Chapter Nine

"Congratulations!" A massive grin spread from cheek to cheek. Not that my audience could see it.

My words snapped the Travelers from their gawking. The sky was no longer stretched and coiled with star matter. Incomprehensible colors seized to assault their minds. Their attention landed on me and were compelled to stay that way.

"You are Simurgh bombs no more! Feel any different?"

The teleporting parahuman locked in place. His voice was strained as he tried to question me. "How…"

Groaning, Ballistic hunched forward and kept his hands on his knees for balance. He was incapable of tearing away his gaze.

The T-rex monster lunged, but started to dissipate. Flecks of ashy flesh blew in the wind as the projection faded from existence.

Perdition fell onto his side, veins bulging at his temples. His face was red and his breaths were short.

"What did you do?! Oh god- what did you do…" Sundancer moved to help her friends only to collapse on the ground and curl into a ball.

"Alright, it wasn't completely accurate to say you weren't Simurgh bombs. More like a transfer of ownership, if you will." I motioned my hands as though I were lecturing a class. All that was missing was the whiteboard. "But, the effects are completely different. Rather than being driven towards aggression and suspicion to enact some grand future plan, you will feel immense amounts of paranoia when you even consider going against me. I'm telling you this now because it doesn't matter if you know. Give up, there is nothing you can do to circumvent this."

Falling to his knees, Trickster's arms hung limply at his sides. He all but murmured pleading words over and over. "Please… please don't hurt her- don't take her from me. Please…"

I slowly stepped to the hopeless Traveler. Crouching down, I whispered in his ear. "Take me to Noelle and she will survive the night."

His nods were furious as he pushed himself to his feet. Trickster's stomach convulsed as he did everything in his power not to vomit.

"Cherie, turn down their more intense emotions. I don't want to drag them all myself." I could see the master's work in the subtle ways the Travelers were able to compose themselves. Without the crushing sense of despair, they were able to pick themselves up.

We reached the Travelers' apartment and entered through the front door. Oliver was hidden in the corner of the room, blond hair peeking from behind a reclining chair. Genesis was somewhere else in the house. "Three more Cherie. Make sure the one in the largest room has reduced aggression and fear. Trickster, you're with me. The rest of you can hang out here."

Without a glance, the two of us went through the apartment. On the other side was a door that led to a connected storage space.

"Krouse? Krouse, is that you?" A panicked girl spoke from out of view. "Are you okay? Someone- that person is with you…"

Tearing the mask off his face, Krouse flinched as he realized what he did. I didn't react, so he proceeded to the girl. "Yeah, it's me Noelle. Turns out the guy just wanted to work with us. Like, an employer?"

We turned a corner and it was easier to make out Noelle's words. The only thing between us and her was a shabby curtain that stretched across the space. "Oh… Is that good? He didn't do anything, right?"

Gesticulating, I forced Trickster to speed up the interaction.

"Uh, kinda? He wants to talk to you." Sweat dripped down his chin as he tugged at his collar. The shadow behind the curtains shifted.

"Krouse, why are- this isn't right. What did he do. Krouse, what really happened?! You know I can't just-"

"Please! Noelle, it's… It'll be fine. It is fine. Let him talk to you and I'll explain everything."

There was a pregnant pause as Noelle worked through Krouse's words. Had she still been a Simurgh bomb, this would have turned explosive.

"If you're really sure..." Her voice petered off at the end, reluctance permeating the air.

Krouse hesitated, but winced when he stopped moving. Pushing ahead, the Traveler pulled back the curtain and let me walk through.

And it was a real sight to behold.

The mass of pulsating flesh and limbs took up almost the entire space. Patches of skin, muscle, and fur were meshed together. Heads of animals were pressed and stretched across the masses' form. Like a cherry on top of a mutilated sundae was the upper body of a girl. She had brown hair and wore a white sweater.

"Hello, Noelle. I am Stranger than Fiction, or just Fiction for short. Nice to meet you."

Noelle looked down at me, her face scrunching in confusion. "Yeah… Nice to meet you too."

She wanted to ask me a question. I could tell by the way she attempted to examine my face. A bit silly, considering I was wearing a mask.

"Why are you even here? Aren't you disgusted with all of this? Aren't you scared?" Her hand waved in the general direction of her mass, pulling it away as though it would bite back.

Krouse probably wanted to interject. To warn her about how much worse I was. His fists were clenched at his sides, but he hid them behind his back.

"Very loaded questions. I am here because I want the Travelers. And I am not disgusted by you. Rather, I am going to cure you."

Missing Trickster's internal distress, Noelle scoffed at my lofty claim. "Really now. Sure, you're pretty in tune with your power. More than I've noticed in anyone else. But that's not enough to 'cure' me. No, I don't think I want your help."

I chuckled to myself. It was supposed to be a lighthearted thing, but it sounded far more sinister than I intended.

"Sorry, but you're mistaken. I wasn't asking for permission. You will be cured, regardless of your feelings on the matter."

Trickster froze up again. But I couldn't tell if he was thinking about attacking me, or just in shock. Noelle, on the other hand, had yet to notice she was under my 'master' effect. Mostly because it was less prominent on her, due to the initial proximity and other factors.

"No! I'm not going to let you let you do what you want w-"

"Then stop me. If you're so adamant on refusing my help, then fight back. Get physical, attack me." Lazily tilting my head, I pointed my hands at my chest to emphasize my point.

While the girl wouldn't admit to it, she considered using her power on me. To clone me and have it destroy the original. I knew this because she tried to back away. It was numbed, but she felt that fear. That sense that going against me was an impossible endeavor.

"You're only now coming to understand, but you have no way of going against me. The presence that Simurgh once had over you has been passed to me. And my goals are far different from the fake angel's."

Adjusting my coat, I took a step forward. Noelle arched back. "I've done the same to your friends. Before you ask, they're fine, if somewhat traumatized. I have an emotion Master to help keep them from breaking down completely."

Eyes widening, the girl looked at her boyfriend for the first time. She saw his struggle, the stress of the whole situation weighing on his shoulders. Noelle bit the inside of her mouth.

"I'll let you stew on this. We'll be discussing my plans in the morning." Waving at the two, I backtracked out of the room and to the main living space.

A couple of the Travelers were still in the room. Oliver sat on the chair, nodding in and out of sleep. His appearance slightly blurred, but was relatively distinguishable. Ballistic was slumped against a wall absently messing with his mask. Perdition was sleeping face down on the couch.

That left Genesis, who was in a different room, and Sundancer, who was sitting at a table with Cherie. Mars was definitely uncomfortable with the master's presence. It didn't help that Cherie was retelling what happened back in Buffalo.

"Then his head exploded into a million pieces! First time I'd ever seen something like that, but it was super crazy. And- oh, hey Morgan. You done with your recruitment thing?"

Jumping in her seat, Sundancer swiveled her head at breakneck speed to spot me. She wasn't wearing her helmet, so it was easy to make out the distress written across her face.

"Yeah. Left the two to discuss it, not that they have a choice. We'll be going over the plan in the morning." I grabbed a chair and took a seat at the end of the table. "Anything happen during that?"

The black haired girl leaned back into her chair, hands behind her head. "Nah, just talking. It's been forever since I last got to chat with anyone that wasn't you. And those people I mastered back in Poughkeepsie don't count."

"Neat. Before you forget, you should probably wash up. I'll be doing the same later." I pulled out my phone and connected to the first Wi-Fi that wasn't password locked.

Cherie nearly fell out of her seat. "Shower! How could I have forgotten about that?!" She shot up and bolted out of the room.

Ballistic's mask leapt out of his hands as Cherie rushed by. Oliver straightened in his chair and Perdition had no reaction.

Scrolling through recent news, I reached up to scratch my face. My mask prevented me from doing that—so I took it off and snapped it closed.

Nothing important stuck out in the articles or broadcasted news in New York City. Cherie must've done a good job keeping people from noticing the short battle.

When it came to the happenings around the US, the S9 was gallivanting over in Kentucky of all places. Rumor had it that they recruited one new member, bringing them back up to seven.

And the PRT released some new information on what happened back in Pennsylvania with the whole insanity thing. They were saying-

"My sun," Mars' voice quivered.

Glancing over my phone, I gave my attention to the girl. She faltered, before gathering her confidence again. "What did you do to my sun- back there, I mean."

It was a wonder that the girl was able to speak to me; I doubted listening to Cherie improved her impression. But since she was brave enough to ask, I saw it fitting to reward her with an answer.

"Oh, that. I forced your sun to die and become a black hole. However, it just phased out of existence. Not enough energy or mass to accomplish that."

The girl paled and didn't speak again.

Checking back on my phone, I continued reading. According to the PRT, they've attributed both the Pit and the mass mastering to me. Nice enough to publicize my chosen name of 'Stranger than Fiction'. Speculated that I had a strong shaker/master power, but nothing other than that. They'd given me an A-class threat label, but no kill order yet.

I considered taking a peak at the Internet forums to see what they thought, but turned my screen off once the idea surfaced. Staying up all night to read about myself was not how I wanted to end the day.

So I settled with waiting. Cherie would be out of the shower eventually. After cleaning up, I'd go to bed and deal with the rest in the morning.