Outsider Chronicles: Break the Cycle

Getting reborn into the world of Worm was...not a pleasant surprise. Being born in Brockton Bay was even worse. I have to admit, I wasn't really expecting to live out my entire life. Then, on a trip out to get milk one night, I found myself meeting a girl with rabbit ears and my life got complicated.

Welp, we're back for the first chapter posted of the New Year! Happy 2020 everyone, heres hoping for a nice, peaceful year where nothing goes horribly wrong. Yeah, like that'll ever happen...eh, whatever, lets just take each day as they come and enjoy ourselves. Lets start with this chapter, shall we?

Chapter 2

As it turns out, fainting randomly on the in Earth Bet street is a great way of ending up in M/S quarantine, especially when you have a Ward in the family. I'm still not entirely sure how I ended up finding myself waking up in the foyer of my house, but I suppose it was better than ending up in a Merchant crack house as a new 'recruit' or something. I could have done without a squad of Troopers busting down the door while I was still getting my head on straight though. Fortunately, I wasn't about to miss any school since Winslow was currently closed for cleaning. As it turns out, a toxic soup of rotting menstrual blood, bugs and whatever else was in there couldn't be cleaned up with just a bit of bleach and, without anyone to lean on the authorities, the Cops were readily involved. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that anything would come from it due to the sheer mess that was Winslow's rumour mill and the fact that it was highly unlikely that anyone would be willing to speak up, but at least the cops were looking now.

That said, I do understand why Missy (cus who else could it have been?) called it in since Masters were a real threat, so I wouldn't hold it against her. Much. It also gave me some time away in the quiet to think and to try and figure out where in the hell my new power had come from, despite the fact I was certain I had not Triggered. I was fairly sure that Triggers didn't come with names after all.

What do I mean by that? Well, ever since that night, I'd been feeling...strange. I could feel something inside me, an energy that was somehow both warm and cold, that buzzed beneath my skin, just waiting to be called forth. When I did so, cautiously and with my head buried in the thin pillow on the bed, I found myself greeted by a world of many layers and lit by points of blue and purple light.

Trying to describe what it was like isn't easy, but I'll do my best. When I activated my power, my vision changed completely. I could see through the walls around me, as well as the people keeping an eye on me from the other side of a well hidden screen and beyond them. My vision didn't seem to extend very far as each object in the way seemed to reduce the clarity I could see until my vision was stopped and the PRT building was rather cluttered, but it was still impressive. Despite the fact I was seeing through objects, I could see the objects I was looking through perfectly well. I could simultaneously look at one of the scientists organs and bones, while also seeing his face in perfect detail, although for some strange reason, I couldn't see through his clothes, despite the fact I could see the contents of his pockets and wallet without difficulty. I have to say, I was a little relieved by that, if more than a little confused as to how that actually worked. Strangely enough, the energy and power seemed to come with a name. Shatterpoint. Rather fitting all things considered.

I couldn't do much more than that while I was in the tank and I was rather glad I deliberately kept my eyes out of view while I did it when I tried using my power in front of the mirror and discovered that my when active, my pupils transformed into crosses and gained a noticeable blue glow, which would have guaranteed getting dragged into the Wards, which I would rather avoid to be honest.

Then again, maybe not. Missy was only a Ward because she'd wanted to and pulled the puppy dog routine on Dad. Mom hadn't wanted Missy in the Wards at all (actually, she didn't want her being a Parahuman at all), so naturally Dad signed Missy up to annoy Mom. Chances are, my Parents would let me decide, assuming they ever figured out if I had powers.

Anyway, once I was let out of the M/S tank, and suffered through a day of being fussed over by Mom, I finally had chance to head out to figure out what I could do in a random abandoned building that was surprisingly not located in the Docks. The Docks might have been hit the hardest, but the rest of Brockton wasn't looking to hot either.

The building in question was an old community hall that, for various reasons, had fallen out of use. I'm not entirely sure why, but frankly, I didn't care much. It was a large, open space that was both fairly out of the way and no one used, while still being in a fairly safe part of town, making it a decent place to figure out what I could do.

I entered the building through the back door, which had long since rotted to the point I could open it with a swift kick in the right place, and dropped my bag on a fairly sturdy table that was still present, before cracking my knuckles and getting to work.

In addition to my new X-ray vision (which I'm pretty sure didn't use X-rays), I could also see numerous points of blue and purple light on whatever I focused on. Like the penetrative vision, they didn't obscure my view of the object, but were still clearly visible. Those lights represented weak points that, if struck, would allow me to destroy the object easily. The blue ones represented physical targets and could be damaged with sufficient force applied correctly, although the force required was often rather large, while the purple lights represented concepts. These were far fewer than the blue lights and could only be hit if I channeled the energy flowing through me into the strike. The energy could also be used to destroy the blue sparks as well with a lot less energy and force.

I also discovered that my vision was insanely good. Like, Legend insanely good. I could count the feathers on a seagull sat out on the bow of the tanker blocking the entrance of the Bay.

The final thing I discovered, mostly by accident, was that I was now stronger and tougher than I had been. It wasn't massive, but it was enough that I wasn't able to easily cut myself with my knife and I was strong enough to lift and punch through a breeze block I found laying around outside without to much trouble.

With my power testing done, I decided to head into town for lunch. Anything to avoid the toxic mess that was home at the moment, especially with Missy out 'with friends', which probably meant she was on patrol with the Wards.

As I made my way towards the Boardwalk, I decided to check to see if there was anything new on PHO on my phone. That proved to be a mistake as it lead me to trip over a girl who was, for some strange reason, sprawled out on the sidewalk in broad daylight. While that wasn't necessarily an unheard of event around here, her clothes didn't exactly scream Merchant and she was a blonde white girl in Empire territory. She also looked about 12, which thankfully served as at least a bit of protection. As such, I decided to check on her.

"Hey kid, are you OK?" I asked as I knelt down beside her and gently shook her shoulder.

"Hunnnnngggrryyyyy…."

GROWLLLL!

I jerked my hand back at the unexpected sound. What the hell? This was like a scene out of an Anime! The girl looked up and looked at me, revealing large, brown eyes and what appeared to be permanent blush marks on her cheeks that looked really weird when not animated.

"Hey mister, you got any food?" she asked.

"Err, what?" I asked, not entirely sure how someone could be stupid enough to ask a complete stranger for food.

"Food!" said the girl, "I'm hunggggryyyy yuu!"

Her stomach once again spoke up to confirm it.

"Er, well, theres a restaurant just down there," I said, pointing in the direction of the nearest eatery, which happened to be Fugly Bobs.

"I know, but they kicked me out!" whined the girl, "Said I couldn't try the Challenger if I didn't have any money! Buncha meanies, who cares if I'm small? I coulda beaten it yuu..."

I stared at the girl as she trailed off into unintelligible mutterings about evil monsters who kept food away from cute girls. Also, what was with that verbal tick? And why did it sound so familiar?

"Riiiight, well, good luck in getting...food then," I said, getting to my feet and turning to leave.

She looked just fine to me and seemed to have plenty of energy to complain. She'd be fine.

However, before I could leave, a surprisingly strong hand grabbed the hem of my trousers. I looked back down to see that the girl now had streams of tears running down her cheeks that did not look in any way natural.

"Noooo, you can't leave Mika here, yuu!" she wailed, "I'll waste away, turn to dust! Please mister, you gotta feed me!"

I glanced around and twitched as I realized the girls wailing was attracting a lot of attention and disapproving whispers. I twitched again as I felt my wallet spontaneously become a lot lighter in my pocket. This was gonna be expensive, I just knew it.

"WHOOO, thanks Mister yuu!" chirped the girl as she slammed down her fifth bowl of Katsudon and snatched up a nearby bowl of rice.

"Your welcome," I said through nearly gritted teeth as I watched my allowance go down the drain.

I should have gone to Fuglies and let her try the Challenger. It would have been a lot cheaper than this. How in the world had I let this dimwit scam me anyway? I sighed and took the opportunity to get a proper look at the girl now she wasn't flat on her face.

She was short, very short, and looked about the same age as my sister. She had dark blonde hair tied in pigtails with yellow ribbons, large, brown eyes and was, for some strange reason, wearing a white and navy blue sailor uniform with a yellow ribbon and a belt buckle that looked vaguely like a caduceus, but I'm pretty sure was the logo of a charity of some kind that had done a lot of good work in the city lately.

"By the way, whats your name mister yuu?" asked the girl through a mouthful of rice.

"Its Noel," I said, "Noel Biron.

"Mph, nice ta meet ya Noel," said the girl as she finished the bowl and reached for the next one, "I'm Mika Returna yuu!"

Despite my annoyance, I couldn't help but smile back. She might have scammed me out of a meal, but her energy and cheer was so infectious, it was nearly impossible to resist smiling with her. Plus, it was nice to have company for lunch. That said, that name did sound oddly familiar…

"So, what exactly were you doing passed out on the street?" I asked.

"Oh, I got lost," said Mika, "I'm new in town and got separated from my friends. I tried to find them, but ended up getting completely lost! I nearly starved to death, yuu!"

"Mmhm, and how long ago did you get lost?" I asked.

"About an hour."

"I see."

Somehow, that didn't surprise me much. On the up side, it would hopefully be fairly easy to find her friends. If nothing else, I could get her home without too much trouble. What? I wasn't about to leave a little girl to wander around alone after this.

"So, do you need any help finding your friends?" I asked.

Mika looked up from her food with a look of surprise on her face.

"You'd do that, yuu?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?" I asked, "Honestly, I don't think I could let you wander around on your own when you remind me so much of my sister. Besides, Brockton isn't exactly the safest place."

"Eh, I'd be fine," said Mika, "But I could use someone to show me around, yuu."

I smiled slightly.

"So, where abouts are you…"

"There you are Mika!"

I looked over my shoulder at the sound of the voice and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the rather beautiful young woman approaching the table. She was wearing a similar uniform to Mika, only her ribbon was purple. She had long, blue hair kept back with a white headband and blue eyes.

"AH, Orie, you found me!" yelled Mika, waving wildly.

"A friend of yours?" I asked as the girl approached, looking me up and down with an air of someone who knew their way around a fight.

"I am," said the girl, "I'm Orie Ballardiae. Thank you for looking after Mika, I know she can be...a bit of a handful."

"Eh, I don't mind," I said, "I'm used to handfuls to be honest. Noel Biron, nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Orie accepted my offered hand, only for both of us to stiffen as a rather bizarre feeling shot up my arm when we touched. At the same time, my power briefly activated and I was greeted by the sight of two Human shaped, purple silhouettes with a shadowy armoured form armed with a massive sword floating behind Orie and a much hazier and seemed to wrap around Mika's body in a way that gave the impression of supporting and enhancing her body. I'd never seen anything like them and they certainly weren't Parahumans. Capes didn't really look any different from normal Humans, other than their Corona Pollentia and Gemma and occasionally some bizarre distortions around them if their power was active. They certainly didn't look like the strange voids in front of me.

A moment later, my power deactivated and Orie yanked her hand back, taking a few steps away and reaching behind her for something. At the same time, I recoiled, my own hand darting back to where my knife was strapped to the back of my belt under my jacket.

Mika didn't seem to notice the sudden tense atmosphere as she went back to her lunch.

"What are you?" I asked carefully.

Orie narrowed her eyes, then glanced around. Despite our reactions, no one had bothered to give us a second look, although the guy behind the bar was watching us carefully. I guess potentially violent confrontations were fairly normal around here.

Once she was sure that no one was listening in, she slipped into the booth next to Mika and fixed me with an intense look.

"You don't know what you are, do you?" she asked.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean," I said a little tersly.

"Thats a no then," said Orie, "Alright, listen up cus this is important. You aren't a Parahuman, your something called an In-birth."

I felt my stomach drop into my shoes at that, closely followed by an intense urge to slam my face into the table. NOW I knew where I recognized these two from! They were characters from Under Night In-birth, a fighting game I'd got into shortly before my untimely death last time through! It also explained what had happened on the night I'd been bitten. I must have stumbled into a Night by accident, although how I hadn't noticed is anyones guess considering it was supposed to dye everything red. I must have been really out of it.

I kept my mouth shut and listened carefully as Orie filled me in on the Night, ESX and just what In-birth were and their relationship with Parahumans, which wasn't that different from their relationship with regular Humans. In other words, they kept their existence secret from everyone, although there were some In-birth who used their powers to fight crime like Parahumans. In fact, most successful independent Capes were actually In-births. Quite why that was the case, I don't know and Orie didn't elaborate.

"I see," I said once she was done, "So, what happens now?"

"Now, you have to decide what to do," said Orie, fixing me with a steely glare, "What will you do with your power now that you know the truth?"

I frowned.

"I don't intend to just start picking random fights with people if thats what your thinking," I said.

Orie relaxed slightly.

"That said," I continued, "I don't think that I can just sit back and do nothing with these powers. There is far to many monsters out there for me to ignore. If my power can help remove some of them, I can't just sit back and watch as people like Kaiser and Lung tear my home apart."

Orie stared at me for a moment, then sighed and nodded.

"I suppose I can't really fault you for that," she said, "Just be aware that neither the world of the Night, nor the world of Parahumans are easy ones to live in. You will have to fight."

"I don't expect it to be easy," I said, "But nothing worth doing is."

"Well said I suppose," said Orie, "Alright, just make sure you stay on the right path. I'd hate to have to meet you on the battlefield."

"Likewise," I said.

I stood and dropped some notes and coins on the table.

"Here, this should be enough," I said, "I'll see you ladies around."

Orie nodded while Mika grinned and waved, nearly taking Ories eye out with her chopsticks.

"See ya Mister!" she said, "Thanks for the food yuu!"

I smiled and waved back as I left.

Outside the restaurant, I stopped and took a deep breath. That...had not been what I expected in the slightest. I'd had an inkling that my powers might not be normal, but I certainly wasn't expecting to run into a crossover like that. It did go some way to explain the strange hair colours people had though…

"Well, that was certainly a rather impressive speech."

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the unexpected voice and spun around to see a girl stood nearby with a parasol in her hand, looking at me with a strange look on her face. She looked about 12, with extremely pale skin, long, black hair pulled into pigtails with black ribbons and red, slitted eyes. She was wearing a black, Gothic Lolita style dress and jacket with a red ribbon bowtie and bottom half, black pony heel boots with a red cross, and a red ribbon on her right ankle. Despite her youth, I couldn't help but get the feeling that she was much, MUCH older than me.

"The question is, can you follow up on it?" said the girl.

I stared at her for a moment.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, "And who are you anyway?"

The girls brow furrowed.

"I would suggest that you'd be more polite to the person who saved your life," she said.

I frowned.

"Saved my…"

Then, the last thing I saw before I'd past out the night I'd been bitten came back to me.

"Wait, your the girl from that night!" I said.

The girl sniffed and somehow managed to look down her nose at me, despite being over a head shorter.

"I see you aren't completely brain dead then," she said, "Yes, I did pick you up after you passed out."

I scowled slightly at the insult.

"OK, not that I don't appreciate it, but why?" I asked.

For a moment, the girl was silent as she looked over my shoulder at where a girl with bubblegum pink hair was chatting with a young woman with long, purple hair in a light pink jacket and skinny jeans and ignoring the second looks she got from the crowd.

"Its been a very long time since something unexpected has occurred within the Cycle," said the girl, "So long that I somehow completely missed most of them and dismissed the ones I did notice. It was only when you pulled Taylor Hebert from her locker that I realized just how much had changed. There are always slight differences, but the addition of an entire world that I know for a fact didn't exist until you were born and somehow retroactively changed the entire world."

She turned her attention back to me and fixed me with a look that made me feel like she was X-raying me.

"You could be what I need to finally break the Cycle once and for all and I'll be damned if I let you die before then."

I stared at her. How in the world was I supposed to react to that? After a moment, I asked the only question I reasonably could.

"Who the fuck are you?!"

The girl looked at me, then smiled slightly, revealing razor sharp fangs and shut her parasol, placing the tip between her feet as she bowed precisely.

"My name is Fortuna Tepes," she said, "At one time, I was known as Contessa, but that time is long past, and the holder of the Observer Shard of the Thinker. Its a pleasure to meet you, Noel Biron."

I stared at the girl, now utterly and completely floored as my brain tried to come up with a response to two utterly unbelievable revelations in the space of about five minutes. The only thing I knew for sure was that my life had just got a lot stranger.

And done. Still a bit short, but this'll do fine since it got all the important stuff out of the way and its not a bad spot to end.

So, now we know where Noels power comes from and just how much the birth of an Outsider can affect reality. Under normal circumstances, people wouldn't even be aware that the timeline had been changed so completely and its only thanks to Fortuna's power that shes aware of the changes at all. In fact, she WAS effected until she actively looked and realized that things had changed from the previous Cycles for no apparent reason.

I really hope my explanation of Noels power makes sense. To simplify, think a combination of the Byakugan, without the 360 degree vision, and the Eyes of Death Perception, albeit not quite as broken.

Incidentally, can anyone use that information to figure out just what the Cycle refers to here? If you can, please be considerate and don't blurt it out. I will give one more clue though, the fact that I used Rachel as a basis for Fortuna is a big clue in and of itself.

I don't actually intend to reveal just how Fortuna managed to stop her aging since all girls deserve their little secrets, but her name is more for amusement. Her homeland is the equivalent of Transylvania on her Earth, so her family is actually descended from Vlad Dracul. Not that thats actually relevant to anything.

Speaking of cycles, as part of the world now being part Anime style game, some Worm characters will be getting their hair colour changed and a few will also be switched to In-births. With that in mind, want to take a guess as to who it was talking to Yuzuriha? Side note, the powers aren't mutually exclusive, but In-births can't Trigger due to the changes from regular Human body to a Vessel and since both Parahumans and In-birth are supposed to be pretty rare, the chances of a Parahuman ending up in the Night is pretty low.

Incidentally, Mika is one of my favorite characters in Under Night, simply because her story made me laugh my ass off. Plus, I wanted to have Noel get scammed out of a meal and she seemed like a good choice. I suppose I could have used Linne, but I don't think that'd work as well.

Speaking of which, I don't suppose that anyone knows if she goes by her current hosts name or just goes by Linne? Cus I can't find anything on that on the Wiki.

And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review!