Paris, France, 2019

La Plage Catacombs


Lila Rossi's eyes were wide and full of fear as she screamed, fully taking in what stood before her, having appeared out of a ball of lightning. Covered in gleaming gray metal, it towered over her at a height of nearly two and a half meters. Lines of glistening white fluid covered its limbs and chest, and above all, a bladed fan of a head that bore a single burning red eye.

The machine took a step forward, creating a three-pronged footprint in the stone floor. Its single eye flickered over to her computer and server network that she had set up in this hideout. As it walked towards the main server bank, treading heavily into the floor, Lila turned to the exit, finally seeing an opportunity to run.

She was mistaken.

A cage of blue light enveloped and suspended her in midair, forcing her arms down to her sides. She tried to reach outwards, only to receive a powerful electric shock. As the machine slowly wrapped its three-clawed hand around the server's central network cable, tendrils of energy began to envelop the cable and the machine.

The machine's head moved slightly back and forth and up and down several times, before it stopped and returned to the center. The cable fell to the floor in a smoking heap, and the electrical cage around Lila dissipated.

There was a flash of blue light, and the machine was gone. Lila slowly and shakily got to her feet, clutching the Butterfly Miraculous that lay under her jacket. As she tentatively reached for the computer's interface, a single set of words flashed into her mind.

"Do not interfere".

Lila gulped nervously, and pulled up the server logs with a shaking hand. To her surprise, the data that was stored on the servers previously was untouched. From what she could gather as she dug deeper was that the machine had accessed, read, and copied every bit of information she had on Ladybug, Chat Noir, Monarch, every Akumatized supervillain, and more…in only nanoseconds.

The machine had worked so fast, the event log was still fully processing the timestamps and messages. Every time Lila blinked. there were at least seven new messages to sift through.

Lila stepped back and curled up into a ball, trying to process what she had seen, and weigh her options. Practically everyone at school knew she was a pathological liar, and wouldn't believe her. The Police would most likely dismiss her experience as a farcical story, or even a hallucination. So telling anyone, she reasoned, was out of the question.

"What do I do now?" she murmured. "Whatever that thing was after has to do with Ladybug and Chat Noir, and…seeing as I have plenty to settle with them both, and Marinette…but whatever I do…I have to be very careful."

After taking a few breaths, she swore several times in disbelief, and exited the hideout as a shaky, nervous mess. However, had she stayed…she would've noticed a smaller ball of energy appear and dispense another machine.

This machine was small, about the size of a person's hand, with a set of three red eyes and wings like an insect's, only they were made of clear, pulsing white metal. It buzzed in a quiet manner, before following after its quarry.


The Infinite Forest, Mercury

Year 27XX


In the midst of the endless expanse build by the Vex, a lone figure wearing ancient Egyptian styled robes, only modified with sci-fi engravings, stood in front of a Vex Gateway. The object that floated next to him was emitting a cone of blue light, scanning the portal intently.

"Give it to me straight, Sagira." the figure said. "DId our quarry escape through this Gateway?"

"Well, Osiris, I have good news and bad news." Sagira replied. "The Escalation Mind did make it through this Gateway, and it is stable enough for traversal."

"And what is the bad news?" Osiris raised an eyebrow.

"The bad news is that this Gateway doesn't lead to another simulation, or anywhere in the Vex Network that we know of." Sagira replied. "The data I've gathered indicates it leads to Earth, in the ruins of the European continent. Paris, France, to be precise."

"There's more, though." she continued, stopping Osiris from entering the Gateway. "There's data here that suggests this Gateway leads out of our timestream entirely, to a point over seven hundred years before the Traveler's arrival in Sol."

"The Vex have never ventured that far before…" Osiris mused, his brow now furrowed in thought. "What could the Vex be seeking in that timestream that is so important, that they would risk endangering their own presence in this timeline?"

"Whatever it is…probably isn't good for us." Sagira sighed. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this…but I think we should call for help before we pursue the Escalation Mind. You said it yourself earlier, Osiris, this is one of the most powerful Vex Minds the Collective has created. We're in over our heads right now."

"As much as it pains me to say it, I agree." Osiris nodded. "Send a message to Ikora Rey if you can reach her. Tell her…"

"Tell her, what?" Sagira asked, noticing Osiris had paused.

"Tell her that I am pursuing a dangerous Vex Mind to a timestream outside our own, and I require immediate assistance from the Vanguard. Make sure to include the necessary methods and telemetry for them to reach our position, and emphasize that I need the absolute best Guardians she can muster." Osiris continued. "Can you manage that?"

"Of course I can." Sagira affirmed. "Message is outbound. Shall we?"

"Let's."

As the two of them entered the Gateway, there was a flash of brilliant white light, and then everything turned to black.