On top of a building, a dark figure stood, cape fluttering in the wind, with a razor-sharp smile and red eyes.
He faced down a reborn Crusade, the pair of White Hawk and Stockpile putting aside their differences from one another a final time to strike at their hated foes, Justice Unlimited. They had been informed that the team went to fight the Hand, so it was decided it was the perfect time to destroy the heart and home of Justice Unlimited, The Apiary. However, they now found a figure standing in their way, and its gaze sent a chill down their spines.
"Who are you?" asked Stockpile, trying not to avoid their eyes and failing miserably.
"Oh, you know who I am," Replied the figure. "Though the costume is new, I admit."
"We know of every metahuman in this city," White Hawk replied. "Don't play games with us."
"Games? You simply lack imagination." He replied in an amused voice. "But if you are so curious to know…"
He stepped into the light. What they thought was a cape was in fact a cloak artfully placed above strong shoulders. He wore simple finery in all-black but for a blood-colored emblem placed above his heart.
However, their face was unmistakable, even to them. Someone who had come up in multiple meetings as a possible criminal associate of Justice Unlimited, now seeming to emit a dark glow of unknown power.
"Cain." White Hawk said simply, with a grave tone to his voice. "So it's true. Justice Unlimited can grant powers."
"Took you a while to figure that one out, eh?" Cain replied with an amused tone. "No need to hide it now, since things are coming to a head."
"Justice Unlimited is viler than I thought." Said Stockpile. "Giving power to a monster like you."
"Monster to monster, isn't it appropriate this way?" Cain replied. "Though it seems I overdressed for the occasion."
"Hmpf. If you are cosplaying Nox Esurientem, you are doing a lousy job." White Hawk answered back. "Though the costume does make it easier to beat you up, not that I needed much help." He said with a dangerous smile.
"Oh, you will need much more help than you have, if you wish to beat me." Can replied easily.
"Quit stalling." Stockpile fired back. "You want to delay us so help can come. It's not gonna work out, so why don't we stop with this charade?"
"Don't worry, the plan was never to delay you, but defeat you." Cain replied easily. "I'm more than enough for the both of you. But enough talk, have at you!" He exclaimed, and leaped to the air.
In an instant, he changed. A furred monster emerged, black wings hiding the sky, a nine feet tall body filled with muscles, with sharp claws and teeth of a sabretooth tiger.
Stockpile teleported to meet him while White Hawk flew up. A simple move where the former attacked with his psychic blade while the latter exploited his attempt to dodge. However, Cain simply did not bother dodging, the blade scratching his skin but failing to draw blood.
Instead Stockpile was grabbed by the head and thrown into the incoming White Hawk. The impromptu projectile was successfully dodged, only for White Hawk to stare at rows of blade-teeth closing to bite him. At the last moment he managed to hold the maw apart with his hands, heaving with effort and blood flowing down his arms. Stockpile teleported again and hit Cain in the throat, making him spit out White Hawk, who tumbled to the ground.
Stockpile teleported beside him, and Cain landed in front of them. "You know," the monster said mockingly, "that kick almost hurt."
White Hawk got back on his feet while Stockpile activated his psychic siphon. "You should have killed me while you had the chance," He said. "Now your defeat is inevitable." White Hawk looked askance at Stockpile, but said nothing. Accepting the pain to defeat this monster.
"Oh, I heard of this trick." Said Cain with a dismissive tone. "But are you sure I'll be the one to fall first?"
As he said those words, the pair felt it. A deep emptiness, like their souls were being hollowed out.
"What is this?" Said White Hawk, tone weary. His hand was over his heart, as if in pain. Stockpile's breathing had become more labored, and his thoughts seemed to be dulling.
"The boy's not the only one who can take the strength of his enemies." Cain said with a blade-filled smile. "I could simply toy with you now, flying out of range of his siphon while you two get slowly cored out from the inside, souls becoming empty. But then I'd be late for my stream, and we can't have that!" exclaimed Cain, dashing towards them. The ground cracked beneath him, and a gust flew out of his former spot.
The pair moved in different directions to escape, only for Cain's body to seemingly grow, catching both by their legs using his now-bigger arms. Stockpile tried to teleport out, only for Cain to teleport right with him, grip never leaving. He now hanged both up side down, the pair seeming drained of will.
"How pitifully easy." Remarked Cain. "Christian is going to be disappointed when I tell what happened."
"We won't be the last." Said White Hawk, eyes still glowing with defiance. "The currents of this world go deeper than you can even conceive of."
"I've been the underdog for most of my life." Cain replied, his voice nearly a growl. "It's good feeling on top for now, but those big dogs you seem to resent so much? It's all old hat for me."
"Justice Unlimited will doom the world." Said Stockpile, eyes nearly empty.
"Man, you're still on that bullshit. It's complicated to explain, but we're still the good guys, so chill out. Well, you can't right now, but later. After I find out where to put you both."
"But Cain," White Hawk said, a smile creeping up his face. "You aren't going to miss the final day of power testing, right?
"What the hell are you- "A shrill sound rang out, Cain's eyes widening in recognition. It was…
**************************************************
Simão woke up and groaned, screen turned wake-up alarm still blaring. He usually doesn't need it, but he decided to set one after yesterday, because he had felt overwhelmed with power after the testing; overwhelmed and excited. So he took some meds to sleep it off and now here he was.
Man, it must have affected him more than he thought, if he was having dreams like that.
______________________________________________ The Predator of Man – Nox Esurientem, The Red Huntress, Daggermaw
The power to transform into a terrifying winged monster with extreme strength, toughness and speed. If they touch someone, they can designate them as "Prey", allowing him to see their actions six seconds into the future and draining their emotions over time, eventually turning them into vegetative-like state. The more emotions they drain, stronger their powers become and they acquire new ones, like teleportation, regeneration, invisibility and even energy blasts. No known upper limit on their abilities is known.
AN: After everyone made an omake for their candidate, I got embarrassed and made this. The power is a very simple combination of all 3 DNA, and I got to poke fun at Cain's aura farming habits, so it was somewhat fun to write.
[X] . . . feel the warmth of a well-tended hearth.
[X] . . . hear the sound of crashing waves
Somewhere Else—February 2, 2068
You are Yara Oliveira.
You sit on the rear deck of a cozy beach house overlooking the sea. The house is built on stilts, and the back wall of it is a large sliding-glass door that opens the living room up to the deck. In the center of the deck is a pit with a bonfire crackling merrily and warding off any chill from the ocean. On the deck are comfortable lounge chairs, a table with a parasol, a grill, and a great semi-circular couch around the bonfire. It's on said couch that you currently lounge.
From your seated position, you gaze into the water. It is dark, deep, and formless like liquid night. There's something soothing about just sitting here with your eyes shut and listening to the sound of waves. It's a balm to your soul, a lullaby from the mother you never got to meet.
You are just about to drift back to sleep when you feel something.
Someone.
Reluctantly, you rise from your spot near the fire and walk to the edge of the deck. The ocean is all around you, but, between your home and the waves, there is a great expanse of white sand that shines in the moonlight. Standing there, facing the sea, is a weeping woman.
You're 95% sure that she isn't a ghost. Mostly sure. Pretty mostly sure.
Well, okay, not that sure. But you're not going to leave her alone, so whatever!
You find the stairs to the beach and walk down. You've never been on this island before, but you instinctively know how to get to the woman. As you approach, you see her dark hair and tired, brown eyes. But at the same time, the image flickers and you see a figure wearing a black bodysuit spangled with stars, a green cape, and a green hood.
Her name comes to you.
Heavenly Astrologian. Han Yu.
"Of all the fates for my child," her voice whispers on the wind, "I feared her becoming a hero the most. Now she bears the title of 'Valiant' and walks in golden armor. Is she doomed to be like me? Wearing herself down to nothing in service to others, but never herself? Is the sickness in my blood?"
". . . I don't know," you admit, caught off guard, "But . . . she seems happ—no, that's a lie. She's maybe the most intense person I've ever met. I, uh, don't think she does 'happy'? But it seems like being a hero is what she wants to be doing, y'know?"
"I wanted my daughter to only know joy."
"That's . . . uh, maybe not who she is?" you offer. Admittedly, you didn't spend too much time with Ellie, but she's didn't smile except when—
A grin stretches across your face.
"Weeeeell, she sure seemed joyful when talking to her girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?"
"Yeah! Black Swan, the hero with the golden hair? Come on, you saw how she was all 'my Swan' and 'I've lost myself in unlimited cosmic power, oh wait I'm making babygirl sad, forget this!' You had to have seen it!"
The specter turns to consider you.
"It wasn't very subtle, was it?"
"They're in love!" you exclaim, "And what more could you want for your daughter?"
"Perhaps you're right." Heavenly Astrologian smiles at you and then laughs. "Love is a wonderful thing."
She dissolves into a light posse of fireflies. You watch them dance across the surface of the water, as they begin their long journey to wherever they must go next.
You stay there and breathe in the salt air for a while.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—Praça do Orixá—February 2, 2068
You are Mona Merola-Morales.
This is a great idea! You've never been to one of the swap-meets at the Praça do Orixá—it was too far away from the Worker's Mitt to ever be worth the trip—but, now that you can fly, you'll come every month! There are stalls and stalls of people selling things as far as the eye can see! Food, toys, books, games, clothes, these cute little seashell earrings, other jewelry, was that a goat?, furniture, everything!
And there are so many people! Horizon has a large population—it is the fourth largest metropolis in the world behind Tokyo, Delhi, and Shanghai—but a low population density. There are a lot of people, but they are spread out across the various boroughs that dot Marajó. That made it rare to see a true crowd like this, and you are feeling giddy at the sight of all of these people.
Now, what would Ellie like . . . m-maybe another leather jacket? You bite your lip.
Cain walks next to you with his hands behind his head, broad grin on his face, cigarette clenched in his teeth. There's a domino mask over his eyes to protect his identity; it would be trivial for someone to figure out who the man hanging out with two metahumans is otherwise.
"Ah, I do love the flea market!" he says between drags, "You can find whatever your heart desires here. Whatever it is!"
However, the third member of your party is less enamored.
"Hn. This is a pale imitation of what it used to be. In the early days of Horizon, it would stretch from one end of the borough to the other." Scarlet Maturity says in contempt, "And it was a true flea market. Every stall was set up and run by the residents of the borough. There were no 'OrbCo Presents: Pib the Wonder Hound, a Edutainment Experience'."
"Ah! That's just what I need!" Cain says, walking toward the stall, "My nephew is wild for Pib the Wonder Hound!"
"Oooh, is that the dog with a cape?" you ask.
"And a gun! He solves conflict with measured discussion and, failing that, extreme violence! I love the little guy!"
"Ellie likes measured discussion followed by extreme violence! She does it all the time!"
Scarlet Maturity growls as Cain queues up in the stall. "This is quickly proving wearisome. Remind mewhy I'm here, watching you two do your shopping?"
"I dunno," you say waving your hand dismissively at him, "'Cuz you're lonely or something?"
"What?"
"Yeah!" you say, "You're old, right? I'm nineteen! Why else would an old guy want to hang out with me?"
". . . I'm the same age as King," he says a touch defensively, crossing his arms, "And mostly for the novelty. I told you it's been some time since I interacted with a peer—"
"Oooooh, look at the Valiant Silver knock-off dolls!" you shout, racing away to a nearby stall, "Aww, the armor's shaped all wrong! And why's it purple and chrome? That's not one of her legally recognized commercial variants!"
"Yeah, I found it in my dad's old junk," says the red-eyed teen running the stall, "I think it's supposed to be Valiant Red though? 'cuz it's really old. I can sell it to you for . . . twenty dollars? But if you have any TimBucks . . ."
"Cryptocurrency is for con artists and drug dealers!"
"Okay, okay!" he says, holding his hands up, "Twenty it is for the shitty Valiant Red—"
"That," Scarlet Maturity nearly roars, snatching the figure out of his hands, "Is not Valiant Red! That is Fantastic Metal. She was twice the metahuman Valiant Red was with half the pretension! Your price is an insult! I demand you sell her action figure for what it's worth!"
He towers over the teen, bringing his full thirteen-feet to bear as he glares down.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" the teen sobs, "Uh . . . it's, uh, t-twenty-five dollars?"
"Only twenty-five?!"
"T-thirty!"
"Not even close!"
"T-t-two hundred!"
"Two-hundred for this? What a rip-off!"
"I don't know what you want!" the teen sobs, snot and tears running down his face, "I just need the money to take Joanie on a date!"
"Then maybe you should shower first," he growls. He then daintily takes out a wallet and a giant pair of tweezers from his back pocket. He fishes out some money and throws it at the kid before snatching the action figure and stomping off.
"That's . . . actually good advice," you say once you get a whiff of the teen, "And, uh, have a nice day!"
You zip after the Grumpiests of Guses as he grumps away. The crowd quickly parts around him to let him through. And you're already hearing hushed whispers about the scene he just made.
You swear, you can't take him anywhere!
"What was that about?" you demand, flying in front of his face with your hands on your hips, "You nearly made that stinky kid faint!"
"Nothing," he says, "It was a pointless outburst."
He looks at the doll of Fantastic Metal in his hands.
". . . I should not concern myself with what nonsense the weak believe. It doesn't matter in the end. Strength is all that persists. The weak will die, as is their fate."
Your throat seizes up at that. You think about how close everyone came to dying when Socialite Butterfly made her last move. If Ellie hadn't . . . changed into that thing, if Valiant Silver hadn't had one last trick up her sleeve, if things had been just a little bit different . . .
"Okay, I believe I had just about enough of you," a voice says, snapping you out of your spiral. Cain walks back, stuffed dog with a cape and pistol under one arm, glaring. "Oh 'wah-wah, only the strong survive'. Let me guess, someone you cared about died and now this is how you cope?"
He spreads out his arms, still holding the stuffed toy.
"Well, welcome to the club! It's terrible here!" he says, "Now, you're just like most people in the world. Only, you have superpowers, so, when you throw a tantrum like the giant baby you are, everyone has to pay attention!"
"What was that?" Scarlet Maturity takes a step forward.
"You heard me!" Cain sneers, "You piss me off. Look at all this power you have, and how do you use it? You act like a lapdog for a corp and hang out with a teenage girl when it gets too lonely!"
Cain laughs.
"If I were you? I'd do something. Take over this city, crush my enemies, build a good life for myself with a nice house big enough for my family and all the beautiful women who want to stop by!"
"Gross," you say.
"That was gross. I'm sorry, I'm trying to unlearn some things," he admits. He turns back to Scarlet Maturity. "But you? You just whine and piss and moan about how all you care about is 'strength'. Well, everyone knows how your power works now! Go fight King! Go attack Elysium! Here's Black Swan, right here, she can kill you as easily as anyone. Fight her until she makes you 'the strongest'!"
Scarlet Maturity grits his teeth.
"Ah, but you won't. Instead, you're watching us run our errands. Because we have things going on in our lives and you don't! Because you're too much of a coward to risk ever getting hurt again! So you hiss and growl like a stray cat, hoping someone will feel bad for you. Don't you, you little bitch-boy?"
Cain's words echo through the bazaar as Scarlet Maturity goes perfectly still. You see the moment when his brain catches up with his mouth in Cain's eyes. He miiiiight have crossed a line there. Scarlet Maturity raises his right hand, presses his middle finger against his thumb, and then flicks it at Cain.
You're in front of your stupid teammate(?) before you even fully process what's going on. The force of the displaced air still sends Cain flying and destroys dozens of stalls, but you spare him a major injury. Your construct-form flickers, but otherwise you're okay.
You stare the Terror of Horizon in the face.
You don't want to fight him again. You don't want to fight him again. You don't want to fight him again. You still have nightmares about that night that end with you floating alone in space while everyone you know has aged and died. You're Mona Merola-Morales. You just want to be a silly girl learning to be a hero and making friends wherever she goes.
You don't want to fight him again.
But you will.
For a horrible second you don't know what's going to happen next. Then Scarlet Maturity spits, cutting a divot in the ground and stalks away.
You let out the breath that you didn't know you were holding. And you don't even need to breathe! Holy poop, that was scary.
"Cain," you say to the man engulfed in the remains of several stalls.
"Yes?" he asks, trying to find his way out.
"That's strike one. Three strikes and you're a officially a butthead."
". . . that's fair."
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest–A House in the Worker's Mitt– February 2, 2068
You are Rhys Garnder.
". . . so I say 'Cabo'? Sounds like you should 'cab-go'!"
You laugh as Gus' father, Harold, finishes telling his anecdote. Man . . . he's got a lot of them! Gus' mother rolls her eyes, no doubt having heard this story a hundred times. Ellie, to your shock, laughs along and smiles.
"That's a great story, Mr. Schulte!" she says in a chipper, fucking Stepford-kinda way, "And this sauerkraut is excellent Mrs. Schulte. You'll have to give me your recipe!"
"Oh please, Mrs. Schulte is my mother! Call me Lucille!"
Ellie gives you a smirk over a forkful of fermented cabbage. You guess this is what she meant when she said when she was "getting good at family dinners"? Come to think of it Ellie tends to go all-out whenever she commits to something, doesn't she? You thought you were throwing her a curveball by making her transform on stage during the interview, but now "It's showtime" and "Valiant Gold, action!" were her catchphrases.
You gotta stop underestimating her.
"So how'd you and Ellie meet?" Harold asks, spearing a slice of schnitzel, "I don't think you ever said!"
"Oh, uh, at work," you say, "We're both over with Justice Unlimited. Ellie's in R&D and I'm with security—"
"Security!" Harold calls, "Oh, just like that man we met in Rio! You remember, Lucy, the one with the eyepatch?"
"Yes! Oh, he had the loveliest singing voice! We did karaoke—"
"Y-yeah," you say as they launch into yet another story.
Huh.
Honestly, this wasn't as bad as you feared. You were worried that your presence here would remind them of Gus and upset them, but they seem remarkably upbeat, all things considered. You suppose people process grief differently? And it's been five months . . . you guess people gotta move on eventually.
It's just not what you expected, is all.
You take a bite of eintopf to keep your expression neutral. Gus' parents were great . . . so how come he never introduced you to them? Was he ashamed of you? Leviathan's Blood, you never worried about that before, but as far as anyone knew you were a twenty-something working a dead-end job in the Ladder. Was he worried you wouldn't be good enough for his folks?
Six years. Six years you were together and you never met his folks. Why? He never said. And now you'll never really know.
"—but that's probably nothing compared to what you and Augustus would get up to!" Lucille says, finishing her story, "You two must have had some wild times!"
"Uhh, kinda?" Wild? Gus? "There was this one time at the South Docks—"
"Oh, the South Docks!" Lucille calls, "Harold, do you remember that weekend with Linda and Michael?"
"Do I?! I've never seen a man cry over American football like that before! You see, the Kansas City Jayhawks used to have a different name—get this—it was the—"
"Oh, yeah, that's . . . crazy," you say leaning back. Ellie shoots you a concerned glance, but you subtly waive her off. It's fine.
It was just one of your favorite stories with Gus is all. He almost never pulled out the "I'm a superhero" card, but you two once went to Pride at the South Docks. Some asshole tourists from the U.S. recognized your accent and gave you shit about "abandoning the red, white, and blue to go be a fairy-boy". You thought things were gonna turn ugly, but then Gus went off on them. He actually had some of his armor on under his outfit and he nearly stripped to fight them as Vulcan right then and there. You had to pull him off them.
Later, you would ask Gus why he snapped like that. He just said, "I don't like when people talk to you like that."
Well, you weren't a romantic or nothing, but you couldn't not rock his world after that, right?
You're still smiling to yourself when Harold finishes the anecdote. ". . . so the strippers went home and the hotel security was none the wiser! Ha!"
Lucille rolls her eyes. "You've been just waiting for an excuse to whip out that old story, haven't you?"
"Guilty as charged!"
"Well, you've talked our guests' ears off enough!" she scolds, "Stop sucking up all the air in the room! I want to hear more about Rhys!"
"Oh, yeah?" you say, perking up.
"Yes! You and Augustus were roommates for so long! But he never talked about you!"
"O-oh."
"So tell us all about 'Rhys Gardner'! What's your story?"
"Uhh, well," you say, rubbing the back of your head, "I'm from the States—"
"The States!" Lucille calls, "Oh, we've been to the United States! New York, the City that Never Sleeps! We saw the last production of Hadestown, before it went off Broadway and—"
Ellie shoots you a look, her choir-girl smile replaced with her usual stoic expression. You shrug back. You guess . . . they have a lot of stories?
You once asked Gus about what it was like for him growing up. He said his life was good, but he was kind of a loner. He didn't have a lot of friends, he had no siblings, he didn't really date, so he spent most of his time tinkering in his bedroom. Even before his Algernon-type powers manifested. You asked him if that meant he was close to his parents, and he had said, "Not really."
You asked him why not and he had just kinda shrugged. You forget why the conversation stopped there—you think the pizza had arrived or something—but you never did figure out what was up. One of many mysteries.
"—the most darling couple," Lucille says, obliviously continuing her tale, "Not as darling as you and Ellie of course but—"
"Oh, we're not a couple," you and Ellie say in unison. You look at each other.
"He's gay."
"She's . . . still figuring things out?"
"I'm a lesbian. I figured it out. Sorry, should have mentioned sooner, but there's been a lot going on."
"Hey, good for you!" you say sincerely, "Hope those chats we had helped!"
"They did. Thank you."
Lucille and Harold look at you like you've grown two heads. Which, yeah, you can do, but they don't know that.
"Then . . ." Lucille begins, "Why did you bring Ellie? Not that we haven't enjoyed your company, but . . ."
"I'm here for moral support," Ellie says.
"Moral support?" Harold asks, confused, "Why would Rhys need moral support?"
"Oh, Harold, people need moral support for all kinds of reasons! Remember when we went to that dinner with my sister right before her divorce?"
"Ohhh, right, that was back when Augustus was little. Why, I remember that ugly red dress—"
"Holy shit, really?!" you snap, "You're going to tell another story? You gotta be the most self-centered people, I swear!"
No one is as surprised as you at how you snap, but, once you do, it feels very, very right.
But, the Schultes look like you've slapped them, and your rage falters for a second. You almost stop right there, but Ellie gives you a nod of her head and indicates you should continue.
Well, if Valiant Gold was giving you permission to lose your temper . . .
"You're not going to ask any follow-up questions? None? Maybe you're wondering if I needed moral support tonight because Gus was my fucking boyfriend?!"
You stood up at some point and now you're breathing heavily, but the adrenaline's gone. You sit back down, drained, and take a sip of water before continuing.
"And now . . . and now he's dead. And there's so much about him I'll never know," you say miserably, "I figured . . . I figured you deserve to at least learn a little more about Gus, y'know? I'd share with you some of the stuff he maybe didn't tell you."
You grin weakly.
"Like me?"
Lucille and Harold look at each other, stricken, and then back at you. Harold take's his wife's hand, and she speaks, haltingly.
"Augustus was . . . gay? And he never told us?"
"Yeah," you say, "Sorry, I shouldn't have exploded just then. It's, uh, still raw, y'know?"
"He should have told us," Harold says, shaking his head, "We wouldn't have judged him. He knows that."
". . . Gus was a private guy. And, while we're dealing with revelations, I should also tell you he was Vul—"
"This is so hurtful," Lucille says, looking at her husband with tears in her eyes, "I just don't know why he did this to us."
"Gus loved you guys, it's just—"
"I just don't understand that boy," Harold says, shaking his head, "So hurtful. Spiteful toward his family. He's just like my brother! Maximilian was . . ."
"Leviathan's Blood, Bone, and Brain," you sigh under your breath, and Harold starts yet another story. Ellie scoots her chair back, stands up, and grabs one of the beers. She cracks it open, sniffs it, and makes a face. She offers it to you, evidently no longer interested.
You take one look, sigh again, and chug it.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Apiary—February 2, 2068
You are Soraia Del Rosario.
You've never known a fight that you would just quit in your life. That's how they win. One injustice, allowed to fester for being "too small" or "too troublesome" to deal with. Then, it's second. Then, a third. They cut away over and over and over again until there's nothing left, and, by the time you realize what's happening, it's too late.
You saw English-McLeod do it to the borough that is now called "the Creature's Den". Buy a house here, raise rent there, block building a public school—but don't worry! They're offering a discount for new students enrolled at the English-McLeod Learnatorium!
You fought them at every step—organizing protests, attending meetings, hiding a member of a radical anarchist metahuman group in your basement for a few days—but there was only so much you could do by yourself. To everyone else, it was "too much trouble".
You were sympathetic—you were asking people exhausted from working all day to perform more labor—but it mattered! This was all of your lives! And all of your lives were slowly carved to pieces and sold while people watched their screens and tried to "not be political". Another way of saying "apathetic".
So what if the rents were becoming unaffordable? So what if English-McLeod was nearing a monopoly on the borough? If it didn't immediately make life unbearable, then they could get used to it.
Well, English-McLeod did take over the Creature's Den. Then Acid Rain attacked. Then A'Tuin of the Infinite Horizon woke up.
Then there was nothing left.
The road to hell wasn't paved with good intentions. It was paved with a million little compromises.
Well, you weren't going to let that happen here. What was growing at the Apiary was special and you wouldn't let neglect or inaction destroy it.
Except, looking through Justice Unlimited's finances, you think you finally met your match.
It was mostly sticky notes and things scribbled on the back of napkins?! And Valiant Silver also constantly got distracted and would draw new designs for her armor or write erotic screenplays about hunting the Loch Ness monster?! And Lady Leizi's portions were hardly any better; she was undoubtedly a brilliant woman with no interest in proper bookkeeping.
How were you supposed to make any sense out of this? You could feel your sanity slipping just by looking at it like it was a page from The King in Yellow!
"I don't understand how it's this bad," Shelley says from her end of the table, shellshocked. You, her, Belle Sabreuse, and Wolong were all crowded around Lady Leizi's desk. Shelley puts her face in her hands and you think you hear gentle weeping. "The only thing she bothered to keep proper invoices for were commissions of sexy art of her girlfriend!"
Oh, Leviathan's Blood, she's right. What to do now? Even if you just burn the thing down and start again, Justice Unlimited still has contracts with suppliers for things like foods and household goods. And Valiant Silver had them set up for automatic deductions, ostensibly on the premise that money was never going to be a concern. So now, you could be paying vendors for goods and services you wouldn't even know you were owed!
It's too much. You . . . you don't want to give up, but this is a decade of malfeasance. T-there's no hope—
"No," a soft voice filled with determination says opposite you. Wolong looks up with a sparkle in his eye. "It wasn't just the artists she commissioned. Nora kept track of everyone she personally owed money too. I didn't get to know Valiant Silver as well as I would have liked, but I know from her, um, colorful comments that she loathed people who skipped out on bills."
He points at several documents in front of him.
"She took special care to make sure she paid anyone who worked for her on time. This is the sole bit of consistent accounting over the years we can count on. From this, we can begin to extrapolate the rest of the budget."
He grins.
"This, ladies, is our lever. And what did Archimedes say about a lever? 'Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the earth'."
You look him in the face and you see the fire burning. Belle Sabreuse nods and redoubles her effort. Shelley is applauding.
Here is a leader. A champion of men. Someone who will set all the wrongs of the world right.
At that moment, you would follow Wolong anywhere.
"Soraia, are you crying?" Shelley asks.
"It's just . . . I believe again!" you say, your voice trembling.
She narrows her eyes and looks at you.
"You act like you're normal, but you're lowkey just as weird as the rest of us, aren't you?"
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—Just Outside the Apiary—February 2, 2068
You are John Henry Rhodes.
"Okay, so we connect the wire there and . . ."
The power armor in front of your whirls to life.
"I-It's back on!" Phillip—The Brass Shield—shouts, "Y-you really fixed it!"
"Well, let's not go celebrating yet. I'll run a diagnostic and—oh yeah, there's still some work to be done. Here, I'll show you how to adjust the hydraulics. Wei, could you bring me that toolbox?
"You got it, Doctor Silver!" the older man says with a giddy grin, "Wow, I can't believe I'm watching two real-life super-heroes fix a super-suit!"
You're outside by the loading docks of the Apiary with Phillip and his new friend, Wei. The poor kid was nearly crying with how anxious he was to get his armor back online. Apparently, his absence from Crusade's headquarters in the Foot had been noticed, and he needed to get The Brass Shield back online ASAP lest they think he took it and ran off.
Wei had literally thrown himself on the ground and begged you to help Phillip, tears in his eyes. Then Phillip had been so moved by Wei's actions that he started crying. Then you . . . go a whiff of pollen and your eyes had started watering. Yeah, that was it. You weren't moved by a display of pure friendship, no, you just had a little hayfever.
But you, uh, kept your promise to help anyway.
Thankfully, the damage wasn't too severe. As you first thought, Belle mostly shattered the outer shell and some of the internal skeleton. Replacing the metal frame wasn't too difficult, but it would have been easier if you had done it inside one of the labs in the Apiary. But, Phillip was still Crusade and, thus, definitely not allowed inside.
You look at the kid and sigh. A shame really. He's got his head up his ass the same way all people his age do, but he's got a good heart. Plus, he really came through against Socialite Butterfly when you needed him. It's a tragedy he got himself indentured to a corp before he could even grow a decent beard.
Hmm. You wonder . . . the tech in this armor was nothing special. Most of it was derivative of the second rate shielding Nora had in her old armor. If you raised enough of a stink about copyright infringement, maybe they would decide it would be easier to just sell it to you? Then you could just buy The Brass Shield and the kid's contract and . . . let him go?
You look at his face as he eagerly takes in everything you tell. Kid's like a sponge really. He's got real potential. Hey, if he wasn't tied to Crusade maybe you could hire him as a lab assistant—
No.
You need to stop doing that. Planning for your future in Justice Unlimited, letting yourself get distracted. You work to keep your face from showing your thoughts.
It almost worked. Zixuan's plan almost worked. A support-type power, lots of young heroes to mentor, a fancy costume and a special code name. It was like a dream.
Then you watched a girl die and woke back up.
Blades of sharp metal pierce through that nice, young girl in front of you like skewers through shishkebab. You see the light drain from her eyes as her life leaves her body.
She's a little younger than Nat. Natalie's age, maybe. Did Nat look like that as she burned? Did she realize she was dying? Did she suffocate on the smoke before her body felt the pain as her skin bubbled and flaked away?
Even when Yara came back to life, you couldn't keep the questions out of your mind. Sandra had asked why you were so restless at night, but you didn't know how to explain it.
Because there was one thing about Natasha's body only you and the mortician know. Something you will carry to your grave; Sandra doesn't need to have the same nightmares you do.
Because . . . because Nat's body hadn't just incinerated. It had been gnawed on. She bled before burning.
"Ah, sorry," you say, shaking your head, "The last mission was a doozy. I guess I'm still processing it."
"Tell me about it," Phillip says, shivering, "I peed my pants and that wasn't even in the top-five of things that went wrong."
"What happened?" Wei asks, guilessly, then he immediately starts waving his hands, "Wait, wait, you don't have to tell me! I bet it's classified or something intense!"
"Kinda . . ." you say, sharing a look with Phillip. Honestly, you'd like to know what Crusade's take on the whole fiasco was, but the kid's in enough trouble.
"I can tell you about some other missions?" Phillip offers, "There was this one with a bunch of magical girls and this really pretty girl who turned out to be really evil . . ."
"Magical girls?! They're real now?! What else did I miss in prison?!"
You can't help but smile to yourself as you replace some components. Yeah, Phillip's alright. Just need some guidance. Your smile turns a tad mauldin.
Maybe Zixuan will take him onboard at some point. Maybe he will get to be a hero like he dreamed. But you won't be there for it.
Even if everything goes okay and you manage to put down Phlogiston and his pack of wild dogs, you won't have a place with Justice Unlimited anymore. Heroes don't kill.
Heroes don't take revenge.
But heroes don't have to hear their daughter's screams in their dreams every night. You can't live with yourself knowing those monsters killed you little girl and have gotten off scot free. It's like sand in your shorts or a rock in your shoe—you can try to ignore it all you want, it will still wear away at you and make you bleed.
You have to do this. You have to. Even if there's a little voice in the back of your mind asking if this is what you really want, you can't let those animals go free to do this to someone else.
Still.
It was a nice dream while it lasted.
* * *
Somewhere Else—February 2, 2068
You are Yara Oliveria.
There's someone waiting for you on your deck when you return. Someone pale and anxious, chewing on her own blonde hair and pacing back and forth. She's tall, about 5'10, with bright blue eyes and long legs. She would be gorgeous except for the bags under her eyes and deep, deep anxiety emanating off her like heat from a radiator.
The Red Huntress. Harper English.
"It's not fair," she says as soon as she sees you, "Why does she get a second chance? After all she's done? She made my life a nightmare from the moment I was born, and now she gets a do-over? Where's my second chance at life?"
Oh, wow. This is, uh, intense.
"I . . . don't know," you admit, looking away, "It's not fair. But . . ."
You can feel Katie, huddled next to your body in reality. It was quickly apparent after the first night that she couldn't sleep alone. You can feel her shake and shudder from another nightmare as her tears soak into your arm. She remembers some things from her former life. Not all, or even most, but some.
They haunt that little girl in the night.
". . but I won't abandon Katie," you say, looking the specter in the eyes, "I'm sorry, but whatever you sister deserved, Katie doesn't."
The apparition of the The Red Huntress, sits down. "It's not fair."
"No," you say, sitting down as well, "What's not fair is you got to spend your life with my awesome sister and now I have to spend mine with your terrible one!"
She looks up in surprise.
"Do you have any idea how envious I was, watching Uiara and The Red Huntress fight crime? You two were partners even before Justice Unlimited! I wanted to spend that time with Yazmin, but I didn't get to! And she was my sister!"
". . . sorry," the specter says, looking chastised, "I guess it's like Yazy used to say: you don't get what you deserve or deserve what you get. You only get what you get."
"Maaaaan," you pout, "I didn't get to hear her say that! Luuuuuuuucky!"
"I supposed I was in some ways," Harper agrees, "I had the best friends in the world."
You hum in agreement, not sure what else to say.
"Yara," she says, suddenly, "Please, bring her peace."
Then, like Heavenly Astrologian, she dissolves into fireflies and disappears.
"Wait," you call, "Who do you mean?! Bring peace to who?!"
The night does not answer you.
"You're only supposed to use pronouns once it's clearly established who you're talking about!"
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—Praça do Orixá—February 2, 2068
You are Mona Merola-Morales.
"There you are!" you shout as you spy thirteen-feet of pure grump, sitting under a neon billboard, "I've been looking for you everywhere!"
"Leave," he demands, "I'm in the mood to indulge your nonsense."
"I have kibe!" you say enticingly, holding up the plate of beef croquettes you brought with you, "Delicious Kibe! Kiiiibbeeeee!"
"Stop saying 'kibe'!" he shouts, "And fine. I may as well be eating if I must endure you blathering."
You fly down next to him, and he grabs a kibe with his thumb and forefinger and delicately holds it to his mouth. You much on your own as you watch him.
". . . what?"
"Why's your head so tiny?" you ask him, "The rest of you is gigantic, but I think your head is normal-sized except the horns?"
"I didn't get to choose what I look like," he grumbles, "And why are you eating? Do you even need food with that body of yours?"
"Uh-huh," you say through a mouthful of fried beef, "I'm a growing girl!"
". . . if you insist."
The two of you sit there and munch for a bit, before you get to the last kibe. You see Scarlet Maturity eying it, so you graciously let him have it like the polite warrior of justice you are. As he's enjoying his "victory" you start talking again.
"I scolded Cain for being a butthead."
"Cain?" he asks, confused, "I thought his name was 'Simão'."
"Is it? Uhhh, whoops. I should really know these things."
He rolls his eyes at you. "And I don't need you to 'scold' anyone on my behalf. I sent him a message which I trust he understood."
"Hey, you can't solve everything with finger-flicks and violence!" you protest, "And why'd you get so upset in the first place?"
"His disrespect—"
"Yeaaaaaah, not buying it," you say with a dismissive gesture, "You seemed actually mad. Like how you got about Fantastic Metal. And, y'know, you never did actually answer why you wanted to hang out with me today . . ."
Scarlet Maturity gets all broody again and doesn't say anything. You sit back and wish you had bought more kibe—they were so yummy and good! You let him be all stoic for a bit before you get bored and take out your screen to browse Hero for Hire.
Ooh, Rei messaged you! You haven't spoken to her in forever! Maybe she knows what Ellie would like!
You're trying to explain to Rei that you don't have a crush on Ellie—you just think about her all the time and want her like you—when Scarlet Maturity finally speaks up.
"Tell me, you're immortal, aren't you? Even with all of my strength, I couldn't so much as scratch that core of yours."
You freeze in place and put your screen down. You rock back and forth in the air for a second before deciding to answer honestly.
"Y-yeah," you admit, "My core . . . it's like the singularity of a supermassive black hole or something? It's so dense that you couldn't crack it without also, um, destroying the solar system."
He laughs. "Amusing! And to think I wasted all of that effort. Powers truly are strange, are they not?"
You don't answer. You message Rei to tell her you'll talk later. You don't feel very chatty all of the sudden.
"So, then tell me this: why do you waste your time playing the hero?"
You blink at him. "'Cuz I'm a good guy? Duh. What, am I supposed to work for Powers or something?"
He shakes his head. "No. I mean why concern yourself with others at all? Your lifespan is infinite, theirs is not. They will live their whole lives and die in what is a fraction of a fraction of an iota of your existence. Eventually, the time you spent with them will be so long ago that you will be unable to even remember their faces, like sand wearing away a monument. So why bother?"
You freeze. You open your mouth to answer, but, despite the fact that you technically don't need to, you can't breathe.
Everyone is going to die and you're going to forget them? Y-yeah, you k-kinda knew that was true, but you never heard it out loud like that. What are you going to do when you can't remember what your mom looked like? When you don't recall all those nights staying up with Maddie? When you don't remember being Mona and you're just Black Swan?
Scarlet Maturity continues, not looking at you, "You have the potential to claim the title of 'strongest'. You can sit at the apex of this world. Yet, you do not reach for it. Why not? Strength is what is eternal."
". . . you really believe that?" you ask in a small voice.
He turns to consider you, like he just noticed you were there. "Allow me to tell you a story."
He shifts his body around to look at you.
"This is a story about a young boy, born and raised in Horizon. In the early days of the city, before the Ladder loomed large, the balance of power in this city shifted constantly like the tides. Corporations. Nations. Metahumans. Organized crime. Labor unions. All vied for the soul of Horizon."
"I-I know," you say, "I was born here."
"Ah, but that was after the molten essence of the city cooled into a mold. In the days of that boy, Horizon may as well have been a warzone. Ọsanyìn planed great wealth in fertile soil, and all coveted it."
O-okay? You nod to show your listening.
"That boy was just one of many caught in the crossfires of that struggle. He lost his parents before he knew them, and raised himself in the forgotten parts of the city where even metahumans would hesitate to go."
He smiles at a memory you can't see.
"But not all metahumans were warlike. Many sought to protect people like that boy. Back there, there were as many hero teams as there were grains of sand. New Dawn was merely the first and most well known.
Scarlet Maturity holds up the figure of Fantastic Metal.
"Another such team was The Guardian Wave, led by Fantastic Metal. She protected all who came under her aegis, even little boys abandoned by society."
Whoa. "She sounds awesome . . ." you say, reverently.
"All of them were. Wild Rose. XTreme. Trail Chaser. Bullet Proof. Tenebrism. They were all what modern 'heroes' pretend to be. The Guardian Wave worked tirelessly to protect the forgotten of this city, right until they met their end."
"W-what happened?" you ask with a sinking feeling.
"What do you think happened?" Scarlet Maturity gives a mirthless laugh. " But we are skipping ahead. In time, that boy grew into a man. Thin as weed with everything to prove, but a man all the same. And what's more—he was a metahuman. He could grant new strength to other metahumans, making them stronger, making their powers more flexible, more potent."
He stares at the doll of Fantastic Metal.
"He begged to join The Guardian Wave, over and over again until Fantastic Metal finally gave in. At last, he had a place to belong."
He laughs again, tinged with nostalgia and regret.
"Until it all ended." He looks back at you. "In those days, corporate sponsorships did not exist. And the people were even more wretchedly poor than they are now. There was only one way for an independent team to consistently earn money: to hunt Behemoths."
"Oh no," you say. You don't like where this is going.
"Oh yes. The boy normally stayed back on overwatch, but that day he managed to plead and cajole his way into the QZ. There, they killed three Gold-Rank Behemoths, their bounties worth enough to sustain them for a month. Or so they thought. Unbeknownst to them, another group of 'heroes' was waiting to poach their kills."
He sees your confused face.
"It was not uncommon back then. The bounty for a Behemoth was awarded to whoever presented proof of kill first. Many metahumans made their livings swooping in after others had done the dirty work."
"Buttheads!"
"Indeed. But who could intercede on their behalf? The Guardian Wave refused to relinquish the fruits of all of their hard work, and a dispute broke out. Still, even that might not have spelled their end, but for the conflict drawing the attention of a Named-Rank Behemoth, Typhon of the Thousand Heads."
"Oh no."
"During the fight, the boy tried to sacrifice himself. Buy time for the real heroes to escape. Even if his enhancements of their powers did not persist beyond his death, he still would have served The Guardian Wave well. Only, he did not die when was supposed to. His wounds, which he thought fatal, stitched themselves back together. His frame filled out, granting him new strength. He was not only able to delay Typhon, but, as the battle dragged on, he could match the creature."
He's far away right now, seeing something you can only imagine.
"Eventually, he crushed the last of Typhon's heads. But, when he turned around to proclaim his victory, there was no one left to celebrate. He had devoured them all."
He laughs, this time bitter as black coffee.
"Do you know why they died, Black Swan? Because they were weak. In the face of true power, they were unable to be more than food for an even greater power still. They all had hopes, dreams, ambitions, and wants. None of it mattered in the face of absolute strength."
"That's . . . that's so horrible," you whisper, "You've been alone ever since?"
". . . no. There was one other. But I eventually ate her too. In the end, one must have power to survive. The strong must devour those below them, lest they be devoured themselves."
". . . that's such a sad, lonely life. What's even the point then . . . ?"
"To sit atop the throne. There is a creature in this world who stands above all, in stature and might. To become powerful enough to destroy even that aberration: that is my goal. That will never abandon me. That will always have meaning."
The Looming God sits high in the distance. Scarlet Maturity sits back, evidently finished.
But . . . you're not. A question niggles at you.
"Then what?" you ask.
He sits back up, evidently not finished. "What?"
"Okay, you kill the Leviathan. Then what?"
". . . I don't follow."
"What's your goal then? Go to space and find another Leviathan to kill?"
"Well . . ."
"And why does this mean you can't have friends right now?!" you demand, building up steam, "Sure, I'm gonna outlive everybody, but doesn't that just mean I should spend time with them while I can?"
"That's—"
"Oh my god, Simon-o—"
"Simão."
"Whatever! Cain was right! You're just scared your friends will die and you'll be alone again! That's why you want to hang out; I'm immortal!"
"Presumptuous—"
"You just want friends who won't die!" you say pointing at him, "Well, guess what? We're not friends!"
"We're not? I mean, of course—"
"Yeah we're not friends! You're a violent murderer who tried to kill my whole team, and you work for creepy Faust and his even creepier Hand-cult! I'm the Cute Soldier of Justice, but even I have standards, butthead! I don't care how tragic your backstory is!"
You stand up and proclaim your not-friendship with authority. Who does he think he is?!
". . . how do you know about The Hand of the Mysteries?"
Uh oh.
"Well, anyway, gotta go! I gotta find Salmon before he gets in trouble. Bye!"
You try to fly away, but he has an iron grip on your ankle.
Aw, poop.
"Talk." He demands.
"Umm, well, we kind of . . . gotintoafightwithKeyanwoundedHandduringapsychicgodfight?" you blurt out.
Double poop! You panicked and said more!
You try to fly away, but Scarlet Maturity grabs you with his other hand, squeezing your core.
"Talk. Now!"
"Ummm, what do you want to know?"
"Everything."
. . . triple poop.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—A House in the Worker's Mitt—February 2, 2068
You are Rhys Gardner.
"I just don't know why Augustus would keep this from us!" Lucille bemoans for the thousandth time.
"It's terrible," Ellie says with zero affect, staring into the distance. She stopped trying an hour ago, but they were yet to notice.
"What kind of child doesn't share something like his partner with his parents?" Harold signs, "It's—"
"Did you ask?" you interrupt after finishing your forth beer. With your biology, you're not really feeling it, but it's the thought that counts. "Did you ever ask if he was seeing anyone?"
"Well, no, but he should have told us—"
"Hey! Pop quiz!" you say, "What was the name of Gus' favorite movie? The one he has all of the posters for?"
Lucille looks confused. "Oh, gosh, I know what you're talking about, but it beats me if I can remember the name. It's the one about the priest."
"Consecrated Ash," you answer. You must have seen that movie a hundred times. "And it was about vampires and werewolves. The priest is just in the first five minutes!"
"Well, I never got past that point. It wasn't for me, I'm afraid—"
"So you never watched it with him?" you interrupt, "Even though he ran a fansite for it? He raised like a half-a-mil to help pay the writer's medical bills when he got cancer! There's a character in the remake named after him!"
"Is there?" Lucille says, fascinated, "Well, maybe I'll give it another watch—"
"You know Gus worked with metal, right?!" you say, your voice getting louder, "Who were his inspirations?"
"Oh, I could never keep up with Augustus and his metals," his father sighs, "He was such a strange child. Never wanted to go out and play, never had any friends, he just liked his tinkering. We tried to encourage him to be more social, but after a while it just became simpler to leave him to his own devices. Goodness knows, I'm not a scientist."
"Neither am I! Do you think I gave a shit about eighteenth-century metallurgy?!" you shout, "No! But it mattered to Gus, so I made it matter to me!"
"Well, I'm glad Augustus found a caring partner—"
"He hated being called 'Augustus'! He thought it was pretentious!"
You're standing up again, and you've accidentally grown a few inches. Whoops. Maybe you're feeling that beer more than you thought.
"Leviathan's Blood, I get it now! Gus didn't never introduce us because he was ashamed of me! He never introduced us because he was embarrassed by you!"
"Now, what does that mean?" Harold says, standing up and putting his hands on his hips.
"Oh, we're just saying it now?" Ellie asks, perking back up, "You two are malignant narcissists. You've spent this whole time talking about yourselves. You've yet to express any grief about the passing of your son or ask his partner about how he's feeling. Instead, you've shared three hours of mind-numbingly dull stories."
"Dull?!"
"That's the part you're offended by?!" you shout, "Holy shit, I see why Gus was the way he was now. No wonder he didn't think anyone cared about his opinions or his hobbies—his own freakin' parents taught him they didn't matter!"
You look at Ellie.
"Y'know he didn't even tell me he was a furry until three years into our relationship? And only after I found the fur-suit in his closet?"
". . . huh," she says, tilting her head.
"I know. He would have peed his pants if he could see what I can do now."
"What are you talking about?" Lucille asks, "You're being very upsetting!"
"Yeah, listen, buster," Harold says, "I'm glad you and Augustus used to date, but maybe it's time you left?"
"Wait, you're kicking me out?! You don't have any questions about your son?! Anything at all?!"
"We knew our boy!"
"No you fucking didn't! You didn't know he was Vul—"
"Rhys," Ellie says, standing up. She raises her hand and you instinctively stop talking. Goddamnit, how does she do that?
She turns to the Schultes and says, "This has been a terrible evening. You are awful people. I'd wish you a pleasant evening, but I would be lying. Goodbye."
Before they can say anything, she grabs your arm and drags you out. You try to dig in your heels—your not finished with them yet!—but Ellie is surprisingly strong. You're both out the door and on the street before she lets you go.
You stomp around, the cool evening air doing nothing to soothe your temper.
"The fuck was that Ellie?! I still wanted to give them a piece of my mind!"
"There would have been no point," she says, shaking her head, "They were never going to understand why you were upset. They didn't care."
"Yeah, well—!"
You bite off the end of your sentence. You know she's right.
"I just . . . gaaaaah!" you shout into the fading light, "I just wanted . . . some kind of closure? I wanted to know how Gus really felt about me, y'know? I thought . . . thought maybe he would have told them something, but they know even less about him than I do!"
"Sure sounds like you knew Gus pretty well," Ellie says with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know he loved me, but . . . I don't know-know, y'know?" you say miserably, "Good lord, I wish he was the type to leave a final romantic letter spelling out all of his feelings or something, but he wasn't. Whatever was in his heart died with him and . . . a-and . . . I . . ."
You've fallen to the ground, crouching on the sidewalk. Your hands are on your head as hot tears fall from your eyes and onto the ground
"I got nothin' now.".
A warm weight embraces you. Ellie hugs you as you cry.
"This sucks," she says in her ever-blunt way.
"Yeah," you get out, "It fucking does."
She holds you for a bit while you get it together. The sun is well and truly setting now, casting the world around into stark relief with long shadows.
". . . this has gotten awkward," Ellie says, still holding you.
"Yep."
". . . you want to get smoothies?"
You wipe your eyes with the back of your hand.
"Yeah, fuck it. Why not?"
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—Praça do Orixá—February 2, 2068
You are Mona Merola-Morales.
"I can't believe I missed this fight! Trismegistus being put in his place? An army of cloned metahumans? Crusade being exposed for the bumblers they are?"
He stands up and paces back and forth, excited.
"Sounds like a battle for the ages! I knew Key was a fool, but never how much of one she was! She never should have engaged you directly. She should have used Uiara to flood the area and then freeze you all at once. And Man o' War was able to move his limbs? Did he have complete control of them at that point, or were they still autonomous except for where he put them?"
He punches a fist into a palm.
"So many questions!"
"Uhhh, yeah?" you offer, "I was more busy being scared at the time, but . . ."
"This Valiant Gold will be a fascinating hero to watch. It seems I underestimated both her and her predecessor," he says, ignoring you, "But, even more than that . . ."
He finally turns to face you.
"It seems I owe you a debt, Black Swan. I now understand why Faust is calling in all of Powers."
"You do?" you say, tilting your head, "He is?"
"Yes. An unusual move given that he's no longer CEO of Dominion. But now that Key is dead and Hand is wounded . . . the Hours will be making their move."
"Question!" you say raising your hand, "What?"
He glares at you, annoyed. "The Horae Guard, girl. Keep up. They're divided into three ranks. 'Seconds' are their grunts, not much more powerful than the chaff you would find here on Horizon. The 'Minutes' are fewer and more powerful, as strong as your Handyman at a minimum."
"Um, I dunno about that . . ." He doesn't actually know how strong Rhys is, does he?
He continues, "Finally their elites, the Hours. There are twelve of them at all times, though their membership constantly changes. They are who will lead the charge from Elysium against the Hand of the Mysteries."
He gives you a savage grin. "And they are why Faust has lifted my suspension. Key is dead, along with her army. I know not the rest of their members, other than that Fish and Star are new to their ranks. And Hand is wounded. They need me alongside the rest of Powers to have a chance at survival."
"And you'll just come running like a good little lap-dog, will you?" a voice calls. Cain walks in holding several bags, smoking another cigarette. He's shaking his head in disgust. "Just going to waste a perfectly good opportunity, are you?"
"Didn't learn your lesson the first time, did you?" Scarlet Maturity says, walking over with his hand ready to flick.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Cain protests, "Wait, stop! I come bearing gifts!"
He holds out a bag to Scarlet Maturity, who lowers his hand and takes it.
"What is this?"
"A peace offering!" Cain says, cheerfully.
"You're that terrified, are you?"
"Not at all," he replies, "But 250,000 concurrent viewers only come but once in a lifetime! I need to stay on your good side if we are to recapture the magic once Soraia gets our monetization restored!"
". . . really? This is about clout?" you say in disbelief.
"And money!" he agrees, "Now, go ahead and open it!"
Scarlet Maturity opens the bag, and fishes out five more action figures of people you don't recognize. He holds them out and stares at them, confused.
". . . the rest of The Guardian Wave didn't have toys made of them. Only Fantastic Metal was popular enough to warrant it."
"Yes!" Cain agrees, "But you would be amazed what fans with free-time and a penchant for kitbashing can do! Took a little bit of searching, but eventually I found someone who was both a fan of the old team and willing to sell!"
He grins at you.
"I told you that you could find anything here!"
Scarlet Maturity looks at the toys for a long while. Then, "This buys your life and nothing else."
"It's a start!"
He looks at them again and puts all of the figures back in the bag. He sits down, seemingly content. Cain tries to sit with you, but you make him put out his stinky cigarette first, so he starts sulking.
"What did you mean by 'waste a perfectly good opportunity' earlier?" Scarlet Maturity asks.
"It's it obvious?" Cain replies, "You have your boss over a barrel. You said it yourself: he needs you to survive. So why not milk him for all he's worth? Going to war with Elysium sounds like a hassle."
". . . I do hate fighting psychics."
"Ugh, tell me about it!" you call, "We're gonna have to fight Le Petit Prince eventually and I'm probably going to get benched for that."
"Actually, I'm fairly certain his power is biokinetic in nature. You're likely immune."
"Oh!"
"It's the 4th Hour you should avoid at all costs. Her power would conquer you in an instant."
"O-oh."
"You're missing the point!" Cain shouts, "What are you going to demand for your services?!"
". . . money?"
"Well, yes, but what else?! Dominion is one of the largest corporations in Horizon! You could ask for anything you want! Anything at all!"
"I have no need for—"
"Oh, enough already!" Cain yells, exasperated, "Levithan's Blood, you're boring! Fine, if you have no opinions of your own, what would Fantastic Metal have wanted?"
". . . hmm."
"'Hmm' he says! 'Hmm'. I give up!" Cain sighs.
"Why are you only pestering me? Why not bother Black Swan about what she wants?"
"Because that is obvious!" he turns to you with a smirk, "She wants to find a gift that will make dear Ellie shower her in kisses!"
"No!" you shout, turning beet-red, ". . . d-do they . . . sell things like that . . .?"
"They do!" Cain says, pulling you back toward the stalls, "And for a modest finder's fee, I can find you the perfect thing to woo the woman of your dreams . . ."
Scarlet Maturity to your surprise, stands up and follows you both.
"Now this, I have to see."
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Apiary—February 2, 2068
You are Rhys Gardner.
You and Ellie walk back to Apiary, sipping on your smoothies. As you enter the restricted access part of the building, you bump into Chaucer in the hall.
"Ellie! And Rhys, just who I was looking for!" he greets jovially, "How was dinner?"
"Fuckin' blew."
"Terrible. Please don't ask."
"Oh," he says, nonplussed, "I'm . . . very sorry to hear that."
"It's okay," you tell him with a tired shrug, "Sometimes shit sucks and that's just how it is, I guess. But you said you were looking for me?"
"Ah, yes," Chaucer says, shaking himself, "I needed to speak to you about Gus, actually. Would you mind if we stepped into a private room?"
"Uhh, sure?" You look at Ellie who shrugs. The three of you duck into an empty conference room and Chaucer pulls out a chair for Ellie. He then offers you one of your own before finally sitting himself.
"So what's this about Gus?" you say, uncertain.
"I first must give my sincerest apologies. This is all my fault. I thought I had settled all of Gus' affairs months ago, but there was one outstanding matter that escaped my attention," he tells you, bowing his head in contrition, "I hadn't even noticed until the money held in escrow reverted to Gus' usual bank account after no one appeared for the closing."
"Huh?"
"I tried to contact the sellers, but they had already accepted another bid," Chaucer says miserably, "I'm sorry Rhys, the house is gone."
"'The house?"
"Yes, I'm so, so sorry," he says, "Rhys, I don't know how, but I swear that I will make this up to you. It is an unforgivable lapse on my part—"
"Chaucer," you say, holding your hand up to stop him, "What are you talking about?"
You are so lost.
"The house, Rhys. The one you and Gus were purchasing."
"We were buying a house?!"
". . . yes, Rhys." Chaucer gives you a very concerned look. "Your name was going to be added to the deed. You would have to know about it for that to happen."
"I-I didn't . . ." you say, shellshocked.
"I supposed Gus was trying to surprise you," Ellie says, hand on her chin, "Or was working up the nerve to tell you?"
"Y-yeah," you say, wondering, "That . . . sounds like him."
Chaucer dials up his screen and pulls out a picture. When he hands it to you, you forget to breathe.
It's a four bedroom, three bathroom Victorian style house out in the French Quarter. It's got a walk-out balcony and porch that wraps around the whole building. The windows are big, the backyard is huge, and the house is painted a merry shade of light blue. You know this house.
You and Gus walked by it once after dinner one day. You pointed out to him and said you'd give your right arm to live somewhere like there. You called it your "dream home".
And . . . Gus was going to buy it for you? Both of you? Was he keeping it a surprise, or was he just too shy to tell you? Goddamnit, that idiot. That stupid, sweet idiot! He had this all planned and . . . and . . . the Leviathan got him . . .
"We should let him be alone," Ellie says softly, and she guides Chaucer out of the room.
You're unspeakably grateful as you weep for the second time tonight. Thinking about you and Gus.
And the life you never got to have.
* * *
You pull yourself together a half-hour later and walk out of the conference room. Ellie and Chacuer are waiting for you.
"Sorry about guys, I—"
"Say nothing more," Chaucer tells you, "Ellie filled me in. It's been quite the evening for you, hasn't it?"
"Yeah," you say, rubbing your eyes, "You can say that again."
"'That again'," Chaucer says primly, drawing a laugh from you. He gives you a gentle smile, before saying, "There's just one more matter. Gus designated you the primary beneficiary of his will. By rights, the money meant for the house now belongs to you."
"Put it in JU's coffers," you say without hesitation.
"Rhys, no," Ellie scolds, "That is your money, you should use it—"
"'How I want', right?" you finish, "Well, this is what I want. I know how broke we are. And . . . I'm gonna need a pretty big favor from Double L, once we rescue her. I figure she owes me now. Alright?"
All this talk about Gus and his parents has got you thinking of your own family. They haven't heard from you in . . . eight, nine years? Jeez, they probably are wondering if you bit it in the Movement. That ain't right.
But, uh, you are technically a rogue asset from the CIA. You're gonna need a little help getting a message back to the States. Good thing you work for someone scarier than all of the alphabet-soup agencies in the world, right?
"Alright . . ." Ellie says, seeing your resolve. You grin and sling an arm around her. It's really nice having someone willing to watch your back like this.
"How much dough was it anyway?" you ask Chaucer as the three of you head down the hall.
"Take a look for yourself," Chaucer says, holding up his screen. You lean over and . . .
"That's how many zeroes?!"
You gain +10,000 Income!
"That's a lot of money," Ellie says, eyes wide.
"Did someone say 'money'?!" a giddy voice calls from down the hall. Shelley races down the hall, with Soraia behind her and giggly madly. Belle Sabreuse, Dreamcatcher, Miss Naught, and Gentleman James have an embarrassed Wolong hoisted on their shoulders.
"He's amazing!" Soraia shouts, "Amazing! It took him one afternoon. Just one!"
"I thought I was going to die," Shelley says, misty-eyed, "He saved us all. He saved us."
"Wow, what are you talking about?" you ask, baffled.
"Wolong managed to re-create Justice Unlimited financial records," Belle Sabreuse says, smiling for the first time since Yara disappeared, "Apparently, your vendors have been intentionally overcharging you for years. Not only did he catch their theft, he managed to renegotiate your contracts in your favor."
You gain +1500 Income per Issue!
"That's our general!" Gentleman James shouts, "A hero in every way!"
"Stop it!" Wolong says, flushing, "It was nothing special, really!"
"Yeah, no, shut up, Gabe!" Miss Naught says, "This calls for a celebration! Party on company dollar!"
"We can't—"
"Oh, yes we can," Chaucer says, loosening his tie, "I've seen those records. What you've done is more impressive than Mona defeating Scarlet Maturity."
"Hey, speaking of which," Dreamcatcher says, as you all walk to the food court, "Where are they?"
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—Just Outside the Apiary—February 2, 2068
You are Mona Merola-Morales.
"Simu."
"Simão."
"Simba?"
"Simão."
"Simardeep!"
"That one was on purpose! You're not even trying!" Cai—Simão says.
"Yeeeeeeah," you say, lightly bonking your head. You still thought Simão was kind of a butthead, but, as you look in the little bag containing your gift for Ellie, you have to admit he knows how to work a flea market.
The two of you chat while you walk to the front entrance of the Apiary. Simão has several bags in his arms and a large backpack stuffed to bursting. PubTrans still hadn't reconnected the train stop, so you had to fly the two of you most of the way back. Only, you're not super strong, so you had to take a lot of breaks. It's almost pitch-black outside by the time you get home.
Thank goodness Scarlet Maturity left to "settle some affairs". No way you could fly him anywhere.
You look back in the bag and smile again until you realize Simão is smirking at you. You stick your tongue out at him.
"Now, none of that!" he scolds, "Or I won't share the rest of my bounty with Justice Unlimited!"
"Yes you will!"
". . . okay, fine, I will. But only because it indirectly benefits me!" he confesses, "Take a look at this!"
He sets his bags down and pulls out his backpack. He unzips the main compartment, and you can't help but notice most of it is taken up by a large cooler. Next to the cooler are several folders of papers that he hands you.
"What are these?" you ask as you open them.
"Fun fact!" he says, "Did you know that there's an underground market for metahuman blood, spit, and, ah, other fluids? Folk wisdom is that ingesting them will increase your own odds of gaining superpowers and that some act as a potent aphrodisiac!"
". . . gross."
"Quite! But useful for us! How close they are to the truth, eh?"
You eye the cooler dubiously. "So those are . . .?"
"Biological samples from The Guardian Wave! Perfect for our resident mad doctors, yes?"
You feel vaguely ill.
"How old are they?"
"I try not to ask."
". . . Scarlet Maturity can never know."
"He would almost certainly try to murder us, yes."
You thumb through the files and, yeah, they look like the medical records of The Guardian Wave. If Simão really has their . . . samples, then they're perfect for use in Project Prometheus.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
Name: Bullet Proof, True Name Unknown Keywords: Teleportation, Enhanced Senses, Intangibility Faction: The Guardian Wave Potency: 5 Author: LucidProp Ibis Jr.'s Notes: I, the great Dr. Massive Ibis, have been the opportunity to record the findings of the Ibis clan for, as my father has put it, I have had 'little screen time'. Whatever that means! The world may thank me for my genius and worship at my feet!
. . . I have been informed that 'worshiping at my feet' is a sex-thing for many perverts. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
Anyway, Bullet Proof was in many ways emblematic of how The Guardian Wave was different from other hero teams. Originally, she was a killer employed by a small-time Red Mantis Triad—one of the many early competitors to the Ghost Dragon who eventually fell by the wayside. Her name came from the fact that, for the longest time, the bullet she left at the scene of the crime was the only proof of her existence. Tacky names aside, Bullet Proof had the curious ability to teleport her gun's bullets through phone or TV screens to the camera broadcasting a live feed as if it were a window to whatever said screen depicted. Her bullets also had an unusual penetrating quality, able to "phase" into objects and material that should otherwise repel them.
Eventually she fled from the Red Mantis Triad and sought sanctuary among The Guardian Wave. They were one of the few organizations willing to take her in and risk the triad's wrath, and it's speculated that the Red Mantis Triad was who leaked The Guardian Wave's location to the bounty-poachers on the day they perished. They were eventually destroyed by Scarlet Maturity, lending credence to this rumor.
Name: Trail Chaser, Kione Ele Powers: Fitness, Enhanced Speed Faction: The Guardian Wave Potency:2 Author: EternalObserver Ibis Jr.'s Notes: I did cross-county in high school! I wasn't very good at it, but that's a fun fact about me, Dr. Massive Ibis! I also enjoy rock-climbing and the works of P.G. Wodehouse. I'm a well-rounded individual!
Trail Chaser was a former Olympic competitor who washed out after they began screening for metahuman powers. He maintained he had no idea he was a metahuman, but they stripped him of his medals and struck him from the record books nonetheless. His power manifested as the ability to run at ever increasing speed so long as he did not stop. He began at the speed of a normal, slow-footed human, and could eventually equal a galloping horse. His power provided him with the ability to stay in peak physical condition while running, and, thus, he tired very slowly.
Records show he briefly turned to crime after losing everything. He specialized in purse-snatching where he would literally outrun the authorities, but at some point he met Fantastic Metal and joined The Guardian Wave. He died in the QZ with the rest of them.
Name: XTreme, Matteo Porter Keywords: Teleportation, Regeneration Faction: The Guardian Wave Potency:4 Author: StarSingerBlue Ibis Jr.'s Notes: XTreme was another "hero" who originally led a life of crime before reforming to join The Guardian Wave. I'm sensing a theme! Perhaps I should try crime before becoming a hero, just like my father!
UPDATE: I cut in line in the cafeteria and felt so guilty I cried for forty minutes in a broom closet. Father has also pointed out that he was less "criminal" before joining Justice Unlimited than "criminally negligent". Truly crime does not pay!
XTreme was a standard teleporter who could move to anywhere in his line of sight and within one hundred meters. However, upon joining The Guardian Wave, his power displayed an unusual quirk: he partially regenerated his wounds whenever he teleported. The exact mechanism by which it worked is unknown, but gave him a natural advantage at "hit-and-run" tactics where he would strike, take injuries, and retreat while simultaneously healing them.
Name: Wind Rose, Vanessa Almeida Keywords: Telekinesis, Construct Creation, Clairvoyance Potency:5 Author: ArgentThyme Ibis Jr.'s Notes: Wind Rose's power manifested as a set of twenty metal "needles" that were each approximately two feet in length, which she could control telekinetically. She could move each needle independently and with a high degree of precision, and they were sharp and strong enough to pierce metal. The needles were extremely durable, although not indestructible, and, if damaged in any way, would violently explode into shrapnel. She could slowly recreate them out of mundane metals, and they would be enhanced depending on what metal was used in their creation. One wonders what she could do with something like Adamantium!
Wind Rose was second-in-command of The Guardian Wave and their primary tracker due to her power's other quirk: she had both perfect awareness of her needles' location and orientation at all times. She was especially useful at hunting Behemoths, being able to tag and track them in real time.
She was also mildly dysmorphic, with vine-like thorns for hair. Hmm, Dr. Massive Ibis could rock this look! I will consult my paramor, Natalie Rhodes, for her opinion! After our third date, she agreed to go steady so long as "neither of our fathers ever, ever find out."
Note-self: delete that last part later.
Name: Tenebrism, Zende Listman Power: Construct Creation, Energy Manipulation, Solar Absorption, Enhanced Strength Faction: Independent Potency:4 Author: Hologram Killer Ibis Jr.'s Notes: Tenebrism was able to create four shadowy duplicates of herself. These constructs copied her movements exactly with a slight delay that she could change the duration of. With clever application she was able to stagger her shadows to create off-angle attacks and difficult to block attack patterns. Her shadows were stronger during the day becoming larger and more durable based on the intensity of the illumination that created them. Tenebrism herself exhibited signs of super-strength, which her constructs also possessed.
Not much is known about her personal life, but Dr. Massive Ibis likes to think she could put on a mean puppet show! I'm something of a stygian puppeteer myself! Watch, as I recreate the monster Scylla from myth, a maiden with heads of several wolves emerging from her waist!
. . . Dr. Massive Ibis will include a picture for the file.
Unlocked research action: Red Glow at Mourning, Promethean's Warning.
That coupled with the samples Maddie had take from Seraph—you seriously need to talk to her about that, that's not what those vials for for!—means the Ibises will have plenty to do.
Name: Seraph, Shiloh Stetson Keywords: True Telepathy, Clairvoyance, Flight, Elemental Manipulation Faction: Hoare Guard Potency: 6 Ibis Jr.'s Notes:Seraph is a 'true telepath' as opposed to a 'false telepathy'. The distinction is narrow, but important. False telepaths, like Chatroom, possess telepathy that has limited applications and activation conditions. True telepaths have telepathy that is akin to an extra limb. Rather than be limited to sending messages, Seraph could read minds, manipulate emotions, scan memories, and even perform psionic attacks. That, coupled with her natural wings and photon blasts, made her a flexible and formidable foe.
Unless you are a Mesoamerican god. Zing! Gottem! Dr. Massive Ibis with the zinger!
But as you thumb through the files, you notice something . . .
"Where's Fantastic Metal?" you ask, "She's not in here."
"Ah, yes," Simão says, "For some reason, her medical records were harder to find—"
Luck Check: 15. Lucky!
"—but I tracked them down, nonetheless."
Name: Fantastic Metal, Tatiana Menezes Padilha Keywords: Algernon-type, True Telepathy Potency:13 Ibis Jr.'s Notes: I don't understand. I've run the test three times, and the results have remained the same. But it's impossible. Fantastic Metal has never demonstrated any telepathic ability whatsoever in any capacity. Yet, I see the ability for it in her DNA.
But . . . beyond that. Her medical records show no sign of the Rebound. At all. We know she made frequent use of her power, but she seems to have suffered no ill effects from it. Even my father, who is as judicious about the usage of his Algernon-type as one advancing their field can be, shows early signs of degeneration. Yet, she does not. How?
He looks entirely too smug as he tells you that. "If you ever need me to try to procure some more samples, just say the word. I will need a little discretionary funding, but, as you can see, I am a man of many talents."
Unlocked Global Action: Technically Not Grave-Robbery!
"You're weird," you tell him, "You're weird and I dunno if I like you yet."
"Ah, but you're thinking about it!" he says, "Now, if you would excuse me, I must return home and spoil my nephew rotten. I will be his favorite Uncle again!"
"Uh-huh. I'm just gonna leave now."
"Farewell! And if you ever have any blood or hair you wish to sell, I know someone who's asking for Black Swan's—"
"Byecan'thearyou!" you shout as you fly away.
Man, you can't get a read on that guy! You lazily fly over the Apiary, not really ready to go home yet but without anything to do. As you hover in the air, you see a golden child shaking their first at you, like you're an annoying neighbor. You shake your fist back—you're a full-member, jerk! Your pass should say that!
There's a big commotion coming from the gardens, and you're flying over to investigate when you see someone sitting on top of the Apiary watching the goings-on.
Ellie.
Your heart skips a beat as you feel the bag in hand. You slap your face—cry a little because that hurt!—and then steel yourself and fly over.
She's wearing the EXCEED-BEYOND, but her helmet is off. Her hair and scarf drift carelessly in the wind, and she looks over as you gently land next to her.
"Mona," she greets you. You flush. You don't know when she started calling you by your name but . . . you like it.
"E-ellie!" you squeak as you walk over.
"How was Scarlet Maturity?" she asks as you sit down next to her.
"Uuuuuugh, a butthead as always. But I got to hear his tragic backstory, so I guess he's a Vegeta now or something?
". . . what?"
"I don't get it either!" you shout, throwing your hands up, "Today made my brain hurt!"
She laughs, a quiet thing. Ellie doesn't giggle or titter—she chuckles. You really like hearing it.
"I know what you mean," she says, "Uncle Gabriel apparently solved all of our immediate money-troubles in a few hours. Now everyone's getting drunk while trying to decide what to spend it on."
"No way! Fun! How come you're not down there?"
Ellie tucks a strand of wavy hair behind her ear and sighs. "Just . . . wanted to be alone I guess."
"Oh, I can leave!" you say, getting to your feet, but, to your surprise, Ellie puts a hand on your arm.
"No . . . stay," she says softly. You plop right back down. "Hey, Mona . . . you ever think about why you are a hero?"
You've been asked this question a lot today, so you have your answer ready.
"Nope!"
"Nope?" Ellie askes, confused.
"Nope!" you confirm, "I'm a hero because I wanna help people and look cute! Just that simple!"
You expect her to huff or roll her eyes, but instead she gives you a smile that makes your insides feel all gooey.
"Yes," she says, "That sounds like you."
She looks into the night sky, a dazzling stream of stars just overhead. She reaches a hand out, like she could catch them.
"I don't know why I'm a hero. I had nothing else when Lady Leizi asked me to join, I guess. But now that I'm here . . . I want to make a world where people like my mom or Vulcan don't have to die. Where everyone gets the future they deserve."
She looks at you.
"But I don't know how."
She looks so lost. So unsure. So unlike Ellie that you cover her hand with yours without thinking.
"W-well you got time! You can figure it out! A-and when you do, I'll be here! I'm really good at blasting, i-if you need that!"
This is the longest you've ever gone without fumbling. You can do it Mona! You can do it! Just . . . keep your foot . . . out of your mouth . . .
"Thank you," she says softly.
Ohhhh! That atmosphere's really good! You can feel it! Now, Mona! Now! Her gift!
"I-I saw something at the swap meet and thought of you," you say grabbing your bag, "I-it's not much but—"
"Hey, Ellie! Come down here!" some poophead shouts from below you. It's Rhys with Dreamcatcher, Miss Naught, and Soraia. "We need someone sober to be the ref the drinking competition!"
"Yeah!" Dreamcatcher slurs, "Come be Brown Iustitia, Blind Judge of Beer Pong!"
"Wow, everyone is already drunk," Ellie says in disbelief, "We . . . better get down there, huh?"
"Y-yeah!" you say, hiding your disappointment. Well . . . you can give her the gift another time, right? You and Ellie hop down, and Rhys and Soraia drag her into the garden. You follow behind them, but Miss Naught catches your arm.
"Hey . . . Mona, got a sec?"
"Oh sure. What is it?" you ask.
"So . . . anyone with eyes can see how you feel about Ellie."
"W-what do you mean? I don't feel any—"
"Don't deny it, it's obvious. And none of my business! But . . . I saw you two just now, and I figure, if you don't already know, someone outta tell you. Ellie has a boyfriend."
The warm feelings you had suddenly freeze, and then shatter. You go still. "W-what?"
"Yeah . . . they apparently just started dating? Maddie filled me in. I didn't know if you knew yet."
"O-oh."
"Mona, I'm really sorry—"
"No, no, it's fine!" you say, trying not to cry, "I-I didn't know if Ellie even liked girls so . . . um, g-guess not?"
"Oh, Mona," Miss Naught says hugging you, "Us girlkissers and girlkisser-adjacents have all been here. I'm so, so sorry."
"I-It's fine!" you warble. You pull away from the hug, and drop your bag in the process. From it spills a charm bracelet with a lotus blossom, witch's hat, drama mask, rook, shield, rose, fleur-de-lis, and a swan. You stuff it into your bag before flying away.
"I-I-I think my mom needs me so . . . g-gotta go."
"Yeah, I'll cover for you kid. I'm sorry."
But you don't hear her as you've already zipped into the sky.
* * *
Later that night, Madeline du Marseille would notice the absence of her best friend.
"Where's Blockhead?" she asks her mentor, Virginia.
"Oh . . . I told her about Ellie's boyfriend," the tipsy heroine says, "She took it really hard. Be nice to her for a bit, huh?"
Miss Naught misses how her mentee roots in place and how her eyes go wide.
"Oh no," Maddie breathes, "I have fucked up."
* * *
Somewhere Else—February 2, 2068
You are Yara Oliveira.
You look up at the night sky in your dream-world, a feeling of deep, deep discord running through your chest. Something has gone wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. You're in the wrong timeline.
"I have to do something," you whisper.
"Such as what?" the shade of Justiciar asks. The two of you are roasting marshmallows.
"I don't know," you admit, "Something. Perhaps for love . . . or maybe justice."
"Well, best of luck," the specter says, "I am as useless in those areas now as I was in life. The best thing your ally ever did was ignore my advice as she took my power."
She looks into the night sky, an expression of melancholy on her face.
"What does it say when your legacy is to leave a shining example of what not to do? When the one who you sought to protect in your final moments heedlessly continues down the same path of self-destruction you once walked?"
. . . I dunno," you admit, a little fried from all of these profound questions tonight, "I'm, like, eighteen."
Justiciar smiles. "Fair enough. I'll leave you with this: if a general ever orders you to shoot unarmed protestors, just kill him. Saves a lot of trouble in the long run."
And, like that, she's fireflies and, mercifully, gone.
You flop on your couch, exhausted. Leviathan's Blood, you're going to need a nap after this . . . nap.
D4 check: 3.
You're about to drift back to sleep(?) when you feel something enter your beach. It's large, filthy, and rotten, the smell alone enough to make you retch. You race to the edge of your deck, coughing and sputtering, only to realize you recognize the stench.
It's Trismegistus.
"THIS ISLET FLOATING AMONG THE EDDIES AND WHORLS OF THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS . . . I CLAIM IT AS MY OWN."
He's bleeding freely from cuts deeper than the Marianas Trench. He's desperate, you realize. He needs somewhere safe to hide and heal. And so, in searching, he found your safe place.
You can feel him trying to assert Authority over your beach, to make it his and reshape it in his image. His power is unfathomable, as stark and immovable as mountains.
But this place is yours.
You are as dark and bottomless as the sea. You fade from his view, obscured in endless tides and currents beyond perception. He cannot find you to claim you, and you slip through his grasp like water through cupped hands.
But, at the same time, you are a beacon of warmth, a campfire on a moonless night. Your power is benevolent and invigorating, the antithesis of everything Trismegistus has made himself into. You erase his presence the way light erases shadow, until there is nothing but a naked, shivering man on your surf.
"Y-you!" he gasps. His skin is mottled and bloated, his expression more tumor than face. He looks at you in shock and awe. "What have you done?! You . . . took it away?! Why? I am so close!"
"I don't care!" you shout at him, "Get the fuck off my beach! Come back never!"
And you send him away. He is not a guest here. He is not welcome. But someone else is.
D12 Check: 8.
You're panting from the effort, flush with victory, when you feel another presence.
"Oh, who is it now?!" you shout.
"I can leave if you would prefer. I would not wish to overstay my welcome, Yara."
You jerk up at the sound of the voice, and capture the speaker in a great, big hug.
"Triss!"
Your bodyguard hugs you back with a tender expression on her face. She's wearing a black eyepatch and a yellow, comfortable looking sweater. She looks as at-ease as you've ever seen her.
"Oh wow, Triss, are you okay?!" you say, touching her eyepatch.
"I'm alright," she says softly, pushing your hand away, "Justice Unlimited has been all we could have hoped for and more . . . but how are you?"
"In The Frozen Throne. It sucks," you pout, "But that's not all! Socialite Butterfly got turned into a little girl with no memories, kinda, and I'm her big sister now, kinda?"
She blinks with her one good eye.
". . . we have much to discuss," she says.
"We do!" you agree, "But we should probably hurry? I think this place is timeless, but I'm going to need to pee eventually."
Triss laughs at that and nods. "Then let us make haste."
But you don't, at least, not right away. You two stand at the edge of your deck, watching the waves together. As you do, you see . . .
[ ] . . . a school of colorful fish, in all shapes and sizes. Darting an elusive, part of a whole yet individual.
[ ] . . . ocean birds flying overhead. They swoop into the waters, striking fast with expert precision.
[ ] . . . a great sea serpent, larger than you dare imagine. It moves with slow grace, its power undeniable, irresistible.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—A House in the Northern Docks—February 2, 2068
One more thing.
Scarlet Maturity returns to his home to find someone already there, waiting for him.
"Christian," Faust greets from the sole chair in the living room. The house is beyond spartan, with only a custom-made armchair and television set filling the cavernous space. "How was your play-date with Black Swan?"
"Amusing," Scarlet Maturity says, not rising to the bait, "And informative. Tell me, who are the Hours sending?"
"My, what information have you stumbled into?" Faust asks, "Those above me think Justice Unlimited is of little importance, but I see again and again what a mistake that is. Still, it is not for me to stop a client from committing a blunder."
"Yes, you only need profit off it," Scarlet Maturity says, rolling his eyes, "I see you've been calling in all of Powers."
"Yourself included. I hope you enjoyed your vacation, but it's time to go back to work."
"My prices have gone up."
"Have they?" Faust says with a raised eyebrow, "Well, do inform me. Hopefully you can use the money to furnish your home. It's very, as they children say, 'male living-space'.
"I want Powers, Faust, all of it," Scarlet Maturity says bluntly, "After I've won your war, I want you to void every contract you have with every member. Then, I want you to stay out of my business, unless you have a job offer."
"Oho," Faust says, a smile coming to his thin lips, "Where is this coming from?"
"The same place it always does." Scarlet Maturity approaches the mantle, and takes several figures out of a bag. He arranges them carefully, placing Fantastic Metal last. "Strength comes in many forms."
CHOOSE YOUR FILL-IN ISSUE:
[ ] Flight of the Bumblebee (Apiary, Scarlet Maturity, The Defiance Unit)
[ ] Goodnight, Avô (Uiara, Ọsanyìn, The Interlocutor)
[ ] The Hand of Mysteries (Radiant Silvergirl, Star, Key, Fish)
[ ] Stairway to Heaven (Valiant Red, Valkyrie, King, Dr. Theodore Frederson)
[ ] The Egg of the King (The Defiance Unit, Triss, Octavius, Edgar, Horae Guard)
Since we have a lot of lore and I noticed the other corkboards aren't up to date, so I made my own !
StarSingerBlue's Corkboard of All Things Wonderful and Prometheanesque.
Justice Unlimited
The greatest hero organisation in all of Horizon, and the inheritors of its former leader's greatest work: Project Prometheus, a means of giving superpowers to ordinary individuals. Based in the Apiary, which is a very huge and cool sentient building. Our original HQ was the Bastion in the Worker's Mitt, which we can reclaim with a Global Action. We have a program for small-time villains to find employement and pay compensation for those they've hurt.
Lady Leizi/Lei Zixuan (Current Leader) (Now stuck in the Frozen Throne)
-That's us !
-We control lightning and it makes us more buff
-We also have a nifty spy network and can reduce the difficulty of an ESP check once per mission
Black Swan/Mona Merola-Morales
-First of the Project Prometheus candidates
-super-strong energy blasts, an invulnerable core, and she can fly too ! She's vulnerable to psychic attacks tho
-has a heart of gold, but puts her foot in her mouth every time she speaks to Ellie (whom she has a crush on)
-really good at making friends with our enemies
Valiant Gold/Noelle "Ellie" Han
-True heir to the Valiant name
-Her mom was Heavenly Astrologian of New Dawn, her father is an as-yet unknown inhabitant of Elysium
-We met her while she was fighting Yellow Quilin's forces
-Dynamite allows her to summon three ghosts of any dead metahuman, whether we have their DNA or not, and combine their powers into one powerset with no regards as to potency
-The first use of Dynamite combined Red Huntress, Justicar and Heavenly Astrologian, turning her into Red Iustitia, Blind Judge of Heaven. It turned her into a god capable of fighting Hand, but also made her almost lose herself
Menagerie Witch/Madeleine « Maddie » du Marseille
-youngest member of Justice Unlimited
-kind of messed up due to the death of her mother and torture at the hands of the Petit Prince
-wants revenge on the Petit Prince
Handyman/Rhys Gardner
-shapeshifter, is literally made of putty
-was in a relationship with Vulcan of SLAYERS. He met Vulcan's parents recently with Ellie, and they sucked
-used to be a spy for the US, but isn't anymore. He still has family in the US though and considering the US's state, we should try to get them out.
Doctor Silver/John Henry Rhodes
-former assistant to Valiant Silver
-besties with Dr Ibis
-he wants revenge on the Demon Flamez for the death of his daughter Natasha
Châtelet/Opale Roudin-Reyes (Second-in-command) (Now stuck in the Frozen Throne)
-Former member of the Four Seasons
-Was secretly engaged to Abigail, the Giant Slayer and leader of SLAYERS
-was previously know as Hiver/Harrier, and Été and Printemps's abuse prevented her from transitioning and coming out before she quit Four Seasons
-Was given a super-HRT symbiote by Mendicant
-In charge of accounting. She hates it.
-now has a thing going on with Sunlight Knight, since she likes idealists with a knight theme
Belle Sabreuse/Beatrice "Triss" Dupont
-bodyguard of Yara Oliveira
-former acquaintance of White Hawk and Edgar
-lived in Jacob's Ladder as a child, repairing the tower. Only saw Elysium once, right before she left
Former Members (those definitely dead are in red)
Adamant/Rakeem Wade
-son of renowned heroes Steadfast and Dragonsteeth
-was in a romantic relationship with Lady Leizi prior to his death: was planning on proposing to her
-early on in their relationship fumbled her terribly and ditched her for Palisade.
-was in charge of the paperwork
-tried to be the leader when NuGen was formed, was really bad at it
-he could turn into orangish metal
Red Huntress/Harper English
-had a seemingly bubbly exterior, but was deeply paranoid over her sister possibly replacing her friends with clones
-believed that you should bite first, that the world was eat or be eaten
Apiary/Rosemary Ward
-was abandoned as a baby at the Bainbridge Home for Youth: being left outside in the freezing cold left her without the use of her legs
-started her transformation into a dysmorphic metahuman at age 15: it was extremely severe
-she went to live in Dominion's lab after a while, where she met Scarlet Maturity: Faust had marked her down for "Fish" because her dysmorphic transformation was incomplete
-could eat any matter and turn it into a chitin and into more copies of herself: this ability to replicate made her an X-class metahuman
-however, having too many bodies active at the same time overwhelmed her psyche and sent her into a feral state of hunger.
-she bonded with Scarlet Maturity during that time, considering him similar to an older brother
-was empowered by Scarlet Maturity to help kickstart her powers. When she managed to repeatedly kill him during Flight of the Bumblebee, she eventually burnt through his revival charges until it hit her. She left a body of hers with him as she died.
-after building several thousand bodies to protect the Defiance Unit, she started becoming another Voice, being able to see the other four and relieve Valkyrie from her nightmare.
-was the heart of Justice Unlimited prior to her death during the hunt for the Defiance Unit, and was the face of dysmorphic metahumans and incredibly beloved across the Worker's Mitt, regularly helping out with various things and babysitting children.
-created the building Apiary in her dying moments, so that NuGen and Scarlet Maturity would have a place with lots of space to stay in. A golden child appears in it sometimes, said child is similar to her but also not her. She says it's kind of her kid in her dying moments.
-did VTubing under the name QTBee
-Within the depths of the Apiary, she built something called the Contingency in her dying moments. Nora describes it as the most horrifying thing she's ever seen. It was built in case the world was more bad than good.
Radiant Silvergirl/Towarri Taylor
-the current predecessor of Star of the Hand of Mysteries, but doesn't know much about the Hand of Mysteries itself
-was raised by the Hand, and then ran away
-she brought NuGen back together after they disbanded following Apiary's death. She really wanted to meet Apiary.
-was captured by the Americans as they were aiming to capture members of the Hand; they held her under heavy psychic drain
-was in a romantic friendship with Automne of the Four Seasons; AGL held Automne's braindead corpse with the promise of curing her in order to control Towarri
-has now joined Stockpile's splinter group of Crusade, and thinks Lady Leizi abandoned her
Uiara/Yasmin Oliveria
-heiress to the Osanyin Coporation; owned 8% of its shares through which she funded Justice Unlimited
-currently partially alive, mentioned that "I was under the water too long, so they cut me to pieces". Red Huntress has asked that we put her to rest.
-was in a tumultuous romantic relationship with Valiant Silver
-was insecure over people seeing her as "Uiara" over "Yasmin"
-was banished to an apartement in the Corporate Playground after she got her powers and refused to work for her father
-accidentally did something in a moment of anger that she said destroyed the world
-met Valiant Silver while she was selling tech on the grey market as she was looking for a way to decrypt data left by her grandfather.
Valiant Silver/Nora Kim
-former leader of Justice Unlimited
-Algernon-type, specialised in metahuman powers
-creator of Project Prometheus and EXCEED-BEYOND
-was in a tumultuous romantic relationship with Uiara. Liked to commision fanart of her.
-was born on the day of the Susurration
-constantly pushed herself too hard, resulting in her eventually Rebounding after fighting the Catch-22
-Is being accused of waking up the Leviathan by Crusade
-was pretty selfish before joining NuGen, and was focused on proving how smart she was, trying not to care about "lessers". If she hadn't had JU, who know how she'd have turned out...
-briefly turned into Valiant Gold while being attacked by Valiant Gold's dad
Moon River/Eve
-Publicly said to be an AI, was actually the projection of a technopath who has never seen her own body
-currently missing
-was found by Valiant Silver
-has spent her entire life online and acts very weird and kind of inappropriate after awhile
-lacked memories of herself before Valiant Silver found her while fiddling with Osanyin's data, except for being held as a baby by a woman by a woman singing "Moon River" by Frank Sinastra
-probably Valkyrie's daughter with Lilith/Lantern being her sister
-controled special drones that allowed her to project holograms capable of touching things
-really liked QTBee's streams
Affiliates
Doctor Mammoth Ibis
-Algernon-type, specialised with genetics. He makes us Ambrosia, the thing we need to have to give Candidates superpowers.
-the Petit Prince mindcontrolled him into ruining his life: Ibis installed an implant inside his brain to avoid that
-he really hates the Petit Prince
-recently reunited with his daughter Massive Ibis, and is going to therapy
Doctor Massive Ibis
-daughter of Mammoth Ibis
-not an Algernon, but smart enough to keep up with them
-dating Doctor Silver's daughter Natalie
Takanashi Chihiro
-college friend of Valiant Silver's, and a renowned reporter
-absolutely MASSIVE superhero fangirl
-Warpstar is a huge fan of hers
Joelle Chaucer, the "Famine Slayer"
-former member of SLAYERS, quit to become a philanthropist
-has (weak) lightning powers
-is Menagerie Witch's legal guardian, and is dating Mona's mom
Mendicant/Alice Lawson
-greatest healer in the world. Uses they/them pronouns
-makes healing symbiotes out of their body, which can instantly heal all injury levels even if the user just died
-can use said symbiotes on themselves
-has been treating Arc as part of our alliance with New Dawn, so we have to wait until Issue 5 to buy symbiotes from them
-said symbiotes cost 3000 monies each
-had a girlfriend who treated them really badly because she thought their powers were gross
-having someone's "flavor" helps them make symbiotes
-in their mid 30s, a bit older than Lady Leizi
Yara Oliveria (Currently stuck in the Frozen Throne)
-owner of 11% of Osanyin's shares
-a kind and emphatic person, and the world's greatest BlackGold shipper
-as a result of the psychic event horizon at the end of Eidolon, she has gained partial access to her powerset. She needs goldnine to be fully empowered.
-has acquired a kind of mind palace: it looks like a cabin by the sea
Katie (Currently stuck in the Frozen Throne)
-Socialite Butterfly, but given a second chance
-Does not want to go back to being Socialite Butterfly, whom she seems to have partial access to the memories of
-has ordered her clones to kill her if she shows signs of reverting
-Can clone a single person at a time: calls said clones "Buddies"
The organisation from which Justice Unlimited emerged, it has now fallen on tough times following the Movement. They've temporarily merged with us thanks to us revealing the secret of Project Prometheus after Lady Leizi and Chetelet were sent into the Frozen Throne, with a more permanent merge planned for later.
Wolong/Gabriel Kwan (New Dawn Leader) (Justice Unlimited Temporary Leader)
-can Autocrit OPS checks
-has a crush on LL
-now in charge of Justice Unlimited while Chatelet and Lady Leizi are stuck in the Frozen Throne
-was in love with Heavenly Astrologian but it never worked out
Dreamcatcher/Juan Castellanos
-Can conjure one item from his dreams at random; said items can range from « a dragon » to «spiders wearing hats". This power seems to have a psychic component to it considering he was able to see Red Iustitia and Hand's fight.
-Mentioned via WoG to be a trans guy and transitioned thanks to one of Mendicant's symbiotes like Chatelet did
-despite appearing incredibly spacy, he actually managed to deduce the true nature of Project Prometheus on his own.
Arc/Charlotte Allard
-can reflect both physical and conceptual attacks (such as insults) onto her opponents
-was severely injured in the Movement, but is better now thanks to Mendicant's symbiotes
-really depressed due to a lot of her friends and colleagues dying. Hearing about Project Prometheus seems to have given her hope
-is a member of the Kelso-Allard family, who own Horizon's premier aerospace megacorp. She's estranged from them though.
Miss Naught/Virginia Cunningham
-mentoring Menagerie Witch
-has an eight-year old son
-she's super nice !
Palisade/Renee Matthews
-the New Dawn member the most opposed to them merging with us
-used to date Adamant, blames Lady Leizi for the end of the relationship
Gentleman James/Andre Machado
-very suave and cool
-likes cars
Baba Yaga/Catherine Hawkins
-Officially retired
-can create "domains" linked to each other; one of them was the new Wonderland in the Frozen Throne
-said new Wonderland has now had its links to the outside world cut off, although it provides a safe shelter for Yara, Katie, Chatelet and Lady Leizi
Former members
Cisma/Maria Banderies
-was non-binary
-could create pocket dimensions in which no one could enter
-died during the Movement: their power was one half of what maintained Wonderland
Steelheart/Nicholas Rotwang
-Algernon-type, specialised in robots
-his emblem was two eyes over a circular mouth
-was Valiant Silver's mentor
-maintained Wonderland
-his real name was Dr Nicholas Rotwang, 9 of the Horae Guard calls him Rotwang
-may have created Princess: Princess speaks about a "scary robot man"
-took blood samples from Apiary during her stay in Wonderland
-was extremely antisocial and communicated via hologram most of the time
-seems to be under some kind of mindcontrol or Faust contract, tipping NuGen off before attacking them and saying they can't trust any further comunications from him (similar to what Anansi said at a different date)
-could fight toe-to-toe with Moon River, a technopath, over control of his drones
Valiant Red/Takeshi Takeda
-Algernon-type, specialised in hard-light constructs
-is considered the first hero
-died during the Susurration
-was in a romantic relationship with Valkyrie before his death
-his first lab was in the Bastion, and then it was moved to the Zenith where it was destroyed after his death
Novalight/Yelena Sokolov
-leader of New Dawn from the Susurration to the Movement
-was a neurotic control freak, and notably abused Heavenly Astrologian, docking her pay and forcing her to work long hours
-was weary of people joining New Dawn itself and relegated them into satellite teams like NuGen
-under her leadership literally everyone captured was thrown into Wonderland including petty thieves
-knew she should had never been a leader
-was the godmother to valkyrie's twins, whom she killed (or so she thinks)
-died during the Movement
Heavenly Astrologian/Han Yu
-could control inertia
-mother of Ellie Han
-was in a romatic relationship with a resident of Elysium, who's also Ellie's father. Said man ditched her once he learned she was pregnant.
-proposed that Apiary join New Dawn, and nominated her for NuGen.
-wanted more than anything for Ellie to be happy and safe.
-died during the Movement
Valkyrie/Cordelia Reed
-is the most powerful psychic in the world, and the second of the Four Voices
-went insane and tried to drown Horizon in goldnine, claiming there was something wrong with Jacob's Ladder. Valiant Red died stopping her
-the irradiated spot where Novalight defeated her is where Wonderland was built
-was kept in a medically-induced coma in Wonderland
-was pregnant with twin daughters before the Susurration; she thinks they died, but said twin daughters are likely alive and are Moon River and Lantern
-is now considerably a lot more sane, and helped us fight Hand
-she seems to be hiding out in the Stage
-is teaming up with King against Interlocutor ?
-she's technically not a peer to the other Voices, but is good at "faking it" according to Apiary
First her mind was broken, nd then her body. She spent twenty years trapped in a nightmare in Wonderland before Apiary pushed her into a natural sleep
-about a decade older than King
King
-he's considered the most powerful metahuman alive
-he's been searching for someone over the past decades (possibly Interlocutor ?)
-it's really hard to contact him
-has control over the strong and weak atomic forces
-Scarlet Maturity considers him a "pencil-necked nerd with dreadlocks"
-In terms of appearance, he's about 50, is black, and has dreadlocks and a beard
Four voices. One unfathomably large and low; a crushing pressure who would erase them all without noticing. Another, high and sweet and full of rage. A third, deluded and cunning, begging for all, unearned. A fourth, confused and hurt and trying to still troubled waters the way you smoothed out wrinkles on a sheet.
The four most powerful psychics alive: they are, in order, the Leviathan, Valkyrie, Hand/Trimegestrius and the Interlocutor.
The Hand of Mysteries/The Philosophers
A big conspiracy with so far mostly unclear motives. They are in conflict with the Horae Guard, and the Americans are looking for them so they can win the metahuman arms race. Despite this, they agreed to team up together to create Crusade.
But now that Hand is injured and Key is « dead », the Hours and possibly the Americans are going to try and prey on their weakness. A war is coming.
Hand/Trimegistrius
- a fetid mass of flesh that is horrible to look upon.
-Described as « a wax figure of a man that's melted » by Nora
-Gives out canisters of itself that allows him to warp the mind and possibly powers of others ?
-an extremely powerful psychic, and the Second of the Voices
-when Ellie rummaged around its mind during Eidolon Pt.4, she found the name « Trimegistrius »
-Was Once A Man
-got wounded by Ellie and Valkyrie during Eidolon
-Scarlet Maturity calls it the "Tumor of the World", and says it has metasized and its roots run deep. If it is pushed in a corner and stops being subtle then the terror wracked would make the Movement pale in comparison.
Speaker
-See Kyoko under The Alternate Timeline
Lantern/Lilith ?
-long-range clairvoyant
-was spying on us but Mona scared her off, and now the Apiary prevents her from peeking
-her name is Lilith ? Kyoko said she's been looking for a sister of hers
-possibly the sister of Moon River and daughter of Valkyrie
Key/Socialite Butterfly/Kaitlyn English
-Harper English/Red Huntress's older sister.
-She can clone people, including metahumans. The clones are fully loyal to her but lack intelligence and the ability to emote. She cloned loned the entirety of the current New Dawn bar Arc, Uiara, Justicar, and Scarlet Maturity, as well as a bunch of other people and Seraph.
-She really didn't get along with the rest of the Philosophers
-Was horribly abused by her parents in a bid to turn her into the perfect heir to the family fortune. Went crazy as a result, and believes herself to be perfect. Tried to murder Harper when she was born, but Harper woke up and Kaitlyn then decided her sister was the only thing she loved. Said love mostly translated into forcing clones of her parents to abuse her so that Harper would be « perfect » like Kaitlyn
-Desires revenge on Uiara for taking her sister away from her and spoiling her schemes. Is seeking out Yara to hurt Uiara by proxy.
-As of Eidolon Pt. 4, turned into a small child named Katie by Red Iustitia, Blind Judge of Heaven, with the control Hand has over her being boosted. In this form, she is limited to one clone at a time. Katie very much does not want to turn back into her older self.
Fish
-is currently under partial mind-control
-seems to have known Radiant Silvergirl, and is mentioned in her Fill-In Issue
-new to the ranks of the Hand
-was never a member or prospective member of JU
-might be dysmorphic ?
Star
-successor to Radiant Silvergirl, who was a failure
-new to the Hand
-looks posh and self-assured
-in charge of handling Sun
Sun
-seemingly catatonic
-one of Star's « charges »
-probably really powerful
Moon-Over-Crown/Faust/Christopher Mason
-Also known as Faust, CEO of Dominion Security Concerns
-a Social Darwinist that delights in measuring himself to strong opponents
-can force people into unbreakable contracts whose conditions cannot be ignored
-Is one of the backers of Crusade and is working with the Americans and Horae Guard to do so, despite their enmity.
-Does not have the same Hand-flesh-parasite thing Socialite Butterfly had
-Is partially his own thing separate from Hand
-tried to recruit Apiary into the role of Fish
-A creation of the Leviathan ?
-Visited Yellow Quilin and gave her a piece of the Frozen Throne for no other reason than it wanted to see what happened
-said that the games with the "not-mes" have been interesting
-Looked like a normal, if offputting guy when visiting YQ, but described later as having « too-long limbs »
-Seems to have captured Nora's psychic echo and incorporated her into itself
-described by Nora as "« if you tried to remake a figure of a person out of the melted wax » (said melted wax comes from Hand)
-Fighting Valkyrie and King ?
-King is hunting it down
-refers to others as « not-mes »
-searching for "novelty" and "an answer to its question"
-also looking for a "she" that it is sure is in Horizon
-referred to as "new and fake" during Flight of the Bumblebee
Crusade
A team created from members of Dominion Security Concerns, AGL (the Americans) and the Horae Guard. They say they're here to fight Monarch, but it's more to assert control over Horizon. Planning on mass-producing the PREVAIL armour, although the destruction of the Brig may have thrown a spanner in that project.
Members
Stockpile/Valiant Justice/Valiant Red White And Blue (Former Leader) (Ex-Global Justice)
-see under Crusade Splinter Group
White Hawk (Current Leader) (Horae Guard Member)
-see 3 of the Horae Guard
Seraph/Shiloh Stetson (Dead)
-telepath, can fly and has laser blasts
-died at the hands of Socialite Butterfly and was cloned
-we have her DNA now
Sunlight Knight/Simon MacAllister (Minute of the Horae Guard)
-genuinely and wholeheartedly believes that White Hawk is a good and noble guy who will fix things
-has a crush on Chatelet, which she seems to reciprocate
-a fool, but also very kind
-has six kids, five of which were adopted. The five adopted are former "rung-trash"
The Brass Shield/Philip Evans (Ex-Powers)
-kind of an idiot, but has a good heart
-he's about 18
-stole his armour from a corp in order to be a hero, said corporation threatened to throw him in jail if he didn't give them ten years of testing out the armor
-Warming up to us after we offered to fix his armor
Ronin/Egawa Akane (Ex-Powers) (Mole for Justice Unlimited)
-absorbs the (non-power) skills of whoever she kills: she killed every yakuza in Horizon and a bunch of other people involved in organised crime, so she's pretty good
-the voices of the peoples she's killed stay in her head and scream at her: she has a implant to make them quiet down and has reached kind of an agreement with them
-a long-time associate of Lady Leizi, is spying on Crusade for us
-The Brass Shield seems to look up to her
Joules/Finley Sharp (Ex-Global Justice)
-can manipulate plasma
-coward, likes to sexually harass people
-doesn't want to face his mistakes
Plasticity (Ex-Global Justice)
-can increase the power of some senses at the cost of removing others
-feels lost and aimless since the death of Justicar. Is looking for something to believe in.
Perspective (Ex-Global Justice)
-can link people together so that they share eyesight
-joined Global Justice either during or slightly before the hunt for the Defiance Unit
-Just Following Orders
Anansi/Sunny Michaels (Ex-New Dawn)
-Algernon-type, specialises in computers
-was friends/rivals with Moon River
-formerly of New Dawn, they have no idea why she left
-under some kind of mind-control, was possibly injected with Hand's flesh
Crusade Splinter Group
Stockpile/Silvio Serra Fernandes (Fomer Leader of Crusade) (Ex-Global Justice)
-Algernon-type, we don't know what his speciality is
-Going Through It
-has been fed a bunch of information that has him thinking Valiant Silver woke up the Leviathan and was an uncaring sociopath (these are likely the Woman In Blue's memories)
-has a crush on Mona
-built the PREVAIL armor, which can teleport, exist in a quantum state of improbability and drain the psychic fields of others. This is particularly harsh on Mona
-the PREVAIL armour is linked to the Brig, and drains the psychic fields of prisoners to power itself
-had a crisis of conscience after Ellie pointed out how fucked up draining prisoners was and Justicar's ghost said how she was disappointed in him. Has now quit Crusade after they remplaced him with White Hawk as leader.
Ete/Gwendolyn d'Arceneaux (Ex-Four Seasons)
-formerly of the Four Seasons
-wife to Printemps, sister to Automne and cousin to Chatelet
-obsessed with making money and with status
-let her husband physically abuse Automne and Chatelet, and was regularly emotionally abusive towards the two of them: Automne wasn't allowed to go to school and was forbidden from seeing her girlfriend, and Chatelet stayed in the closet out of fear of how Ete and Printemps would treat her
-said fear became true after she came out to everyone during Faustian, with Ete calling the fact that she was trans a sexual perversion
-is now suicidal and deeply regrets her past actions
-is under a contract by Faust that regulates her actions; Stockpile has made her a psychic headband that can partially nullify the effects of the contract
Edgar
-Guts expy
-not a metahuman, but survived being psychically drained for several years at max power
-was detained by the Americans instead of the Horae Guard ?
-wants to cave White Hawk's head in
Radiant Silvergirl
-See her entry under Justice Unlimited
Their job is defending the space station Elysium, which includes its psychic drain thing. They have the Minutes as subordinates: Sunlight Knight is one, Seraph likely was one as well too. The Minutes are said to be Handyman-tier by Scarlet Maturity (although he was lowballing Handyman's power). They also have the Seconds, who are C-tier metahumans. The Hours are currently planning a war with the Mysteries. They also tried to recruit Scarlet Maturity long ago but he told them no.
Members of the Hours
2
-is ferrokinetic
3
-better known as White Hawk/Octavius
-former friend of Beatrice and Edgar, was part of a group of « rung-trash »
-has given his name and taught how to read by the Defiance Unit
-he later betrayed them, and his group of younger friends, during the attack on Elysium by the Defiance Unit
-said to be the youngest member of the Hours in a generation
-Invulnerable, flies fast, hits fast.
-planning on betraying the rest of the Horae Guard at one point
-epouses ideals of noblesse oblige
-has been given a mission by the rest of the Hours to retrieve Princess and destroy Steelheart's lab
-is a Griffith expy
4
-a mindcontroller/psychic according to Scarlet Maturity
-Black Swan should stay away from her
6
-hinted at to be Ellie/Valiant Gold's father.
-hunted down the Defiance Unit after their attack on Elysium
-can "make things act as they're supposed to" and so can bypass invulnerability with a swing of a sword. Can also teleport, and has super-strength and speed. Can turn into a bipedal lizard with energy blades.
7
-has a manic, over-the-top personality
-can see the probability of an event happening, and can make the improbable certain. This translates as stuff such as « the 0,00004 probability that I, an ordinary human, can injure an invulnerable superhuman, will now happen »
-is in a romantic relationship with 9, whom she is overly affectionate with
8
-also known as the Penitent Scholar
-tasked with tracking Yara.
-can somehow piggyback information off Augur
-told us where Yara, Lady Leizi, Chatelet and Katie are
-said to have failed Yara's sister (doesn't mention if it's Uiara or a sister from another timeline)
-he and Augur hate each other
-his apperance constantly shifts, and he can't vanish while observed: his power could be based off quantum mechanics
-he said his power is the antithesis of Wolong's
-doesn't seem to care much for the other Hours
-knew about the Apiary and the fact it wouldn't let him in without a day pass thanks to his powers
9
-in a romantic relationship with 7, fears for the future to the point of not having children. -teleported away in a flash of lightning
11
- "the Man With a Boyish Smile".
-Dangerous
-Seems to have erased Valiant Blue and Yohanna Oliveria from the space-time continuum
-a space elevator that was built by Osanyin and his company. Actually a psychic siphon that draws power from the Leviathan to increase the powers of the people living inside
-At the top of the Ladder is Elysium, a space station owned by Osanyin where the super-rich live in utter luxury with futuristic technology
-Elysium is managed by the "Elysium Group", which is headed by Maximillian Augustalis
-They're apparently conducting really fucked-up experiments up there.
-Elysium's spaceport is being built by Kelso-Allard, and is unfinished
-a lot of the institutional knowledge on how to maintain the Tower is getting lost (kinda like fiber-optic cables IRL) and most of the people doing maintenance are now « rung-trash », abandoned children living in terrible conditions in the Tower itself. Edgar, White Hawk and Belle Sabreuse all used to be rung-trash, and Sunlight Knight has also adopted several.
-Ellie's dad lives in Elysium
-A lot of the workers who built Jacob's Ladder contracted Jorando's Disease (a disease that hardens your skin and makes it crack like glass before moving into your lungs) from the materials used. Nora's dad died of the disease.
-There's a chamber in Elysium which a trap in it that causes the people in it to fall victim to a highly accelerated version of Jorando's Disease. The Defiance Unit was caught in said trap during the attack on Elysium.
-Recently woke up (it was thought to be dead) and moved a bit.
-most of Horizon's heroes died trying to stop it and the hundreds of Behemoths its psychic signature woke up
-landed in 2001 on the island of Maraujo, having seemingly teleported into Earth's atmosphere
-Described as
Above them floated an uneven cylinder, made of a thick side and thin side. From the thin side emerged two symmetrical, gangly protrusions that extended into long, double-jointed limbs that terminated into endless tendrils. Between them was a bulbous prow, oblong and twisted, with a gaping pit in the middle, empty, wanting, and unignorable.
when it was entering the atmosphere
-Around 90% of its mass burnt away in the Earth's atmosphere. Despite this, the dust kicked up by its impact caused massive famines.
-only a "head" and a "hand" remained. It looks as if it is screaming
-A substance is produced by it, goldnine. Goldnine is necessary to the creation of Ambrosia, the stuff we use to give people superpowers, and turns all organic matter it touches into more of itself, and it also produces Behemoths if too much of it is in one place.
-has an outer shell of impenetrable chitin, and a softer, organic inner core.
-Pieces of said core were sent to be studied. They were completely indestructible in every way and when you looked at it you could swear it moved in some way even though no scientific instrument ever recorded it as moving.
-Two years after pieces of the core were removed, every single person within a hundred yards of the pieces dropped dead. Those slightly outside of the death range reported feeling dizzy, disoriented, and hearing the sound of someone screaming in static in their heads.
-All the pieces grew filaments, which pointed into flowers which bloomed in the direction of the Leviathan's main body.
-Jacob's Ladder is draining psychic power from it
-the first metahuman, Osanyin, appeared twenty years later.
-it very slightly turned its head during Red Iustititia's psychic nexus
-a type of metahuman power that allows to rapidly gain knowledge and intelligence
-most Algernon-types specialise in one domain to avoid using their power too much; known Algernon specialities include Valiant Silver (metahuman powers), Vulcan (metallurgy), Lethal Anondyne (drugs and neurotoxins), Steelheart (robotics), Valiant Red (hard-light constructs), Dr. Ibis (genetics), Acid Rain (acids and bases), Dollman (weaponry resembling children's toys) and Osanyin (medicine)
-once an Algernon-type uses their powers too much, they reach something called the Rebound, which causes Alzheimer-like symptoms, with memory loss and losing track of things
-Algernon-types don't die when they Rebound: something much worse happens to them
-it seems to be possible to avoid the Rebound: Fantastic Metal was boosted by Scarlet Maturity and given the True Telepathy tag, and Nora seems to think that Algernon powers need to be shared across two people.
-Interlocutor was present at Osanyin's death, and also has Nora's psychic echo. It may be linked to the Rebound.
The City of Horizon
It's where we live, and where nearly all of this quest takes place !
-It's divided into thirteen boroughs, each with a Borough Chief, and there's a central (weak) government run by the UN.
-Most stuff is privately owned, including hospitals, most educational systems and usually the electric grid.
-The Worker's Mitt is the only place with public education for example. It's also the most democratic borough.
-The thirteen districts are the Uni District (the most populated district), the Corporate Playground (also known as Horizon Heights), the Foot of the Ladder, the Worker's Mitt, the Old Industrial District, the New Industrial District, the Northern Docks, where Scarlet Maturity fought with Mona, the South Docks, the Marajó Várzea and the Creature's Den (formerly the English-McLeod Neighborly Neighborhood Livingtainment Community). The military base in the QZ also counts as a district for some reason.
-A lot of food comes from the Arable Band, and the Marajó Várzea also has a lot of greenery. The Arable Band was devasted after Apiary used to the biomass there to make more of her bodies during the hunt for the Defiance Unit. The majority of food is imported though.
-Notable megacorps include Dominion Security Concerns, Osanyin, Intellihealth, Allied Global Logistics, English-McLeod, and Kelso-Allard
-It's basically a cyberpunk dystopia with a lot less cool stuff.
-Horizon has a fictional currency that roughly corresponds to dollars.
-Maps of the place can be found here and here.
The Frozen Throne
-a piece of warped space in the middle of horizon
-it's impossible to get out, it will warp space so you can't leave. Steelheart once tried mapping it out and the drone fell a distance longer than the Earth's diameter before running out of power. It never hit the ground.
-You can get out of there using teleportation, but only once. The Frozen Throne will instantly kill you if you try to return
-Is semi-alive, can psychically influence people to lure them into its grasp. Do not go there if you are psychically sensitive.
-always has someone seated upon its throne. It seems to prefer metahumans for that purpose, and tries to railroad its preferred candidates into the job. Being seated on it gradually kills the seated.
-has been drastically growing thanks to the magical girls Yellow Quilin created turning into monsters
Osanyin and the Oliveria family
Osanyin
-first metahuman, an Algernon-type specialised in medicine
-was incredibly beloved for curing cancer and revitalising Brazil's economy
-built most of Horizon and Jacob's Ladder. Jacob's Ladder was finished after his (apparent) death, though
-his death led to the creation of New Dawn but was seemingly alive after the Susurration since one of the Fill-In Issues shows him with Yasmin and Yasmin seems to remember him clearly despite only being a year older than Nora
-Algernon-type apparently don't die when they hit the Rebound. Something worse happens
Jair Oliveria
-Yasmin and Yara's dad. An utter PoS
-One of the backers of Crusade
-Currently trying to get Yara declared dead so he can seize her shares and thus control Osanyin (the company). He curently has only 40%, not enough for majority control.
The Alternate Timeline
A timeline in which the Leviathan was awoken. Possibly linked to the Sussuration.
The Woman In Blue
-seemingly an alternate version of Valiant Silver
-Silvio was given access to the memories of an "evil" Valiant Silver, which seems to be her
-the "mother of psychic technology"
-the Leviathan was awoken as a result of her experiment. She decided to run away afterwards.
Dr Theodore Frederson
-Said to be dead by the Woman in Blue
-Was involved in the Susurration
Oscar/Augur
-ran away
-used The Woman in Blue's machine and then "went so far you'll doubt he ever come back ».
-Compared to a child hiding his soiled sheets under the bed
-time-traveler, has access to a form of pseudo-future sight
-hates 8, the Penitent Scholar
-through a proxy, contacted us to give us information concerning Yara and Co's location, and asked for a tailor-made dose of Ambrosia
Kyoko Shirayuki
-Speaker of the Hand of Mysteries
-was unresponsive after the Woman in Blue's experiment
-the only one who can talk to Hand ?
-has access to psychic equipment that detected Dynamite getting activated
-terrible at bantering according to Faust
Yemoja
-rallied Novalight's remnants of New Dawn when the Leviathan was awoken
-possible Uiara counterpart
Valiant Blue
-Was erased from existence by "the Man with a Boyish Smile"
-possibly the Women in Blue ?
-may have fought Valiant Red
Yohanna Oliveria
-Was erased from existence by "the Man with a Boyish Smile"
Heroes for hire. Under the control of Faust/Moon-Over-Crown, although it likely won't be always the case. They're being drafted to fight the Hours, after which they'll come under the permanent control of Scarlet Maturity. They have a lab called the Logos and have expressed interest in researching dysmorphic metahumans, donating to the DMU to get access to their members. They tried selling some of said data to AGL.
Scarlet Maturity/Christian Marlow
-one of the most powerful metahumans alive. Regenerates so fast he appears to have never been injured in the first place, strong enough to rip the Earth in half
-Can empower other metahumans by shoving a lump of energy into their chest: mechanically, this gives them an extra keyword, one which is colored Red.
-Everytime he is killed, he consumes one of the people he empowered and resurrects stronger than before
-his boosting ability seems to be able to accelerate the rate at which powers develop, as seen with Apiary
-met Apiary during her stay at the Logos, Dominion's lab. He saw her as his little sister, and empowered her in order to fix her powers
-Fought Apiary after her number of bodies had massively expanded during Flight of the Bumblebee. She managed to repeatedly kill him, and eventually ran down the list of candidates causing her to die. She left a body with him as she was dying, to say goodbye. He then told Valiant Silver he had killed Apiary.
-Likes watching baseball
-Did a YouTube collab with one of our Prometheus candidates, Cain. Likes analysing metahuman fights, and is pretty good at it.
-was a member of "The Guardian Wave", a hero team in the early days of Horizon. He enhanced them, but they all died when they got into a fight with a Named-class Behemoth, and he became obsessed with becoming the strongest as he felt it was the only thing that could stay with him forever
-wants to kill the Leviathan
-somewhat at odds with Faust now
-has asked for our help in fighting the Hours so as to not push Hand into a corner, since Powers is kinda bad as a team. This is the "War in Heaven" event. He is giving us information on who started the Movement in exchange.
Lethal Anodyne
-Algernon-type, specialised in drugs
-said drugs are extremely addictive, cause fatal withdrawals, and grants increased strength and regeneration abilities
-he uses neurotoxins in combat
-is addicted to his own product
-selling his creations to Monarch
-runs a nightclub which seems to be a brothel with a workforce that's at least partially coerced via addiction. Homer, one of our potential high-potency candidates, works there.
Quick Gorilla
-he's a orangutan
-fastest speedster in Horizon
-possibly the result of experimentation
-on the run from Powers now with two other orangutans
There's also a bunch of other guys who haven't been that important, aside from Blue Skies, a stoner who can control water vapor, Earthen Owl, the guy who holds the honor of being the first guy Mona ever defeated, and Shell Game, who can swap two objects via teleporting.
Marvelous Shine
- a contemporary of Valiant Red's
-left heroism once VR died to prove a point about the degradation of the state of heroes in Horizon. This did jack shit.
-He absorbs energy and uses it to transform into a hard-light body which can fly and is SUPER strong.
Samsara
-niece of Marvelous Shine, was trained by him
-can reverse time in a select location ?
Gerridae
-hydrokinetic
-was kidnapped by Marie Marionnette and sold to Stitches once Marie tired of her. Wants payback now
A subordinate team of Powers. Blue-collar, Ete of the Four Seasons hated them and they all died in the Movement. Both Chatelet's fiancee Abigail/The Giant Slayer and Handyman's boyfriend Vulcan/Gus were part of it. Chaucer, our director of operations, is a former member.
Monarch's faction and Wonderland Inmates
Monarch/Vitória Ximenes Rios
-a petty thief put in Wonderland because her powers would make any conventional prison unable to hold her
-Can link two points in space that allow for instant transportation and preservation of momentum.
-OOC, we known she would have open a portal to the QZ in the Uni District had we not taken the New Dawn mission, and the Uni District would have ended up flooded in goldnine
-devoted mother to Princess
Dollman
-Algernon-type who makes weapons with a theme around children's toys
-is a child murderer
Warpstar
-SpEAkS LIkE tHis
-Can instantly teleport any part of his body anywhere he can see, not limited by distance and not requiring direct sight. Also super strong, and can teleport other things back to him when he recalls his limbs.
-hates killing animals, is a huge fan of Chihiro Takanashi
Hercules
-invulnerable except close-range physical attacks, super-strong
-once severely injured Heavenly Astrologian
-abducted a hieress, Lady Ngyuen, with the aim of either seducing her or ransoming her
Marie Marionette
-hydrokinetic, controls people through the blood in their bodies
-now missing an arm as a result of getting punished by Monarch. Has a blood arm as a remplacement.
Stitches
-mad doctor aesthetic
-most feared of the Wonderland inmates
Acid Rain
-Algernon-type, specialised in acids
-motives completely unknown in-universe: he attacks areas with high concentrations of people and vegetation, because « they only feed it »
-has the highest body count out of Monarch's lieutenants
-acids can corrode plastic and glass, water must be kept away from them
Princess
-a dysmorphic metahuman around age 10/12
-Greatly admires Apiary and Black Swan
-May be the result of an experiment by Steelheart
-can possibly enhance powers ? Has a high potency
Other Wonderland inmates
Enforcer
-can punch people's internal organs
-very popular in the NID thanks to murdering the politician that decided to sell off their food supply (which Enforcer got thrown in Wonderland for)
-now allied with Trilogy, and is trying to form an alternative government for the NID to contest the rule as part of the "War on Earth" event
Le Petit Prince
-mindcontroller
-seems to have had his powers boosted by some unknown source, Chatelet mentions his name isn't on the list of people boosted by Scarlet Maturity.
-attempted to recruit Menagerie Witch and killed her mother. She wants Revenge
-powers are biokinetic in nature according to Scarlet Maturity
Ash Knight
-formerly heroic before Le Petit Prince got to him
-gets more powerful the more fire is around him, A-Lister
Le Petit Prince also has a number of other metahumans under his control.
The Demon Flamez
Phlogiston
-leader of the organisation
-does explosions
-under Le Petit Prince's control, although he is unaware of it
Sparksurfer/David
-has asked for our help, since he's increasingly worried by his boss's behaviour
Jorogumo/Chloe
-little sister of Sparksurfer
-severely dysmorphic appearance
-gets « hungry » which seemingly causes her powers to increase (except her flames which gutter out) but makes her eat people.
-Phologiston has been deliberately starving her
-seems to have killed Doctor Silver's daughter Natasha
Phlegethon
-does whatever Phologiston says
Evard
-thinks Phlogiston is awesome
Hotstep
-will bounce if pushed too hard, Phlogiston leaves him alone as a consequence
-a dysmorphic metahuman with fire instead of hair
A group of people pretending to be us: is actually the Ghost Dragon Triad, Lady Leizi's dad's organisation. They're turning young girls into magical girls via pieces of the Frozen Throne. This gradually turns them into ice monsters unless goldnine is given regularly, and MAGICAL then sells goldnine to parents who don't want their daughters to turn into monsters. They're Monarch's source of money, but they've kind of drained the area dry and can't expand so it's not going to stay a source of money for long. And they are no longer making more magical girls, and Yellow Quilin has a nasty surprise in store for when we attack her. They are currently being attacked by a group of magical girl-themed heroes, with their leader being a powerful telekinetic.
Yellow Quilin/Ziying
-Lady Leizi's younger sister. Was left to fend for herself.
-has the metahuman ability to imbue objects with a degree of power. The higher-quality the object the more powerful it is
-implanted one of the magical girl's power gems in her and now needs goldnine to not turn into a monster
-was given her first peice of the Frozen Throne by Interlocutor
-Lady Leizi intimidated her into no longer making magical girls
Foxglove/Black Tortoise
-emits pheromones that create hallucinations
-accidentally cracked Chatelet's egg
-Lady Leizi promised to murder her if she returned to the Ghost Dragon Triad, so she's probably getting murdered
Azure Dragon
-devoted to Yellow Quilin
-second-in-command
Vermilion Bird
-battle junkie
-can size-shift to a thirty-foot tall form and has pyrokinetic abilities
-sub-lieutenant
-the magical girls seem to admire her
White Tiger/Hu Bai
-teleports through playing cards that she throws
-agreed to be a mole for us
-is attempting to gather information on us through her brother, Hu Wei. We've been mostly feeding him false leads.
-a swarm of self-replicating robots, including giant mechs, that constantly patrol the QZ and prevent anyone from leaving it with Goldnine.
-has partially biological components and can be possibly contacted telepathically
-its brain has two sides: one more logical and robotic, the other snarky
-We're going to go and try to chat with it to get Goldnine.
-there's a Behemoth-hunting team called the Beast Busters deep within the QZ that we can contact as a foothold
The Americans
-America is a fascist theocracy now. Queer rights are nonexistent, you can get kicked out of school for napping during Bible study, their Patriot Act was much, much harsher, and a couple of years ago, they attempted to build a space elevator to compete with Horizon. It collapsed because it wasn't near the Equator.
-Said space elevator collapsing resulted in the current President, President Thule, getting into power. Said election was marked with laws disenfranchising large swathes of the population and his main opponents being assassinated. Large protests formed against him as a result, and the military was planning on murdering the lot of them until Justicar intervened (and was sent to Horizon as punishment)
-The United States is currently fighting wars (likely of imperial conquest) in the Middle East and South Pacific. They've also been trying to get their claws into Horizon and Jacob's Ladder via AGL and Global Justice (and Crusade after the Movement)
-Through AGL, owned several utilities in Horizon in order to coerce its inhabitants, buying the NID's hydroponics and owning the Worker's Mitt's power generator before Valiant Silver replaced it with a model of her own.
-American information systems are apparently 30 years behind and they still use USB keys
-America lacks powerful metahumans and is constantly trying to obtain more, notably using Justicar to lure out members of the Hand but only succeeding in capturing Radiant Silvergirl
-Notable heroes include The General, the Martyr, Miss Patriot, Mr Washington, and formerly Justicar
-Before the Movement, a source told them Valiant Silver believed the Leviathan was going to wake up.
-a group of anticapitalist supervillains: Nora/Valiant Silver made their debut fighting them when they attacked Roswell University. They attacked Elysium, and a bounty was put on their head, resulting in a lynch mob forming. Justice Unlimited, then NuGen, was the only one that thought literally bringing in people's heads was wrong, and decided to take a stand.
-Was familliar with the "rung-trash" kids (Belle Sabreuse, White Hawk and Edgar), and seemed to use the Ladder as a base occasionally. They gave all of them their names, and taught them how to read.
-Following their first attacks two years before Rosemary joined NuGen, they started going after smaller targets for awhila after some nasty setbacks.
-After NuGen started setting up infrastructure that wasn't controlled by the corps and various other mutual aid programs, the Defiance Unit attacked the worst of the rich and powerful so that New Dawn and AGL wouldn't target NuGen's programs.
-Memoria lived until the Movement, but was thought to have died first of the DU. He's also the only person we know of to have escaped the Frozen Throne, alongside Nox Esurientem who he brought with him.
-Memoria's sister was caught in the crossfire of a fight between Global Justice and the Supplicants and died due to her insurance claim being denied. The Defiance Unit's live-streamed execution of the man responsible for said denial seems to have been their public debut.
-After NuGen opened a community center next to Memoria's sister's bar, NuGen and the Defiance Unit had a party together. The next day, the Defiance Unit attacked Elysium.
-Said attack was aimed at stopping horrifying experiments going on in Elysium
-Four out of five of the Defiance Unit died while being protected by NuGen. Solder X and Crimson Soprano died to Marrow Spider, Nox was killed by a building that Novalight collapsed onto him, and Zeno was killed by 6 of the Hours's blade of light
-Crimson Soprano was interrogated by Scarlet Maturity, and told him what was going on in Elysium.
-a psychic hivemind. On their own, they appear to be odd individuals who try to badly fit into human society. Put two together within a hundred yards, and they become the smartest individual on Earth. Put three, they become more intelligent than any human has ever been. Four have psychic powers on par with Valkyrie, and five can sculpt reality like marble.
-They want to be reunited
-one was in Wonderland, one is in the Apiary
The Supplicants
-a Leviathan-worshipping cult, headed by a series of "Father Pious". Said Father Piouses keep dying of goldnine exposure. Currently up to Issue #4.0: Inflection
Throughout the past decades there have been many heroes, Valiant Red, King, Radiant Silvergirl, Novalight and many, many others. Opposing them of course have been a great number of villains. The Defiance unit, Scarlet Maturity, Le Petit Prince, and the countless lesser villains who try to make a name for themselves on the streets and in the underworld.
These of course are the most well known, be it through their broad destruction, terrifying powers or just simply due to being very public in their villainy. There are others however whose deeds are less well known, not due to their impact being any lesser but due to simply being less overt.
The foremost of these is the thief. Many when asked about a villainous Thief imagine high stakes art robberies at a museum or exciting bank heists seen in movies and comics both. The reason is easy, once again these are the overt examples.
No, the sign of a truly skilled thief is that no one ever hears of them. This however would make for a difficult topic to discuss as there would be nothing known to speak of, however after a lot of research and several interviews there is a story to tell of a villain unknown to many for most of his career. Only becoming known to the wider world after his death, this villain was Draupnir.
Draupnir was a career thief and assassin who worked in the underworld for the better part of two decades. His power was a simple one, duplicating anything he could hold in his hand, from rare jewels and USBs filled with confidential data to the deadliest poisons available in the metahuman underworld it was trivial for him to create a copy.
It made him the perfect thief, so long as the object was small enough to hold the target would not know they had been robbed at all, as the original was either left where it lay and a copy taken or be replaced by a perfect replica. Corporate espionage was his main speciality as every megacorp in Horizon hired him to steal their opponents dirty laundry or new research.
It was however his Asssasination work that eventually let people outside of the underworld discover his existence, as politicians and influential businessmen died to poisons rare enough that tracing it would be nearly Impossible or died in ways that made them seem to be dead by natural causes.
It was one Hero who managed to catch the scent of this villain however, Justice Unlimiteds Lady Leizi, due to her own underworld background and exceptional knowledge in matters on the darker side of the world, managed to find the villain's existence.
This would mark the first time that Draupnir was ever stopped in his career, the Assassination of a CEO being foiled by the Hero. After this Draupnir would end up facing the Hero more and more often as routes of payment and contact were slowly subverted.
Then he disappeared without a trace. Noone in the underworld would be able to find or contact him, the payment paths were removed like they had never existed in the first place and there was never another sighting of the villain.
That is until a year before the Movement.
The death of a local old man had not been something anyone expected to be unusual, he was old, pushing his late eighties. He was wealthy, living in a large house and hiring staff to help him take care of it as he had no living relatives.
So it was that after his death his estate was searched so a proper value could be put on the man's belongings and to see how the man's will should be carried out. A will that led to a room none of the staff had known existed. Hidden behind a false wall was an expansion to the basement and within it multiple things were found.
The first was a suit, one that would be identified by Lady Leizi as Draupnirs. The Second was equipment, from windows cutters and lockpicks to knives and poisons. The Last however was what was truly shocking.
It was accounts, records of transactions dating back all the way to 20 years before. The clients, what service they had provided, how they paid, when they paid. Every lurid detail from 2 decades worth of crimes committed neatly organised and left there to be found post mortem.
That was the Legacy of the Villain Draupnir, the last theft and assassination committed by the little known but accomplished villain. To spend the last year of his life enjoying the fruit of his labour and when he passed away to give away every single one of the people who paid for his services.
Some of the crimes had passed the statute of limitation. Others however, well let's just say quite a few people ended up behind bars in the following year for hiring an assassin or Corporate Espionage.
AN: short little omake for my DNA sample. hope people enjoy!
Precious Promethean Possibilities #5
By Solar Gem X
Hope you don't mind me jumping into this Kermie! Full credit to you for the title, and Hologram Killer for the Ambrosia Builder. Also sorry if anyone is Out of Character.
What Kind of powers could Cain get?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest–Old Industrial District– ???, 2068
"Well this is starting to get annoying" thought one Ellie Han, or Valiant Gold as she was now known. After that Oh so wonderful (Read Sarcasm) dinner with Gus parents alongside Rhys, and the surprise influx of income from several sources including uncle Gabriel's conquest over of Justice Unlimited Finances (Seriously Soraia and Shelley have not stop crying ever since the defeat of "The Enemy"), Justice Unlimited and New Dawn have successfully cleared a couple of missions together under the watch of New Dawns leader. Excluding a couple of hiccups and Black Swan being somewhat distant lately (Damn it… what did I do wrong…) things have been going well.
That is until the team got wind of Yara's father attempting to declare her dead while she was stuck in the Frozen Throne! So now the team had to scramble, half of the Team including Handyman, Doctor Silver and Menagerie Witch have split up in order to keep the bastards from screwing Yara over (Hopefully Handyman can act the part long enough to keep them busy, the lack of Crusade interference is concerning) while the other half of the team including Black Swan, Cain, Gentleman James, Palisade and her have decided to head towards the OID in order to see if they can restore communications with New Wonderland in the Frozen Throne (If there's any luck Lady Leizi brought her group towards the prison. Getting confirmation of Yara status is priority). The Problem? Yellow Quilin, her lieutenants, a bunch of Frozen Throne Golems and a menagerie of VERY confused "Magical Girls." Someway, somehow, Lady Leizi's sister found out Lady Leizi is in the Frozen Throne and the second she saw a single member of JU heading towards her? Full lockdown. If it was because she wanted to keep Lady Leizi inside the FT or just, she just wanted to get rid of us it didn't matter, it was an all-out battle.
Thankfully, Black Swan and Gentleman James managed to convince most of the Magical girls to stand down, but Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon and Vermillion Bird have proven to be somewhat more resilient than expected, even with White Tiger keeping her word, and is currently keeping Yellow Quilin Busy. But thanks to the battle taking so long FTG (Frozen Throne Golems) have begun to swarm the area, making this a cluster fuck of epic proportions, and the more the take in dealing with them, the higher are the chances Jair Oliveria succeeds with his plans. So honestly, she really has had enough of this and is ready to unleash their Trump Card, they are really lucky Iblis Jr. Had become so well versed in Ambrosia making…
"Ok, I think this has gone long enough. I think everyone can agree"? Ellie says with a grunt.
Dodging a column of flame sent by Vermillion Bird, Black Swan swoops towards Valiant Gold and Answers. "Yeah, this is taking too long, and the Frozen Throne is starting to whisper in my head due to all this activity…"
Yeah ok, no. This has gone long enough, time to bring in the big guns. "Agreed. Magdaros its time! Let them have it!"
Vermillion Bird: Oh, You have more allies on the wings? GREAT!!! I haven't have this much fun in weeks! Bring them on!
"Your going to regret that, but who am I to keep someone waiting?"- Said a smooth male voice.
As a Voice sounded from the top of a nearby building, Vermillion Bird turned to it… before getting smacked by a fist of solid cold Obsidian, knocking her SEVERAL feet, and the one who did it? Simão Cruzes, newly minted member of Justice Unlimited and the new hero Magdaros.
"I see you enjoy getting into fights…why don't you take ME ON FOR SIZE?" as he finished talking Simão began to expand his arms, his legs, hell his ENTIRE body began to crack and from the blacked crystal poured out a TORRENT of Magma, which quickly covered the hero. Forming a giant mass of molten earth and as the form settled, he raised his arms engaging a boxer's stance.
"If I could suggest something? Give up now, I'm pretty sure Third-Degree Burns are the least of your worries when facing me".- Intoned Magdaros with a savage grin.
Side Effect: Mayor Elemental Sensitivity (Water)
Keywords: Transformation 2x, Regeneration 2x, Enhanced Strength 3x, Enhanced Senses 1x, Elemental Manipulation 3x, Invulnerability 1x Ibis' Jr's Notes: Simão Cruzes da Silva Neto aka Cain aka Magdaros is one of the newest members of Justice Unlimited. Due to a lack of Additional "fire power" HA! I'm witty, Cain himself recommended making an Ambrosia Sample that would push him into a Vanguard roll for the team, additionally he recommended adding Deadman's DNA to the Sample on the off chance a Fire power would manifest, stating that if Lady Leizi and the rest of the team that is trapped in the FT couldn't escape, he would actually enter the FT in order to keep them company and hopefully a source of warmth. Well the plan worked! Maybe a little too well. The ambrosia led to Cain being able to transform his entire body into a form of Obsidian that he could control at will. Testing led to Cain showing an unbelievable amount of Physical strength, easily crushing even reinforced metal without even trying. On the recommendation that they should study the "obsidian" in order to see if it had any other properties, Cain Snapped a piece of his arm. And then All hell broke loose. From the small crack in the Obsidian a Torrent of Boiling magma Sprang out like a geyser, shocking everyone and Causing the Apiary itself to shift in order to contain the dangerous substance. After the initial shock (And including a lot of thermal dampeners) it was found out that Cain could generate a ludicrous amount of magma from the cracked obsidian, control it and was even immune to it. I suppose mixing Adamant, Hidrocity and Deadman led to incredibly enhanced magma generation. Additionally, the piece of obsidian they were able to analyze led to the discovery that is was incredibly durable, gave incredible insulation against heat and cold, and regenerated quickly. Which also led to the discovery that Cain had a moderate regenerative factor. However after using a water hose to hit Cain in order to clean off the excess magma it was discovered that Cain's Obsidian is EXTREMELY brittle when facing water, to the point it could remove one of his limbs in not careful. Not only that the broken shards would not generate magma. Luckily, this only happen when he was transformed, so he could still take a bath if necessary (Although I wonder if Bathing in Magma could have similar results…Tests for the future). Either way, Cain has become an incredibly potent source of firepower for JU and would be extremely useful in the following confrontations with the Frozen Throne and the Demon Flames.
Spoilers: Here's my renamed Koopa King build
???: Well that is an interesting set of powers…but I wonder… are they the only options? Look into the looking glass dear Audience, and see images of what could be…
*SHATTER*
"Ok, I think this has gone long enough. I think everyone can agree"? Ellie says with a grunt.
Dodging a column of flame sent by Vermillion Bird, Black Swan swoops towards Valiant Gold and Answers. "Yeah, this is taking too long, but are you sure you want to bring HIM here?"
"What's Wrong isnt he your new Friend?"- asked Valiant Gold with a tone that one could almost call… smug?
Vermillion Bird: Oh, You have more allies on the wings? GREAT!!! I haven't have this much fun in weeks! Bri-"
*BOOM*
"Wish Granted"- said a dark low voice.
Vermillion Bird: Ok… that actually hurt! Who decided to join the- SCARLET MATURITY!?
At the scream, the entire battlefield seemed to halt, every single member of Yellow Quillin's crew snapped their necks towards Vermillion Birds direction, incredulity and dread filling their souls when they saw a Red Giant Standing near their ally.
"Not quite, but I can understand the confusion. Me and the Big guy do look alike. Although I would consider myself the more Charismatic of the Two"- Said the tall individual.
Similar would be an Understatement, as the figure that had just arrived could be honestly called Scarlet Maturity long lost Twin brother. While smaller than the Leader of Powers, the new individual was still large, Easily 7 feet in height. His skin was completely Red, he had razor sharp teeth, and he even had Horns, but were this figure differed from Scarlet Maturity was the 6 Glowing arms he had. 3 arms were holding a Giant Black Axe that was easily as tall as the figure holding it, on the other set of limbs was a Giant Bow with an arrow being dragged on the ground, which was melting due to the heat.
" Now then…let the Hunt Begin!"- Screams Asura, Justice Unlimited Demonic Vanguard.
Asura, Simão Cruzes da Silva Neto Potency: 13
Faction: Justice Unlimited Ambrosia: [Man o' War + Deadman – 3 potency = 10 potency
Side Effect: Mayor Dysmorphic Transformation
Keywords:Autonomous Creature Creation, Self Enhancement, Invulnerability, Enhanced Strength, Elemental Manipulation, Regeneration. Ibis' Jr's Notes: Simão Cruzes da Silva Neto aka Cain aka Asura is one of the newest members of Justice Unlimited. Due to a lack of Additional "fire power" HA! I'm witty, Cain himself recommended making an Ambrosia Sample that would push him into a Vanguard roll for the team, stating that while he would prefer a more subtle power, perhaps with teleportation, Justice Unlimited needed a lot strength at the moment, especially with enemies like The Mysteries, Demon Flamez and Monarch getting more active as off late. Thanks to my Magnificent Brilliance I was able to concoct an Ambrosia Sample without needing to use an entire units worth of Goldnine! My Brilliance in unparalleled! Sadly, the lack of goldnine caused the Ambrosia to be only be able to handle 2 DNA Samples, otherwise it would destabilize. So on a recommendation from Black Swan they decided to mix Man'O War's DNA with Deadman, since there was apparently a good chance Cain was going to get killed by pissing of Scarlet Maturity!? What in Leviathans Blood happened during their hang out? And almost as if the world was listening, the resulting ambrosia sample led to a Mayor Side effect, changing Cain's appearance to match a certain Powers leader. Much to Black Swans dismay, either way the powers seemed to have created an interesting result. Asura is capable of generating Weapons just like the late Man O' War, however Cain is capable of actually controlling what weapons he creates (Testing has lead to Swords, Spears, axes, Bows, Clubs, Hammers. Morning Stars, among others). Not only that, but The weapons have also been imbued with Dead Mans magma, giving the constructs far more power that even the original Donors. An interesting surprise came when Asura used his weapons on the ground; places struck by Asuras Weapons seemed to generate Magma, even if there's no nearby source of the natural substance. While Asura cant manipulate the deadly liquid he can dip his weapons in the magma, absorbing it, and drastically increasing the power of his constructs for a period of time. This combination of power and battlefield control has made Asura a powerful hero.
???: Well now… I guess whoever said less is more Was Right, I wonder if that the only way that particular combo could work… Oh? It seems there is one final fragment to see. Just a little more, dear Audience, we are almost done.
*SHATTER*
"Ok, I think this has gone long enough. I think everyone can agree"? Ellie says with a grunt.
Dodging a column of flame sent by Vermillion Bird, Black Swan swoops towards Valiant Gold and Answers. "Yeah, this is taking too long, and Yellow Quillin's Lieutenants are getting close…"
Black Swan was telling the truth, things were even for now, but if would only take a single moment for them to be boxed in.
"It seems we need to make some room. *in a low voice* Silver quill do you copy? "We need some space, provide covering fire" said Valiant Gold towards a small microphone in her helmet.
Silver quill- "Copy that Valiant Gold, Deploying feathers."
Vermillion Bird: HAHAHA, Sweet Leviathan! Best. Day. EVER! I get to fight Both Justice Unlimited strongest AND some of New Dawns heroes? This is Great! Time for round…6? 7? Oh I don't care; I'm having a blast!
*Twip…BOOOOOOOM*
Vermillion Bird: *Cough* Not what I meant…Who did that!
"That…would have been me" said a male voice from behind Vermillion Bird.
Flying behind the Fiery Villain was what could be described as Gryphon. Most of its lower body was colored black as night with claws and a beak that looked like obsidian. The upper half of the creature Was covered in silver feathers, which if looked closely shone a little to much to be considered normal, and that was truly the case, for these feathers were made of metal, Adamantium to be exact.
"Heya, Name's Silver Quill. Now we can do this either the easy way or the hard way. Easy way you stand down.
Vermillion Bird: Oh? And what's the hard way?
With a dark smile Silver Quill Answers, "I turn you into Swiss Cheese and then Blow you up."
Silver Quill, Simão Cruzes da Silva Neto Potency: 13
Faction: Justice Unlimited Ambrosia: [Wind Rose + Adamant + Anteus + Millions Minefield + Soldier X – 3 potency = 10 potency
Side Effect: Mayor Dysmorphic Transformation
Keywords:Telekinesis, Construct Creation, Clairvoyance, Transformation, Enhanced Strength, Regeneration X2, Energy Manipulation X2, Fitness, Invulnerability Ibis' Jr's Notes: Simão Cruzes da Silva Neto aka Cain aka Silver Quill is one of the newest members of Justice Unlimited. After administrating the Ambrosia sample Cain Suffered a mayor Dysmorphic Transformation, Turning into a bipedal Gryphon-like creature. Knowing the potential risks Cain was not bothered too much with the result, stating that at least he would forever be the coolest Uncle his nephew will ever have, especially if these wings work. They did in fact work, and was Cains main means of movement and attack. While nowhere near as fast as Black Swan, Cain has shown to be able to keep up with Menagerie Witch's Nevermore. Additionally, Cain has access to a rather impressive level of strength, nothing monstrous but easily above most normal men. Where the beauty of Cains new power lies in his wings, or more specifically his feathers. Cain is capable of rapidly shooting his feathers towards a target, which can easily pierce metal with ease. My previous speculation that Adamants DNA would integrate with Wind Rose's power was spot on! Because of course it was! Nothing is out of Dr. Iblis Reach! *Ahem* Anyway these feathers are several times more durable than Wind roses needles, but that's not everything that they can do. Thanks to what I can assume was Anteus and Millions Minefields Powers, these feathers are capable of doing some impressive things. Once Shot, if these feathers pierce something they will begin to vibrate in place, after a while these will vibrate with such ferocity that is will actually cause minor earthquakes near the area of the feathers, after wards they will explode into dangerous shrapnel, burning and piercing unsuspecting foes. From what we been able to discover, while the feathers are vibrating, they are I fact absorbing Kinetic Energy, which after a certain point will cause tremors and then an explosion. Much like the bird of prey he is emulating, Silver Quill can shoot a great array of feathers on the Battlefield rapidly taking control of it, and if an enemy doesn't fall due to blood loss from being pierced by what's essentially a bullet, the following explosion will. Sadly, it seems Wind Roses Tracking ability was lost in the mixture.
???: And that should be it… although now I wonder what would happen if you switch Anteus, Millions and Soldier X for perhaps Epoxy. Needles or Feathers that meld into your flesh with 0% percent chance to remove them? "Gutted like pig" seems apt don't you think? Just a thought either way. Have fun dear Audience!
Ambrosia: [Wind Rose + Adamant + Epoxy - 3 potency = 10 potency]
Key Words: Telekinesis, Fundamental Force Manipulation, Construct Creation, Clairvoyance, Transformation, Enhanced Strength, Regeneration
"Well, it started when Mona found out Ellie has a boyfriend. Which I didn't know either, actually I thought she didn't swing like that, but it's not like she talks to me outside work. So Mona flew off and ever since she's been all sad and stayed in her room. Ellie got offended or something, so she's also in her room. Rhys's also brooding cause he thought his dead boyfriend's parents would give him closure, which was like, why did you even think that when you'd never met them? So he's been acting like he lives in the gym. Zixuan and Opale, who'd normally rein em all in, are stuck God knows where. Gabe, Joe and Triss are still wrapped up with logistics stuff. The other New Dawn guys went back to the Zenith. And your dad is, uh, your dad. I'm just glad he shows up to poker night. So yeah, it's been pretty glum for the past couple days."
"This is absurd!" Massive shouted. "The city's greatest heroes are sulking like children? What is there's an attack? I need to rally the troops, immediately!"
"You?" Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "Are you really-"
"Doctor Massive Ibis is an expert motivator! I once ran my own military subcontractor team, you know! That takes much more skill than your teams of makeup-junkie showbiz clowns."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
Without listening to the rant she provoked, Massive turned on her heel and strode off. "I know just where to start..."
----
"So," Lady Leizi sneered, "New Dawn comes crawling to us after all this time. Couldn't hack it past the Movement, eh?"
Wolong swallowed. He knew his team was at a disadvantage, but he'd hoped for a more level negotiating table. But with Black Swan and Valiant Gold flanking the silk-haired spymistress, he saw that Justice Unlimited's rise is inevitable.
"We're both working for the same thing," Leizi continued. "The difference is your team's been trying to sabotage us even since independence. And you refuse to dissolve it. What exactly can you offer us?"
"We have resources," Wolong said nervously. "We have the facilities of the Zenith-"
"And we can wait for you all to get smeared by a real villain, then just move in."
"-and I can use my power-"
"Which can be replicated by a sufficient computer. Face it boy, you're second-string."
Wolong swallowed hard.
"Well... uh..."
"Enough," Leizi said softly. "I know you do have some useful metas left. But there's more to discuss."
She looked at her honour guard. "Leave us."
They complied, not giving Wolong a second glance. The office was silent. Leizi slowly stood, smoothing down her soft purple shirt.
"If you want anything out of Justice Unlimited... you'll have to prove your worth to me. Personally."
"W-what? I don't know what you mean." Wolong felt like his heart was beating at lightspeed as the sharp-faced woman looked him over. Her skin was so smooth...
"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean." Leizi tossed off her cape, and Wolong stared at her flawless forearms. She crossed the room and ran one hand down the tall man's chest. "I've had my eye on you ever since the Susurration. And a little bird told me you feel the same. So it's your choice. You can leave now... or you can take off that robe and show me New Dawn's training..."
Wolong felt he was in Dreamcatcher's dream. He stroked his fingers through Leizi's hair and drew her head close...
The door to Mona's room slammed open. She jumped and quickly closed the tab.
"Still reading the fanfiction site?" Massive said in surprise.
"Uh, not about me and Ellie! Wait, no, I never read about me and Ellie-"
"Enough! You've wisely broached the subject without delay. Your fixation on Ellie has had a setback. But I, the great Massive Ibis, have the perfect advice."
"Can't you just leave me alone?" Mona said miserably. She looked around her room, the trash-bin overflowing with junk food boxes and tissues.
"Nonsense. This team needs morale-e, and you need it most of all!"
"Heh... can't argue there."
"Of course you can't, you're talking to me! Now then, it's simple. You need to date someone else."
"What?"
"You became so fixated on the possibilities of dating Ellie. But you're young, there are so many fish in the sea even without Algernon-crafted dating apps! Seeing someone else will clear your head. And..." Massive's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "...maybe she'll get jealous?"
Mona considered. Considered her heartbreak, Ellie's new coldness, and the lack of paths forward. She also considered that Massive will probably keep pestering her until she at least played along.
"Alright," she said, "Who do you have in mind!"
"EXCELLENT!" Massive shrieked. She pulled out a list from her pocket. "Let's begin..."
"That Crusade kid? No, I'm not that fond of him. Plus he, eh..." Mona made a vague gesture towards her face. Massive pretended to know what she meant, and crossed the name off the list.
"Pretty sure she's straight."
"Pass."
"Ew, hard pass."
"I think she'd see through it since she's the one who told me about Ellie's... her, uh..." Massive nodded and quickly changed the subject.
"Hmm... I'll think about it."
Mona was silent for a while. Massive could guess why.
"Sarah," Mona said slowly. "In the past half year, I: learned Justice Unlimited's greatest secret, was the first subject of an unproven Algernon experiment, exploded, became a black hole, met psychic ghosts, learned I have the power to level this city, fought a Named-Rank Behemoth, fought Scarlet Maturity, fought evil clones of my childhood heroes, was judged by a god, and appeared on live TV. For me to pour my heart out to some normal guy or girl, and expect her to understand what it's like, would be like you discussing science with Apep."
Massive mused, "I understand why the Giant Slayer was so desperate."
They'd reached the end of the list. Massive frowned and chewed on her pen. "There must be someone else... wait...
What about Counterstrike?"
Mona pursued her lips.
"Hmm... show me a picture?"
She looked over the street crusader's face. His tastefully faded hair, well-built bronze body and fierce look.
"Yeah, y'know what... I'll give it a try."
----
"DIE DIE DIE!" yelled Generic Nonpowered Gangster #8, spraying his SMG through the lobby's windows.
Inside, Counterstrike hid behind the desk. He'd been doing so well against this gang until the reinforcements showed up. Now they'd not only evacuated their unconscious mates, but they had him pinned in this apartment lobby and they'd move in any second. But they didn't seem to realize there was a second door. If he could only make a break for it, he'd flank around and try to"HOLY SHIT IT'S BLACK SWAN! RUN!!"
Counterstrike heard screams and the sounds of blasts. After it all went quiet, he heard Black Swan's voice call out. "Uh, Counterstrike? Are you there?"
He looked up. Outside there were ten unconscious gangsters and one Swan. The whole thing had taken maybe ten seconds.
"I, wow... thank you Black Swan. How did you..."
"Dayouwannagoonadatewime?"
He blinked. "Uh... I... sure? Do you... have something in mind?"
----
They ended up at the cinema to watch the new Magical Girl Gang: Quest Beyond Space!! movie. After that they took dinner at a Chinese place, where Keith showed off his spice tolerance ("Of course you can out-eat me, you're not actually digesting!"). Then they went flying along the shore. I don't really know what to write here, don't get many dates. Everybody's dancing in the moonlight, everybody's feeling warm and bright, it's such a fun and happy time, everybody's dancing in the mooooooonlight...
They ended up kissing and it got on social media. Ellie saw the picture and went to kick Behemoth ass to keep herself from crying. Massive Ibis pumped her fist in success. Mr. Song merely smiled. And, far away, in the Frozen Throne, Yara's dreamland cabin seemed to shake. The ocean raged, and her eyes snapped open.
Welcome to the Red Marker! We discuss the truth here!
You are currently logged in, Truthseeker520 ♦ Topic: Crusade Black Site
In: Boards ► ►General Discussions
JackDanielWhiskey (Original Poster)
What could they be hiding in there? Does anyone have any ideas?
(Showing Page 1 of 66)
►Dontbefooled:
It's pretty obvious that Crusade is secretly a conspiracy by the ultra wealthy to take over Horizon. I wouldn't be surprised if they're actually reptilians.
►Harbringer:
Replying to Dontbefooled
You're right. They probably drink blood behind the scenes. My bet is that they kidnap a bunch of kids and take their adenochrome to stay immortal forever. Their black site is actually one giant child kidnapping ring.
►thegateandthebox:
People, who gives a shit about Crusade? It's pretty obvious that Justice Unlimited is the real threat. Lady Leizi is obviously a triad spy planted in JU from the very beginning so they can take over. Now she's probably unstoppable because all her teammates are dead.
►CriticalFail:
JU has been utterly irrelevant lately so even if that's true, we have nothing to worry about.
►Milkinabagofmilkinabagofmilkina:
Replying to CriticalFail
>JU
>"Irrelevant"
Idk if you live under a rock or if you're just stupid.
►CriticalFail:
Replying to Milkinabagofmilkinabagofmilkina
Yeah? And who told you JU was relevant, the news? I pity you. You are blinded by the lies public media feeds you and it is sad to watch. I expected better from someone who frequents this site.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 64, 65,66
(Showing Page 66 of 66) ►Realityisalie:
Crusade just gives me bad vibes y'know? Like their chakra frequencies are totally off. Their Qi is totally messed up.
►101Dalmatians:
Replying to Realityisalie
What the fuck are you talking about?
►ENLIGHTENME:
Don't be fooled. Crusade and JU are probably working together behind the scenes. I bet they're secretly buddy buddy. They don't believe that they're fighting on different sides, so why should you?
►AMosaicOfDilemmas:
Crusade is nothing but a bunch of corpo shills and I wish them nothing but the worst but I can't stand JU so can we change the topic? Why the hell are we even talking about them?
►HistoryNerd222:
Replying to AMosaicofDillemas
It's because JU and Crusade are so tightly interlinked that it's impossible to bring up one without the other. Personally, I think that Moon River is pulling the strings behind all of them. I bet she's secretly puppeteering JU and trying to take over Horizon, but the corpos are in the way so she's in a war with them. Never trust AIs, they are evil.
►Helllooooooo?:
Sometimes I think I'm fucking weird and then I go here and then I realize that I'm actually way, way saner than any of you could be, and that makes me feel.. better. Thank you.
Honey: by chickenbouillon TRIGGER WARNING FOR BODY HORROR.
When I was nineteen, I moved out of my house to get a fresh start, without the burden of my helicopter parents constantly hovering over me to ensure everything I did was the way they wanted. I was freshly in college, and had managed to save up enough money from my part time job to secure a spot at a cozy little apartment in the Uni District.
As soon as I arrived there, I unpacked, set aside my things, and prepared a bunch of snacks to greet my neighbors with. It all went well, until I got to room 432. The room right next to mine. I opened the door, and a pale, gangly woman greeted me. There was.. something odd about her. Something that made my hackles rise. Nonetheless, I greeted her politely and tried my best to remain civil.
What creeped me the hell out was her reaction, she paused for a few moments and simply stared at me. As if she'd forgotten how to react. Then her face twisted into a smile, in this fake.. artificial way that reminds me of those shitty TV commercials you see late at night. She thanked me, and grabbed my fruitcake from my hands, saying something about it being "worthy sustenance" and shut the door on my face.
Okay, first of all: rude. Second of all: She looked really creepy, so I didn't particularly mind it as much as I should. You might call me a bitch for judging people so harshly based on their appearance and demeanour alone, but you need to understand: something about her was just.. off.
Anyway, I thought nothing about it at that moment. Sure, she was a creep, but I've had creepy neighbors before and there turned out to be mundane explanations for their behavior. I thought this one will be no different.
I wish I could go back in time and punch myself, because I was very, very wrong.
Several weeks passed, and I'd put aside my memories of that slightly disconcerting encounter. I quietly went about my life as usual, and didn't pay attention to my neighbours. I studied, worked, and performed my responsibilities satisfactorily. You know, as every college student should.
The woman and her equally odd husband constantly hovered next to my door, but I didn't care. I didn't want anything to do with them, and they didn't want anything to do with me. I never even bothered trying to learn their names.
It was a shock to me, when I discovered that they had a little girl. She was standing outside the door, clad in a yellow dress and holding a teddy bear. She had ratty brown hair, and looked ten at most. I asked her what she was doing outside, and she told me that she just didn't feel like going inside at the moment.
What worried me the most was how.. thin she was. Borderline skeletal in fact. Her parents were thin as well, but not to this point. I've always had a soft spot for children, so I offered her candy, and asked her if her parents were treating her alright.
She stared at me for a long moment, and then she gently took the candy from my palms and assured me that her parents were treating her well. "They have no choice." She said. I didn't think much about that statement, and I curse myself every night for it.
Eventually, things came to a boil. Me and that little girl became friends. I learned that her name was Cara. (She wouldn't give me her full name. She'd just stay quiet every-time I asked) Cara was.. bright, she knew things no kid should, and she was.. odd. But I chalked it up to her weird parents. I was about to call social services on them a few times, but she always stopped me, and each time she would tell me that she was fine. Still, I worried about that girl. That mousy, skeletal little thing who'd clasped my hand so gently and held conversations with me.
One day, my life changed because of her.
I still wish it didn't to this day.
On an uneventful evening, Cara told me something peculiar: "I like you a lot." She said, and I had felt.. pleased. She barely emoted, and that simple acknowledgement had felt precious to me. I was finally making progress with this child! Cara told me that she had a gift for me, but I had to come inside of her house.
I honestly didn't want to. Her parents were fucking weird and the area around their door smelled.. odd, like this sickly sweet scent that reminded me vaguely of honey, but I felt like this little girl was different from her parents. She wouldn't harm me. So like a fool, I entered.
I immediately regretted my decision.
Strange yellow growths grew on the walls of that apartment, reminding me vaguely of a beehive. It was sticky and had a texture similar to honey when I poked it. Immediately, I knew that something was very wrong here, but when I turned back to leave, she had already locked the door shut behind me.
She stood there, with this odd little smirk on her face that made me shiver.
I went inside. I felt like I had no choice. She wasn't gonna let me out, I just knew it.
When I was inside, it was even worse. The weird growths were everywhere. They smelled awful. Sort of like a mixture between a floral scent and a pile of roadkill. I opened the door of what I assumed to be the bedroom, and there was Cara's mother. She was hunched over the floor.. and..
There was something poking out from under her skin. It was inside her skin, but also close enough to be visible. I realized in dim horror that it was bee. A bee was under her skin, just above her spine. It's black stinger was like a needle.
I backed away in horror, when I crashed into something. It was her father. Before I could do anything, he pinned me to the wall and restrained me with a single arm. I screamed, but he clasped his other hand tightly around my mouth and stuck his fingers down my throat. I tasted something sickly sweet and sticky, and bile rose in my throat.
Something in the back of his neck was pulsing too. I didn't know see it, but I know what it was. He was thin, but at that moment he was so strong, ungodly strong. Strong enough that I couldn't fight back. Cara walked from behind her father, giggling. "You shouldn't fight back." She said. "It'll be less painful that way."
I knew then. I understood. Cara wasn't some victim, locked inside and starved by her parents. She was.. their queen. She ruled over them. She controlled them. There was nothing in her father's eyes. They were empty eyes. It was like looking inside a vacant home.
Cara reached out, and clasped tightly in her fingers.. was a bee.
I screamed, but there was honey in my throat and his fingers were still lodged inside me and oh god I needed them out right now. So I did the only thing I could: I bit down. His grip was still terrifyingly strong, but I managed to kick him hard enough to loosen it. And I ran. I ran all the way to the door and unlatched the lock. Cara was screaming at her dad, and I could hear him start after me, but I was outside and I was free.
I left, obviously. I didn't bother packing up. I just ran away from that apartment, screaming like a madwoman. I ran all the way back home to my parents, with nothing but my clothes and shoes and promised them that I would never leave again.
Sometimes.. I still dream of honey.
So please, if anyone is reading this, please burn that fucking apartment to the ground. I'll even give you the address. I'll pay you anything you want. Just please kill Cara. Kill that girl.
Please.
-Anonymous post made on Hero For Hire.
GLUTTONY - The Sixth Sin - ThaTrueRealmWalk (semi-canon)
There was a person who stalked through the alleys and shadows of Horizon's streets.
And it was a person, no matter what their disgusting form might suggest otherwise.
Their mouth wide and stretched out, with teeth ugly crooked and stained. Their body's posture was wrong, never straight as their arms dainty to their slide, swinging back and forth as their legs carried them along their hunger fueled path. Heat radiated from their red-hued, tanned, veiny skin, most of their body uncovered, only a ripped apart top of a t-shirt and very short briefs on their body to conserve any form of modesty. Their body was thin- oh so very thin, enough that their ribcage was noticeable but not defined. To the sides of their body were long, flapping gatherings of skin that clung to a too small stomach to keep them firm and flush.
Even now you could hear the few moments where the flaps of veiny extra skin slapped disgustingly onto the person's legs or arms, the contact far more wet than it should have ever been.
The person was following something, endlessly marching onwards, unstopping but unrunning, conserving their strength with the knowledge their prey was tired and slowing.
It was just one more corner, the corner the person saw the orange dirty form dart off into.
Rounding it, the figure smiled, seeing the deadend of brick and mortar walls that signaled the end for the hunt.
The prey could smell the hunter before it could see them, a retched, awful stench, which bellowed out even fifteen-twenty meters away if it were of human nature, but for the prey and their stronger nose, it may have been a mile.
In truth, every being in those alleys had gone into hiding or ran for better pastures. To the rats and mice scurrying around in the trash and filth to the alley cats that hunted them for consumption and sport. To the birds up above that took the sky in panic to the wild dogs that barked with fear and panic.
Everything in that alley that had mother nature bound within their mind knew the wall of disgusting dried blood, rot, and filth, mixed together in a vomit sundae with several other cocktails of toxic waste refined with a moldy film created from sewer extract stench was a mark of something wrong.
Something horrible and monstrous, something that wouldn't be satisfied with the trash outside the back of a butcher's home or a richy cafe.
It wanted something fresh.
And the prey within that alley, watching with unholy fear as the person rounded the corner, knew that deep within their instinct riddled brain.
But it was tired, and weak, and even as it hissed and growled, tried to make itself look threatening, trying to scare away the monster that animals may have made early humans out to be…
It did nothing but keep it still for the monster to grab at.
Orange fur parted like taffy for gingers that dug down into flesh like saw blades. A yowl of pain was all the creature managed to get out before two segments of it's spine unlinked, two halves of a once living being being opened wide like a fortune cookie, innards and entrails mimicked muscles fibers which in turn mimicked fraying string as organs fell out like a pinata's candy.
A sickly tongue racked over ruptured veins and lapped and dranks and took and took from what was once a flowing river of blood within living walls, the heart still beating, unknowing that it's owner was already gone.
Meat slid from bone like butter, muscles unraveling and ripping apart between jagged stones that dressed up and teeth.
First the legs, then the chest, then the tail, then the head. Each one was parted with the skeleton that made something breathing stable, tossed to the side for a moment, if only to allow for the rest to be swallowed better first.
Not even fur and hair was spared as the person's mouth widened and lowered, their jaw not even unhooked yet it hit down to their almost bare chest.
Down and down into an awaiting pit of pulsating red hungry flesh went the body of a once cat, now nothing more than a mixture of a carcass defiled into the shape of a sickly jelly.
There was no chewing.
The bones set to the side were taken as well, the still blood soaked parts treated as nothing more than the candy bar one would get from a child's store bought lunch pack.
But it was not enough- no no they figure's tongue rolled out, long and begging as the figure leaned down and lapped and lapped at the red covered floor.
Dirt and grime and stale rain water was dranken up with glee along with the crimson red liquid of life, every single bit and spot licked again and again for just one cell more.
The figure's stomach grew just a bit, a small bulge, allowing some of the hanging excess skin to fulfill their role and function- but not enough, never enough.
Hunger was still there, the hole was still there, as skin reddened as their body warmed up, vapors of heat beginning the radiate off of the person's body to match the sheer pulse of sickly vomit, ammonia, and sulfur dumpster fire smell send bursting outwards from the figure's flesh.
Never enough, not enough.
The figure got up, the spot they lapped at like a sickly wild manic dog spotless and clean, even of spit and germs, everything there eaten and consumed with violent abandon.
Onwards they marched, for another meal, for it was never not enough.
---Realm's Notes---
I watched this video and got inspired, and now it's all of your guy's problem!
And well… while I'm here, I want to put out an offer to my fellow writers: There are seven, eight, nine, maybe ten sins that the Christian Religion does/did recognize, and I just made a freak who embodies Gluttony! So, will you all join me in making people who embody these sins to the most DISGUSTING degrees?
I think it would be fun! We can have ourselves a little gang! Also, if you do decide to join me, please only do one of the sins- no matter if their of the core set or of Melancholia/Apathy/Acedia/Gloom/(Whatever you want to call it) or Knowledge (Which IS the First Sin Of Man, Eve eating the Fruit Of Knowledge and all that, don't know why people keep ignoring that little tidbit) or something else that applies to the whole Sin theming. Wanna give everyone a chance to join in- might be wise to talk about it so people don't claim the same Sin.
This is late night Realm signing off! Thanks for reading!
[X] Flight of the Bumblebee (Apiary, Scarlet Maturity, The Defiance Unit)
[X] . . . a great sea serpent, larger than you dare imagine. It moves with slow grace, its power undeniable, irresistible
[X] . . . a school of colorful fish, in all shapes and sizes. Darting an elusive, part of a whole yet individual
Body horror, suicidal ideations, unethical medical experimentation
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Apiary—February 3, 2068
You are Ellie Han. At night, you dream . . .
You wake up in your bedroom, but it's also not. The walls are darker than you remember, the shadows longer. They move and dance in the corners of your vision, like something is hiding just out of reach. It would be unnerving except for two things.
One, you're wearing the EXCEED-BEYOND. Your head is exposed, but the rest of you is encased in the armor you keep next to your soul.
Two, there's a golden child sitting on your chest and tracing the outline of the rose that you've taken as your personal emblem.
You could easily move and throw the creature off, but . . . well, what's the harm? You owe the thing anyway, after it saved you when you received your armor. So you just lie there and let it do what it wants.
You're feeling languid and lazily glance at the ARRs you left on your nightstand; you had fallen asleep looking through them after the party. But as you do, you realize something:
You can't read.
". . . am I asleep?" you ask the golden child. It would make sense, given how out of it you're feeling.
The child nods.
"I see," you hum. You lie there for a second and ask, "Did you want to talk to me about something?"
The child nods its head and points at your chest. It tilts its head to the side.
"My emblem?" you deduce. The child nods. "I chose it after I met Nora. Roses . . . that symbol meant a lot to her, didn't they?"
The child nods its head again, sadly. It hops off your chest and plops itself on to the bed. You pull yourself up and sit next to it.
"Do you know why?" you ask. You had your guesses, but would the Apiary actually know?
Judging by the eager nodding you get in response, it does.
"Can you tell me?"
It nods, but then holds up a finger. It looks at a door in your room that's never been there before, apparently waiting for something. You watch the door too and wait with the Apiary.
After a second, you hear a flush. Then Mona walks out wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt with a picture of Nora in her armor and pink, fluffy slippers shaped like rabbits. She's rubbing her eyes like a child and you feel such a rush of fondness and embarrassment that you have to look away.
You're bright red and your lips are twitching. You bit the inside of your cheek to get yourself under control and look back up. Thankfully, Mona is still half-asleep and seemingly doesn't notice you or the Apiary. She walks to the other side of your bed, climbs in, and pulls the sheets over her head.
". . . smells good . . ." she mumbles. The Apiary slaps its forehead and seemingly sighs.
You sigh too, but you can't help the small smile that spreads on your lips again. You lean over and gently shake Mona.
"Mona, wake up."
". . . 'ive more minutes," she whines, "Don't wanna go to school . . ."
"Mona, wake up. You're not in your bed and this isn't reality. I'm not even sure how you're sleeping right now."
". . . huh?" She sees your face and bolts up. "E-e-ellie?! What are you doing in my bed?! A-am I have the dream again?!"
"No . . ." you say, feeling a little put off by her reaction. She has nightmares about you? "The Apiary brought us here. I think it wants to tell us something?"
The Apiary nods in confirmation.
"Oh!" she says. Then she narrows her eyes at the Apiary, "Wait, you! Update my pass! Full-member! I'm a full-member of Justice Unlimited, poohead!"
The Apiary crosses its arms and looks away. You swear that, if it had a tongue, it'd be sticking it out at her.
You reach out and touch Mona's arm. She flinches away from you, an unreadable expression on her face. You freeze in place and try to hide your hurt feelings.
"S-sorry," she says, not looking at you.
". . . it's fine," you lie, you swallow and look away.
The sudden tension is unbearable and neither of you say anything. You don't know what to say. What was that?
The silence is broken by the sound of the golden child banging its head against a wall.
". . . what?!" Mona demands, offended, "Mind your own business! You're a building!"
The golden child flips her off. Mona gasps.
"I'm telling Lady Leizi once we save her!"
The golden child flips her off with both hands.
"D-double bird . . .?!"
". . . please just say what you brought us here to tell us," you sigh, "Or let me go back to sleep. There's . . . so, so much to do tomorrow."
The golden child rubs the back of its head and crosses its hands over its heart in apology. It runs over the corner of the room and opens a closet that isn't there in reality. It goes into the closet and pulls out a retro-style, tube television as large as it is. It drags the television into the middle of the room and sits down in front of it. It pats the spots on the floor next to it and beckons you over.
You oblige and sit down next to it. Mona flies over, excited, munching on a bowl of popcorn she got from . . . somewhere. The Apiary looks down its non-existent nose at her, pulls out a remote control from . . . also somewhere, and turns the TV on.
A countdown starts and, when it ends, you're somewhere else.
You're someone else.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Bainbridge Home for Youth—April 16, 2051
It's past midnight—and well-past lights out—when Mother Superior Roberta finds herself wandering the halls of The Bainbridge Home for Youth. Bainbridge is an orphanage operated by the Sisters of the Lady of Love Everlasting Convent, which cares for children of all ages and walks of life. For the most part, they were loving, obedient children. But the more . . . unruly of Roberta's wards often liked to sneak out of bed and get into mischief when they thought the Sisters weren't watching.
So Roberta likes to do one final patrol before bed. Just to keep them on their toes.
She pokes her head into each dormitory and counts each child as she walks by. Let's see . . . Ana is sleeping peacefully after all of those awful nightmares she was having. Luis is snoring—he'll be eighteen soon and have to leave; she'll need to find him work before then. Thomas has stopped wetting the bed, finally, Simone and Davi are as inseparable as always, and Rosemary . . .
Roberts sighs. Rosemary is out of bed after curfew again.
The nun could just strangle that girl—Rosemary was sweet as sugar, but truly a willful child. If Roberta had a nickel for everytime she's found Rosemary passed out in her wheelchair after staying up all night reading or playing one of her video games, she'd never need to worry about the orphanage's budget again.
Roberta shakes her head in annoyance and starts out the door, when her sleeve catches on something.
The handle of Rosemary's wheelchair.
Roberta freezes.
That . . . doesn't make sense. Rosemary had been abandoned on the convent's doorstep as a baby. But she had been left out late at night during one of the rare cold-snaps in Horizon. She had nearly frozen to death then and there, but God had been watching and sent Roberta out for a late-night walk to find her. The experience had left Rosemary frail, sickly, and without the use of her legs.
But, here she was, out of bed without her wheelchair.
Roberta is trying to control the uneasy feeling in her chest, when she hears a high-pitch keening from down the hall. With speed to put Lightstep to shame, Roberta dashes toward the sound, only to stop in place when she sees droplets of something red and tacky in the hallway.
Blood.
Roberta forgets to breathe as she follows the trail of blood down the hallway and into the bathroom. As she gets closer, the wailing grows louder. Almost as loud as the sound of Roberta's heartbeat in her ears.
At last she turns the corner, grabs the doorknob, and opens the bathroom door.
"M-mother Superior?" Rosemary says weakly from the ground, "M-my legs hurt . . ."
Rosemary is on the bathroom floor, eyes delirious with fever. Her brown curls are disheveled, falling over her eyes. The blood is hers; her clothes are dyed crimson, there's so much. And her legs—
Roberta's eyes widen in horror. Her lips automatically begin to move in prayer.
"O-our Father, who art in heaven, h-hallowed be thy Name . . ."
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Bainbridge Home for Youth—April 24, 2051
You are Rosemary Ward.
It's been over a week since . . . it started, and you still haven't left bed. Your body is weak and feverish, and you ache all over.
Buuuuut . . .
The Sisters moved you to your own room for "your privacy." You're pretty sure this used to be Sister Tina's room; you think she's sharing with Sister Carmen now? Anyway, you've never had your own room before and it's kinda great? You can stay up reading all night without bothering anyone and you even have your own TV. Sure, the game consoles are all downstairs, but you've beaten everything the orphanage owns a dozen times over.
So, your body constantly hurts and you're terrified, but it's not all bad! And you can walk now. Kinda. Not without bleeding, but . . . okay, you still can't really walk. Yet.
You are eating a bowl of thin broth and trying to keep it down, when you hear footsteps down the hall. One set is light and sounds like the Mother Superior. The other you don't recognize; they're so big and heavy they shake the floorboards.
". . . you for coming." You hear the Mother Superior say as she approaches. They're coming to your room! Her voice gets clearer as she gets closer. "We . . . well, we don't know what to make of it. If there's anything we can do for you . . ."
"Think nothing of it," a sibilant voice says," I jussst hope I can help in sssome way. I would hate to have wasssted your time. But when I overheard you desssscribing her ssssymptoms—"
"Now stop it, Christian! It's been some time, but this used to be your home too. You're always welcome, especially if you can help our Rosemary."
You perk up, interested. Someone who used to live here? And they can help you? And what's with their voice? You're practically vibrating from interest as you hear them stop outside your door.
The Mother Superior knocks on your door and primly calls, "Rosemary, are you decent?"
"Y-yes!" you squeak, spilling hot soup all over your lap, "Ow! Ow! Ouch! Hot!"
The door flies open as you yank the blankets now soaked with scalding liquid off your lap.
"Rosemary! Are you alright—?!"
"F-fine, " you stutter as you desperately look for something to cover up with. You lean forward and drape your arms over your legs.
"What are you doing, you silly girl—oh, Lord in Heaven."
"Ah," the person with her says calmly, "Yesss, I sssee I was right to come."
You look up and freeze as the man walks into the room. He's seven feet tall with green, scaly skin. His body is shaped like a man's, though he is slightly hunched over with wickedly sharp claws on each hand. But his face . . . it's elongated, ending in a v-shaped snout. His eyes are a vivid green with a slit-pupil and two sets of eyelids. Instead of hair, he has long spines that run down his neck and back. He gives a slight grin, showing off two rows of teeth the size of your fingers, before he realizes that might intimidate you and snaps his mouth shut.
You gaze at him, jaw open.
". . . coooooooooool," you whisper, reverently.
"D-don't be afraid, I'm—oh. Um, thank you!" he smiles, once again showing off his teeth. They're like daggers!
"My name is Christian Sssoler, though you might know me better as the hero, Daggermaw."
"Coooooool."
"Uh, yesss. I'm an independent hero, thought ssssometimesss I work with New Dawn—"
"Coooooool."
"—thank you—but I also grew up here at the Bainbridge home—"
"Coooooool!"
"—and I wasss at the hospital today when I overheard the Mother Sssuperior describing what was happening to you to a doctor.
"Coooo—wait, hospital? Are you okay?"
"Oh, yes!" he says, caught off guard, "I'm fine. More than fine, actually. My wife is pregnant—"
"Congratulations!" you say grinning.
He laughs and smiles back. "Well, I see your energy is ssstill good! That's a good sssign for what you're going through."
He glances at your legs meaningfully. The Mother Superior still isn't looking at them. You pull your knees into your chest and look down.
"S-sorry," you say, "I know it's disgusting . . ."
He walks over and pats the bed next to you. "Do you mind if I sit down?"
You nod at him.
He takes a seat, causing you to bounce as the bed squeaks under his weight. He gives you an understanding look before speaking.
"Rosssemary, right?"
You nod again.
"Rosssemary, do you know what a 'dysmorphic' metahuman is?"
You tilt your head. "Ummm, people whose powers make them look different? Like you or Marrow Spider or someone?"
He makes a face at the mention of Marrow Spider, but bobs his head in agreement. "That'sss correct. Technically, there are many metahumans with altered appearances due to their powersss. Novalight, for example, literally glowsss. However . . . there is a class of metahumans whossse physical changesss are more . . . extreme. The technical definition of dysmorphic is a 'metahuman who manifestsss non-human characteristics as a result of their power'."
He points to himself.
"I am reptilian in nature. Sssewer Rat resembles a rodent. The villain Hotssstep has fire in place of hair, and . . . well, I believe you are a dysmorphic metahuman."
"I-I am?"
He nods. "I didn't alwaysss look like this, you know. I was a typical teenager until I wasss fourteen. How old are you now?"
". . . fifteen."
"I sssee," Daggermaw says, "Then, yesss, this is when it would manifest. I believe it's the explanation for, well, what'sss happening . . ."
As he says that, you press your head against your thighs before jerking back. You . . . don't want to look at them. But Daggerman sees and places a scaly hand on your shoulder. He gives you a sympathetic look, and so you take a deep breath and look down.
Your legs had been totally without feeling for as long as you can remember, so it's still surreal to think of them at all, really. But now that you can, you really wish you still didn't have to.
The skin on your thighs is swollen, red, and angry. In places, it has burst like an overripe fruit. And, under the skin? Jagged spurs of a cool, greyish material that is hard to the touch. Your legs are in three segments now; the toes on your feet have elongated, as has your ankle. And everywhere, your skin flakes off like wet newspaper, revealing more grey underneath.
Daggermaw looks at it with academic interest. "Hmm, digitigrade legsss, if I'm not mistaken. I'm sorry Rosssemary, may I try giving them a touch?"
"Uhh, sure?" you say, uneasy.
"On your anklesss, of course! Nothing untoward."
You lift a leg—you lifting a leg—and extend it towards him. He touches some of the grey parts, the feeling muted for you. After a second, he nods to himself.
". . . chitin," he murmurs, "Well, I'm almost cccertain you're a dysmorphic metahuman now, Rosssemary. I believe your transformation will be insectoid in nature."
". . . oh man," you say disappointed, "I was kinda hoping I'd be a dragon."
He laughs at that. "Think how I felt! Ssso close, yet ssso far . . ."
He turns to the Mother Superior. "Her transssformation will likely continue over the next few yearsss. My guess is that it's been happening under the sssurface for some time, and Rosssemary just noticed now as ssshe'sss regained the feelings in her legsss."
"But, what can we do for her?" the Mother Superior asks, lost.
"Do?" Daggermaw repeats, 'There's not really much to do. Her transformation will be gradual, happening in fitsss and startsss. Hopefully the end result will not be as extreme as myself, but there's no way to tell. The mossst that can be done for Rosssemary is to provide her compassssion and sssupport."
He says those last two words with emphasis. The Mother Superior flinches.
". . . things will be different this time. I promise," she tells Daggermaw. He stares at her before sighing.
"I hope so, Mother Sssuperior, I hope ssso. Now, I have contactsss at DMU—Dysmorphic Metahumansss United—they might be able to provide further resourcesss . . ."
Daggermaw and the Mother Superior keep talking, but you kind of space out. 'Dysmorphic metahuman', huh? Does this mean you'll get powers too? That'd be pretty cool . . .
You knock on the chitin on your leg, and barely feel it. Well, it's, uh, gross, to be totally honest. But, hey, you'll be able to walk eventually? That's gonna be great!
Yeah! This might be okay!
You just hope it stops here. You think about what Daggermaw said—your transformation might not be as extreme as his—and you hope he's right. You hope you stop transforming here.
But you don't.
Over the next two months, your body keeps changing. The chitin spreads to your chest and arms, and then covers your head. You grow a shaggy, blue fur over your shoulders, waist, and private areas that's a pain to clean. Your toes fuse until there's only two of them, curved on a horned foot. The same thing happens to your arms, leaving you with only a thumb and two fingers on each hand.
Thankfully you can still hold a controller, but, now, no one will play with you. The other kids are terrified, calling you a "monster" and a "freak". The Sisters punish anyone they hear making fun of you, but you can hear them talking when they don't think you're listening.
"Mother Superior, why must we continue to care for that thing," you hear Sister Helen hiss outside your door one night, "We run an orphanage, not a zoo!"
Your heart sinks and tears well in your eyes, until the sound of a hand striking flesh makes you jump.
"Rosemary. That 'thing' is our Rosemary!."
"Y-you struck me—!" Sister Helen says in shock, "Y-you—"
"—will do it again if I ever hear you speaking of one of our children like that again. I remember when you were just a girl, Helen Boyle! You're not too old for me to still bend over my knee!"
"I-I'm sorry! F-forgive me . . ."
"Forgiveness is up to God. Pray on this, and ask for His forgiveness. Now, go."
You hear Sister Helen flee as you try to muffle your sobs. There's a gentle knocking on the door as the Mother Superior comes into your room.
"M-mother Superior," you say, trying to smile, "H-how can I help you?"
She walks over and pulls you into a bone-crushing hug.
"Quiet, Rosemary Ward. I know you heard every word. And I know how hard it's been for you."
You hiccup and gasp and return the hug.
"I-I just want it stoooooooooop!" you wail, "They're right! I'm a freak! I'm ugly! I'm . . . I'm turning into a giant bug and it hurts!"
"I know, child. I know. I-I want it to stop too," the Mother Superior says, her voice warbling, "I pray every night the Lord will deliver you. Would you pray with me to our Mother of God now?"
"O-okay," you choke out.
And together you recite, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee . . ."
You start praying every night too. Praying that the next change to your body will be the last one.
But it never is.
Your curly, brown hair falls out and you grow two bumps on top of your head that swell and swell until, one night, you wake with a nightmarish headache and realize you can see 360 degrees around your body. The bumps were extra eyes. Compound eyes, like a fly. Your eyes turn blood red with no distinction between the pupil and sclera. You can still see out of them, but they're painfully sensitive to light.
After another month, Daggermaw comes back. When he sees you, his eyes go wide in horror.
"Leviathan'sss Blood," he breathes, "It's too fassst. It's only been three months. No one ssshould change this quickly."
"H-hi, Mr. Soler . . ." you say weakly. You're in too much pain to even lift your head. "H-how's your wife and the baby?"
"T-they fine," he says, blinking, "Rosssemary, how are you? I've never seen a transssformation happen this quickly."
"I-it hurts . . ." you admit, tears forming in your human eyes, "C-can you help me?"
"I'll try. I'll try. I'll make some callsss . . ."
But despite Daggermaw doing his best, nothing comes of it. DMU tells you that they are completely tapped for resources, New Dawn is apparently unwilling to help, and any doctor you try to see either costs too much or outright refuses you as a patient.
All the while, you kept changing.
You grow taller. You hit six feet, then seven, then eight, your body stretching like your on a torture rack. The pain is agonizing as you feel your bones crack and reshape every night until you can no longer fit in bed.
You feel like you're going to die.
"We can't care for her!" you hear Sister Helen say one night.
". . . maybe not," the Mother Superior agrees, "But no one else will. So we must."
That night, you lie on the floor, praying to God with all of your heart for it to end.
But it's not God who answers.
A few weeks later, Daggermaw comes back with another man. But he's not his usual, friendly self. He looks uncomfortable, almost guilty, as he introduces you and the Mother Superior to the impossibly thin man in a pinstripe suit.
"Rosemary, Mother Sssuperior," Daggermaw says, "This is Chrissstopher Massson. He . . . might be able to help."
"Charmed," Mason says. His eyes are dull and empty, like doll's eyes, but they come to life when he sees you.
"My. My, my, my . . ." he says, bending down to look at you on the floor, "What do we have here? Fascinating."
Daggermaw grimaces, but says nothing. The Mother Superior steps forward, hand on her hips.
"Excuse me," she says sharply, "But how did you say you could help again, Mr. Mason?"
But he doesn't respond to her. "My, what a wonderful change you've undergone, Ms. Ward. How does it feel?"
". . . it kinda sucks," you say shakily.
"Ah," he replies, "Yes, it must be painful. But evolution often is. I know it may not seem it now, but you are fortunate. You have been spared a mundane existence and been given the chance for something . . . extraordinary."
He smiles with thin lips and stands up. "I envy you, Ms. Ward, believe it or not. Not everyone is given an opportunity in life. And this opportunity is the dearest thing a person can be awarded: the ability to truly choose. You alone may choose if your transformation is a blessing or a curse."
"W-who are you?" you ask.
"How rude of me. Mr. Soler gave you my name, but not my title. I am Christopher Mason, head of Research and Development at Dominion Security Concerns. And I would like to extend an offer to you, Ms. Ward."
"What kind of offer?" the Mother Superior says, eyes hard as steel.
"The kind she needs," Mason says, unintimidated, "Dominion has long sought to property study the phenomenon behind dysmorphic metahumans. It's part of the reason we provide generous donations to DMU, which where I first learned of your situation."
Daggermaw reluctantly nods in confirmation.
"Ms. Ward," Mason says, "I would like you to accompany me back to The Logos, the headquarters of Dominion's metahuman team and our primary metahuman research facility. In exchange for allowing us to study your transformation and agreeing to participate in testing, we will be more than happy to provide you room, board, and medical care at no expense."
"And she's to remain in your custody indefinitely then?!" the Mother Superior demands, "She's to be a lab rat for the rest of her life?!"
"Not at all," Mason says. He holds up three fingers. "Three years. Three years is all I ask. And when Rosemary turns eighteen, she will be a legal adult and free to do as she chooses. I'll put it in writing, if it would make you more comfortable."
"Yes," the Mother Superior growls.
"Very well. Rest assured, I adhere very closely to my contracts," Mason says. He turns back to you, "So what say you, Ms. Ward? There will be several stringent NDAs, so if you have goodbyes, best get them out of the way now."
You look at his almost eager expression. You see the Mother Superior trying to hide her exhaustion, her fear. You see Daggermaw's shame and resignation.
"O-okay," you tell Mason, "I'll do it."
But, as he smiles at you, you can't help but feel like you've made a deal with the devil.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Logos—August 7, 2051
Your new life begins right away. The next day, Dominion sends a fleet of vehicles to transport you across the city, including one that has been modified to fit your new proportions. The other kids are wide-eyed as you drive off, but none of them come out to greet you. Only the Mother Superior and Sister Carmen so much as say goodbye, and only the Mother Superior hugs you.
You climb into the car, shut the door, and are whisked away to your new home.
The Logos.
It's a white marble building, stark in its simplicity. It's a block of white stone, hewn from the earth and towering into the heavens, thrown up in the middle of the North Docks. You're taken to a back entrance where you're escorted into the building, which is also completely white with blinding lights everywhere.
The intake process lasts for hours, most of it involving signing reams and reams of contracts that cover everything from what testing will be performed on you, how regularly, when you can and cannot leave the premises, and a non-disclosure agreement forbidding you from sharing anything you learn with anyone . . . for 99 years.
You try to carefully read over everything like the Mother Superior told you to, but it's mind-numbing. After three hours, you're just signing what's in front of you so you can go lay down. But, even after you finish, you cannot rest.
They take every measurement they can think of—your height, weight, the circumference of your head, they test the vision in all of your eyes, they make you jog in place, they draw blood, snip your fur, scrape off samples of your chitin, and a dozen other examinations that all blend together.
After another few hours you're finally, finally allowed to go crash in a sterile room with a bed big enough for you. You're so exhausted, you're asleep the second your head hits the pillow.
Then, the next morning, they do it all over again.
And the next day.
And the next day. And the next day.
Life at The Logos falls into a predictable rhythm. You wake up at the same time everyday to the same white walls. A parade of never-ending scientists come into your room and have you perform all kinds of seemingly-random tasks until it's time for lunch. You never learn any of their names; they all wear masks and are careful to never speak to you more than absolutely necessary. Mason—during one of the rare occasions he's both present and you notice him—tells you it's to "preserve the integrity of the experiments".
Whatever that means.
The upshot is that you're usually free to do whatever you want in the afternoons and evenings, so long as you stay on base. Which is fine with you? You have nowhere to go anyway. Plus, they're more than happy to give you all the books and games you ask for, and even your own computer! You have to sign another lengthy NDA to be allowed to go online, but, once you do, you're free to browse the internet to your heart's content!
. . . Sister Carmen was right. It is mostly pornography. Sadly, the condition of your body leaves you with little interest in that sort of thing. But it's cool to see?
Of more interest is streaming. Hundreds of people, just playing video games online and chatting. Like they're just hanging out or something. Some of them don't even show their real faces—they have virtual avatars that move with them and they play little characters. It's fun! You find yourself with one on at all times; the noise is soothing and makes you feel less lonely.
Which is good because your body keeps changing.
You wake up from a vivid dream of all your flesh peeling off to realize you can't close your mouth. It's like your lips don't fit together any more. You carefully stick a finger in your mouth and feel around, only to learn that, yep, your face has been split into four, uneven quadrants. You can move each independently, and pull them sideways. You don't have a mouth anymore—you have mandibles.
The scientists find you on the floor, sobbing the next morning. As far as you can tell, they're delighted.
As disgusting as it is, it has no effect on your appetite. In fact, you're hungrier than ever. You are constantly starving, and at night you wake up with an empty pit in your stomach. They begin to restrict your diet to see how it affects your growth, but there doesn't seem to be any relation. It doesn't matter what you eat; you're still changing. And if you don't get enough food, all that happens is that you faint.
It's during one of those dizzy spells that you meet your first real friend here.
Three scientists take you outside your usual testing area to a large gymnasium bigger than the Bainbridge home was. They have you stand on a metal platform with several dozen metal bars overhead connected to a hydraulic press. They then have you lift increasingly large amounts of weight. It's around when the weight is a literal ton when your arms and legs start shaking.
"E-excuse me!" you say. A female scientist looks up in surprise. You're normally as silent as they are during testing. "I-I can't lift this. I think I'm gonna pass out!"
The woman doesn't respond so you repeat your complaint to the other two.
"H-help! Turn it off!"
"Continue testing," one with grey hair says, "Your vital signs are within acceptable tolerances."
"But it hurts!" you shout, your muscles protesting, "I-I-I c-can't—"
"Continue—"
"Continue my ass!" you snap back. Then you realize what you said. "Sorry! I just really, really need a snack or something."
Your arms are visibly trembling and you can't breathe. Your vision is spinning and darkness is creeping in at the corners of your eyes. The
"Continue test—"
"Levithan's Blood, shut up," a voice booms, "And turn that infernal machine off. I can't listen to this whining anymore."
You can't see who's speaking, but their voice is like a physical presence. One scientist quivers, while the senior-most turns to address whoever it is.
"We are carrying out testing of—"
"I don't care. You're ruining my training time, is what you're doing."
The figure walks into your view and you gasp. It is an impossibly muscular man, slightly taller than you at around ten feet, with bulging muscles, red veins in his body, and red spikes of some material breaking through his slate-grey skin. His head would look too small on his frame if it wasn't for the two, prominent horns jutting out of his skull. He takes one look at you and recoils.
". . . the dysmorphic metahumans we're seeing are just growing more and more extreme, aren't they? Fascinating." He walks over and, with a single finger, lifts the press. You fall to your knees, gasping for air. "Tell me, what powers do you have aside from your changed appearance?"
"T-thanks . . ." you say, "And, uh, nothing? I get other powers?"
"Huh. So you're not even finished yet. I see. No wonder Faust has you marked for 'Fish."
"Leviathan's Blood, don't say that," you say, panting as your rise, "I can't handle changing anymore. I-I just want it to stop."
You notice his appearance as you stand up, and a question strikes you.
"D-did it hurt for you?"
"What are you blathering about?" he says, confused, "Did what hurt?"
"When your body changed?" you ask, pointing at him, "Did it hurt for you too?"
He's silent for a long time, and doesn't look at you.
". . . yes. It did."
"S-sorry," you say, feeling bad, "I'm just . . . a little desperate here. I was hoping you had advice. Do you know Daggermaw?"
"The lizard? I know of him, yes."
. . . well, that seemed rude. But this is the longest conversation you've had in months, so you'll let it go.
"Well, he said there's a point where I'll stop changing. I just don't know when it is."
The man rolls an arm and scrunches his brown. "Hmm. A fair question. And an actually useful point of research."
He says that last bit at the scientists, who have been too intimidated to interrupt.
"If I had to guess, it won't be until your other powers manifest," he says, "Dysmorphic metahumans are not limited to the natural advantages of their altered forms. They gain powers like any other metahuman as well. Daggermaw can sense bioelectricity from his snout, for example."
"Oh. So I will get other powers!"
"Yes. Likely related to however your appearance changes."
". . . so I'm gonna keep changing until my other power shows up. Yaaaaaaay."
"Be grateful you have any at all, unlike those simpering fools other there," he says, sneering again at the scientists, "I've grown weary of them and their 'leader'. Children hiding in their mother's skirts, all of them."
At that, the nicest person you've met here—and isn't that sad?—turns to go. You leap after him.
"Wait, don't go!" you shout. He turns around.
"What is it now?!" he demands, "I was in the middle of something!"
"Oh, beans, sorry! What was it?"
"What?"
"What were you in the middle of that I'm interrupting?"
". . . training."
"Oh. Can I join in?"
"What?"
You look at the scientists behind. "Please? I need a break from . . . everything. I'll just watch if you like."
". . . no. It's, uh, private."
"Actually, wait. I don't see any equipment out? What were you doing—?"
"I'm leaving now."
"Wait! Don't go!"
"What now?" he roars. But he didn't actually move any further away from you. And currently isn't. In fact, he looks kind of interested.
Maybe . . . maybe he's not that busy after all?
"I'm Rosemary," you say trying to smile, but remembering how freaky your mandibles make it look now, "W-what's your name? We never got introduced."
". . . I am Scarlet Maturity."
"Oh."
"What?"
"Nothing! Just . . . not what I expected! Is that a family name?"
"Family name . . . ? No! I have no family—"
"Me either!" you gasp, "I grew up at the Bainbridge Home for Youth."
He stares at you.
"It's an orphanage!" you explain, "The nuns from the Lady of Love Everlasting Convent run it?"
He huffs. ". . . I suppose times really have changed. And, no, I am a 'hero'—"
He says that four letter word like it's a different four-letter word.
"—'Scarlet Maturity' is what I am known as on Hero for Hire. My name is Christian."
"Oh, what is it?"
". . . Christian."
"Yeah, I get that it's a Christian name, but what is it? John? Peter? Paul?"
"It's Christian—You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Sorry!" you laugh, "It's just . . . this is the most fun I've had in months!"
You twiddle your fingers. Suddenly you feel shy as the giant looks down on you and tries to decide if he's offended by your joke or not.
"Do you . . . umm, like . . . video games?" you finish lamely.
". . . video games."
"Yeah! Like, um, fighting games? I've been playing New Dawn v. Capcom 3 and, uh, it's really fun?"
"What in the world do I care if—wait. Is that the game where you can play as Fantastic Metal?"
"Oh yeah, the purple lady?" you say perking up, " Yes! But, umm, only if you have the DLC."
He blinks at you.
"Uhh, 'downloadable content'? Extra stuff for the game you have to pay for. You can play as Fantastic Metal and some other old heroes if you pay for them."
"Well, have you?"
". . . yes?"
"You are a terrible liar and I expect it to be purchased by the time we arrive. Now, where are we playing this blasted thing?"
"You'll play? Yippie!" you shout, "Okay, uhh, I think you're too big for my room—"
"You are a child and I do not need to see how the youth live. We will use one of Power's conference rooms. Come to the third floor in half an hour."
"She can't!" the eldest scientist says, "She still has—"
"To eat, yes. Fine," he tells you, "Come in an hour."
He turns back to the scientists and sneers. "Tell Faust I'm borrowing his newest toy. If he has a problem with it, then tell him that he can deal with Heracles himself."
He grabs your arm and pulls you away.
"I'll show you the mess hall. Now, tell me more about this 'DLC'. Why is it not just part of the regular game?"
"Maaaaan," you say, still giddy with excitement, "Don't get me started."
* * *
You wind up gaming with Christian for several hours. Turns out, he is incredibly competitive and an incredibly sore loser. He also refuses to play any team without Fantastic Metal, despite the fact that she's kind of bottom-tier.
"Then I will master her weaknesses and learn how to play her well!"
Eventually, he has to go, but your gaming sessions in the Powers lounge become a semi-regular thing. His schedule is weird and he does missions all of the time, but every few weeks he will interrupt your testing and hang out with you for a while. The scientists are all too scared to argue with him, and he is more than happy to let you talk about whatever while he listens.
So, you tell him about your favorite games, your favorite books, people you know at the orphanage . . . whatever comes to mind.
Eventually, you get worried he'll stop hanging out with you if you run out of things to say, so you start telling him a little bit about what it was like growing up at Bainbridge. You tell him about how you never met your parents and you wonder what they're like. You tell him how you wonder if you were wanted, and, if not, then why were you born? You tell him how you couldn't walk until your body changed, but now you just wish you were back in your chair.
You tell him all kinds of personal stuff, stuff you've never been able to share with anyone else before.
Then, to your surprise, he starts telling you stories about his childhood. What Horizon was like before the Ladder was finished. How he thinks Valiant Red was "exceptionally overrated" and King is "a pencil-necked nerd with dreadlocks". How he was obsessed with metahumans as a youth, and would follow hero teams around for hours just to watch them use their powers.
Sometimes you don't even game; you just spend the day talking. It's nice. Really, really nice.
In your private moments, you wonder if this is what having a big brother is like.
It's a bright spot in an otherwise dark time for you.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Logos—August 16, 2052
A year at the Logos comes and goes, and your body continues to change.
You are hungry all the time now, absolutely ravenous. You eat and eat and eat, but it's never enough. Then, one day, you wake up to find little nodules under your armpits. They are solid lumps of swollen flesh that are soft and tender to the touch.
Over the next several months, they swell and grow and grow some more, until they are the size of your shoulders. Then they started to grow out, chitin and bone stretching and then layering over with fibrous muscles. The scientists are delighted, documenting everything every step of the way. Meanwhile, you have to constantly hold your arms out while awake and sleep with them above your head; the slightest touch of the growths is agony.
Your memory starts to grow fuzzy. You ache constantly, and you have a high fever more often than not. The days and weeks blur into a constant haze of misery.
Then, the protrusions split and become jointed. Then they keep growing until they are the same length as your arms, and then the jagged ends begin to weave themselves into claw-like fingers..
It is then you realize you are growing a second set of arms.
In this final period the process is so painful that you often are confined to bed for days, if not weeks. Your fever comes back, higher than ever, and you become delirious.You lose your ability to focus on anything long enough to distract yourself; you can't muster the energy to read, the light from video games or your computer gives you a migraine, and you start missing all of your your hang-outs with Christian.
The worst, however, is your stomach. You are unendingly nauseous, but your body still craves food to fuel the growth of your new appendages. So, now, you eat until you burst and then regurgitate nearly all of it.
It is hell, day in and day out, with no end in sight.
You stop praying to God. Either He was unwilling to help you, or this is what he wants.
Just as it nearly becomes . . . too much, someone comes to help. Not someone from Powers or one of the scientists, no. It is someone new.
You are lying in your bed, trying to find the strength to use the bathroom, when the door to your room opens. You turn your head to see who's there, but there is no one in the hall. Then you hear a high-pitched scream and a person is thrown inside with the door slammed shut behind them.
"OhLeviathan'sBloodI'msosorry!" the person sobs, still face down on the floor, "Am I being punished?! Is this for all the sin?!"
". . .uhh, n-no?" you say weakly from bed.
"Oh, good," the person says, jumping to their feet, "Because I'm not sorry about the sin. Sin rules."
They stand up and dust themselves off, their hands shaking like leaves. The person is tall and willowy, wearing a white lab coat and red and white mask over their mouth. They itch the back of their head, and you see their brown hair is even curlier than yours used to be. They turn to look at you.
"Okay, so I got handed a big bag of money and then I was kidnapped. I was told to 'fix her' . . . which I'm guess means you—holy fucking shit!" they exclaim, "Are you okay? Because you seem nega-okay. Anti-okay. 'Okay' in the sense that I was 'okay' when my last partner dumped me for having 'the most disgusting superpower'. Leviathan's Blood, I still miss her—"
"N-no . . ."
"No, I definitely still miss her. It's fucked up, I know, missing someone who treated me like shit that long. But they dynamics of abusive relationships are—"
"N-no," you sob, "I-I'm not okay."
How long has it been since . . . anyone asked you that question? Not asking you to report on your physical condition or evaluate how you feel after a test, but just asking how you're feeling? Not since you've come to The Logos, you think.
You cry and sob and shake and shiver until you realize the person is stroking your head. Then you sob harder, a year of pent up pain and terror bubbling to the surface. They're saying something, but you don't know what. Their words are soothing and you find yourself drifting off to sleep.
When you wake up you realize two things: one, you feel amazing. The aches and pains are gone, your fever has broken, and your stomach is no longer roiling. Second, there is a horrifying grey thing on your chest that's bonded with your exoskeleton.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" you scream, leaping.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" the person from earlier shouts, jumping out of a chair, "Holy shit, don't do that to me! I forget that other people can talk!"
"What is this thing? What is this thing?!" you scream, pawing at your chest. The person runs over and grabs your two primary arms.
"It's worth several million dollars, that's what it is! Do you have any idea how many people would—and have—kill to get one of these? I do! It's why I'm a fucking hermit!"
"S-sorry," you say trying to calm down, "I-it just scared me. It's, uh, err . . . scary?"
"You can say it: it's a horrifying freak of nature," they say, "I specialize in them! Name's Alice Lawson, they/them, but you might know me better as Mendicant!"
". . . oh! Neat."
"You have no idea who I am, do you?"
". . . I'm sixteen?"
"Well, that's horrifying!" Alice says, sitting down, "Man, I know superpowers are a lotto, but did it have to be kind where you get stoned to death? Sweet Christmas, kid, I've never seen someone's body change this much. This just isn't your regular, everyday dysmorphism. This is advanced dysmorphism. "
"Geez . . . thanks," you say, trying to hide your annoyance. They did help you, after all.
"Sorry, this is why I never finished med school—my bedside manner sucks. That and, y'know, superpowers."
"It's okay . . ." you say. Your stomach growls and you actually think you could keep down a little food. "And, uh, thank you. For real, I mean."
"Ohhh, you are too cute!" they say, rubbing the back of your head, "And think nothing of it kid! Like I say, I was kidnapped by an anonymous party who paid my fee and threatened to murder me if I "broke client confidentiality". I literally didn't have a choice!"
"Oh, sorry."
"Nah, it's cool. Honestly, the isolation was starting to get to me. I was beginning to take up baking. Baking! Who am I, my mother?"
"No?"
"Well, I'm not an alcoholic committing infidelity with everything that has a Y-chromosome and a pulse, so, yes, no!"
". . . what?"
"Talking to people is hard, it's been a while since I did it. Oooooh, is that NDvC3?! You wanna play? I call dibs on Morrigan!"
"Yeah . . . actually. That sounds great!" Then you freeze and narrow your eyes at her. "Wait. Morrigan?! You're not one of those people who only plays the meta, right?"
"Pffft, no! I just like staring at her butt!"
". . . I got the swimsuit DLC just for that."
"Hell yeah."
You play for a few hours with Alice before the door mysteriously opens up again and they run out. But not before you friend each other online so you can keep playing. Alice says they've got your "flavor" now, so they can whip up another symbiote if the pain ever gets to be too much again. But as for the transformation itself . . .
"Sorry, kid. This is what your body thinks it's supposed to be doing. I have no idea how to stop it."
Still, it's enough to know that someone cares. Two someone's actually: Alice and whoever hired them. You never find out who your benefactor is, but, as Alice leaves that day, you swear you hear familiar, heavy footsteps stomp down the hall.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Logos—January 4, 2053
What ends up being the final stage of your transformation is what nearly breaks you.
Hot. Bubbling. Sharp. The pain in your spine is all-consuming. You can't walk. You can't stand. You can't even lie down. It's somewhere between your shoulder blades and in your lumbar area as somethings grows.
But that's not what shatters your resolve. No, it's the hunger.
Meat, fruit, vegetables, grains, lentils, dairy, starches, fats, sweets it doesn't matter. You need to eat. You can't stop for a second or your stomach will roar and grow and drive you mad with how empty it is. You eat over your body weight in food every day and it's still not enough. It's this instinct, this urge, this impulse that's pressing on your brain and screaming "hungry, hungry, hungry!" over and over again.
The thing on your back swells and grows, but you can't think about that. You can't think about anything but filling the void inside of you. You eat until you pass out and then you wake up to eat some more. This becomes the whole of your existence. You slip into a fugue; you're distantly aware of the scientists coming and going, but it's like experiencing something in a dream.
Or a nightmare. One you can't wake from.
You think it's been several weeks of this, when you hit your next lucid period. The food stops coming and you snap, screaming and destroying everything in your room, trying to find something, anything to eat. You shred your bed to pieces, smash your computer, and destroy the pictures you have of yourself with the Sisters. You claw at the door until your hands bleed, but it's no use. You're starving to death and they won't feed you.
Finally, when you've totally exhausted yourself, Mason comes to visit.
"Goodness, goodness," he says as he walks in. He inspects your destroyed room while you lay in the fetal position on the floor. "Seems we've developed a bit of an appetite, have we?"
You don't answer as your stomach gurgles.
"I saw the expense report for your . . . caloric intake, but I didn't believe it until I saw you myself," he says, finding an intact piece of your mattress and sitting on it, "Neither could I believe the other report I read."
He crosses his legs and beholds you with glittering eyes. The corners of his lips twitch upwards, like he can't contain his mirth.
"Did you know?" he says conversationally, "That you have lost weight over the last six weeks? Even account for your new, ahem, addition."
He points to your back and you follow his finger. Then, for the first time, you feel them. One is a set of limbs on your back. Another is something on the base of your spine you can make twitch. You scramble to your feet and run to your mirror, but you broke it in your rage. Mason obligingly takes a photo of you with his screen and lets you see it.
You take one look and start to giggle hysterically. You . . . you guess you don't just look like an insect now.
On your upper back is a pair of massive beetle-like wings. When you spread them, each is twice your body-length. But what's on your lower back is what scares you. There sticks out an abdomen, like you'd see on a spider or bumblebee. It's enormous; you have no idea how you've never noticed it before. It narrows to a point where there's some kind of tube and spinneret. You laugh again.
D-do you have two butts now? You fall to your knees and clutch your head with four hands. You see yourself in a shard of mirror, and you can't recognize who's looking back. When did all of this happen to you? What are you? A year ago you were a normal girl and now you're . . . you're this.
Your laughter turns to sobs. You hate it. You hate it. You hate it, why did God do this to you?! And worse of all: you're still so fucking hungry!
Mason watches you impassively. You look up at him from your knees, helplessly.
"Yes, well . . ." he says, straightening his tie, "It's apparent your body has been set into a state of hypermetabolism. There was some hope that it would end when your wings and abdomen finished developing, but it has been three days. That hope appears baseless."
"S-so, what then?" you ask, "When does this stop?"
"Why, Ms. Ward, how should I know?" he says dispassionately, "It may be that there will be no end to this. Your transformation is unprecedented, even among dysmorphic metahumans."
His eyes sparkle again.
"Perhaps, this is just the beginning."
"N-no, no, no!" you sob, shaking your head, "I can't take it anymore! I don't want to change anymore! But it won't stop. W-what do I do?!"
"Well," Mason says, standing up, "There is a more . . . extreme option on the table. However, it's not covered by our current agreement. We would have to reach a new accord . . ."
"Anything!" you scream. You can feel the hunger clawing at you, eroding your mind, "A-anything, whatever it is!"
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a metal canister. He holds it in front of him. "This might be able to stabilize your transformations. However, the cost of using it is . . . great."
You crawl towards it, but he holds it away from you.
"Now, let's not be hasty. As I said, a new agreement is needed. A new contract."
"O-okay. Okay. Please," you beg.
He stands up and walks to the door. It opens and he beacons you to follow him.
"Very well. Come right this way then."
You stand, trembling, and follow him into another room, secure and private. Your new contract is waiting for you. You reach for it, but Mason stops your hand.
"Ah ah. Some of the information in this agreement is confidential at the highest levels," he tells you, "Before you may even read it, you must sign a new NDA."
He pulls out yetanother document from somewhere and places it in front of you.
"The conditions of this NDA are somewhat special, I'm afraid," he informs you, "Should you review our new agreement and reject its terms, you will agree to not remember what was contained in it."
"Not remember?" you repeat, "I don't know if I can just forget something on command . . ."
"Not to worry," he says with his thin smile, "The contract is self-executing. Now, shall we begin?"
You swallow and nod. You read the NDA, but it's just what Mason describes. You're to not remember the contents of the new contract if you don't agree to it. It's an odd thing to require, but . . . you're desperate.
You sign and turn to the second agreement. Mason gives you an approving look. You swallow again and lift the paper to read it.
H-how bad could it be?
* * *
"No! No! What is this?! What is this?!What is this thing?! Get it away from me! GET IT AWAY! No! NO!"
* * *
You reject the contract and go back to your room, shaking uncontrollably. As you agreed, your memory of its contents dribbles out of your mind like water out of a leaky faucet as soon as you leave.
You can't remember why, but you know you'd rather die than ever sign it. But the hunger doesn't stop. Your body keeps changing, the chitin growing thicker and studier.
You break two more times and ask to see the contract before rejecting it again. But it takes you longer and longer to say no each time.
Your willpower is giving out. You can't go on like this. You're losing yourself. The periods where you're lucid and aware are growing more and more infrequent. It's only a matter of time until you disappear for good or you sign the contract.
And Mason knows it. You can see it in his eyes every time you crack and ask to read it again.
But you can't. Something about it scares you more than anything. More than any more changes to your body. More than dying.
So . . . you stop eating.
The hunger is still there, a primal want in your blood, but eventually you grow so weak it doesn't matter. You spend your days sleeping. They try to force-feed you, but you fight and claw until they stop. Mason appears to tell you that he "admires your resolve" but tells you that the contract will be waiting.
And you know it is. A temptation as you rot and starve. As your body starts to eat itself, you wonder why you're suffering like this.
How bad could it be?
You wish you could just give in. You wish this wasn't happening to you. You wish . . .
. . . you wish someone would come save you.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Logos—January 4, 2053
The next day Christian comes to visit. You hear your door open and struggle to raise your head as he stomps in.
"You look pathetic," he says in his blunt way.
You don't say anything back. You don't have the strength.
"I'm disappointed in you, Rosemary," he says, "You're just giving up without a fight? Lying there, waiting to die? Pathetic."
Something inside you snaps.
"What else am I supposed to do?!" you scream, "I hate this! I hate everything! I wish I was never born! Why was I allowed to live, if I was just going to suffer like this?!"
You tear at your head and scratch your face open, but you're past the point of caring.
"How do I make it stop? How do I make it stop without signing that contract? I . . . I can't even remember what's in it! But I know I don't want to sign it!"
". . . you don't, if it's what I suspect," Christian agrees, "There are few fates worse than death. That is one of them."
"Then what do I do?! I can't live like this but . . . b-but . . ."
Christian crouches down and peers into your soul. "Say it, Rosemary. I want to hear you say it."
". . . I want to live!" you sob, "I want to see the sun again! I-I want to make friends! I want . . . I want to be me!"
Christian closes his eyes. There's a slight smile on his face. "Very well then."
He reaches a hand through his chest and into his heart. There's a wet squish as he digs around, searching for something. As he does, his body rapidly heals around his hand, forcing him to cut through muscle and flesh everytime he moves. Eventually, he finds what he wants and pulls his hand out.
There's a spray of blood as he does. In his fist, he clenches a glowing ball of red energy, the size of an apple. It's so dense that it almost looks solid. He holds it out to you.
"Your body will stop changing once your metahuman ability manifests," he says, no signs of pain in his voice, "So, we will jumpstart it. You and I will reach an accord of our own."
"W-what?" you say, unable to tear your eyes away.
"I will loan you the power you need. But one day, the debt will come due. When that time comes, I promise you oblivion.Until then, you will be free to live as you choose."
You reach a hand out to touch the ball before pulling it away. "T-that's it? No other strings."
"No other strings," he confirms, "Other than you will tell no one else of this. Especially Faust."
"Uhhh, who—"
"Christoper Mason, who else?" he says, rolling his eyes, "Now, do you accept?"
You eye the power in his hand. He's "loaning" it to you. And, when it comes due . . . you'll . . .
You don't know. You don't know if this is any better than what Faust—really? Isn't that a little on the nose?—is offering, but it's Christian. You can trust him, right?
You look him in the eyes. And, when you do, you see a calm determination, a sad resignation, and, most important of all, fear.
Yeah. Yeah, you can trust him. You nod and take the ball from his hand.
You swallow it whole.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—The Logos—January 15, 2054
"My, my, my," Mason—Faust—says in his paper-thin voice, "Your power is quite the intriguing one, isn't it, Ms. Ward?"
"Yeah . . . It's trippy, alright," you say to him. Only, you speak in two voices from two bodies in two different places. You stand in front of Faust, your four arms crossed as you focus. But, at the same time, you stand behind Faust in a smaller, doll-like body that you made with your power. You can see and hear from it as well as if it were your regular body, and you can even move both yourselves at the same time. It's like a part of your brain partitions off to control both without any trouble.
Like you said: trippy.
He turns around to inspect your secondary body. "I thought your ability to ingest organic matter and convert it to a uniform material through your abdomen was a unique power. Then, I was amazed by how you could freely shape the material you excreted. But, now, this . . ."
He touches your secondary body, and you pull away from him instinctively.
". . . this is truly something special. The ability to create life? To change matter into material for you to mold? And to be able to face destruction without risking true death? Why, Rosemary, you take after the Looming God, don't you? Are you certain you won't consider my offer?"
"No," you say firmly, "My contract is up in a few months and then I'm out."
If your first two years at the Logos were nightmarish, your last one was exhausting. Christian saved your life. After his "gift" your body stopped changing. The hunger dulled. And your power manifested, much to Faust's delight.
You saw a lot more of him after that. He seemed to find your ability endlessly fascinating, and delighted in making you experiment with it for hours and hours on end. He probably understands what you can do as well as you do.
He's made an offer to add you to Powers on a permanent basis, but you turn him down every time. You're eighteen now, and you want to try living life on your terms, not anyone else's.
And at least one person seems to approve. Christian enters the room and sighs upon seeing Faust.
"Again, Faust?" he rumbles, "Your obsession is growing wearisome. Some might be concerned by the way you hound this child."
Faust smirks. "You know I have no interest in prurient pursuits. I merely have a client who would be delighted to retain Ms. Ward's services."
"Well, inform your 'client' that Rosemary has given him the same answer I once did. And the results will be the same if he presses the issue. I might even take offense to such a thing."
"It's not like you to get attached," Faust says to Christian while eying you, "Are you truly so lonely?"
Christian grabs you by the arms and pulls you out of the room. "No. Merely interested in the fate of a kindred spirit."
Christian drags you away, toward your usual lounge to play video games. You hope to keep with his long strides before you remember you can fly and start hovering off the ground.
"Thanks," you say, "I don't know what's up with lately, but Faust has been extra pushy."
"You've caught his eye," Christian rumbles, "And you've caught his client's eye. That is not a good thing."
"His client? Who's that? He's mentioned them before . . ."
"You're safer not knowing," he says with such a tone of finality, you don't argue, "And when you leave The Logos, you will need to be careful. Faust believes in soft power, but his associates are less gentle. If they covet you, then they will not accept 'no' for an answer."
You gulp. "So, uh, I can't go back to the orphanage?"
He raises an eyebrow. "Aren't you eighteen now?"
"Oh, right. Darnit."
"The best thing you can do is to disappear for a few months, years if you can. Wait until their attention is drawn elsewhere before you venture out in public again."
"O-oh." You think about Daggermaw and DMU. Maybe they could help you out . . . ? Or New Dawn? They employ a lot of heroes right? You have a pretty good power . . .
"What part of 'be careful' was ambiguous, girl?" Christian roars when you give voice to your thoughts, "Faust is watching DMU. That's how he found you in the first place! And New Dawn . . . I cannot say what they would do. They're as likely to treat you as a threat as they are to help you."
You blink at that. "But they're heroes . . . right?"
Christian snorts. "There are no such things as 'heroes'. Only those who are honest about their power and those who bind themselves with meaningless rules for fear of it. New Dawn is the worst of both worlds: they seek to impose their rules on others out of terror."
". . . I feel like there's a lot of projecting going on there."
"Then fly yourself to the Zenith and see what happens," Christian says, rolling his eyes.
You wring your hands with your second set of arms. Come on, New Dawn can't be that bad, right?
But . . . maybe you won't go there right away. You've been living under someone else's control for the last three years. You kind of want to try living on your own terms for a bit.
Yeah . . . yeah! You can make your own rules! Do what you want! You can, uh, go camp in the woods for a bit? You can probably steal wifi from somewhere . . .
You reach the lounge with Christian, humming to yourself as you think. You don't know what your new life will hold, but it will be yours. You can't wait!
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—Takashi Takeda Memorial Park, The Worker's Mitt—September 8, 2054
Lonely. As it turns out, your new life is mostly lonely.
The day your contract ends, Faust comes to give you your severance package and offers to extend your stay again. And Christian comes to escort you away from him again. He walks you out of the front door of The Logos, growling at anyone who gets too close. He repeats his warnings to lay low, and then you're on your own.
When you first step outside, the sun is blinding. The world is lit with an ethereal glow, and the breeze on your face is fresh and filled with the scents of the outdoors. Tears stream down your face as you stand in the front plaza, just basking in the touch of the sun and wind on your skin.
Three years. It has been three years since you've been outside. Never again. You will never go this long without stepping foot outside again.
You don't know how long you stand there, but eventually your stomach starts to growl and you take to the skies in search of food.
You find a burger joint nearby and promptly freak out the proprietor by ordering your weight in fries and greasy meat. You take the food to go, find a tall building, and then eat until you feel like you're going to be sick. When you're done, you lie back feeling like you're about to burst.
It's the best meal you've ever had.
As you lie there, you plan your next steps. Christian was a lot of things, but he didn't believe in wasting words. If he thought Dominion would try to capture you again, you believed him. You need to hide out for a bit until they lose track of you.
The only problem is . . . you look like a giant blue-grey bumblebee. So, uh, you kind of stick out. If you stay in a hotel or something, you'll be pretty easy to find. Plus . . . you don't have that much money. If you stay in a nice place, or even a not-nice place, you'll run out in a month.
So you get creative.
You go to a camping store in the Arabale Band and buy pots and pans, a mini-stove, a flashlight, and a cheap screen with a data plan. The cashier, when she gets used to your appearance, asks if you need a tent, but you assure her it's fine. You pay for it and then fly all the way to the Worker's Mitt. It's a relatively safe borough, but Powers and Dominion don't have much of a presence there. You find a nice big park where you can get lost, and you settle down.
The first week or so is great!
Takashi Takeda Memorial Park is big enough that you can find a densely wooded area and set up camp without having to worry too much about being found. You spend that night . . . uhhh, converting some trees and building yourself a little house. You make two small, extra bodies to help with the labor and then split up to start foraging. It's satisfying catching your own food and cooking it yourself—plus, you can eat pretty much anything now so it's super easy!
But eventually, the novelty wears off. You try to hide during the day and only come out at night; if anyone caught sight of you, then rumors about a "bee-monster" would quickly reach Faust's ears. So you don't see anyone most days. And the thing about living by yourself in the woods is . . . you live by yourself.
Eventually, you start feeling lonely, so you turn to an old standby: streamers! You fall asleep most nights watching folks like Mrsha and Meimei. It makes you wish you could play games too, but you won't have a set-up for a while.
It's then that you first hear about them.
You're mindlessly browsing the web when, suddenly, every major news site switches to a live-feed being broadcast by an anonymous metahuman. Like thousands that day, you clicked it on out of idle interest.
Little did anyone expect.
The feed shows a doctor in his office, sitting at his desk. His clothes are of the highest quality—he wears a tailor-made suit underneath his white lab coat. On his wrist is a solid gold watch inlaid with diamonds, and his face has the tell-tale artificial quality of someone taking anti-aging treatments. He lounges back in his chair, chatting on a screen. There's a self-satisfied smirk on his face; he has the world in the palm of his hand and he knows it.
". . . just make sure the money hits my account by tomorrow," he says, "Hey! Not my fault if prices have gone up. No, you listen to me. Without me, you'd have zero access to these patient records, none. All those claims you get to deny for preexisting conditions? Out the window! I'm risking my ass making the changes, so you can make it worth my while!"
He examines his nails, nodding along to the person on the other end of the line.
"Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay, fine. I'll backdate the diagnosis for before the policy took effect and you can cancel it. Yeah, well, I'm saving you millions in treatment costs! You can float a few more G's my way. Uh-huh. Yep. Alright! I knew you see it my way!"
The doctor finalizes some other details before hanging up and then lighting a cigar. He seems very pleased with himself.
You . . . barely followed any of that, but this guy is messing up people's insurance claims? That's terrible! Couldn't that get people killed? Someone should do something!
Also . . . how is this being broadcast?
As if to answer your question, a metahuman walks on screen. He pulls the camera back, revealing that the scene of the doctor in his office is being shown through a . . . photograph? The metahuman wears a dark green bodysuit including a full-face mask that covers his head. Over top of that, he has a bright green and gold jacket with the hood pulled up. He clears his throat and speaks.
"My fellow citizens of Horizon!" he shouts, "My name is Memoria! And what you have just witnessed is but one of the thousand indignities heaped upon you behind closed doors!"
He gestures to the photograph.
"Dr. James Laroach has been collaborating with Intellihealth's insurance division for years! When a patient's treatment grows too expensive, he alters the medical records to give Intellihealth a pretext to cancel their health insurance! Thousands have died, fighting for the healthcare they're entitled to!"
The camera zooms out further and shows he's standing with four other people. One is a tall man dressed like a vampire. Another is a figure dressed head-to-toe in tactical gear. There's a woman in a crimson dress wearing an opera mask, and the last one is a man with no mask at all. He has greasy-blonde hair and wears black pants and a duster with no shirt.
"Intellihealth does this because their bottom line is more sacred to them than human life! Well, today, we are here to tell them no more! Dr. Laroach does this because he believes no one will care, and, if they do, the most he will receive is a slap on the wrist. For far too long, he has been correct."
Memoria looks down, his voice suddenly thick.
"My . . . my sister was one of his victims. She was caught in the crossfire of a battle between Global Justice and the Supplicants. As was everyone in her bar. She . . . she could have survived. But the surgery would have been costly. The odds were low. And, if she had pulled through? The physical therapy alone would have cost millions. She had the coverage . . ."
He looks back up.
"Until her records were changed. Until Intellihealth canceled her policy. Until they sacrificed her life on the altar to Mammon!"
He's shaking, trembling really, but his voice is steady.
"No more! Someone will hold them responsible! Someone will give a voice to the voiceless!"
He holds his arms out. The vampire, opera singer, and blonde man pose with him. The soldier doesn't move.
"We are The Defiance Unit! Those parasites who would prey on the vulnerable, beware!"
The photograph showing the doctor expands until it fills the room. The Defiance Unit links hands and Memoria pulls them through the picture, into the room. Dr. Laroach sits up, terrified at suddenly being surrounded by five metahumans.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?! Get out—n-no! Help! Help me—"
The soldier pulls out a gun, points, and fires.
You jerk back and drop your screen from shock.
They . . . they killed him. Just like that. An execution, live online.
You pick your screen back up, but the stream's been banned. You don't get much sleep that night.
* * *
Horizon, City of Leviathan's Rest—Takashi Takeda Memorial Park, The Worker's Mitt—September 23, 2054
You're both amused and annoyed to learn that you've become an urban myth.
"I'm gonna find him! He's real!" a bedraggled woman shouts, traipsing around your woods, "The Mothman is real and I'm gonna prove it!"
"Mom, is this why dad left?" a preteen says, following her.
"No, that was because he had another family," she replies, "Now, come on! You like the woods!"
". . . I liked having two parents too."
"What was that?"
"Nothing!" the preteen sighs, "It's not your fault . . ."
You follow them around with an auxiliary body until they leave, and then you realize that's the most human contact you've had in weeks.
Leviathan's Blood, that's sad. Almost as sad as the fact that you've made a half-dozen more bodies just to fill your house. You, uh, might be going a little nuts.
You've been raiding the lending library every chance you get, but it's mostly children's books and bad erotica. The honest truth is: you hate being alone.
So you start getting more daring with your walks, you make smaller drones, you try to watch people as much as possible. Until one day, you find another tent in your woods.
It's a tiny little thing, not really hardy enough for the elements. It's more of a toy than anything. As you get close, you hear someone sobbing inside of it.
You . . . you should probably just leave, right? But, it sounds like a child and it's dark out. You can't leave a little kid all alone.
So you poke your head in and meet the cutest little thing. And then she begs you to take her to her mom and you kind of cave and take to the sky.
To your surprise, her mom meets you there. She's a metahuman too. You both drop to the ground and you give her daughter. She babbles her thanks and sobs with the little girl. Then, when they calm down, she takes a look at you.
She does a double take, but then, to your surprise, she hugs you.
"Thank you," she whispers, "Thank you so much."
She's soft and warm, comforting like the Mother Superior. Or maybe . . . just like a mother.
"Please, is there anything I can do to repay you? Anything?"
You're about to tell her it's okay, but then your stomach rumbles. After that, there's no stopping her from dragging you to her house to feed you.
You learn her name is Han Yu. She's Heavenly Astrologian. From New Dawn.
She asks you where you live. You're honest with her.
"Let me help you, please," she begs. There's no duplicity in her gaze. Whatever Faust is, she's the opposite. You feel safe.
"O-okay," you tell her, "I . . . I'd like that."
She tells you to stay the night and promises to take you to the Zenith in the morning. You fall asleep on her couch that night, legs dangling. You try to sleep, but you're too nervous. Or excited?
Tomorrow, you meet the heroes in Horizon.
You remember Christian's warning about New Dawn, but honestly. How bad could they be?
