Allura sat on the edge of a telekinetic platform staring at the ripples in the lake below her as she swung her toes through the water. The past few days had been wild and the quiet was nice. She probably had about twenty minutes before they found her.

“I thought I would find you here.”

Allura’s shoulders sank a little and she stopped moving her legs.

“Hey dad.” She mumbled, somewhere between nervous and somber.

He floated down and rested sitting cross legged in front of her.

“So what are you gonna do kiddo? They pulled out all the stops this time. Anti-warp tech, satellite tracking across basically the entire planet, and they even sent out something brand new the tech boys have been working on specifically for you. Looked like some sort of gray cloud but it’s probably some tech thingy—”

“Bio-psynites. They’re a psionic, parasitic nanite thing I helped the lab techs whip up a while ago, I’m surprised they weaponized them so soon; my designs were for healing and scanning memories to steal them.”

Her dad raised an eyebrow. “I see your mother’s influences are still at play.”

Allura snorted, “Yeah like I need some robot to look at people’s minds, that was all your people’s doing.”

“Hey I’m retired now!”

Allura looked pointedly at the skin tight power suit that hugged every crease on her father’s well muscled frame and the little blue and gold logo that read Enforcement Protection Security. He only shrugged and grinned back at her in response. The two of them sat there just above the water’s surface, the only sounds being the slight splashing of water and the soft noises of nature on the shore a few hundred feet away. Birds chattered at each other, leaves rustling in the breeze, as various critters crunched the underbrush. “So what did you do this time kiddo?”

Allura wordlessly held out her hand, palm up. Ashton floated closer and took his daughter’s hand. He grimaced slightly at the alien presence in his mind. The contact wasn’t exactly necessary for a psychic of Allura’s caliber to invade someone else’s thoughts, but it was a point of courtesy and it generally made the process more pleasant for the invadee.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The two withdrew their respective hands.

“How did they even figure out that something like that happened?”

Allura rubbed her forehead in tired contemplation. “Some hack thought this smudge on his computer screen was an anomaly and one thing led to another accidentally discovered the residual tears in the time stream.” She let out an angry huff, “That fucker’s equipment wasn’t even capable of monitoring the air pressure let alone the goddamn timeline.”

A low hum floated across the water. The two glances in the direction of the sound.

“I think that would be my cue to leave,” Ashton said with a soft chuckle. He leaned in and gave Allura a hug. “I’m sure you got this kiddo. Just try to not destroy the entire Peacekeeping force.”

“Yeah, yeah. They’re just doing their jobs I know.”

Ashton grinned and Allura sheepishly smiled back.

“Hey last thing, you think you could help me get out of here quickly? It might get a little awkward if the rest of the boys see me here with the most wanted person just casually chatting it up.”

Allura raised an eyebrow. “Most wanted? Really? I passed mom already? And uh, yeah sure. Where did you want to go?”

This time it was Ashton whose eyebrow ascended. “Kiddo remember, anti warp tech. I’m not sure how you plan to teleport m—”

Allura grinned devilishly, “Not a problem, where did you want to go?”

“You know you scare me sometimes.”

“I learned from the best. You made sure of that.”

“Right… Anyway could you send me to my office at the university?”

Allura concentrated for a moment, mentally scanning the area. She quickly stopped scanning the area and put a hand in front of her mouth, stifling a laugh. “Uh dad, you might want to choose a slightly different location.”

Ashton looked mildly alarmed and then scowled, “I swear to fucking god Becky I will lock my door if you can’t keep your nose off of—”

Allura cleared her throat.

Ashton blinked and then asked, “I take it your mom is currently busy?”

Allura searched for a moment and then blushed. “Yeah, definitely busy.”

With a resigned sigh, Ashton said, “Just send me to the house or something.”

The devilish grin slowly reappeared on Allura’s face. “Actually I think mom could use some company right about now.”

“W-w-wait don’t yo—” And Ashton disappeared in a soft puff of purple light.

Allura stood and cloaked herself in a thin, but impenetrable barrier of force. Seconds later she was confronted by a military force that could have leveled a large town. Hover jets, tanks, a horde of regular ground troops and more than a few booster soldiers sprinkled about, a few dozen hero troops, a fucking rail gun, and above and behind it all, an ominous swirling cloud that could only be the psynites. Someone’s voice boomed through a megaphone.

“Allura Asmati, you are under arrest for acts of intergalactic terrorism in attacking and causing irreparable damage to the timestream. We have been authorized to use lethal force if necessary. You will be awarded your day in court if you come quietly. My feet are itchy and I eat my boogers. Isthari is for shee—”

He was cut off as someone wrestled the megaphone away from him. Allura giggled. She definitely shouldn’t have shown that level of telepathic control. Her empathic senses picked up a wave of nervous fear roll across the forces in front of her.

A new voice popped up and angrily shouted, “Alright bitch we tried to play nice, you have until the count of fi—”

The megaphone was cut off again, but this time by Allura’s psychic grip destroying the device. Apparently this was a violent enough act to be considered an attack, and the waiting forces responded in kind. Gunfire from all directions slammed into her skin tight shield… to no effect. Various psychics among the crowd tried to pierce her mind. Allura swatted them away like flies in a hurricane, knocking several of them unconscious in the process. The rail gun went off. A hunk of metal flew straight at Allura’s face several times the usual mach 8 of most Peacekeeper hardware.

I guess they upgraded their hardware. Allura thought, effortlessly dodging the projectile. I wonder if I will actually get a decent workout this time. Elemental, primal, and all sorts of other ranged powers washed over her barrier, still to no effect.

Then everything stopped. Soon a wave of sound and energy pulsed out from one of the armored vehicles. Allura was thrown off balance as the platform she had been sitting on became unstable and disappeared. With a less than graceful splash, the red haired psychic fell beneath the surface of the water. The surrounding forces waited with baited breath. A few ripples of water on the surface were the only remaining indication that Allura had ever been there. The device they had just activated was like a sort of EMP, but for powers. The downsides were that it only lasted 10 minutes and that it affected both sides of the field, but the hope for the Peacekeepers was that when everything was reduced to pure physical force and firepower, they would finally have the edge.

Oh they are so fucking dead. Allura thought as she sunk to the bottom of the lake. She closed her eyes and dug into herself, searching for her connection to the limitless well of energy she shared a connection with. And found a wall. Apparently she had been cut off from her supplier. Letting out a mental sigh, she kicked off from the lake floor and burst out into the air.

Fine, I didn’t need her help anyway.

As she fell back down towards the water a hail of bullets flew across the surface of the lake to meet her. Not wanting her clothes ruined, Allura twisted in midair, snapping a kick with so much force that it created a shockwave of air that intercepted the wall of metal pellets, sending them flying off in all directions. The gunfire continued, but by the time the next wave of ammunition reached her, Allura had reached the surface of the water and with another ferocious kick and an enormous wave of spray behind her, she took off running along the lake surface. With one final kick Allura leapt into the air, heading straight for one of the tanks.

The machine operators were quick and managed to aim and fire at their buxom assailant. Allura responded by doing a front flip midair and sticking her right leg out, simultaneously kicking the projectile into the ground and landing a devastating kick into the hull on the armored vehicle, crushing the metal as if it were made of aluminum instead of the ultra-dense durasteel alloy. Allura didn’t wait for anyone to respond and was instantly off, sprint between the trees taking out ground troops in the dozens. A kick to the chest sending one through a tree. A punch to the face of another sent him crashing into two others leaving all three in a tangled heap. A quick sweep of her leg knocking a soldier onto her back and a quick jab to the temple knocking her out. Allura mowed through the troops with terrible, impossibly fast, calculated movements leaving a trail of groaning, semi-conscious bodies in her wake.

Then the first set of booster troopers met with her. Already physically superior to regular troops, most booster troopers had some amount of cybernetic enhancement, granting prodigious power and speed. However the true power of a booster trooper wasn’t their physical prowess, it was the mental implants that let them process information, calculate battle strategies, and communicate with other booster troopers at speeds only the most powerful quantum computers could achieve. A single one could take out a full platoon of regular ground troops and Allura was faced with three squadrons of them.

They circled her, moving faster than the normal human eye could track, weaving in and out of the shadows in an attempt to make it even harder to follow their movements. Two came from the front, one from either side, one from behind and the last from above. Allura didn’t even have time to breath, but she didn’t need it. A raised hand caught the assailant from above and she flung him at the two in front who halted their advance to spring aside. At the same time Allura leaned slightly to the left and shot her leg out to the right, catching the female booster trooper in the gut and then using some of the momentum from her throw twisted around clockwise sending the woman at the end of her leg flying at the man behind her, who dodged in a similar fashion to the two in front, and continuing her motion to kick the attacker on her left. He managed to block the attack, bringing his arms up in front of him, but the force of the kick still sent him flying.

The three who had dodged her initial attacks fell upon her at the same time. Each of them aimed for nerve clusters to slow down or disable her movements, with every blow perfectly in sync to make it almost impossible to dodge. Almost. Allura moved with grace and precision that would have made an android ballet dancer cry tears of jealousy. Every attack was not only met with a parry but also with a counter attack. The fight lasted a mere three seconds and it ended with three unconscious booster troopers on the ground around her. She paused for a moment. That was when the ground beneath her broke and the seventh booster trooper of the squad leaped up in a surprise attack.

Allura was genuinely caught off guard, something that did not happen too often. She tried to evade the attack, but was just half a second too slow and his fist collided with her left tit. The force of the blow didn’t really cause any real damage, but it still stung, and it was a cheap shot. Allura launched herself forward, more than slightly annoyed now. She grabbed his face before even he with his vastly enhanced senses could react and swung him into the ground. She felt his nose break under her grip. The impact had sent him several inches into the ground.

Allura slowly stood and surveyed the area around her. There were two more booster soldier squads in the area, various hero units to deal with, the cloud of psynite that were still hovering above the trees, and a few hundred more ground troops. This was getting tiring and she didn’t want to be still dealing with the appetizers when the main course arrived.

She raised her leg.

And stomped.

Hard.

To call the result of that little action and ‘earthquake’ would be like calling a megalodon a guppy. For miles around the earth rippled, quaked, and exploded. It was as if the earth were attacking itself and everything caught in the tumult were mere flies in a hurricane. And that wasn’t even accounting for the massive amount of kinetic energy released from the impact her foot made. A massive, blindingly white dome of energy spread out from the point of contact and spread out for a half mile.

When the dust settled, Allura stood at the bottom of a crater, dozens of feet deep and hundreds of feet wide. The ground troops had all been scattered. All machinery in pieces. Psynite gone, scattered. Hover jets sent flying. The only remaining people were the strongest of hero units. Allura glanced down at herself and noticed her clothes were in tatters. She was about to run off to the nearest civilization to acquire new clothing when a wave of energy flooded her body. The effects of the power EMP had worn off.

Focusing slightly, Allura woven makeshift threads from the scattered carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms in the blasted forest around her and made herself slightly more decent. She turned to face the four hero units still standing. She knew them all by name, even if they hadn’t been world famous. They had all gone to school together. Tythor, a physical powerhouse even stronger than Ashton and probably the strongest man on the planet. Clarissa, a psychic of considerable talent and power who specialized in teleportation. Jesthorn, who was very, very lucky. And Jonnah, who could control fundamental, universal forces. Like the gravity that he was exerting on Allura right this moment which was around 150g and increasing by the second. And who Allura had also been dating for the past five years.

I don’t have time for this. Thought Allura. Sorry Jonnah, I’ll explain everything later.

She reached out with her mind and as gently as possible, altered the electrical signals and chemical outputs in all four of their brains sending them all into an instantaneous, deep sleep.

Then…

Silence.

A single bead of sweat ran down her forehead. She wiped it away and fixed her hair as best she could and then composed herself. The worst was yet to come. She knew there was no stopping them and she would just have to face the consequences up front and as best and she could. All she could do was wait and a few moments later, she was bathed in a purple glow and disappeared.

Allura glanced around. She had been here a few times before, but it was still unnerving and overbearing. The center of the universe was a strange place. Physics seemed to function differently here. Light moved unnaturally, and as a result, everything looked blurry and hyper focused at the same time. Shapes didn’t quite make sense in the way that an optical illusion told you that what you were seeing is impossible yet still existing right there in front of you. Above all else the whole area was thick with raw, unadulterated power. It was suffocatingly dense and had practically knocked Allura unconscious the first time she had been here.

The feeling of suffocation wasn’t helped by the fact that she was surrounded by huge daunting figures. Beings beyond even gods who governed the fundamental forces of the universe. Time, Creation, Nature, and Destiny. A few of the usual faces were missing such as Death or Peace which was somewhat reassuring. A smaller audience meant fewer accusers so there was hope they would let her off easy.

Lastly, the being whose mere presence dominated every inch of the space around them. Whose perfection was painful to think about let alone behold. Her purple hair cascading all around her as she sat with her legs crossed and smiled warmly down at Allura, Alice, the absolute being above all others.

“You sure made a mess of things this time didn’t you?” Alice asked, still looking down at Allura despite relatively being in a sitting position.

Allura shuddered as the sound waves rolled over her, inducing more pleasure than a millennia of the most intense orgasms could have achieved.

“Time is exactly the thing that was messed with!” Time grumbled. “The little monkey had her paws all over it and didn’t even bother to ask my permission.”

Destiny rolled her eyes. “We get it, you like to be the only one touching your little time streams. There are more things at stake here than just her erasing the section of time she did. Did you even consider how the fates of so many souls are changed when you edit their history like that? You only have to worry about a tiny little hole to patch up. I have to clean up tangled mess of who knows how many lives—”

“45,374,345,534,678,700,123,228,597,375,319,005,” Nature helpfully chimed in, a knowingly cheerful smile beaming at a glowering Destiny.

“Whatever, I don’t even know what the point of us being here is anyway. Goddess is just going to let her off as per usual.” Destiny grumbled.

Creation put a hand over his mouth and grinned at Destiny, “You’re just in a sour mood because Death doesn’t have to be here.”

“Yeah because she is fucking that slut Al—” Destiny was cut off as a raven haired female figure appeared before her and, with a sound that might have shattered the fabric of space itself, slapped Destiny across the face, hard.

“Don’t you dare call me a slut when you get off to watching people make poor decisions, you fucking cunt. If you even think negatively about me again I will shove you so far up his ass that you will be able to see the Big Bang past his teeth.” The newcomer hissed, gesturing at Time.

“Hey! What did I ever do—”

“Can it, grandpa. What are all of you even doing here right now? Oh hi Allura!”

Allura looked up at the twenty foot woman. Supposedly she was mortal just like Allura was but it was impossibly difficult to believe that was the case. “Hi Allie,” Allura meekly responded.

“You in trouble again kid? Look I gotta run but hit me up some time, I would love to catch up.” Allie said, bending down to ruffle Allura’s hair.

“Yeah sure, if I get out of here alive I’ll come find you.”

“That’s the spirit, see you soon.” Allie glared at Destiny one last time and then disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.

After a moment’s pause, Creation and Nature burst out laughing. Even Alice gave a small smile. A red faced Destiny muttered something unintelligible to a mere 4th dimensional being like Allura but which she assumed were noises of humiliation.

Alice made a small quieting gesture with her hand and the other four immediately went stone still. That small display of absolute authority sent a chill down Allura’s spine. That chill was immediately replaced with warmth as Alice spoke.

“Each of you give one thought on the matter and then we shall hear what our guest here has to say.”

Nature spoke up first. “Exile from this reality. What she did is unforgivable and goes against everything I stand for.”

“Agreed. Either she goes, or at least remove her abilities. Neuter the dog so she stops fucking everything up.” Destiny followed up immediately.

There was a pause and Creation gestured for Time to take the floor. He thought for a moment and then, choosing his words carefully, said, “I don’t like you. I don’t see why Goddess likes you but I never could understand the minds of creatures like you anyway. That being said, it was a small enough action relatively speaking and I think you should be made to repair your error. I don’t see the point of sending you off to be someone else’s problem when you can learn from your mistakes here and now.”

Allura looked at time in surprise. He was the last being in the room that she thought would have stood up for her.

A sly smile slid onto Creation’s face. “When I made this universe, I had no idea what would happen. I don’t pretend to know what will and won’t happen or even how it's going to occur. That’s Destiny’s job. I am a firm believer in letting whatever happens happen. It’s not my place to say what should or shouldn’t go, I just like making things.”

All four then turned to face Allura. Grim foreboding faces of beings more powerful than Allura could imagine. Any one of them could squish her like a bug beneath their heel. That much cosmic attention made Allura feel very small.

And very alone.

She tried to speak but the words caught in her throat.

Her vision blurred and panic and fear began to take over.

She wanted to cry.

A soft warm voice came quietly from right in front of her and two very soft hands took hers.

Alice had come forward and was now looking Allura eye to eye.

It was too much. Alice’s face was too kind. Too pretty. Allura broke down in tears and sobbing she told the tale of how she had been experimenting with dimensional crystals in a super collider. Every time she tried to harness the power of the crystals the collider would blow and destroy everything so Allura had to keep rewinding time and adjusting things over and over. The frustration of never ending failures finally got to her and she accidentally tapped into Alice’s infinite well of energy when rewinding time and ended up deleting just over a year's worth of time from the time stream.

The effects of doing something so drastic would be like removing a cubic mile of water from the ocean instantaneously. The rest of the ocean comes crashing in to fill the gap and everything becomes utter chaos.

A still sniffling Allura looked up at Alice and then to Time and apologized profusely.

Alice leaned forward and gave Allura a hug.

Relief and tranquility consumed every iota of Allura’s being. She closed her eyes, wanted to stay like that forever.

Eventually Alice did release Allura from the embrace and spoke to everyone present.

“Allura will fix the damages to the timeline she caused and Time will train her so nothing like this ever happens again.” Her words weren’t harsh or even stern, but they left no room for dissent.

Then the world flashed purple once again and Allura was back in the crater with Alice.

Allura gasped at the sudden release from the presence of the other four cosmic entities. Alice giggled next to her and then Allura felt the release of the mental block as Alice allowed her to access the infinite well of energy once again.

“Thanks.” Allura mumbled, wiping her cheeks dry.

“Here, Let me show you how to do it right.”

Allura felt Alice’s will intertwine with her own as Alice guided Allura through the process of repairing the erased section of time. With Alice’s help the process went smoothly. Allura was awestruck at the speed and accuracy with which the almighty goddess worked. She effortlessly knitted strands of time together into a seamless blanket of flowing cosmic energy, letting the forces do most of the heavy lifting. When she was done, Allura was hard pressed to believe even Time would be able to tell where the hole had been.

As an afterthought, Alice gestured at the surrounding area and the damage Allura had done to the forest and her attackers reversed itself, ultimately ending in everyone back where they had been when Allura had still been out over the lake except Alice tactfully left them all still unconscious.

“Are you going to be alright? You know I see you like a little sister right?” Alice said, squeezing Allura’s hand gently.

“Yeah. Thank you.”

Alice leaned over and kissed Allura on the forehead.

“I’ll give you a week to get everything in order and then you have to go spend some time with Time.”

Alice chuckled at her word play and Allura smiled back.

Alice gave her hand one last squeeze and then disappeared.

Allura walked over to where Jonnah lay, propped up against a tree. She gingerly lifted him up and teleported the two of them to her apartment near the university.

She set him down on the couch and laid his head on her lap, stroking his hair as she slowly roused him from the slumber she had induced.

“Wha- What happened? Wh—”

“Shhhhh. I’ll explain everything to you. I think it’s time you deserve the whole truth anyway.”

Allura closed her eyes. She had been mentally preparing for this moment for years and now that it was here, she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready.

She took a deep breath.

“So when I was born…”