~ Dark Side ~
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Castilian's POV
Why is Brockton Bay under the sea?
That's the first thing I thought as I woke up in the ruined city, deep under what I can see to an endless ocean as the sunlight refracted at the top.
Yet I'm breathing fine.
Am I dreaming?
"No, you're not dreaming, Niño."
I jumped at the sudden voice, my power answering to my call as I formed a spear and shield.
"A case 53?" I asked in confusion as I watched a Case 53, a humanoid wolf, take a seat on a ledge of a building. He was wearing a poncho yet I can see that his feet and arms are akin to a wolf. He is all Wolf but shaped like a human underneath.
"Not quite, still nice to see you face-to-face, Niño." The wolf said, grinning wide and showing off his sharp canines.
I frowned at his familiar tone, as if he knew me.
"Where is this place? And who are you? You know me but I don't believe I have ever met you." I asked him politely but still at the edge.
I'm in an unfamiliar setting. This could probably be a Shaker effect like Labyrinth. Yet the question of why he is being targeted.
The Case 53 laughed instead, snickering before giving him a lopsided grin.
"Cas."
"Cas."
"Cas."
"Caaaaaaas."
"You hurt me Cas, after what I gave you? I'm hurt, amigo." He clutched his poncho, just over where his heart is, in mock pain.
"I haven't ever met you, amigo." I threw his words back at him. I don't have any idea what he is talking about.
"Hmm, the Demon was right. You're too human. Yet." I frowned as he licked his lips, his red eyes staring at like a piece of meat.
"I'm getting tired of your charade. Release me from this place or I'll take you out." I warned him, with both armaments shining bright as a warning.
"Eager to leave aren't we even though you just arrived? I'm afraid that's not how this works." The Wolf grinned.
"...What is this place?" I asked him again.
I can't brute force my way out of this based on that last statement. I hate it but I'm at this Case 53's mercy.
"Finally!" It seems like he liked my answer as he dropped down and began walking on the road.
"Walk with me, I'll explain while we walk."
With nothing else to do or a way out of this mess, I followed him.
"You haven't given me your name."
"Humans called me many things. To you, just call me Wolf."
"... You're not a furry aren't you?"
"Say that again and I'll bite your nose off."
"...Nice poncho."
"Back at you, Niño."
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The PRT headquarters is currently in wide panic.
At exactly midnight on February 24, Thursday, the PRT ENE were attacked. Not by an outside source but within.
The entire Rig shook and exploded outwards. Its structure crumpled in random intervals as if a child was treating the base as playdough.
Injuries and Casualties mounted until they found the source.
A comatose form Castilian Guerrero who is randomly spasming, blood profusely pooling out of his facial orifices.
Protectorate heroes already took action to calm down the sleeping Ward.
With zero success.
Velocity's speed worked against him as the base turned into a death trap labyrinth as the base crumpled around him, trapping the man.
Miss Militia and ArmMaster were thrown out of the Ring by an invisible force, akin to a psychic force based on PRT agent's accounts.
Assault and Battery found a similar fate of the two but with the former getting knocked out by a stray rubble.
By morning, the PRT Headquarters had fallen. Its remnants became a floating mass of debris floating at the Bay as massive debris and other unlucky buildings are pulled in the psychic storm currently unfolding.
Then it got worse as the Endbringer siren's rang.
Simurgh is attacking Canberra.
Reluctantly, Director Piggot sent out the rest of the Protectorate minus Miss Militia and ArmMaster for both being responsible to Fenrir.
Miss Militia as his teacher and ArmMaster as his Wards Leader.
"Any changes?" Director Piggot asked ArmMaster who is currently in a temporary lab, monitoring the sleeping Ward.
She can't help but compare the scenario with the Sleeper, a very dangerous Cape.
"Nothing. But with the amount of blood he is losing, I theorized Fenrir will bleed out and die unless anything changed." ArmMaster replied, eyes focused on the computer monitor that is feeding a live footage of Fenrir's room.
He was lucky he managed to launch a mini camera to monitor Fenrir's state of unconsciousness before being flung out of the Ring before its destruction.
"So the boy will die then?" Piggot felt bad for the boy. Fenrir was a valuable asset, unpredictable but valuable with what he offered to her this past month.
A PR campaign against drugs.
Wards rise in popularity with their efforts.
And the valuable info he had retrieved for her.
Alas, it looks like the boy's luck in his power took a dark turn.
"...That would be a fact but the boy had already lost about 5 times the normal blood volume in his body in the past 10 hours. He's not dead yet or his current power is delaying it."
A grim thought.
"I already gave Miss Militia the order. Alert her of any opportunity or gap in the Psychic storm, we need to end this before the Triumvirate returns."
"...Lethal?"
"...Costa Brown approved the order." Piggot closed her eyes.
She'll miss the boy but she's a professional, she'll get over it. He won't be the first Parahuman with strong powers to come and he won't be the last.
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"So this place is my inner self?"
"Yes, though I would prefer it if it's a little sunny or dry."
The Wolf is not an enemy.
For now.
As we walked in the flooded Brockton Bay, he began explaining what kind of place I had stumbled into.
My own inner self or world.
Think of my own soul or mind but a literal place. It's the very core of my very being and the center point of my power.
That's a very jarring thought. The center of my power is my own inner world.
What's more worrying is Wolf's claim to be my power.
A Fragment of Death left behind on the first day of my power.
"...Still won't believe me?" I blinked as Wolf suddenly invaded my personal space, his wide grin very present and his red eyes staring into my soul.
"...It's just too convenient." I replied, pushing his snout away in defiance.
It earned a chuckle from the Wolf.
"True. It's too convenient and with that Grand Magus' compendium drilled into your brain, it's better to be suspicious. Good instincts even though I gave it to you."
I took a sharp intake of air as my eyes widened at his words.
"What? You think I wouldn't know about the Spellbook literally etched into your noggin, Niño? Please, I know EVERYTHING that happens here."
Well that is concerning.
"Although I suggest not using your more… exotic spells pertaining to divinity or worse, dimensional spells. We don't want to attract an Alien God or something worse?" Wolf said with a lopsided grin with his snout. I merely nodded at the suggestion, not really seeing the problem but I'll listen for now.
Not like I can use the more exotic spells in the compendium.
How do I even start in using Time Lapse?
Finally, I began to see where Wolf was taking me. My eyes widened in shock and awe as the skyscrapers of Brockton Bay floated around in the area we were going to. Like a cluster of floating debris. At the edges of my vision, I can see other skyscrapers being pulled into the cluster. Suddenly, a huge explosion echoed as dust blew in our direction. My shield arm came up to protect my eyes while Wolf remained undisturbed by the shockwave.
Instead, the Case 53 was worried.
"Tsk! That shade is making a ruckus in your inner self, kid. It looks like the Demon and the Shadow can't even hold him off in expanding his influence to you." Wolf clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Influence? By whom.
Suddenly, I saw the biggest Hadoken of my life. It was pure black and the malice oozing from it was suffocating but the sheer power behind the attack was undeniable as it soared into the center of the cluster.
Only for it to halt and compress in an invisible bubble. It was snuffed out soon after.
I gawked at the casual dismissal of the attack. My own Hadoken is not yet on that level but it can casually destroy a car (a merchant tinkertech car to boot) but it was nothing compared to that Hadoken.
Yet it was snuffed out like a candle.
An explosion suddenly echoed before I heard something whistling in the air before I saw something flying over us in high-speeds, crashing into a building far away which caused it to collapse by the impact.
"Fuck."
It was the very first time I ever saw a casual display of sheer power. I have seen the Triumvirate in action before in TV and other heroes of the PRT but Parahuman powers just felt so underwhelming to be honest with their rigid specialization except for a few exceptions.
But this?
This is pure power.
Absolute power.
And it's wreaking havoc in my inner self for some reason.
"Better go in and fix it, Niño." I caught myself as I stumbled forward from Wolf pushing me towards the direction of the area.
"What the hell man! Are you nuts! I'm gonna get killed by that!" I screamed at him in panic. We both saw whoever that was that got launched like a goddamn missile. I can't survive that! I'm not durable enough to survive that kind of blow.
"Apologies, Niño but only you can fix this. We already did our best but it sure didn't do much against this newcomer." Wolf shrugged unapologetically, his grin still plastered on his face.
"What the fuck?" I looked at him as if he was serious. Like I can shit in the situation. Whoever threw that Hadoken earlier was a far more adept practitioner of the Ansatsuken to me and yet they went flying like a ballistic missile from China. How can he even top that?
Shaking my head, I began to run my options here.
"So what if I believe you and this is my inner self. Do I really die for real if I die here?" I asked him. I got a disturbing answer instead.
A fanged smile bloomed in Wolf's visage.
"Wanna find out?" He said, his red eyes looking down on me. I took a step back and put my shield and spear at the ready for him. If he attacks, I'll gut him and make him a rug.
Instead, the strange Case 53 chuckled. A throaty chuckle before turning into a full blown laugh.
"Hahahah!" He continued to laugh before in a split second, at the moment I blinked, he was behind me, whispering into my ear.
"I was right. We'll get along nicely, Niño but right now, you need to trust your gut if you wanna live this."
I swung my spear around, hoping to catch off guard but I hit nothing but air. Looking around, there was no sign of him.
I was alone. In a strange place.
My inner self apparently, something hard to believe.
I can just run. Run towards the end or edge of whatever shaker effect this is and beat up whoever trapped me here.
But I don't think I should.
It felt wrong. No, this place felt wrong to me from the very beginning.
As if this place should be like this. Flooded and drowned in an endless sea and now being taken over by something.
So I did what I thought was right.
I trusted my gut.
I stepped towards the epicenter of the cluster, blinking in and out along the rubble as more and more debris appeared as I got close.
Until I felt it.
Hatred. Pure hatred.
It was suffocating.
Then I heard it, it sounded so low yet so loud in the empty City.
The sound of someone struggling to breathe in an apparatus.
Slowly, I tilted my head up to see the origin of the sound.
I wished I didn't.
Because now, I face something dark.
A figure in black, their armor impractical and ineffective yet they stood with dignity. A billowing cape behind, floating to the nonexistent wind. His visage, a helmet shaped like a skull.
Red light erupted from their weapon, akin to my constructed spear of pure energy.
"So we meet, youngling."
Chapter end.
Guess who got a bad roll.