Destiny 2 Beyond Light and Worm spoilers ahead. Some parts may have similarities with Hive 5.1. I own neither Worm nor Destiny.
Chapter 2
23 April 2011
-Somer's Rock-
Within the second simulation, as I enter the pub, I flex the Darkness within me and freeze the water soaking my armour and poncho. All occupants turn their heads in the direction of the door. I step once-twice and stop as the frozen water on my armour and poncho evaporates in wisps of blue that shrouds my body.
The grey metal of the jaw of my EXO face is hidden in the shadow of my hood, emphasizing the white and blue colouring with the symbol painted on my forehead and whitish blue on black sclera glow of my eyes standing out. As I move my eyes over the villains attending, as well as the civilians running the pub, I see all of them are tense.
Before anyone can speak, I hum deeply and wrap my hand over the handle of The First Curse with my index finger extended and not placed over the trigger. This makes the villains tense further in anticipation of a fight.
"Seems that I was a bit late in my arrival tonight. Apologise for that. But I got a bit side-tracked taking care of some nosey nobodies who were keeping an eye on our little gathering."
My words emerge with a British accent I feel more comfortable with than my old American one these days.
In the first simulation Calvert reaches for one of his communicators and starts issuing orders.
"Nosey nobodies?" asks Regent of the Undersiders while suppressing a snicker at my wording.
"Nosey nobodies that will not be interfering with our business today." I confirm.
Coil clears his throat drawing everyone's attention to him.
"We appreciate your service that helped preserve the secrecy of our meeting, but I'm after that we haven't been acquainted."
Silver tongued as always.
"I know who you are. Coil, Kaiser, Trickster, Grue, Faultline, Skidmark." I look in each of their direction. "I, am the Exo Stranger, and the only reason I decided to reveal my presence in the Bay to you is because the ABB's actions are hampering my business here."
"You cocksucker speakin' as if you're tough shit, like you been a long-time playa in the Bay! Talkin' like you on my level!" Skidmark, who looked already pissed off, explodes standing up.
"Fact is you don't belong here! So get your dick suckin' ass outta here before I fill yo ass up with some lead!" he had an Uzi of all things drawn out and pointed at me. His crew weren't far behind him in drawing out their own pistols and aiming at me. With Squealer paling at her leader's antagonization of an unknown tinker but refusing to abandon him.
Everyone remains in their position. Coil has his hands steepled with his chin rested atop them observing the confrontation patiently. Kaiser is as relaxed as ever, Purity glows even brighter but lowers her luminosity at a glance from Kaiser. Night, Fog and Krieg have their hands on guns of their own. Fenja and Menja have grown a foot and are positioned in front of their leader. Hookwolf has a few more hooks and barbs emerging from his shoulder, elbows, knees and some hooks, blades and barbs on his hairy chest.
Faultline and her crew shift in their seats from the table and the booth, no doubt having been in situations similar to this before.
Trickster is as he was with the only ones showing as reaction being the Sundancer that shifts in her position and Ballistic, her square masked teammate, who hold a few coins in his hands and stands in a way that allows him to hide behind Genisis, Changer of their team, at moment's notice.
The Undersiders' leader's shoulders stiffen and slight wisps of black smoke escape through his helmet. Tattletale is practically staring holes through me. Hellhound is practically scowling with Regent besides her as nonchalant as ever. Skitter seems to be the most tense of everyone here as I think I hear insects chittering softly in the background. Far enough that I would not have heard them if not for my enhanced senses but close enough to be through every nook and crack of the bar in seconds.
The civilians promptly hide in the backroom.
"Do you understand what you're doing Skidmark?" undeterred by the weapon in his hands. "I can consider your actions right now a violation of the truce that tends to come with meetings of this nature… do you truly want to lose your life in a place like this?"
He bristles and before he speaks or acts I glance in the direction of the other villains.
"And the rest of you? Are you willing to put up with this? Willing to accept this desecration of the truce among villains in a time like this?"
"The truce is in effect during and after the talks." Coil intervenes.
Kaiser continues from where Coil stopped, "You are an unknown. Skidmark, no matter how much of a joke he and the Merchants are, is still the leader of a gang. But, what you and the he decide to do does not concern me, just do it on your own time."
The silence is deafening, and I have decided on how to end the night tonight.
In the first simulation I materialize my tablet from my inventory and hack into the camera systems to see how to go about reaching the optimal position to Blink right behind Coil from above without notifying him. I sense a smaller presence, that of a child, standing in front of him between two adults, probably two of his mercs.
In the second simulation I finish glancing at the villains and return my eyes to where his eyes would be behind his mask.
"If you ain't gone in 3 second dicksucker I'm killin' yo ass!"
"I see." I murmur.
My left arm blurs to normal human eyes as I reach into my poncho, clasping three metal shuriken from next to my throwing knives and I throw the shuriken with deadly accuracy.
*Squelch*
The shuriken sink into the middle of the Squealer and Mush's throats with the third slicing through the side of Skidmark's neck tearing through his jugular thanks to an instinctively placed mark of his power on the side of his Uzi that he used to try and deflect the shuriken with. Even with his drug addled mind, he was the leader of a gang no matter how disorganized is, and his instincts weren't as bad every liked to believe.
I say was because as he falls my arm blurs again and a throwing knife digs through the centre of his forehead. I would have loved to use The First Curse but the bullet would have torn through them and struck to hiding civilian at the back through the wall.
I retract my arm and stare at the collected capes who don't seem to be affected (with the exception of Tattletale grabbing Skitter by the upper arm. What's that about?) before settling my gaze on Coil.
"That enough rep for you?" I tilt my head.
He extends his arm graciously in the direction of the booths. No other objections are raised. The slight in how I did not earn the right to sit at the table with the leaders does not go unnoticed.
Unbothered by his little mind games I walk toward the fresh new corpses.
With another *Squelch* I remove the shuriken and knife. I decide to dissuade Coil from closing this simulation by showing the capes my bloodied weapons breaking down into particles when I store them in my inventory. I kick the bodies to the side and decide to sit on the booth itself rather than the chairs that the filth were using.
I see Hookwolf grinning viciously and holding a thumbs up in my direction and I'm distracted from what Skitter and Tattletale are talking about in hushed whispers by forcing the urge to kill that bastard rabid Nazi dog down.
Before the silence get too awkward Coil claps his hands once.
"Now that the filth was taken care of, we can finally get started. Seems that Lung won't be coming if he didn't show up after all this time we wasted. Though I doubt any of us are surprised given the subject of tonight's discussion."
"The ABB." Kaiser replied.
"Thirty five individuals confirmed dead and over a hundred hospitalized in the past week. Armed presence on the streets. Ongoing exchanges of gunfire between ABB members and the combined forces of the police and military. They have raided our businesses and bombed places where they think we might be operating. They have seized out territories and they don't seem to have the intention to stop anytime soon." Coil elaborated on the situation. Of course, Renick being my only in on the PRT had me informed the moment the decision came to be. But how much the villains knew of the state of the Protectorate and the PRT was still in the air.
"It is inconvenient." spoke Kaiser.
"They're being reckless." Faultine said, making it sound like a crime… I can't help but contemplate that if these bastards were as reckless as the ABB my job would have been way easier.
Coil nodded, "Their reckless behaviour is the real issue here. It is clear that there is no way that the ABB can sustain this and something will give sooner or later. The ABB are on the road of self-destruction. But the real problem is that their recklessness brings eyes onto our fair city from all over the country. Homeland security and the military are establishing a temporary presence in the city. Heroes are also flocking to city to support the Protectorate in regaining control of matters. It is making business difficult and with the chance that some of these Heroes remaining here, things may become more unpalatable in the future."
Lies. Your reliance on your position as our consultant has come to your own detriment. Renick in a move to bolster the morale of the PRT and Protectorate lied about the true extent of the support arriving to Brockton Bay. there will be no Protectorate heroes coming to the Bay as those deceiver Costa-Brown and Legend used the same excuses. 'The PRT and Protectorate are spread too thin' they said. 'We cannot spare you the reinforcements.' They said. It's always the same bullshit every month of every year since Lung came to Brockton Bay in 2007. Every call for reinforcements was brushed aside and we were left to suffer. And this time is no different. The Protectorate and PRT ENE abandoned to keep a semblance of safety in the hearts of people being actively kidnaped from their own homes to have bombs forcefully implanted in their heads by the ABB.
"Bakuda is at the centre of this." Grue joined the dialogue, "Lung may be leader but everything hinges on the girl. She 'recruited' by orchestrating raids at people's homes while they slept, subduing them, and implanting bombs in their heads. She then uses those bombs to coerce her victims into kidnapping more. No less than three hundred in total now. All her soldiers know what awaits them if they don't obey her. So they're loyal to her because if they're not, they die or risk watching their loved ones die. Taking her down is our ultimate goal, but she's rigged bombs to go off the second her heart stops, so it's a little more complicated than a simple assassination."
I almost lose control of the Darkness coiled within me. That would have released an elemental manifestation of Stasis strong enough to freeze the entire building and everyone inside. Deep breathes Elizabeth. Deep breathes. Lung and Bakuda will die as soon as I'm done dealing with Coil. Getting Birdcaged is an act of mercy for the likes of them. Their fates are sealed.
Grue retrieved a package from the dark smoke shrouding his chest. "She videotaped the ambush she pulled on my group a week ago and left it behind when she ran. I've made copies. Maybe you'll find it useful for getting a better understanding of her."
Grue handed a burned CD to everyone at the table where they played the video on a laptop. The video didn't show much. It started with a poor guy getting liquified by a bomb followed by a second bomb blowing off amidst Bakuda's group. Most of the video was shrouded by bouts of Grue's darkness. But it did cement the Undersiders reputation as the masters of escape and showed a degree of loyalty between the members considering one of the only reasons Bakuda in particular was targeting them was Skitter for her takedown of Lung. The Undersiders' willingness to stick with Skitter and dig themselves a deeper grave after the shit they pulled off at the Ruby Dreams was not something I expected honestly. Especially with how the brutality of the group went up a notch with the bank heist injuries and property damage, even though the damage was mostly due to Chris firing that thing without proper testing.
Renick will understand the true depths of my plight. He will learn to desise his job as branch Director in the coming weeks. First it was Armsmaster lying in his report on Lung's takedown and painting Skitter as if she was the second coming of the Slaughterhouse Nine due to his fuck up. It was like Colin thought no one would notice the completely different damage pattern inflicted on Lung.
Then it was Skitter unknowingly cementing this reputation with the heist and joining the Undersiders. Then it was Bakuda. And now the villains allying to take Bakuda down. I never expected the Undersiders or the other villains to finish the psycho bomber off; I see whatever it is she's using to navigate her bombs, since it's apparent that she is manually selecting the bombs she wants to explode I bet I can get into her systems and shut down that dead man's switch. when the damage report did not match the injuries inflicted on Lung when he was still in PRT custody.
The meeting didn't take long after that and I was somehow forgotten for the moment. Faultline expressed her professionality, even when it was complete idiocy considering the circumstances, and decided to work with whoever pays her. The villains agreed to a truce that I signed up on. No more killing villains for now they said. Fine. Not that anyone would know anyways. We discuss the details on how the distribution would happen, how groups would be mixed together to ensure cooperation and that no backstabbing takes place.
And at the end when Coil asked if anyone had any matters to discuss, before I could say anything Hookwolf spoke on how Hellhound had cost him money with attacking his dog fighting rings. Kaiser spoke all kinds of bullshit. While all of this happened in the second simulation, I managed to sneak my way around the cameras and patrolling mercs by hacking their systems, Blinking, high jumping over obstacles. Even if their cyber security systems were top of the line, it wasn't on the level of top tier golden age security or the Vex.
From my memories I recall having to personally break down Vex confluxes since I didn't have a ghost to do that for me like the Lightborn did. It took me a little while but I managed to get above where I sensed Coil in his base. He was almost 100 meters down underground. This would surely injure me on the level of cracked bones and bruised organs and maybe slight internal bleeding. Nothing I can't regenerate from in a few minutes.
In the first simulation I draw The First Curse with my right and two shuriken with my left. Coil and his two minions will die as soon as I get there. Pre-aim is key. In the second simulation as Kaiser spouts out more bullshit I draw my hand cannon. I see Skitter abruptly turn her head in my direction and insects start to crawl through the cracks. Curious. But before anyone can do anything, I blow Coil's head clean off his shoulders.
I feel him stiffen in the first simulation that became the only existing reality and as two simulations take their place, I Blink directly behind him in both simulation. With a loud bang he dies in both. Pre-aim is key. My hand blurs again and my shuriken hits both a merc and what turns out to be a doctor in the base of the neck. The doctor dies choking on his blood and but the mercs' armour protects him. He takes Dinah Alcott hostage placing her in front of him, but before he utters a word, I aim true and blow the bastard's skull to pieces. I throw a glacier grenade sealing off the door just in case the soundproofing here isn't enough as Dinah Alcott is screaming her little head off. Shit, her lung capacity is huge.
The effects of the Blink hit and my body aches and that's blood I'm coughing on the inside of my helmet. I stumble my way to Coil's PC because if there was anything I know about Calvert is that he's a two faced bastard who must always have the last laugh. And if there was anything I learned from the centuries of memories and experience is that dead-man switches, self-destructs, and last fuck-yous should be assumed to be always there. Riven's fucked the Dreaming City on a metaphysical level while Clovis Bray's for almost destroyed the entirety of Jupiter's moon Europa, making Bakuda and maybe Coil a third tier nobody in comparison.
Bastard didn't have the dead man switch to act as a switch and activate instantly but had it on a timer to publish the civilian identities of almost half the members of the Empire 88 members online. I find a folder containing the civilian identities of the Undersiders and The Travellers bunched up in there as well. The hell? These files alongside several files on Cauldron go onto my properly encrypted tech and are wiped from his device. They will be properly examined later. But more importantly for now… where is it?
Aha! There's the self-destruct. He was prepared to blow all his bases sky high down… That would have taken a good portion of the city with it. I take a quick glance at a side monitor and see his body double on his way back to the base. I'm done dealing with all his remaining bullshit in 5 minutes and have three of my tablets linked to his own device allowing Charlemagne to transfer a version of himself from the servers at the Woodlands base to those here.
The last thing I do is transfer all his money in Brockton Bay from his personal accounts to the Elizabeth Bray Foundation's bank accounts and several shell organization's accounts. The several million in offshore bank accounts go to the organization and a few hundred thousand go from there to my personal accounts, the ones listed under the name Elizabeth Bray, and now we're golden. I buy out all of Calvert's share in Fortress Construction effectively making me the one in control now.
I sigh in relief as everything was dealt with. And as I stand and stretch popping my back I see little Dinah Alcott standing there, staring at me with furrowed brows and her face, pale, scrunched up in… pain. Which reminds me that I may have just mentally scarred a child for life.
Another glance at the side monitor and Body Double is a still on the way. More than enough time to talk to Dinah and make sure my voice changer is working properly for what is to come.
I move towards her slowly. She doesn't back away. I crouch to her level my hands on her shoulders and make a showing of inspecting her. She flinches when we make eye contact diverting her eyes to the ground. Gently, I reach out for her chin, tilting her head upwards and returning her eyes on mine. I brush a strand of her hair behind her ear and as softly as I can tell her that everything was going to be alright. That I was sorry that I was late. That it's almost time for her to go home. And as slowly and gently as I can, to make sure she doesn't panic, I wrap my arms around her, and she clings onto me like a lifeline as the floodgates open.
She cries and cries. I can't help but stroke her hair like I used to do to my nephew Gavin when he was younger. I can't help worrying on how he's doing. He was never the smartest of people academically and was studying in Winslow. Is he doing fine? Is he alright without me there? I am his last living relative after all, and the last couple of months must have been hard on him. I wasn't the most emotionally expressive of people when it didn't come to children and Gavin, but that got worse with my trigger. And I got more distant the closer it was to when I was planning to vanish and focus on my plans for the city.
I return to reality 5 minutes later as Dinah taps my back asking to release her.
"You never showed. Whenever I asked if I was ever going to be free you never showed. The number didn't show you. Even now the numbers don't make sense." she has the shakes and is stuttering in a whisper but I hear and understand her.
"Numbers?" I ask for clarification.
"I ask questions a get percentages for the answers. But you are different. The numbers say that the chance that I see you is 2% then it's 30% then it's 5%." She elaborates and it clicks in my head.
"You ask questions, like if something would happen and get the answer of the chances in percentages?"
She nods.
"The bad man called it percentile-based precognition. But when I ask about you it's confusing and painful."
"Ah. Then you better stop asking about me." I say.
"My power makes it that if precogs don't know about me their powers don't, and if precogs do know about me I bring nothing but headaches and trouble." I elaborate.
"Coil for example." She flinches. "The bad man." I amend my words and she focus on what I say. "He could simulate reality. See the world as two. Do anything in both and cancel one of the simulations. So he gets double the questions and you remember one set because you remember what he asked in the simulation he keeps."
She pales as she understands the implications but holds back her tears.
I pat her on the head.
"You've been very strong Dinah. Very strong and brave. I would love to send you home but I don't know if the bad man gave you anything or did anything to you ok? So I need to drop you at the hospital where they can check if you're ok?"
Her eyes widen and before she says anything I quickly add on.
"The doctors there are real doctors that will do their best to make you better. Not like whatever the guy I killed was doing ok?"
She nods.
I materialize a transmat beacon and hide it in the corner of Coil's room.
"I need you to close your eyes and keep them closed ok?"
She complies.
"This will feel a bit weird." Through my HUD, I check the transmat zones I've set up so far.
1. Woodlands
2. PRT HQ (Office)
3. The Rig (Office)
4. The Docks
5. Boat Graveyard
6. The Market
7. Ferry Station North
8. Ferry Station South
9. Captain's Hill
10. Shantytown and Beaches
11. Trainyard
12. Winslow High
13. Arcadia High
14. Med Hall Hospital
15. Brockton Bay General Hospital
16. Coil's Lair (Office)
I select Brockton General and we disintegrate and materialize in an alley around the back entrance of the hospital. I check that the transmat beacon is still properly hidden then look towards Dinah.
Dinah looks nauseous but holds it together.
"Look at me Dinah. You feeling alright? Can you hold it together for a short while longer?"
She nods but keeps her mouth shut.
"There's the entrance for the hospital. People know that you were missing ok? Tell them that you're sick and that you want your parents."
I then project as much seriousness into my voice as I can, "If any police officers, PRT member, Protectorate heroes, or even the doctors ask about where you were and how you got here do not tell them. Only speak to David Renick. He's the PRT Director, everyone's boss at the PRT ENE. He'll come to you as soon as possible. He'll introduce himself as David Renick, Director of the PRT ENE. He'll keep you safe. But, to verify his identity you your code will be "The Stranger's Curse stuck down the great serpent." His code will be "The great serpent that sleeps in the belly of the beast." Do you understand?"
She must have done something with her power because her expression contorts with pain but she nods enthusiastically nonetheless.
I watch her go and my lips twitch briefly in what can be considered a smile.
I transmat back to Coil's lair and throw myself on his obscenely comfortable chair after I confirm that Renick was on his way to see Dinah and knows his code.
I leave the corpses as they are to set the mood for Mr. Barker.
I withdraw The First Curse and place it on the table in front of me after reloading the few bullets I used.
I sit quietly waiting for Michael Barker, the body double to arrive back on base. He knows to see Coil immediately after operations that require his participation.
I get lost in my own head as I wait and contemplate why I didn't keep the obviously powerful precog under my control or add her to my team at least.
Honestly, her help would make accomplishing my goals faster, smoother. But it would be safer for her to stay with the Wards as keeping her with me will paint a larger target on her back. My road is a harsh one. Mine to walk. The little sweet spot I have for kids forbids her presence at my side. My road is not one children her age, powerful precog or not, can endure. She can help by joining Renick out in the Light.
I however, am one who's road is one of The Deep. I must be strong, sharp. To protect humanity ultimately and Brockton Bay presently. There is no proper foundations on Earth Bet for growth to combat the upcoming collapse caused by the Endbringers and general chaos of the Parahuman Age of Villainy. That is without opening the can of worms that is whatever the hell Scion is, and his purpose here. Powers came with his arrival and their introduction brought forth chaos. S as far as first impressions are concerned, I'm not all that optimistic about him.
On Earth Bet and Brockton Bay specifically, everyone is desensitized to the atrocities of the world. Even I was affected. The despair becoming an unseen norm. I used to only aim to maintain the status quo and prolong the carefully crafted balance within society, a balance that would surely lead to doom in however many years it take, than to take the risk and built something sturdier… longer lasting.
So I will start the road to uplift humanity here in Brockton Bay. With Bakuda the gang war is inevitable when the truce ends, and on the other side of the ucoming dark times, I will ensure that the outcome is one where the children can be happy, carefree enough to walk and play in the streets without fear. Where the minorities will not live their lives in fear of being attacked in their own homes.
But this road is one I/Elizabeth Bray have walked for centuries. It is a road built from the bones of our enemies and drenched in their blood. I was always so hypocritical… doing the worst things with the best of intentions. But like I/Elizabeth Bray was willing to doom the Fallen to a disjointed hellish life of roving piracy, by orchestrating the death of their uniter Eramis Kell for the sake of Earth Sol's humanity… like I was willing to kill and kill and kill across time and realities to fight against the dying of the Light… I will do the same on Earth Bet.
But if I start dragging the children into this… powerful Parahumans or not… I will become the same breed of monster that Clovis Bray was. Perhaps I am a different breed of monster than Clovis Bray, a worse kind than he ever was… but I refuse to become the same as him.
It starts here and I will built Brockton Bay's foundations; humanity's foundations in through the Elizabeth Bray Foundation.
I may have my lair outside of Brockton, but I need to establish a proper Bray EXO and Medical Science Facility at a secure location to build the prosthetics and medical tech I have access to. I will need to build more gear as well as complete my Eon Trespass firstly, and other jumpships in the future. Charlemagne will manage everything and grow as a baby Warmind should in the process. He has entered a stage that allows stable growth through self-learning but he needs more time and experience. Maybe he'll surprise me and forge a deal with Dragon Tech to help with distribution.
(I note Med Hall as a pure competitor with the ultimate goal being absorbing it into the Elizabeth Bray Foundation. I will not waste resources, and I will not have the man controlling the company that brings most of the economical stability in the Bay, the man who I shook hands with and spent my time at fund raising campaigns socializing with in hopes of increasing donations to the PRT and Protectorate to have a foot in this city any longer. Not with him being the leader of the Empire 88, one of my despised enemies, Kaiser.)
My role begins here.
It comes to me as clear as the first time I heard it 6 centuries into the dark timeline of Earth Sol, a few months after I killed the Traveller's Chosen; Hero of the Red War; the one with as many titles as there are stars in the sky; after he fell for the temptations of the Dark and abandoned his light. I hear it as clear as ever in that old bard's voice when I was lost and feeling so old and tired. When humanity was doomed to extinction. Our long history devoured by the Winnower's shadow. I hear it echoing in the depths of my mind as I prepare to take the first step on my long road:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the Light.
Though wise men know at their end know the Dark is right,
Because their words forked no lightening they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
As Barker enters the room he stiffens when he sees me sitting on my brand-new base's office chair. My hood heavily shadowing my face and glowing white blue orbs staring right at him.
My First Curse is pointed at him and in a low menacing, authoritative voice I speak, "Come in. Shut the door behind you and stand before me. Your survival depends on it."
When people are thrown in high stress, unexpected situations they tend to follow orders. Michael Barker is no different.
Tonight, I exterminate those solely loyal to Coil.
Tonight I buy off the rest and start gaining loyalty.
Tomorrow, I deal with the Travellers.
When Bakuda's finished and things stabilize I deal with the Undersiders.
It's gonna be a long road ahead of us.