Frescko
Transhumanist
To further fuck with him, pretend to be completely technologically illiterate and stumbling your way through by sheer dumb luck.
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
To further fuck with him, pretend to be completely technologically illiterate and stumbling your way through by sheer dumb luck.
Frescko
Transhumanist
As I said earlier, the eldritch is probably one of the few things Darkseid and the New Gods would immediately get serious about if not outright avoid, and with how advanced New God tech is, I wouldn't be surprised if it sends out a emergency message along the lines of 'Eldritch Stuff Detected' right to Darkseid
Looking at Lovecraft lore, the eldritch pantheon(s) are on a level of existence at even the serious full power Godhead Darkseid chances are Pyrrhic in nature, though that goes both ways for the New Gods and the Eldritch.
So while Darkseid could crush any of the great ones from Bloodborne, killing them could start a war with the real mover and shakers.
Also this gave me an idea for an omake I might write: Old Man Henderson kills Godhead Darkseid… by mistake. Though I don't even know where I'd begin with that
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
"Wait, Darkseid's dead?!"
"Yup."
"How'd that happen?!"
"The wife put all her love into this pie she made. He saw how much I wanted it with my lunch and stole it just to be petty. And then he ate it just to be a dick. Apparently he was deathly allergic to pie. Or love. One or the other, I don't care. Reality belched, and I think it broke something really important. I guess the pie was better than I thought it'd be. Damnit, I love pie!"
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that sir, is hilarious.
- Location
- United States
The real issue is a number of the Old Ones in DC are sleeping... They won't be for much longer.
After Al deals with the current incursion caused by Psimon:
Al: Hey J'onn? I need you to come help M'gann set up a psychic block for herself or else remove some knowledge. She got infected by a cognitohazard. And if not dealt with soon it may cause L'zoril to be usurped by things much less benevolent.
Al: Hey J'onn? I need you to come help M'gann set up a psychic block for herself or else remove some knowledge. She got infected by a cognitohazard. And if not dealt with soon it may cause L'zoril to be usurped by things much less benevolent.
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
@Mister Ficser, I'm sorry to report that the edit to chapter 238 did not address the criticisms of it and in fact added issuers.
The criticisms were mainly that Al should have had the presence of mind to cast some subtle defensive spells as soon as hostilities became plausible. With this change, Al reacts quickly enough to attempt to diffuse the situation rather than grabbing and shielding Garfield on instinct. He then has an additional 30 seconds during which he is focused on the immediate threat of violence instead of being distracted by trying to figure out the situation at the same time as talking to Red Tornado... and doesn't do the combat prep people were complaining about him not doing.
Then he lays on top of Garfield to shield him instead of just interposing himself, which conflicts with the geometry of the un-adjusted following moments, and the additional time makes Red Tornado's observation that the phone call ended abruptly with gunfire make less sense, and the extra soldiers to the sides and rear are ignored in the Mini-miser scene.
I'm of the opinion that you should have left the chapter as-is and let the Failure Fatherbox do the explaining for you.
The criticisms were mainly that Al should have had the presence of mind to cast some subtle defensive spells as soon as hostilities became plausible. With this change, Al reacts quickly enough to attempt to diffuse the situation rather than grabbing and shielding Garfield on instinct. He then has an additional 30 seconds during which he is focused on the immediate threat of violence instead of being distracted by trying to figure out the situation at the same time as talking to Red Tornado... and doesn't do the combat prep people were complaining about him not doing.
Then he lays on top of Garfield to shield him instead of just interposing himself, which conflicts with the geometry of the un-adjusted following moments, and the additional time makes Red Tornado's observation that the phone call ended abruptly with gunfire make less sense, and the extra soldiers to the sides and rear are ignored in the Mini-miser scene.
I'm of the opinion that you should have left the chapter as-is and let the Failure Fatherbox do the explaining for you.
Dunno, man. Failure in your actions is not the same thing as not taking the actions at all. It's like his entire mindset and way of doing things took a hike, not that he failed at anything. Indeed, not protecting Garfield with his embrace is failure in action. Not at least partially protecting him ahead of time is just stupidity.
But on that note, we'll forge past the immersion break and see where the new arc goes with this.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
How about, they're colored for their names?
Red Tornado is dark red.
Red Inferno is regular red.
Red Torpedo is light red.
Hmm. I don't think that works the way I wanted it to...
You've spun such a wonderful tale!
Keep Going! Keep Crafting your Wonderful World in the Vast ocean that is the Multiverse
May the Muses sing to you their song and help write the story you have drawn.
Keep Going! Keep Crafting your Wonderful World in the Vast ocean that is the Multiverse
May the Muses sing to you their song and help write the story you have drawn.
- Location
- Whadjuk Noongar boodja
If this is a reference to Flashpoint, remember that the current date for Alchemist is still late 2010. Flashpoint didn't happen/get published until 2011. And now, thankfully, never will, given it was the laziest, most insultingly stupid and least successful of the multiple half-arsed attempts DC has made over the years to retcon the DC Multiverse.
In a purely brute force level, absolutely, Tornado and especially Inferno would have this handled with ease. I can't think that Torpedo would be of much direct use in a desert city, but fortunately I'm not the writer for this, and MF has given us all a multitude of examples that he can come up with something completely unexpected, so I have faith that he will manage it again this time.
Of course, if the Father Box is a serious memetic threat as well, then I rather expect we will see things turn out very different to what Tornado and his siblings intended as they left Mount Justice. I admit I am nearly 100% uninformed on the topic of Father Boxes, and not greatly more so on Mother Boxes.
No, it would really seem not. What an ahh, interesting implementation of light, regular and dark red. I wonder if it's less unsuccessful if your browser is set to display SV in Light Mode rather than Dark?
Flashpoint isn't the only time the Flash has run through time, just the dumbest. Barry started screwing up time all the way back in 1956, has repeated the mistake often, and still hasn't learned his lesson.
- Location
- Earth, 3rd rock from the Sun
Speaking of this and future events, there is absolutely no need to Al to spend several hours in the state of Apokalyps's best effort in pain infliction before calling over a Lantern to document it.
You know, instead of calling one over at the beginning of the investigation.
That part was just gratuitous edgy edgelord self harm.
Frescko
Transhumanist
Wonder what the major repercussions of Psimon killing and eating a city with 2 million people will have. Will there be major protests on supers? Will Alchemist be forced into making a hearing in front of the UN and accidentally mention the whole vampire genocide?
There's no way 2 million people dying to Psimon doesn't compound the already global mass healing/totally not the rapture.
Likely governments will be scrambling to try to militarize supers which might just start to tear the league apart as some of the members have some loyalty to the US military. Best case in this worst case scenario the league dissolves and fractures into a few groups of heroes who while still working with each other when needed are otherwise indifferent or maliciously compliant.
Worst case scenarios full Injustice route with Marvel Civil War underlying elements where both sides have their own valid points instead of one side clearly being evil.
There's no way 2 million people dying to Psimon doesn't compound the already global mass healing/totally not the rapture.
Likely governments will be scrambling to try to militarize supers which might just start to tear the league apart as some of the members have some loyalty to the US military. Best case in this worst case scenario the league dissolves and fractures into a few groups of heroes who while still working with each other when needed are otherwise indifferent or maliciously compliant.
Worst case scenarios full Injustice route with Marvel Civil War underlying elements where both sides have their own valid points instead of one side clearly being evil.
Chapter 240
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 2.4.0
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Staring up at the hole Psimon had summoned into the fabric of reality, joining it with the realm of dreams and nightmares, Alchemist had a lot of questions.
He knew that Motherboxes and Fatherboxes could breach the dimensional divide. It wasn't a common use because intentionally entering the multiverse carried a lot of risks that even the New Gods didn't want to work with, no, but it was still technically possible. He'd not known that it could penetrate into foreign planes but that wasn't especially surprising.
No, the biggest question on Alchemist's mind was 'Why did Intergang leave behind a god damned Fatherbox!'
He could make a few guesses, sure, but he was operating on a dearth of information. His best guess was probably for targeting purposes. A Fatherbox or Motherbox could both open a Boomtube across the galaxy, sure, but targeting was an issue. The larger the distance the more math that had to be done. Having a beacon that could be aimed at would simplify things immensely.
As Alchemist pulled himself over the railing and up on to the stairs, he needed to figure out what priority to deal with things.
"Yes!" Psimon crowed as the malformed body he was connected to pulled itself up and out of its incubation tube. The bodies that had been embedded in the walls were being pulled into it, drawn in by the thick mass of veins that had covered every surface. "A realm connected to the minds of all that live! I shall feast! And I shall grow to become the king of the gods within this new world!"
That. Alchemist needed to deal with that.
Alchemist shook the cobwebs clear as he took in what all he was dealing with.
A giant body made out of people that were probably brain dead or else had their minds completely overwritten to support Psimon. A Fatherbox that was holding open a hole in reality. Psimon himself, though Alchemist was far from certain that destroying the obvious body would actually have any meaningful impact.
Alchemist sheathed his knife and recalled the Dragoon Laser, the gun having flown from his hands when he'd been knocked over.
Looking up towards the growing hole that Psimon was angling towards, Alchemist raised one hand and snapped his fingers-
Blotting out the Boomtube with a black gate, a one-way door directly to annihilation.
"...What?" Psimon asked dumbly, the countless faces embedded into his monstrous flesh turning their eyes to focus on the two-dimensional hole that was consuming the beam fed into it by the Fatherbox. "What is this?! What have you do-"
Psimon's head exploded as a beam of coherent energy ripped through it, courtesy of the Dragoon. The absolutely massive torso that had been pulling itself out of the tube slowed down, hundreds, possibly thousands of much smaller arms jutting out of it spasmed wildly for a moment before settling down.
And Psimon's head began to quickly reform.
Alchemist watched the proceedings with a spiteful glare, his gaze turning down to look at the Fatherbox that had stopped firing its beam and simply hovered in the air, holding the charge.
That needed dealt with. Badly.
~~ FROM: Alchemist EX-01 ~~
~~ TO: Alchemist ~~
~~ I haven't found another living thing here that wasn't a plant. At all. No dogs, no cats, not even mice. Just the soldiers, no other people. Between me and myself, we're pretty sure that everyone is in the palace, though. I think you might have pissed someone off. Also, got something incoming from the west. Small, humanoid, moving pretty damned fast. Might be four or five minutes out. ~~
Correction. That needed dealt with, first.
"You!" Psimon howled, twisting indecisively between Alchemist and the roof. "You will not stop-"
Psimon was rather rudely interrupted.
When Alchemist shot him again.
The wizard made an internal note that the giant mass of corpse-flesh that the psychic was connected to went slack for a second as the Psimon appendage began to reassemble itself.
Not a huge opening, no, but it was one he could-
~~ Congratulations! ~~
~~ Spell: Teleport has reached level (32)! ~~
~~ Spell: Mindblank has reached level (200)! ~~
~~ Spell: Standstill has reached level (112)! ~~
Alchemist's thoughts listed as he was inundated with the memories of his other half using Standstill to casually stroll through the damned palace and hit the soldiers and metahumans with Mindblank before Teleporting them to Cairo.
"...What?" Psimon said, his voice carrying through the still, empty chamber. "What happened? Where are my men? They're all... gone? It's so... quiet."
Alchemist let the mad idiot mumble to himself as Alchemist lined himself up with the Fatherbox.
He'd been waiting for his extract clones to send him an update on what was going on outside the palace. He didn't know how he felt about the lack of any other living souls considering that most likely meant Psimon had eaten them but it very firmly told the wizard that peace was not an option.
With a hearty crash, Alchemist launched himself off of the stairs, crumpling them behind himself as he Jumped at the Fatherbox-
"No!" Psimon shrieked, a wave of telekinetic force slamming into Alchemist's side and smashing him into the far wall. "You've taken everything else! You won't take my key!"
"Not everything!" Alchemist shouted up towards the living bit of Psimon before he launched himself out of the hole he'd formed in the wall.
He missed his second shot, landing on the twisted torso of the aggregate giant instead. Immediately there were dozens of hands latching on to him, trying to drag him into the writhing mass.
The flames of Cremation filled Alchemist's left hand and the grasping claws upon him backed away from the white hot flames.
"You're still alive, after all," Alchemist's voice carried a menacing surety. "I will find a way to change that, I promise."
The mage fell away from the body and down, down to the still-hovering box that was barely bigger than a common brick. He held one hand out, catching on to the box and arresting his momentum. In an instant, Alchemist began to press into the box with Transmutation while the box itself began releasing an increasingly distressed sounding 'Ting!'
"No!" Psimon shouted in desperation, the massive beast twisting and churning as it twisted around. Looking over his shoulder, Alchemist could see Psimon had bent the broken body nearly in half to try and get close to him. "Let go of that! You've no idea what you're doing!"
Instead, as Alchemist's system continuously threw pages and pages of material names at him, things that Alchemist would need a PhD just to try and pronounce, the wizard raised his gun one more time-
And Psimon pulled a device out of his robes. It looked like a small, metal orb at first before it began to spark with lightning.
As Alchemist lined up his shot with Psimon's empty skull one more time, the psychic squeezed the orb and the electricity arcing around it exploded out in a wave.
Alchemist squeezed the trigger just as the wave struck him-
The wizard... wasn't actually sure what had just happened. He was falling, the Fatherbox continued to hover overhead-
He didn't remember letting go... and it was hard for him to focus over the sound of screaming.
Who was screaming? Psimon usually just-
Alchemist slammed into the edge of the tube that Psimon's body had crawled out of and he realized, as feeling flooded back to him in pure, unbridled agony, that he was the one that was screaming. It was more than enough to keep the wizard from reading what was possibly the most important System Message he'd yet gotten-
~~ Tenth Metal has been added to Alchemy: Conversion ~~
-----
Psimon's face twisted into a wide, manic smile as the shadow that had been hounding him dropped away from the Key he'd reclaimed from the fools in Bialya. The idiot's screams were music to his ears.
Manipulating his grand form, he picked the shadow up by one leg in one great hand and lifted it high enough that he could look upon its sniveling, crying form.
"Did you think you could succeed, Mini-Miser?" Psimon asked as he slammed the shadow's body through the catwalk that led down to his incubater.
"Did you think that you could stop me?!" Psimon shouted, glee in his voice as he smashed the shadow into the walls.
It hurt, true. The body he'd built from the remains of those who'd been incapable, of those that were not worth subsuming beneath his will, it was still made of flesh and blood. Punching the shadow through the walls of his temple harmed the weak flesh but his Key repaired it almost as quickly as it happened.
"Whatever you came for? Whatever you thought to steal?" Psimon doubted the damned fool could even understand him at this point but it felt so good to finally have an audience that wasn't just a portion of his own mind. "You thought to challenge a god! Whatever puny gun you brought, it was never going to be enough!"
Looking up, however, soured the mood brought about by Psimon's good fortunes. The black disc that Mini-Miser had placed in front of his portal still remained.
Lifting the broken, weeping form before himself once more, Psimon growled and the great, incomplete body beneath of him growled in turn.
"You will remove your barrier from my portal!" Psimon demanded, shouting through the shadow's quiet sobbing. When the fool failed to do anything, Psimon retrieved his Orb of Punishment from within his robes. "Do not think that I will not-"
The shadow made a swiping motion with one hand and the orb disappeared from Psimon's grip.
"You-!" Psimon shrieked, well and fully tired of dealing with the damned interloper. "You have interfered for the last time!"
Psimon lifted the Mini-Miser up and well above his head before slamming him back down in a large arc, right into the side of the tube holding the rest of Psimon's body.
It released a loud, satisfying 'Crack!'
Psimon repeated the act once, then twice, and then, on the third strike, he fully broke the side of the massive canister. Thick, foul liquid spilled from the shattered glass.
But Mini-Miser seemed wholly unharmed.
With a deep grunt from his monstrous head, Psimon began to bring Mini-Miser back up to slam him into something else when a bright flash of heat and pain distracted him, blinding the psychic. Psimon reflexively released his hold on the thief to shield his eyes and face-
"This has gone far enough," a flat, mechanical voice proclaimed.
Looking up, Psimon saw a trio of red androids hovering around the porthole at the top of the tower.
One hovered in the air, shrouded in a controlled whirlwind of crimson.
One remained upright by a pair of fiery jets emanating from their feet.
The third stood atop a cloud.
All three were gazing down at Psimon, their empty minds perhaps even more offensive to him than even Mini-Miser's.
"Ting!" and his Key called out, drawing Psimon's attention away from the androids and down towards the ground. Mini-Miser had once again placed himself against it, though now the damned shadow seemed to be standing in mid-air.
He had both of his hands on the device, turned so that the mostly-unobstructed side without the strange, beautiful symbol was facing upwards.
"Ting!" the Key cried out in desperation as hideous blue-silver symbols were somehow etched into its frame.
"L-love..." Mini-Miser whispered, barely audible across the distance. "Plus compassion..."
"Get away from that!" Psimon shouted in fear as his Key continued to desperately ting in fear. "You don't know what you're doing!"
Psimon slammed his hands down but they impacted an invisible wall, coming to a sudden and painful halt.
"Plus ho-hope, divided by will, divided by fear," Mini-Miser continued, a silver glow growing around him as he continued to etch a series of round symbols into the Key. Even across the distance, Psimon recognized the emblem of Green Lantern among the other bits and pieces. "Minus avarice, minus rage..."
Psimon felt his power flicker, felt a strain throughout both bodies.
Felt fear.
In desperation, he tried to strike at Mini-Miser-
No, not Mini-Miser. The shadows faded away, forced off by the foul light he was filling the Key with. They revealed a large man clad in thick, black armor.
"Alchemist!" one of the androids overhead shouted. Psimon looked up just in time for a crimson fist to slam into his face. "What is going on? Where are the civilians?!"
"Gone," the man within the invisible box shouted up, his voice rough and raspy. "That -thing- ate them. All of them."
Psimon lashed out, not with physical force but rather with the impressive psychic power he'd obtained from embedding every meager mental gift that had existed nearby into his new body. It sent the androids slamming into the walls.
And did nothing to Alchemist.
Psimon screeched wordlessly as he twisted his form against the box, slamming all of his hands and fists into an invisible barrier that surrounded the interloper.
It also left him close enough to fully make out what had been done to the Key of his ascension.
The crimson glow that had emanated from every nook and cranny of his box had faded away, transformed into a silver light that Psimon could feel penetrating into his very soul. The symbol that Alchemist had made was a series of seven circles that were themselves in a circle.
And, as Psimon howled and raged ineffectively, he saw a final symbol etching itself into the center of them all. It looked to be a series of seven rays focusing into an equilateral triangle, the tip pointed down while the flat was facing the incoming lights.
"These," Alchemist whispered, wobbling on his feet even as his voice steadied. "These are the lights of LIFE!"
Psimon's every nerve lit up in flames. Agony born of infection, no longer held at bay by the wondrous power of his Key tore at every fragment of his physical form.
The psychic screamed, every mouth on his body screamed, hissed and cried as he struggled to hold his body together.
"No!" Psimon begged, his strength waning. "How could you? How could you?!"
Rather than answer him, Alchemist turned momentarily to look at him-
And then was replaced by a dragon, one with long, spindly limbs and beautiful wings filled with stars, stolen from the sky. It looked at him for a moment, alien wisdom within its eyes before they filled with something that infuriated Psimon enough that he found the strength to push aside his agony.
It was looking at him with pity.
The dragon broke its gaze upon Psimon to look back down upon the corrupted Key, tilting its head from side to side for a moment-
And then it opened its maw wide and bit into Psimon's Key of Ascension. The case shattered loudly, fragments of its strange, unknowable materials dropped to the bottom of the invisible box.
"No..." Psimon whispered.
"Yesh," Alchemist hissed in response with his mouth full. He swallowed slowly and Psimon could see the remains of his Key slide down the creature's long throat.
The psychic missed what happened afterwards but the dragon was inside the box one moment and the next it had its claws buried in Psimon's chest.
"Round two," the dragon said, brilliant golden light burning in its throat. "Bitch."
-----
Red Tornado pulled himself free of the wall he'd been embedded in and surveyed the ongoing conflict.
At the base of the giant entity comprised of spasming limbs stood Red Torpedo, making use of his hydrokinetic capabilities to slice into the giant organism.
Red Inferno was making herself useful in preventing it from effectively grabbing on to anything. Each time it would move its arms in an effort to make an attack, she was quick to release a concussive ball of flames to knock those limbs off course.
Tilting his head upwards, making note of the grinding that came from several critical units, Red Tornado observed Alchemist. The man had seemed insensate at first as the abomination swung him about with wild abandon and the android had noted several uncharacteristic stutters in his speech patterns upon breaking free.
But Alchemist -was- free. And judging by the light streaming down from the top of the creature, he was dealing with a portion of the abomination himself.
-- Red Inferno, please confirm: Flame capability has not been reduced by current upgrade Y/N?--
A blast of heat and light kept the creature from reaching up towards its head, though it released a long, gurgling groan from the massive holes in its face.
-- Confirmation: Intensity and duration have expanded by 40%. Ability to sustain has increased by 200% --
Pulling himself free, Red Tornado factored her current capabilities into his calculations and reached a favorable sum.
-- Red Torpedo, please confirm: Hydrokinetic control has expanded in volume and manipulation Y/N? --
Red Torpedo himself was making adequate use of the foul, brackish fluids that had broken free of the container that still held the bottom-most segment of the abomination. A dozen thin streams had been pulled from the liquid and were jetting into the exposed segments of the creature, slowly but surely boring holes throughout.
-- Y --
Holes that now remained since Alchemist had, for some inexplicable reason, chosen to consume an unknown device after casting some form of magic on it that even Red Tornado had been able to sense.
Assuming correlation, the device had been responsible for the abomination's astounding self-repair capabilities.
-- Prepare to evacuate the immediate vicinity. Red Inferno and myself will deal with the entity. Be ready to contain any spread which may occur. --
Flying up, avoiding the numerous smaller limbs that belonged to the constituent bodies that made up the larger entity, Red Tornado leveled out evenly where Alchemist stood atop the grotesque head of the creature. He stood before an oozing stump, his claws holding firm to the flailing scalp beneath him. All that remained of what was once the controlling portion of the creature, it seemed.
"Alchemist," Red Tornado called, getting the dragon's attention. It slowly turned to face him and the android made note of the distant look in the creature's eyes.
Something had happened. Red Tornado had only rarely seen the sort of unfocused gaze outside of war theaters.
"Red Inferno and I will begin cleansing procedures. It is advisable that you evacuate immediately."
For a moment it seemed as though the dragon had not heard him. As the seconds ticked by and the beast flailed underneath of them, the probability steadily increased until Alchemist simply and silently nodded at sixty-three percent. The man spread his wings and, with a single great flap, quickly ascended out of the same hole that Red Tornado and his siblings had entered through.
He was followed an instant later by Red Torpedo, riding a pillar of water that broke apart before the android had reached the top but propelled him upwards in a spray of water.
-- Please make your way to the top. -- Red Tornado sent to Inferno as he rose as well. She broke off her own assault on the wildly flailing beast and flew upwards, outspeeding and passing Tornado as he went up. Once he'd nearly reached the lip of the skylight, he sent her another text. -- Aim a continuous stream of flame towards one of the walls with a downward angle between fifteen and twenty degrees. I will provide the airflow. --
The creature down below, blind and deaf with neither eyes nor ears, it lashed out at random. Punching holes in the walls of the round tower that had been built around it.
Those would be more than adequate to assist in Red Tornado's efforts.
-- Affirmative, -- Red Inferno sent back as she anchored herself on the roof of the tower. The woman wasted no time in sending forth a jet of flames. It was far from the hottest she could produce but, between her experience and the upgrades the Morrow Android had put her through, it was likely that she could sustain them for an extended duration.
Red Tornado waited several moments for the heat to build up within the building before he held his own hands out and commanded the winds around himself to flow down, into the makeshift kiln below.
The change was immediate, the flames, already roaring, rose in pitch and volume immensely. The beast below began to scream wordlessly as the two androids worked in harmony to create a forced-air furnace.
Red Torpedo watched the events silently whilst Alchemist flew through the air overhead, hovering underneath of the concerning black disc in the sky.
Once upon a time, back in the forties, even a reasonably simple action like sustaining a wind tunnel would have demanded Red Tornado's full attention.
Now? Decades later and with quite a few upgrades underneath of him?
-- Code Red -- Tornado sent off to every member of the Justice League. --Bialya has fallen. The perpetrator may be deceased. Details unknown at this time. --
The screams within the kiln went silent but both Red Tornado and Inferno maintained their grisly work.
-- Repeat: This is a top priority Code Red alert. Immediate assistance from all available members of the Justice League is required. Bialya has fallen. Survivors unknown. --
Tilting his head up, Red Tornado observed Alchemist as the dragon descended on to a nearby building and collapsed on to his side.
-- Be advised- Affiliate: Alchemist may require medical attention. --
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Staring up at the hole Psimon had summoned into the fabric of reality, joining it with the realm of dreams and nightmares, Alchemist had a lot of questions.
He knew that Motherboxes and Fatherboxes could breach the dimensional divide. It wasn't a common use because intentionally entering the multiverse carried a lot of risks that even the New Gods didn't want to work with, no, but it was still technically possible. He'd not known that it could penetrate into foreign planes but that wasn't especially surprising.
No, the biggest question on Alchemist's mind was 'Why did Intergang leave behind a god damned Fatherbox!'
He could make a few guesses, sure, but he was operating on a dearth of information. His best guess was probably for targeting purposes. A Fatherbox or Motherbox could both open a Boomtube across the galaxy, sure, but targeting was an issue. The larger the distance the more math that had to be done. Having a beacon that could be aimed at would simplify things immensely.
As Alchemist pulled himself over the railing and up on to the stairs, he needed to figure out what priority to deal with things.
"Yes!" Psimon crowed as the malformed body he was connected to pulled itself up and out of its incubation tube. The bodies that had been embedded in the walls were being pulled into it, drawn in by the thick mass of veins that had covered every surface. "A realm connected to the minds of all that live! I shall feast! And I shall grow to become the king of the gods within this new world!"
That. Alchemist needed to deal with that.
Alchemist shook the cobwebs clear as he took in what all he was dealing with.
A giant body made out of people that were probably brain dead or else had their minds completely overwritten to support Psimon. A Fatherbox that was holding open a hole in reality. Psimon himself, though Alchemist was far from certain that destroying the obvious body would actually have any meaningful impact.
Alchemist sheathed his knife and recalled the Dragoon Laser, the gun having flown from his hands when he'd been knocked over.
Looking up towards the growing hole that Psimon was angling towards, Alchemist raised one hand and snapped his fingers-
Blotting out the Boomtube with a black gate, a one-way door directly to annihilation.
"...What?" Psimon asked dumbly, the countless faces embedded into his monstrous flesh turning their eyes to focus on the two-dimensional hole that was consuming the beam fed into it by the Fatherbox. "What is this?! What have you do-"
Psimon's head exploded as a beam of coherent energy ripped through it, courtesy of the Dragoon. The absolutely massive torso that had been pulling itself out of the tube slowed down, hundreds, possibly thousands of much smaller arms jutting out of it spasmed wildly for a moment before settling down.
And Psimon's head began to quickly reform.
Alchemist watched the proceedings with a spiteful glare, his gaze turning down to look at the Fatherbox that had stopped firing its beam and simply hovered in the air, holding the charge.
That needed dealt with. Badly.
~~ FROM: Alchemist EX-01 ~~
~~ TO: Alchemist ~~
~~ I haven't found another living thing here that wasn't a plant. At all. No dogs, no cats, not even mice. Just the soldiers, no other people. Between me and myself, we're pretty sure that everyone is in the palace, though. I think you might have pissed someone off. Also, got something incoming from the west. Small, humanoid, moving pretty damned fast. Might be four or five minutes out. ~~
Correction. That needed dealt with, first.
"You!" Psimon howled, twisting indecisively between Alchemist and the roof. "You will not stop-"
Psimon was rather rudely interrupted.
When Alchemist shot him again.
The wizard made an internal note that the giant mass of corpse-flesh that the psychic was connected to went slack for a second as the Psimon appendage began to reassemble itself.
Not a huge opening, no, but it was one he could-
~~ Congratulations! ~~
~~ Spell: Teleport has reached level (32)! ~~
~~ Spell: Mindblank has reached level (200)! ~~
~~ Spell: Standstill has reached level (112)! ~~
Alchemist's thoughts listed as he was inundated with the memories of his other half using Standstill to casually stroll through the damned palace and hit the soldiers and metahumans with Mindblank before Teleporting them to Cairo.
"...What?" Psimon said, his voice carrying through the still, empty chamber. "What happened? Where are my men? They're all... gone? It's so... quiet."
Alchemist let the mad idiot mumble to himself as Alchemist lined himself up with the Fatherbox.
He'd been waiting for his extract clones to send him an update on what was going on outside the palace. He didn't know how he felt about the lack of any other living souls considering that most likely meant Psimon had eaten them but it very firmly told the wizard that peace was not an option.
With a hearty crash, Alchemist launched himself off of the stairs, crumpling them behind himself as he Jumped at the Fatherbox-
"No!" Psimon shrieked, a wave of telekinetic force slamming into Alchemist's side and smashing him into the far wall. "You've taken everything else! You won't take my key!"
"Not everything!" Alchemist shouted up towards the living bit of Psimon before he launched himself out of the hole he'd formed in the wall.
He missed his second shot, landing on the twisted torso of the aggregate giant instead. Immediately there were dozens of hands latching on to him, trying to drag him into the writhing mass.
The flames of Cremation filled Alchemist's left hand and the grasping claws upon him backed away from the white hot flames.
"You're still alive, after all," Alchemist's voice carried a menacing surety. "I will find a way to change that, I promise."
The mage fell away from the body and down, down to the still-hovering box that was barely bigger than a common brick. He held one hand out, catching on to the box and arresting his momentum. In an instant, Alchemist began to press into the box with Transmutation while the box itself began releasing an increasingly distressed sounding 'Ting!'
"No!" Psimon shouted in desperation, the massive beast twisting and churning as it twisted around. Looking over his shoulder, Alchemist could see Psimon had bent the broken body nearly in half to try and get close to him. "Let go of that! You've no idea what you're doing!"
Instead, as Alchemist's system continuously threw pages and pages of material names at him, things that Alchemist would need a PhD just to try and pronounce, the wizard raised his gun one more time-
And Psimon pulled a device out of his robes. It looked like a small, metal orb at first before it began to spark with lightning.
As Alchemist lined up his shot with Psimon's empty skull one more time, the psychic squeezed the orb and the electricity arcing around it exploded out in a wave.
Alchemist squeezed the trigger just as the wave struck him-
The wizard... wasn't actually sure what had just happened. He was falling, the Fatherbox continued to hover overhead-
He didn't remember letting go... and it was hard for him to focus over the sound of screaming.
Who was screaming? Psimon usually just-
Alchemist slammed into the edge of the tube that Psimon's body had crawled out of and he realized, as feeling flooded back to him in pure, unbridled agony, that he was the one that was screaming. It was more than enough to keep the wizard from reading what was possibly the most important System Message he'd yet gotten-
~~ Tenth Metal has been added to Alchemy: Conversion ~~
-----
Psimon's face twisted into a wide, manic smile as the shadow that had been hounding him dropped away from the Key he'd reclaimed from the fools in Bialya. The idiot's screams were music to his ears.
Manipulating his grand form, he picked the shadow up by one leg in one great hand and lifted it high enough that he could look upon its sniveling, crying form.
"Did you think you could succeed, Mini-Miser?" Psimon asked as he slammed the shadow's body through the catwalk that led down to his incubater.
"Did you think that you could stop me?!" Psimon shouted, glee in his voice as he smashed the shadow into the walls.
It hurt, true. The body he'd built from the remains of those who'd been incapable, of those that were not worth subsuming beneath his will, it was still made of flesh and blood. Punching the shadow through the walls of his temple harmed the weak flesh but his Key repaired it almost as quickly as it happened.
"Whatever you came for? Whatever you thought to steal?" Psimon doubted the damned fool could even understand him at this point but it felt so good to finally have an audience that wasn't just a portion of his own mind. "You thought to challenge a god! Whatever puny gun you brought, it was never going to be enough!"
Looking up, however, soured the mood brought about by Psimon's good fortunes. The black disc that Mini-Miser had placed in front of his portal still remained.
Lifting the broken, weeping form before himself once more, Psimon growled and the great, incomplete body beneath of him growled in turn.
"You will remove your barrier from my portal!" Psimon demanded, shouting through the shadow's quiet sobbing. When the fool failed to do anything, Psimon retrieved his Orb of Punishment from within his robes. "Do not think that I will not-"
The shadow made a swiping motion with one hand and the orb disappeared from Psimon's grip.
"You-!" Psimon shrieked, well and fully tired of dealing with the damned interloper. "You have interfered for the last time!"
Psimon lifted the Mini-Miser up and well above his head before slamming him back down in a large arc, right into the side of the tube holding the rest of Psimon's body.
It released a loud, satisfying 'Crack!'
Psimon repeated the act once, then twice, and then, on the third strike, he fully broke the side of the massive canister. Thick, foul liquid spilled from the shattered glass.
But Mini-Miser seemed wholly unharmed.
With a deep grunt from his monstrous head, Psimon began to bring Mini-Miser back up to slam him into something else when a bright flash of heat and pain distracted him, blinding the psychic. Psimon reflexively released his hold on the thief to shield his eyes and face-
"This has gone far enough," a flat, mechanical voice proclaimed.
Looking up, Psimon saw a trio of red androids hovering around the porthole at the top of the tower.
One hovered in the air, shrouded in a controlled whirlwind of crimson.
One remained upright by a pair of fiery jets emanating from their feet.
The third stood atop a cloud.
All three were gazing down at Psimon, their empty minds perhaps even more offensive to him than even Mini-Miser's.
"Ting!" and his Key called out, drawing Psimon's attention away from the androids and down towards the ground. Mini-Miser had once again placed himself against it, though now the damned shadow seemed to be standing in mid-air.
He had both of his hands on the device, turned so that the mostly-unobstructed side without the strange, beautiful symbol was facing upwards.
"Ting!" the Key cried out in desperation as hideous blue-silver symbols were somehow etched into its frame.
"L-love..." Mini-Miser whispered, barely audible across the distance. "Plus compassion..."
"Get away from that!" Psimon shouted in fear as his Key continued to desperately ting in fear. "You don't know what you're doing!"
Psimon slammed his hands down but they impacted an invisible wall, coming to a sudden and painful halt.
"Plus ho-hope, divided by will, divided by fear," Mini-Miser continued, a silver glow growing around him as he continued to etch a series of round symbols into the Key. Even across the distance, Psimon recognized the emblem of Green Lantern among the other bits and pieces. "Minus avarice, minus rage..."
Psimon felt his power flicker, felt a strain throughout both bodies.
Felt fear.
In desperation, he tried to strike at Mini-Miser-
No, not Mini-Miser. The shadows faded away, forced off by the foul light he was filling the Key with. They revealed a large man clad in thick, black armor.
"Alchemist!" one of the androids overhead shouted. Psimon looked up just in time for a crimson fist to slam into his face. "What is going on? Where are the civilians?!"
"Gone," the man within the invisible box shouted up, his voice rough and raspy. "That -thing- ate them. All of them."
Psimon lashed out, not with physical force but rather with the impressive psychic power he'd obtained from embedding every meager mental gift that had existed nearby into his new body. It sent the androids slamming into the walls.
And did nothing to Alchemist.
Psimon screeched wordlessly as he twisted his form against the box, slamming all of his hands and fists into an invisible barrier that surrounded the interloper.
It also left him close enough to fully make out what had been done to the Key of his ascension.
The crimson glow that had emanated from every nook and cranny of his box had faded away, transformed into a silver light that Psimon could feel penetrating into his very soul. The symbol that Alchemist had made was a series of seven circles that were themselves in a circle.
And, as Psimon howled and raged ineffectively, he saw a final symbol etching itself into the center of them all. It looked to be a series of seven rays focusing into an equilateral triangle, the tip pointed down while the flat was facing the incoming lights.
"These," Alchemist whispered, wobbling on his feet even as his voice steadied. "These are the lights of LIFE!"
Psimon's every nerve lit up in flames. Agony born of infection, no longer held at bay by the wondrous power of his Key tore at every fragment of his physical form.
The psychic screamed, every mouth on his body screamed, hissed and cried as he struggled to hold his body together.
"No!" Psimon begged, his strength waning. "How could you? How could you?!"
Rather than answer him, Alchemist turned momentarily to look at him-
And then was replaced by a dragon, one with long, spindly limbs and beautiful wings filled with stars, stolen from the sky. It looked at him for a moment, alien wisdom within its eyes before they filled with something that infuriated Psimon enough that he found the strength to push aside his agony.
It was looking at him with pity.
The dragon broke its gaze upon Psimon to look back down upon the corrupted Key, tilting its head from side to side for a moment-
And then it opened its maw wide and bit into Psimon's Key of Ascension. The case shattered loudly, fragments of its strange, unknowable materials dropped to the bottom of the invisible box.
"No..." Psimon whispered.
"Yesh," Alchemist hissed in response with his mouth full. He swallowed slowly and Psimon could see the remains of his Key slide down the creature's long throat.
The psychic missed what happened afterwards but the dragon was inside the box one moment and the next it had its claws buried in Psimon's chest.
"Round two," the dragon said, brilliant golden light burning in its throat. "Bitch."
-----
Red Tornado pulled himself free of the wall he'd been embedded in and surveyed the ongoing conflict.
At the base of the giant entity comprised of spasming limbs stood Red Torpedo, making use of his hydrokinetic capabilities to slice into the giant organism.
Red Inferno was making herself useful in preventing it from effectively grabbing on to anything. Each time it would move its arms in an effort to make an attack, she was quick to release a concussive ball of flames to knock those limbs off course.
Tilting his head upwards, making note of the grinding that came from several critical units, Red Tornado observed Alchemist. The man had seemed insensate at first as the abomination swung him about with wild abandon and the android had noted several uncharacteristic stutters in his speech patterns upon breaking free.
But Alchemist -was- free. And judging by the light streaming down from the top of the creature, he was dealing with a portion of the abomination himself.
-- Red Inferno, please confirm: Flame capability has not been reduced by current upgrade Y/N?--
A blast of heat and light kept the creature from reaching up towards its head, though it released a long, gurgling groan from the massive holes in its face.
-- Confirmation: Intensity and duration have expanded by 40%. Ability to sustain has increased by 200% --
Pulling himself free, Red Tornado factored her current capabilities into his calculations and reached a favorable sum.
-- Red Torpedo, please confirm: Hydrokinetic control has expanded in volume and manipulation Y/N? --
Red Torpedo himself was making adequate use of the foul, brackish fluids that had broken free of the container that still held the bottom-most segment of the abomination. A dozen thin streams had been pulled from the liquid and were jetting into the exposed segments of the creature, slowly but surely boring holes throughout.
-- Y --
Holes that now remained since Alchemist had, for some inexplicable reason, chosen to consume an unknown device after casting some form of magic on it that even Red Tornado had been able to sense.
Assuming correlation, the device had been responsible for the abomination's astounding self-repair capabilities.
-- Prepare to evacuate the immediate vicinity. Red Inferno and myself will deal with the entity. Be ready to contain any spread which may occur. --
Flying up, avoiding the numerous smaller limbs that belonged to the constituent bodies that made up the larger entity, Red Tornado leveled out evenly where Alchemist stood atop the grotesque head of the creature. He stood before an oozing stump, his claws holding firm to the flailing scalp beneath him. All that remained of what was once the controlling portion of the creature, it seemed.
"Alchemist," Red Tornado called, getting the dragon's attention. It slowly turned to face him and the android made note of the distant look in the creature's eyes.
Something had happened. Red Tornado had only rarely seen the sort of unfocused gaze outside of war theaters.
"Red Inferno and I will begin cleansing procedures. It is advisable that you evacuate immediately."
For a moment it seemed as though the dragon had not heard him. As the seconds ticked by and the beast flailed underneath of them, the probability steadily increased until Alchemist simply and silently nodded at sixty-three percent. The man spread his wings and, with a single great flap, quickly ascended out of the same hole that Red Tornado and his siblings had entered through.
He was followed an instant later by Red Torpedo, riding a pillar of water that broke apart before the android had reached the top but propelled him upwards in a spray of water.
-- Please make your way to the top. -- Red Tornado sent to Inferno as he rose as well. She broke off her own assault on the wildly flailing beast and flew upwards, outspeeding and passing Tornado as he went up. Once he'd nearly reached the lip of the skylight, he sent her another text. -- Aim a continuous stream of flame towards one of the walls with a downward angle between fifteen and twenty degrees. I will provide the airflow. --
The creature down below, blind and deaf with neither eyes nor ears, it lashed out at random. Punching holes in the walls of the round tower that had been built around it.
Those would be more than adequate to assist in Red Tornado's efforts.
-- Affirmative, -- Red Inferno sent back as she anchored herself on the roof of the tower. The woman wasted no time in sending forth a jet of flames. It was far from the hottest she could produce but, between her experience and the upgrades the Morrow Android had put her through, it was likely that she could sustain them for an extended duration.
Red Tornado waited several moments for the heat to build up within the building before he held his own hands out and commanded the winds around himself to flow down, into the makeshift kiln below.
The change was immediate, the flames, already roaring, rose in pitch and volume immensely. The beast below began to scream wordlessly as the two androids worked in harmony to create a forced-air furnace.
Red Torpedo watched the events silently whilst Alchemist flew through the air overhead, hovering underneath of the concerning black disc in the sky.
Once upon a time, back in the forties, even a reasonably simple action like sustaining a wind tunnel would have demanded Red Tornado's full attention.
Now? Decades later and with quite a few upgrades underneath of him?
-- Code Red -- Tornado sent off to every member of the Justice League. --Bialya has fallen. The perpetrator may be deceased. Details unknown at this time. --
The screams within the kiln went silent but both Red Tornado and Inferno maintained their grisly work.
-- Repeat: This is a top priority Code Red alert. Immediate assistance from all available members of the Justice League is required. Bialya has fallen. Survivors unknown. --
Tilting his head up, Red Tornado observed Alchemist as the dragon descended on to a nearby building and collapsed on to his side.
-- Be advised- Affiliate: Alchemist may require medical attention. --
How will the System handle Alchemist eating a Fatherbox probably purified, or remade into something new by tapping into the Lights of the Emotional Spectrum and evoking the Life Entity?
Yeah. Terra's not gonna have a good time. Also, Alchemist too. The debrief is gonna be hell, and the chaos. Delicious.
Thanks for sharing.
Yeah. Terra's not gonna have a good time. Also, Alchemist too. The debrief is gonna be hell, and the chaos. Delicious.
Thanks for sharing.
And nothing of value was lost
At least he ate the evidence of him being able to create Xth metal and the life equation so no-one will get their hands on them and less people will pick up on them being used.
Did not expect anything that happened this chapter except the androids coming. I like it all the same
- Location
- United States
It always confused me why division is in both the life and anti life equations.
In the life equation, the more respect, commendation, and sympathy you have the lower the final answer. And in the anti-life the more mockery, condemnation, and misunderstanding you have the smaller the answer as well.
Based on the other items being added and multiplied each wants as large of an answer as it can. So they should either be multiplication as well or the terms being divided should be swapped between the equations so that the less of those reversed emotions, the larger the final answer.
- Location
- Paradise, Hawaii
Biayla has fallen, the Light had indirect confirmation one of L1 or Randal Savage's get was in the area, who was doing the whole "VENGENCE!", Ra was polite about it.
So, no one is left.
Is the last inhabitants, who are with Player One at the Mountain now considered as Ruling Material?
Red Family got rid of Psimon, a Grisly work. Red sent out an alert, Superman may be on the way. Or Wonder Woman's.
Alchemist seems to rub shoulders with the Justice Brass.
Thanks for the snip
So, no one is left.
Is the last inhabitants, who are with Player One at the Mountain now considered as Ruling Material?
Red Family got rid of Psimon, a Grisly work. Red sent out an alert, Superman may be on the way. Or Wonder Woman's.
Alchemist seems to rub shoulders with the Justice Brass.
Thanks for the snip
Emizaquel
What is a self?
The Life Equation was something the martians came up with somehow. Darkseid learned about it's existence and basically copied their homework to try and create the anti-life. It's why he still hasn't found it. he's bad at math.
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Uh-oh, Alchemist just painted a big target on his back by tapping into LIFE energy. At least a dozen A-rank metahumans will sense LIFE and seek out answers: the Guardians of Oa, the Forever People, Swamp Thing the plant elemental, maybe Poison Ivy in Belle Reve Penitentiary, etc.
Score sheet:
🪴🌴Alchemist's LIFE-related events:
=(1) Liberated an alternate universe Life Entity from the Zombie-Earth ID.
=(2) In Final Fantasy 7, he removed Jenova from Gaia's Lifestream.
=(3) Mastered the creation of Living Steel, iron impregnated with raw positive energy, from which he built a golem body for his soul to inhabit.
=(4) Cast an Entangle-enhanced Heal to destroy Europe's vampires and healed millions.
=(5) Indirectly tapped into LIFE to destroy a Fatherbox.
=(6) Resurrected Alex, daughter of Louisa Ferre a.k.a. Lucifer Morningstar.
👻☠️Alchemist's DEATH-related events:
=(1) Died and got shoved into a new living vessel.
=(2) Had a multiverse-tier anthropomorphic personification of DEATH personally transfer his soul from one vessel to another, i.e. literately "touched by death."
=(3) Without any spells or rituals, he was able to call upon DEATH to free the souls of undead babies in the "Dark Souls" series.
=(4) Killed the Zombie-Earth's AU Poison Ivy, an Avatar of the Rot.
=(5) Spent days/weeks (???) in the Greek Underworld fulfilling a quest from DC-Hades.
=(6) Summoned the ghosts of Thomas and Martha Wayne on 🎃Halloween night, when the boundaries between realms are at their weakest.