Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 5.1: Future Girl's History

Marci was speechless after seeing Future Girl transform into her roommate. Amber gave Marci a minute to change out of the hospital gown and into a t-shirt and her favorite pair of beat-up jeans. The two of them then sat at their beds on opposite sides of their dorm room, facing each other.

"I'm sorry I lied to you," Amber said, her right hand grabbing her left wrist. "It was for your safety."

"I thought I was Future Girl," Marci said.

Amber shook her head. "Not sure why you thought that."

"Mind over matter."

"Interesting. Mind over matter could explain things like light transference through water and maybe even telekinesis, but transforming into another person merely by thought? That would take a highly advanced..."

"How are you Future Girl?"

"OK," Amber said. "It was the last day of eighth grade. I was walking home from school. All my friends had signed my yearbook, and I felt this huge wave of sadness, because I thought I might never see them again. I was about to come out here to start my first year at Mirai Academy."

Marci nodded. "And?"

"A flash of light burst out of nowhere, so blinding and powerful it knocked me off my feet. When it faded, there was a wrinkled old lady sprawled out on the sidewalk in front of me. She was out of breath, and about to pass out. I ran over to her. The old lady saw me and smiled, like she knew me. I pulled out my phone to call 911, but she shook her head and said, 'No time.' She said, 'Am I familiar to you?'

"I said no. She was just an old lady.

"Then she held up a small black stone.

"'I couldn't save the world,' she said, 'But you can.'

"I looked at the tiny black pebble, and then I was taken away. It's like I left my body and was somewhere far away. I saw skyscrapers on fire. I saw deserts lined with millions of dead bodies. I saw entire oceans boiling. I saw the blue sky turn red and then black as the Earth became unable to sustain life. I don't know how much time passed, but I ended up back in my body, right where were I was.

"The old woman placed the pebble in my hand. 'This is the Paradoxicon,' she said. 'It will give you the power to change the future.'

"The pebble sunk under my skin, embedding itself inside my right palm.

"The old lady smiled. She said, 'Now that I've given you the Paradoxicon, my past never happened.'

"She withered away, right in front of me, like her muscles were shrinking, until there was nothing but her wrinkly grey skin barely hanging onto the bones underneath.

"'Make the future a better place,' she said.

"I sat there and watched as her body shriveled up and into an inhuman frame. Her skin cracked and split apart like sand, until there was nothing left but a pile of dust on the sidewalk right in front of me. All I could do was watch."

"Geez," Marci said.

"There's more," Amber said. "Just before she died, as her eyes rolled up into her head, I had this thought, yeah, she did seem familiar. She reminded me of my great-grandmother who I only met once when I was little."

"No," Marci said.

Amber nodded. "Yes. That old lady was me from the future. She saw humanity die and the Earth burn. She went back to keep it from happening. Now I have a job to do – make the future a good place, and not a nightmare."

Marci looked down at her lap. "I can't believe I thought I was you. I'm so embarrassed."

Amber shrugged. "It's kind of flattering."

Amber explained that the Paradoxicon was just what it sounded like – a paradox. Her future self meeting her past self should have caused the entire universe to fold in on itself. The Paradoxicon was created to keep that from happening. All the energy the universe spent trying to correct the paradox flowed directly into the Paradoxicon, which funneled those same energies into Amber, giving her powers as Future Girl.

"I can fly," Amber said. "I'm really strong, I'm wicked fast, and I can heal most injuries in other people. I can make myself look like someone else, too, but that takes a lot of time and effort. I might have other powers too, but I haven't discovered them yet."

"What about x-ray vision?" Marci asked.

"I've tried that a bunch of times," Amber said. "It's never happened."

"Dang. X-ray vision would be awesome."

"Totally," Amber said.

"Why does this Paradoxy thing transform you into a leggy blonde cheerleader?"

"Give me a break, I just finished eighth grade. I thought it was cute."

"And you just up and decided, 'I'm gonna be a superhero?'"

"When I started here at Mirai, I saw that a lot of the kids' projects are potentially dangerous. Campus security is everywhere, but they hardly do anything. I knew right away that this school needs my help."

"But you never told Ms. Kahror?" Marci said. "You're not working with her?"

"I have to keep the Paradoxicon a secret," Amber said. "If it falls into the wrong hands, or, um, hand... I hate when I accidentally make a pun."

Marci couldn't help but laugh. "You have a secret identity."

"Yeah."

"When security, uh, had me, they said something about the Temple. What is that?"

"I don't know, but I'd better find out."

"That's funny, because I was talking to Liz, and..."

"Marci, you can't tell anyone. Oh, God, just you knowing is already so dangerous."

"I'm good," Marci said. "I won't tell. I want a better future and all that stuff, too."

"I always admired that about you. You're genuine."

"You can trust me. And it'll probably be good for you to have someone to talk to about this stuff."

Amber smiled.

"Yeah, I..."

Woot-woot-woot.

The familiar sound of campus security carts driving past outside was followed by the sound of wind and thunder in the distance.

Amber stood. "I'll bet it's those stupid seniors and their stupid tornado machine again."

She pressed her left index finger against her right palm. Another flash of light filled the room. When it faded, Future Girl stood in Amber's place.

"See you later," she said.

It was as if a huge gust of wind blew through the room, sending papers swirling through the air, and mussing up Marci's hair.

Seeing the window and screen open to the outside, Marci knew Future Girlhad let herself out and flown off so fast Marci hadn't seen her.

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Next: Nerd heaven.