((sigh)) I hope I don't get killed for putting one line of the song Bumblebee at the start of this chapter. ((kicks 002)) MUCH BETTER! In this chapter, the plot takes an insane turn (insane, yes), the second phase of Project Meteor goes underway, and more people have dreams with In Somnis Veritas. This chapter also opens a huge window for what part of the meaning of capturing ten new cyborgs was! Fun on a bun and a bag of chips, is it not?
I don't own the DDR song Bumblebee, or DDR for that matter. I don't own Cyborg 009, but I own all the weird people that show up in dreams! Most of them are Shattered Rainbow characters! I do happen to own all of Shattered Rainbow. I also own Alexa, Raven, Jessica, Andrew, Pierre, Marco and Josephine! Evil math geniuses own exponents and factorials!
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D.S. al Coda
Chapter Eight: Exponents and Factorials
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"I go 'boom boom boom' you go 'zoom zoom zoom!'" The television sang happily. 0021 and 0050 stomped the beat out on the Dance Dance Revolution floor mats. It was their third straight hour, and it was nine at night.
Finally, 0050 turned the game off. Both girls were happy for the break. 009 came in and saw two girls fall onto the couch.
"0021, 0050, what happened to you two?" He asked, frightened. 0021 sat up and pointed a finger at the floor mats. "Again?"
"Whoa, I never knew dancing could take that much out of ya," 0042 commented. She finished combing her hair out, then noticed the odd glances she was getting. "What? I can comb my fucking hair if I want to! And I can take a shower!"
0050 stood up. "I should hope that you can."
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"Diana? Answer if you can." Andrew said, nudging Diana gently into wakefulness. Her bright blue eyes opened.
"My cousin…the rift is getting closer…" Diana said, still fumbling to throw off the temptress of sleep. Andrew assumed that she was still dreaming.
"May I take your temperature?" He asked. She nodded and gave way once more to the temptress. He proceeded to do just that.
"It's Andrew. I'm so surprised." 0019 said sarcastically. Andrew nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw her standing in the doorway.
"Take ten years off my life while you're fucking at it," He mumbled.
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"Your name is 002…or do you prefer Jet?" The modern Verita asked. 002 was standing in a clearing of a forest with a small shrine at its heart. Verita had her short hair and modern clothes on.
"002," 002 snapped back. Verita smiled.
"You get the next message, aren't you lucky?" Verita asked. She walked over toward the shrine. 002 followed her.
"Who are you, and why am I here?" 002 demanded. Verita turned to look at him.
"I am In Somnis Veritas, and you are in a dimensional projection of my home." Verita replied. "May I tell you the message now?"
002 was lost for words. Verita climbed up on the shrine.
"Black Ghost is moving onto the second phase of Project Meteor. This will take place in Antarctica in two days' time. You will encounter 0049, 0037, 0061, and Josephine there. They will ask if you wish to die. Answer 'sure, why the hell not?' and fight them. Send 0050 to disarm the series of bombs they planted; she'll be familiar with the technology they used. You need to aim for 0061, and make sure you fire on needle setting and shoot her in the right arm. Follow through with that, 'kay?" Verita said.
"Why are you telling me this?" 002 asked her. Again, she turned to face him.
"In due time, you'll meet me. Until then, you need to wake up!"
002 found himself in his own bed, lying across from 009. There was no forest, no shrine, no crazy girls.
Who're you calling crazy? Go, you need to alert them! Well, unless you want a world controlled by Josephine, you don't need to. But that's your choice.
So that hadn't been just a dream?
My name means "In dreams there is truth".
002 stood up. So it had been a dream, but apparently these events were really going to happen? He walked out of the room and down the hall.
His feet led him to the kitchen. 0015 was leaning back in a chair, thoughtfully drinking a glass of some blue liquid. She saw 002 enter and waved.
"It's two in the morning. What's your excuse?" 0015 asked. 002 noticed that Soul Eater was shining in the glow of the oven light next to her.
"Weird dreams," He grunted. 0015 shrugged and took a swallow.
"Want some Gatorade?" She offered, pointing her finger at a large jug of the stuff. H warily eyed her. "Oh, for goodness sakes, I did not poison it. 0021 decided not to, and I doubt 0043 would do something so forward. So, it should be safe."
002 picked it up. If none of the girls wanted to poison him, then Gatorade seemed safe to drink. He pulled a glass out of the cupboard, keeping an eye on Soul Eater. 0015 continued to sip and seemed uninterested in him. This changed, however, once he sat down.
"Tell me about this dream," 0015 ordered.
002 rocked back in the chair with his feet on the table. 0015 fingered her sword, then eyed 002 once more.
"Okay, don't tell me. I'll figure it out my own." 0015 snapped back at him, swinging her sword around her back, placing the glass in the sink.
"Hang on a second." 002 said. "We need to go to Antarctica."
0015 turned and gave him a shadow of a grin. "Well then, let's go."
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"You need to relax."
"I NEED TO RELAX?"
"FYI, ISV, you really need to calm down. There's no need to overreact – Project Meteor has hardly opened yet. We're safe up here, remember? We installed one-way glass! Wait, I'm just kidding, Panthos."
"Nice one just the same, Omega. Somnis, you should just have a natural sleep tonight instead of sending out waves. It'll come soon enough. Fate wrote it to be this way."
"Panthos, I did not do that for you."
"Fate, I was teasing you."
"Panthos, you are the world's biggest prat. Not even Poseidon, Epsilon, and Kronos put together come close to you. I'm gonna stay up. Epona, Fate, Omega, Pandora, I'll take watch tonight. Verita is still asleep."
"Just remember: one way glass."
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"Hey, why are we here?" 0050 asked upon blundering into the control room in the early morning. 0015 was piloting with Soul Eater sitting next to her against the seat. "This is the Antarctic Circle!"
"Well, we'll make the story as short as I had it and say 002 had a premonition dream like 0017 did." 0015 replied. "Apparently, in another day, the second phase of Project Meteor is supposed to occur."
"Good morning," 0034 said. "I've always wanted to wake up and see white and dark blue-gray all around me. What event is it?"
She bounded down to where 0015 sat at the controls. 0015 turned.
"You can help land." 0015 said. 0034 sat down and picked up the gist of this venture fairly quick. Verita walked in.
"Whoa! Why is everyone in here?" Verita asked.
"It's a long story," 0034 said. Her primary focus was on landing on the ice.
"Verita," 0015 began. "Do you have any other special ability aside from being a natural psychic? Such as communicating through dreams?"
Verita frowned. "No. But I do know someone from a very long time ago who could do something like that…"
"Who was it?"
"She's dead now."
0015 sighed and stood up, for landing was successful. "Another dead end. If anyone else…wait, 0021 had a dream like this, didn't she?"
0015 left to find her double. 0021 was bouncing her head up and down, walking down a hall, and managed to walk head-first into 0015.
"0021, you had a dream with Verita, correct?" 0015 asked. 0021 turned her headphones off and 0015 repeated the question.
"Yes. Except the Verita from my dream wore a black tank top, light blue jeans, red sneakers, and her hair was short. Our Verita is so…old-school!" 0021 replied. 0015's face looked as if the sun had come out as she realized.
"They're two completely different people!" 0015 exclaimed. 0021's face brightened.
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"What do you mean, it didn't work?" Alexa demanded of 0018.
"It wouldn't work. We were at the exact spot and we could not use the reverse." 0018 replied. Alexa's face twisted into rage.
"DAMN IT!" She shouted. "She fucking knew it!"
"But how, my dear sister, did she know?" Pierre asked. "There's no one but us twelve that knew it was going to happen. Diana couldn't have told anyone, she's too sick to move a foot from her bed. 0019 and Andrew have been with her the whole time, and none of us would tell."
"Diana's distant cousin," Marco suggested. "Her name was Verita, or something like that. I remember Diana telling me that a long time ago. But this Verita died about sixty years ago, and Diana only heard stories about her from her mother. Diana was told one day that 'Verita' meant 'dream', and Verita could communicate through dreams."
"Your point is?…" Alexa demanded, her temper straining.
"What if Verita were still alive and communicating to the cyborgs?" Marco cut to the chase. Alexa reclined in thought.
"Wake Diana up." Alexa concluded.
"Don't do that." Andrew said from the doorway. "She just fell back asleep after puking her guts out for half the night. Her voice is completely gone and she's running a fever."
"Who cares?" Alexa blew the comments off.
"Listen, Alexa." Andrew said. "You're not the baby any longer. We have Jessica and Raven back now, and Josephine needs to get through this phase of Project Meteor. We have no time for your fucking around right now."
"I second that," 0019 said. "I thought we buried Verita in the warehouse. But, of course, I'm not supposed to be here. I'll be leaving for Diana again."
"Wait a minute." Alexa ordered. "I know what's going on. I know that I'm sixteen now and that I'm not the princess any longer."
Andrew shifted his weight. "I'm going to go back up to Diana. I'm not going to give any orders because right now we should be more concerned about revitalizing Raven and Jessica, and Diana's recovery."
He left with 0019, leaving Alexa to silently fume.
They reached Diana's door, 0019 entered the code, and they stepped in. Diana was twisting and turning in the grasp of a nightmare monster and moaning softly. Andrew nearly toppled over when he saw 0019 sit down and caress Diana. Diana's eyelids parted to reveal the tired, glassy blue eyes.
"I feel like shit," Diana whispered.
"No offense, but you look it." 0019 replied. "Do you feel like you could eat anything?"
Diana slowly shook her head. She turned her head on the pillow and drifted back into an uneasy slumber. 0019 gently pulled Diana's hair up into a ponytail and tied it. Andrew was shocked out of his mind that 0019 could be civil. Every time he saw her, she was protecting Diana, fighting, smoking, or calling and cursing someone.
As Diana's back arched in a coughing fit, 0019 held to her sister and talked softly into her ear. Andrew left the two together alone.
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"What card am I holding up?" 0021 asked Verita.
"Ace of Clubs, and the next one will be the seven of hearts." Verita answered. "I'm bored with this."
0021 had already outfitted Verita in a normal cyborg uniform. Verita looked bored out of her mind, having to predict cards for entertainment. Of course, every once in a while, they went in to check the radar, but nothing ever came up.
0015 yawned loudly. "There's nothing to do. I've beaten Kingdom Hearts twelve times now and it's too boring. Isn't there anything interesting we could do?"
0021 shook her head. "I'm all out of ideas."
At a distance, they heard the whine of the vacuum cleaner. 0021 craned her neck back to see 0017 cleaning. 0017 was absentmindedly humming a slow tune, and would occasionally spin the vacuum in the rhythm.
"0015, I have something to tell you." Verita said. "My mother had a cousin named Diana. I remember you talking about Diana, so…"
0015 placed a finger to her chin. "Diana…Di-an-a. THAT'S IT!"
"WHOA! WHAT'S UP WITH THAT!" 0017 exclaimed, bumping into the wall with 0015's shouts. "What did you suddenly figure out?"
"Diana is Verita's cousin!" 0015 said in a rush. "Holy crap…"
"Damn straight!" 0021 exclaimed. She, too, was shocked by this revolution.
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"Pandora."
"I'm still here. Why would I run away?"
"Poseidon, Kronos, Panthos, for starters."
"But my box; I still have to protect it."
"I have something to tell you!"
"Okay, Omega. Tell me."
"Fate and I…it's coming sooner than we thought it would. Some jerk figured out that we were still alive and functional, and Black Ghost is going to complete phase three then move on the Ultimate Stage. According to Mika, this means that a really soon chapter will be the absolute climax. But that's just an added bonus."
"I wonder if they'll have them with them…"
"You don't need to worry yet. Before they can even see us, they have to defeat Akio and Rona. They're no easy task, let me tell you. I still have that black and blue mark."
"Omega…do you think Black Ghost wants us to try and do to us what he did to Apollo, Atlas and the others? Or do you think that he's found the pure soul to open the box?"
"Neither. He just wants us to mind wipe us and get us to work for him."
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"I am more bored than I have ever been." 0017 concluded. The floors shone like mirrors, you could eat off the ceiling, and dust had been warded off for good. It was their second day in Antarctica and the tension was mounting to see if 002 had been correct.
"GET OFF YER ASS AND COME HELP US, THEN!" 0042 shouted. The group in the living room jumped up and ran outside.
The lady of the snow was a beautiful woman, but only to those who could look onto her beauty with unshielded eyes. Her white gown flowed out and threatened to blind. The veil was scrunched and flexed long, and her white hair fanned behind her. At that moment, she lifted her veil to peek at the world and allowed 0017 to see the beauty of the snow.
But at the same moment, 0037 fired openly for 0017.
"Please, kids, if you hold up your hands at home when at least thirty bullets are speeding toward you, you will not suddenly be protected by magnetism. Instead you will be killed." 0015 said cynically. 0017 laughed, pulled out her hammer, and freed a missile for 0037.
"Welcome to the second phase of Project Meteor," Josephine's cruel voice cut through the landscape like a knife.
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"WHAT?" 0019 screamed as she ran down into a solo jet. She flipped the hatch open and jumped in. "Damn her! She's going for phase two!"
Andrew jumped into another jet and they prepared to fly out. The two pulled their headsets on to continue the conversation as they flew from Japan to Antarctica.
"What I mean, 0019, is that Diana took off for phase two about four hours ago. You can probably reach her through these radios…in theory." Andrew's static-riddled voice said.
"I can hear you, you know." Diana's hoarse voice crackled through their ears. "Listen, 0019. I'm not a baby. I know I may be your younger twin and all, but I'm old enough to take care of myself."
0019 sighed. She knew Diana was right.
"How close are you?" Andrew asked.
"Maybe twenty minutes at top speed. You two have acceleration switches, right? Why not use those and get here a little faster?" Diana replied. 0019 followed her directions and Andrew was not far after.
They saw Diana sitting in her jet, circling and preparing to land on 0049's signal. She turned her head and saw Andrew and 0019 next to her.
0049 gave the signal.
This meant that someone far off had been wrong.
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"I'M GOING!"
"As you wish, ISV…but this only means that we'll have less protection when they finally arrive. Are you sure?"
"I don't care. Omega and Fate were wrong. They're taking this too fast!"
"As Panthos would tell you, break a leg, an arm, and the other limbs while you're at it. But then again…go ahead and break your neck!"
"Kronos, shut up."
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"We're going to kill you right here, are you afraid yet?" 0061 asked blankly. Her purple hair flew in a breeze. Two figures darted around behind her to stand on either side of her.
Today, Diana and 0019 were perfectly distinguishable. Diana wore her hair over her left eye, but instead of a tank top and sandals, wore a V-neck with belled sleeves and a pair of high black Skechers. Altogether, she was too pale. 0019, on the other hand, wore her usual and looked furious.
"BEGIN PHASE TWO!" 0049 shouted.
No one had any clue what to do. 0019 and Diana began snaking in opposite directions and crossing paths.
"YOU IDIOT, 002!" A familiar voice shouted. It was Verita, and she was standing next to…herself? "I give you specific directions and what do you do? BULL SHIT!"
002 looked from Verita to Verita. One had short hair; one had long. One wore a tank top and jeans; the other wore a red uniform and boots. Both had glittering purple eyes. Both had dark red hair. One wore an expression of anger, the other of interest.
The Verita with short hair walked over to him and gave him a hard slap. "Next time I give directions, follow them! My God!"
"Ummm…not to be rude or anything…but who are you?" 0014 asked. The Verita that had just slapped 002 turned around.
"I am In Somnis Veritas, and I come from the end of the world. I'm here because this moron decided not to follow my instructions. 0050, accelerate at mach seven toward that ship in the distance. On board, you'll find twelve bombs. Disarm them all." Verita said. She turned to the other Verita. "I know it's sudden, Verita, but we have to…"
"I know, ISV." Verita replied. "NOW GO, GOD DAMN IT!"
0050 clicked her back tooth and flew toward the ship. 0042 gave her best attempt to try and stop 0019 and Diana by cracking the ice. But it didn't work. The two just kept going, right across the blue-gray water. The two Veritas shifted their heads to look at one another at the exact same time and managed to even give a nod at the same time. The two began mimicking 0019 and Diana.
"What in hell is going on?" 0043 wondered aloud.
"HOLY FUCK!" 0015 exclaimed.
The two pairs stopped. They stood parallel to one another. As if getting ready to perform an act, each set turned to face their double and extended their hands. Josephine watched. She understood when 0019 and Diana were doing. Though she had only seen it once, it was something worth remembering.
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0050 stopped. She jumped into a smaller version of the Dolphin and instantly set out for finding bombs. She looked in every room, and in the last one, found them. She knew this technology like the back of her hand. Laughing, 0050 disarmed the dozen bombs in less than five minutes.
She stood and looked up out of a window.
"Oh my…"
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There wasn't a person who was lost for words. Diana was draped in a long white gown, held at her waist by a golden circlet. Golden bands laced up and down her slender arms , and a bracelet around her left wrist contained diamonds. Her hair was held back by a golden crown, and both of the stunning blue eyes were visible. A single braid ran down the left side of her head and was held by a golden moon-shaped bead.
0019 looked nearly the same, with the exception of all the left side accessories were swapped to the right. Both girls held one hand of the other, and it was the hand with the bracelet on it.
"She can do the pom-pom, she can do the fucking twist, but I'll bet you five hundred dollars she can't do this," 0043 remarked. 0050 appeared next to her. "Did you get the bombs?"
"Yeah," 0050 replied, cracking her fingers. "What's the fancy stuff for?"
From 0019 and Diana's hands sprung a blazing blue light. Both the Verita looked fairly calm. Just as the light was about to engulf them, they grabbed hands.
"Your power cannot equal ours," Verita said.
"Okay, someone needs to explain what the hell is going on," 0042 said. All were at a loss for words, even Josephine.
The ice flew back up over them. 0019 and Diana stood, unfazed, and they released one another's hands. The long-haired Verita and Diana walked to one another.
"Diana."
"Omnes Verita."
"Generation Zero has returned to Earth. Your brining of Project Meteor will bring the end only closer."
"I no longer care. I belong to them now…this happened so long ago, seventy years. And your little name doesn't scare us." Diana turned to face her counterpart. "Artemis, set it off."
"ISV, GO!"
At this point, no one knew what was going on. 0015 knew only that the four were cousins. 0021 knew that Diana and Artemis were the same goddess, except Diana was from Roman mythology and Artemis was from Greek mythology. A brilliant blast of purple light interrupted everyone's thoughts.
"Why didn't the bombs go off?" 0037 asked nervously. They all knew what the answer was, but none wanted to say it.
"God fucking damn it all." Josephine cursed. "ANDREW!"
Andrew appeared out of pure nowhere. He knew that he could disobey his sister and actually die this time, or could obey. So he stood next to her.
"Phase two has failed. You'll have to alert the others. Raven and Jessica will need to travel to the first base tonight or tomorrow. It's not going to be long until the Ultimate Stage, and since this has failed, phase three will require everyone." Josephine told him.
This evidently meant that Raven and Jessica were awake once more. It also meant that they were jumping to phase six by sending them up, and in completing phase three, they would be able to then trigger what they needed to. All the meteors would be drawn toward Earth, and since many contained metals, there were stations set up to draw them in. With that, they would pummel Earth and leave it completely useless. There would need to be a human sacrifice to symbolize life and what wanted power so badly that it was willing to kill itself in the process. Alexa had volunteered for the job. Josephine was taking the mask. Josephine would be able to hold the power of the Gods. Josephine could do whatever she wanted. The universe would be her playground and she would never have to share.
All that could stop them now was Pandora's Box.
"DIANA! 0019!" Andrew called. "UNSUCCESSFUL!"
The two instantly were redressed in their ordinary clothes. Diana fainted into 0019's arms, and 0019 carried her back to Josephine's ship. Andrew gave them one last glance, then vanished into his jet.
"002, next time I tell you do anything, I'm not telling you." The modern Verita said. "I'll be seeing you all very soon. They're moving things forward by about ten years."
"How are we going to be able to find the end of the world?" 0014 demanded.
"You will," Verita replied. "OV might be able to guide you off her memory."
"OV?" 0014 asked.
"Omnes Verita. My sister's name." Verita answered. "They're going to kill me if I'm not back soon. Look, I'll answer all your questions later. We will meet again, I swear on Panthos's life."
She vanished. 007 sighed.
"Another lady gone before I could even introduce myself," He mourned. 0015 just walked back into the Dolphin.
If Verita has a sister…and I already know that 0019 and Diana are sisters. They're obviously cousins. But what is Generation Zero?
"I'll get you to where you can find the end of the world. But you need to fight Akio and Rona by yourselves." Verita said, entering the Dolphin. "Akio and Rona are the guardians to the end of the world. The only way to get there…is by going through them and fighting them."
"You're navigating," 0017 said.
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WICKED AWESOME CHAPTER! It only took me half of forever, but here it is!
Wonderful plot turns…and the mention of possibly the most important thing in this story! Next chapter will be meeting Raven and Jessica, sending them off into space, preparing for Alexa's death, traveling to the end of the world, fighting Akio and Rona, then a cliffie into the CLIMAX! SO WATCH OUT FOR CHAPTER TEN, PEEPS!