8 Chapter 8: The Power Heist (1)
<3rd Person POV>
A cacophony of police sirens pierced through the silence that seemed to have envelope the city at night.
Whatever was happening, it was big. Thought the residents of this cursed city.
In a small bedroom in a good neighborhood, there was a young girl peacefully sleeping.
She was small and slim, with straight, dark brown hair and some kiddie pajamas that featured Hello Kitty.
This was Dinah Alcott... Someone who would run into a lot of problems in the future.
Well... The other future.
She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. But quickly she started turning and thrashing as whatever dream she was seeing was quickly turning into a nightmare.
And then-
"AHHHH!" She yelled as she abruptly woke up.
The sounds of thumping feet could be heard and quickly the door of her bedroom was thrown open and her parents shuffled inside in obvious panic.
"Dinah what happened? Are you alright?" Worried asked Dinah's mother.
"Dinah, did have a nightmare again?" At the same time, her father who quickly understood the situation asked gently.
"Yeah mom, dad. I just had a nightmare."
She said trying to reassure them as she took big gulps of air.
Cause this WASN'T the first time she was having nightmares.
Since 'that' incident a few months ago, not a night went by where she wasn't plagued by nightmares.
"Oh, okay. I'm glad." Her mother smiled in relief.
They talked for a while longer. And gradually all the underlying tension left the room.
"Let's tuck you in darling, you have school tomorrow after all." Said her father as got up to leave.
Just as they were about to leave. Quietly, she said. "I love you Mom and Dad."
Smiling back reassuringly, they replied. "We love you too sweetie."
Smiling quietly, it didn't take Dinah too long to go back to sleep...
And from that night she never had nightmares again.
...
Not long after Dinah went back to sleep, a shadowy mist revealed itself from the darkness.
As it slowly approached the sleeping girl, 'his' appearance was revealed by the faint moonlight.
He was wearing all black. Making it hard to recognise him if it wasn't for the moonlight. Wearing a black jacket, black shirt and some cargo pants, he stood at an height of 5"11.
His facial features were also obscured as he was wearing a black hockey mask, very similar to an infamous horror movie villain.
With the lingering black mist of his previous form still clinging to his form, he struck as an intimidating and mysterious figure.
Though if one would look closely, they would be able to see that the figure in question was just a teenager!
This was obviously Damian, ready to strike at the perfect moment...
<Damian POV>
'Phew... She gave me the scare when she woke up screaming and everything.' I sighed as I turned off my misty form.
For a second I was worried that she had somehow found out about me.
That would've put a real damper on my plans...
But I guess my fears were unfounded. Cause judging from the conversation she had with her parents, this wasn't the first time she had woken up screaming from a "nightmare".
Of course, I didn't know for sure. But I was pretty much certain that she was having these "nightmares" because of her power.
Precognition can be a curse sometimes...
Though that wasn't gonna stop me from acquiring that power.
I had stumbled upon her by chance honestly, having been notified about her by one of my flies when she was coming back from school.
Now... I didn't have much time to dally.
I was already behind schedule because of the impromptu family talk between Dinah and her parents.
The police and the Protectorate are probably notified about Shadow Stalker by now (judging from the sirens, they absolutely were) and if I wanted to hit my other targets tonight, then I would have to be fast.
Cause it was a fair assumption that if the PRT knew about her (and by extension, me), then it wouldn't take long for everyone to know about the "power-stealing Cape on the loose".
So quickly, I tapped her on her forehead, activated [All For One] and... done!
With this, I was now the second most powerful precog in the whole wide world.
With the ability to perceive trillions of possible universes and sorting them into groups based around a single event, so I could see the likelihood of something occuring in the future, which the power resolves into a percentage chance.
In simpler terms though, I could ask my power a question and it would automatically tell me the percentage of that thing happening in the future.
It was also this power that predicted the Gold Morning, the prophesied End Of The World.
But of course, it wouldn't be Worm if it didn't put heavy constraints on it's powers.
So I could only ask a couple questions a day, lest I get Thinker headaches. Though this issue was easily resolved as even Canon Dinah was able to grow this limit by repeated use.
The other drawback of this power was that it was supposed to be active all the time, so if any person near the user asked a question then the user would automatically look up those possible futures.
And while the user didn't have to answer that question, if they lied about the provided answer then it would mess up with the power for a while. Likely because actions relating to this answer affects the results.
But once again, this was easily remedied as [All For One] allowed me to deactivate (and activate) all my stolen powers.
And finally it was the Blind Spots that all Thinker have. People, places or things that Thinkers are unable to perceive in their visions. Like the Entities, the Endbringers, Shardspace, Eidolon, Sleeper, Valkyrie, etc. Other precognitives are also able to interfere with her power (like Contessa and other precog Thinkers are also blind spots).
In Canon Dinah was able to go around this by perceiving everything AROUND the blind spot as well as the immediate future right behind their point of influence.
Thus, as long as I asked the right questions, I could see past Blind Spots better than even Contessa.
So just to try (and to make sure that my hunt tonight goes well) I asked. "[What are the chances of me encountering a Protectorate Hero tonight on my hunt?]" I whispered as I exited the small family home and turned back into my misty form.
//43%//
'Hmmm... It's bigger than I had expected it to be.'
"Okay so, [what are the chances that I'll have to fight somebody tonight?]" I asked but I was already starting to feel a headache brewing.
//20%//
Despite wanting to keep asking more questions, I wisely decided to stop unless I get an aneurysm in the middle of a heist.
Now that wouldn't be so good, would it?
...
Leaving that aside, it didn't take me much longer to arrive at my next destination.
A decrepit and old looking apartment building by the docks.
It didn't look anything special from the outside, and as I floated through the walls, it looked even worse inside.
There were half-eaten bags of doritos, opened cans of energy drinks, randomly thrown boxes of video games and a ton of other garbage just laying around.
This place... was a dump.
'Even I take care of my Lair, and it's in a freaking abandoned factory for god's sake!'
Seriously, something about living in a dump, when you were perfectly capable of cleaning up, pissed me off.
Like hell! It used to take me only 10 minutes to clean up my room, and I did so weekly!
Still, I wasn't here to critique their living habits.
Slowly, I floated through the small apartment, making sure to avoid any electric wires (it wouldn't hurt me as much as Shadow Stalker but it still felt like I was stinged by a bee).
Finally, after confirming that my "target" didn't keep any Tinker-Tech at his home, which was smart of him from a point of view.
Because if his reputation was of any indication, then there was no knowing when his tech would explode...
By now, you must have put together who "they" were right? The ones that I was after?
If your guess was Über & Leet, then you're right!
...
===============
And Done!
Sorry for the delay folks! But your favourite author is back! And with two chapters this time!
Damian is slowly building up his arsenal of powers... And the next ones on his list are Über and Leet!
The next chapter will be posted in a few hours...
Till then, see ya!
