I’m not sure, but whoever it is, they should be smart.

Taylor’s pretty clever, but I remember that one of the powers you could get was “Expanded Mind”, or basically a boost to your brainpower. That’d be good to have, at least in terms of a subordinate. Whatever Control Method they picked, I’d be in good hands if they picked that power. Either way, it just needs to be someone with a method aside from Telepathy or Contracts. Gotta have good coverage, right?

With that in mind, I got Jane, who’s my opposite-sex parallel world doppelgänger in case you forgot, and Taylor together and used my Stopwatch. Once the world ceased to move, I made my portal.

I made sure it was a world that fit my earlier specifications, but also one more special one. Namely, a universe home to a Mindslaver that didn’t pick the Planeswalking power. I’m not that smart, but even then I realized it was a totally busted ability. And if I’m getting a smarty-pants to join the team, they still need to be at a lower enough power level for me to even be capable of beating them.

So limiting their repertoire to real-world technology is key here, same with coming in while time is stopped. Rohan’s written-in warning wasn’t setting off any alarms once the portal opened, so it should be safe.

Poking my head through, I saw… nothing strange. Which made sense, I mentally chose an exit area that wasn’t clearly within the Mindslaver’s line of sight. I pulled back, saying “It looks okay, guys. Let’s go.” as Taylor and Jane both nodded.

We came out inside an alleyway, all wearing sunglasses to hide our heart-pupils. My phone wouldn’t work in this world on account of the different satellites and computer codes, but Jane and I had a better way of surveying our surroundings.

Holding my twin’s hand, we pooled our strengths into an attempt to telepathically sift through everyone in our range, trying to find our target or anyone who might know them.

“… did you guys know your eyes glow when you start doing that? Like, I can see them through the sunglasses, even. It’s freaky.” Taylor noted.

“I didn’t actually, but that’s very interesting. Thanks for the heads-up.” Jane and I replied in unison.

Anyways, after the check we found… nothing. Seriously, no one knew anything that would point us to this world’s Mindslaver. It was freaky. Though we did figure out where we were, in America roughly near where we were before in my world. So, kinda California.

“How’s it that there’s no trace of the Mindslaver on the whole continent…? You’d think they’d wanna do something in Canada at least, but nothing popped up anywhere in North America!” Jane said exacerbatedly. I nodded, saying “Also, California’s got nice locations, who wouldn’t want to check those out?”

“Maybe they’re trying to lay low on purpose.” Taylor proposed, a hand on her chin. “There was a pact I considered, due to how easy it was, but decided against because of how much it would limit me.”

“Which one?”we asked.

“The Pact of Comfiness. Or Sleepiness, I’m not sure which. The idea was an eldritch goddess of sloth would only ask that you be lazy and unambitious, never trying to take over the world or any other lofty goals. It was one of the pacts that gave three points instead of just two, but I decided against it when I figured my original plans would’ve been pretty ambitious.”

“Oh yeah, you wanted to make a super-multiversal reverse harem, that makes sense.” we noted, still in unison.

Taylor slowly blinked. “… feels like I’m talking to one pervert in two bodies.” she said, annoyed.

We chuckled “Well, you kinda are. So you think they may have taken that Comfiness Pact and chosen a small area to hole themselves up in?”

“Worst case, yes. Best case, they decided to take control of a mini-country and not pursue a higher standing than that, and we can find news or info about that to pinpoint where they are.”

“Alright, time to take another stab at this! Time’s stopped, so let’s take every try we can!” we shouted, excited for the challenge that lied ahead.