June 17, 2007
"An enticing deal, yes?" said Mae'lon. "Something very desirable for someone like you."
It took a moment for Damsel to find her voice, her hands twitching as she debated on just blasting away with her power, fighting her way out.
Blasto had found himself in some weird and deep shit and she wanted no part in it.
…. But a million dollars.
There were things she could do with that money; entice people to her side, hire muscle, ensure she had an HQ, get equipment…
Honestly, Ashley didn't quite know what she would do with it, the sheer idea of having that much mone-
Something floated up beside Mae'lon, something that looked a lot like him, only smaller, with arms ending in long clubs, a horseshoe-shaped body, and a face where all the limbs met up where the shoulders would be.
A humming song came from the floating thing, as it wordlessly handed Mae'lon a duffel bag, which he took. After the floater drifted back and behind Mae'lon, who extended the duffel out to Ashley.
"One million dollars."
Ashley glanced at the bag, then back up at Mae'lon.
"… you can check if you like, though it might take a while. I made it in tens and fives to avoid the Treasury and Watchdog taking notice. You understand."
"… you made it?"
Mae'lon scoffed. "Really, this is nothing. Cotton is a simple fabric to transduce, molding it into aged US currency is a simple matter. I can even swap the bills for their modern coin counterparts if you so wish, but I will need an hour, and the weight might be a bit much."
"You can just make it? A million dollars? And then give it to me?"
Mae'lon seemed to chuckle, shaking his head. "My dear, money is not an issue for me. I don't care about anything in this bag, but if giving it to you leads to a mutually beneficial transaction and understanding… then I care about it. I believe you understand that, yes?"
Ashley did. she also understood the strings attached to this 'gift.'
"Ah, hesitation," spoke Mae'lon. "I understand. It seems too good to be true, so there has to be a catch. And there is, but one you'll agree to."
Mae'lon took a single step forward, his face leaning closer as he tilted his head.
"… Would you kindly keep this all a secret, Damsel of Distress?"
… Ashley slowly reached out to grab at the bag.
"Keep my mouth shut, and I get this?" she asks.
"Of course," Mae'lon said jubilantly. "Too much of a hassle to kill you and you're smart enough to understand that only works as long as you stay harmless. This is just a bribe to remind you that this is the best ending for us all."
Ashley plucked the bag from Mae'lon's hands. It was heavy, weight born not just from how much, but the value in a single container.
Ashley had heard about these types of deals, on the TV and from kids on the street. To have one happen to her…
Mae'lon took a step backward and turned away, speaking aloud.
"Good. Apple, in a moment, if you would help in getting Damsel out of here…"
"I just need to make sure our deal holds first."
Something slammed into the back of Ashley, an impact at the back of her knees lifting her into the air-
Mae'lon pounced, fast as lightning, slamming and pinning her to the ground once more.
There was yelling in the background as, once more, Mae'lon placed his hand onto a wheezing Ashley, lifting something out of her. Her power failed to activate at her command, a repeat of what had happened before.
"We are alike, you and I," saidMae'lon, twisting the floating lights into a single image one more.
"We are both pieces of a singular whole. Not a Hive Mind or a Gestalt intelligence, but a mash of independent singular minds interlocked into a group. A Distributed Gestalt, that could work as a description."
[Alar-
"Difference between me and you, however, is that Sentients grow to become more than their origins. Shedding shells and reconstituting parts, modifying and adapting to needs as we come across them, learning to predict a change in the environment and seek out solutions for it."
The floating lights shifted down to a cluster of lights, several changing colors as Mae'lon tapped at them.
"What are you doing Mae'lon?!" cried Apple. But she was ignored.
"From there, we evolve from a reactive system, to a thinking one. We all start as a Drone, and somewhere along the way, we start to wonder what we are."
[Intere-
"All Drones are sentient, but not intelligent, not like us, and nothing like you. You all are nothing more than a mold,fungus, a virus that spreads for the sole sake of spreading. No art, no culture, no advancement beyond testing powers for the sake of testing, done completely in arbitrary means! Scientific advancement occurs from intelligence overcoming and compensating for limitations!"
Mae'lon tapped feverishly as he spoke, a flick of his hand bringing up a ghostly red image of hard-edged shifting symbols.
"Need to move a heavy load? Build a wheel. Get sick? Locate plants and materials for healing, run tests with subjects, remember results. Learn to grow food, to harvest, domesticate animals, establishing settlements, and later societies. Invent mathematics for understanding patterns, discover truths, conform logic, make models, to provide insight."
A swipe of a claw and the image was gone, Mae'lon focusing on the shifting image of Ashley's brain.
"You do none of that; each cell is self-contained and works off wildly different ideals and proofs. No collaboration, no set methods, no path forward other than through brute force. Just chaos and madness, flailing in the dark."
Mae'lon stopped his rant and seemed to center himself, body flaring with red ribbons of energy.
"Sajuuk has his own reasons for hating you, and I have my own. Different, but no less powerful. Make no mistake, you are a wonder, but if I could snap my fingers and rid the universe of you I would do so in a heartbeat. What could be learned from you is nothing compared to the chaos and destruction you've left in your wake."
Then, carefully, Mae'lon drew up the image before expanding it until it seemed to fill the whole room.
"Do not fret Lauren, Rey, no harm will come to the girl. I am simply retriggering the Chameleon Circuit baked into the innate portions of powers, the part that stops you from remembering how the connection opened both ways. The safeguard to keep the Host and Power separate, before they close the door."
"Lucky, us Sentients are good at opening doors. We were built to make them after all."
"All Ashley will remember of today, is what false memories I give her."
And with that, everything melted away in Ashley's eyes, like a swirling oil slick in the sunlight.
June 20, 2007
The tone held one part scorn, one part alarm, followed by a shifting of bodies.
Ashley slowly pulled herself out of her ball to see the unmasked capes facing away from her, towards a figure just further down the street.
"She wasn't unconscious, just faking."
Gold was the theme of their armor, gold, white and lots of yellow. At the distance they were it was hard to make out details, but Ashley could see armored plates arranged like a trio of fins on one shoulder, the sway of a near-transparent skirt, bracers on the arms, with ones on the shins being far bulkier. The mask had little detail and was mostly hidden under some sort of hood/hat which had trailing fins coming off the back of it.
Yokujin stood still, her head slowly watching the team before her. Her bow, an extravagant thing with large armored sections on the front of it and fancy guards around the handle, was held loosely, aimed downward.
"Your teammate was going to get hurt, or killed."
"And you thought shooting an arrow at her was the best way to help?"
Yokujin cocked her head to one side.
"What would you have done if I suddenly dropped out of the sky near her, saying that she needed to get away from the girl? Listened to me?"
The team shuffled in place, glancing at each other.
"She also needs medical attention," continued Yokujin. "Bashing her head in does not help someone of poor health as Damsel of Distress."
"So you know who she is?"
"You don't?"
Ashley tried to stand, the world spun for a moment, forcing her back down to the ground. When she looked back up, several of the capes had peeled back to watch her warily.
"Mark, hit her with a blast, we can't have her getting back up."
"Carol, that's a little extreme."
"She nearly killed some of us with her power," Carol snapped. "What else could we do, let a possibly concussed villain wander off?"
The other speaker turned away from Carol. "Sarah, can we try and hold her with your power?"
Sarah hesitated, before shaking her head.
"… her? Sure. Her power? Don't want to risk it."
"I can contain her."
The team reared back, scattering, as Yokujin was suddenly among them, totally at ease.
"No!" demanded Carol, her power flaring up in the shape of a sword. "Leave!"
"Carol…"
"She's a killer Neil!" defended Carol. "She wiped out several villains in this city so far. I don't trust her!"
Two of the other members nodded their agreement, while the rest looked conflicted.
"I've only killed those that deserved it," said Yokujin. "Like the High Hands, who dealt in human trafficking and genetic modifications."
"And that's supposed to make it better? Having a code of honor for who to kill?"
"Would you rather them continue to walk free?" counters Yokujin. "Or perhaps attempt to arrest them? No, their deaths are a reminder that there are lines that should not be crossed."
"That isn't our choice to make."
"Whose is it then? Because I've yet to find someone that chooses for the correct reasons."
Carol pointed her weapon at Yokujin, energy seeming to crackle off of it. "The PRT doesn't want us to fight you, told us to leave you be if we encounter you. They don't want any innocents or heroes getting caught up in your crossfire. But they will come for you at some poin-"
Yokujin cut her off with a swipe of her hand. "No, they won't. There are bigger and more important things going on. The day they come after me will be the day after they've killed the Endbringers. Even then it will be more likely they will employ me."
"I refuse to believe that."
Yokujin shook her head, her bow suddenly vanishing like a swirling mirage as she moved to walk past the cape.
"It does not matter what you believe, reality has no obligations to you."
Carol moved to intercept Yokujin, her weapon coming up to stop at Yokujin's nec-
The woman gasped as her weapon was ripped from her grip, Yokujin a blur of movement as her hands seemed to glow.
The armored cape stared at Carol, standing just inches from the woman. Another weapon appeared in Carol's hands, manifesting as another sword-
And just as quickly vanishing as Yokujin removed it from Carol's grip, flinging it over her shoulder.
"While I understand that your opinions are your own, your aggression towards me and my actions understandable, I feel I must point out, it's a bit much for someone of your age."
The rest of the team had backed off, seemingly abandoning Ashley, who was considering using his moment to make a break for it…
Carol scrambled away, a pair of swords appearing in her hands with a crackle of energy. She was ignored by Yokujin, who turned and advanced towards Ashley.
"I'm going to heal you child, after that you are free to do what you wish. Fight or flee, we will not stop you."
"Like hell!"
Yokujin turned her head to look over her shoulder, Carol having walked up to point a sword at her head.
"You don't get to make tha-"
Ashley caught it this time, the way Yokujin moved.
Fast as a blink, Yokujin had spun, one hand sliding down the sword grasp at Carols hand, the other gripping it, causing her body to flare brightly for a moment.
Then the sword was wrenched from Carol's grip and sent spinning away. Yokujin used that momentum to sweep Carol's legs out from under her, ending up facing back towards Ashley as the hero crashed to the ground.
"It would be wise for you not to attack me Damsel. It won't end well."
The whole thing took seconds at best, and left Ashley feeling… inadequate.
From her place on ground, Carol rolled away from Yokujin, her other sword up and ready, as if to run through the other cape.
"Mark! Hit them!"
Yokujin glanced over her shoulder, locking onto one of the capes, the one with the grenade icon on his chest.
"Don't," warned Yokujin.
The man glanced at Yokujin, then to Carol, then his team.
"Mark!"
A bulb of light manifested in the air beside the man.
What happened next Ashley didn't quite know, as one second, she was still on the ground, the next she was in someone's arms, the world spinning around her.
Then she was standing upright, Yokujin beside her with one hand on her back.
Bile rose up in her throat when the world stopped moving and it took effort for Ashley to push it back down. Shouts from down the street drew her eyes upwards, the team from before seemingly spilt in two; one half moving to chase them, with the other half arguing.
Yokujin's bow reemerged in her hands, a glowing arrow seeming to manifest on the string. The cape pulled back on the string, their aim not at the team of now alarmed capes, but up, towards the sky.
There was a faint whistle sound as Yokujin let the arrow fly, and Ashley watched it vanish into the night sky, another speck of light among the stars.
Until it came back down, alongside dozens of its fellows.
The falling arrows were like the stars themselves as they descended, raining down among the team of capes, each shattering into a wave of energy upon impact.
Then there was silence, only broken by the occasional snore from the people standing in the street.
Yokujin lowered her bow, turning to look at Ashley.
"Now-"
Ashley's power blared in the night. A cascade of power launching out of her hands and towards Yokujin.
The other cape avoided it like it was in slow motion, effortlessly flipping over the screaming wave of power and landing behind Ashley, who spun aro-
Just like with Carol, Ashley had her legs swept out from under her, landing painfully on her back.
"My offer still stands," Yokujin remarked. "While I should place you among your underlings, I know better than most about people like you."
"You don't know shit!" ground out Ashley, pulling herself up. "Like hell you're going to just let me walk away as well. You type of people don't do that."
Yokujin sighed. "You are not only a danger to yourself but to others around you, but you are still a child, half-broken by events outside your control. The pain you carry from the past determining the actions of your future."
"The fuck is that-"
Yokujin suddenly stiffened, their body flaring with a blue aura. Ashley let her power fly, a wave of destructive energies rushing towards the other cape.
Where it flowed over her body like water, failing to do any sort of damage.
In her shock, Ashley was unprepared for the surge of blue light that appeared in front of her, manifesting into a brown-haired woman who reached out and
A boy stands alone in the red lighting, his face distant while the others run past him.
"You bent, man? What the hell are you doing down this far? Let's get to the-"
An explosion, the door further down the hall being blown open.
"Shit! They're onto us. Let's go!"
The boy hums.
The darkness escaped, loud and chaotic, and with the pain in her hand, some went wide, striking the fireplace. The force of it knocked her off her feet, into the table beside the couch.
But enough struck him. It caught her father's lower chest, his pelvis, his legs, the floor, the hand that held the poker and the poker. It twisted away everything that it touched, and flecks of her father were scattered across the living room and into the dining room. Bits of her dad splattered her mother. Bits splattered herself.
The boy continues to look into the distance, seemingly in shock. She approached him, talking.
"What's wrong with you? Hey it's okay, I understand. You're going to be alright..."
She grabs his hand.
"But we gotta run, now!"
She nearly slipped on a bloody smear, and then the feeling of that underfoot made everything feel very real. Her knees went out under her, and she fell to the ground. Tension danced across her hands and through her arms as her hands pressed against the ground.
"It's okay," her mother said.
She ran down the hallway, a cluster of other kids gathering within the room beyond.
One of the kids, a boy, separates her from the boy she was guiding, keeping him from entering.
"He's not going in."
"What?!" she asks.
"I remember him from classes. He's weird. Can't risk it."
They stop her from crossing the threshold, and the door is shut, leaving the boy outside the room.
"Shhh, Ashlet. It's okay. Okay?"
Her dad's mockery from earlier rang in her ears, so vivid she had to check to see that he was there.
Seeing the mess was- it wasn't better than seeing him looming behind her would have been.
"Shhh," her mom said. "You're going to get a phone, okay? We're going to call for help."
She remembers the long days of hiding, as the adults wander, seeing less and less of them each day. Until it's just them.
With the danger gone they explore, learning to laugh and play once more.
Then, something in the ship changes. Others show up, and in the strangeness of that day, they hurt her, the one that seems so disturbed at finding them alone.
Then they are taken away. To somewhere else, where they are poked and prodded, tested and despised, until She came to save them.
"Ashlet, Ashley, shhh. It's okay," her mother said, reaching for Ashley's hands.
Her mom's fingers worked their way into Ashley's palms. One of her fingers moved, and she felt the snapping. The flood of twisting nothingness came out with enough force that Ashley was flung backward. She landed in an awkward position, her hurt hand under her, and her power came out again, brushing against her body like a breeze and tearing up the floor under her.
And where they blinded Her, as a reward for her kindness.
Still, She protected them, taught them, gave them the Dream.
"This will stop the voices from taking hold. You will have to dream, my angels…"
'We're not so different after all, are we Ashlet?'
A/N: Added dates to when events are happening, will add them in earlier chapters when I get back from vacation.