Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 1.3.2
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
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~~ FROM: Super-Ultra Powerful Best Goddess Terra Tan! ~~
~~ TO: Alchemist
~~ I don't know who I'm more upset with at the moment. You, or Kar'Yashlan.
On the one hand you have single-handedly disrupted the Cave I.D. and now I need to find a new bottled evil that's sitting at the right level to properly challenge a Gamer and I don't think you have any idea how hard it is to find one with the right elemental expression.
I suppose a water theme could work as a substitute, but that would involve mermaids at that level. Do you know how many gamers get completely distracted by a pair of tits?!
On the other hand, the Marilith knew what she was doing. A greater demon charged with raw elemental power and juiced up on primal chaos? If she didn't know you were a group of Outsiders I'll be a monkeys uncle!
Aunt.
Well. More than I already am. Most of you are so primitive you're basically the same thing! Why is it taking you humans so long to fill in your missing halves?!
At least this'll be entertaining.
So anyway, that's another exploit I'm trying to patch. We still haven't found a good way to patch your whole 'Turn them to stone and smuggle them out' trick. The spell basically switched an entity into an object and that gets around the protections I had to implement after you went to Solstheim to try and lock out the local equivalent of player characters from just hitching a ride. If it's disabled then that means no items come back which means no equipment, spellbooks or other artifacts and that kind of defeats most of the point.
Then you went and intentionally brought living things back. It makes a mess of things on the backend but at least that part is coded properly.
B-T-dubs? Yuffie is absolutely adorable!~~
-----
Alchemist hated New York City.
There's a multitude of reasons for that, but first and worst was the smell. In his last life he'd had to pass through the city a few different times and the second he stepped out of the airport the stench hit him right in the face.
Urine.
How the hell a city could constantly smell like human waste was beyond him! Even San Francisco hadn't been as bad!
Gotham didn't smell like piss and it was practically a hop, skip and a jump away!
"I don't think I want to go to China Town anymore." Yuffie, sporting a couple of bandages along her arm, was plugging her nose.
"That's alright." Alchemist wasn't bothering to plug his own nose. If he did, he'd have to breathe through his mouth and he really didn't want to taste the air here. "Do you want to just go home?"
They'd been here to get Yuffie updated on vaccines. Her chicken-pox episode earlier being a stark reminder that she wasn't from this world and thus was quite vulnerable to its illnesses.
"Can I still have sushi?" The young girl pleaded up at her guardian.
"I think I know a place. Let's get you home and situated then I'll take care of dinner." With a thought, another Alchemist appeared nearby. Just a bit further down the street from the immigration and travel clinic they were visiting.
"Can I get sushi with eel? And roe? What about-" Yuffie's next demand was cut off as the two of them teleported away, leaving the duplicate behind.
Alchemist still had work to do in New York, regardless of how much he wanted to leave.
He sighed slowly, trying to think of what he needed to do, to find. Abel's House of Secrets wasn't listed on the internet, though searching for it did bring up a few chat forums mentioning it.
Mostly how it was full of crap and didn't actually have any magical merchandise.
But he had a task to accomplish and he didn't know what his timeframe was, so he was going to have to hurry.
He clenched his teeth and inhaled deeply, preparing to Jump to a rooftop when-
"Oh, god! It's in my mouth! I can- Ughl! I hate this city!" The foul taste of the air finally registered on his tongue.
-----
October First.
October First... Something was supposed to happen, but for the life of him Alchemist couldn't remember what. If he'd paid more attention to the show then he might be able to recall, but it was usually on after he got back from work and that just left him too tired to catch every little detail.
Instead of worrying about it, however, he just focused on the assignment in front of him.
More sorting.
Yay.
Apparently the All-Star Squadron had something like six and a half warehouses filled with just junk.
Alright. 'Evidence' and 'Miscellaneous equipment used in the perpetration of criminal activities'. After fifty years of dry rot and mice it ended up being junk regardless.
Even the schizo tech wasn't immune!
...Well, most of it.
"What in the ever loving hell?" Alchemist muttered to himself as he held up what looked like a Tommy Gun.
Sort of. If he was being extremely generous. And had both eyes closed.
It was made out of limbs. From people. The drum was just filled with teeth. The trigger was a literal finger!
There wasn't any documentation to go with the evil little thing, either. Alchemist didn't know if that made it better or worse.
...Better. That made it better.
He was having a serious internal debate on the merit of picking up Fiendfire to deal with the thing when his phone started ringing.
After a quick prestidigitation to get the grease (Please just be grease) off of his hands he answered.
"Tracy Whittaker, with whom am I speaking?" That had taken way too long to get down.
"Alchemist!" Ah. Batman. "Get to Metropolis immediately! Poison Ivy has unleashed massive mutant plants and destroyed a currently unknown number of occupied buildings!"
"On it." And the levity was gone, the good humor he was trying to use in warding off the combination of disgust and unease faded in an instant.
So. That's what was supposed to happen today.
Joy.
Alchemist placed a box overtop the gun, then put a weight on top for good measure before teleporting away.
...Likely a good idea, since it started thumping and whining like a kicked puppy not long after he left.
-----
Billy Batson was afraid.
This wasn't something new for him. Bravery and fear went hand in hand, and almost everyone was willing to compliment him on being brave.
A group calling itself the 'Injustice League' had assaulted not just Metropolis, but Gotham, Star City, Paris and... For whatever reason, Taipei.
The group itself was formed of The Joker, Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy, Wotan, Ultra-Humanite, the Atomic Skull and... Black Adam.
The man that was using the bound soul of Teth Adom to borrow- No, to steal the same power that Captain Marvel himself was using!
The man that killed his parents.
The man that was aiding and abetting the death of countless uninvolved civilians.
"Look, Wotan. Just as we predicted. Make a bit of noise and the would-be heroes crawl out of the woodwork. Just like ants!" Black Adam taunted Billy as the two stared off in the sky.
Billy had followed the directions from Batman to the source of the attack. A miserable, mosquito infested bayou in Louisiana.
The Wisdom of Solomon was whispering in Billy's ear. There was something else here, something else watching. Something powerful and angry but bound in tethers of Green.
"Immaterial. The mage has been called to Metropolis. I will test them personally." The ancient reincarnate had no interest in fighting Captain Marvel. Something the boy within was secretly thankful for.
He already had too many distractions on his mind... And if Wotan was talking about Alchemist? He wished the man safe travels.
"Is this what you want, Black Adam?" The death toll from this little farce (A distraction. Bread and circus and salt. What lies beneath?) alone had to be in the hundreds. Was this something Teth would have wanted? Something the ancient ruler would have approved of? The man had parted ways with Shazam but Billy still assumed the man would balk at such waste. "Is this what the ruler of a country should be doing?"
Black Adam's smile just grew wider. He moved to speak-
"Is it, Theodore?" But Captain Marvel cut him off.
The imposter's smile fell from his face into a wicked scowl. His eyes were boring hatefully into Billy's own.
"...You'll have to die, now." The playful, jesting tone was gone. Replaced with cold hatred and determination (And fear. You know his secret. How many others do too?).
Black Adam took off like a shot! His fist outstretched and his face set in stone.
Billy juked to the side, Black Adam tearing through his cape before twisting back around.
Marvel's fist met his face halfway into the turn, sending Black Adam rocketing into the ground. Billy rolled in the air and pushed, the sound barrier breaking as he took off after him!
He didn't manage to follow through before Theodore was rocketing back up, dirt, mud and water spewing out to the sides in a torrent and soaking The Joker mid-rant.
"Here I'd been hoping this would be a fine distraction from matters of state!" Theodore shouted, his hand wrapped around Billy's throat as he brought Marvel back down and through the tree line. "How did you discover the truth!? Who told you!?"
He threw Marvel into the water after slamming him through several trees, his words lost to the wind and cracking of wood.
For a moment their battle was still. Silent. The sounds of conflict distant and muffled.
Until Billy flew up from directly underneath Theodore and grabbed hold of his legs, twisting to the side and beginning to spin.
"You're not so clever, Theo!" Billy twisted a bit to the side and began to corkscrew through the air, Black Adam's head on the outside of the loop. "A child could have figured it out!"
He released his hold on Black Adam just over a patch of dry-ish land, sending him flying head-first into it at a truly ludicrous speed.
The man was disoriented and his head was spinning, his arms struggling to find out which direction was earth and what was sky.
Perfect.
The spell Billy needed was quick, but not instant.
His hand wavered through the air, tracing patterns unknowable and unknown as he spoke lost words in a dead tongue.
Black Adam finally got his hands under himself and pushed, mud slicking off of his frame.
Billy brought his second hand into the casting, working out the latter half of the spell.
"You think you've won, hero?! I've only just-" Black Adam kicked off of the ground with enough speed to crater the land. He flew up, his fist outstretched and hatred clear in his eyes.
"Majustis!" Captain Marvel shouted through his tirade. Light sprung forth from between his hands and impacted the villain in his chest.
"-begun! What?" Theodore Adam squawked in startled surprise as, rather than gaining speed, he began falling.
Captain Marvel, however, wasted no time. He flew as fast as he could to intercept the man and wrapped his hands around the amulet sitting against his chest.
"No! What are you- What did- Argh!" Theodore tried to speak, his hands flailed against Captain Marvel's now-greater bulk ineffectually. His complaints were cut short when the hero ripped the amulet from his neck, the clasp breaking painfully against mortal skin. "No! No! That's mine!"
Billy held the man by his shirt in one hand and the amulet kept quite far from him in his other.
No longer was he Black Adam. Now he was just a man. Skinny and unkempt, his hair lank and falling into his face.
"I think..." Billy dropped him to the ground, just a few feet below. The man fell back and landed on his butt, staring up at Captain Marvel as he hovered over him. He held the amulet in his hands.
He held the container for Teth Adom's soul in his hands...
With a mighty grunt it was split in two! Great power- Great magic escaped and for a moment a dark shadow lingered over the two. Over the champion and the usurper.
(A woman appeared at the heart of the miasma. Terrible and beautiful as the dawn. Her skin was bleached bone-white with a truly wild mane of black hair. On her chest lay a pendant in the shape of an ankh. She wrapped her hands around something, in the very middle. Cupping it gently and cradling it close to her un-beating heart. "It's time to rest." She said. "You deserve that much. Let them figure it out.")
"That you're done." Billy had so much more he wanted to say. That he had to say... But it would be wasted on the man below him.
"No!" Theo screeched, grabbing and clawing at Billy's hands. "It's mine! It's mine! You can't- You can't just- Shazam! Shazam! Shazam-Shazam-SHAZAM!"
The man cried out to the heavens...
But nobody answered.
-----
Metropolis had seen better days.
The sun was high in the air. Toxic flowers dropping Joker Toxin infused spores were blooming. Birds were falling from the sky... Days like this, kids should probably be hiding in whatever places they could find.
Superman was off in the distance doing his best to keep the massive overgrowth under control but each time he killed a huge, mutated stem another would tear through asphalt, brick or mortar and just continue the assault.
Some were picking up cars and tossing them about. Others had grown right through buildings turning them into rubble and ruin.
That part, that part was something Alchemist was going to leave to Superman.
His part, however-
"I'm a healer, with Batman. Where do you need me?" His part was at the hospital.
He'd put on the white hoodie with the red triangles around the openings and made his way to the Metropolis Memorial Hospital.
"A healer-? Kid, get outta here!" The first responder Alchemist had found, he'd asked. And the man was incredibly stressed. "We don't have time for-"
Alchemist raised his hand and simply snapped his fingers. Around them, people that had been cradling broken limbs and struggling to stay upright with head wounds were suddenly quiet.
"...The ringing is gone!" One man, who'd been holding a coldpack against a bloody gash in his scalp, exclaimed loudly.
"I can stabilize people in critical condition." Alchemist kept his tone even. In a situation like this, losing his temper over his ego would just be stupid. "Where do you need me?"
Fighting the plants? Not in his contract.
Disaster relief? That was on the first page.
The first responder, actually a man with the Metropolis Fire Department, inhaled deeply and sighed.
"Alright. Alright, that actually helps. A lot. The Northburg Highschool had one of those plants rip its way up through the basement, right through the shelter. A lot of kids got hurt when the roof came down. Can you help with that?" Alchemist had pulled his phone out and was pulling up directions before the man was even done talking.
"Yeah." Forty minutes by foot? Alchemist shook his head and queued something up in his Armory. "Give whoever's there a call. Tell them I'll be there in five. Ten if I have to take a detour."
"Yeah- I... Sorry. Thanks, kid. I'll get right on that." The man, Jeff according to his nametag, nodded at Alchemist as he turned to leave.
Outside the hospital Alchemist wasted no time in pulling out his Hardy Daytona... And casting phantom driver as he sat down.
He needed to get in contact with-
~~ FROM: Jinx ~~
~~ TO: Alchemist ~~
~~ Saw what was going on on the news. Heading to Gotham. Heard the plants are struggling there but checking on friends. Message me if something comes up.~~
Well. Nevermind then.
Second thing was his phone, which he really shouldn't check while driving but the Phantom Driver was honestly better than him at avoiding obstacles.
-- Unlisted Number --
-- WW coming in with support. Provide location. --
...Probably Batman. If not? Well, whoever was coming in could deal with the whole 'City full of wreckage' thing.
Alchemist stowed his phone after a solid thirty seconds of texting and driving. And began paying attention...
He was on a detour, unfortunately. The road to the highschool was completely ruined.
...What even was Poison Ivy bribed with to agree to do something this destructive?
Alchemist was putting money on Ra's being the one to get her to agree. Superficially, his 'goal' was the same as hers. Until you actually stop to look at it and realize it's just megalomania hiding behind the thin veneer of eco-terrorism.
Pulling up to the wreckage of the high school, Alchemist's stomach dropped through the floor.
There weren't any tents outside. Just kids being pulled out and dropped on tarps haphazardly thrown on the ground.
Some- Some of them-
Poison Ivy would have a lot to answer for.
"You the medic!" Some guy, an older man wearing a red flannel shirt and jeans with masonry dust speckling his black hair gray, yelled at him as he got closer.
"Yeah!" Alchemist yelled back to him, recalling the motorcycle into his armory the second his feet hit the ground. "Where's the worst of 'em?!"
Rather than answer, the man took off running. Two steps later and Alchemist was hot on his heels.
The evacuation area had a handful of tarps spread around it. And as Alchemist got closer he could see differences among them.
One of them was marked with a black 'X' and was just out of sight of the other three. Alchemist didn't- He couldn't look at that.
The one with a red 'X' was the next level down. Kids and teachers in critical condition.
There were too many people there for his liking.
Some were unresponsive but breathing. Others were sitting up, some standing, but everyone was holding some kind of injury. Pressing a hand against a bloody wound, holding their hands against their foreheads or eyes.
Alchemist immediately got to work.
Those who weren't awake got the first wave of Cure, followed immediately by Esuna.
Not all of them woke up but their breathing at least got a bit easier.
"The hell was that?!" Flannel shouted, looking at something with more scrutiny than Alchemist had bothered with. "That just- He just- You some kind of meta?!"
"Wizard." Alchemist answered instead, moving on. The next batch of spells hit the people that were ambulatory. It didn't do anything for the ones that were in mental shock, but the others noticed pretty damned quick when their arms, legs or fingers snapped back into place and stopped hurting. "Batman sent me here to help. Is there any-"
Alchemist's question for the stunned man was cut off when, with a sound like thunder, two people slammed into the Earth!
Well. One. She was carrying the other.
And it was the funniest, most awkward bridal carry Alchemist had ever seen. If the situation weren't so grim he might have been laughing.
Wonder Woman had just landed while carrying Kar'Yashlan!
"Alchemist!" Wonder Woman shouted on seeing him. "Batman sent me to provide support and security. What's the situation?!"
"Better. Just got the critical situations resolved." Alchemist turned away from the women and back to Flannel. "Is there anybody else here? Anyone still trapped inside?"
"What?!" The man was a little busy staring at the demon. Who was now wearing a toga...
At least it fit?
"Yes! One of the walls collapsed and we can't get to anyone behind it!" But Flannel man remembered himself quick enough. "Come on!"
The trio of people were quick to follow the man into the ruined building.
They had work to do, after all.
-----
Alchemist was tired.
He had every right to be. Getting through the school had been far more difficult than it should have been.
The floor wasn't stable. The ceiling wasn't stable either!
After the third lightbulb had nearly cracked him in the skull, he'd started casting Wall of Force ahead of himself to line the floor and ceiling. It wouldn't last indefinitely but he also didn't need it to.
Some people had wandered off. Evacuated or gone home as the crisis wound down.
More people had arrived for quick, magical healing. He'd been all too happy to accommodate in between trips into the building.
Kar'Yashlan had been oddly silent during the debacle. Her eyes had lingered on some of the forms of people that had been beyond help. Between her size and strength, she'd been an amazing measure of help in carrying people back out after they got through the collapsed segments of the building.
He didn't know what she was thinking. Demons and elementals were, by their very nature, inhuman and nigh-incomprehensible.
"I don't think there's anyone left." Wonder Woman sounded exhausted herself. Not physically but rather emotionally.
"I really hope not." Alchemist wasn't going to agree or disagree. They'd done the best they could with the tools they had.
It would be enough because there wasn't anything else to give.
"...Can you call HQ for me?" Alchemist had an idea, but he'd need help. "Once the immediate crisis is over, I need all of the speedsters in the League. Or that they can call for help."
He knew the Flash would go for it, both generations. Superman wouldn't say no.
"What's that?" Kar'Yashlan finally spoke up. "Will we be seeking retribution against your foes?"
"I wouldn't need help for that." Alchemist shook his head, ignoring the choked laugh that came from Wonder Woman. "I already have plans for it. No, it's-"
"At last!" A new voice interrupted him mid-sentence. "Finally, Mage, I have found you!"
The group looked around but couldn't see anyone.
Finally, though, Wonder Woman looked up!
"Wotan!" She shouted, her voice rich with fury. "Is there no depravity that's beneath you?!"
"Of course not." Alchemist let out an aggrieved sigh as Wotan grinned. "Asshole takes over the bodies of growing fetuses whenever he dies. Bet he eats their souls, too."
"Not quite." Wotan descended slowly, his grin replaced with naked confusion. "It is instead sacrificed to fuel the spell. Something no upstart should know!"
Alchemist just glared at the vampire-esque mage, entirely unimpressed.
"Here to gloat, or just cause problems?" Alchemist stood up fully and flexed his hands. He cracked his neck and matched the ready positions of the two warriors around him.
"An offer, Alchemist. Such prodigious talent with restorative magics is wasted on these mortals. Join me! Become my apprentice and I shall-" Wotan was rather abruptly cut off.
When Alchemist's fist met his face coming out of a teleport. It sent him flying down to slam into the ground.
And left Wotan cursed by Hasten Judgement, the foul magic settling onto the reincarnates soul like a shawl. Hopefully capable of crippling his foul rebirth magic.
Wonder Woman drew her sword.
Kar'Yashlan drew six.
"Talking-" Alchemist's follow up strike missed when Wotan teleported off the ground to continue talking. "-seems to be wasted on you."
Blood seeped from the side of Wotan's mouth, fixed firmly into a scowl as he spoke.
"And it seems you have no respect for you elders, fool." Wotan had returned to a position in the sky, glaring down at the trio. "Very well. I shall begin with the first lesson! Obedience!"
Wotan waved his hands in a circle in the air causing shimmering balls of light to form around him.
In an instant they ignited, screaming towards the ground!
Alchemist braced himself... But they flew right past him.
Past Kar'Yashlan and Wonder Woman, too.
And into the crowd of screaming onlookers behind them. A crowd half-comprised of children.
"You heroic types care so much for the cattle. Indeed, they make the perfect stick with which to impress the lessons upon you!" Wotan did not laugh as he imparted his lesson, as he hurt innocent bystanders to teach his 'lesson'.
The unbridled fear, the raw screams of pain...
Alchemist fixed his mouth into a determined line and opened his menu as the magician continued to talk.
This would not stand.
He would not let it!
His hands hovered over an entry and he nodded while Wotan continued some self-important grandstanding. This was a bad idea, a terrible idea in fact...
But he was too angry to care!
"Grab on." He told the two women beside him and held out his arm.
Wonder Woman hesitated for a moment, uncertain what he meant.
Kar'Yashlan however was looking at his screen, somehow, and had a wicked grin on her face. She didn't hesitate at all.
This time when he teleported, he teleported with the two femme fatales holding on to his arms and just above Wotan, who had taken to looking upon the spectacle with some form of amusement.
Something that was quickly erased when Alchemist wrapped his legs around the bastards neck and pressed 'Purchase' on the screen.
The four of them disappeared before they could hit the ground!
If Wotan had a contingency spell set up to force his soul into the body of a developing child?
Alchemist would end him in a world without them!
~~ Purchase: Firelink Greatsword ~~
~~ Cost: 120,000 GP ~~
~~ Instant Quest: Defeat the Soul of Cinder and claim the power of Lords to forge into a weapon beyond-
ERROR!
Update: End the broken cycle and set to rest the Age of Gods Long Past. ~~
-----
Wotan had always been fast on the uptake.
He had to be. Even back countless millennia ago when he'd been another faceless slave-girl in service to his master.
In the thousands of years since he learned magic behind the mans back, stole his power and mastered the arcane secrets of Rebirth, then took those ever higher so he never had to suffer the indignity of being a slave-girl again?
He'd just stolen more and more power!
He was a master of the arcane! A magical nexus without equal!
Some... Superiors, yes. Fate, Klarion, the blasted Wizard could all overpower him... But he was more cunning and more clever than any two of them combined!
He'd been looking to add more magic to his arsenal, he'd been told of this 'Alchemist' who had been using healing magic freely after Lord Klarion's latest tantrum. Magic that was, according to all of his own research, incredibly taxing and often painful for the recipient.
So this 'Alchemist', seemingly an upstart considering Wotan had heard nothing of him during the last hundred some odd years. He had magic that Wotan wanted.
He'd even been kind enough to offer to mentor the boy, and he instead had spat upon his kindness!
And now? Wotan didn't even know what had been done!
He was in a graveyard under a pile of bodies, teleportation magic wasn't working and...
The magic in the air felt wrong. It smelled of old ash and dying flames.
What had Alchemist done? What was this place!?
Wotan pulsed his magic and sent the interlopers flying off of him!
He stumbled to his feet and looked around himself, looked properly at the graveyard and the people with him.
The ever-interfering Wonder Woman, some brutish Metahuman that reeked of sulfur and, of course, the insipid little mage himself. Alchemist.
"What is this place?" Wotan barked at the man as he stumbled to his feet. "Where have you brought me, boy!?"
"You want to know?" Alchemist taunted him as he stood up himself. "That's too bad."
Wotan's temper peaked! This inexperienced child thought himself the better of a mage like Wotan!?
The first spell Wotan thought of was lightning. Quick and painful. Perfect for this foolish boy!
It hit Alchemist and the man jerked in place! He twitched, struggling to stay on his feet-
"Nn, yeah! Harder!" Alchemist... Grunted. Gutturaly.
Wotan dropped his hands in stark, naked confusion.
That... That didn't just happen, did it?
"What?" Alchemist cracked his neck to the side and back. "Not going to buy me dinner first? For shame."
"You..." Wotan was struck speechless. He'd never seen someone react like- react like that! "Filthy degenerate! You-"
Wotan was struck again...
Across the face. By a very large, very angry red woman.
The blow sent him flying, slamming against a lidless sarcophagus! He flipped over it, his legs and back screaming in pain.
Pain he ignored.
Wotan took to the air, frost and fire at his fingertips and arcane rage flowing from his lips!
Alchemist pulled a gun from somewhere. Wonder Woman held her sword at the ready. The demoness looked up at him with something approaching glee.
With a wordless roar, Wotan brought forth his fury!
!
