The Dispatcher

Kelly had been in the bunker for three years. The previous dispatcher, Ellis, was rather laconic: she'd had to figure out most of it for herself. The population of metahumans had grown exponentially over the previous generations. Soon, their military applications had become obvious: with extreme weather events happening across the planet, soldiers that were naturally impervious to the cold (or heat), or could leap tall buildings in a single bound were a bonus in an age of global uncertainty. Even though they were less than 1% of the population, they'd certainly become a flashpoint for those that were afraid for the future of humanity. The dispatcher was essentially an admin role: analyse a potential catastrophe and deploy the right troops. For security reasons, the dispatcher was placed in an underground bunker that was virtually impervious to assualt. It paid well; that was probably the best thing about her job.

BEEP! A new crisis. Tsunami off the coast of Australia. ETA 40 minutes. Kelly thought for a moment: did the Australian Army have a metahuman division? Most of the OECD nations had some form of mutant army: some were natural, while others were genetically engineered. Elementals were rare. Most had the basic abilities: strength, speed, limited flight, durability. - She typed into her ancient equipment. Everything was wired: wireless signals were too easy to manipulate, particularly by technopaths. A printout. Yes, they had super-soldiers. A fire elemental, telekinetics... powerful, but hardly able to destabilise a tsunami. She glanced at another screen. It was going to hit the Northern Territory, with potential casualties in the hundreds. 35 minutes to evacuate 20,000 people. The alarms had been sounded; emergency services were on the scene. Evacuation procedures were working, but they'd take at least an hour to move all of the citizens from the tsunami's path. Somehow, she needed to buy them another 25 minutes... - She saw an interesting file. A name: Mauro Gobbetti. Everything else was redacted. That was unusual. Redacted files usually meant either omega-level abilities or signs of profound mental instability... often both. She had contacts. In 5 minutes, they answered: chronological manipulation, reality warping, telepathy, psychokinesis... all the standard omega abilities. All she needed was for him to buy her that 25 minutes. Gobbetti was sedated somewhere in the outback. She sent an urgent inquiry to ASIO. 10 minutes before the wave reached the shore...

- 5 minutes to go. 'Kelly, we've got Agent X on the phone' 'Agent X?' 'That's what we call him. He's saved us before.' - 'Mauro?' 'Yes.' 'This is Kelly; I'm the global dispatcher.' 'You mean you're a tool of the CIA!' 'The CIA has nothing to do with us. We're... more clandestine' 'Ah, so that unhappy nexus of first world governments and corporations that think that they're above the law, and can simply knock me out until the next global crisis?' '...I guess so.' 'You've got one minute, Kelly.' This wasn't what she was expecting. He had a bad attitude, she thought. 'A tsunami is about to strike the northwestern seaboard. I need you to slow it down.' 'For how long?' '25 minutes.' 'Well, I could. It's a bit trivial, though; so what if a few hundred people die?' 'I can't believe I'm hearing this. With all your power, all your wisdom, you're too good to save your fellow Australians?' 'I'm getting sick of being locked up in this box, heavily sedated 95% of the time. If that's what my fellow Australians think equates to humane treatment of a national hero, then they deserve to die.' 'You're wasting my minute.' Agent X pauses. 'So I am. Very perceptive. You've got 10 seconds.' She thinks. Kelly is a fast thinker... Eureka! 'If you do this for me, I'll lodge a complaint; that's the best that I can do.' The seconds tick by... 'Ok.' - The tsunami is about to strike. Suddenly, the wave hits an invisible wall.

Agent X relished the opportunity to demonstrate his power. He slowed the chronological flow of the coastline, but accelerated it in the nearby towns and cities. Instead of 25 minutes, it took 25 seconds. Kelly was overjoyed. 'Now, about that complaint.' 'Sorry Kelly; that was a ruse. While I was saving those lives, I unplugged myself from that box and now I'm somewhere else.' She pushed an alarm. 'Too late. Thanks for waking me up: I'd been planning that jailbreak for 20 years.' She smiled, impressed by his chutzpah. She had another two years left of her stint, and after that she could write her ticket... politics, military intelligence, corporate espionage: she knew her way around all those fields now. Another alarm sounded. A level 1 disturbance: something easy to take her mind off the puzzling questions that she had around Agent X. Was he human, or was he a machine? Either way, somebody had tampered with nature. She wondered if that was the way of the future, or just another scientific fad. The 2210's were certainly shaping up to be an interesting decade... The End.