Elsewhere
He lay awake on the futon, resting but watchful. The calls of cicadas in the warm night were annoying, but that was nature. It did what it did when it wanted to. The small hut in which he was living was neatly kept and spartan in its furnishing. A small hearth, a place to store some food, and a closet to store the bedding and his few belongings.
The village he had been taken to had no name that anyone would give him. He suspected, based on the mountainous forests, with a view of a wide coastal plain in the distance, he might be in historic Iga, in Mie Prefecture. Before Parahumans, he remembered a family vacation to the city and its historic sites: Namely, the Iga Ueno Castle and Ninja Museum of Igaryu.
He remembered those days fondly, before the world went mad and stopped making sense. The arrival of Parahuman powers had thrown the world out of balance. He and Kenta had been friends before Powers had gotten into the mix. Their street gang was trying to become Yakuza, and probably doing everything wrong. If they got the attention of an oyabun, it would be when he decided to deal with them.
Then came Leviathan, and the end of the Land of the Rising Sun. The sinking of Kyushu flooded the southern end of the home islands; most of Shikoku and the shoreline of the inland sea had been destroyed, rendered uninhabitable. This included several of Japan's larger cities such as Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, and the lower elevations of Kyoto and Tokyo.
His reminiscing was interrupted by a small sound at the edge of his awareness. He readied himself, just in case one of his fellow
genin decided to try something.
He'd been training here for what seemed to be years. First trained by the masters of various portions of ninjutsu, then trained by those Oni the Iga and Koka clans had as members. Harsh and brutal described the training. Some of the training involved surviving in the wild for days, other tasks included disguising his nature and infiltrating one of the other villages in the mountains. Some precious few involved actual instruction at the shrine and meditative exercises.
He'd taken to all of it with a will.
The door to his shack silently slid open, revealing a figure dressed in unremarkable clothes. With a thought, he teleported next to the door, leaving a substitute on the futon. Said intruder quietly approached the futon and a long knife was drawn, its blade darkened so as to not draw attention. The blade came up to stab…
...And Lee reminded the intruder that he was still there, by pressing the tip of his own blade into the intruder's neck. Just enough for them to feel it. "Really, Shigure-san? I thought we'd been through this before?" he whispered in the
kunoichi's ear.
"OK, you got me," the younger Oni muttered. "Shuten-Doji-
sama wants to see you first thing in the morning." Shigure-
san sheathed her knife as silently as she'd drawn it.
As a courtesy. Lee removed his blade from her neck, putting it back. Inwardly, he sighed. If the Lord of the Oni wanted to see him first thing in the morning, that meant at sunrise. Again, a test of skill and endurance. "I understand," he answered the messenger. "I had best get going, since dawn is three hours from now."
"
Ryōrijin-san has some food for you," Shigure added. "Enough to keep you going."
= = = = - - - - = = = =
In the gate town of Plaguemort, there is a building where even the most powerful of the town's inhabitants simply do not go without proper cause. The main reason has to do with the presence of a Marut, an arbiter of absolute law, whose oversight ensures that the various parties of the Abyss have a neutral place to meet when matters and events require it.
In this case, there was one Demon Queen of Spiders already sitting in the main hall, idly chatting with the one known as the Dark Prince about some matter both minor and trivial.
"A shame, Lolth, that we appear to be the only ones here," Graz'zt stated, his voice smooth, charming, and as treacherous as an icy hill with water running down it; make one misstep, and that was it.
"I was hoping some of our peers cared more for the destruction of reality which is ours to perform instead of fighting amongst themselves," Lolth said airily.
"Three of those you sent requests to would not come here once they figured out that I had been sent a message as well," Graz'zt explained. "Even if they believed I would not attend. Orcus was likely to side with Falazure, as was Demogorgon. Malcanthet and I have never gotten along since that misunderstanding. Juiblex and Zuggtomoy were always more interested in causing destruction without needing to do so personally, so they don't care. The others? One is lost in his own illusions again, the other two care only for the hunt and slaughter."
There was a burst of flame, and a massive demon appeared within the hall. "I, Kormad, Lord of the Balors, have arrived. What matter is so important that you have requested a meeting?"
"The destruction of all that is," Lolth stated. "By someone other than us."
"I shall listen to what you have to say, Queen of Spiders," Kormad rumbled.
"I, too, shall listen," a voice croaked. "Even though I loathe the company you are keeping these days, Lolth." As Pazuzu emerged from concealment, the strange four-winged and vulture-taloned being hissed. "However, I find the thought of someone else destroying everything that is even more repulsive."
"So, Lolth, what did you wish to talk about?" Graz'zt asked.
"Falazure," Lolth simply stated. "He intends to destroy all that is."
"This we have known about," Pazuzu said, as he sat at the table in the hall. "However, is he not imprisoned in the darkest pit of Carceri?"
"He is," Graz'zt answered, "but he is testing the wall of his prison. He almost escaped recently, having gathered power from
somewhere; whether it was from souls he had stolen, or some being he'd imprisoned and drained, I do not know."
"A number of beings have seen something coming from him," Lolth explained. "We moved to claim certain valuable resources and remove them from Falazure's grasp."
"Ah, yes, your little Arachne oracle," Kormad answered. "And the Fox Queen managed to get one of her own back."
"Had Falazure gotten his claws on those two," Graz'zt added, "it would have been very bad. Fortunately, his first acquisition apparently lost his ability to see the outcome of a course of action based on a single choice."
"I'm pretty sure that one's currently and subtly working against its master," Lolth said with a chuckle. "Of the many dragons I've had the displeasure to meet, ego and underestimating their opponents have always been their weaknesses. Their gods are no different."
"And you wisely keep your distance from the ones that also understand this," noted Kormad.
"I wonder if our opposition is having a meeting like this?" Pazuzu asked out loud.
"Which opposition?" Kormad queried. "Avernus is denied us due to Tiamat's wrath, and only the most powerful can be summoned out of the Hells. The fortresses along the banks of the River Styx are fully garrisoned, and the few attempts at gaining a foothold there have been disastrous to the point where none of the normal Merrenoloths will chance the voyage without a layer's ransom in souls."
"I had the same concern, but was mainly thinking about those who reside on the Upper Planes," Lolth admitted. "I know there are some beings who are beginning to cast their gaze on Carceri..."
- - - - = = = = - - - -
The day in Brockton Bay had started out clear and sunny. With the matter of Greg's transformation and Liamaril's appearance dealt with for the moment, Taylor was looking forward to a nice day at school, socializing with her friends, and perhaps a flying patrol afterwards, along with a couple of meetings with the Protectorate.
After all, Dennis would be stepping down as Wards leader at the end of September, and Dean would be moving to the Protectorate as well. That left the Wards ENE with herself, Chris, Missy (who just waved at her in the hall), Takara and Dinah. They'd gone from a predominantly male team with one girl, to a predominantly female team with one guy.
New Triggers were down substantially, crime was down, and various societal pressures were greatly reduced within the city, so things were as normal as they could get around here.
Which mostly meant the weirdness was less hazardous, not less common. Brockton Bay never really "got" normal. Case in point…
She noticed a new person in the hallways, looking lost and bewildered. Sighing, she walked over to Greg. "If you're looking for the office, it's down this hallway, take a right at the first intersection. You can't miss the sign from there."
"Thanks, Taylor."
To the curious look given her by a pair of nearby students, Taylor replied, "Fellow Winslow escapee." They nodded and said nothing.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
"So, how's motherhood treating you, Amy?" Dennis asked during lunch.
"Eh, so far, so good," Amy replied. "It's a good thing Fountain learns quickly, we've avoided a couple of potentially messy situations."
"How'd your mom take it?" Dennis continued.
"On the normal scale of Carol's flip-outs," Amy answered after thinking for a moment, "about a two out of ten. Basically a sigh, 'explain this', and then went and looked up what legal documents needed to be filled out after the explanations were made..."
"…And getting a double whammy of puppy dog eyes from both Fountain and Bochs. She babysat yesterday," Vicky chimed in. "Had to answer Fountain and Boch's questions. Bochs is learning quickly, too, and is learning to imitate things other than bread boxes and cookie jars. Fountain had an episode with the mailman, which is odd, because he knows Parahumans live there."
"Mom talked to Mrs. Aleshin yesterday. Something about getting Fountain socialized and tutored so she can go to school," Amy continued. "While she's scary good with the shape changing into animals, her attempts at humaning have fallen right into the uncanny valley and are really, really disturbing."
"We've had to cut her off from watching afternoon cartoons," Vicky added. "Fountain is scarily smart, but lacking in the basics. We'd like to get her into kindergarten so she can make some friends, but she may have to go to specialist day care first." While New Wave were open Capes, and their identities public, other Capes and Cape equivalents were not.
"At least Mom's worst fears weren't realized," Vicky said. "She admitted to being worried about
me being a teenage mom."
"At least your dad was polite when he gave me the shovel speech," Dean added. "And I'd had several lectures from my parents about appropriate behavior and protection before they let me date anyone."
"So, does that mean?" Dennis asked.
"Whatever you're insinuating, Mr. Cooper," Vicky stated while she cracked her knuckles, "is none of your damn business,
understand? Or do I have to have a word with you, or
your girlfriend?"
"Eh heh," Dennis said, scratching the back of his head. "That won't be necessary. Consider the question withdrawn."
From where she sat, Missy quietly ate her lunch. She'd made her peace with both Dean and Vicky.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The school day soon gave way to late afternoon, and had the Wards out patrolling. The cloud cover seemed to be building up quite rapidly, indicative of a storm moving into the area. There were two patrols out; one was a "flying" patrol with Naurelin and Kid Win and the other was a "walking" patrol with Weaver and Vista, leaving Clockblocker and Gallant back at the building, probably doing pre-transition stuff. Takara was unable to make it in due to a family emergency.
From where they were flying, Naurelin could see the rain front moving in. "So, Kid, are you all-weather rated for flying?" she asked her teammate.
"No, I'm not," came the eventual reply. "Permission to come aboard?"
"Granted. Usual accommodations are just in front of the wings." With that, she leveled off and soared, giving Kid Win an easy approach and a stable target. Naurelin had learned a trick or two from Sulazhaal on their expedition to Sigil, including exercising fine control of the ability to change shape to provide a saddle with a handle and stirrups for a passenger to safely sit on her back, and a clip to stow something like a hoverboard behind them.
"Not the most comfortable seat, but it'll do," Kid Win commented. "Board's stowed, I'm secured."
"And not a moment too soon," Naurelin rumbled as the rain started in. Fortunately, she could fake hydrokinesis with her Power, redirecting the rain away from her as it fell. "I think this storm is going to get stronger quickly."
"Console's calling us in," Kid Win answered. "Make for The Rig."
With a gentle bank, she began her descent towards the bay and The Rig. From the clouds, a bolt of lightning hit the ground somewhere in the city, the clap of thunder following almost immediately.
"Hold on, Kid," Naurelin shouted over the storm, "we're getting down
now."
Kid Win could feel Naurelin's Power grip him as the dragon did a rollover dive, making for the safety of The Rig's flight deck and hangar. He was in full agreement.
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