The Campbell Chronicles Part Two
Chapter 7
Nicholas landed on Cradle's second moon and spread his arms wide as the sun began to peek over the horizon. A Golden film formed around his body as he sucked in, absorbing as much of the light as possible.
The Skrull that had gathered around in a loose circle to observe the newcomer flinched away as his body shone like a star.
When the light died down, Alto approached, his footsteps quiet as he moved, showing off his training as a soldier. He reached for Nicholas, but before he could touch him, Nicholas turned, and Alto flinched back as he stared into glowing amber eyes.
Regaining his composure, Alto stood straight; his hands balled into fists as a scowl twisted his green features. "What was that?"
Nicholas raised an eyebrow. "I told you before that I can manipulate matter and energy. To build your home and furniture, I need energy to convert it into matter, lest I take it from the ground. I don't know what your people want to do with this world, so I thought it was better to do this."
Alto crossed his arms and scowled as Nicholas gestured, "Why don't you lead the way to where you want these dwellings to be?"
Without a word, Alto and Artie moved in front of Nicholas and began walking, the rest of the Skrull following behind them with curious and apprehensive expressions.
Together, the group walked through tall grasses and past towering trees.
Sweet-tasting air filled their lungs with each breath, and occasionally, a piece of fruit would drop down from a tree when a bird or squirrel landed on an over-laden branch.
Emerging from a small crop of trees, they stepped into a meadow full of flowers. Beads and butterflies took to the air as they made their way through the colorful buds.
Nicholas reached for the earth as they walked, feeling the vitality of the moon. His brow furrowed in thought. 'Interesting, this planet has slightly more vitality than Cradle when it was first formed; I wonder if Tiamut terraformed it before placing the Skrull here.'
Alto stopped and turned to face Nicholas.
Without a word, Nicholas moved forward, stopping about a foot in front of Alto; he closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. Blue pulses shot out from his body, forming a shadowed version of his surroundings outlined in blue energy within his mind.
'Well, there's plenty of rock here to form the foundation. There is a river about a mile east, but I haven't seen much gain beyond some birds and insects. If I assume they eat meat, that may be an issue. Of course, it would help them integrate with the people of Cradle if they have to come down and hunt for food.'
Dropping into a cross-legged position, Nicholas placed his hands on the ground.
The grassland shook, and dust shot into the air as tons of rock rose from the grass, forming a smooth platform stretching miles in all directions.
The Skrull began backing away as the ground shook, and their eyes widened as a light burst from Nicholas, forming into curved buildings with arching bridges.
Nicholas opened his eyes, and energy beams shot forth, carving streets between the buildings. As the roads were formed within the bedrock platform, he reached out to the Skrull, gently brushing against their minds, gaining insight into what they wanted their homes to look like.
Over the next few hours, sweat-drenched Nicholas's body, and he began to shake as he tweaked the energy that made up each dwelling.
With each breath, he pulled more energy from the sun, preparing for the final step. As the sun drifted to the other side of the moon, the power flickered, becoming solid matter within the blink of an eye.
Nicholas fell forward, and Wanda appeared to catch him.
The Skrulls ignored them as they moved past, staring at the buildings as they watched them turn from energy to matter.
Energy flecked away from the buildings, leaving behind smooth curved stones.
Nicholas raised his head, his eyelids heavy with exhaustion; "Shit, I forgot to create the furnishings for the buildings."
Wanda gave Nicholas a deadpan look, "it seems like you are pushing yourself just to do this."
A silly grin spread across Nicholas's face, "I may have misjudged how much energy it would take to form the city." His eyes drifted closed, and within moments, his breathing evened out as he fell into a deep sleep.
"Idiot," Wanda murmured as she ran a hand down his cheek. Flicking her hand away from his cheek, red energy flared in the air, and furniture appeared in each building throughout the city.
Lowering her hand, Wanda stared into the distance, her eyes focused on the earth. "I can't believe that worked; I did not realize how much stuff the Earth threw away."
Rising to her feet, Wanda lifted her hand, causing Nicholas to float into the air beside her, an aura of red energy surrounding his body. "Maybe I should talk to Nicholas about going to junkyards and repurposing the stuff there into something useful; what we can't use, he could turn into energy."
Twisting on her heel, the duo vanished in a swirl of crimson power.
–XX –
Amanda Waller stepped down the metal staircase, eyeing the men milling around the metal table in the center of the circular room, "What do you have for me?"
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she moved forward as Anthony Ivo stepped away from the other three to speak. Despite herself, Amanda grimaced at the scars that littered the right side of his body.
She stopped a few feet away from him so she wouldn't have to look up at him. He was 5'10" tall, with scars littering the right half of his body. Messy black hair poked out of the left half of his scalp, and a single blue eye stared at Amelia as his mangled mouth twisted in a grin.
"I never thought the four of us working together," he gestured at the other three men behind them, "could create something extraordinary, but I may have to reconsider my thoughts on working with people after this."
Amanda moved past Anthony to stare at the being on the metal table. The harsh lights above reflected off its metal skin, forcing Amanda to squint. The android was 6'7" tall, with defined muscle. Its smooth, featureless face reflected her visage as she stared at it.
Her fingers danced across its sculpted pectoral muscles as she focused on another scientist.
Dabney Donovan was 5'2" tall, with messy dark brown hair, a thick mustache, thick round black glasses, Hazel eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a dark blue jumpsuit with his name written in messy handwriting on a white strip on the right breast pocket.
His fingers twitched with excess energy as he stared at Amanda with a hint of madness in his eyes.
"What can it do?"
In a flash, Dabney's hand shot out and pressed on the android's chest. Compressed air shot out as a seem appeared in the android's chest. Sections lifted and moved back, revealing the creation's innards.
Amanda found herself staring at purple organs, some of which she recognized, but others she had no clue what they were for. All of them were covered in what appeared to be a plastic film.
Amanda touched the organs, only to jerk her hand back as they pulsed. Her eyes snapped to another scientist, "It's alive."
Matthew Thorne snorted, his right hand rising to touch a spot on the back of his neck, "Of course, isn't that why I am here."
Amanda's lips thinned at Matthew's tone, and her hand twitched toward her wristwatch.
Matthew was 5'10" tall. He had lean, pale skin, Brown hair that grayed at the temples, and a thin mustache. Long, thin fingers drummed on the metal table as Matthew stared at Amanda, his Brown eyes hard.
While the others came to work for her out of professional curiosity and to experiment with alien tech, Matthew Thorne was different. Once a great surgeon, he became bored with his life. He began pushing the boundaries of his skills in the underworld, putting criminals back together and sometimes experimenting on them to make them stronger.
He was eventually stopped by Batman and imprisoned in Arkham Asylum. That was where she made her offer; she offered him a chance to expand his skills, but somehow, he learned of her methods; he knew about the bombs she placed in those that worked for her and the secrets she used to blackmail others.
Once she knew this, she knew she couldn't leave him in Arkham, a hint of gas, and he was unconscious long enough for her to put a bomb in his neck. She would fear he may have sabotaged the project if it weren't for his perfectionist nature.
"Quite," she answered before glancing at Thomas Morrow.
Thomas stepped forward, his hands folded behind his back. "We honestly have no idea what it can do. We each," he gestured at the other three men. "Used our expertise to create the soldier you requested, but the DNA you provided came together in odd ways."
Donovan leaned forward. "I recognized Martian and Kryptonian, but there was one I hadn't worked with before, and the Martian DNA was different than anything I had seen."
Amanda's Brown eyes snapped to Donovan and narrowed, "Quiet," she barked. These men were brilliant, and she did not doubt that they had figured out some things, but she would not give information away freely without gaining something in return.
Ivo stepped forward, his left hand smoothing down the fabric of his grey jumpsuit. "The neural link you requested is finished, but I advise against using it since you wouldn't tell us what we were linking your mind to. There are some risks involved."
Amanda's eyes snapped to the far corner of the room, where a tank filled with white fog sat. Beside the tank sat a plane metal chair, and on the chair was a large helmet with an M-shaped opening in the front.
Amanda stepped toward the chair, unbuttoning her suit jacket as she went, "Then let's get this done."
Matthew Thorne moved to the head of the table and ran his finger down the android's cranium. In the wake of his finger, a seam glowed blue and split open, revealing a human-looking purple brain.
Reaching beneath the table, Matthew pulled out two thick wires and plugged them into either side of the brain.
A light clicked inside the tank as Amanda threw her jacket over the back of the chair. Sitting in the chair, she placed the helmet on her head while fishing out a glass heart from beneath her blouse. In the heart's center was a picture of a dark-skinned man with close-cropped black hair. A smile stretched across his face, highlighting the heavy laugh lines around his mouth.
Running the fingers of her right hand down the picture, she lifted it to her lips and kissed it, leaving behind a smear of red lipstick.
Leaning back in the chair, the glass heart bounced on her chest as she closed her eyes, "I promise what happened to our family will never happen again."
The M on the front of the helmet lit up, and Amanda's body tensed.
–XX –
Amanda found herself on an antique wooden couch. A layer of ice broke free from the furniture as she looked around, revealing the red fabric beneath as it shattered on the hardwood floor.
Wood-paneled walls covered in a layer of frost shimmered into existence.
Blue flames burst to life in a stone fireplace, dropping the room's temperature even further.
"Where am I?" Amanda wondered as she rose from the couch, nearly slipping on the frost that covered the floor.
"A place created by our joined minds."
Amanda spun, finding a woman sitting in a chair across from her who hadn't been there before. She stepped back, her legs hitting the couch and causing her to fall. "Who are you?" she asked as she sunk into the fabric.
The woman crossed her long green legs and stared at Amanda with red eyes. "My name is Jinks Campbell, but you would know me as the woman inside the tank," she gestured around her, her nails catching the light. "I'm sorry for the accommodations, but this is what happens when you spend centuries on ice."
Amanda struggled to sit up, wincing as ice pulled at her skin, "Why am I here?"
Jinks placed a hand beneath her chin as dark hair grew from the top of her head, "You have joined our minds together in hopes of using my abilities to finish your android."
She cocked her head to the side, "Did you think it was going to be easy."
Amanda's hands balled into fists, and her red lips twisted in a snarl, "Let me out!"
Jinks shook her finger, a wicked smile spreading across her face, "Oh no, this is the first time I've been able to move in decades, and I'm going to make it last as long as possible."
Jinks's form shimmered, and when it cleared, she was wearing a black blazer, purple blouse, a black skirt, and high heels. All of it seemed to accentuate her curves.
"Now," she interlaced her fingers in her lap, "you want me to use my powers to help you create an android to take out all mutants?" She shook her head. "Oh, wait. The correct term nowadays is metahumans."
Throwing her hair over her shoulder, she leaned forward, "But why?"
Her red irises glowed, and after a moment, she leaned back, "How disappointing. Ultimately, it all comes down to jealousy, bitterness, and a bit of fear."
Waller sprang to her feet, "I am not jealous of those freaks!"
Leaning back in a high-back chair, Jinks stared at her, "Such a traumatic reaction would suggest otherwise."
Waller pointed a finger at her, "You are here to do a job, not to psychoanalyze me."
Jinks's eyes narrowed. "Your little device ensures I can only channel my power in one way, but it doesn't say when I have to do it, and if your minions out there try to unplug you, I will remove your mind from your body, and you'll be stuck in this limbo with me." She thrust her hand forward, and a force pushed Amanda back into the couch. "Now sit down and let's talk."
Pushing herself out of her chair, Jinks began to pace back and forth.
Amanda's Brown eyes watched her as she moved; she estimated her height was about 6 feet.
"Your story begins on the mean streets of Gotham, where you were a political assistant while your husband Joseph worked in a factory. You struggled, but you were happy with your five children."
"I know all this," Amanda shouted, as the memories played over and her mind as clear as the day they happened. Her heart ached at the memory of her husband's smile and the smell of his grease-stained T-shirt.
Jinks ignored her.
"Unfortunately, this happiness was shattered when a thug called the Candyman killed your son, Joe Junior, and raped your daughter, Demita."
Amanda sprang to her feet, "Stop!" She shouted, tears glistening in her eyes.
Sound exploded from Waller with that one word, slamming into Jinks and causing her to stumble. Ice fell from the walls, and the chandelier hanging above them shattered on the floor.
Regaining her balance, Jinks stared at Amanda, her eyes burning like coals, "I will give you what you want," bitterness filled her voice, "I have no other choice, but you will face the truth beforehand."
Jinks began pacing again.
"Sadly, the police could not find the Candyman, so your husband, Joseph Senior, took matters into his own hands. He tracked the murderer down, and tragically, both died at each other's hands."
Amanda fell to her knees, the knock of the police coming to her door echoing in her mind.
"Because your husband was killed in the commission of a crime, his life insurance would not pay out. That's when your bitterness for heroes began."
"You hated how the vigilante known as Batman was praised for his activities while your husband was punished. You began blackmailing politicians who supported cracking down on vigilantes and gathering information so you could begin your rise to power."
Jinks stopped pacing and sat in her chair, crossing one leg over the other.
"Honestly, I don't understand that; you've seen the system is broken, and the heroes may operate outside the law, but they help many people."
"What happens if one day they stop helping people and decide to rule?"
Jinks bobbed her head, "So it's fear that drives you, fear that you will be unable to control your life."
Amanda glared up at her, her cheeks wet, her eyes full of hatred, "Why did you make me relive this?"
"So that you would realize your hypocrisy and that your way of thinking is more dangerous than any metahuman."
Amanda stood to her feet, grinding her teeth together, "What I do is for the betterment of everyone."
"You began compromising your beliefs well before the death of your husband and son; how was it for the betterment of everyone when you supported an elected official who wanted to do away with programs your family needed?"
Amanda staggered back, memories of arguing with her husband as she compromised on things that would help her family to get ahead in her career flooding her mind.
"You know nothing," she spat.
"I know that you have five children that you couldn't afford, and when they needed you the most, you became so consumed with power, control, and revenge that they had to lean on each other, and now none of them will speak to you."
Amanda looked away.
"Before I grant your request, answer one question: Would your children enjoy living in a world where a government official dictated their every move? Someone who didn't know them; who didn't know their struggles, their hopes, their dreams. This government official doesn't care about your children. To them, your children are just a number on a piece of paper."
You've been working for decades since your husband died; how many times have you thought of your children in that time?"
With a gesture, the world around Amanda shattered like glass.
–XX –
Matthew Thorne's lips thinned as he stared at Amanda's still form.
She had been under for too long.
Flicking his hands, a holographic screen appeared before him, and his eyebrows drew together at what he saw, "Guys, we have a problem; Amanda's brainwaves have merged with whatever's in that ice."
As the others gathered around to stare at the screen, Dabney turned to them, "What should we…"
Dabney was cut off as Amanda's body transformed into congealed blood. In the blink of an eye, it shot across the room, spreading across the android.
Metal shifted as panels opened all across the android and absorbed the blood. As the last of the blood disappeared, the android began to change. Its stature shortened and widened, curves came into existence along with the slope of breasts.
They turned away as female genitalia formed from liquid metal.
They turned back around as light shone from the android. Together, the four men watched microscopic holes open up all across the android. A gel-like substance emerged from the holes and shifted. Within minutes, Amanda Waller took form on the table, her chest rising and falling rhythmically under the harsh lights of the lab.
Anthony Ivo turned to the others, "What happened?"
"I think that's rather obvious," Dabney began as Matthew and Thomas brought up holographic screens to examine their transformed boss.
"Somehow," Matthew began.
"Amanda has merged with the android," Thomas continued.
"And according to these readings, she always has been," Matthew finished.
A groan stopped the men's conversations.
They watched Amanda shift on the metal slab, her eyelids fluttering.
They backed away as she sat up, only to freeze in place as her eyes locked onto them, her pupils glowing red.
"What happened?"