[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/klHHPfB.png?1[/img][/center][center][h2][b]The Mandela Effect: Part 8[/b][/h2][/center]
[center][b]Christopher Arthur III[/b][/center]
[center][b]Lost Haven, ME[/b][/center]
	Minerva impatiently tapped her foot as she peered out of the window from the top floor of the Sherman Center. Although everyone in the future headquarters of the Guardians saw this woman as Chris’ assistant, it was all a façade. The Greek goddess, Athena, used this disguise as a way to keep an eye on Chris and the other heroes. Obviously, most of the secretary work was beneath the goddess and she therefore used used apparitions for most of the day-to-day work. But when something needed to get done, Athena would step in, like when Athena had to locate all the heroes during the Pax Metahumana crisis. Only a being like a goddess could have accomplished such a task.

	Christopher Arthur had departed about an hour ago in response to a situation in the financial district. The report was that a couple heroes had shown up on the scene and were unable to apprehend the suspect. No one knew quite what the villain’s powers were, but the initial report was that he could emit black energy from his hands. Because Chris had a couple new devices he wanted to test, he ran out of the Sherman Center as fast as he could when he heard that even those heroes were in trouble.

	When Minerva saw Chris’ power armor soaring back to the Sherman Center, she gave a sigh or relief, although she also rolled her eyes. She then turned and walked over towards the express elevator that connected to the rooftop. The elevator dinged as the two doors slid open, revealing Chris standing within while still dressed in the undersuit he always would wear beneath his power armor.

	[color=c0c0c0]“You should have seen that guy’s face when his powers did nothing against my armor,”[/color] Chris boasted while he exited the elevator. Minerva just gave him an unimpressed look when she heard his boast. When Chris did not get the expected response from his assistant, he continued after taking a gulp from the water bottle he had been holding.

	[color=c0c0c0]“The perp’s metahuman powers allowed him to nullify someone’s powers temporarily. He almost wet himself when he realized you can’t cancel out powers that didn’t exist.”[/color]

	“How did the devices fare in your field test,” Minerva asked while she ignored Chris’s boasts.

	[color=c0c0c0]“The sonic emitters worked like a charm,”[/color] Chris reported. Back when the Hounds of Humanity had attacked Lost Haven University, Chris had been able to procure some of the rubble of the towers that the Hounds had used to dust some metahuman students, lacking a better word. He then reverse-engineered the technology and created a proto-type that used a fraction of a percentage of the power that the original device used. Chris wanted something that could stun, not kill. [color=c0c0c0]“Blackout—“[/color]

	“Blackout?” Minerva asked for some clarification.

	[color=c0c0c0]“That’s what the dude called himself,”[/color] Chris explained. [color=c0c0c0]“Anyways, the emitters stunned him long enough for me to get a jump on him, not that I really needed it.”[/color]

	“And how did the sonic emitters affect the other heroes?”

	[color=c0c0c0]“They experienced slight annoyance, although that might have been mitigated by Blackout’s powers. I still need to figure out a way so the emitters only affect the baddies.”[/color]

	“And what about the nullifying cuffs?”

	[color=c0c0c0]“No cigar,”[/color] Chris admitted, [color=c0c0c0]“he must not be one of Diplodoc’s. Kind of limits its usefulness. Anything else?”[/color]

	“I think we should fast-track the installation of the wavelength scanners in Pacific Point. They have a metahuman population higher than the national average, so it would be an efficient location for scanning.”

	[color=c0c0c0]“It will take some time to shuffle the installation schedule,”[/color] Chris told his assistant after he had taken another gulp from his water bottle. [color=c0c0c0]“We’ve been at this for an entire month now and we don’t even have the Eastern Seaboard completely covered yet. It won’t be a quick fix.”[/color]

	Chris then paused for a moment. He knew that Minerva’s suggestion was right. The majority of people who had their memories or even powers altered were metahumans. What was the point of prioritizing some small town in the Midwest with little metahuman activity when there are bigger fish to fry? But manufacturing the devices, securing the proper permits for installation, and the manhours required to get everything done meant that he could not just wave a magic wand and produce an instant fix. These things took time.’

	[color=c0c0c0]“If you think we should prioritize Pacific Point, why don’t we send one of the miniaturized proto-types to either S.P.A.R.K. or the Immortals? It has limited range, but if they find anyone, they can contact us.”[/color]

	“I’ll put the paperwork in and set everything in motion,” Minerva told Chris.

	[color=c0c0c0]“Alright. Unless you have anything else, I’ll be in the shower. Got a big date tonight,”[/color] Chris mentioned as he backpedaled towards the elevator.

	“Have fun,” Minerva said with sarcasm.  Even though Minerva had her back to him, Chris knew she was rolling her eyes at him. But it was not like he cared. She could judge him all she wants. He was the one who was paying her salary.

	Once Minerva heard the elevator ding, indicating that the doors had shut, she gave a sigh of relief. She did not think that it would have been this easy to manipulate Chris to help out. It only took Minerva one look at her unconscious pupil to know that there was something wrong with Aubrey. Once she found out what had happened to Kelly Brown and Sammy Kadowsky, Minerva could easily connect the dots. Now she had to wait and see if her hunch turned out to be correct.