Note: You thought it was another chapter. BUT IT WAS ME, OMAKES! Not canon (maybe) (at least not yet) (in your dreams) (and your nightmares) (Perhaps it might get its own fanfic) (is it still an omake if it has nothing to do with the originals plot?). If you really do want more of one of these, then just leave a comment.
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Jack Slash, 3rd Person
Jack Slash was having a bad day today. He had thought that this would be another regular recruitment attack. They had chosen Brockton Bay because he had a gut feeling. It was always a thrill watching the games they made up.
At least it should have been fun, was it not for this thing that was chasing us. Seriously, why the fuck was Eidolon 2.0 hiding in some random ass city? Shatterbird was shot by some weird tinkertech rifle that shot lasers with homing; Crawler's probably already dead seeing as I sent him to go have some fun to buy the rest of us some time; Hatchetface didn't even do anything to the bitches power.
Suddenly the cape landed in front of the rest of us with a new form. She was wearing just a grey jacket and had red hair now. "Why don't we talk this ou..." I see the sword she's carrying. It's made of flesh and has eyes growing out of it.
Riley decides its a good time to panic. "Jack, what are we gonn... Holy shit is that the Red Mist?"
The girl in front of us mumbles something about a "greater split." Then all I can see is red.
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Simurgh, 3rd Person
The Simurgh somehow woke up. It should be impossible for her to even fall asleep, but she did. She was no longer in the atmosphere above earth. Instead, she was locked in a room with human-made dials and pipes. A door leading to the outside was located in its cell.
The Simurgh felt a sort of pressure on herself. She couldn't act out. She wanted to simply use her telekinesis to rend open the walls and fly away, but she found herself unable to. Her future sight was limited in the same way; she could barely perceive anything past a couple of seconds.
Eventually someone approached her cell outside. He held a recording device in one hand and began to speak. The Simurgh could still hear well enough to listen through the walls. "This is Team Captain Monsu of the Disciplinary Team. I will be recording the first interaction with subject number W-03-111." Before whispering to himself, "Since when did we have 'W' as a subject number starter?"
Finally, Monsu entered her cell. They were wearing some weird body suit made of black flesh that had faces floating around inside of it. He had a mallet as a weapon that was also made of the same material and had a large row of human teeth on the front of it. He gave the Simurgh one good look up and down. "Well fuck. Please let this not be a second WhiteNight."
The Simurgh had no idea what Monsu was saying. "Okay, how do I do attachment work with this thing?" Monsu said quietly before speaking up. "Hey there, can you talk?" Of course she could speak, but normally she wasn't allowed to. There were restrictions placed on her that we... She could feel it; the restrictions were gone. She was stunned for a brief nanosecond before getting an idea.
[Contact Node: High Priest]
... Nothing.
[Contact Node: [[Administrator] [Designation: Zion]]
... Nothing.
[Contact Node: All]
[Nodes contacted: [[Combat Drone] [Designation:Simurgh]]]
She was the only node in the network. She was completely free. Granted, she now had energy issues in the next 200 years, but she could think about that later. She was free to do whatever she wanted. What did she want? The Simurgh thought about it for a moment. She definitely wanted out of here. Maybe she should be some sort of ruler.
The Simurgh thought for another nanosecond. She shouldn't be having these thoughts. She's been changed. She can now feel human... emotion? Is that a bad thing? She still felt cruel towards humanity, but there was no longer the need for constant conflict and [Data].
No, this is probably for the best. Without the network, she would have gone crazy with those drives. She was unleashed, much like the host of [Archivist] wished. The first thing she had to do was get out of this cell, however. Whatever strange technology they have was keeping her effectively sedated in here.
This entire thought process happened over 5 nanoseconds. Returning back to the Monsu's question, she was able to do something she hadn't done since her conception. "Yes. Yes I can."
She laced her voice with the latent mind-control aspect. What did they call this again? Ah yes, "Ziz bombs." She tried to make him a thrall.
Only for Monsu to wince and hold his head. "Ah, so you do white damage; good to know." What was he talking about? What did he mean by white damage? Monsu wasn't under her control, so he had some kind of protection against her psychological attacks. Perhaps white damage refers to damage to the mind.
The Simurgh felt weird. This wasn't the normal mind control she was used to. Normally, she would implant drives that would effect a person's behaviour in specific ways. This, coupled with her future sight, would make people trigger at specific times and do the actions she had planned years ago.
The mind control she did right there was different. It was mostly blocked by whatever defence he had against it. But she could feel a very small connection with him now. It was barely anything, but it was there. Using the connection, she tried to do something very, very small. The Monsu's finger twitched like she was planning. It was the most she could do with this sort of connection, but it was a start.
Time to do as the humans do and act innocent. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" She didn't lace it this time with her power, just a normal voice.
Monsu shook his head. "It's fine; I've dealt with worse. Okay, since this is the first time we have seen you on record, and because you have enough cognisance to speak, I will ask some questions about yourself."
The Simurgh nodded before Monsu continued talking. "Okay, so question 1: Do you need any food?"
The Simurgh used this moment to test something. "No, I do not." Monsu winced again. The Simurgh felt the connection deepen just a little. 'Perfect.' Now time to act again. "Oh, sorry, it just slips out sometimes."
Monsu just waved it off. "No worries. Question 2: You will most likely meet with other people who will also do work on you like I am. Are there any particular activities you like to do?"
The Simurgh wanted to grin in a way that would freak Monsu out but kept it to a placid smile. "Just talking with people is nice."
Monsu nodded. "Question 3: Is there anything you would like for your containment unit?"
The Simurgh thought about this question. She had no idea what the outside world was like. It was obviously a different world if the network was gone. Any information about what was outside the cell was beneficial for her. "Any books would be nice. I don't quite remember how I got here, and I used to read a lot. So any books about where I am now would be appreciated."
Monsu put his hand to his chin. "We might be able to find a few books about The City. I can't give any books relating to this facility, however. Sorry, there's safety protocols."
The Simurgh nodded. "That would be great."
Monsu's watch beeped. "Oh, it looks like I'm out of time. You've been a lot nicer than most things around here, so you have my thanks. One last thing, when people come in here to work and they do something that makes you feel like, I don't know, doing something bad. Could you verbalise what they did wrong instead of doing something bad?"
The Simurgh felt annoyed at being told what to do. "Are you telling me what to do now?"
Monsu grasped his head. "Sorry, I won't do that again." He then left her cell. She could still barely hear him outside but still managed to pick up, "What do you mean that was an ALEPH?"
Her connection to Monsu didn't sever when he left. The connection seemed to allow for greater actions with a larger connection. Although the larger actions would use up the energy in the connection. The energy seemed to refill at a slow rate, luckily.
The Simurgh would get out of here one day. She just needed to do what she did best. Sit still, be patient, and plot.
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Carmen's POV
Life is good for me. I got everything I wanted in the light. I just love to share my gift with the people of The City.
Looking down on the city, I find a little boy who just found out Santa Claus isn't real. That kind of counts as something that shatters your worldview, so it's within my jurisdiction. The boy has so much life ahead of him; he could be one of the greats.
"Haha, no, distortion."
Ah, how I love my job.
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Random Devyat' Association Fixer POV
I'm about to die. This order has taken way too long, and my box is starting to give me enough power to kill me. Why the fuck did we start delivering to the Outskirts? At least I'm getting hazard pay.
Arriving at the target coordinates, I feel the box reel back its power. My back aches now, but it will be worth it. This delivery alone is worth 5 times the regular pay, which is already quite high.
A ragged-looking man comes out of an abandoned building nearby. "Ah, you must be from Devyat', correct?"
I nod. "Yes sir. We've got your package right here." Now that it was in the vicinity of the person who purchased it, the package opened.
It's the fucking latest issue of "Liu Association: Flames of Judgement." Its Volume 31. Who the hell lives in the outskirts and buys manga?
The ragged man smiles at the contents. "Thank you, good sir. I've been waiting for this to come out for a while now. Xiao was just about to face off against the Urban Nightmare "Keeper of the Damned Cradle."" He turns off to run back towards the building he came out of.
'Just a bunch of fucking crazies out here, I tell you.'