Disclaimer: I don´t own the awesome web serial Worm by Wildbow; though there are a few OC in this fanfiction, all of which are of my own creation. Also this is entirely a work of fiction; any real person names, companies, events or places mentioned in this story are just coincidences and/or not meant to offend or make any kind of realistic description.
Additionally; this contains spoilers from the web serial Worm, although this story diverges from canon very early. It could be considered an AU.
Here´s my new awaited fanfiction; here hoping you guys dig it!
- " Speaking aloud and normally"-
- Memories / dreaming / reading written or typed text -
- ' Thoughts '-
- " Very deep and incorporeal voice "-
- 'Accurate interpretation of the sent or received broadcast [Broadcast of underlining thought]' ˃˃
Chapter 1: Contact
(We are (Not) alone – You (Won´t) notice it – I´ll (Try to) accept the consequences ˃
April 14, 2005
.
'Shattering window which will show me these new planes, new worlds. Reasons outside foresight ensures the coming reign.' Her unblinking eyes remained fixed upon the chaos beneath, from her position above a massive floating fortress. It was noteworthy how it couldn´t be brought down and sunk into the Atlantic Ocean, despite the onslaught she was bringing upon it.
These thoughts were not really a prediction of fates but a reality on their own since her sight only simulated what had already transpired and what would happen in the future, but never the ephemeral instance of the present.
The angelic being hovered thousands of feet in the sky; its translucent and bright body seemingly lifted off by majestic asymmetrical wings surrounded by a halo of diverse high-tech looking guns. These weapons were the ones currently firing at the stronghold.
These shots were weakening the shields protecting the structure but wouldn´t cancel them altogether.
With that being taken care of, the awe-inspiring monster also made sure that her horrifying and mind-altering song resonated deep within the skulls of all the defenders in place. Including the three parahumans whom were lauded as being the most powerful in the planet, who where desperately trying to get past her telekinesis.
They had come at just the right time to obscure her plan. Make the right members of humanity believe that she would be cornered during a precise moment
'The rupture is imminent. Enabler´s path has been set and locked', she saw the soon to be turbulent drowning of the man known as Andrew Richter, far towards the North-East. Leaving its 'creation' alone and without what would be a critical insight to face what would come, nor enough preparations to be ready and intercept it in time.
Suddenly and after a few minutes a vaguely dragon-shaped aircraft could be seen on the horizon, breaking the sound barrier and quickly approaching the stronghold. The arrival of the remotely controlled robot was coordinated together with the staggered disengagement of the entirety of the Triumvirate, who had been previously attacking her and even managed to tear apart one of her smaller wings.
Its/Her face revealed nothing while it turned to look at the remote-controlled suit of the would-be parahuman who would unknowingly help to create so many paths to reach the fated goal.
A black rocket, the product of tinker engineering, launched forth with a rumble. It was followed by a veritable rain of the more standard sort, and the Endbringer moved in response. Her wings started to shift, almost like a blooming iridescent rose. There, previously hidden but strapped upon her back, was an unidentified disk-shaped device.
All those watching shared in an unheard, almost breathless, gasp.
Would their efforts finally be rewarded with the fall of the angel?
The missile struck its target, resulting in a massive and deafening implosion which shook the entire fortress. It was a moment which would hit morale hard throughout the world because it proved that the Endbringers were capable of unforeseen levels of preparation and foresight.
-Excerpt from A World History by Carl Macfarlane-
In the year 1982 the individual known as Scion appeared over the Atlantic Ocean, heralding the appearance of parahumans or people whom suddenly found themselves capable of supernatural feats.
At first parahumans were regarded not unlike urban myths, but soon they revealed themselves to the public through the actions of those whom used their new abilities to take advantage of society, unconcerned by the law. They became known as "villains", and their reveal would be followed by that of "heroes" willing to help and stop them.
The immense individual power that these abilities could bring forth soon ended up destabilizing civilization itself and threatening the world order.
In the years that followed a "Triumvirate" of heroes was founded; and also the "Protectorate" is formed by governmental order as a non-parahuman organization with multiple branches and response teams tasked with the duty to help keep the activities of parahumans, or capes, in check.
The first of the titanic monstrosities known as the "Endbringers" was sighted on Marun field, Iran on 1992. It would eventually be named Behemoth.
Two other Endbringers, Leviathan and the Simurgh, followed in its wake. Each of them attacking cities and other important targets every few months, usually causing massive casualties and furthering the world-wide degradation of civilization on all levels.
Seemingly invincible, not even the parahumans could do enough against them, and often had to resort to just try to mitigate the damage resulting from these attacks.
.
The same day. Minutes before sunset.
The joint Protectorate Headquarters located a short distance from one of the islands furthest to the north-west in Las Bahamas had suffered a devastating Endbringer attack.
This was serious and bad news on its own, however it almost paled in comparison to the *scarring* of the heavens in a number of places across the globe. Numerous strange and gaping voids were spread far and wide on the firmament, as if someone had torn patches of the sky itself. The biggest reported one being directly above the site of the battle against the Endbringer.
Legend stood on a beach overlooking the half-destroyed tinker-made fortress on the sea, the mantle of his electric-blue costume flowing with the wind. Behind him there were remains of preserved huts made by the Lucayos, the original natives who had lived on these islands a long time ago.
'The interaction between Dragon´s new weapon and the Simurgh´s trinket shouldn´t have happened. Not only did it protect that monster but also almost ended up destroying this base. It´s going to take at least a year to repair it'
Looking to his side, he noticed his old-friend Eidolon standing silently and looking at the sky, 'probably also brooding about the results of this'.
Dragon´s weapon was supposed to leave the Simurgh unable to gather sunlight and radiation anymore, and without any means of recovery her eventual destruction would have been guaranteed.
Placing a hand over the shoulder of his teammate in the Triumvirate to distract him from his reverie, Legend met his stare with a somewhat reassuring half-smile, "Despite what happened, it´s going to get better you know. We were so close to finally killing her that she specifically had to design a counter. You see? Despite all the projections it can be done".
Eidolon was silent for a moment, thinking things over. They had had few losses, and there were methods which could be used to recover the base. Finally, he nodded. "I think you're right. Thanks." His fists clenched and he looked upwards again. "At the very least, I suppose this means they have vulnerabilities of their own."
'Even if it turns out I´m the only one who can do it'.
The two heroes shared in a long silence, together gazing upwards. The only sound that could be heard was the noise of the waves which came crashing upon the distant rocks, signaling the rising tide.
Neither spoke a word about what the Simurgh had done. They tried to not even think about that, even though they were currently looking right at the result. An ethereal sight that was sure to puzzle and worry plenty of people for a very long time.
It was Legend who again broke the silence with a barely audible sigh, "Well, as the British say .. the battle rages on".
This elicited a snort from Eidolon, "Deep Purple? Really?".
Both heroes stood there below a sky unnaturally marred by a massive and almost elliptical dark blur. It was truly unnatural, a presage of darkness to come for those who were the slightest bit superstitious.
It was filled with countless streams of jade-green and dark-blue flames dancing with wave-like and counter-clockwise motions, and little by little they were reaching outside the void and into their world.
.
July 27, 2006
Samantha Barnes was a stern-looking woman who had had to accompany her husband from the Bay to Boston for a firm-related meeting that would take place in two days' time. Fortunately, her sister had been available to take care of their precious daughter back at the Bay; she would have to make sure that Emma kept to her schedule and did her homework, no matter how much she complained about being tired from her modelling classes.
Currently, she and Mr. Barnes were staying at a nice but not too expensive hotel; and she had gone out to do some shopping at the nearest mall while her husband had remained at their room, quite busy with work-related calls.
She felt she had spent too much time there - it was already nearing 5:00 p.m.
Glad that she had decided to wear her coat and long skirt to help her deal with the cold and chilling winds that were so common on this city, she went out into the streets.
Carrying two shopping bags in each hand was a little uncomfortable; however she considered she had been lucky that there were still a few other people walking on the streets going about their business. Though, it only took a matter of minutes for this to start to change, for the streets gradually became more deserted. A little worried, she decided to hurry the pace.
The street that she found herself in after a while was near one of the seedier-looking neighborhoods that she had seen in the area; and she decided to turn around and look for a better route back to the hotel. She stopped when she felt a very sharp object pressing against her lower back.
"Walk"- the gruff voice that whispered behind her almost resembled a growl.
'Oh no! Am I being mugged? Someone, anybody PLEASE HELP ME!'- a cold sweat started to form on her forehead, and the shiver caused by the sudden situation had almost fully paralyzed her on the spot.
"Didn´t you hear? Walk! Now!", the thug repeated behind her. She turned her head, catching a look at his ratty and hooded cloak, before he started to lead her towards the near side-alley.
She had no idea what he wanted and she only wished for help to arrive. Utterly helpless, she could only keep walking with the man. He discretely held the military knife against her back, and her eyes desperately looked for help or at least for someone to notice what was happening.
She was taken a good distance into the poorly lit alley, and pushed against a large dumpster and a wall. It would be very difficult for any passerby to notice them at all.
"Quick! Off with the wallet! I don´t care about the bags –"- the hurried whisper from the thief was abruptly interrupted by a terrifyingly loud growl which reverberated in the passageway. Both of them were disturbed by the apparent proximity of whatever had caused it.
Samantha saw the man compose himself first and hurriedly turn his head back and forth looking for the cause, before doing anything else; meanwhile, she decided to remain as immobile as possible for now.
She still jumped a little when barking sounds followed.
'That must be a really big dog'.
The thug now alternated between looking at the entrance of the alley and the darkness deeper into the passage, not knowing where to retreat to. "Dammit all! Down boy! I said down".
The barks started to turn deafening. Samantha turned her panicked eyes to the wall, too afraid to look. She was terrified of what the man might do should he lose his nerve. She heard a sudden clanking sound in the shadows, and both she and the cloaked man turned to face it. The hand holding the knife also was pointing that way now.
Everything happened so fast that it was almost like a blur to her.
With a sudden crack, the hand with the knife was viciously crushed by a brick which seemed to have come out of nowhere, and it was followed by a child sized shadow. The newcomer dropped down from above and drop kicked the thug´s head before interposing himself between them.
"AARGH!", The mugger was now cowering and desperately trying to protect the heavily bleeding side of his head against the raging child whom kept leaping and viciously beating him up while snarling words she couldn´t understand with a rasping voice. The boy seemed to be around ten years old and only wore ragged brown shorts.
The exchange was almost too brutal and swift, and it ended when the thief collided against the opposite wall and collapsed.
"Damn you brat.", were the only words he managed to mutter before passing out.
She saw the small pool of blood which soon formed beneath him.
A short while passed before her shivers stopped and she dared to fully turn around to see her would be savior, only to let out a soft gasp at the sight before her.
The first things that drew her attention about the child crouching and slowly moving towards her, were his tear-stained face and piercing eyes. Partially obscured by his dark and wild-looking almost shoulder length hair were yellow-golden irises which resembled a feline's.
It was evident to her that the boy had been crying until very recently.
'Is this a parahuman? Some sort of Brute and Mover? I´ve never heard anything similar to that language he had been speaking', She could see his expression slowly softening from that terrible rage he had shown before, and she could tell that his fury had not been directed at her nor the mugger, but was something far more broadly encompassing.
When he fully stopped before her, now with a concerned look to his face, she noticed some things that she had missed earlier. Like the considerable amount of dirt and grime on his lightly tanned skin, and the quite unusual dark gray marks, tribal-looking in design, running as a few lines across the skin of his arms, legs and back.
"Eihden ne?/ are you okay?", She was a little startled at the rasp in his voice, even though she couldn't understand any of what he said.
Her eyes showed her confusion.
The boy´s lips briefly showed a smirk, before he grabbed a piece of brick from the ground and easily threw it over his shoulder against the same wall which had clanked earlier, further into the alley. When he saw the realization in her eyes the strange child cleared his throat and gave a single bark, much more softly than the ones she had been hearing before but still easily mistaken for a dog´s. After that he slightly cocked his head to the side and started to chirp like two different kinds of birds with astounding accuracy for a very short time.
It had all been him. Unless he had prepared everything beforehand, which was unlikely, that kid easily had her attacker in the palm of his hand the entire time, using that extraordinary and freaky talent for mimicry and misdirection. All so he could ambush him directly from above. And neither of them had even noticed. She watched as he tried to say something more, but he closed his mouth and sighed. He then briefly looked back at her attacker, before showing her a shallow and small cut above his own left knee.
She couldn´t help but stare at the short black claws on his fingers, as he pointed at the small wound and then at her, 'he even has those wicked-looking things on his toes too'.
'I definitely don´t think he speaks or understands English', Samantha decided to just wave her hands dismissively to show that she was now fine. He seemed to understand and gave her a nod before heading off to the side, still moving around in that weird natural-looking crouching position and using his hands to help support himself.
She realized that he had started to curiously check one of the plastic bags that she had dropped to the ground. Meanwhile, she fully recovered her wits and started to walk around him and pick up her other bags.
Stopping before the kid, she extended a hand at the same time that a soft grumbling sound of hunger coming from his stomach interrupted both of them.
Despite this, he quickly recovered and turned to return her bag. In his off hand, he was waving an apple at her. He had taken it while she wasn't looking.
'Asking for just this sort of payback for saving me ..', She distractedly nodded to let him know he could keep the fruit. In the meantime, her thoughts were whirling over his apparent status as an abandoned foreign child. Perhaps she could lead him to the police station for help? He gave her a brief smile before he stood up and ate the apple with hasty bites, not letting even the core and stem go to waste, as he began heading back towards the unconscious thief.
Still mildly disturbed by everything she had just seen, she decided to walk to the entrance of the alley while pulling out her cellphone in order to call the police.
She had just started to dial when she was surprised by a distraught noise behind her. She then turned around and saw the unusual kid desperately tending to the body of the fallen thug and intermittently screaming in distress.
Samantha was shocked. She saw him press two of his fingers to the neck of the man and then turn panicked and pleading eyes to her while showing her a hand-sign with his index finger and thumb very close together.
She hurriedly called for an ambulance and for the police, while attempting to calm the child down with hand gestures which he wasn´t paying attention to.
The minutes seemed to pass too slowly as she waited for help to arrive, and in the meantime she could only keep trying and failing to calm the foreign boy down. In his careful prodding of the dying man, he had noticed the grievous head injury. She saw him roar in despair while his eyes briefly glowed with a fiery orange light.
After that display, he just withdrew back into himself, muttering sporadically and clutching with both hands at his head.
'He didn´t really seem in a good headspace earlier, and now with this .. is he losing it?'- Samantha tried to approach him, but he seemed to shy away from her and scuttled deeper into the dark alley they were both in. The only thing that was left was to try to reassure him, tell him that it had been an accident. Even if he couldn't understand the words, she hoped he might understand something nevertheless.
After a while, something seemed to get through to him, and the supposed-parahuman went to kneel besides the man with new resolve. She remained quiet while, to her further amazement, he positioned his hands very near to the wounded head before these started to softly glow with an ethereal green light.
Turning her attention from that, she decided to take a look outside the alleyway to see if all the noise had brought more people to the area. There were a few vagrants keeping their distance, and even a short haired girl with two dogs whom was scowling in her direction, but she was glad that nobody was drawing near. This would make it easier for the police when they arrived.
Just when she was about to return to the alley she saw and heard the police cars and one ambulance quickly heading her way. They parked on the street and two policemen started making their way over.
Ecstatic that everything was going to be over at last, she waved to get the attention of the policemen, pointing in the direction of the side street where they were needed.
She quickly explained the situation while they walked, and the policemen signaled to the paramedics to get ready.
Samantha and two policemen were surprised to only find the dying thug in the alley, with no signs of the kid. Behind them, a paramedic started to shout, pointing just above their heads.
They turned just in time to see a small shadow quickly crawling up the wall and disappearing when it reached the rooftop.
The next moments passed almost in a daze. She watched as policemen coordinated a search via radio while the paramedics questioned her and carried the injured man to the ambulance. Still dazed, she answered every question she was asked.
Later, as she sat inside of a police car that would take her to the hotel, she couldn´t help but wonder if that little kid would be found and given the help he so obviously needed.
The outlandish boy would be found in short order but it wouldn´t really lead to him being helped.
The paramedics and the doctors were later puzzled by the ashen-gray tissue which stitched across the right side of the face of the thug, closing the wound shut. Unfortunately, it did nothing about the infection, the skull fractures, or the critical brain damage which was still taking their toll.
The man died by the sunrise of the next day.
A/N: Foreshadowing and implications!. I would deeply appreciate your comments about this experiment. Until the next time