Peace and Famine made their way to the mansion. As she approached the front door, she heard voices arguing inside. "I'm telling you, there's no way this is on the up and up!" boomed War's voice.
"Maybe someone's a real admirer of hers," replied another voice that Peace didn't recognize.
"I'm right here though!" protested Bounty's voice.
"She's here too?!" Peace asked Famine.
"Her and Life," replied Famine. She opened the door. Everyone turned to see Famine and Peace.
"Am I late?" asked Peace.
"PEACE!" cheered Life as she and Death hugged her. Famine headed to the table to see more take-out pasta dishes.
"Ooh! That's for me!" she said.
"Peace, it's been too long!" War said to Peace.
"Indeed," agreed Pestilence.
"So you are Peace?" asked Lacey. "War's counterpart?"
"That I am," replied Peace. "And you, I presume, are the new Chaos?"
"That's me!" confirmed Lacey. "Though I go by a more mortal name. Lacey Atmadja, at your service."
"Peace at yours and your family's," returned Peace. She then saw Famine tucking in. "I see she hasn't changed." Everyone gave Famine their attention.
"Famine, can't you see that someone's playing a practical joke?!" hissed War.
"She's right," whispered Death. "Sending us a ton of pasta dishes that we don't want?"
"Yeah, you're right," mumbled Famine as she ate.
"Will you stop it with the eating already?!" rasped Pestilence.
"Famine, what's the matter with you?!" protested Life. "What's gonna happen when the bill comes in from that Italian joint, huh?! You realize that-?!" She then knocked the fork out of Famine's hand- "we could owe a fortune here?!"
"Why are you girls getting on her case like that?" asked Peace. The remaining Horsemen pointed out all the used boxes and cutlery. "…Never mind. Famine, maybe you shouldn't accept another dish, capiche?" Famine gave a non-committal shrug.
"…Yeah, fine, capiche," muttered Bounty as she and Life led Peace on a tour.
Emily headed to Megumi and Richard's home. She knocked on the door and Lisa opened it. "Dame Emily! What a surprise!" she said.
"Hi, Lisa," replied Emily. "Are Megumi or Richard home?"
"Megumi's just come home from work and Richard is still at his job. Why do you ask?"
"I'm here as a doctor right now. I'm…worried about them."
"…Please, come in," said Lisa. Emily stepped inside the house and followed Lisa to Megumi's office. "Announcing the arrival of your doctor, Madam," she said to Megumi. Megumi looked up from her work and saw Emily.
"Emily?" she asked. "What brings you here?"
"Megumi, I must speak with you as your doctor," replied Emily.
"…Lisa, that will be all," said Megumi. Lisa bowed and headed off. "Did you find some sort of sickness?" Megumi asked Emily.
"The sickness of overstressing," replied Emily. "Megumi, you and your family are starting to run yourselves ragged here, what with being a student, an archaeologist and professor of said subject, and a Kamen Rider. Richard's also got a lot on his plate and his little, shall we say, 'vacation' wasn't exactly helpful. And your daughters-."
"You're not wrong about the stuff on my plate," interrupted Megumi. "It's getting to be too much for me. …I'm thinking of following your example and graduating. Perhaps it will do Richard and our daughters some good too. …He's your brother, how do I broach the topic with Richard?"
"The same way he broached the topic of his firing with you," said Emily. "Be direct, be polite, assure him that there's no fault at all within the family. And take it from me and my boys, you'll be a lot happier when you have your diploma." Emily hugged Megumi. As the two ladies hugged, Emily saw an artefact on Megumi's desk. "What's that?" she asked. Megumi lit up as she got the chance to talk about the artefact!
"The subject of my current lesson!" she said. "This is a Darvalian Charm from the 17th Dynasty!"
"Darvalian? The extinct cousins of the Vortonians?"
"The very same! Unlike the Vortonians, they had an empire spanning halfway across their version of the known multiverse!"
Back in the Lord Unicomplex, Cyber-priestess Gi had told Khan what had happened. "I offer no excuses," she said. "I allowed confusion to dictate my actions and it made me more illogical than them."
"This really sets back my plans," said Khan. "There's also another problem. Our teams sent to Splatoon and Team Fortress 2 have yet to find the Sources there. It seems there were more guardians there than anticipated. You may be encountering heavier resistance in Disney."
"What of the remaining two Sources?" asked Gi. Khan wrote something in the Tome and read the passage aloud.
"'Once Gi finished her question, a panel from the wall rose to reveal a shape very familiar to her.'"
"Familiar to me?" asked Gi. Once Gi finished her question, a panel from the wall rose to reveal a shape very familiar to her. Her eye widened as the familiar salt-shaker shape registered in her memory banks. "…THEM?!" she protested.
"The Lords have proven to be hinderances when it comes to killing and at this stage of the game, we NEED our opponents dead." Khan addressed the creature. "I know you're not exactly a big fan of following the orders of anyone not of your race, but I need you to follow Captain Don Shinobi as you retrieve Health and her Source. To any who resist…well…the good Captain has been told to let you exterminate them."
"I obey!" said the creature. As it spoke, a pair of lights flashed on each syllable, revealing the black dome of one of Shocker Umbra's Dalek Supremes.
In another part of the Unicomplex, Auriella felt a sharp pain in her heart, her very soul! Katie ran up to her. "Auri?!" she asked. "What's wrong?!"
"…Removed!" gasped Auriella. "I've been…removed from the Record!"
"What's that mean?"
"It means I've been exiled! They don't consider me an Adrexian anymore!" Auriella's face contorted in anger. "Those ungrateful-! After all I did for them!"
"We'll get our revenge on them when we create the New Multiverse," soothed Katie. Auriella sighed to calm down.
"You're right," she said. "They'll worship us as the goddesses we are."
Back in Beyond City, Anansi was setting himself up a web. He sensed the approach of someone. "You can't hide much from a spider, your Majesty," he said. He shifted his gaze to the one who approached him, Arsha.
"Everyone seems to regard you with suspicion, Lord Anansi," replied Arsha.
"It's just Anansi," corrected the spider trickster. "And perhaps it's because of my reputation as a trickster god. …Or perhaps it's because of the truth of the Author."
"Call me suspicious, but I think there's more to the Author than you're letting on," remarked Arsha. Anansi sighed.
"…When I said he was my student, I was only being partially truthful," he said. "He's actually a wicked clone of my student. My student wanted his parents to be comfortable with taking him down should he turn evil, so he and I went to a place called Kamino to create that clone. …They did their job too well and the clone, Khan, managed to defeat my student and his parents, wiped their minds, and altered their DNA. He just dumped them into a universe. …A universe perhaps YOU are familiar with, your Majesty."
"…My home?" asked Arsha. "He dumped them into the Realms?"
"He did, and you met my student. …He reported on the Final War, specifically, the Battle of the Realmgates."
"…Leumas?! HE was your student?!" Anansi nodded.
"And I…I feel as though I abandoned him." Anansi held himself. "…I let three innocent people lose their lives and homes. Ask Death for further records, she and her Horsemen oversee all universes experiencing their ends." By this, he turned his back to Arsha, ending the conversation.
"…As you wish, Anansi," she said. She curtsied and minced away.
