The Campbell Chronicles
Chapter 14
Nicholas stared at the two people standing on either side of the elemental cavern, the different skies of the planet's two halves giving them a dramatic backdrop.
Hecate in Diana of Themyscira's body stood six feet even, curvy with a moderate bust highlighted by the red and gold corset she wore. Her paper-white skin stood out against the pale blue sky as a gentle wind blew her wavy dark hair.
Ruby-colored lips were pressed into a thin line as red eyes bore down at them.
Her nostrils flared as she inhaled and pointed a gloved finger at them, "You know of us, but you are not of this world."
Ignoring her, Nicholas turned his attention to the second individual. His dark armor and the blood-red sky behind him made him menacing. Bruce Wayne, or Nanite Batman, as Nicholas had called him, stood 6'2" tall.
His skintight metal armor revealed defined muscle as it absorbed the light from the purple lightning flashing through the smog-colored clouds at his back. Pale blue eyes stared at them without an ounce of compassion from beneath a cowl with pointed bat ears.
The lower half of his face, the only part of him visible, was heavily lined, representing the age he was when he was transformed into something beyond human.
"How do you want to handle this?" Nicholas asked, never taking his eyes off the two before them.
"I'm sorry, but at the moment, you're useless to me in a fight." Grabbing a hold of the hand holding the spike of elemental metal, Wanda pushed it into his heart.
Nicholas gasped, staring at her in surprise as a kaleidoscope of color traveled through his veins. Before he could say anything, he vanished in a flash of white light, taking a large portion of the elemental metal beneath his feet.
Hecate cocked her head to the side, "That was cold," a grin spread across her face, revealing pronounced canines, "I like it."
Wanda pushed off the ground, dust exploding beneath her feet as she blurred through the air. Her veins burned with a crimson light as she closed the distance between herself and Batman.
The dark Knight's form dispersed, his body transforming into millions of minuscule bats.
Wanda thrust her hand forward, and a red outline coalesced around the bats, forcing them back into shape.
Bruce's eyes widened as Wanda's fists slammed into his face, sending him careening through the air.
"Don't forget about me," Hecate exclaimed as she appeared on Wanda's left, her purple Cape billowing out behind her.
Wanda raised her arm, blocking a punch from the possessed demigod. She winced as she felt her bones creak, thanking the chaos energy that flowed through her body for keeping her bones from shattering.
'Whatever you gotta do, Nick, you better hurry; I can't handle these two alone.'
–XX –
"That bitch I can't believe she stabbed me," Nicholas exclaimed as he appeared in a dark void. Around him floated giant stars of power. There was the red, the green, the black, the metal, and the clear. The energies of animal life, plant life, rot, metal, and sea life are infused within the elemental metal as it is formed.
Beyond those stars were others connected by a thin, almost invisible stream of power. A brown and white orb was attached to the green, the melt, and the white were elements of earth and air.
An orb of fire was off in the distance, attached to neither of the other aspects. As Nicholas stared at it, he could sense its connection to the different elements after having touched the green, but at the same time, it was disconnected.
As his mind brushed against it, images of erupting volcanoes flashed through him. This was the element of fire, but for some reason, it lacked harmony with the others. Shaking his head, he turned to the last star.
Directly in front of him, connected to every element, was a miniature world; according to the knowledge flowing through his mind, this was called the divide, and it represented microscopic life.
Staring at it, Nicholas knew this would be the base for him forging himself a new.
Without looking away from the divide, Nicholas reached his hand out, grabbing the spike of element metal that floated to his right. It hovered in the air, absorbing the blue-white energy that was his powers, which were transformed into pure potential by the essence of the exterminator.
As his fingers wrapped around the spike, it flared with light, transforming into a large hammer. With a force of will, an Anvil made of blue-white energy rose from the platform beneath Nicholas' feet.
Raising the hammer, Nicholas brought it down. The miniature world flared as the hammer struck, and images of Nicholas's life flashed before his eyes. Almost in a trance, he brought his hammer down again and again. Each time he struck the Anvil, tendrils of power from the stars around him flowed into what he was forming.
Sweat beaded down Nicholas's brow as he worked, and his muscles quivered, but each time he raised the hammer, he felt a hand on his shoulder, helping him with the next strike. A couple of times, he stopped, swearing he could almost see something moving in the darkness between the stars.
Shaking his head, Nicholas got back to work, feeling hands help him raise the hammer and hundreds of eyes staring at his back.
–XX –
Wanda slipped out of her jacket as bat-shaped nanites devoured it. Her chest heaved as she panted, cuts and scrapes littering her body, and blood dripped onto the ground below.
"Have enough little girl?" Hecate taunted.
"Are you ready to tell us how you came to this world?" Batman finished.
"My heart bleeds for those living under your rule, but I can't release you on the multiverse above."
Hecate turned to Batman. Her brow wrinkled, and her lips puckered in frustration. "This isn't working; we need to work together."
"How do I know you won't betray me?" The billionaire vigilante growled.
"I could ask you the same question. You stripped your world of its freedom, turning your allies into puppets."
"I made them safer; crime no longer exists in my world!"
Hecate laughed, a beautiful sound filled with malice, "Congratulations, Bruce, you are the earth's worst dictator."
"What does that make you?"
Hecate flicked a gloved hand dismissively, "I am above the gods, so far above humans they can't even comprehend me; your mortal labels do not concern me."
As Batman and Hecate argued, Wanda dispersed into crimson smoke and flowed toward Gotham City, hoping that the geography of this Gotham was the same as in her world.
Hecate's suggestion of working together gave her an idea; if it worked, she could free the people from their control. She had to start with Batman's side of the world first; Hecate's magic was too strong for her to break.
–XX –
Nicholas didn't know how long he had been in this void space. Each time he brought the hammer down, the energies of the elements diminished, and the platform he stood on shrunk just a bit as the potential inside him was used up to reforge him anew.
He didn't know what he was forging; he didn't even know why the elemental metal had transformed into a hammer, but something about the substance drove his actions onward. As his hammer came down one final time, the platform beneath him disappeared, and the stars winked out as an invisible force radiated from the impact and slammed into his consciousness, his soul.
His view shifted, and he watched his body form.
First, starting at the toes, a skeleton grew. Then nerves and veins formed. Muscles sprouted around the circulatory and nervous systems. As muscles formed, organs bloomed into place. Skin covered the body, and dark green hair sprouted from it as yellow eyes stared forward blankly.
A secondary nervous system lit within the body when the body finished forming. Points of energy glowing in the wrist, ankles, knees, hips, organ system, eyes, and ears. Then streams of energy trailed up the heart, connecting to these points.
The world spun, and Nicholas found himself in a body once more. Raising his hands to his face, he turned them over. Closing his eyes, he pushed his senses through his body. It worked; he no longer felt the gnawing hunger of the exterminator or the burden of his powers disappearing.
A frown slipped onto his features; his powers were different.
"Nicholas," a familiar feminine voice asked.
Nicholas spun, and his eyes went wide, "Mom."
–XX –
Wanda flew through nanite Batman's Gotham City as a cloud of red smoke.
Tall buildings made of smooth black metal stretch toward the sky. Rows of obsidian cut through the buildings, forming a maze of streets.
Street lamps decorated the curved sidewalks, burning with a yellow light.
Humanoids made of the same smooth metal emerged from buildings as if they were walking through water, their eyes lifeless, their movements stiff as they went through the motions of life.
Wanda bit her metaphorical lip as she looked at the inhabitants of this Black Gotham. Reaching out with her mind, she probed one of the humanoids with her senses, drawing back and shrinking into herself as a tortured scream echoed through her mind.
As she recovered, Wanda stared around the city with new eyes, picking out people peeking out windows that reflected the blood-red sky.
These people remember what it was like to be human. They remember the feeling of the Nanites devouring them. It was the last thing they felt, and it got replayed repeatedly, slowly chipping away at their sanity.
Only Batman's iron will keep the residents from screaming. He ordered the city's people to go about their daily lives before they were transformed, but they were just puppets following the acts of a play.
The peace the Dark Knight saw was an illusion.
Wanda drifted through the city toward her destination, her heartbreaking as she watched small metal humanoid children mechanically play in a park while mentally hearing their shrieks of pain.
Reaching a fountain in the city's center, Wanda snaked through the pipes and exited into a large underground cavern. Solidifying back into her physical form, Wanda looked around.
She stood in a large basin, the roof above her curved; the rocks glowed with green minerals, casting a dim light.
Wanda knelt, scooping mud between her fingers and letting it fall out of her hand. In her world, this place contained one of the world's largest Lazarus pits. However, it appears this one was drained when the world was reforged.
Nicholas did say, that the Lazarus pits had been emptied into the ocean, giving the water regenerative properties.
Reaching into her torn leggings, Wanda pulled out a small chunk of elemental metal while glancing at the ceiling. The liquid may be gone, but maybe her plan could still work. Clutching the elemental metal in her left hand, Wanda lifted into the air. Crimson energy spiraled around her right hand as she carved symbols into the cavern's roof.
–XX –
Alexi Summers stood before her son, the same green-haired 5'9" woman she was almost a billion years ago. Behind her, hundreds of people stretched into the distance, their forms blurred and indistinct.
Nicholas took a step back, "How are you here?"
Alexi's hands slid to her hips. She looked around. "We're in a place between life and death." She gestured behind her. "We've been watching you, and when we saw what you were doing, some people had to come and help."
One of the indistinct forms behind Alexi moved to stand beside her, their features slowly taking shape.
The woman was 5'8" tall with short blonde hair, a thin waist, a small bust, and blue eyes. Faint scars decorated the skin around her eyes and the back of her wrist.
She wore tight-fitting jeans and a white T-shirt bearing the word Gilf.
Seeing the shirt, Nicholas ran a hand down his face, "Grandma Penelope?"
The little blonde woman cackled, spinning in a circle, "What? I look young enough to pull it off."
While Penelope, the premier physician of Brigadoon, was over 100 years old when she died, she didn't look older than her 30s. She turned the mutant gene into a dominant gene, ensuring their species would never die out. She altered the gene to allow mutants to have longevity, allowing them to live longer than an average human.
"That may be true, but it's still weird."
Alexi cleared her throat, "We do not have much time left; your friend needs your help."
"Wanda? What's wrong with her?"
Penelope raised her hand. "You can do nothing to help her right now; you need to focus on reconnecting with the world."
Nicholas cocked his head to the side, "What do you mean? I have a body; I should reappear there once the energy of the elemental metal runs out."
Penelope shook her head, "For anyone else, that may be true, but you are in a place no mortal was meant to tread, and you previously had a connection to the universe on a quantum level. That connection has been reforged; it's different than before, and so are your powers."
Nicholas clenched his hand into a fist. Penelope was right; his powers were different. In a way, they felt weaker but also stronger; they had more potential for growth.
"What do I need to do?"
"Your heart now pumps the energy of the four elements," Alexi began, "you need to reach out to the universe, grab those elements, and connect them to your heart."
Penelope walked around him, "I do damn good work."
Nicholas raised an eyebrow.
Penelope huffed, "who do you think was guiding your hand during the forging process."
Nicholas's brows pinched together, "I thought that was just echoes of memory."
Penelope crossed her arms and looked away, "Well, it wasn't."
"In that case," Nicholas inclined his head, "thank you, grandmother."
"Focus," Alexi shouted.
Nicholas shifted into a cross-legged position. "A part of me doesn't want to go back. The world is so different now. People with money or political connections can get away with anything. Others can reject reality and try to enforce their will on another. Innocent blood runs rampant in the streets."
Alexi moved forward, her footsteps silent in the void. She placed a hand on Nicholas's cheek, and Nicholas, surprised by its warmth, leaned into her touch.
"Life isn't perfect, son, and it never will be, but there are things worth experiencing, loves kiss, holding your child for the first time…"
"Sex," Penelope exclaimed.
Both Nicholas and Alexi turned to look at her.
"What? You know I'm right."
"Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that there are things in life worth experiencing, but to enjoy it, don't just live for yourself. Help those that deserve it, and build a legacy to leave behind."
Nicholas looked at the two of them, his eyes burning, "I don't want to leave you again."
Alexi gave him a gentle smile, "It won't be forever."
"Plus," Penelope threw her arm around him, "you still have family out there. My daughter is running around the universe somewhere."
Nicholas's eyebrows rose, "Jinks is alive."
Penelope's face fell. "All I know is she's not in the afterlife. Find out what happened to her for me, would you?"
"Of course."
–XX –
The earth exploded from the ground in a forest on the Hecate side of the world, and the wind blew dust into the air. Water coalesced inside the tornado, falling into the dust and transforming it into mud.
Fire burst to life inside the mud as it slowly took a humanoid form.
The mud flaked away as the humanoid stood, revealing green hair and glowing yellow eyes.