Clash of the Elements Chronicles

by mewmaster93

In the aftermath of Justek's defeat, the heroes enjoy a time of rest and uncertainty regarding their future. What is there to do now that one of their greatest threats has been bested? These are the many tales in the present, that will pave the way towards a greater future...

48. Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Intertwining Threads

After a brief detour for lunch to help Joe Dark settle down a little, Mew sought out Gabriel and had him make a call to one of his allies, asking to meet them outside the Pyramid.

Mew, Joe Dark and Alura went there and waited outside the entrance with bated breath. Joe Dark wondered, "Are you sure they'll be willing to help?"

"Positive! I know how to work them by now." Mew said with a confident smirk, eyeing the entrance as a shadowy figure rushed out into the light.

It was Saturn. Of course it was. What? Expecting Jupiter?

The moment she popped out of the Pyramid she crossed her arms and proclaimed overdramatically, "When justice calls, I answer! Now! Who needs my-"

She bit her tongue staring wide-eyed out towards Mew, who waved his hand up. She swiftly 180'd and tried to dash back into the Pyramid, only for Mew to snag her by the collar and hoist her into the air.

She flailed her limbs around and proclaimed, "Let me go! You can't apprehend a heroine like this, miscreant!"

"Will you settle down and hear us out first?"

She looked over her shoulder and said, "Depends! Have you done away with your perverted schemes?!"

"Y-Yes?" Mew said with a blatantly fake smile.

"Hmmmmmmm...!" Saturn followed up on that by trying to thrust her heel into Mew's waist, but he nimbly sucked his stomach in.

Joe Dark then came by and grabbed Mew by the wrist to help put Saturn down, "Enough of these shenanigans!"

Mew pouted as he hesitantly let the little ball of fury go. As Saturn turned around Joe Dark crossed his arms and looked her dead in the eyes.

"So apparently you're a technological genius, is that correct?"

Saturn propped up her glasses and said following a huff of pride, "That maaaaaay be an understatement!"

"Can you track down any person on the planet?"

"It'd be as easy as finding a Combubee in a solar flare!" Saturn boasted with a smirk.

"Including where they've been?"

"Does it look like I'm worried?" She said with her fists propped on her hips.

"Even if they've been part of a secret government conspiracy?"

"I eat those for breakfast!"

"Then-"

Saturn put her fingertips on Joe Dark's lips and proclaimed, "Is this leading to an actual challenge or are ya gonna let me get to work?"

She then quickly whipped out a portable tablet with hard light screen and her fingers tapped away like heavy raindrops, "So! Who you looking for?"

"Judas Jeremiah." Said Joe Dark with determination.

"Judas...Jeremiah..." Saturn muttered as her fingertips blitzed the screen so fast it'd be damaged if it was glass. She then cracked a smirk and said, "Heh, amateurs. They think they can just wipe out their data from the internet...Fools! Data leaves a footprint behind no matter what! And if I just follow the footprints back to their origins...!"

"Bam!" She slapped the pad with an open hand and then turned, thrusting it up towards Joe Dark's face, "Here's everything the internet tried to hide about your man!"

Mew leaned in to take a look. There were a lot of obvious things like biographies, interviews, news stories. He WAS the Secretary of Defense for America after all. But then it starts to get a little more interesting further down. Gossip. Reports of secret labs. The data for these articles weren't fully recompiled but painted a clear picture that there was something being hidden from the world. No big surprise.

Joe Dark stared but it was clear he held little interest, "Mmmm this is a start, but we need the location of his top-secret base."

"Oh!" Saturn pulled the tablet back, "Why didn't you say so!"

Joe Dark propped a hand on his hip and sighed.

"Now you know my pain..." Thought Mew with a chuckle.

"Single out all the locations in the articles...Narrow it down to the one mentioned the most..." As she got to work Mew poked his head up and saw that she had pulled up a map of America, specifically zooming in on Arizona.

"Hmmm, lets run a scan for heavy electronic activity..." A piercing sound came form her tablet as a red light ran over the state, going "Ding ding ding!" as it stamped a glowing red light in the southwest part.

"Haha!" She turned and rubbed the tablet in Mew's face, "Once again my talents have put you to shame, nemesis!"

"W-We're we even challenging each other...?" Mew muttered as she pulled the tablet back and put it at a more comfortable length before Joe Dark's face.

"So that's where it is..." Joe Dark's fingertips dug into his arms to the point his bones cracked.

"So what's up with this guy anyways?" Saturn inquired.

"None of your business." Joe Dark barked back.

"Hmph! Well if that's how you're gonna act..." Saturn started motioning for the "delete" button.

Mew raised his hand towards Joe Dark and told him, "Ease up, we need her help."

With her finger atoms away from the button Mew said, "Our family's kinda had a long history of problems with the guy. Now that he's dead we thought now'd be the good time to raid his base and get some answers as to why."

Saturn pulled back immediately and tucked the tablet into her pocket, "Really? Well from a brief look at things this guy had his fingers in a lot of pies, if you know what I'm saying."

Joe Dark leaned to the side and muttered bluntly, "No. I don't."

Saturn threw her hands up in a shrug and spoke slower, "He's a shady man with shady dealings. I can't believe he managed to escape my sights for THIS long!"

She crossed her arms hard against her chest and proclaimed, "Alright! You had my interest, now you have my curiosity! Lets go raid his base and undo his entire conspiracy! FOR JUSTICE!"

"Joe Dark...?" Alura spoke up, "I don't get it. What's going on?"

Joe Dark looked at her and replied, "Alura, this has nothing to do with you. If you want to go home and wait for us to get back..."

"But this does have something to do with you, Joe Dark," Alura placed a hand on her chest and frowned, "I'll come with. I...think that's ok?"

"...Ok fine," Joe Dark said with a relaxed sigh, "But don't do anything on your own. We might run into resistance."

"Ok." She gave an obedient nod.

"Gimme just oooooone moment..." Saturn looked over her trusty watch and hovered her finger around in circles above it. She then glanced above her glasses and said, "By the way, hope you haven't had any lunch!"

"Ah sh-" Mew and Joe Dark had a collective gasp as she slammed down on the button.

All four of them blinked and the next thing they knew they were being shunted through hundreds of millions of atoms at ludicrous speeds. And when they finished blinking they were now dropped off in the middle of a desert.

Mew fell on his knees and Joe Dark fought his body tooth and nail to not do the same. Alura's eyes twirled around, ending with her collapsing onto her back with a hard thud. Saturn meanwhile glanced over them and said, "Ooookay, still need a few more touches..."

Mew pulled himself up and while Joe Dark helped Alura up he took a look around. Desert sands, crags and cacti stretched out as far as the eye can see.

And naturally, this meant much hotter weather, which, given their company...

Mew immediately looked to the two shut-ins and saw their skin glistening with sweat, as their eyelids drooped.

"Good god this is insufferable..." Joe Dark muttered.

"My body feels like...ice cream..." Alura followed.

"You two..." Mew groaned and placed a hand on his hip. While he wasn't looking, Saturn had already run off a good fifty feet northbound.

"Hey! Wait up!" He ran after, and the other two lagged behind through the sand.

Saturn hunched down beside a shattered triangular rock and ran her finger through the hot sand. Mew knelt down beside her and said, "Alright super genius, what next?"

She "gently" put her hand in his face and shoo'd him off, "Let me work in peace."

By then Joe Dark wandered in and said, "In the desert of all places...He's tormenting us from beyond the grave!"

Mew snapped his fingers out and provided the two shut-ins with a little cool air. He then crossed his arms and watched as Saturn crawled on hands and knees through the sand, thoroughly digging her finger into it.

"Couldn't you just like...have hacked into the internet to find the base's direction location?" He remarked.

"What?! That's stupid! You're stupid!" Saturn barked, looking over her shoulder, "Even technological neanderthals are gonna notice something's up! And as you know, I am a very subtle worker!"

"Uh huh." Mew and Joe Dark muttered.

Suddenly Saturn stopped in place and patted her open palm against the sand, producing a couple clunky, metallic sounds.

"Theeeeere we go, the front door!" She stood up and threw the sand off her lab coat with a gesture, then spun around and slowly strutted her way back. Along the way she whipped out her tablet and aimed a scanning ray at the ground.

"So there should be a circuit box or secret entrance button nearby..." She stopped in front of the broken rock, rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Pleeeeeease..." A few taps on the tablet later and some energy wires popped out of her tablet, feeding themselves into the cracks to provide one quick, mighty electrical surge.

"I know your planet's behind the times, but its insulting how easy this is." Most of Saturn's boasting was drowned out by a shrill creak coming behind her.

The sand was thrown aside by a thick rising plate of metal, slanting, unattached to any joints. A long staircase into cold, hostile darkness awaited them.

Mew stepped onto the first step and said, "Alright lets take this nice and slow, we-"

Joe Dark walked down the stairs with his body tensed up with a glare, Alura at his back. Saturn trotted down like this was a garden stroll. Mew crossed his arms, shrugged, and followed them down.

The only sound was their footsteps, echoing in the hollow corridors. Saturn used her body's aura as a makeshift light when the darkness got too thick.

Deeper, deeper they went. 50, 100, 150 feet into the Earth. The heat of the desert was an afterthought. So far, not a single alarm was going off.

Announcing that as such was just asking for fate to intervene.

Saturn started moving towards the walls and glided her hand across it. Her curious hums got Mew's attention.

"The material on these walls aren't made from Earth compounds..." She said.

"They aren't?" Mew thought about it for a moment. True, he hadn't sensed this place on the way here. But...not from Earth?

"You don't think we've stumbled onto Area 51 do you?" He couldn't help but run his mouth a little.

As Joe Dark groaned Saturn turned her head and looked insulted, "Area 51, are you for real?"

She slapped the wall and the sound reverberated throughout the corridor, "If aliens came to your world now it'd be obvious! Most invaders aren't subtle!"

"I'm just saying..." Mew softly responded.

"...Though, It IS weird that this kind of metal is here." Saturn remarked, peeling away from the wall.

200, 250, and finally 300 feet into the Earth they finally saw something new. Well, "saw" in quotations there. It was still dark as hell but the space they walked in began to widen at least. And widen, it most certainly did.

If his Earth senses failed him then at least by focusing on the Air Mew felt that the room they were in was as large as a football stadium. And there were a lot of desk strewn about. But they weren't traditional desks. The tops were slightly detached from large, rectangular boxes full of dormant electricity. There were also a couple corridors leading down to other rooms, which led to more corridors and more rooms. Hints of glass could be found, which is about the most normal thing he could sense.

It'd be a waste of time to try searching around this way. They needed to light this place up, and fast. But more importantly...

"This place is empty..." Joe Dark noticed the same thing he did. No humans. No robots. Not even aliens. Nothing. No one at all. But there had been someone here recently. The dust in the air had barely formed.

"Saturn, I think there's some computers in this room." Was all Mew had to say to get her moving.

"On it!" She hopped away from the group and wandered over to one of the nearby desks, "Hmmm, interesting. Every one of these desks IS a computer."

She whipped out her handy tablet and weaved the same energy wires between the keyboards keys, "But all I need is one to get the job done!"

"Guess we'll give her a couple minutes to hack in-"

The sounds of lights clicking on filled the room and Saturn triumphantly burst into laughter, "Ha ha ha! I'm unstoppable today!"

Mew watched as violet-blue lines of energy shot through the walls, giving the entire room a dull, otherworldly but arctic tint to it. The top of the desks whirred to life, rising up a couple inches thanks to some sort of anti-gravity field. Then they all clicked on, a warm buzz filling the room from the machinery below.

The computers stretched all the way to the other side of the room, with a raised platform at the center overlooking a large monitor. And there was a hovering chair before each of those computers.

"Eerie..." Murmured Mew.

"Your assessment might not have been far off Mew..." Followed Joe Dark.

Saturn turned around and scanned the room in a second, following up with a nudge of her glasses, "Hmm, interesting...Even given a good economy and social upbringing you shouldn't be capable of this kind of technology for another century at least!"

"Not so crazy now am I?" Said Mew as he waltzed down the steps with his brother.

"Hmph! Everyone gets one," Saturn remarked in a strained tone. She then crossed her arms and started wandering down between the desks, "So this place looks like its been abandoned completely. Think the guy's gone running?"

"He's dead." Joe Dark said coldly.

"WHAT?!" Saturn spun around and nearly fumble her glasses off her face, "So I ain't even gonna arrest anyone?! That's like, the best part of conspiracy busting!"

"Just do your job and get us into his databanks." Joe Dark remarked as he walked past her.

She propped her fists on her hips and leaned towards him, "Say the magic word."

Joe Dark froze, twitched, and clenched his fists and teeth, "Please."

She clapped her hands over her head louder than thunder and proclaimed, "Will do!"

She threw herself onto the closest chair and started tapping away at the keyboard. Joe Dark wandered around with Alura to his back, the both of them staring at the computers hesitantly.

Mew lagged behind and looked at Saturn's work. She was opening, closing, and opening new windows so fast that all of them melded together as a blur.

"So what's the verdict so far?"

"Well for one, these guys got crappy security walls. I'm blitzing through them like fly paper!" She said with a pleased snicker, "As a note though, I disabled all the traps, just to be safe."

"And the data?"

"Weeeeeell you guys know more about that than I do sooooo," She picked up her pace for a few more seconds and then slapped her hands down on the keyboard fully, "There we go!"

She peeled away from the computer and swung her arm out towards it, "I compiled the data and implemented a search function into each and every computer in the facility! So go nuts!"

Mew crossed his arms and smiled softly, "Sometimes your versatility impresses me."

"Hehe! A swiss army knife wishes it could do what I do!" She then hopped off the chair.

Mew cupped his hands to holler out to his brother, "You hear that Joe?! Just type in whatever you want to find!"

Joe Dark turned and then sat down at the computer in front of him. He sprawled his fingers out and hovered them over the keyboard. He rested for a few moments, then let out a tiny groan.

"Are you ok Joe Dark?" Asked Alura.

"...Whatever I find in these databanks, I know it'll be unpleasant." He settled his fingertips atop the keys and took in a very deep breath.

"But if this will give me the answers I seek..." His body stiffened up some more as he gazed deep into the floating computer screen.

"...How does this thing work?" He said, deflating the tension in his own body for the moment.

"Its just like any other computer!" Saturn hollered across the room, "Don't be intimidated by the fancy-shmancy coat of paint!"

"Hmmm, alright..." Joe Dark took another breath in and began typing slowly.

Mew meanwhile, sat at his own computer and started fiddling around with the search bar. The text was in a nice readable font, not too big, not too small, and not comic sans.

"Where should I start?" He knew very little about the man of the hour, so hey, that actually sounds like a good place to begin.

"Judas...Jeremiah...biography..." Those three words gave him access to a lot of entries and a very painful scratching noise from the computer itself.

"Ack!" And to make matters worse there were huge chunks of black spaces torn out of the articles.

"Oh yeah forgot to mention, a lot of the data was corrupted. Sorry, not much I can do about that!" Saturn's apology definitely sounded a little cheeky there.

"..." Mew shrugged and resumed looking at the articles to see what he could find, "Judas Jeremiah...born in Kentucky...Had a wife...Hmmm, doesn't look like they had kids though. Likes coffee...figures."

"Seems like a bunch of generic 'I'm totally a good guy 101' masking here. Maybe if I take a look at his policies..." There wasn't much room in his brain for interest in politics, but he occasionally dabbled. Might as well when there's no good reruns on...

"Judas Jeremiah...politics..." He typed in, getting a thinner selection of results. But of note there was one that clearly said "The Ultimate Warrior Reborn Project", even if half the letters were scrubbed out.

"Oh hang on now..." He said in a higher voice so his brother could hear, then clicked open that file.

"The bill has been passed. Adoptions are no longer allowed. I am certain this will make it easier to obtain stray children for use in our tests."

"What?" Joe Dark uttered disdainfully as he turned from his chair and stared across the room at him.

"There's a lot of black spaces here, hold on..." Mew scanned the article until he got something more clear and concise.

"Subject 09874 has shown symptoms unlike the rest. The DNA bonding process might be a success with this one."

"DNA...DNA..." Mew closed his eyes and tapped on the side of the keyboard. A vague mention of the word "DNA" cropped up in his memories of talking to Alex all those years ago. Something about being bonded with Saiyan DNA?

"...Joe, I think I found something pertaining to Alex." He stated hesitantly, hearing as his brother scrambled off his chair and ran right over, shoving him aside.

Mew dug his feet down to stop the spinning and then said, "I can tell you how to access it you know..."

"Shut up for a minute." Joe Dark whispered as he glared at the file.

But all he'd find were more black spaces covering up the more important parts, culminating in him gritting his teeth and slapping both hands down on the keyboard as he walked away.

Mew then slid back in and stared at where Joe left in, giving his brother a worrying look in the meantime.

"So what else is this hiding...?" He decided to delve just a little deeper before moving on.

"Subject 09874 has returned at long last. I've prepared for this moment. Everything is in place. The ultimate machine Divine Tragedy Apocrypha shall capture the rogue subject and allow me to complete the Ultimate Warrior Reborn Project. Finally. Finally. FINALLY. The gods will quake in fear. My vengeance shall come in an inferno to bleed the heavens dry...! Finally. Finally. Finally. Finally. Finally. Finally..."

Mew scrolled back up a little ways and bit his lower lip, "Weirdo...Huh?"

He stopped the scroll in the middle of the article. There was a link to another one just floating right there, inviting him to click on it.

Another window popped up with a ton of new information that was uncorrupted. The article itself was labeled "Subject 09874: Alex Whiter."

"..." Mew closed his eyes and felt his heart pounding faster as he began to scan the article.

"Day 000: Subject Alex Whiter has been captured. Unfortunately, we had failed to apprehend his parents. But their powers should be dormant in the child. He should make for the perfect recipient to the Saiyan DNA we acquired."

"Day 001: Subject is convulsing after the DNA injections. Eyes have hollowed out. Skin is becoming patchy. Whatever makes him different is keeping him alive longer than the others."

"Day 005: Subject's convulsions have stopped. We have begun skin treatments. Now begins the next step of testing. Electrical volts set for 1 million. We must start easy, then work our way up. If we can just contain the power within..."

"Day 027: Subject has shown little responses when prompted. Treatments still going..."

"Day 039: Subject has begun moving. Volts now up to 10 million. The straps on his wrists are bending to his movements. Pressure weighing in at...XXX...It seems the bonding process is a success."

"Day 054: Subject has broken free of his restraints for the third time. Metal is proving inefficient now. We must go to the next level. This has proven to be greater than I could have possibly imagine."

"Day 055: Physical interaction has been allowed between the subject and other members of the facility. They have been cautioned to keep a safe-distance. His body is twitching. His eyes are aware like a monkey's...The DNA infusion process is a success. Now to test his strength..."

"Day 059: Trained soldiers are being thrown around like dolls. Even at this young age the subject's strength surpasses the average adult. We are creating a monster. My monster. My little godslayer..."

"Day 097: Inhibitor tune has been ingrained in the subject's consciousness. He will now obey my orders without question. In solitude, subject whistles said tune to himself with a smile. Such deranged, white teeth...If I do not take every measure possible, he could turn against me. If I create Death, then let it not be mine..."

"Day 142: Subject has started thrashing in his room. We have picked up traces of blood and fingernails off the ground in our attempt to restrain him. The inhibitor tune requires a stronger frequency..."

"Day 154: Subject...nearly killed someone today. I did not teach him that. Something is very, very wrong here..."

"Day 167: Subject has killed another. Our faculty is prepared to dispose of the subject if necessary. No. That will undo EVERYTHING. I shouldn't let his lust for blood go unattended...Its time to feed him his first prey."

"Day 200: An interesting discovery has been made. The subject's brother, whom we long thought deceased, has reappeared in the custody of the Dark family. He must be acquired immediately, for if he contains the same power as his brother, then our army will be able to grow."

"Day 210: We are being watched. The Dark's matriarch is growing suspicious. How MUCH does he know? No...no no no...This is exactly as I want it. Its perfect. Perfect...perfect...perfect..."

"Day 211: The plan will be implemented as follows...The Dark Family is gathered for their yearly reunion. Subject 09874 will be sent in to kill them all. Every last one of them. The brother will be extracted and brought in for testing. This will kill two birds with one stone."

"Day 212: The Dark Family has been eliminated. The target was nowhere to be found. Risk of exposure was too high to warrant a search. That's fine. The child will have nowhere to run. I'll have two agents hunt him down immediately. But our subject proved successful. He suffered no wounds from bullets. He has become what I've always wanted him to be."

Mew felt his stomach curl and started speeding ahead through most of the article, leaping further ahead in time.

"Day 547: Subject has taken to his old home nicely. Being granted some degree of freedom has helped his nerves. We have began extracting his DNA and using the formulas at hand, we've determined that we could start building our army of ultimate warriors. But first, I must use this DNA to help..."

"Day 748: Still no sign of the subject's brother. Our men are being shot down before they can capture him. How long must this subterfuge continue? All aspects of the Dark family have been wiped out. Does his ghost dare to stand in my path?! No...no...only I can deny Death's door...It...it is impossible for him to..."

"Day 841: I've done it...the DNA worked. She's walking again, good as new."

"Day 1047: STILL the subject's brother remains on the run. He is just a CHILD...how hard can it be to capture him?! I may just have to send out Alex Whiter...no...no...Don't get reckless. If the two subjects meet, their familial bond could undo everything."

"Day 1478: I still run the occasional tests on the subject. His strength continues to grow. Now he can fly. And bullets from gatling guns bounce off him. Its not enough...I assumed by pressuring him this much it'd awaken his own dormant power just like I was told it would. To come this far just to still see failure at the end of the road...No, I refuse to accept this result. The gods must pay...the gods must pay...the gods must pay..."

"Day 2038: SUBJECT HAS ESCAPED. No. No. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO."

"Day 2038. Part 2: ...How. Is this an act of spite? Do you fear retribution that much, oh He who rests on an ivory throne? The subject has been lost...his brother following him...A portal opened up. I have seen confirmations of higher power in my life. The existence of Saiyans in reality confirmed that which we thought was impossible. That not only are we not alone in this universe, but fiction is real. But what I saw...What I saw...Fucking SUPER MARIO hopped out of a portal and kidnapped MY WARRIOR...MY WEAPON...! No...no no no...there has to be a bright side to this. Yes. No...Yesssss...This...this is all within calculations. A new world will push him to his limits and make him even more powerful. He will return. He is loyal to me. And then, it'll all be over..."

"Day 2045: The subject had returned...but something had changed. He felt...stronger. No. Beyond strength. He was not here for long. He created a clone of himself, then returned through a portal to what I can only assume is the same world as before. His brother is nowhere to be found...and I cannot hope to control a clone as well as I did the original. Should I continue to watch over this? Has...my road truly come to an end? Must I continue to observe, and wait, for my chance to make the heavens fall?"

"Day ?: I have received a message from an unknown source. Its not the same person as our benefactor, yet one who shares the same familiarity with our subject. He expressed worry towards our subject becoming a force of destruction. I for one could only be delighted at that description...while my undying soul quaked in fear. I formed an alliance with this stranger to create a weapon that would keep Alex Whiter in line, should we return to seek vengeance. I know he will. It is only a matter of time."

"Day 3517: SUBJECT HAS RETURNED." On that day, Judas Jeremiah died.

Beyond all those journal entries were video files but Mew quickly shut the window so there'd be no temptation to peek. He then slacked back into the chair, raising the fingertips of a hand to his face as he digested all that he read...

"So Judas Jeremiah knew all about Alex and Joe's heritage, and wanted to use their power to test Saiyan DNA...In order to build a super army to fight the Gods?" This was layered with a feeling of melancholy, and a ruffling of his nose.

He coiled his hand into a fist and pounded the arm of his chair as he turned towards the computer, "It couldn't have just been the Dark's. How many people died for his ambitions? All this was going on and nobody did a thing to stop it...God Alex..."

Looking at the screen anymore drained him of energy. He had to get up and gather his thoughts via a brisk walk, "But there's something bothering me. The journal was written as if Judas Jeremiah was in league with someone. But who...?"

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Mew's body went cold. The visceral sound of a child screaming through a high voltage screech ruptured his ears and made him turn towards Joe Dark.

He clung to the sides of the keyboard and stared deeply into the flashing computer screen. His skin was fully pale, and his whole body was in tremors.

"Shit...!" Mew clicked his tongue and ran over as fast as he could. He tried to wrench his brother's hands from the keyboard but he clung on without moving an inch.

"Joe! Cut the footage! Cut it now!" He lost control of himself and took a glimpse, watching the birth of a monster unfold before his very eyes.

Alex Whiter, no more than six years old, was electrocuted down to the bone. His screams ripped from a burning esophagus. Judas Jeremiah observed from the safety of behind glass, his expression tired, unmoving and uncaring.

The video ended and jumped to the next one without prompt. Alex stood in that same room, half his body limping as he dragged a man in a protective suit up by his neck. He laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

Then without warning, he rammed the pleading man's head into the wall, splattering it into blood, bone and gray matter.

And he laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

At only six years old, he laughed...and cried.

Mew pulled away from a thickening air of tension around Joe Dark, whose face twitched as he barely held onto a thick grimace.

He tore the keyboard from its stand and bashed it into the computer screen. Metallic parts flew through the air as sharp metal plates bore into his skin. His blood trickled out long after the keyboard and computer were considered functional, as his grunts were fueled by a bestial instinct.

"HEY HEY HEY!" Saturn hollered as she ran up from the other side, attempting to constrain Joe Dark's hands with her aura, "If you keep this up we'll lose all the data!"

Joe Dark's eyes were red and soaking wet as he ripped his mouth open wide, "WE WERE PEOPLE!"

The room went silent, as he stood there and gasped for air between his sobs, "WHERE IS ALEX'S LIFE NOW?! HE TOOK IT AWAY! GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT ALL BACK!"

He broke through the restraints and smashed the remains of the computer down into the floor, cracking it. He then rested on his knees, whimpering loudly to himself.

Alura hung over him, frozen stiff unable to do anything but watch. Mew felt equally helpless, but didn't move. Didn't speak. Not until his brother got all his tears out.

"All this time...all this time...I blamed him," He shook his head and his words started to get difficult to hear, not out of volume, but from the pain in his voice, "I-I can't get that time back...he's gone...he's gone...he's gone damn it!"

He pounded the ground once, then went silent.

"Joe Dark..." Alura whispered, her hand beginning to rise, only to sink back down...

"..." Mew closed his eyes and turned away with a gruff sigh. He then nudged his head towards Saturn and the two of them walked off.

Saturn tucked her hands deep in her pockets and shivered aloud, "That sound's gonna keep me up tonight..."

"Could you show at least a little tact?" Mew grunted in annoyance.

Saturn flashed a glare towards him and then adjusted her glasses back into place with a tiny pout. She then took a few steps ahead of him while remarking, "...If I had known about this man I assure you he never would've kidnapped a single child."

Her tone lacked its usual energy, but the spring in her step remained the same. She hopped back onto a computer and continued typing away.

Mew glanced over towards his brother and then lowered his hands into his pockets, "The only thing we can do now is uncover the truth so this can't happen again."

He settled back in front of the computer from before and silently tapped away at the keyboard for a few minutes, lingering on where to go from here.

"Think...how far can this conspiracy have gone? He was Secretary of Defense. Did the President know? Other world leaders? I'd hate to think that but..." Mew shook his head and sighed, "No. This man's ambitions seemed like a single-minded focus on the Gods in particular...I doubt he'd get any world leaders to agree to that."

"...Still." He decided to type the man's name and the word "God" together. His only results were what he'd already seen.

"No dice, hmmm..." He decided to try another target. "Allies". Nothing either.

"...Wait a minute." He leaned closer to the screen and backpedaled to the last entry. On the article he read before there was a link to another article that had slipped under his notice.

He clicked on it and was taking to a list of documents regarding the entire extended Dark family. All of them were crossed out with a red "Eliminated", save for Joe Dark...and another.

There was a paper detailing a middle-aged man with an unassuming, salaryman appearance, slight hint of a beard, and scruffy hair. His name was Julius Talbain. Height, weight, age, background, it was all there. He was a butler for Joe Dark's adoptive father...but according to the document, he was fired from the job a year before his master was killed. He was considered someone to be watched even then. And according to the records his last known location as the Dark Manor in Washington state...three months ago.

"What the hell? That's super recent."

Mew turned his chair back and said softly, "Joe, I think you'll want to see this."

Joe Dark rose to his feet like a puppet with strings on his back and wandered over, rubbing his eyes dry on the back of his hand.

"What?" His voice cracked.

"Do you recognize this man?" Mew gave him some space to look.

"..." Joe Dark hesitated, then turned his head aside. His eyes widened and with a spark of life, he murmured out, "Julius...? H-He's still alive?"

"Supposedly. He was your family butler?"

"I...vaguely recall that." Joe Dark weakly scratched the back of his head and sighed.

Mew snapped his fingers back and said, "Hey Saturn, do you think you could print out a copy of the data on Julius Talbain?"

"I could give a try." She replied.

"Mew, I-"

"I don't know, he might be worth seeking out. He knew your second dad after all." Mew leaned into the chair and crossed his legs.

"..." Joe Dark stared at the computer some more and hovered his hand over the keys.

"Joe," Mew said softly, "You read the whole journal too, didn't you?"

"..." He tensed up at the hand.

"Sorry, sorry..." Mew waved his hand in the air, "I'll drop-"

"He knew."

"Huh?"

"...He knew what we were," Joe Dark turned his head back with an unease scowl, "What our PARENTS were..."

"Yeah, but..." Mew bit his tongue to pause, "Wait..."

"..." Mew quickly leaned back into the computer and started typing rapidly into the search bar "Sancturia". Him and Joe Dark had their eyes glued to the screen as, after a long few seconds, results suddenly popped up.

"...Holy, shit." Mew gasped in shock.

Mew slowly moved the cursor to the first article and opened it. Most of the information was blacked out.

"Apxil Xrd, 19XX."

"I have been approached by a mysterious benefactor today. He's come to me with talks of bringing peace to my world. I do not fully buy his words, but his offerings are...persuasive to say the least.

The technology he provided are leaps and bounds beyond what we're capable of now. For the first time in centuries, I can take my progress further. I asked for his name, but he said he'll provide it...only if I accustom myself to this technology."

"XXy 7th, X97X."

"Incredible. In just a few years time I've managed to create a new base of operations, undetectable by any man made device. The man who gave me this technology appeared right away, as if he was watching over me, and congratulated me on a job well done.

And then, to my surprise, he told me that he'd been watching me for a while with great interest. Somehow, he knew of my greatest secret. But he had no intent of undermining me. He wanted to work together towards the same goal: Of fixing this broken world, and freeing it from the influence of heroes, villains, and gods alike.

He said he'd come again and tell me more about himself, and where he comes from. And also...that he had something he wanted me to do."

"April 10th, XX98."

"How long has it been since that day? I almost thought he'd never show his face again. This is a new life for me, the number of which I've long lost track of. I tell this to him and he laughs. His is the face of a man who has not seen a day of age upon it.

I wanted to know his secrets towards true immortality. He denied me, saying it would be impossible to achieve.

We talked for hours about his home, Sancturia, a city that's been floating dormant over the North Pole for almost two millenia. He was what was called an Aurian, a race of warriors. Still though, he was reticent about his name.

A city of warriors floated just above my planet. I had been wary of aliens for a long time...There were many men across many lifetimes I had assassinated in secret under the assumption they were not from our world. He confirmed that each and every one was a member of his race.

...He said that with a straight face. He was planning something by this. He KNEW I knew of this. But he only smiled, while I could only listen. I stared into the face of pure power and realized just how small even a God could feel in its presence."

"July XXX, XXXX."

"He appeared again, reminding me of the objective he wanted me to do.

'Soon in time a member of my race will descend upon the planet, giving birth to two children: Alex and Joseph Whiter. If you wish to complete your mission of killing the Gods, then you will want those children.'

Spoken in future tense...Just how much did this man know? Rather...how FAR did his knowledge reach?

I became frightened, cowardly. Was this technology I had to be trusted? Should I follow his ideas, just to ultimately provide him with an army?

Or perhaps there was a third answer. I could turn against this man. No. It wouldn't be possible as I am now. But in time, maybe...maybe my ultimate warriors could reduce him, and his floating city to ashes..."

"XXXX, XXX, XX3X"

"Another meeting. This time, it was the shortest of them all. He bid me farewell, and wished me luck. He claimed that next we meet, it'd be in a world that'd no longer no violence or war.

Who'd be stupid enough to believe that? That man was a living, breathing weapon, suffocating others in his false hopes and dreams. All he wanted was power for himself. A man like that is worse than any other God.

But that's fine. Let him stew in his arrogance. Subject 09874 will grow to surpass him one day. He will know fire like I once gave to the first age of man.

Gravitus, you said your name was? You have chosen your executioner, and his true name is Prometheus..."

The journal ended there, leaving Mew's mouth agape, "G-Gravitus...was working with Judas Jeremiah all along?"

"That toothless bastard I killed twice...?!" Joe Dark said through gritted teeth.

"What are you two on about?" Saturn waltzed up to them looking miffed.

"Looks like your old boss was one of the pies Judas stuck his fingers into." Mew said in a frazzled tone.

"Ha ha funny joke." She said, barely humored.

"I'm serious, look!" As Mew threw his hands at the screen Saturn rolled her eyes and shoved him into Joe Dark, pushing them both away.

"This thing isn't made for messing around with you miscreant. Now, I better make sure you didn't mess up the..." As Saturn's eyes locked onto the screen her voice went away.

She hurried her hands onto the keyboard and scrolled through the whole article top-to-bottom, five times over. Her eyes darted around at a frantic pace, then looked in the upper right corner.

She was now typing in a jumbled mess of letters and numbers that had nothing to do with the current situation. Moving her gaze from keys to screen, her skin started to turn paler and paler. Her smile, losing its luster, sank towards a frown.

"No wonder it was so easy to access the servers..." She failed to hide herself saying.

Mew tried to poke his head in but all he caught a glimpse of were blueprints to a ship similar to one of the one's in her space station. She closed the window, laid her hands flat on the keyboard, and hung her head.

"..."

"Told you". Yeah right. What would it accomplish to tell her that now?

"Ha ha ha..." She rose with laughter and nudged her glasses back into place, "T-That's an interesting development..."

She crossed her arms and perked up with a big smile, "This warrants further investigation!"

"Saturn..." Mew tried to extend a hand towards her but she slapped one of hers down on the keyboard and exclaimed, "More importantly though!"

She fiddled on the keys for a few more seconds, "Looks like this base is holding a big, big secret!"

Mew and Joe Dark slowly rolled up to the computer and saw a map of the base. Beyond the many winding corridors appeared a room that was glowing purple, only accessible through "Admin Access".

"When did you...?"

"Oh I found that out before you interrupted me. Might not have anything to do with what you're looking for but hey! Why don't we go check it out anyways?"

"I think we should." Said Joe Dark forcefully.

"You said you disarmed all the traps right?" Mew inquired to Saturn.

"Yes, I'm positive." She replied with a hard nod.

"I don't know, I got a bad feeling about this. Do we have everything we need from the database?"

"I stored it all in MY database, so if you something else just let me know." Saturn waved her tablet around proudly.

"We need to make sure that bastard didn't leave behind a secret weapon or something else equally dangerous." Joe Dark pushed himself past Mew, took one look at the map, then vaulted over the desks towards the nearest hall.

"Right behind you!" Saturn leaped over as well.

Mew stuck to his chair for a moment until he noticed Alura walking past him. Honestly, he had forgotten she was here.

Alura stopped in-between the desks and stared at Joe Dark's back. She sighed, and looked a little bit sad.

"...How are you holding up Alura?" Mew stepped up to her side and patted her on the shoulder.

"Mew..." She tilted her head back with the same expression, "How do I help Joe Dark?"

"Oh." He replied flatly, drawing his hand away.

"She must feel bad about not doing anything when he had that breakdown...She's still a work in progress, I'll keep it simple."

He crossed his arms and told her, "Just show him you care."

"Show him...I care?" She turned her head the opposite direction.

"Yeah. Like, if he's ever feeling angry or sad like that again, give him a hug. That's a pretty simple but effective way of showing it."

"Hugs..." She laid a hand on her chest and closed her eyes, "Ok."

She then floated over the desks to go join up with the others. Mew shook his head with a smile and followed a few seconds after.

The trip down the halls were as silent as when they first entered the base. A time to rest. A time to think.

Blood had been spilled in these halls. But now they were empty.

Then, they rounded one last corner, and came to their destination. Dozens of barricades had pulled aside to reveal this base's greatest secret...

A capsule, standing by its lonesome in a square room with only three steps leading up to it. It could fit an adult man, and had a dry, vein-y membrane on the outside.

By that description, it rang a familiar, if not eerie jingle in Mew's head. "Have I seen this before?" He wandered closer, but Saturn was the one who fiddled with the machine first.

"What is THIS doing here?" She pondered with a hint of familiarity as well.

"Where've you seen it before?" He asked.

"...I don't know." She hesitated, but fine. If she didn't want to say, that's fine. What it did mattered more than where it came from right now.

It was otherworldly, even by the scope of this base. Whereas the rest of the tech was fresh and new, this capsule showed its age. It had been here for a long, long time.

Saturn knelt down before it and pulled her tablet, connecting the two together.

"Doesn't seem like it was worth our time," Muttered Joe Dark, "Its empty."

Mew hung over Saturn's shoulder and remarked, "Thoughts?"

"I'm just getting the same messages over and over again...'DNA Reconstruction process...Complete. Memory back-up and transfer...Complete. Organic Reassembly...Complete. Subject: Prometheus...Rebirth Protocol Achieved."

"Prometheus?" That was a name in Judas Jeremiah's journal...His true name, so he claimed. But all those things Saturn said made it sound like...

"A cloning chamber?" He remarked.

"More like a reincarnation chamber...Look at these." She stood and raised the tablet to Mew's face.

Does he dare another surprise today? Who cares, he supposed, he's gone through so many he's basically numb to them now.

He squinted at the tablet screen and watched it scroll through the repetitive text. The only differences were the dates beside it, starting the earliest at...

"...! 4,000 BC?!"

"What?!" Joe Dark spat up as he walked over and joined them in looking at the screen.

It went down and down, getting closer to the modern age. All the while Mew could only think, "No way. Prometheus...Prometheus...The Greek God who brought fire to man? Is this suggesting that..."

"WARNING! WARNING! UNAUTHORIZED BREECH IN SECURITY DETECTED IN ADMIN QUARTERS! SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED!"

Alarms blared as the lights in the room turned deep red. The three of them turned and saw the doors slowly sealing shut.

"I thought you said you disarmed them?!"

"The capsule must've had its own security measures, bite me!" Saturn slid her tablet into her pocket and hopped into the air, "C'MON! LETS MOSEY!"

Joe Dark grabbed Alura and all of them flew straight out of the room in the nick of time. The whole base rumbled, fire and steam spewing out the vents and walls and into their faces. They made it back to the computer room, as explosions ravaged the path behind them.

A wave of fire followed them up the entrance steps, consuming all in its path. But with nothing in their way they fired right out of the entrance with plenty of time to spare.

The desert surrounding the base erupted skyward into flames with an ear-shattering explosion. Any metal not destroyed in the blast burned up on landing. Mew and Saturn worked in tandem to shield the others from the blast, and when it was over there was a lot of smoke and a lot of questions to be answered.

"Good thing I backed up all the data!" Saturn smirked and pulled out her tablet, only to then proclaim, "Oh what?! The data on the capsule erased itself! Boo! BOOOO!"

Mew collapsed onto his butt, then his back, sprawling out into the hot sand panting for air, "I-I think I'm good on conspiracies for one day thank you very much..."

He closed his eyes and gathered all his ramshackle thoughts into one place, "So to recap Joe...The one who killed our parents was a 6,000 something reincarnating man who received funding from Gravitus, wanted to kill Gods or something, and liked coffee. Is that good? That accurate?"

Joe Dark laid in the sand behind him with no energy surrounding his body. He took in a deep breath and huffed out a sigh.

"...I don't know what to make of this Mew. It feels like I'm even further away from the truth than when we started."

As he tried to sit up he shook the sand off his head, "Damn Judas Jeremiah...Damn Gravitus...Damn every last person who let them get away with this!"

He pounded the ground with his fist and his voice began to crack, "Whether I was abandoned or not my parents would've died all the same...! And yet I live...I'm always the one who lives...!"

He thrust his head down and screamed, "FOR WHAT?!"

Mew had no answer.

He stood up, grabbed his right arm, and said softly, "Lets go home Joe."

Joe Dark curled his hands in the sand and after a few seconds, stood up.

Saturn stood in front of the burning wreckage laughing her ass off like a maniac, "Hahahah! Another conspiracy busted by yours truly! That's what you get for torturing children you slimy crook! Hahahah! Justice always prevails!"

"Saturn," Mew whispered out to turn her around, "We're heading back now. Thanks again for everything."

"Huh? Done already?" Saturn peered around Mew and remarked, "But what about that document on that Julius fellow or whatever...?"

"What does it matter? He's not been a friend of the family for years..." Joe Dark muttered.

"Ugh...! I don't like that give-up attitude!" Saturn stomped over to him, pulled out her tablet, and a few bits of fiddling around later deposited a USB Drive into her palm. She then clamped that into Joe Dark's hands and held them up.

"What are you...?" He grumbled.

"Oh shut up and take it. It's got all the information you need to find that guy. As long as there's a lead you gotta keep following it, yeah?"

"..." Joe Dark's resistance weakened and he slipped the USB in his pocket.

"Great! I hope you find the answers you're looking for Joe!" Saturn hopped a couple steps back and threw her hands into her pockets, "As for me! I got someone I need to visit! If another conspiracy comes to your doorstep, just gimme a ring, free of charge!"

She was zapped by a beam of light and warped off to elsewhere.

Joe Dark pulled out the USB and his eyes sagged while he looked at it. Julius Talbain...the last link to the Dark family name besides him. Maybe...it would be worth his time to find him. He didn't know.

He just, didn't know...

Meanwhile, halfway across the universe...

In the comfort of his lab, Macros overlooked a flurry of documents laid out on his table. Beside him was a four-legged creature that had been bisected down the middle, but was still moving.

"Hmmm, looks like I might need to get some more ivory for this one..."

"KABOOM!" Went an explosion at his door.

He stood upright and calmly turned towards it with his hands behind his back, and a smile on his face.

Saturn came stampeding into the room shouting, "Alright you no good good for nothing menace! I knew I'd figure you out eventually!"

Macros perked upright and said, "Ah Catherine, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?"

She whipped out her tablet full of information she managed to salvage from the capsule and slammed it in his face, "Capsule! Earth! Prometheus! Explain! NOW!"

Macros stared at the tablet for a few seconds and then chuckled, "Oh...so that's where that one got to."

"So you DO know about it! I recognized the build immediately!" Saturn stuffed the tablet in her pocket and then pulled out a pair of cuffs, "You're under arrest buddy! So don't try and wrist-sist."

"As fun and kinky as that sounds Catherine, as usual with your accusations I have no idea what you're talking about."

Saturn lowered the cuffs for a moment and squinted her eyes, "Don't play dumb. Your capsule was helping a megalomaniac reincarnate on Mew's Earth for centuries! Do you have any idea how many people died because he lived so long?!"

"I do not but even if I did the fault doesn't lie on me," Macros closed his eyes and wagged his hand out near her face, "Before you get mad let me explain...The capsules I planted on each planet serve as back-ups, yes, but their primary purpose is to cultivate DNA samples of interest to help further my research."

"The capsule you ran across, Number 789415, wound up outside my control around the time that man started reincarnating. I suspect him poisoning the thing with his DNA mixing with mine had something to do with it. Ergo, I'm not going to take responsibility for what a glitch in the matrix and the whims of an arrogant child caused."

"Again. Do you not get how many people died cause of this?" Saturn remarked, propping her fists on her hips.

"My sincere condolences to them and their families then. Especially the young Joe Dark and Alex Whiter..." Macros took a slight bow but got firm in his voice thereafter, "But need I remind you...I'm a researcher. No paragon of justice like you, yet not a wretched hive of scum and villainy either."

"Hmph...! You're annoying, but I'll let you off with a warning this time Macros..." Saturn turned around and started making her way to the exit.

Macros closed his eyes and turned his head towards his chest, "While your here though, how is that wound doing?"

Saturn froze still and gleamed over her shoulder, "W-What wound..."

An ethereal glow surrounded the man's glasses as he muttered, "The wound on your pride that devilish man inflicted, of course."

He waved his hand out and remarked, "How can you say you truly uphold justice now...Not knowing just how deep that man's deceptions ran behind your back?"

Saturn's eyes and lips wobbled, her fists tightening in her pockets.

"You are a strong defender of justice...And one of the most brilliant minds I have ever met. This world needs to change Catherine, and I believe with your technology we could be the ones to make that change. So? Shall we save the world?" Echoed that man's voice in her head.

"Ghhh...!" She grunted, then stopped and raised her head high. Gently nudging her glasses up by the bridge over her nose, she bellowed out a hearty laugh.

"This doesn't change anything!" She declared, spinning around with her arms crossed before her chest, "I'm still the greatest superheroine in the universe! And a true heroine doesn't let their heart waver in the face of strife! I believe in the same cause as always! To protect the innocent and weak, and put the vile and foul in their place! I am Aurian Saturn of the Planetary Aurians! Just who the HELL do you think I am?!"

Macros' glow faded and he lowered his head with a smile, "Your resolve is one of your charming qualities I must admit."

"Darn tootin'!" With a firm nod of her head Saturn made her way out the destroyed door.

Macros, meanwhile, opened his palm and a holographic screen popped up, showing a list of dates from 6,000 BC towards its most recent entry.

"DNA Reconstruction process...Complete. Memory back-up and transfer...Complete. Organic Reassembly...Complete. Subject: Prometheus...Rebirth Protocol Achieved. Dated: July 15th, 2041."

He closed his eyes and hand and his smile turned to intrigue, "Many interesting faces and events continue to gravitate towards that planet."

He turned towards the door and remarked, "Where will it all lead in the end? I suppose only you would know...'God'."

…

…

Next Time: Who I Am