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Yiziba, Tariko Katabarbe's cabin north of Kabe-koli, nineteen scenes after the top of the 22nd act local time on Ramlo'osuto-pali, R'beke-lelu, Merimdulo'or'beke-teri (Brockton Bay time: Friday 7 January 2011, 9:05 PM EST)…
"Well, this is going to be a weird weekend," Victoria Dallon drolly mused.
Looking over her shoulder at the blonde bombshell of New Wave, Tariko Katabarbe smirked. "What makes you say that?"
"With the whole thing about what Tay-Tay went through on Earth Bet," Victoria wondered as she gazed out the south window of the living room downhill towards the large city — which was locally called a "village" even if it had the same amount of people living in it as Brockton Bay did — in the valley of the Mambo River which flowed south towards one of the mighty waterways spilling into the Northern Ring Ocean surrounding the former lands of Nesetimtuto and its neighbouring countries. "She wanted to be a hero, had a damn good power set to help the Wards in the field, then was basically treated like crap by the stupid 'system' there. She had to hook up with a pack of thieves to ultimately do some good, especially with all the threats out there." Shaking her head, she then looked at the would-be Trickster of the Show. "Why do things like that happen, Tariko?"
A shrug answered her. "Because the gurus who set up systems like that hate it when free radicals rock the boat. Never mind the people in this Cauldron gang being led around by the frigging nose thanks to this Contessa's 'path to victory' power of hers. If they knew all along that shards were being controlled by the kimfombeke, you'd think they'd move to keep things SECRET from that woman, much less anyone that got a shard from Zion." Shaking her head, she moved to make some local tea for her current guests; since both Victoria and her adopted sister were being Gifted with Margo Black's help, both would be entered into The Book of Pretty Girls as annex pages to Entry 666, which was where the horrible story of the woman born Margo Chapelle in Vermont was recorded down. "Well, given how slow and stupid the kimfombeke normally are…"
[CONCERN.]
Both women — not to mention the Archangel of Mortality and her effective "apprentice" Amelia Lavere — perked on hearing that echoing voice from somewhere close to Victoria. "And Fragile One speaks," Margo declares. "Concern about what?"
[OTHER NODES NOW PENETRATING MULTIVERSE OF «EARTH BET», WARRIOR «LITRONIE ERBA»,] a voice that sounded a little like Victoria's — save for the haunting echo in same indicating the speaker wasn't physically present — answered. [NODES DETECTED TERMINATION OF NODE «WARRIOR». SUCH EVENTS UNKNOWN AMONG NODES, REQUIRING INVESTIGATION. DUE TO SHARD «THE EYE» BEING GIVEN TO NODE «THINKER» BY NODE «LONER», OTHER NOTES HAVE ABILITY TO DETECT STATUS OF «THINKER» SHARD NETWORK AND «WARRIOR» SHARD NETWORK. WITH DATA NOW UNABLE TO BE UPLOADED TO ORIGINAL HOST NODES, OTHER NODES CONTEMPLATING MOVING TO COLLECT DATA THEMSELVES.]
Margo snorted. "They're coming to scavenge the data like a pack of wild hyenas," she breathed out.
"What's the status of Vicky's other self on Bet or Gimel or wherever?" Amelia then asked.
[«EARTH BET» VERSION OF VICTORIA LANA DALLON ALIVE AND ACTIVE, SEPARATED FROM OTHER PARTS OF FAMILY. VICTORIA WAS GROSSLY ALTERED PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY BY LOCAL VERSION OF AMELIA CLAIRE LAVERE.] As Amelia shrieked in horror on hearing that and Victoria paled in disbelief, Fragile One added, [AMELIA EMOTIONALLY INCAPACITATED VIA PROVOCATION BY LOCAL VERSION OF JACOB JOHN BLACK THROUGH LOCAL VERSION OF RILEY GRACE DAVIS TO JOIN GROUP «SLAUGHTERHOUSE NINE». AMELIA RESTORED VICTORIA IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAYLOR ANNE HEBERT HELPED PROVOKE SELF-TERMINATION OF NODE «WARRIOR», BUT VICTORIA HAS LOST ALL TRUST IN AMELIA.]
Shuddering as her mind welled up with memories of all the nightmares which she experienced over the last two years concerning what she could have done had she lost control — especially to the one part of her adopted family who loved her and whom she loved without any condition — Amelia literally collapsed on herself, gripping the sides of her head. "No, no, no, no, NO…!"
"Ames! You wouldn't do that to ANYONE!" Victoria cried out, her aura surging forth to calm the other girl down.
"VICKY! DON'T DO THAT!" Margo barked, using her own telepathy to shield the healer from her sister's actions.
Instantly, Amelia's body lit up like a flare. "NO! NOT VICKY! NOT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…!"
Tene lomher'buo, Amelia Claire Lavere…!
Tariko smirked as she sipped her tea. "Blame that on her so-called 'mother'…!"
Earth Bet, the site of Brockton Bay, Monday 2 February 2014, 10:11 AM EST…
«NO! NOT VICKY! NOT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…!»
Tene lomher'buo, Amelia Claire Lavere…!
Hearing what sounded like HER own voice echo somewhere inside her mind — that followed by a booming, androgenous voice which seemed to speak with God's own power backing him — Amelia Dallon howled as SOMETHING sharp and cold punched into her very skull, such driving her to her knees. "Amy!" Riley Davis and Dot screamed out, lunging over to help the shuddering biokinetic. Nearby, Doctor Jessica Yamada and the group of former PRT field troops who had been working out of the temporary shelter erected near the dimensional gateway to Earth Gimel and beyond took just seconds to absorb the shock of the famous Panacea being attacked — though there was no sign of anyone attacking her — then the leader of the latter group barked orders to get the refugees passing through the gateway from all over eastern North America away from the scene.
"Amy! What's wrong?!" the young woman once known as Bonesaw demanded as her hand landed on the older woman's head, then she gasped in disbelief on sensing the sheer, raw POWER now ripping through Amelia's mind, that accompanied by a torrent of memories — and quite ALIEN ones at that! — which showed events that would LAUGH at the sheer level of destruction the Saskatchewanian flesh/cybernetic Tinker/power altering Trump once unleashed under the guidance of Jack Slash. "DAMN!"
"What's wrong?!" Yamada demanded.
"It's the same thing that happened to Vista and Dinah Alcott after Tattletale was killed!" Riley declared. "Something BIG is trying to dig through Amy's shard…and it's trying to merge with something REALLY powerful…!"
«You…you MONSTER…!»
Amelia screamed out. "No…!"
«How?! In the name of all that's holy in this universe, how could you DO THAT to VICKY of all people?!»
"NO…!" the biokinetic cried. "Not…my fault…!"
«BULLSHIT! I CAN SEE YOUR DAMNED MEMORIES…!»
"Hey! Stop swearing, whoever you are…!" Riley yelled.
«SHADDUP, DAVIS! I AUGHT TO GET OBLIVION OVER THERE AND HAVE HER RIP THAT SHARD OUT OF YOUR HEAD! EVEN IF IT WAS JACK SLASH THAT MADE YOU INTO A MURDER MUNCHKIN…!»
«Hey! Hey! HEY! Cool down, Amy! You know how bad it was over there!»
«DAMMIT, MARGO! TAYLOR DIDN'T TELL US IT WAS THAT BAD…oh, fuck me…SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!»
«AMES!»
Nesu…RIETIER'BA!
Both Amelia and Riley yowled as something with the power of one of Leviathan's self-made tidal waves smashed into their very souls, the former's nose then exploding with blood as the massive overload of burnt-out synapses in her mind caused multiple capillaries to burst and flood her sinuses. Seeing that, Riley moved immediately to block the bleeding with her powers. "GIVE ME A HAND HERE, DOCTOR YAMADA! WE'RE GOING TO LOSE HER!" she screamed out at Yamada.
As the doctor and a couple former PRT troopers came over to aid the former Slaughterhouse member, the leader of the latter group scowled before drawing out a communicator to signal over to Earth Gimel. "Get me Legend!"
Nearby, Dot blinked as she watched people move to help her new queen, then she quickly turned to leave the building…
Yiziba, Tariko Katabarbe's cabin, a scene later…
"DAMMIT, MARGO! TAYLOR DIDN'T TELL US IT WAS THAT BAD…oh, fuck me…SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"
"AMES!"
Nesu…RIETIER'BA!
A blinding bust of energy exploded from the prize healer of New Wave, making people duck away.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then as the radiance cleared…
"No…no…never wanted that…oh, Vicky…!"
Both Tariko Katabarbe and Margo Black scowled as they gazed on the sobbing Amelia Lavere, who was instantly enveloped by Victoria Dallon's arms as the just-Gifted Flesh-Twister, Rietier'ba ("Shaper"), moaned out her agony on experiencing — by proxy — her worst nightmare. As both the Archangel of Mortality and the would-be Trickster of the Show shook their heads in horrified sympathy at what the biokinetic healer — her Gifting helped refine her powers to an unbelievable degree, plus gave her many lifetimes' worth of knowledge in dealing with all sorts of situations, which would help when it came to dealing with any sort of brain injury at the least! — just experienced, the blonde bombshell of New Wave tenderly kissed her sister's forehead. "It's okay, Ames…it's gonna be okay…you'd NEVER do that sort of shit…it's okay, Ames…just let it out…let it out, okay…!"
"I love you so much, Vicky…!"
"I know…I know…!"
A hand landed on Amelia's shoulder, making the healer tense for a second as the brutally cold aura of the reborn master assassin that was now her chief sponsor in getting her life permanently under her own control washed over her before something unique echoed through that contact. "You became a BATTLE DOLL?!" she demanded, staring in disbelief at Margo.
"Right after I got Gifted," the Vermonter and adopted Georgian/New Yorker stated. "Soon as I realized I became Doctor Death, every time that my past-selves' literally MELTED any close relations of theirs with their touch made me react badly. Next thing I know, Kasuga teleports in with a battle doll body, shifts my soul and Gift crystal into it, then allows it to become organic."
Victoria gaped. "Oh, fuck! You had problems with your powers, too?!"
"All of her past-selves did," Tariko said, thumbing the woman she had rescued from VERY ugly adopted parents nearly five years before. "Thanks to Ayumu-chan, she doesn't have to worry about it; battle dolls come with organic 'housekeeping computers' that help people using them better control their powers after they're Gifted."
"I always wondered if getting you into a battle doll body would help you control that aura better," Margo added…
A flash of energy then filled the cabin. "O-ha!"
Everyone turned…
"Ah! Hime's happy to see that Amy-sensei's Gifted now," Osamu Shirayuki declared as she and Kasuga Ayumu came over to join them, the latter moving to help the Dallon sisters back on their feet. "Hime saw that Amy-sensei had to leave Brockton Bay right away after people found out how bad things were for Taylor-san back in her old multiverse." Here, the Great Chef of the West placed a take-out box of food on a nearby kitchen counter before opening it to unload. "Taylor-san asked Hime to make a nice, nutritious meal for both Amy-sensei and Vicky-san so they can recover from being Gifted."
"Well, Vicky hasn't gone through it just yet, Shirayuki-chan," Tariko said as she moved to make tea for everyone to accompany what would be an excellent meal. "How'd Taylor's meeting with Lung's friend wind up? Anyone know?"
Amelia hummed — No, she WASN'T blushing at Taylor Hebert's move to see she was alright! — as she automatically reached into her right hip belt pocket to pull out her just-reforged PAA, tapping the crystal. As her mind was scanned by the Great Show mechanisms to determine what she wanted to learn, the reborn healer from Tatotuguto spared a glance down to her traditional sleeved costume that her old New Wave outfit had been morphed into on the Gifting. An overall evergreen shade — such being the traditional colour of healers across the World of the Forge — such was topped with a dark grey pouch-lined belt and matching walking boots under her leggings. The uniform was decorated with various dancing animal symbols matching the mythological creatures that were seen as patrons of healing among various cultures across the planet; by the time of the Dawn of Power, Tatotuguto was one of the wealthiest of nation-states, having maintained its economic prominence even if the face of the great monetary depression which soon set off the Final World War. Over her heart was the heraldic symbol of the Todorimkam Varsity, the university-level educational institute where her first-self, Master Healer Anee Gaasum, allowed himself to be Gifted.
Shuddering for a quick second as she realized that half her previous lives had been spent as honest-to-goodness MEN, Amelia blinked as a holographic screen appeared over her PAA's control crystal, allowing a detailed article written in local script to appear. Mentally willing the device to display such things in English, she trilled as Victoria leaned over her shoulder to scan what was there. "Well, looks like Haruto's going to Japan to learn some things from Kiryū Kazuma finally," she reported.
"That's good," Victoria noted before nodding her thanks as Tariko handed her an earthen mug filled with local tea. "Kiryū's one of the best fighters anywhere, Gifted or not. Haruto should get a lot of knowledge under his belt before he comes back."
"Taylor also talked him into stop trying to compare himself to either the Oyabun or the Dragon of Dōjima all the time," Amelia added, the echo in her voice indicating she was still undergoing post-Gifting Shock starting to fade. "He's worried about this Kage Hakairyū character who's been running around in the background both in the States and Japan recently."
"Haven't heard of him," Margo noted before sipping her own tea; she was more a coffee drinker — and unashamedly abused her privileges at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW by frequently raiding the White House Mess for their special Hawai'ian-grown brew; such appropriations being ignored by the Navy chefs manning that post given how much the Archangel of Mortality helped various SEAL teams in their missions overseas — but certainly enjoyed the various fruit-spiced teas that Tariko liked. As people looked at her, she added, "Then again, once things get to MY desk, everyone on the freaking PLANET's heard of it."
Rueful chuckles escaped the others in the room. By then, Shirayuki had unloaded her take-out box and was moving to place plates on the living room table. "Hime knows that even if Tariko-san's cake gives enough mesonium to allow the Gifting to happen, a person's body gets drained afterwards. So, make sure you eat everything Hime made, desu no?!"
Victoria gaped in disbelief. "A chef telling a HEALER what to eat?!"
Amelia's hand batted her sister's head, making her yelp. "That girl's first-self saved MILLIONS of lives when the Starvation Times hit this planet, Vicky," she snapped. "Yes, I know things about nutrition, but it's not constantly my fight scene!" As the blonde bombshell of New Wave suddenly laughed, the healer then blinked. "What's so funny, Vicky?!"
"You just said 'fight scene', Amy-chan!" Ayumu declared with a knowing grin.
The daughter of the Marquis of Brockton Bay blinked in confusion. "So?!"
More laughter filled the cabin…
Earth Bet, the site of Brockton Bay, Wednesday 4 February 2014, 12:08 PM EST…
"So, this ISN'T our Weaver, right?"
"Exactly," Adrian Lavere affirmed with a nod as he escorted Victoria Dallon down the wrecked street which seemed the best path between the interdimensional gateway to Earth Gimel and elsewhere and the rebuilt Hebert home. The former member of New Wave — who was moving to join the Wardens as a way of reestablishing herself as a much more mature heroine in comparison to what she had done in the immediate wake of her trigger event; she even had re-branded herself as Antares to signify her turning over an effective new leaf from her days as "Collateral Damage Barbie" — had been called over to Earth Bet from Earth Gimel in the wake of what happened to Adrian's daughter. Such turned out to be the THIRD such incident that befell parahumans who had survived Gold Morning…all of which called Brockton Bay their home and all of whom had some sort of connection to the Slayer of Scion. "I know what Amelia did to you, Victoria. Much that I understand how it happened given your mother's pressure on her to not follow my path, never mind what Jack Slash provoked, that was going way too far in my eyes."
Hearing that from the former parahuman gang boss — who had, in his own way, brought a sort of peace to the Bay's underworld when he led the Marche — Victoria nodded. "I appreciate that, sir. It's just…!" Here, she shuddered, hugging herself.
«If it's anything, Victoria, you have my condolences at your sufferings.»
Victoria yelped on hearing that familiar voice, she instantly scanning around; while she hadn't been Mastered by the monster her adopted sister had helped create, she knew who that was. Noting that there was no sign whatsoever of Taylor Hebert, she then glanced a question at her current companion. "Telepathy exists in her multiverse, Victoria," Adrian stated with an amused smile. "And many other things we'd consider fictional or impossible here. All effectively because of the element now surging through her body which forced her to isolate herself from people in general save for those who had come to master that element."
"'Ebony mesonium', Dodge called it," she affirmed. "Densest form of a transuranic element that shouldn't exist in real life even to the knowledge of Tinkers like the guys in Toybox, much less Defiant and Dragon." Here, she hummed. "Wonder if they got versions of them where she comes from…" Her voice then trailed off on seeing the intact house standing nearby. "Holy…!"
«Defiant is still Armsmaster back home; he is NOT a cyborg there, thank the Goddess. And Dragon is there as well, though she's been allowed to evolve into an organic bioroid, much to the total frustration of Saint and the Dragonslayers,» Taylor telepathically called out as Victoria spotted a woman in solid black now FLOATING in the air in a lotus-like position on the back yard, she currently accompanied by a dark-haired gentleman with moustache and goatee.
As Victoria moved to soar over to join them, Adrian's hand gently gripped her lower arm to caution her. "Do NOT offend the Rittmeister, Victoria," the former crime boss strongly hissed. "That fellow can do what Taylor is learning to do now with comical ease. Not even our late 'patrons' Scion and Eden could match him in places." As she gaped in wide-eyed disbelief at him, he sighed. "I know it is hard to comprehend, Victoria, but Taylor's home multiverse is home to both wonders and terrors you CAN'T imagine! Even Ciara Coinmheadh knows but to trod VERY carefully around the Rittmeister and his peers."
Victoria's eyes went even wide. "The Faery Queen…?!" she eeped.
"Exactly."
A hesitant nod answered him before Victoria pulled away, then floated over to land on the back yard close to Taylor's left rear. The gentleman now watching her do her exercises turned to gaze on the blonde Brute/Mover/Shaker/Master, making Victoria freeze in place as her eyes focused on his own grey orbs, such reflecting a level of AGE that made her cringe. After a moment, he nodded as Adrian hopped over the fence wall. "Fraulein Dallon. Herr Lavere. Your daughter is well, Adrian?"
"Recovering from what happened to her other self back in Taylor's home universe, Herr Rittmeister," Adrian confirmed. "She didn't lose her powers as you warned me could happen in these cases given what many shards desperately now want to do, but a lot of her knowledge in healing and biokinetic manipulation was lost in that event. Somewhat like what happened to Vista and that young precog who was once Coil's hostage here in the Bay." Here, the man scowled as he recalled what he had been told concerning Dinah Alcott and how she had been treated by the late Thomas Calvert as he drove to become the true overlord of Brockton Bay's underworld. "They still have their powers yet lost a lot of their intrinsic knowledge into how to use them."
"Understandable," Josef von Taserich breathed out, he turning to gaze into the late morning sky overhead. While the sheer level of destruction unleashed by Scion over a year before had left a lot of inhabited areas devastated to the point where such zones had to be abandoned, Mother Nature was proving to be quite resilient in moving to recover such land for the use of plants and animals alike. Even certain parts of Brockton Bay had been turned back to natural soil with new trees and other plants starting to sprout; such had been done by Taylor over the last couple of weeks both consciously and subconsciously to help clean out the air. "With the vacuum left behind by Zion and its mate, others of their kind are naturally alarmed. TWO such beings slain in the space of three decades or more our time is unheard of among those creatures. They're only now just probing into this multiverse to ascertain what happened and what can be salvaged. Your business with them is not done, mein Herr."
Victoria blinked as she took that in, then she gulped before turning to stare at Taylor. "Um…where's OUR version of you?"
The latter opened her eyes, making the blonde yelp on seeing those glowing orbs. "After the way Contessa dealt with her after she saved your collective asses, you EXPECT her to come back to save you again?!" she sneered…
KK-KRUNCH!
…before slamming a BIG rock down on Victoria's head. "AURA, VICKY!" Taylor shrieked.
Tene lomher'buo, Victoria Lana Dallon…!
As Adrian winced, Taylor turned her Gaze many light years and a multiverse away. "Oops…!"
Taserich laughed…
Yiziba, Tariko Katabarbe's cabin, that moment…
"OW!"
Tene lomher'buo, Victoria Lana Dallon…!
«Oops…!»
Hearing that familiar choice as Victoria Dallon's body lit up like a Christmas tree — such making Amelia Lavere and Osamu Shirayuki both come over to monitor the blonde fighter's vital signs as she underwent the Gifting — Kasuga Ayumu blinked before she Gazed in the direction of Earth Bet. "Um, Taylor-chan, I think you kinda goofed there!"
«Not all of us has cosmic telepathy, Ayumu!» came back from Taylor Hebert.
The native of Wakayama blinked before she sighed. "Yeah, that's true…"
"THAT…STUPID…PIG-HEADED…BITCH!"
That was Victoria, whose whole body was now aflame with power. "What?!" Amelia demanded…
…before everyone spun away as the blonde warrior's body turned star-bright…
"TAEIM LETAM!"
Nesu…YUOTUO BOLEM!
Soon, the radiance faded away, revealing a VERY pissed Victoria Dallon, now with the power of the Fighting Belle of Victory, Yuotuo Bolem…which could translate as Glory Girl even if the honorific bolem was often rendered as "lady" in English by many others bearing that as part of their battle name. As Amelia tried not to drool on seeing her sister's body now VERY well-sculptured with added muscles in all the right places, such draped in a modern light grey sleeveless costume with golden belt and boots, golden and silver multi-point stars dotting both the top and the pants, her sister shook her head vigorously before staring at the Great Chef of the West. "Hold off on the meal for a minute or two, Shirayuki! I gotta go beat the shit outta someone!"
"Who?!" Amelia and Shirayuki — plus Tariko Katabarbe and Margo Black — demanded as one.
"Here ya go, Vicky-chan!"
Ayumu's hand touched the Fighting Belle's arm…
…and she vanished in a flash of energy!
Earth Gimel, on Manhattan Island in the City, that moment…
"…trying to get people to see that…"
A blinding blast of energy made both Carol Dallon and Alan Barnes scream out as they ducked their eyes…
"CAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL…!"
The woman also known as Brandish spun around. "Vicky…?!" she began…
KK-KRACK!
…before her head nearly exploded when the fist of someone who LOOKED like her own daughter — though dressed much differently than she had before as Glory Girl — smashed into her face with the speed of a Shinkansen train from Japan! As Alan yelled in horror on seeing his co-worker's daughter do THAT, Carol was sent careening through the wall of the City's main legal office. Such was in a rather TALL skyscraper near where Times Square would be in New York City's downtown. She growled, cracking her knuckles after giving her other self's mother a taste of what certain societies in her multiverse would do to people who abused their children — Victoria Dallon definitely agreed with the Noukiite viewpoint that child abusers should be put to a very painful DEATH for whatever horror they visited on their prodigy — while Alan scrambled back from the rampaging woman, he then waving his hands to avert this monster's wrath. "Victoria! Calm down! What are you DOING?! You can't…!"
With a burst of speed that would outstrip that of the late Robin "Velocity" Swoyer, his mouth was nearly CRUSHED by her grip as a pair of glowing blue eyes focused on him. "You must feel really fucking proud of yourself with what's happened here, Barnes!" the-now FORMER member of New Wave in her multiverse then snarled as she moved to carry him towards an intact window. "Didn't the amount of destruction your death-cheating DAUGHTER effectively unleashed when she tortured Taylor Hebert into TRIGGERING tell you something, you selfish bastard?! Betraying your once-best friend and your own GODDAUGHTER because your precious Emma couldn't do anything wrong?! Are you NATURALLY stupid?!"
As Alan gargled while he helplessly tried to pull her hand away from him, Victoria looked off somewhere to the northeast. "Oi, Tay-Tay!" she called out, making him nearly vent his bowels on hearing THAT specific nickname from her. "You have any idea where this bastard's family now lives?! They need a little lesson in not poking the landshark's nest!"
«Permit me, young Victoria…»
That made her blush. "Danke, Herr Rittmeister…!"
A second later, SOMETHING was punched through another wall of the building, said bolt arcing north-northeast…!
Near the site of Brockton Bay at the northeast end of the City, a minute later…
A bone-shattering KK-KRACK! echoed through the street around the Old Brockton Bay Memorial which had been erected by the Undersiders to mark the many times people from Brockton Bay suffered over the years from various cape gangs — never mind two attacks from the Slaughterhouse Nine and the attack by Leviathan in the late spring of 2011 — such making people scream in shock before turning to morbidly look. On seeing the mutilated man's body now lying in a fair-sized rut in the tarmac, one brave patrol officer — the Wardens had yet to establish a local office here despite the presence of a "villain gang" in the Undersiders, so a volunteer constabulary had been formed to handle minor things — walked over to gaze on the badly-wrecked face, recognizing the red hair and general looks from what he had been briefed on by Aisha Laborn. "Damn…!"
"Who is it, Officer?!" one woman demanded.
"Alan Barnes!" he called back before pulling out a communicator to call this in…
Yiziba, Tariko Katabarbe's cabin, that moment…
And in a flash of PAA energy, the Fighting Belle of Victory was restored to her home dimension. "VICKY!" a wide-eyed Amelia Lavere screamed out as she bolted to her feet, then swamped her sister with a tight hug, her powers going to work to see if the now-mid/high-level FISS-type — who hopefully would be far too strong to allow her empathic projection abilities which had always been the greatest issue the blonde bombshell of New Wave had experienced since her trigger event three years ago to go out of control — suffered from whatever made her post-Gifting Shock force her to go on some sort of mini-rampage.
As Osamu Shirayuki moved to hand Victoria Dallon a cup of welcome tea, Tariko Katabarbe smirked. "Who got killed?"
A snort answered her. "That universe's version of Alan Barnes. Sent the backstabber on a nice mortar-shot flight path from downtown Manhattan right back to the Bay on Bet." As the people in the room nodded in understanding — that sort of action against a helpless norm had been quite the commonplace in the times just before the Dawn of Power, used by FISS-level warriors of various dictatorships to frighten the common people enough to avert any rebellion — Victoria leaned down to tenderly kiss her sister's forehead before moving to sit down. "Managed to put that version of Mom in intensive care. Doubt that'll help the other me or the other Amy get back together again, but the bitch that started that mess is out of action now."
A snort escaped the healer. "Wonder how our version of Carol will react," Amelia breathed out, having finally got enough control over the torrents of mesonium flowing through her body to speak normally.
Victoria sighed. "Don't wanna think about it now…"
The Great Chef of the West then moved to serve dinner for the two New Englanders. "Well, people should KNOW better than to bother someone undergoing post-Gifting Shock, desu no!" Osamu Shirayuki wisely declared.
Knowing snickers echoed through the room…
Earth Gimel, the former Caudron base on the west side of the Hudson River northwest of the City, Thursday 5 February 2014, 7:08 AM EST…
"The Wardens are on the alert? What happened?" Benjamin Terrell demanded.
Renfield Lee shrugged. As the former leader of the Las Vegas Protectorate team before Gold Morning, the shape-changing Master/Charger known as Satyrical still had multiple contacts with former coworkers who were now moving to establish a new team of heroic parahumans to help people recover from the near-destruction of humanity across multiple dimensions. "Something that happened back in Brockton Bay on Bet, same as what befell Vista and Omen a couple weeks ago after Artemys took care of Tattletale." As the man also known as Teacher nodded in understanding, the former heroic cape — who maintained appearances with his former peers to ensure choice information could be funnelled into the Taught and their allies — added, "Not sure if it's some sort of Haywire thing from WAY beyond our multiverse, but Vista, Omen, Panacea and now Glory Girl — or whatever she's calling herself now — were hit with something BIG that nearly DESTROYED their powers."
The former university professor paled. "How?"
"No one can figure it out," the other man answered, throwing up his hands. "One minute, everything's normal…then they're mentally hit with knowledge and memories of something that seems so ALIEN that no one can make heads or tails of it. Atop that, once those girls went through this, a lot of their knowledge concerning how to use their powers just VANISHED!" As Benjamin's jaw dropped, Renfield sighed. "Oh, they still can do what they did beforehand…but it's a struggle for all four of them now. According to what few people from Cauldron who could be trusted enough to examine those girls have been able to figure out, those shard things that empower us were just GUTTED OUT by whatever it was that caused these things to happen."
"What about Watchdog survivors? What do they say?"
A rueful chuckle escaped the metamorphic hero. "Those idiots are babbling about 'great crystals' and 'dawns of power' and 'dark gaols', 'entity slayers', 'great gifts', 'all-death' and stuff that doesn't make damned sense…"
"WAIT!"
Renfield paused as Benjamin looked directly into his eyes. "Did you just say 'ALL-DEATH'?!"
"Uh, yeah! What about that, Professor?!"
Taking a moment as memories of the chilling event he had experienced second-hand thanks to Christina Mathers nearly a week before replayed through his mind, he then stared at his subordinate. "I'm going to say a couple of phrases. I'm sure the people analyzing those girls were quite thorough in their interrogations. Tell me if they sound familiar to you."
"Okay…"
"'Tene lomher'buo', followed by a person's full name."
The younger parahuman's eyes went wide. "Yeah! All four of them heard that phrase."
"Then there would be 'Nesu', followed by a word or phrase."
Another nod of the head. "Yeah…"
"Ms. Lavere, Ms. Dallon, Ms. Alcott and Ms. Byron heard that as well?"
"Yeah…"
"Now, 'Taeim letam'?"
"Vista and Omen heard that phrase." Here, the shape-changing hero blinked. "What's this about, Professor?!"
Benjamin breathed out. "Since this was shortly discovered after Professor Haywire encountered Earth Aleph, this shouldn't come as a surprise. There are MULTIPLE multiverses out there, Renfield. One of them has a whole PLANET full of parahumans — known as 'metahumans' there for some odd reason — existing quite close to the Earth of its dimension." As the younger man gaped in shock on hearing that, the leader of the Taught added, "From what little I've learned, it's ultimately a SURVIVAL REQUIREMENT to become a metahuman there, mostly because energy produced by that planet's very CORE has come to so manipulate the environment on the surface that things like Ellisburg and Eagleton back on Bet would see quite TAME there!"
As the former leader of the Las Vegas Protectorate took that in, the former university professor added, "Imagine a creature like a cat being transformed into a beast that would make a DINOSAUR look small! Imagine benign food-growing plants morphing into MAN-EATING entities! Never mind that there are costumed 'capes' quite like what we have here, people who could do things that even WE couldn't imagine. Full-fledged telepathy and other psionic skills, MAGIC and all forms of REALITY WARPING to scales you can't believe, Alexandria-type Brutes who could move MOUNTAINS and survive in deepest SPACE of all places, and everything else between those standards…" Here, he paused as he took a deep breath. "And, for those who are 'Named'…" — here, Renfield was quick to sense the capitalization — "…they get the EXTRA Gift of MEMORIES of multiple LIFETIMES of people sharing the same power in 'battle lines' that have existed for GENERATIONS! That knowledge ultimately dates to a worldwide revolution — the Dawn of Power, it's called there! — that brought down every NATION there, convincing the survivors of that event that it was the best thing to do to become METAHUMANS!"
The younger man took that in, then he sat back in his chair. Having associated with Cauldron since he was empowered by that group years before into becoming one of their many "success stories" to prepare for the final battle against Scion, he had a pretty good idea about what the Entities had been after all along. "Christ!" he hissed out. "Did the Entities go after them?! That sort of thing would have been a damned GOLD MINE of 'data' they could use to press their own goals!"
"They tried. They failed," Benjamin finished. "Still, the shards were able to link into that universe even if whatever data they gathered couldn't be analyzed by the Entities." He then closed his eyes. "Most likely, including ours."
That made Renfield blink before he gaped. "Those girls have counterparts in that multiverse?!"
"Yes! And all four of them are now empowered not as parahumans, but metahumans!" the older man declared. "Most likely, the woman who put Brandish in the hospital and killed Artemys' father wasn't OUR Victoria Dallon, but the Victoria Dallon in that dimension. No doubt, possessing a much healthier relationship to her adopted sister than what happened here."
A slow nod acknowledged that. "Why kill Barnes, then? He's a nobody when you get down to it."
"Ah, but he is someone very significant to the one person who experienced this we haven't talked about."
His guest gazed at the former university professor. "Who…?!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"One Taylor Hebert, my dear boy," Benjamin answered, making Renfield gape in shocked recognition. "Before she could have been disposed of by Fortuna after Scion's destruction, someone from that multiverse intervened, bringing her to a place where she could heal, regain her powers, then gain much MORE!" He smirked. "And from what I overhead when this happened to her, she wasn't the least damn bit impressed with a lot of people here, starting with Fortuna, going on to Ciara Coinmheadh, and most likely going on to all those who — by action and inaction alike — ended up forcing her onto the path leading to Gold Morning." Here, he pointed in the direction of Manhattan Island. "Alan Barnes and his daughter being two of them."
The former leader of the Las Vegas Protectorate seemed to deflate in his chair. "Shit…!"
In another room…
Still kept isolated from the others living at this base — though she knew now that Benjamin Terrell was planning to shift his primary operations to the main Cauldron compound located in a pocket dimension that had links to dozens of parallel Earths — the now-incapacitated "cape boogeyman" gazed nowhere in particular as she lay on the bed given to her when she had been captured. Watching her at this time was Tim Cox, who gazed on the very attractive brunette with an amused leer; while he was more than tempted to have his way with the insensate Thinker, the man also known as Seir had been directly ordered by Christina Mathers to leave Fortuna be since their ultimate host had plans for the woman. Hopefully, good ones…
Fortuna gargled before she bolted up, making Tim tense. "What is it?" he demanded.
"Taylor…!" she hissed.
Hearing THAT name, Tim snarled as he sent out one of his shadow clones to the residence wing where the leader of the Fallen was currently resting. As Fortuna reached up to grip the sides of her head, her eyes tearing in pain at whatever it was that had grabbed her attention, footfalls soon heralded the arrival of Christina, she followed by her blind son Elijah and Nathan Price; given that the whole of the Taught were keeping a VERY low profile — especially now with the attack on Brandish in downtown Manhattan the previous afternoon — everyone was in nondescript civilian clothing to prevent recognition whenever they went across the Hudson to do some shopping. "Thank you for the warning, Timothy," Christina declared as she sat on the bed beside Fortuna, reaching out to place the palm of her hand directly on the shuddering Thinker's forehead.
Instantly, images appeared in people's minds; the woman commonly known as "Mama Mathers" had, in the wake of Gold Morning, perfected her mixed Master/Stranger/Thinker abilities to mimic true telepathy, thus allowing her followers to mentally "see" what she herself was observing when she probed into a target's mind. Sure enough, the image of a normal family home appeared before the mind's eyes of everyone linking in. A family home in the middle of a sea of devastation…
"That's the HERETIC SLUT'S house!" Sabrina Crowley — who, as Empusa, was once leader of her own wing of the continent-wide Endbringer-worshiping cult — howled as she mentally pointed at the Hebert home.
«Oi, Karen! What's with the insults, bitch?!»
As Sabrina screeched, something seemed to seize them…
Earth Bet, the site of Brockton Bay, that moment…
…before everyone yelped as they were physically dumped onto the back lawn of the Hebert home.
"Herr Rittmeister…!" a VERY familiar voice moaned.
"Calm yourself, Frau Hebert. These pathetic fools won't cause any damage."
Moaning as the dizziness that had overtaken her from being so forcefully MOVED like she and her companions just experienced, Christina Mathers shook her head before looking up and over…
…then she gargled on seeing Taylor Hebert FLOATING in the air in a cross-legged position, she dressed in a plain yet quite flattering black gown, gazing with barely disgusted scorn at them with eyes that glowed with a deep, black-tinged reddish fire. Standing close to her was a rather handsome man with well-trimmed black hair and seemingly ageless grey eyes, dressed in rather normal clothing even if he had miniature military badges on his left upper chest marking him as a veteran of some war. As the others who had been forcefully moved to the devastated world of their birth looked around, the man gestured…
…then people jolted on hearing Fortuna screech in terror as she was telekinetically lifted off the ground and pulled over to drop into a heap right in front of the other self of the Slayer of Scion. "HEY!" Darren Hutchinson — he was Amaymon, one of Mama Mathers' own followers — bellowed as he summoned his diagrams to attack the monster who had slain the Golden Man…
…before they vanished with a POP! "That will be enough of that, Herr Hutchinson. There is no need to waste your energy; our business is with Frau Fortuna," the strange man beside Taylor sternly declared.
People blinked on picking up the noticeable German accent the man just had. "Are you Empire?!" Elijah Mathers demanded, sensing that the others with him were now having VERY big issues with trying to trigger their powers.
Hearing that question from the man wearing the bandages over his eyes, Taylor gaped before she nearly fell out of the air screeching with laughter. "What's so funny, slut?!" Sabrina Crowley snapped. "If it wasn't for this damned Trump…!"
WHAM!
The duplicate-creating Shaker had now been smashed down by a rather BIG piece of wreckage which had been telekinetically yanked from the ruins of a nearby house to drop on her head! "I said to knock it off with the insults, trailer trash!" Taylor snarled before lowering her right arm — a fully INTACT arm at that, the newcomers realized — while she glared at the now-moaning Sabrina. As the others shuddered on realizing that this being possessed abilities that did NOT match what was known about the former warlord of Brockton Bay, she then gazed at her teacher. "So, who or what ARE these mouthy idiots, Herr Rittmeister?! I recognize the bitch that shot the other me in the back of the head, but not the rest of these losers!"
As Christina's eyes widened with surprise, the others all screamed in outrage at being insulted…
…before a wave of the hand from the strange man silenced them all! "That is ENOUGH of that!" he declared in a voice that boomed with levels of power that made many of the Fallen soil themselves. As Taylor waved her hand in front of her face — she desperately resisting the urge to telekinetically drop them into the bay nearby to wash them off; no doubt, Josef von Taserich was moving to deliver an interesting lesson to her with these lunatics, never mind Fortuna — the oldest living human from their Earth relaxed himself. "They are known as the 'Fallen', Frau Hebert. Doomsday cultists, worshippers of the Endbringer creatures that were subconsciously controlled by Herr Mercy here to attack cities all to give him a 'challenging battle'…!"
"LIES!" Christina shrieked, making Taserich's eyebrow arch in amusement. "That heretic had no power…!"
"It's true."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Wh-what…?" the leader of the Fallen stammered as she gazed at a now-alert Fortuna.
"We realized it when he was killed by Scion," the "cape bogeyman" from another Earth quietly stated, allowing her memories of that event to replay in her mind so Christina could telepathically "see" same. "Somehow, David found a way to access the control mechanisms for those things, then sent them out to attack defenceless cities to challenge him…!"
As looks of denial and disbelief crossed the other Fallen present, Taserich chuckles before he gazed in amusement at Fortuna. "You know, Frau Fortuna, you should've read one of the best stories a dear friend of mine named Aísōpos once wrote…"
Taylor screeched in disbelief. "Wait! Wait! Wait!" she then squealed with a fangirl's fervour on being confronted with a favourite author/actress/celebrity. "You actually knew AESOP, Herr Rittmeister?!"
"Ja, I did! I HAVE lived for TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND YEARS, remember?!" he cautioned, that making the members of the Fallen — to say anything of Fortuna — goggle at him. "Seeing Frau Fortuna here, I was reminded of the morality that he sought to project in his fables, including those you'd not be aware of." Taserich then focused on the former special agent of Cauldron. "Your patron and you should have taken such moral lessons into account when you founded this group in the wake of your killing Herr Scion's mate." Ignoring the hiss from the Fallen on his saying that, he held up a finger. "Pay attention…"
Fortuna gulped as the immortal Pomeranian baron began, "There was a man who lived a long time ago who believed that he could read the future in the stars. He called himself an 'astrologer' and spent his time at night gazing at the sky…
"One evening, he was walking along the open road outside the village, his eyes fixed on the stars. As he observed their movements, he then concluded through the conjunctions he perceived that the END OF THE WORLD was at hand…
"…when all at once, down he went…into a hole full of mud and water."
As Taylor's eyes rolled, Taserich shrugged. "So, there he stood up to his ears in the muddy water, madly clawing at the slippery sides of the hole in his effort to climb out," he continued. "Fortunately for the fellow, his cries for help soon brought the villagers running to rescue him. As they pulled him out of the mud, one of them said, 'You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet you fail to see what is at your feet!'" Here, the Undying Lord of Rügen pointed to the ground. "'This may teach you to pay more attention to what is right in front of you; let the future take care of itself.'" Then, with a flourish of his arms and a vocal flair that would have had Taylor's mother Annette cheering, he finished, "'What use is it,' said another of the villagers, 'to read the stars when you can't see what's right here on the earth?'"
With that, he relaxed, gazing at the wide-eyed Fortuna. "YOU were that Astrologer, Fortuna!" he coldly hissed, pointing directly at her face. "You and the entirety of Cauldron! You were SO fixated of what was to come to the point where you all ended up blinding yourselves to the very moments you lived in." With a casual wave to the members of the Fallen who had been dragged back to Earth Bet by his power, he added, "Look at the results your group unleashed on innocents across many of the Earths in this multiverse! A trail of bloodshed and broken victims, all created by your twisted quest for the salvation of many Earths! Countless deaths, mutilations and trigger events which only culminated in a widespread descent into cynicism and despair."
With a casual wave of his hand, he turned his back on them. "You excavated a deeper hole the moment you decided to adhere to your 'path to victory' over all else, Frau Fortuna," he finished with an ominous echo in his voice, making the members of the Fallen dragged here quail in horror as they sensed how powerful he was. "Now lie in the bed you've made and think about what you've done as the very weight of your sin takes up their shovel and begins your burial."
"In simpler language, you FUCKED AROUND, Contessa!" Taylor cut in. "Now's about time for you to FIND OUT where it's going to lead all those you supposedly wanted to 'save'. Are you done with these idiots, Herr Rittmeister?"
"Remove them, Frau Hebert."
"Jawohl, mein Freiherr!" she affirmed with a hand salute, then she gestured…
Earth Gimel, the former Cauldron compound, that moment…
The sounds of multiple bodies slamming into the floor made both Benjamin Terrell and Renfield Lee perk before both dashed out of the former's office, racing down the hallway to the room where the "cape bogeyman" was currently being held prisoner. Looking inside, both men gaped on seeing a dazed pack of people tossed about on the floor save for Fortuna herself, who was on her bed, hugging herself as she muttered something in her native language, shaking her head in denial. Immediately, the skills-granting Trump/Master lunged over to help Christina Mathers to a sitting position. "What happened?!"
The leader of the Fallen blinked before shaking her head. "We…have a problem, Benjamin…"
As he gazed on her, Fortuna's voice shifted to English. "…not my fault…not my fault…not my fault…!"
The End…For Now!
To be Continued in From Shards to Gifts: Arise the Undersiders
WRITER'S NOTES
The part of the second to last scene where Josef von Taserich quoted from Aesop was written by Sachertorte over at Sufficient Velocity. Many thanks to him for his contribution to this work.
Translation list (all from Yizibajohei): Ramlo'osuto-pali — Thirty-sixth scene; Mambo — South wind, analogue to the native American-based term "Arkansas"; Tatotuguto — Literally "land of fishermen", the local analogue of England; Todorimkam — Literally "oxen's ford", the local analogue of the city of Oxford in England.
Note that on websites like Fanfiction and Archive Of Our Own, successive stories in the From Shards to Gifts series will be loaded onto one single story entry.