Rise
Emergence 1.1

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The sheer number of things one could overlook when stuck in a bed and desperately trying not to freak out about memory loss was… perhaps not surprising, but it was definitely inconvenient.

I was still in the hospital bed, a few hours since waking up and the initial questions from Dr. Winston, as the man had mentioned his name was. Apparently policy to try and get initial impressions from any Case 53 encountered under controlled circumstances. I got the feeling it was pretty rare, since the man had been basically climbing up the walls with excitement.

Honestly, I'd been shown bits from the video they had of me apparently respawning from a dead heart, and it'd joined the memory thing in how much it freaked me out pretty much immediately. Some things man was not meant to witness, and your own eyes growing back had to be one of them.

I blinked at a sudden wave of revulsion erupted from within me again. Huh, this didn't feel like the queasiness I'd had with the eyes thing. Something else had triggered his disdain, something about that last thought. Weird, but not something I had time to analyze right now.

No, Dr Winston, as it turned out, was a huge nerd about these things. He'd read just about everything there was available to read on Case 53s, and wearisome as his questions; often the same question reworded like five different ways; had been, it'd also helped me learn a lot about this situation I was evidently in. Such as me being able to understand that Case 53s were a thing, for one.

Because wherever I was, this world apparently just had people showing up with strange markings and no memories, enough that government bureaucracies had made a note of it and approved policies for handling them.

And honestly, if that had been the strangest part of what I'd heard today that would be weird enough, but it was far from it. Superpowers were a thing, apparently. This world had people who had supernatural abilities, and they apparently collectively used them to be Superheroes and Supervillains, like out of the comic books I'd…

I winced at another spike of migraine. At the tail end of the brief interview when he'd been leaving to discuss the situation with his colleagues, Dr Winston had rattled off a few suggestions about mental techniques he'd heard of people having great success with. I'd managed a couple pretty much instinctively, but avoiding lines of thought that would leave into the quicksand that was my missing memories was pretty hit or miss.

It apparently took people weeks or months before they managed to get better in most cases, as per what Winston had known of these things, due to how the mind hindered as much as it helped under normal circumstances.

Normally the mind acted to fix itself in such situations, which wasn't actually great because it tended to turn out as a shitshow. Denied connecting memories and thoughts human minds sometimes outright invented memories, or developed pathway to patch around the holes. It could let people function, but it could also have then running around utterly convinced that random dreams their noggin had imagined were factual memories.

My mind… didn't do that, apparently. No false memories, no random connections. Just the mind, as it was. It led to me realizing another thing, once I gave it some thought. I had eidetic memory. Well, not precisely as most people thought of it, given the amnesia, but everything I did still remember I remembered absolutely flawlessly. No delays trying to remember things, no confusion due to similarities between spellings or faces. Every memory that was still around in my head, I could recall in a fraction of a moment without any issue.

Granted this was also one of the problems as then my mind expected everything to be there just as perfectly, but that was what I was supposed to be trying to fix right now. I was meditating, I'd been for the last couple hours, trying to pass through my mind and deliberately acknowledge what was there and what I'd lost, so that I could stop trying to reach for information that wasn't there anymore. It was tricky, I'd tried half a dozen techniques that hadn't done anything so I'd reverted to what came by instinct, just willing myself to enter my own mind. Which was weird, because it wasn't like my mind was something I could… visit?

I blinked, trying to see if this was a vision. At my last thought I'd suddenly found myself in a different place from my infirmary bed, a place I instinctively knew was my own mind. Specifically it was my mindscape, an extension of my Memory Palace. I very carefully didn't let my mind wander into where I'd learned that, instead just acknowledging that yes, I apparently knew advanced, halfway-fictional memory techniques.

I looked around the place I was in, trying to get some bearings. It was definitely as much of a ruin as my mind felt like to me. Some kind of a great, golden city that had been utterly wrecked and ruined beyond any disaster photos I had ever seen. Piles of wreckage dominated the scene, not just broken but twisted. They were vile, each separate pile of scrap apparently infected with strange, cancerous growths that leaked pus and some kind of congealed blood, with strange colorations and even weird physics effects that made things float, disappear and reappear randomly and other things that made my eyes water when I looked at it for more than a moment.

So most of my mind was ruined. I let the thought flow through me, pass over and under until it settled in. My memories were gone. Whoever I had been, the identity that I had had was destroyed beyond any hope of recovery. I would need to move past the instincts leading me to think of old things and link to old memories because those old memories simply didn't exist anymore.

I kept wandering, trying to keep my mind off anything in particular as the thought settled in. As it did, I felt the whole mindscape I was in shift around me. A deep groan echoed across the place as the entire city began to change. Vast sections of it moved, turning and shifting in place as they moved towards each other.

I kept walking, avoiding rapidly relocating piles of debris as they all came together at one side of the city. It was a cross between a landfill and a junkyard forming in real life, only the trash was radioactive and had exotic physics and vile flora infecting it.

Once it was done, though, it left a few buildings standing that were separate from the mess. And that, presumably, was what I had left to work with. As I approached, I could feel thoughts pop in my head. Skills, these were skills. Engineering, Maths, Medical skills came first, apparently what I had in the greatest quantities. I felt other things pass by, vast volumes of memories somehow stripped into clean, objective skills unattached to any episodic or personal memories.

The weirdest part was when I felt myself acknowledge the skills to do the exact thing I was doing right now, memory handling and control. It really wasn't supposed to be this easy apparently, as I was seeing materialization and realization of ideas that were really supposed to be largely metaphorical. It was almost as if I'd started there and then grown these skills into something like… oh.

"It's called Occlumency, and it's about the only thing keeping this shitpile together. So better stop poking at it." That was weird. I could have sworn I heard an actual voice speak up in my own mind.

"Yes you fucking did. Look here. There's no time to waste, you need to pay attention there's crucial things you need to know if you want to live." Okay this time I heard it for sure. I turned, and…

"Okay, this has to be a dream." I couldn't help but mutter.

"Well, I mean at this level it always is a little bit of one. Except now that you've thought that word there's a good chance he'll be listening in. I fucking hate having to deal with Uncle M." the thing I was looking at spoke again. It was… freaky, on an entirely different level.

"No shit, Sherlock. Wait till your new friends find out you're not just weird looking and amnesiac but you also hear voices in your head. I bet that'll make you a lot of friends." The giant blue, six-armed, half-metallic being I'd been staring at said again. Honestly, what the fuck was this? I thought I looked weird already, but who had blue skin?

"Oh, you think… you haven't even seen a… oh, this is rich. Yeah, this'll be fun to see turn out." He spoke up again unprompted.

"If this is this some kind of a fucked up Vision Quest I want my money back." I finally managed to say something.

Evidently it was the right thing to say, as the giant smiled, as if I'd passed some sort of test. Abruptly, he sat down on a seat that hadn't been there a moment before. He gestured towards a second seat that had appeared a fraction of a second ago.

"Jokes aside, let's have a word. The unthinkable happened and you're all that's left. You won't understand just how much has gone wrong and on how many levels, so there's no point to me waxing poetic about it. And we don't have much time to talk right now either, there's a nurse who muttered your room number when she entered the corridor. She's probably coming to wake you."

That was weird. I'd always thought time would go on forever if I was ever in my own mind.

"It can, but that's one of the things you've lost."

…oh.

"Yeah. Anyway, you need to get your shit sorted. This place you're in? It's crawling with dangers. It was supposed to be that they'd be fish in a barrel, we'd cheat this whole fucking thing all the way to the bank. But you as you are now… Something went wrong, and you're going to have to find out what."

"Well it would help if you'd tell me anything other than vague, cryptic hints like this. Who was I? What advantages? What place am I in? If you could give some straight answers instead of trying to play Mysterious Stranger, maybe I'd actually be able to start understanding things."

"You're not this stupid. You know that if I'm not laying things out in black and white there have to be reasons for that. Just understand that it's more important than you can possibly believe right now. You need to… you need to…"

"… you need to wake up, sir. They're ready for you downstairs." The nurse shook me awake.

"Yeah, I figured that much." I said drily. Apparently the skills I'd just re-acknowledged myself as possessing had sarcasm among them.

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Finally getting off the bed had not been one of the experiences I'd expected to challenge me, but life has a way of surprising you.

Well, perhaps 'challenge' was an exaggeration, but was definitely more of an effort than it had any right to be. That was when I realized the other thing, too.

Apparently I'd somehow managed to miss looking at myself for long enough, or maybe with the mess my memories were in my mind had just not noted it because this was how my subconscious expected me to be… but I was blue. The exact same shade of blue as the guy in my mindscape, which on further thought, had to be some previous version of me, I realized. Who else would there be in my own mind?

But yeah, I was Blue, with freaky silver hair, almost elfin-sharp ears and way too many muscles all over me. All of a sudden the bits about Case 53s I hadn't been paying attention snapped into focus. Weird appearances, a strange tattoo, all things I'd heard but instinctively sorted into a 'later' pile because of how much my memory loss had been freaking me out.

I ruminated on this, luxuriating in the feeling of not running headfirst into a psychic dead-end with every other thought. Isolating the smoking wreckage that had been my past memories had been effective beyond any levels I'd expected it to be. More than just cleaning up my thoughts, it allowed me to acknowledge that the memories were gone and work with what I had, instead of my mind expecting them to be there and basically grinding to a halt every time it ran into a missing area.

I looked around at the area, as the nurse led me to wherever 'they' were ready for me. The infirmary was rather large, though didn't have anything to compare it with. Over a dozen rooms led into a larger bay with a whole collection of beds. Presumably the rooms were for people who needed particular observation/isolation.

"Just down this corridor and a few steps and we'll be here. They're pretty excited about you, you know." The nurse spoke up halfway through the hall.

I nodded, before I realized something "Can you tell me your name, please? I've been calling you The Nurse in my head all this time."

I smiled as she turned pink. "Oh my, I was in such a rush I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Evelyn."

"Hi, Evelyn. I'd tell you my name, but…"

"Oh, don't worry. Everyone knows about your memory thing. News of a big blue guy appearing out of nowhere is the spiciest thing anyone's been talking about in the last couple days."

Huh. I raised an eyebrow, but not for the reason she probably thought. Something like that was only the spiciest news in the last couple days, didn't even make it to a week? This world was fucking insane.

Once we were past the area she led me down a brief flight of stairs to a room off to the right. Standing to the side, she gestured at me to wait before stepping in.

I frowned. I'd come here because these people seemed to be my best bet for getting a handle on my situation in this world, but this… this was a power move, wasn't it? Setting expectations and a pattern of behavior. They were establishing that I was at their beck and call, to rush to answer their question and wait when they demanded it of me.

Or was I misreading perfectly innocent behavior?

It'd been only a few seconds of me musing the question when the door opened again and the nurse waved me in, before turning back and heading towards the infirmary again.

"Well, good luck with whatever they want to talk about inside." She smiled one last time, before walking off.

Right, then.

Stepping into the room I ran a quick eye across, giving the place a once over. Somehow, without even having anything to compare it with the thought that came up was that it was a generic government conference room. Cheap table dominating the center, cheap chairs framing it on both sides, a half-dead plant on top of a filing cabinet under the window, another in a flowering pot at the corner and a third plant with small flowers on the table that looked much closer to all dead. Seriously, it was more yellow than green. One side of the table occupied by four people all looking expectantly at me.

I pulled up a chair at the other side of the table, settling into it almost gingerly. Hospital gowns were not my best look, I could tell that much.

For a few moments I watched, bemused, as Winston opened his mouth to say something before falling silent. He repeated this a couple times before just falling silent and trying to sink in his seat.

I ran a quick eye across the guys on the other side, trying to get some idea of them. One was another doctor, judging by the lab coat. One was a manager type, complete with overpriced suit, coiffed hair and cliché shades in his top pocket. The last one, though… tough, upright posture, alert and actually sharp eyes, a slight hint of discomfort from the lack of weight on his waist… that would be the security guy, then.

Only… if Case 53s had unknown powers, would they risk these fine people getting hurt without having a superhero of their own present? Too bad I couldn't hear… oh, I could hear the next room. Three heartbeats, all steady, one stationary while two were moving. One started moving towards the exit as I waited for the team opposite me to say something, while the other gradually slid themselves into position.

Or rather, herself. The gait betrayed the person as a woman. I looked towards the wall as nonchalantly as I could and it was all I could do to not react when I realized I could see right through it with a little bit of concentration. The woman was somehow even more aware and ready than the security guy sitting in front of me, wearing army fatigues with a scarf around her face and sash in an identical pattern around her waist.

A light green glow around one hand was the only sign she had a power. Interesting.

I turned my attention back to Winston and his colleagues before an innocent look towards the wall could become a stare. The whole thing from me entering the room till now had taken maybe ten seconds, but it'd been long enough to make the silence start feeling awkward. I decided to put them out of their misery.

"Well hello guys." I spoke up, looking directly at Winston. It was almost gratifying as he perked up immediately.

"Yes, hello! Are you feeling any better with those migraines?" he responded immediately.

I was starting to get an idea about why he, a fully qualified doctor with years of training and experience had been watching me when I woke up. He was way too excited to be working for the government.

"Yes, much better now." I replied tersely. I still didn't know… basically anything about this world, these people or really, anything and I'd much rather things move quickly so I could start finding out.

Winston proceeded to introduce his colleagues… as Alfred, Barry and Charles. Honestly, I could understand using fake names for a first meeting before they knew anything about me, but could they have taken the trouble to not give them out in alphabetical order? I'd continue calling them as Lab Coat, Suit and Security Guy in my head, I decided.

"Well, we're glad to hear that." Lab Coat started. "You must be wondering what all this is for. Let me explain. I'm sure Daniel explained what Case 53s are and how you were found?"

I nodded. Daniel? I looked at Dr Winston and he was starting to sweat. Oh, the poor fool had blurted out his real name when we'd talked. … and the others probably knew that already, because if every second of that hadn't been recorded I'd eat my gown. Or maybe his name was Daniel Winston? Not important right now.

"Well this session is just to address any questions or concerns you might have. It's actually somewhat lucky we have a thorough record of your… arrival, as it precludes many of the typical concerns that tend to arise in this situation." He paused.

I couldn't resist "I'm glad my torturously painful regeneration from a single organ makes things convenient for you." I drawled out, and was rewarded by the lady in the next room tensing up, the energy around her hand pooling together in her palm. It held there as I watched the color drain from Lab Coat's face and the others around the table start in shock.

Interesting. Reactions seemed mostly genuine, and there was a shocking lack of sudden guns or wards springing up around the room. Why, the last time I'd pulled something like this… was lost with the rest of my memories. All I had were the skills, not any information about how I'd acquired them, when I'd used them before, or anything in that vein. I luxuriated in the simple fact that this acknowledgement was all that popped up in my mind. No sudden jolt of agony, no sudden feeling like someone had jammed a red-hot spike into my brain upwards from my neck, or feeling like my mind was trying to reach out for what simply wasn't there. Progress!

"Pardon me, I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories. I just meant to say, that is-" I raised a hand. It would be easy to take this in the 'oh now you mock my lack of memories' direction, but there was a time and place for making people sweat for the fuck of it.

"It's fine. Yes, I have a number of questions, and I'm glad that you're able to trust me more easily because you saw me grow up from when I was yay big" I finished, making my hand hover about a foot from the table.

A few smiles, people got their breathing back under control, the Superheroine next door had her energy thing go back to passively radiate from her hands.

Okay then. Time to talk.