. Just how intelligent are these animals? My mind is drawn to Atlas, but I quickly refocus. The brown beetle manages to grapple the blue beetle, and repositions its horns to around the thorax of it's foe. It begins squeezing, and the attacks coming from the blue one become wilder.

I sneak closer. I want to know if I can sense these ones with what's left of my power. If I can, I'll be able to get an insight into their biology - I'll be able to prepare in case one comes hunting for me. Maybe I'll be able to determine their origin, too.

Sixteen feet - far too close for comfort, but I manage to sneak in seemingly undetected. Instantly, my mind blooms with insight. The pair were completely unlike the creatures that Panacea had made for me - if they were artificial, they were an absolute masterwork. Yet, they were different from the insects I was used to, too.

They were… for lack of a better word, far more vital. An energy that I couldn't quite identify suffused their very being. They were potent: each had a potential for both growth and power far above that over a mere animal.

A thought strikes me. Did they have Passengers? Surely not…

Yet, I can't quite shake the idea - their power is certainly on the level, but how? Another entity?

Contessa wouldn't, would she?

The brown beetle's horns snap together, shattering chitin and tearing the blue beetle in half with a spray of green gore. It rears backwards, letting loose a mighty screech of insectoid fury.

Time to go. The brown beetle begins devouring its meal, and I retreat, unnoticed.