by The Pighead
Howdy, everyone. I realized I forgot to wish you a Happy New Year last time I released something so here it is. Happy New Year and I hope things are already good for you in this year that has been already quite intense, I think.
Chapter 3 of The Pilot & the Meddler Hit the Road is on its way, I might complete the Persona segment shortly, if I manage to not waste my time, and then I'll get to work on the Catherine one so look out for that (I'll try to update my Tumblr more with news about my writing so if you're here, you can follow me on it, it's "Pighead aka Oink Girl"). But, in the meantime, I wanted to tackle something that I repeatedly stated would come out... and now, it's time. And I hope you'll like it.
Enjoy !
Earth-199999, space.
« I have to say, I wish I didn't had to do this. »
Mar Novu, while hearing Uatu, could only nod his head. Despite the fact that both of them were people who, by nature, had a lot of time in their hands, it didn't mean that they were cool with everything they had to witness. What they were here to discuss was among the « not necessary » category.
« Nor did I wished to have to take care of this, Watcher. In fact, I deemed it necessary to ignore it at first but the more time passes, the more I've realized we can't anymore. »
The Watcher stood silent. He had to admit, he was expecting the Monitor to actually come back later. After all, there was a lot of Crises that were threatening to blow up. The secret war happening on this Earth, the invasion projects from the Skrulls, the Daleks & the Cybermen, the anti-matter waves slowly destroying worlds, the whole fuss happening in the city of Heatherfield and the various villains ready to fight for control over it, the Nazi regime from Earth-X, the rampage of a certain Carapacian, Neo Metal Sonic slowly making moves… this was already way enough for him to look at.
But the Monitor's look on his face was enough to tell the Watcher that he wasn't here to talk about none of this.
« Why exactly led you to change your plans ? »
Mar Novu, as an answer, pulled out of his pocket a notebook with a black cover.
« I assume you are familiar with the changes that occurred within the timelines of multiple worlds ? »
« Indeed, I am, responded Uatu. Kang the Conqueror, his lover Ravonna and Epoch, a being hailing from Earth-51, are still trying to measure how much those of their own Earths changed but, so far, they haven't managed to find who was responsible. Whoever they are, they have done a lot in order to hide efficiently. »
« Well, let's say it didn't last. See, I recently spoke for the first time in a while to a former friend. A variant of the aforementionned Kang, in fact. You might know him as « Immortus » or « He Who Remains », leader of the Time Variance Authority. »
Uatu sighed.
« The TVA… see, when I think again about what you said to me last time, about the fact that our vow of non-interference does more harm than good, what always comes to my mind first is them. In the past, my race has shown the same arrogance they've shown, thinking we could control all kinds of matters being beyond us exactly like they thought they could control time. Isn't that the same thing you criticized Immortus for in the past, actually ? »
« Yes, but while I hear what you have to say, I'm not here to argue about that. What I've learned from him, however, is that his organization is in a state of quick decay. Not only their means of pruning timelines became completely inefficient and the Conqueror himself did his best to not be found by them, several of their agents have also been assaulted, killed and, in one case, psychologically hurt, almost to the point of insanity. »
To prove his point, he showed Uatu several pictures. They were all depicting said attacks, with a recurring figure being a person with a familiar pig mask.
« I had access to video and audio of the incidents and, multiple times, this masked woman you're seeing – who apparently goes by the nickname of « The Pighead » - has bragged to them about several actions she claim to have committed, mainly the changes to the timelines. She called it the « Vast Oink » and, yes, I'm aware that this is a stupid name. I have no idea what it means. »
Uatu raised an eyebrow.
« She decided to attack them… without any motivation to do so ? »
« She provided some, actually, but they were quite vague at first. She apparently has plans for the entire Multiverse and, if she is to be believed, she sees the TVA as one incarnation of the former statu quo and stated in no uncertain way that she wanted to destroy the remains of said statu quo and « unite the people of the infinite Earths together ». Again, her own words. »
« Great. Is this one of those again ? »
« It might. One agent actually asked her if her true motives was to conquer the worlds. She only laughed in response. But I doubt it means anything, as said goals have not been explicitly revealed yet. »
« It's after this discovery that I actually decided to investigate more closely what exactly she changed. It would be way too long to actually explain, but the summary of that is that we have someone on our hands that has decided to play with every aspect of reality, just because. It doesn't only stop here : I was visited recently by other observers, they come from Earth-1996 and use a place named the Velvet Room to look at the Multiverse. »
« I… might have seen them once or twice, only said Uatu, but we never really spoke. »
« They came here for casual talk and some discussions and I ended up mentioning her and her actions… which, then, came to her ears. »
The Watcher didn't took long before noticing that during the short pause in his sentence, his « colleague » let out a very tired sigh.
« I can imagine she didn't took it very kindly ? »
« No. In fact, she directly visited me and it's safe to say that her behavior was pretty off-putting. Just to give you an example, the first seconds she started talking, she blamed me for, and I quote, « ruining my moment » because she apparently was planning to show herself to several of us and make a big announcement about her projects. You can guess that it was a first great impression. »
« Indeed. »
« And during the whole encounter, I actually tried to explain to her the same things that I explained to He Who Remains. Her only answer was to tell me that she didn't have the same projects as him and actually was trying to do the opposite of the TVA and so, in her mind, because of that, it meant that she was within her rights to do this. Also, I was old and stupid and she knew better than me and I needed to shut up. I want to emphasize on the fact that yes, everything I'm saying are things she truly said to me. »
Suddenly, Uatu understood why Mar Novu sighed this way.
« Not only that, the Monitor continued, but during the whole discussion, she spent time switching between sounding cheerful and talking about her projects as this plan that would make everyone happy and she couldn't wait to execute it and to allow people to be free from their chains. Then, she would start being angry and complaining that everyone is just here to slow her down and prevent her from being great and she doesn't have a lot of time left before everything comes crashing down. She didn't really gave specifics on what « everything » entails. There's also moments when she became more somber and started talking to herself and looking at her shoes. Also, during the whole moment, she had quite the trouble looking at me in the eyes or Harbinger. »
« From what you're telling me, she looks like the type of person who doesn't seem entirely well-adjusted. »
« I would say that she seemed, at least, aware enough of her surroundings and of reality in general but yes, off-putting behavior. I kept on investigating and the more I looked into things that were connected to her, the more abstract and bizarre it became. I'll let you look at this. »
When Uatu took the notebook the Monitor was holding and started reading it, it took him some seconds to understand what he meant.
« Big Chungus… Erratas Program… Walt Disney's cryogenization… Gilbert Garfield & Friends… the Mandela Effect… Personalization AIs… what does all of this means ? »
« None of those words seem connected to each other but, all put together, they paint a picture full of conspiracies, anomalies, previously-unseen events and, in general, all kinds of things that were never supposed to be here. I do realize that this looks like some inane gibberish but- »
« Oh, but this is not just some gibberish. »
The two men, surprised, turned their heads towards the source of the voice who just spoke and saw a shadowy humanoid with glowing yellow eyes in a snappy, multi-coloured suit and golden top hat coming out of a door that seemingly appeared out of thin air.
« Even if I do understand how bizarre it might seem in the first place, the entity continued, Mr. Novu is right to consider what exact picture is slowly unraveling before our very eyes. »
« Who are you, asked Uatu, and how did you enter here ? »
« Why, I used the door, of course ! Admittedly, not the sort of doors one would use… but, for my name, you can call me Daydream. Baron Daydream. »
For some seconds, the Watcher & the Monitor looked at each other, surprised by this unexpected guest but his polite demeanor didn't alarmed them too much. They decided to not do anything.
« What Mr. Novu wrote on his notebook, the Baron resumed in a pretty dry tone, is actually the answer to a question that nobody had in mind nor wanted to answer : what happens when you give a terminally online – I believe it's the word – writer powers surpassing those of gods ? Well, you end up with this. To explain, I have to ask you a question : what is the primary thing that holds this plan of existence together, according to you ? »
Uatu & Mar Novu scratched their chins but it took them only some seconds to formulate an answer.
« I would say, responded the Monitor, the heroes and defenders of the infinite Earths. »
« Time, said the Watcher, very simply. »
Daydream nodded and started walking around while he spoke again.
« Well, you're right in a sense. But this wasn't what I was referring to. I assume that you might have already figured it out in some way, but all of reality is made of several plans of existence that are ramified like a millefeuille, with other plans existing above and below us. All of them influence each other and it's all thanks to two concepts : knowledge and belief. On one hand, learning about all sorts of things and, on the other hand, being convinced that particular claims or things are true or not. »
« And you're about to explain that it's what allowed those changes to happen, I guess ? »
« Precisely, Watcher ! See, the particular plan of existence The Pighead – and, by extension, the people she associated with – comes from lacks any superheroes or paranormal activity but, if there's a thing its inhabitants don't lack at all, it's imagination, as well as the capacity to believe a lot of things, for better or worse. The Internet greatly helped in that, allowing people to share information in a break-neck speed. The theories about our world or what is, to them, media franchises, the « headcanons » about a specific person and the things they might have done that we possibly don't know, the memes, the recurring plots in the stories people write about their favourite franchises, the rabbit holes… all of this combined forms a secret world of sorts, only known to those who dug deep enough to know of its existence. You can imagine what the point I'm trying to make is. »
The two raised eyebrows, once again.
« What the Vast Oink did was to, metaphorically, take this world and fuse it with the world we all know and live on. The knowledge of those things the people above us have – and, for some, their belief in their veracity – created a link between it and our Multiverse, the destruction of the icebergs then allowing them to enter. It doesn't stop here, actually. The changes to the timelines happened because the Monks – apparently, that's the collective nickname of this bunch of people – believed said changes would be better, for example. Heroes and villains, especially the most important, can't die because people don't believe that death is permanent for them. And I could go on and on… but you get my point ! »
« Yes, we do, Novu responded. But now, my question would be : why are you so willing to share all those informations ? What do you gain from this ? »
The humanoid stopped himself in his walk and looked at them.
« If I have to be honest, it wasn't even in my plans to do any of this. However, I'm now convinced that my poor mother is slowly becoming a danger for herself and others and I believe we must actually pay close attention to her moves to make sure she doesn't endanger the Multiverse. »
« Your… mother ? »
« Metaphorically, yes. Which is why I'm trying to look after her. However, I'm way less powerful than her and I can't do this alone. I'm already searching for associates but my main goal is to jump across time and the infinite Earths and warn all the people I can. The trustworthy ones, at least, don't expect me to visit the Conqueror anytime soon. »
Daydream, then, looked around him, like he was wondering if the mere mention of Kang would summon him.
« In fact, if you could ensure that he doesn't find out the truth before the others do, I would appreciate it. I know he looked through the timeline of his own universe and I don't want him to get near her in any capacity. »
The Monitor nodded.
« I can certainly help in this task… but, at the end, what will you do ? »
The Baron, who was already recreating a door, turned his head towards him.
« At the end ? I have my own questions to answer and my own truths to find out. I don't doubt that you will learn of them when the time will be right. All you need to know is that my goal is to give you informations. And if the words written in the notebook seem to not hold that much importance at first glance… they actually might be one major help for us if we want to understand what she did to the Multiverse. »
Then, he disappeared and his door followed suit, letting the two cosmic observers to ponder on his words.
THE BLACK CASEBOOK
Season 1 – Episode 0
Written, directed and produced by
The Pighead
Special effects by
The Pighead
STARRING
LaMonica Garrett / The Monitor
Jeffrey Wright / Uatu the Watcher
Edward Bosco / Baron Daydream
THE CASEBOOK WILL OPEN THIS YEAR.
SEASON 1 IS ON THE WAY.