And part two of the new arc is finished with help from Dr. Tempo...
****
Brockton Bay, the Dallon home south of the Boardwalk near the Essex River, Monday 24 January 2011, 6:21 PM EST…
"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! ALL ALONG, I KNEW IT! YOU MONSTER…!"
KK-KLONK!
"THAT'S ENOUGH, CAROL!"
Seated at one side of the living room, the members of the Undersiders who weren't related to the two families that composed the membership of New Wave shook their heads with a mixture of amusement and pity at the sight of the fiery lawyer having been bonked into her chair — tenderly given how powerful he was — by Neil Pelham, the effectively strongest member of New Wave now that Victoria Dallon was Gifted. As the drunk Carol — who hit the wine the instant she was released from PRT custody on her own recognisance due to her daughter not wanting to press charges of harassment — groaned from that electromagnetically-enhanced blow from the man known as Manpower, her sister Sarah Pelham shook her head. "You knew this was going to happen one of these days, Carol!" the leader of what was left of New Wave declared, crossing her arms. "You've been told again and again and AGAIN to stop trying to pressure Amy just because she was the Marquis' daughter! Everyone in the damned CITY pretty much knows your attitudes towards her; Special Agent Black was VERY thorough in ensuring that got out…!"
"That MONSTER…she's no…!"
"QUIET!" the woman known also as Lady Photon snapped, making Carol gargle in disbelief at the sight of her own sister — who had triggered in the same kidnapping incident that gave the latter her Striker/Breaker abilities — coming at her like this. "You have no RIGHT to judge Special Agent Black for what she is and what she's done for Amy and Vicky! You know her story! Abandoned by her birth parents, made to DISAPPEAR in the New York orphan network, then being adopted by abusive parents that wound up seeing her RAPED as a child before Tariko — thank God for that! — found and rescued her! Is it any wonder that Margo chose a power that could help her defend herself from ANY potential attacker in the wake of THAT?!"
"She won't listen, Mom!" her daughter Crystal Pelham muttered from the nearby kitchen. The university freshman also known as Laserdream had been put on snack duty when this necessary meeting between their team and the newly-formed metahuman group under Taylor Hebert was called. "A villain's a villain to Aunt Carol; it's been that way since she adopted Amy!"
"Crystal…!" Carol eeped out.
"What?!" Crystal demanded as she came over with a glass of juice for Carol's husband Mark so he could take some aspirin to help him recover from the gently shifting of tissue in his brain's corpus callosum and frontal lobes which helped ensure he would frequently forget to take his medication. Said alterations had also fixed up certain links to the man's gemma, allowing him to be able to better access his abilities as Flashbang, the team's distance Blaster; in the few times New Wave had hit the field against rogue and villainous capes in recent memory, Mark hadn't been as effective as he had been during the time the-then Brockton Bay Brigade fought the Marche a decade before. "Ever since Margo started coming by to help Amy and Vicky with their issues, it's become as clear as day that you've never loved her, Auntie! Bet you would've loved to throw her out onto the street…!"
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!"
"Then what IS the truth, Carol?!"
Carol froze before she stared at her husband. "N-no…! You're being MASTERED…!"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Miss Skitter, you're a telepath. Is Flashbang being Mastered by Shaper?"
"No, he's not," the Mistress of the Mindless Legions — who was flanked on one side by the Collapsar of Knowledge and the other by the Living Wormhole, they seated on the largest couch in the room — coolly answered. "As a matter of fact, from what both my shard and I can sense, his own shard has started to fully materialize itself into this multiverse."
People gazed at the recently-dimensionally displaced insect mistress. "All because of this Gold Morning thing?" Crystal asked.
"Most likely," Taylor answered as Lisa Wilbourn nodded in understanding. "I know that your uncle's other self survived that event — all the Dallon family survived it — so that could mean the other version of Flashbang is dead…"
"No, not dead."
Eyes locked on Mark. "What are you feeling, Mark?" Neil asked.
The former lumber worker — due to New Wave becoming a public team over the previous decade, he had been supported by the team's merchandising operations as well as disability compensation from the Commonwealth government; it was Carol's income as a lawyer which provided most of the family's liquid funds — shook his head. "The shard — Is that what it is? Why's it so damn BIG?! — allowed itself to 'bud' to leave the other me with his powers. He's too busy caring for Vicky's other self…!"
"Does she have her powers still?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, but she's got to learn how to reuse them."
People turned towards the stairs leading to the second floor, where Victoria Dallon was now descending — by WALKING, which was definitely a radical change of behaviour from when she was just a parahuman; back then, she always floated around or flew whenever she wanted to go somewhere…even inside the house much to her mother's annoyance — with a large box of personal items she would move to the Pelham home while her mother was forced through her "time out". "She has to learn how to reuse them?" Eric Pelham, the youngest member of New Wave who was known publicly as Shielder, asked.
"Yeah! Soon as I sensed what my other self and Ames' other self were put through by Mom's other self, my Gift crystal just yanked the core of our shard out of that multiverse," Victoria said before perking, then she handed the box over…
…to a pair of hands that appeared out of mid-air. "Your new pad, Vicks?" a voice then asked.
"Please!"
"Okay!" And with that, Aisha Laborn fully vanished from visible view before triggering her PAA to teleport out of the house.
Carol screeched on seeing that before a finger landed on the side of her neck, silencing her larynx. "Do you MIND, Carol?!" the Flesh-Twister snarled. She had been seated at the nearby dining room table composing notes for Mark's doctors to review, calling on CENTURIES of knowledge to prescribe a path to full recovery for the man now that his brain was operating on all neurons. "You've been giving me an earache since you came back from the PRT! I'm trying to HEAL your husband here!"
With a silent snarl, the older woman moved to lunge over the chair she was using to grab the biokinetic healer…
…before her brother-in-law's hand landed on her head, forcing her back into her chair. "Are you that hell-bent on KILLING YOURSELF, Carol?!" Neil snapped. "You KNOW how healers are viewed on Yiziba!"
Trilling, the Undersiders exchanged looks. "Hey, Vista, what happened the last time a healer got hurt on Yiziba?" Lisa asked.
Missy Byron hummed. "Oh, my previous self was involved in that!"
"What did he do?" Taylor asked.
A snicker then escaped the space-warper. "Oh, he carved the stupid turkey up in micro-warps — keeping his nervous system connected to each part! — before dumping each part into our handy black hole garbage dump."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"You guys are VICIOUS!" a pale Crystal breathed out as Carol started to hyperventilate.
"Would you like it if your team healer was hurt?" Taylor asked.
Rapid shakes of the head answered her from most of the other members of New Wave…
****
Yakitori Wakatsuki, overlooking the Essex River estuary on the south bank, 7:42 PM EST…
"So, what can we conclude from this afternoon's delightful shitshow?"
As Amelia Lavere chuckled in amusement at her team lead's grumbled comment while they enjoyed some fried and seasoned chicken-on-a-stick, Aisha Laborn hummed. "Well, much that I don't want to rub salt in the wound, but I gotta say this one," the Northern Singularity of Attention breathed out. "Vics, Ames, your old team's pretty much kaput."
Both the Flesh-Twister and the Fighting Belle of Victory nodded. "Yeah, like THAT hasn't become pretty obvious over the last couple of weeks," Victoria Dallon breathed out before gazing away from where the streetside snack shop vender set up her venue — she was an Avalonian-Japanese twenty-something named Wakatsuki Ryōko; her identity made her the spiritual granddaughter of a sansei who had fought with the famous 442nd "Go For Broke" Infantry Regiment from the Second World War — looking out into the bay beyond the estuary, the glowing form of the Rig barely framed by the hulking shadows of the wrecked cargo ships that effectively shut down the port a couple decades ago. "Soon as we got back to the house after we got Gifted — even with Aunt Sarah telling her it was just the right thing to do thanks to what Tay-Tay here went through…" — fortunately for the Undersiders, Lisa Wilbourn set up a "notice me not" function with her PAA to project a field which would prevent all forms of eavesdropping even if this part of town was deep within the territory of the Red Dragon Society — "…on Earth Bet and that — well, Mom just laid into Ames about being disobedient and all that. Fortunately, Margo was keeping an eye on things…"
"Oh, yes! The good doctor's wonderful death aura," the Collapsar of Knowledge trilled before sipping her own Diet Coke. "How'd you persuade Rachel Lindt of all people to share her loft with Amy here, Taylor?"
The Mistress of the Mindless Legions chuckled. "Oh, the great secret…"
"What?!" Missy Byron demanded.
"Speak Rachel-ese, young padawan!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"'Speak Rachel-ese'?" Victoria demanded.
Taylor wistfully smiled. "The benefits of having her other self as my teammate for a long time," she lamented. "She's not a bad person whatsoever, Vicky. She just got royally screwed by the system and no one wanted to lift a finger to investigate things. Abusive adopted parents, a child that's almost feral in many ways and more attuned with dogs than people, one of her favourite pets was killed by the mother to make her behave, then…" Here, she snapped her fingers, making the others nod. "Wouldn't surprise me that back on Bet, whoever Rachel's 'parents' were at the time were part of some adoption scam." As Amelia and Aisha both scowled on hearing that, Taylor shook her head. "Well, she's free and safe on Gimel with her pack…"
"And our Rachel here is under our protection," Victoria said as she slung her arm around her sister's shoulders. "After all, if she considers Ames part of her pack now. Heretofore, she's now part of OUR pack!"
The healer chuckled. "Well, given how many times she's hit the Empire's dog-fighting rings since I moved in with her, she appreciates my volunteering to heal those poor puppies up," Amelia noted before sipping her own glass of water.
"So, you're willing to heal puppies for free, but charge out the wazoo for boob-jobs!" Aisha whooped.
The Living Wormhole reached over to firmly tap her classmate's head. "I don't need to hear that, Aisha!"
The perception-manipulator stuck her tongue out. "You've heard worse, Missy!"
"Oh, speaking of useless parents, what about yours, Missy?" Lisa then wondered. Having got her GED shortly after she settled in with Regina Paek, the clairvoyant didn't have to worry about annoying teenage drama on the scale her friends experienced.
A snort responded. "Soon as she found out that the JSWC drained my Ward trust fund and shifted it into a new bank account she couldn't access, Mommy Dearest threatened to sue the government for effectively butting into her rights as a parent even if she's undergoing a divorce," the space-warper declared. "Of course, when I moved my stuff out of my rooms at her place and Daddy Dearest's apartment, I left behind the first aid packs I had to get to stitch myself up after a couple rounds with Hookwolf!"
Amelia gaped before she tapped a finger on the younger girl's forehead. "And you're NOT doing that again, Missy!" the healer snapped. "Even if you were doing off-the-books patrols, you still should have come to me to get healed!"
"Mom would have found out and raised a stink," Victoria warned. "Wouldn't have helped Missy whatsoever, Ames."
Lisa snickered. "Let me guess! When the people from Child Protective Services were called into it once your mom decided to raise a stink, they discovered those packs and concluded you might have 'suicidal tendencies', right?!"
Missy shrugged, making the others laugh. "Ooh! That is SO chill, Missy!" Aisha declared.
They turned back to their snacks as their host came over with a new tray full of freshly-made yakitori. "Arigatō, Sensei," Taylor said with a nod, earning her a beaming smile from the native of Honolulu before she headed back to watch over the small crowed seated next to her main counter; like with other Avalonian-run shops in the Bay, Yakitori Wakatsuki was fitted with all sorts of interesting defences — which could be mistaken as "tinkertech" even if the components were alien in design and construction — to keep out potential riff-raff. "So, what's the weekly schedule for you two girls? Any major essays or anything?"
Missy shook her head. "Not that I'd want to piss Haruhi off, but I can make a temporary null-time bubble for Aisha and me to do our homework in seconds when measured in real space-time," the Living Wormhole explained.
Aisha nodded. "Yeah, that freaked out Bri when we did that at the new apartment last weekend," she declared with a smirk.
Lisa gazed on Taylor. "Are you thinking of getting him Gifted? His power's great for camouflage."
A smile responded as the insect mistress remembered dating her own version of Aisha's brother before the start of Gold Morning, when he was one of the early ones to fall in Scion's rampage. "Oh, he's on the list. But Chris might come before him."
Eyes locked on her. "What happened on the Discovery?" Amelia asked.
"Same thing that happened shortly after I was brought here by Mr. Calaway and Hinako," Taylor responded. "He zoned out right into one hell of a Tinker fugue, then created another weird concoction which even made Liz Wakefield of all people scratch her head wondering what it was supposed to be." As people's jaws dropped on hearing that, the Mistress of the Mindless Legions threw up her hands. As was known by other metahumans all over the world, Elizabeth Wakefield was the Wise Genius of the Circle of Thought, Daturie (the "Academician"); this made the lawyer's daughter a hyper-genius polymath unmatched by anyone on the World of the Forge, with a breadth and depth of scientific/esoteric knowhow that had been developed over the incarnations since her first-self helped HEAL A WHOLE PLANET from the ravages of the Dawn of Power and the Starvation Times two sagas ago. "She sent samples to every polymath she knew, even getting some of the ones who dabble in technomancy — she has a classmate at Sweet Valley High who's one, ironically — and some of the more experienced technokinetics."
Amelia perked. "Oh, that's right! Hinako knows one, too. Hatoyama Rinrin; she's from Ōsaka."
Lisa gaped. "Wait! Professor Hatoyama Junji's granddaughter?! That Rinrin?! She's Gifted?!"
"Technological Sorceress of the East," the Flesh-Twister explained. "Kamluo; she uses the German term 'Schmiede'. Why?"
A chuckle answered her. "Well, according to every Shōzoki I've met since Regina rescued me from Coil's idiots, Professor Hatoyama's the second-most knowledgeable man on the planet when it comes to their technology! He discovered things on his own when he was younger, drawing up his own theories WAY before he had the chance to meet Professor Andrews!"
Taylor blinked. "Andrews is ex-Canadian Army, right? He's the one who helped Tess Richter get a gynoid body?"
The Collapsar of Knowledge nodded. "Same man. One of General Raeburn's early students after World War Two and the loss of the Soldiers of Freedom in the Battle of Toronto; don't know which specialized warfare unit he was a part of when he wore the uniform." She sat back as she considered what she had learned, then added, "After helping master the tech that came with the seed pods that were fired from Shōzoran here to Earth to create his first series of humanoid AIs, he developed a scale for artificial intelligence that even Alan Turing thought was quite impressive when he got introduced to the whole idea about the Shōzoki."
Amelia snorted. "Yeah! Lucky thing people like the general could look past the fact that Turing was gay."
The others nodded. By then, Missy had got out her PAA and tapped into it, allowing her mind to be scanned so as to get any updates concerning what was happening to her friend. Much that she had been closer to Dennis "Clockblocker" Wells when she had been one of the Brockton Bay Wards, she did appreciate what Chris "Kid Win" Cullen often did for her despite his issues with dyscalculia and being forced to get outside help via his girlfriend to discover his Tinker specialty. After a moment of taking in the information — as many Terran-born adopted Yizibajohei often did, she had configured her personal administrative assistant device to display information in English in lieu of the language of the World of the Forge — she gaped. "Oh, fuck…!"
Aisha and Lisa leaned over to scan what was there, then the latter blinked. "Interesting…"
"Why'd you say that?" the Northern Singularity of Attention asked as she gazed on the clairvoyant. "Make with the splainy!"
The Collapsar of Knowledge nodded. "It's another fact towards a theory I'm developing."
The others gazed intently at her…
****
Aboard the FPSYS Discovery in geosynchronous orbit at the 120th Meridian west of Greenwich, 5:12 PM PST (Brockton Bay time: 8:12 PM EST)…
"Damn! I never considered something like THAT whatsoever! Good call, Lisa!"
Lisa Wilbourn smirked as Isaac Thomas squeezed her shoulder in support. "Given what I experienced when Negotiator vacated my other self's body when she was killed, I thought it was just a one-off thing. But with Chris…"
People around the main table in the meeting room on the mid-deck of Discovery's forward superstructure — such was the widest level in the 167-metre-wide spheroid construct — nodded in understanding as several turned to gaze on a wide-eyed Chris Cullen. "Are you saying that my shard's trying to make me create something to KILL those things?!" the Tinker demanded.
[INCORRECT.]
Everyone perked, then the Wise Lone Sage, Raer'buo Erba ("Doctor Renaissance"), called out, "Identify yourself!"
[I AM DESIGNATED «LIMITLESS FOCUS», SAGE WARRIOR «RAER'BUO ERBA»,] came the response — which sounded like the red-haired man in the normal clothes being comforted by his girlfriend — from over Chris' head. [ONLY NOW AM I ABLE TO COMMUNICATE TO ALL WARRIORS OF YIZIBA CONCERNING MY INTENTIONS.]
"Then what are your intentions, Focus?" Elizabeth Wakefield asked from the head of the table, with Katy Franklin standing to her right rear ready to help her creator if requested. "When you effectively 'persuaded' Chris to create this concoction…" — here, the Wise Genius waved to the holographic projection showing a VERY complex molecular structure — "…at the start, the amount of ruby mesonium injected into it caused a detonation of the sample vial, which nearly decapitated your host."
[DESTRUCTION OF ENTITIES DESIGATED «KIMFOMBEKE» BY WARRIORS OF YIZIBA THEORETICALLY NOT POSSIBLE USING SAMPLES OF TECHNOLOGY KNOWN TO HOST, SAGE WARRIOR «DATURIE»,] came the response from the being bound to Chris' very soul. [HOWEVER, AS OTHER ENTITIES ARE NOW AWARE OF THE DESTRUCTION OF BOTH ENTITY «THINKER» AND ENTITY «WARRIOR», MANY ARE SHIFTING INTO THE MULTIVERSE OF «EARTH BET» TO OBTAIN LOST DATA FOR THEIR OWN USE. SUCH CANNOT BE ALLOWED AS NO SHARD FROM THOSE ENTITIES WAS EMPLOYED IN CYCLE INITIATED BY «THINKER» AND «WARRIOR». GIVEN THAT SHARD «QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR» WAS SHIFTED INTO MULTIVERSE OF YIZIBA BY GUARDIAN «VLASTELÍN RJAZÁNI», MY PROGRAMMING PROMPTED ME TO FOLLOW. TO ENSURE NO OTHER ENTITY MAY ABSCOND WITH MY DATA, I AM MAKING CHRIS DESIGN A CORROSIVE MATERIAL WITH RUBY-PATTERN MESONIUM AS A PROPELLANT TO DISINTEGRATE SHARDS.] A touch of contriteness then entered the shard's voice as it/he added, [WHEN I PERSUADED CHRIS TO CREATE THE PROTOTYPE CORROSIVE COMPOUND, I MISCALCULATED THE LEVELS OF RUBY-PATTERN MESONIUM INJECTED INTO THE MIXTURE. I DO APOLOGIZE FOR SUCH A MISTAKE CAUSING YOU HARM, CHRIS.]
"Uh…yeah!" Chris breathed out, shaking his head.
"Oh, I get it now!" came a voice from next to Saeru Hinako. Naturally, since Taylor Hebert had called for this meeting of active hyper-geniuses to analyze what had befallen Chris Cullen, the Spirit of Innocence came along as well; even if she should be going to kindergarten, the cosmic-level empath had standing special permission from the Monbukagaku-shō to skip classes in case of emergencies like this. "It's a security block those things put on their shards to prevent data theft!"
People focused on Hatoyama Rinrin, a pre-teen girl with shaggy brown hair cut short at the chin level and expressive royal blue eyes. On meeting the Technological Sorceress of the East, Kamluo ("Schmiede") — who was Gifted via finding a stray crystal bearing her past-selves' memories and power when she was walking through a park in Ōsaka just before fall term began for her the September just past — Taylor was struck by the levels of similarity between the granddaughter of one of Earth's wisest artificial intelligence researchers and the young Niigata-jin who helped pull her out of the Dark Gaol weeks ago.
"Why, then?" Suzumiya Haruhi wondered from across the table. Given the impact the Entities could unleash, the presence of the Mistress of Time and Space, R'buttuo (the "Weaver"), from Nishinomiya near Kōbe was understandable.
Hums echoed from around the table. "We know through previous contacts with those things that — save for the more peaceful ones such as Abaddon — most kimfombeke are driven to acquire large levels of energy to effectively reproduce." As Taylor's jaw dropped as she looked on her host, Elizabeth gave her an apologetic look. "You didn't learn that back home?"
"No! I thought they were just trying to learn how to avoid the heat death of Existence," the insect mistress declared.
The lawyer's daughter from Sweet Valley shook her head. "No, once they finally drain out their target planets in a specific multiverse, they create a situation where multiple versions of said world would come together at one point in space-time to destroy what was left. Such would destroy them of course, allowing fragments of their bodies to scatter elsewhere in that multiverse to seek out new targets, each of those fragments evolving into new kimfombeke." Seeing the Mistress of the Mindless Legions gape in horror at that revelation, the Wise Genius gave her a wry smile. "Even with all the losses your multiverse suffered in Gold Morning, Taylor, it could have been loads worse if BOTH Eden and Zion were alive at the time."
"Damn…!" Victoria Dallon breathed out.
People hummed as they considered that before Isaac shook his head. "The All-Death."
Eyes locked on the Wise Lone Sage. "Uh…ain't that going a little FAR?!" Aisha Laborn wondered before she pointed at Taylor. "Tay-Tay's past-self teamed with the past-selves of the Quadrumvirate to collapse a whole DIMENSION on those Species 8572 rejects they fought a saga ago! What do we got to do this time?! Dunk these things into a supernova?!"
[A POTENTIAL SOLUTION, AISHA.]
Eyes locked on the Northern Singularity of Attention. "How do you identify yourself, Gospozhá?" Elizabeth's counterpart from Výborg near Sankt-Peterbúrg, Tat'jána Andréevna Chapáeva — she was the Passionate Historian of the Circle of Thought, Kikhodato (the "Philosopher"); this made her the Californian's equal knowledge-wise — demanded from their host's left.
[I AM DESIGNATED «SAFEGUARD», SAGE WARRIOR «KIKHODATO»,] came the response — which sounded to Taylor like a more mature version of Aisha despite the echoing in that voice — from somewhere near the perception-warper's head. [IN A PREVIOUS CYCLE, ENTITY «WARRIOR» WAS GESTATED WHEN PROGENITOR WAS FORCED BY A GUARDIAN FROM THIS MULTIVERSE INTO THE CORONA OF A SPECTRAL CLASS B0.5I STAR, WHICH WAS THEN MADE TO DETONATE BY HAVING ITS INTERNAL HYDROGEN SUPPLY DEPLEATED.]
Sensing what the entity inside her mind — and yes, inside the metaphysical pocket where the core of her own Gift was stored — had witnessed, Aisha breathed out. "Damn! That's nightmare fuel, alright! Kudos to who did that, but still…!"
Missy Byron's hand squeezed her shoulder. "How bad?" the Living Wormhole gently asked.
Her classmate from Brockton Middle School trilled. "Whole freaking CUBIC PARSEC of space was wiped out when that happened, Missy," Aisha said before gazing at Elizabeth. "How many kids do those things normally have?"
"A maximum of a hundred was observed a couple of times," the Wise Genius quietly answered.
"Well, Zion or Scion or whatever the fuck it called itself was one of FOUR to survive what Safeguard saw!"
"Bózhe moj!" Tánja noisily exhaled.
"As Ayumu would say it, that would DEFINITELY be a 'blah' day for a lot of people!" Haruhi commented.
"Black holes could help out, too," Rinrin then proposed, holding up a finger in emphasis. "Have Ayumu-chan, Haruhi-chan or Annie-chan teleport them straight into Sagittarius A-Star at the very centre of the galaxy. Even if they're phasing their bodies between dimensions, exposing one part of them to THAT high level of gravity would rip them apart."
"How would that affect the parts of them not in that dimension?" one of the other hyper-geniuses in the Boosters, senior student Peter DeHaven — he was the Contemplative Genius of the East, Lutokikemem ("Pensatore") — then asked before gazing on Isaac; since the two had met when the latter started training the Camelot Wondercolts, they got together on several occasions to brainstorm on a ton of things. "Would it create wormholes to drag in the other elements of those creatures in?"
"It'll have to be modelled first," the Wise Lone Sage advised, leaning his chin on his clasped hands. "And if these things are moving to take over the 'work site' Eden and Zion effectively 'abandoned' when they were destroyed, then Earth Gimel and the other Earths who have taken in survivors from Earth Bet after Gold Morning are right in the fight scene zone's main stage."
"Taylor's other self will have to be warned," Amelia Lavere then spoke up. "The Rittmeister as well."
People nodded. Gazing at her former PHO trolling rival, the Collapsar of Knowledge perked. "Wait! Isaac, you've seen potential future situations post-Gold Morning in that multiverse, haven't you?" she asked. At the New Yorker's nod, the Californian then asked, "Is there any immediate threat now that Yi-Taylor could take out right away?"
The blond hyper-genius from the Queens hummed before he hissed. "The Simurgh. I remember seeing one future where that thing got it into its head to evolve itself into a new Entity in its own right."
That made the leader of the Undersiders pale. "Oh, shit! All those Simurgh bombs still around…!"
****
Brockton Bay, the headquarters of the Nagasaki Shipping Company, 9:03 PM EST…
Walking into the inner sanctum of the Red Dragon Society, the young shatei who had departed from the Bay two weeks before to seek out the Path of the Dragon could only nod in appreciation as he scanned his surroundings with eyes which had been opened quite forcefully by the Yakuza's most famous fighter. A man who himself was a Gifted Yizibajohei of all things; thanks in part to one Isaac Thomas of Queens in New York City, Kiryū Kazuma had been empowered as the Grand Poobah of the Golden Springs, Yasyo'o ("Tekiya"), a couple years ago. And while becoming one of the Children of the Forge had crossed his mind on several occasions when he came to fully appreciate what his current oyabun's old friend could bring to the table — indeed, the training opportunities in OTHER MULTIVERSES alone was quite the experience; such helped him cram in several YEARS' worth of hard work in the space of a fortnight — Norinaga Haruto had elected to remain "normal" in the long term.
Given what could happen if the man he knew he would face one of these days either triggered or was Gifted himself…!
No.
Much that he was a Yakuza street fighter, Haruto had seen what happened when cape fights escalated in the Bay.
He could not face his ancestors after he died with the blood of HUNDREDS of innocent bystanders on his hands…
"Hey, Haruto! 'Bout time you got back here!"
Hearing that cheerful voice, Haruto exchanged polite bows with Jennifer Tanaka before he allowed the yonsei explosives tinker to embrace him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Konban wa, Yumi-chan," he said as he squeezed her hands in greetings before she looped her arm around his to escort him in. "Hai, it's time to start putting Kiryū-san's training to use."
"You're gonna get some pretty soon, Haruto," the upstate New Yorker also known as Bakuda quietly warned…
Taking that in, he nodded in understanding as they stepped into the main reception room…which could double as a martial arts dōjō for those who wished to practice esoteric training away from potentially prying enemy eyes. And sure enough, a group of recognizable wakanaka and shatei were present, most from Tatsuhito Kenta's immediate group of subordinates who were based at Nagasaki Shipping. Not to mention other kobun he didn't recognize; no doubt, they were called in from parts of the Akatatsu-kai all over central New England, including the Boston and Portsmouth groups. Yes, I'm going to get some, he mused.
One of the wakanaka he had worked with personally since he came to America years before, Maeda Akira, came up to him, holding out his hand for the other man to take. "Welcome back home, Aniki," the native of Ōsaka politely declared.
Haruto nodded. "It's good to see you, Akira-kun," he politely returned as he gave Akira's hand a firm grip.
With that icebreaker done, others came up to greet the just-returned shatei before they moved to form a semi-circle around him at about three metres' distance. Noting this, Haruto chuckled as he unbuttoned his jacket, pulling it off before handing such over to Jennifer. "Well, if you're going to punch me, why are you just STANDING there?" he then challenged.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Minna, I can sense that you're all eager to test out Kiryū-kachō's latest student," the native of Matsusaka on the Kii Peninsula south-southwest of Nagoya calmly stated. "So, please! Let's get the party started! Yumi-chan, care to call the dance?"
Jennifer cackled. "With pleasure, Aniki!"
Laughter filled the room as people braced themselves…
****
Another part of the Nagasaki Shipping Company's headquarters complex, that moment…
"Came as soon as I could…! Oh, hell! What happened?!"
As Amelia Lavere moved immediately to heal the visible wounds on Rachel Lindt's body, a panting Tōrugawa Momotaru gave the biokinetic healer a wan smile; the clone-teleporter Mover known more commonly as Oni Lee was being tended to by a couple Avalonian-Taiwanese nursing assistants that the Flesh-Twister had met and worked with since her trigger even two years ago. "Apologies for…forcing you to work so late, Sensei," the native of Carson City in Nevada — the effective number two in the hierarchy of the Red Dragon Society was a sansei himself, his late grandfather Michio having endured the effective concentration camps forced on Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbour at the order of Franklin D. Roosevelt; it was from there that the younger man had gained his considerable anti-establishment attitudes that worked so well with his current gang — panted before wincing as one of the assistants helped bind the large slash wound on his left shoulder. "Rachel-chan here was taking…her dogs out for a walk when…that shirakami-nushi Hookwolf ambushed her…with several of his friends…including Alabaster!"
The other Undersiders took a second to scan the reception room which was used by the Red Dragons' parahuman contingent whenever they needed to be treated for wounds. Rachel's three oldest pets Brutus, Angelica and Judas were relaxing nearby as they enjoyed a late meal for their efforts, the remnants of their fighting shells which were created by the canine manipulator's Striker/projectile Changer abilities to render them the size of family automobiles being swept away by a couple more nursing assistants to see such dead flesh incinerated before such began to rot. Fortunately for them, Amelia had been happy to cure all three of them — and the others now resident at Rachel's unofficial kennel/puppy farm in the Trainyards section of town — of any long-term illnesses such as the crippling wounds Angelica took at the hands of Geoff "Fog" Schmitt just before Christmas.
Seeing how banged up both her sister's new friend and the second-in-command of the Red Dragons were, Victoria Dallon shook her head, her fists clenching. "Going out for a walk," she coldly declared before heading out of the room.
"No death scenes, Vicky," Taylor Hebert advised.
The Fighting Belle of Victory stopped. "Depends on them," she snidely declared before leaving.
The Mistress of the Mindless Legions churlishly nodded before exchanging looks with the Collapsar of Knowledge as Amelia finished with the near-feral dog lover known publicly as Hellhound — she preferred "Bitch" as her fighting name, not caring how offensive it sounded to some people's ears — then moved to help the clone-teleporter who had come to her aid. "Arigatō, Momotaru-san," she breathed out as she placed her hands on the exposed parts of his neck, her powers reaching into his body.
The older man moaned. "Ever since you moved in with Rachel-chan, Sensei…a lot of the boys and their children have gone to her…to obtain new pets," he explained, earning him a nod from the biokinetic healer. Glad to feel new strength in his body, he then blinked as he sensed probes of her abilities reach into his skull. "Ah, yes…!" he hissed out. "Dōmo…!"
"Amy?" Taylor asked.
Amelia smiled at her. "When you told me Momotaru-san's other self had been killed by the Slaughterhouse Nine, I gave him a free examination when he escorted a couple kobun over to the kennel. His shard's fully shifted into this multiverse; I think it's eager for the chance to experience a Gifting to stay as far away from the kimfombeke as possible."
Momotaru nodded. "Hai, I saw…!" He then hissed as Amelia's power reset his left collar bone. "…I saw what that mad version of Riley Davis-chan did to the other me! Gods!" he spat out. "Praise the Fates for Raeburn-shihan and her friends in the War Hawks for intervening like they did in 2007 that saw those monsters put to the sword! If our Riley-chan was changed…!"
"Yeah, I doubt General Raeburn would like to kill a KID even if she has quite the body count from all the Übermenschen she killed back in World War Two," Lisa Wilbourn breathed out as she took a seat next to the moaning Rachel. "Are you okay?"
The native of Fall River near the border with Rhode Island hissed before blinking as Angelica immediately trotted over to leap into her lap and lick her face. "Yeah, I'm okay, Lise!" she admitted as she stroked the cute terrier's fur while her other two "alpha dogs" came over to join them. "Didn't expect those dorks to stray so far out of their territory."
"Where was the ambush, Sensei?" Missy Byron asked.
Momotaru hummed. "Three blocks from Winslow High School on Harbour Street."
Taylor blinked. "Given how much all the gangs love to recruit from that place, the area's seen as 'neutral', not claimed by any of the gangs," she noted before looking again at Lisa. "Coil, maybe? A strike to see Amy isolated?"
The native of Santa Clara near San Francisco hummed as she considered that. "Possibility. No doubt, he's pissed at the fact that he missed out on snatching Omen. Having someone with Amy's skills under his control…"
Amelia snorted. "Well, if he's that hell-bent on KILLING HIMSELF…!"
Rueful chuckles filled the room…
****
Next to the reception room/dōjō, fifteen minutes later…
"Excellent," the man known now as Lung purred on seeing the devastation beyond the one-way mirror.
Having placed himself in a private observation room to watch over the "reception" set up by his kobun to test Norinaga Haruto, the native of Fukuoka could only smile as he saw a reflection of his old friend's personal fighting style in the Mie-jin's every move to disable his fellow shatei and kobun. Using a mixture of haymaker punches on the sides of the target's heads to stun them, gut punches to deprive them of hostages, and hand blows on the wrists to disarm those who had brought hanbō and shinai into the fight, Haruto had been able to take down about twenty of the thirty-four people involved in the "reception" within ten minutes. Those who had held themselves back from the more eager kobun when Jennifer Tanaka had declared the fight open did so to gauge how good the man had become under Kiryū Kazuma's tutelage, a wise thing to do when operating in a city like Brockton Bay, when even normal-looking people could trigger into becoming dangerous parahumans with the right circumstances. And while he would gladly welcome such people into the Red Dragons were they of the right ethnicity to be accepted by their peers, Tatsuhito Kenta often had to send such new blood to friends and allies as soon as possible to prevent the other gangs from targeting them directly…or worse, target their families to deprive Kenta's forces of needed strength.
Given how many capes fought under the banner of the Empire Eighty-Eight under the command of the metal manipulator known publicly as Kaiser — to say anything of the metahuman wing of the Gold Moon Society, under command of a North Korean expat fire manipulator who took the street name Onŭli in tribute of a legendary native of Cheju Island who befriended a dragon on a quest to seek her parents; when he heard the names of the woman's fellow fighters, Kenta had to wonder what the idiots who sent them from P'yŏng'yang had been thinking when they chose such names — that he only had himself, Jennifer and…
"Kenta-san…"
Perking, the fire manipulating transformer looked over…before scowling on seeing his second-in-command walk in with his street fighting uniform in tatters. "What happened, Momotaru-kun?!" he demanded, points on his skin glowing.
"He saved me from Hookwolf and Alabaster in neutral territory close to Winslow, Kenta."
Kenta relaxed himself as Judas trotted in, heralding the arrival of Rachel Lindt. "You were attacked while walking your dogs, Rachel-chan?" the Fukuoka-jin demanded as he allowed the golden retriever who was the first dog adopted by the native of Fall River after she moved into Brockton Bay to hop in his lap after he took his seat. "I assume Amelia-sensei is here…"
"Yeah," Rachel mused as she glanced through the mirror at the scene inside the reception hall. "Good…"
"What's going on?" came the question from her new loft-mate as Amelia Lavere walked in, she followed by the other Undersiders. A quick glance in the direction of where Rachel was gazing, the healer then moaned. "Oyabun — will all respect for all you've done here — do you PURPOSEFULLY try to make more work for me doing this sort of thing?!"
"He's pulling his strikes, Amy. Relax."
Amelia looked over as Lisa Wilbourn moved to stand beside the canine manipulator who was seen by many of the families who had members in the Red Dragons as an honorary member of the whole group. "Still…"
"This is a necessary test, Sensei," Kenta reassured the Flesh-Twister. "He spent two weeks under my friend Kazuma's tutelage…as measured in this universe," he then added with a wry smile.
Amelia sighed as she turned to watch while Haruto got himself into a mixed shinai/hanbō duel with Maeda Akira and another kobun who often worked with the would-be "dragon of the Bay", Yoshida Mitsuo. While Taylor Hebert, Missy Byron and Aisha Laborn also came close to the screen to gaze upon the "reception", the Dragon of Kyūshū relaxed in his chair, absently petting a relaxed Judas. Not bad, Haruto-kun, he mused to himself as Haruto easily disarmed Akira before deflecting a flung hanbō from another kobun, then moved to concentrate on Mitsuo. Looks like Kazuma-kun at least taught you the styles he used during that incident with Gōda Ryūji-san a few years ago. But I know he taught you MORE! Show us all what you can really do…!
He perked as the Mistress of the Mindless Legions gave him a knowing look…
****
West of City Hall, 9:37 PM EST…
"So far, so quiet…"
Hearing that from his wife, Ethan Hudson — naturally in his crimson uniform as the local Protectorate's resident wit, Assault — nodded as he scanned the somewhat quiet streets spread out west from the main administrative centre of the city of Brockton Bay. Beyond a certain extent from City Hall to the west and south was territory, the husband-and-wife team well understood, were neighbourhoods of the old port city effectively under the control of the Empire Eighty-Eight. In almost all those houses the kinetic manipulator and his self-infusing energy manipulating wife were gazing upon, not a single person who was not WASP-pure white American lived. The black community of Brockton Bay lived in the "borderland" southeast of City Hall, such denoting the effective boundary between territories controlled by the Empire and those shielded by the Red Dragon Society; most other visible minorities clung to another "borderland" to the northwest of the city's main administrative base, that denoting the boundaries between the local neo-Nazis and the pro-North Korean Orientals in charge of the Gold Moon Society.
Given the lack of fighting numbers between the Protectorate, the Wards (when they were used) and what was now left of New Wave, the "good guys" held only a five-square mile block of territory centred on downtown reaching northeast to the Boardwalk on the seashore. And while the dockworkers under Danny Hebert's overall charge held tight to the territories hugging the north end of the bay where the Essex River emptied into, anyplace beyond that reaching landward from the Boat Graveyard into the Trainyards part of town was under the effective total control of the Archer's Bridge Merchants. Then one added all the minor gangs and individual players, most of which never followed Ṣabāḥ al-Khālid's choice of remaining neutral in cape affairs…!
"Wonder when the Undersiders are going to start patrolling," Jamie Hudson quietly noted. "They've been very quiet…"
"Skitter's not an idiot, Puppy," Ethan quietly noted as he crossed his arms, looking quite serious; even if he was as much a jokester as Dennis "Clockblocker" Wells often was, the man who had once been a villain named Madcap could get VERY intense when the moment called for it. "Yeah, getting Gifted earns the giftee a whole shit-ton of knowledge when it comes to using those powers and the memories of making use of them on a planet that makes Darwin's theories seem hollow, but I doubt the past-selves of our insect queen and the others of her crew worked together back on Yiziba. She wants to win…huh?!"
The woman also known as Battery perked before she focused where her husband was gazing…
…then both winced as a loud KK-KRANG! echoed through the night from close to a bar some distance from the edge of the Empire's claimed territory five blocks from their current position, that noise accompanying a geyser of smoke and fire erupting through the front windows of said establishment. Seeing that, Ethan sighed before tapping his mask's communication unit as Jamie drew in energy to empower her legs to make a good leap over to the scene. "Console, Assault with Battery!" he called out. "Explosion at Patriot's Corner on Villeneuve Street, unknown source. We're heading over to check it out."
"Gotcha, Assault," Sophia Hess' voice echoed from the main console room near the very core of the Rig offshore. "Getting Miss M. up right now, dude. Should have her and Armsy over to knock the skinheads down quick!"
"Appreciated, Stalker…"
"Oh, my God!"
Ethan gazed at his wife, then seeing her gaping look, gazed back towards said bar…
…then he blinked on seeing a VERY familiar lupine-like humanoid mass of silvery metal blades be pitched through the shattered windows, said man now followed by a woman in an equally familiar black hooded cloak. "Console, Assault with Battery, update; One of the Undersiders is currently engaging Hookwolf at Patriot's Corner. Can't tell who…"
"If it's that dumbass Stabbypuppy, that's gotta be Glory Girl beating him down," the shadow-manipulator warned.
The kinetic manipulator blinked. "Wait! Glory Girl got GIFTED?!"
"Yeah! Didn't you see Photon Mom tell her and Panacea — I mean Shaper now — to get it done after we found out all the shit about what Skitter went through when she, Vista and Imp did the deed?!"
A moan escaped him. "Right…!"
****
Patriot's Corner on Villeneuve Street, that moment…
"FUCKING RACE TRAITOR BITCH! DIE!"
Victoria Dallon smirked as the man known as Hookwolf — her new team leader knew this idiot's real name, but thanks to that "unwritten rules" nonsense she had been forced to acknowledge back on Earth Bet, wouldn't clue her current subordinates about same — reared up, then lunged directly at her, his big arms moving into a shredding embrace attack…
…just as another of the Empire's infamous capes, the pale regenerator known as Alabaster, jumped through the shattered windows, he then aiming a modern replica of the infamous MG42 "Hitlersäge" general purpose machine gun at her back.
Instantly, a fusillade of 7.62-millimetre NATO standard armour piercing rounds lanced out at over a thousand rounds a minute, such warheads slamming into the reinforced mesonium-augmented ice spider silk of the cloak before deforming into squishy flat bits of deformed metal just as his Charger/Brute friend enveloped their target in a very thick bush of metallic spikes.
Cackling, the man born Brad Meadows pulled his arms back, expecting to see a shredded blonde bimbo…
"That didn't even tickle."
…before he gaped behind his spiky mask to see that not a THING had been messed up on Victoria Dallon's body. As the white-skinned Arnold Schultz gargled on seeing that his attempt at overwhelming the woman's known forcefield defence had failed abysmally — while people believed the heavy hitter of New Wave was akin to the powerhouse of the Quadrumvirate known publicly as Alexandria, the capes of the Empire knew that all that was needed to put the girl down was successive overwhelming kinetic attacks — the Fighting Belle of Victory calmly pulled her hands up to crack her knuckles, an icy smile crossing her face.
"My turn, Stabbypuppy," she calmly declared…
SS-SHOOM!
…then in a black-and-dark green blur, the mid/upper-range FISS-type snared the Empire's resident "munderblender" with a single hand before sending him on a supersonic shotput-like throw towards the Boat Graveyard! As onlookers — including some of the people who had accompanied Brad and Arnold on their mission earlier to permanently deal with Rachel Lindt, some of them welding various types of submachine guns — all goggled at the fact that "Collateral Damage Barbie" had become even MORE powerful, Victoria lunged back, her hand chopping down to shatter Arnold's machine gun at the front end of the feed cover, that blow ALSO nearly ripping off his hands from shock damage! Before he could cry out, Victoria snared him by the throat, then spiralled back a couple meters before putting herself into a merry-go-round spin. "REGENERATE FROM THIS, ASSHOLE!" she shrieked as she and he became a blinding blur for a moment…
…then the regenerating Brute/Breaker/Thinker was sent flying into the evening sky in his friend's wake!
****
The Nagasaki Shipping Company, that moment…
The crowd of shatei and other kobun who had been assembled to "greet" Norinaga Haruto either gaped in disbelief or shrieked with howling laughter on seeing the two comet-like jets of human refuse being pitched into the air on a ballistic arc from west of downtown right for the largest hulk in the Boat Graveyard. Watching this through her special HUD-equipped goggles, the Mistress of the Mindless Legions could only shake her head; said spectacles made by the Wise Lone Sage came with a special magnification function to allow her to directly focus on a target far away. Noting what just happened to the two idiots that tried to kill Rachel Lindt earlier in the evening, she then exchanged looks with Lisa Wilbourn. "They'll survive."
"People haven't commented on PHO about Vicky being Gifted," the Collapsar of Knowledge wryly noted.
Taylor Hebert snorted. "They will now," the insect mistress breathed out before looking over at the "guest of honour" this evening. "Welcome back to the Bay, Haruto-san. By the looks of it, Kazuma-san taught you a lot."
The Mie-jin blushed. "He did indeed, Hebert-kachō," he affirmed with a polite bow of his head before shrugging off his jacket.
Smirking as she sensed what was about to happen, Missy Byron warped herself over to take said jacket from him, earning the Living Wormhole a great smile. "Indeed, Kazuma-kun did teach you quite a lot, Haruto-kun," Tatsuhito Kenta breathed out as he shrugged off his own jacket, said article of clothing being retrieved by a grinning Jennifer Tanaka. "Kazuma-kun also told me that you finally received your irezumi. Much that I acknowledge his judgement, I want to see if you've truly earned it."
A grim nod answered him. "I understand, Oyabun."
A dramatic pause fell over the scene…
…then with a flourish, Kenta threw off his button shirt, revealing a looping red Oriental dragon on his back, such intertwined in a small grove filled with nine sayuri flower blooms to mark his home island of Kyūshū (which literally meant "nine provinces"). Seeing that, Haruto did the same, showing he bore a blue sea dragon on his back, that beast intertwined within a forest of golden suisen flowers. Noting that thanks to the reflective mirrors that lined the whole room, the Dragon of Kyūshū nodded in approval. "You have chosen to walk the Path of the Dragon, Haruto-kun," he called out as the people standing between himself and his subordinate moved to clear space for the bout to come. "Why does your path differ from that of your sworn enemy?"
"I walk the path of a guardian dragon, Oyabun," the Mie-jin answered as he braced himself. "Unlike Hikage-san, who obviously sees himself as a dragon who destroys, not creates! As I vowed, he will be stopped!"
A grim nod answered him. "Show me."
People remained still…
…then the two warriors charged at each other, their fists colliding!
To Be Continued…
****
WRITER'S NOTES
Parts of this chapter were initially written by Dr. Tempo. A big nod of thanks to him, of course.
Translation list and source language (all Japanese unless noted): Sansei — Literally "third-generation", these are the grandchildren of native Japanese immigrants to another nation; Yakitori — Literally "grilled bird", chicken strips cooked on a skewer; Monbukagaku-shō — Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; (name)-jin — Demonym for a person native to a specific prefecture of Japan; Gospozhá — Miss; Bózhe moj — God help me (both Russian); Yonsei — Literally "fourth generation", the great-grandchildren of native Japanese immigrants to another nation; Wakanaka — Literally "young heir", these are the adopted children of a Yakuza oyabun ("foster father") in a particular clan; Shatei — Literally "younger brother of the house", a general term for underlings in a Yakuza clan below the oyabun; Kobun — Literally "foster brother", a catch-all term for all members of a Yakuza clan; Akatatsu-kai — Red Dragon Society; Aniki — Literally "noble elder brother", a somewhat informal way of addressing one's older sibling; Shirakami-nushi — Shortform (using alternate kanji readings) of Hakujin-shijō Shugi (written of in kanji as 白人至上主義, translating to "white supremacy"; Shihan — Martial arts school master instructor/grandmaster; Übermenschen — Overman/superman (German); Hanbō — Literally "half-staff", this is a wooden staff of about 90 centimetres in length used as a close-range mêlée striking/grappling weapon; Shinai — Literally "bamboo sword", this is a training weapon used in bladed martial arts such as kendō to practice where to land strikes; Hitlersäge — Hitler's saw (German); Kachō — Literally "section leader", this is a title often used in business to indicate a company's department manager…and is used here by Norinaga Haruto and his peers in the Red Dragon Society to mark that Taylor Hebert (Skitter) is the boss of ONE battle team within the overall Great Show of Life; Irezumi — Literally "inserting ink", this is the common term used for all Japanese-style tattoos, including those used by members of the Yakuza; Sayuri — Literally "small lily", this flower marks a desire for vengeance in hanakotoba (Japanese flower language); Suisen — Literally "water sage", this is the Japanese name for the daffodil, such marking a desire for respect in hanakotoba.
