My time spent in the Birdcage was, in actuality, spent on various other worlds parallel to Earth Bet. I had agreed to combat and kill Scion, and had put many plans into motion in the pursuit of that final goal, but I wanted to secure my own position before I made major strides in that direction.
My jaunts to other worlds were undertaken to find suitable worlds to either face Scion or build my empire. I did not want to combat Scion on Earth Bet where capes would get in my way, and I possessed a secondary goal of limiting casualties as much as I could. What was the point of destroying Scion to prevent his apocalyptic rampage if our battle culminated in a worse armageddon?
I also spent time on my world, working to further its growth. My biological drones had made slow progress, progress that magnified tenfold once I brought the Simurgh to my world to begin her modern manufacturing pursuits. She spent the majority of her time on Earth Bet's moon preparing facilities that would craft weapons capable of harming and distracting Scion, but she would request that I allow her to accompany me to my world every time I decided to go. I imagine she made use of her future sight to predict when I planned to leave because her requests always came through the moment I reached out to Eidolon's shadow to whisk me away.
With access to the abilities of every tinker I had taken combined with her powerful telekinesis, the Simurgh had jumpstarted my world's – I'd taken to calling my planet "Liminal" as an homage to the fae heritage I named myself for – construction.
Now, in addition to the slowly growing organic sprawl of forests, the beginnings of an otherworldly city was taking shape. The sleek plating and the wild contouring of the buildings the Simurgh used in the city's architecture allowed it to blend seamlessly with the surrounding woods, making the city appear as if from a mystical dream. All of the conveniences of modern living were now available to me and would be made available to any future citizens I may or may not possess. I still had not decided on whether or not I would welcome people to my world.
Since fixing my mind, my desire to lord over a mundane populace had waned, but I still desired a place to belong and a people to belong to. I doubted I would find such on Earth Bet, but I would have time enough to search the multiverse once I had successfully eliminated the threat Scion posed to my burgeoning utopia. One major goal at a time.
Dozens of humanoid shadows drifted through the space around me as I sat at a small table, pondering over a datapad sat in front of me. Bioluminescent flora glowed soft purples and blues, lighting the gold-black chamber I sat in, the light illuminating specific shades as they aimlessly wandered the space. Across from me, a blank-faced form sat cross-legged on nothing, floating above the ground and listing side to side. A collection of mismatched wings framed the nude feminine form as her blank ivory eyes sat fixed on my form, seemingly waiting for something.
"Are there any powers that would increase your chance of dealing a crippling blow to Scion with your tinkertech?" I spoke as a chorus of voices stolen from those whose souls now served me.
A message appeared on the datapad in front of me.
Z: No further Tinker specialties are needed. We require more devastating firepower.
I nodded. "I am aware. I already have a plan in place to take what powers we need. I only waited so long to be sure I would not have to kill the original owners of the powers." Another message quickly followed.
Z: Request expedited collection.
"I am trying to be better about how I do things, Ziz. I am now strong enough to offer mercy. If I am ever to rule, I must be capable of navigating around the most direct, bloody path to find compromise."
Z: Compromise can wait until Zion is destroyed.
I smiled sadly. "You're right, of course. Zion is a threat deserving of my full, unhindered might, but is that not the point? What use are principles if they are abandoned when it is convenient?" Would Batman kill a man to save the world? No, he would take the more difficult path. I still had no aversion to killing, but I no longer desired killing to be my first and only response to any problem. I was not a good man, but neither did I want to remain evil.
Z: I will comply with your commands.
[LOYALTY]
I nodded to the floating figure across from me. "I am honored that you would put your trust in me. Know that I consider you the first and currently only subject of my court. I would burn the world to see you safe." I meant it too. Perhaps it was wrong of me to put the fate of a near-non sentient entity above the fate of countless realities, but Ziz was one of my people. My ravenous need to protect those under me required that I saw to her safety above all else – likely the remnants of my fractured psyche before I was fixed. It was likely Bonesaw and Panacea were not able to put me back together the exact way I was before receiving my powers, but I had accepted who I was now.
I would destroy Scion to prevent the destruction of incalculable worlds, but I would not allow my only current subject to perish in that pursuit. Maybe in the future I would find more lost souls in search of a purpose and home that I would offer my utopia to, but for now, Liminal had two sentient residents – Ziz and myself.
"Are you ready?" I asked, levitating to my feet, the datapad left on the table as my shadows gathered around me.
[AFFIRMATION]
With a thought, I used Eidolon's power to transport the two of us back to Earth Bet's dimension.
[DATA]
Ziz vanished in a flash of blue energy as she used her connection to my power network to access a teleportation ability that would transport her back to the moon. The majority of her projects were close to completion. She would make the finishing touches and inform me when she was ready.
A green-hued spirit drifted forward in the wake of Ziz's departure. Expressionless and unmoving, the spirit of Eidolon floated at my side as I called upon his power to locate an individual. With no protections from Thinker powers, the individual was located with no issue.
Strider's power swelled around me, pulling me away from the field I'd arrived in so I could hunt my target.
"What the fuck!" a young man cried in shock at my sudden appearance. There were several figures standing in a dust-covered garage around a mass of misshapen flesh and limbs.
"It's–" The young woman's voice cut out.
I had no interest in dragging things out with these individuals. While I knew they were willing to commit atrocities, they had not wronged me, so I would not kill all of them, only those necessary for my goal.
The young teens tried to summon their powers, but Hatchet Face's aura prevented them from resisting me. Ingenue's shade appeared at my side and altered my power, turning my Striker power into a Shaker power at the price of how many shades I could keep active. Two and Null's feedback loop immediately compensated for the price Ingenue's power exacted, leaving me suffering no ill effects.
I held out my hand as the mass of flesh charged towards me, letting out a piercing scream that was not human. The facsimile of a young girl's body affixed to the top of the mass was screaming at me, but I paid her words no mind. Moments before she would have enveloped me, the mass of flesh slumped over dead. A bloated, mishappen spectre rose from its corpse to join my court.
I already had capes that would allow me to create clones, but only clones of my current spectres. I needed a new ability if I wanted to create temporary clones of other individuals to harvest their powers without killing the original bearer. I hadn't wanted to risk Noelle cloning me the moment I touched her to kill her, so I had increased the range of my Striker power. I could have used Eidolon's abilities to kill her from range, but I didn't know how durable she was. It was better that I killed her immediately with no chances for her to get lucky.
"Noelle!" A scream of abject loss and unbridled fury called from my side. I paid it no mind.
Shadows appeared next to each of the teens in the garage, reaching out to touch them all. Clones spat forth from the shadows connected to Noelle's power, each creating a clone of a different member of the group. All clones dropped dead the moment they entered the room, falling victim to the still present Shaker version of my instant kill touch ability. As I felt their powers join my court, I nodded to the teens.
"Thank you for your contributions. I wish you a pleasant life free from the burden of the monster that has consumed your future. Forge your own path free from Krouse's insanity and the threat of Noelle." Without another word, I vanished in a flash of blue. I didn't much care what happened to the remnants of the Travellers now. I had what I needed from them. Whether they lied well or ill was up to them.
"Greetings." I said, appearing in a large office. The far wall was pure glass, overlooking a sprawling metropolis. A potted plant stood in the corner behind a large desk. There were pictures and bookshelves as well. It was as if the occupant of the space was attempting to live up to every office stereotype.
The figure sitting at the desk tensed at my arrival, quickly schooling their appearance as they recognized me.
"Oberon," Alexandra, currently in her civilian guise, greeted. "May I ask why you are in my office?"
"I have come for powers – yours, Doormaker's, Clairvoyant's and Number Man's." I held up a hand as Alexandria froze still as a statue. "Peace, Fortitude. I have procured a method to claim your abilities without claiming your life. It is already done."
Alexandria exploded out of her chair, taking to the air above her desk and spinning around. A clone, identical to her save for her lack of the formal suit Alexandria wore, lay dead on the ground behind her chair, one of my shades looming over it. The shade had made the clone and killed it in the same instant.
"I would like your cooperation to gain Doormaker, Clairvoyant and Number Man, but I do not require it."
Alexandria lowered herself to the ground in front of me, carefully controlling her expression. "They will not be harmed?"
"You have my word."
Alexandria offered me a sharp nod before saying, "Door to Doormaker."
A golden portal snapped into being to her right. One of my shades turned into a blur as it called upon several speed-centric abilities, dashing in and out of the portal in the space of a breath. The portal snapped shut a moment later, not before a surprised shout could be heard from within.
"Thank you, Library of Alexandria. I will manage the rest on my own." With Doormaker's power and Clairvoyant's ability to aim that power, I would be able to touch any target remotely, make a clone and kill it immediately to take its power. A golden portal shimmered into being behind me as I turned to leave.
"Oberon," Alexandria's voice stopped me.
I turned to her expectantly.
"We can help you." she said, floating off the ground to move closer. "Cauldron's resources have always been dedicated to ending Scion. If you–"
"Your offer is appreciated, but unnecessary. All I require from you is to keep third parties from engaging when I move against the entity. The false god shall fall soon." Without another word, I strode through the portal. It snapped shut behind me.
I was back on Liminal. I would be creating and killing a large number of clones in the next few minutes. All of those bodies would pile up and go to waste if I did this on Earth Bet. Here, my workers would make use of the biomass to further my world towards the utopia I hoped it would one day be.
Hundreds of shadows appeared in the forest around me as I summoned the full might of my court. Hundreds of small portals appeared, one in front of each spectre. The portals remained open long enough for the spirit to touch the person on the other side before snapping shut. A bearded man in a plain laboratory, a burly man fighting in a pit, a woman walking down the cereal aisle at a grocery store, a young teen sitting in her desk at school, an elderly man taking his medication in a bathroom, a woman with flowing blonde hair wearing a blue robe with a gauntlet emblem on her chest sitting at the head of a mighty table – my portals opened behind hundreds of individuals simultaneously. The shadows killed the clones made with my Ingenue-enhanced power before another portal opened in front of them.
With each new portal that opened, another naked corpse fell to the ground as I claimed the power of the copy of the parahuman made by Noelle's power. I slowly rose into the air as the forest floor became littered with bodies, my court drifting up with me, raining bodies into the greenery below where large insects and reptiles had already begun to drag the bodies away. The biomass would be put to good use creating my utopia.
A small, dark smile grew on my face as the bodies fell. Scion's end was nigh. Soon, I would be known as a godkiller.
Author's Note:
Hello. Hope you're all doing well.
I have recently been informed that this story has been pirated and put up on a different platform. Please DO NOT harass the unnamed individual that has done this. I am only addressing this to make it clear that I am the original author of this work and do not consent to any unauthorized cross-posting of this work. Currently, the only legitimate versions are on Spacebattles under A Numerical List of Candy and on FF and AO3 as TheCandyManCant.
Have a good one.