Guilty.  The verdict hit Caedechron like a load of bricks.

“We won, Cai.  You’re not in jail!”  Lunet’s happy voice broke through Cai’s morose veil.

“They ruled that I was guilty.”

“You admitted that it was you that pulled the trigger. The jury found you guilty of Manslaughter, and agreed to the judge’s proposed Community Service…”

“Yeah, 100,000 hours of community service.. that’s a prison sentence!”

“A prison sentence that allows you to stay out of jail.  You’re doing your community service as a 9 to 5 job for the next 50 years, with a possibility for parole at year 15.  You have nights and weekends to do with as you please.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Oh, come on!  Take a drink with me, celebrate!” Lunet slid a sealed bottle of black liquid across the bar toward Cai’s robotic hands.

“What’s this?”

“Capt. Shaw says he confiscated some new drug from some robotic criminals.  It is a specially-formulated highly conductive lubricant spiked with positively charged ions.  That bottle is specially made, so don’t break it, and the contents are a reproduction done by a private lab CSPD uses sometimes to test substances.”

Cai opened the bottle, and dripped some onto his hand, and was instantly transported in time.  His robotic senses flatlined, and memories flooded his vision.

Several hours later, he surfaced from his reverie, and felt a bounce in his step as he prepared for his first day on the job as Robocop.

The morning sun seemed to be slowly dipping the city in molten gold, one steel skyscraper at a time.  Though she had been up the whole night, Karia Odon didn’t blink or flinch looking into the world’s furnace of rebirth – she glared at it in watery defiance.

“You know she made the right decision, right?” her brother asked her.  He had been looking for her since the fateful confrontation that could have spelled disaster for the whole world, and only just found her nearly 16 hours later.

“I know.  I was childish and small minded.  At least that’s what Geist told me when I dropped him off at the base.”

“Yeah, he was really mad you took him away from the group at such a pivotal point.  But he understood where you were coming from.  I talked to him about it, and he said he told you that it was also noble.”  Nicholas Odon sidled up next to his sister on the edge of the nameless spire upon which she’d picked to sulk.

“But it was still rash.  Balisong made the right choice to not trust me.  But I’m so tired of being a little kid!  When will I get the wisdom that you seem to already have?  We’ve been alive the same number of years.  I should be at least kinda close to you, right? This is all dad’s fault.  I think this all has something to do with him.” Karia’s hand rested on the enchanted bang staff she’d inherited from him on the day she first transformed, the day she thought she’d finally grown up.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.  We’re mutants, in a world of mutants.  We’re normal.”

“But I’m not normal!  I haven’t ever heard of a mutant that is like me.  I Hatched From An Egg.  That’s more like alien pod-people than a mutant origin story.”

“Pod-People?  Have you been watching movies with Ethel?”

“Yeah, she likes me. She’s kinda like the gramma I never had.” she said through a sniffle.

Nicholas glanced at his sister’s face, to gauge her emotional state.  She’d obviously been crying, but the talk about their father and grand parents – who neither of them had ever met or heard mentioned by their mother more than a handful of times – didn’t seem to have caused her to cry more than she already had been.  “Gryphon said he understood, too.  He said that he’s sorry for yelling at you, but wanted you to know that it doesn’t excuse trying to kill them all on the roll of the dice.”

“I know, but he was SO MAD!  I wasn’t trying to murder anyone, it was what I had seen him do a billion times.”

“No, he sacrifices himself so others didn’t die.  You tried to sacrifice everyone.  The difference is both minuscule and incalculably vast.”

“I know, but I wasn’t trying to …”

“I’m not accusing you.” He wrapped his arm around her slight shoulders, and gave them a squeeze. “You had a plan to save the universe and it didn’t work, and made people mad.  That’s part of growing up!  You have more responsibility and more agency.  Making wrong choices isn’t a sign of immaturity.  Kia, you’re ADULTING!  You made it, you’re there.  Last year you wouldn’t even have been able to pay attention long enough to get to this point.

And with all of the new information and sensations that’re inundating you, I’m proud of you!  You have the respect of several members of S.A.V.I.O.R. – And that’s a major accomplishment!” He gave her shoulders another squeeze.  She sniffled, and sneezed, and Nicholas found himself falling off of the building!  He reoriented himself and flew back to Karia, and where the little girl used to be was a giant dragon.  “Did you mean to change?”

“NO!  I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I haven’t ever changed like that, not since the first time!  NICKY, WHAT’S GOING ON?” The dragon’s deafening roars rattled windows and sent ripples through puddles leftover from the previous day’s storms.  As if to answer her, a portal opened on the opposite corner of the roof, several hundred feet away.  Karia’s scaled head whipped around, and her slitted eyes narrowed at the newcomer.

“Ah, there you are.  Karia, your friend Hank is also my friend.  My name is… Well you can call me Chiang.”  The man stood taller than average, with a loose silk shirt unbuttoned to his stomach, his white linen pants and his jet black moustaches blowing in the slight breeze.

“I don’t know you, and I don’t believe Hank would have talked to anyone about her, so why have you been spying on us?” Nicholas stepped in front of his dragon-sister, blue energy gathering around his closed fists.

Chiang stood in an at-ease pose, hands clasped behind his back, and said with a grin, “Child, you do not know him nearly as well as you proclaim, but that is another issue entirely!  Suffice it to say that I know what I know, and I mean neither of you harm.  I have a message to this one from your father.”  He nodded at the dragon, while not breaking eye contact with Nicholas.

“What is it?  How do you know him?  And how do we even know if you’re telling us the truth?” Nicholas continued to gather energy in his hands, and started to raise into the air, his hand-tailored suit billowing with the ambient breezes.

“Calm, child.  You know, because I can show you proof.”  He reached behind him into the still-open portal, and pulled their mother out of its twisting heat-haze depths.

She cried out in joy and ran to Nicholas, grabbing him around the waist. “You don’t call anymore! The only person you talk to is Karia, and since she moved here I don’t hear anything!  How’s work? Did you work the publishing problems out for your text book?  You’re still skinny as a bean-pole!  Do you not have time to at least order food from somewhere every once in a while?  Kia, honey!  I’ve missed you, too!  How was your first day -”

“Mrs. Odon, I have brought you here as promised, and your belongings are in the storage unit.  I need to pass the message to Karia before I leave, and I don’t want to be here longer than I have to be.” Chiang’s mouth quirked downward briefly, a show of impatience breaking through his nonchalant mask.

“Oh, of course.  Sorry Mr. Ku, continue…” Lulu Odon said almost sheepily – which broke Nicholas’ mask in an expression of disbelief.

“Karia, I promised your father I would give you this message:  ‘Karia, you are the latest in a long proud line of ancient magical creatures called Dragons.  I wasn’t sure if either of Lulu’s children would manifest any attributes.  I am glad that the spell has broken, and that you can start to become the being you were destined to be.  I cannot visit you in person for fear those that are after me would turn their gazes on you.  Know that the knowledge and power of all of those before you lie within you!  Follow your heart, and strive for your full potential!  The man through whom this message comes is a Dragon as well, and despite the disregard most of our kind have toward one another he agreed to deliver this message for a price.  He will not help you in the way he has helped your friends.  Please maintain your distance when possible.'”  Having delivered the message, Chiang turned, and stepped through his portal, which disappeared after him.

Silence reigned on the windy rooftop.

Century Citizen’s Mirror Online

---

April 9th, 2024

Is Brisby Flats Truly Stronger than Yesterday?

 

 

 

Late last evening, if you were in Brisby Flats, you would have heard the retro-refrains of “I’m Stronger than Yesterday.”  The newly outed “Quazy” from the Centurion-Class S.A.V.I.O.R. was seen flitting from street to street, patrolling with another flying being surrounded by a blue glow, most confidently identified as her brother, “Zeau,” also from S.A.V.I.O.R..  She carried a top-of-the-line set of speakers, blasting a playlist of songs of empowerment while she intervened in crimes, especially in cases of robbery and assault.

In response to the smear campaigns launched against S.A.V.I.O.R., several of them have taken to the streets to improve their image.  Though they are fighting an uphill battle, what with the recent bank debacle, followed by the home invasion ninja murders, many of their efforts are returning fruits.

Several witnesses said much the same thing, regarding Ms. Quazy and Mr. Zeau’s sortie.  They arrived within the first moments of a conflict, whereupon Quazi would brush the most apparent victim with her tail.  The anointed would then show considerable power and skill, and overcome their assailant(s), manifesting temporary super powers.  The two supers would then drop a statuette of the Guardian of Copernicous and fly off before the dust had settled on the scene, proclaiming a phrase that has since been all over several Social Media outlets, as well as tagged on corporate offices and police precincts across Brisby Flats and Midtown.  “WE THE PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH.”  Taking to Twitter – the posts then being cloned to several other services such as Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook – Quazy posted an explanation;

“WE THE PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH!  For far too long have the just suffered at the hands of the vile, the selfish, or unjust.  This super being calls to all of the downtrodden and forgotten to say ‘NO!’ ‘ENOUGH!’  Do not let them tell you what you’re worth.  You are more than they can imagine!”

This particular guerrilla-advertising-style foray into the Flats seems to have improved the public’s opinion of them, though the local Emergency Rooms and Precincts of CSPD seem to be feeling the backlash, both from victims and the overly-brave.  Vigilantism has increased almost 9% overnight and while many of the vigilantes have been lucky so far, a few were not when their abilities left them unexpectedly vulnerable to those they were attacking.  Still, chronic victims have started rising up against their oppressors again, emboldening many Mavericks to surface compared to this time last year.

Though many of the officials have expressed frustration over the catalytic actions and comments of these city representatives, the approval of the sanctioned Super heroes and of the current city administration and police force has increased among a large section of the downtrodden.  There are several minor segments of the population that have used it as a call to arms against authority, but as of yet they haven’t become more active.

The dynamic duo’s enterprise ended suddenly, when Quazy fainted.  According to several eye witness accounts, she seemed to wince in pain when she touched the victims, and she touched one too many.  She had just touched a mugging victim who wished to remain anonymous when she collapsed.  The following are the victim’s own words:

“I was attacked by a guy on 107th after leaving Eclipse – you know, that club in the old warehouse?  Well he came up behind me and stuck a gun in my side, and told me to give him my money.  He smelled like beer and cigarettes.  Well anyway, I felt something brush my leg, and I thought it was a snake, so I screamed.  It was crazy, but all the stuff, the windows, the, you know, breakable stuff, just exploded around me, and the guy behind me screamed in pain, and that giant dragon thing crashed into a parked car.”

Following Quazy’s collapse, her companion yelled to the bystanders, “Looks like the little darling hit her bedtime!  Good Night, Century Station!”

Update:

The private live-stream of the hero’s exploits was recorded and posted to several public video streaming sites.  She spent the 3 hours and 46 minutes speaking to self-empowerment, and the need of “millions of threads to make a vibrant tapestry.”  Her most eloquent points were obviously taken from famous speeches and Disney movies, separated by original, earnest-but-simple dialogue.

Austin Sun Times Online

---

April 9th, 2024

BREAKING! INFAMOUS MAVERICK 

QUAZY’S IDENTITY UNVEILED!

In a quiet neighborhood, some mortal thieves were committing a crime.  Though they were breaking the law, they still had rights – rights that were summarily rejected by wannabe demigods. The rejection came to them in the form of a sword through the throat. These murders were sanctioned by the City of Century Station, as it was performed by the city’s ironically-named foremost superhero group, S.A.V.I.O.R..  Leaving the scene of the brutal murder, the vigilante mutant known as Quazy – that terrorized the streets of Austin for months – was caught on camera reverting from her monstrous dragon form to her human form.  After some research, this journalist discovered that her identity is that of Karia Odon, the 30-year-old daughter of Austin’s own Lulu Odon, who runs several politically charged online publications.

Sightings as recently as yesterday, April 8th, have her with a more homely appearance, but it has been confirmed that she has seemingly overnight transformed.  As you can see with the two pictures from Instagram, inserted above, it wasn’t a simple transformation a-la 90s high school rom-com, instigated by a makeover.  This appears to be a complete transformation, which adds to the list of suspected powers of this dangerous vigilante.

The powers that we have substantiated reports of are:  Supernatural Strength, Flight, Mind Control, Lightning Breath, Super Speed, Bestowal of Powers, Super Vision, Super intelligence.  Add to that list Human Metamorphosis.  It is this journalist’s opinion that this beast has far too much power for anyone to sleep well at night, controlled by an immature psyche.  Images of super-powered toddlers come to mind, strangling adults that take away lollipops.

The beast’s direct mind-controlling influence before today had taken only 4 victims, outside of her passively-worshipful congregation of thousands on social media.  Upon leaving the house, she claimed another mindless slave, a CSPD officer and semi-professional singer by the name of Jeremy Rees.  The two were seen speaking after her human transformation.  He approached her at the crime scene, and within mere minutes she transformed back into a dragon, and carried him away in her claws.

He has since been seen in the company of known mind slaves and former Austin residents Shayan Peersen, Alyssa Herring, Tommy Mejia, and Kobe Barker.

Update:

The beast has, since this article was first published, gone public.  She has openly pledged herself to the group, and the thousands of mindless droves that worship her on social media have sung her praise, following those new companions of hers – principally the attention-glutton Garrick Falken, or Gryphon, Owner of several technology entities in Century Station.

Look below for some artwork from a terrified victim named Frank O’Toole, done in his prison cell.  Because of the encounter, he is set to be moved to Sunny Acres Home for the Psychologically Destabilized.

WORK IN PROGRESS

---

TL;DR At bottom… you know, for the people that are tired of reading my crap.

---

The green lines and heatmap tie-die of the world greeted me, slowly creeping into my awareness. As the outlines of the various boxes and wires of my storage-closet-turned-dormitory became clear-cut, a blurred color overlay tried to assert itself over it all. The process made it appear like I was in a World-War-II-era newspaper cartoon – you know, where the shape of the color was correct, but it was misprinted an eighth of an inch to the right of the heavy ink lines of the character’s outline. With a flicker, my camera-lense-eyes cycled, and the Radar and Thermal Imaging sensors shut off, and my world appeared before me in 13 giga-pixel glory. This whole process took a matter of seconds,

Today is Monday. It was the first day, in the ten I have been in this body, that I wasn’t disoriented from returning to awareness.

It’s different from waking up when you’re in a body, where the residues of your dreaming mind mix with your conscious mind. Like a drop of bleach in stained water, slowly clearing your awareness from a Salvador Dahli landscape into stark clarity. The main difference is the timeframes involved. Naturally, a mind prefers to take an hour to wake up. My Transfered Intelligence Chassis flips the switch from passive information streams to active ones and I’ve got full awareness within seconds.

The reason the day mattered? It was the day Century Station bid farewell to a hero. Days like those hit Sponsored and Maverick heroes alike the way an officer’s death hits those in uniform.

Well, I went, and I gave the tribute that I thought Jake may have appreciated.

After several speeches, the majority of which felt like droning lectures about the orator’s enormous pomposity, the statue was revealed of Jake Thompson, LLC. As the enormous sheet fell away from the cold stone features, I played Dust in the Wind.

The story of that inside joke goes back to the night that Jake and I spent at a bar, getting drunk and talking about theoretical robotics and nanites. I admit, the only time I ever spent with the man was that one night. It ended up changing my life, it would seem. Well, in the middle of karaoke, flagons of beer, and theoretical robotics, Jake confided in me he loved the song, and cried every time it played.

Seeing as the song was a timestamp on his emotional prime, I thought that I should, as my eulogy, make another reference to pre-millennial pop culture. I played “Don’t You Forget About Me,” and threw my fist in the air, John-Bender-Style. Then, to top it off, I fired my Particle Cannon into the sky, because Jake had said once that its visual effect was similar to the special effects they used for the Ghostbusters weapons.

The rest of the memorial services lasted for four hours. I am glad that I was able to just lock up my joints, and sit there, but I feel sorry for Hank, who apparently hurt his ankle, and needed to use me as a crutch.

Gryphon seemed to weather the proceedings well, trying to show the proper decorum. Victor was completely smashed, showing his Tecate Colors as he gave Jake a send off. Honestly, I think that someone completely inebriated at his wake is something Jake would have preferred to solemnity and tears – which isn’t to say anything against Mrs. Falkenberg! I do not presume to judge anyone’s reaction to family members’ deaths. Heaven knows that I didn’t have a proper reaction to my mothers’ passing.

One guest surprised me a bit – though it was right for him to be there – and that was Black Phantom. It seemed his anger and wounds had started to subside, and he spoke with Geist about rejoining the group.

Director Balisong schmoozed Gryphon, and offered him the position that the Centurions once held. I started to feel like she already signed our names on the Offer Letter, and was only checking in with us to make sure we’d be there for our first day.

I was distracted, however, but Zeau. The little man is incredibly intelligent. For his age, he’s got a depth and breadth of knowledge that few can fathom… But he’s arrogant and haughty. Gryphon told Director Balisong that he felt like an understudy being tapped to fill a virtuoso’s shoes, and Zeau obviously took offense at being referred to as a sub-par hero.

Zeau is talented, and uses his power to great effect, but he doesn’t understand that he is inexperienced in the grand scheme of things, and he is a relatively underpowered individual, when put head to head with major villains, such as Obelisk, Lady Hive and Phase. It took us outnumbering them to “win” at Dr. Moore’s.

After the public funeral and the private wake at Ethel’s, I met up with Lunet at Jimmy John’s – the unofficial sponsor of S.A.V.I.O.R.

“Hey, Cai. How’re you doin’, everythin’ alright?” Lunet asked, her cop-eyes probing for the truth.

Her lips quirked up at the edges when the little sandwich shop bluetooth sound system started to play some Gaelic Storm.  Bluetooth speakers are actually surprisingly easy to hack, even without any sort of hardwire connection.

“I’m doing well.  I’ve been working on what you wanted me to. In fact, the last time crap hit the fan, I only discharged my gun once, and it was at a giant wasp.  No humans were harmed in the making of that particular failure.”  My voice became monotone toward the end, as I thought about why I wanted to meet with Lunet in the first place.  “Hey, did you hear about the people posing as SWAT over there in Society Hill?  Do you know what happened with that?”

“Yeah, I saw the footage. The CSPD pulled it from the cameras around the building that was attacked.  Standard security setup and all, so it was kinda jumpy, but it was enough to know what happened.  Some of it was leaked online – and it appeared to be edited.” I looked at her in confusion, and she assured me, “It seemed to be edited to make you look good.  It skipped over the parts where you ignored the innocents, even after being notified of the danger – Cai, that’s really bad, you know that right?  Anyway…”

As she continued with what she was saying, my mind started to race through the implications of publicity footage being ‘leaked’ online.  With the conversation that Director Balisong had with Gryphon about us taking the Centurions’ place coming the weekend after it was released. The timing was a bit too perfect.

“… I looked into it as much as I could.  Tully and a couple of my other friends told me what they could, but I’m still officially a PEO.  From what I could glean, though, the officers assigned had no luck. Cyber managed to trace the vehicle going back into Brisby Flats, but lost them from there.”

“That’s out in your neck of the woods, isn’t it?  Or at least next to where your IA rounds have you nestled.” I asked.

“Yeah.  Brisby is still a cesspool, but it’s getting better. I heard Gryphon is working on improving it, but there are still pockets where CSPD is more of a fairy tale than Hansel and Gretel.  Because of that, the higher-levels of community self-policing are non-existent.  You know, ATM cameras, street and store surveillance, usage of 911 and police hotlines…”

I knew where this was going.  “So they disappeared, and because the police presence in Brisby is about as far-reaching and clean as a pay-by-the-hour motel’s sheets after a particularly busy prom weekend, there wasn’t enough blue-blood support to continue the investigation.  It died in its tracks.”

“Yep.  You got it.”

“Do you ever think that some of the officers out there are on the take from the super villain groups? Like Halcyon, Sinistry, Motherboard?”

“I think that we need to clean things up.  I don’t care much who or what is the external stimulus.  I just want things to get better.  But other than that whole thing, there’s just too much going on in the city right now.”

“

 

---

Beast? You think this is something specific with him?

don’t think so, wrong place wrong time. Contact with several cutting edge/influential people in research and development. Sinistry is picking up bits and pieces.

Indbur is tight lipped, no idea what was taken. (Cai didn’t say anything.) Research and samples taken from Wendel Moore.

Ok, I’ll take this to Gryphon and the rest of the groop. Oh, btw, if you didn’t know, we voted Garrick as leader of Savior, to head off arguments and lead votes.

that should help you guys, that group has been a bit non-directed

buch of stallions running in different directions.

maybe will be good for city. she hints at Savior replacing Centurions. Gauges reaction to that. Peace in city, restore confidence, sinistry on loose, etc.

I keep a straight face.

she doesn’t react any further.

told her that I spoke with the psychiatrist.

she said Good.

Get back to the place.

Talk to Beast, Victor, and Hank, and we decide to pay Dr. Wendel Moore a little visit.  I plan on asking about Indbur Enterprises, his own research, and Sinistry.

As usual, the TL;DR is there for the generals, but this log has some important information regarding a major threat facing S.A.V.I.O.R and Century Station.  Choose your own path, and walk it.

---

SHE… GOT… AWAY!  How could I have been so stupid!?!  Why? How? That daughter of a motherless goat, the BugQueen, got away.  And it was All… My… Fault. Well, Miss Amazing was also there, but I don’t blame her.  If I did, I may get the leader’s wrath. ;P

So, what were the events that lead up to me letting the Lady Hive – whose name honestly sounds like an STD to me – slip through my fingers?  Let me start a bit before I ended my last journal entry – around 10AM that day.

My phone rang, and since it’s more of a firmware cell phone than a physical cell I hold with my hands, the information scrolled along the top right hand corner of my HUD.  Along with some less succinct data, for instance the cell towers it was bouncing through and the MAC address of the phone, was the Caller’s ID. “Dr. Carla Santiago, PsyD, LCPC.”

Normally, if I don’t know who the caller is, I don’t answer.  Since this seemed a bit more legitimate than some random spoofed “neighbor” number, I thought the caller was leaning more toward legit.  I answered, “This is Caedechron.”

The lightly accented voice on the other end came through a smile, “So you have forsaken your mortal name, then?  A Meter Maid friend of mine said you hadn’t done that yet. Oh, I’m sorry. That was incredibly rude of me. My name is Dr. Santiago.  A mutual friend asked me to reach out to you.”

I put my back up immediately, and replied, slightly snapishly, “I only use my real name with friends.  So, This is Caedechron, what do you need?”

A very soft chuckle made it to the phone’s receiver, though to a human’s ears it might not have even registered. “Again, I am sorry for dispensing with propriety.  Since you seem like you’d not appreciate an invitation to my office, I had better give you a reason to not hang up, yes? I am very close to Officer Lunet Braga, CSPD.  She told me that we are both part of a select few that knows the real circumstances of her position as a Parking Enforcement Officer. She also told me to tell you, ‘Stop bein’ a bloody baby, and Moira says hi.’”

The comforting armor of indifference I’d put up was taken away.  Lunet asked a Psychiatrist to call me. Did she know about the Church? I thought to myself.  Well, she must have already been contemplating speaking with Dr. Santiago, since it happened so soon after that death.  “Ok. Why did she tell you to call me?”

“Your friend is worried about you.  She cares deeply: You’re the closest thing she’s ever had to a sibling.  She saw signs of distress, and came to me to talk about them. After our discussion this morning she asked me to talk to you, and help you through this transition you’ve faced.  I specialize in Super-powered individuals, and I am uniquely qualified to help them. I came to my powers during a traumatic event in my late childhood, and the way in which it happened scarred me deeply.  

“After seeking the help I needed – later than I should have, I might add – I was able to face the world with the tools I needed to return to healthy citizenship.  From what Lunet has told me, you’re struggling to keep yourself together, and it is not shocking that you are. You have experienced things that would have broken most minds.  

“I am not calling you to condemn you or label you, but to set up a meeting to talk, give you some tools to deal with your new life, and see if we are a good fit.  If you don’t feel good after our chat, then you have no obligation to return, or even to seek out another counselor. So, what are your thoughts on that?”

I was a little shocked at the candor with which she was treating the conversation.  The childhood trauma was a bit manipulative, I thought, but all in all, it was a decent sales pitch.  But the bigger issue here was that I was struggling with my own sanity before this lady called me. I probably should have seen several warning signs before, and reached out to someone… But I guess that’s how it happens sometimes.  Family and friends notice a change or warning signs, and they initiate change. I kinda wish that Lunet had talked to me about this before she talked to her, though.

“Yeah, sure.  We can meet. I’ve got an appointment this afternoon, so how about sometime Tuesday?  I’ve got a day of mourning on Monday.” I said.

“Ah, yes.  Jake Thompson, LLC.  He was a member of the Sponsored Hero group you’re now a part of, right?”

“Yeah.  He’s kinda the reason I joined.”

“Right.  Well, Tuesday morning at 9. Does that work for you?”

“Sure.  We’ll meet then.”

“I look forward to meeting you in person.  Good luck with your appointment today, and have a great weekend.”

“Yeah, you too.” I said, and disconnected the call.    I put a reminder in my Calendar app, and processed what happened for a bit.

I had several things I needed to pick up before meeting with Dr. Wendel Moore, so I got out and got going.  I went to Home Depot, and picked up some heavy-rated Zip Ties, ones used to secure lumber before nailing, and a couple of rolls of Gorilla Tape.  I had called Lunet in the middle of the night, and asked if I could get some Superhuman Rated Restraints, but she didn’t have any on hand she could give me.  She told me she’d requisition some, so I made a backup plan to use in the meantime.

Shopping done, I met up with Savior and we went to Dr. Moore’s office.  No sooner had we landed in the street outside the building than we heard an explosion inside.  Gryphon rushed to the side of the building, and I brought everyone up to the floor I could hear the disturbance on.  We broke through the glass, and the face of the super villain sent me into a memory…

---

The Beast and I arrived at Indbur Enterprises, and as we got closer, the status of the building became clearer – It had been attacked by supers, or military insurgents. Even with my limited real-world experience I knew that something hit the walls with some heavy force, to make holes that large in the cinder-block walls.  

My telescopic sight trained in on objects littering the ground, mixed in with the rubble.  After a beat, I finally understood what I was seeing – various overlarge insect corpses littered the ground.  As we approached the building, I scooped some of them um and put them into a compartment.

Though there were several passages we could follow, we decided to follow the path that looked like a sandworm from Dune had tried to burrow itself through the center of the building.  We arrived at a beautiful office, or at least it had been beautiful before the insectoid attack. Anthony Indbur, identified later to me by Beast, lay unconscious on the floor. Though I have no formal medical training, he didn’t seem to be in immediate danger to me – no labored breathing, sweating, gushing wounds, etc – but we definitely felt we needed to get medical attention to him soon.

Beast seemed to be mesmerized by a glowing 3-D display, looping through visualizations of the Thanatos software.  He pressed a button on the screen, and a physical and mental battle ensued. The black tumor on Beast’s arm spasmed, and started to creep higher, toward his heart.  With another spasm it melted, dripping from his leathery brown arm.

I bent down and scooped a bit of them up, an empty compartment while he was distracted. I immediately noticed, using my microscopic vision, that the technology is extremely advanced, complex, and damaged.  I noticed a monitor displaying several windows of information as well as a SQL command window. Thanking my luck, I went to the keyboard and started writing a script to search for information on the nanites and the “Black Box” technology.

No sooner had I added a double backslash on the third line than the screen flickered black.  A face appeared on the screen, and it returned to black. The last drops of nanite sludge pattered to the floor behind me, and he started to move again, broken from his trance.

“There’s nothing else in here, from what I can see, “ Beast said, looking around.  All of the LED indicators that had been flickering on the different pieces of equipment around the room had turned off. “Let’s hurry to find out what else happened here.”

“I’ll call the paramedics.” I said, opening my digital cell phone app and dialing 9-1-1.  I gave them the information, as well as the passcode SAVIOR, and ran to catch up with Beast, who had followed the path of destruction down the hall to a destroyed secret entrance. Past the formerly inconspicuous door was a set of steps into a visibly fortified sub-level.  

My chemical analysis sensors registered heavy amounts of formaldehyde in the air, and as I reached the bottom of the stairs the source became clear – a human-sized incubation tube stood on a plinth against the far wall, smashed and empty.  The fluids that were inside were covering the floor, reaching to halfway across the large room. Several pieces of equipment, tables, and chairs were destroyed, and even the walls had signs they had been impacted by heavy objects .

Scattered about in the rubble, I saw pieces of an Android, and the head had a familiar face.  It was the face that appeared just before all of the computer systems upstairs shut off. “Beast, Does she look familiar?” I said.  He was staring at the specimen tube, and seemed to have passed the robot by.

“Oh, yeah.  Her name was Melissa Fabricus, or at least that is the one I was given – she was Anthony’s assistant.”

I picked my way through the littered remains of the lab, so as to not destroy something that may be valuable later.  I picked the head up, and hooked a power cable to the base of her spine.

The head’s LEDs started to flicker, but they stopped soon after.  

I went to the closest computer terminal, and plugged my jury-rigged data cable into the integrated CAT-V port – yeah, it had a CAT-V port.  Just because someplace does cutting edge scientific development doesn’t mean all of their electronic infrastructure is wireless or uses optic cables.

I started a conversation with the AI that immediately tried to destroy me for creating a hardwire connection.  The conversation did not go well at all, even though I tried to express our intentions and that we were allies, but it took Beast’s diplomacy to get through to her.  The monitor nearest us came on, and a CGI version of the Android’s face appeared, looking at us. It told us her designation: M.E.L.I.S.S.A.

I tried to ask her about the data from the labs, what was taken, and what was in the tube, but she refused any interaction on those subjects without Anthony Indbur’s explicit approval, and she added, that after the Black Box fiasco involving Beast, she’ll advise him strongly against any release of sensitive information.

Though, she she did tell us of her experience with those that attacked the labs, and of her retreat into the systems when her android chassis was destroyed.  

“They were three villains known to be members of the villain group Sinistry, named Lady Hive, Obelisk, and Phaze. I have no camera footage of them in the building proper because Lady Hive instructed her insects to cover all the cameras and sensors, but from my Android system I do have video of the combat in this room.”

At the start of the video, an older male humanoid figure was seen floating in the now-destroyed incubation tank at the edge of the frame, the being was very muscular and fit. It did not appear to have any life support or signs of life. The figure isn’t shown in the rest of the clip.  With my experience dealing with sensory equipment, I could tell the footage was edited, but there was not much I could do to get the real footage out of M.E.L.I.S.S.A, so I just paid attention to the video.

A mountain of a dark stone statue with piles of ugly, rock-like muscles – ostensibly Obelisk – breaks down the door after only a couple hits – his strength is obviously immense. As soon as the door is smashed into the room a massive swarm of flying and crawling insects enters, directed by Lady Hive. The average-sized woman hovers in the air with insect-like wings and has large, round, dark eyes, a large mouth, virtually no upper lip, a small nose, and a pair of antennae coming from her forehead.

The insects quickly swarm M.E.L.I.S.S.A., blinding her and disabling many of her senses. The video shows her cycling through other types of optics, with heat working best and eventually showing a third villain as well. This third one stays back and out of the way, occasionally seeming to teleport around. She identified this one as Phaze.

Obelisk rushes M.E.L.I.S.S.A. and is stopped several times by walls of force. He punches through them with little effort. Her other actions are difficult to see but once Obelisk reaches her, her robotic strength is no match for the raw power he has, and her android frame is summarily dispatched. The third villain huffs, “Will you stop playing and get what we came for already?”

Obelisk shatters something off-camera, there’s a sound of liquid spilling out onto the floor, then the three of them left with a fourth body draped over the back of an enlarged insect.

Melissa said she had no footage of their exit, and so they could be anywhere, and without Anthony’s approval she wouldn’t say anything else. I got a notification that that Emergency Services arrived on scene, and M.E.L.I.S.S.A. locked down the computers again.

With blinders on, I rushed through the hallway, telling Gryphon over the comms the situation.  It was decided that he would deal with the wrecking ball, Obelisk, and the rest of us could deal with the other threats.  I was ok with that, since I had only one thing I wanted. To destroy Lady Hive, after she told me what they did with the being they stole from Indbur.

Screams erupted from every direction, and it was obvious that innocents were being attacked.  I knew it must have been the swarms of insects Lady Hive controls, but I didn’t care. Incapacitate her, and I’d incapacitate them.  

Miss Amazing, Beast, and I spent our efforts wearing her down and tying her up.  Several dive-bombs from Beast’s new steel wings, wrestling moves from me, a few particle cannon shots to dispatch her ride, and Miss Amazing to immobilize her, and she was out of the fight – though in retrospect it was obviously just an act.  She surrendered, allowing herself to be taken by mortals who hadn’t just proven immune to her insects, and she left in the back of their vehicle.

But I should have thought.

The fighting hadn’t taken longer than 1 minute.  The SWAT team we handed her off to were there way too quickly.  SWAT doesn’t patrol, and the rest of the force wasn’t going to be there until the 4 minute mark hit.   I left Lady Hive to be taken, and flew off to get a lower-powered gruntling who was fleeing the building.

I SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT!  But I didn’t.

---

TL;DR

I got shrunk, picked up a serial killer kit at Home Depot, had a flashback, and focused too much on a super villainess with an unfortunate STD who then got away.

Reader’s Note: This Chronicle may best be experienced by referencing it through the Mortality_and_Morbidity.docx log.

FIRST CONVERSATION ASR

---

“No, I wanted to talk tonight. You’re part of the conversation we need to have.”

“What did you want to.. BP let’s take a couple minutes and see what Victor wanted to say.”

“Not just me, others in the group!”

“I just wanted to have a quick overview.  Don’t have a problem with BP and what he wanted to do.  But, BP please stick around.”

“Private Church is clean.  Inner levels are illegal. Ishtarians.”

Cai starts flying around the room.

“Sr. Cai, please sit down.”

“Fine.”

“Maybe Sr. Cai should go first?”

“I had some stuff I wanted to get done, but maybe we should just continue.”
“What was the problem?” geist

“Si, Sr. Vic, Hank, Cai talked, seemed to be shoot first ask questions later.  BP, you scream. Can you not scream?”

“In combat, I tend to use my command voice.”

“I thought geist was leader.”

“Ugh.  Look, I’m significantly drained.  I need, first off, sex, bear, and a shower.  The rest of the night is going to be meditating.  That is why I wanted to come at this fresh and ready in the morning.”

Beast “Well I think that there are more important things than sex, beer, and you being a dick as usual.  We need a leader. The only reason tonight was so bad was because nobody was in charge.”

BP walks out the door, runs into DW, “So, shower?” “Yeah, sounds good.” They go to his room.

Beast “This can’t go on. BP going off and doing whatever he wants to be cause there’s no leader to pull him up short, which needed to happen tonight, can’t be allowed to continue…”

Cai “Well also, beast.  Part of the problem was Trip.”

“Hey, I’m not going to… Part of what went wrong is carl.  Can’t tell him.”

“But trip knows some of what is going on right?”

“Can’t help that.  Trip is stupid. Hey Gryphon? How stupid is trip?”

“Push button see what happens.”

“Look, part of me that wish I could cut out, at least not as bad as Than was.”

“Yeah, but that’s not saying much.”

Vic “What’s thanatos”
“Evil.  you can read later.”

“One of his personalities that went bad.”

Beast” The thing is Trip knew he was missing info, and he asked BP for help, to pull Beast out.  Not only broke faith, decided on course of action for all of the beings inside and enacted it without asking.”

 

Vic“Normal to trash someone that can’t defend themselves?”

Beast”He left, I don’t have a problem trashing if he left.”

Vic“I was talking about him until he left, then I shut up.  Maybe this should wait until he’s here.”

Beast“Point is we need a leader.  That’s all I was getting at. I will stop talking about him.  Tok out of running bc he left. We need a leader. I’m not in running bc i’m not always here.

Was BP leader before?”

Geist” No, group listen to his  intel in combat. Not formal leader, didn’t think was necessary, you guys are changing my mind. I hold you all together, and I am face in many ways, but I can’t be the leader.  Because of back end don’t have time.”

Gryph”Considering nominating myself.”

Beast, “I second. Was about to nominate you anyway.”

Mrs. Amazing “THird.”

Vic Shouldn’t have more than 1 to vote in?  Are there more members of shavior, or are there just extra chairs?

Geist “Extra chairs.  Hoping to grow.”

Beast, “Mrs. Amazing, could we get the other to parts of me in on this?”

Ama”I’ll try to bring them out.”

Vic”Was this normal or not BP say Attack, everyone start shoot? I obeyed too, but…”

Gry”Still new, not sure. Just became real, were maverick.”

Vic,”Si, now Tecate funding, so we need to represent Tecate in positive, not shoot-first manner.”

Gry, “Sometimes we get onscene and we realize things are different, so we may change tactic.”

Vic, “Helps me.”

Geis, “Still have to go through info from Gry, but don’t doubt what’s going on.  Up above, down below with cai. Some of Alex’ info.”

Vic “Cai has shown profound understanding of good and bad and logic. Nominate him as leader.”

Cai, “Flattered, don’t take my name out. Don’t vote for myself, but.”

Beast, “Please explain. When you get alice out.”

Vic, “Something funny Zeau?”

Z “Yeah this textbook.  Very well written.”

Vic, “Vote? Long ”

Z “Long enough. Yeah.  long as not me. And as long as innocents don’t get hurt, doesn’t matter if we’re aggressive.  With great power, responsibility, great man said died some time ago.”

Vic, “Deep.”

Carl, “Didn’t stan lee die in 2018?”

Z, “Saddest day for Comics.”

Amazing, “See your hand carl?”

Carl, “yeah.”

Shift, Tripp.  Shift, Beast.

Amazing, “Sorry.  Can’t do more atm.”

Beas”Np.”

Vic”WTF going on.”

Amazing, “this is how we trigger change.”

Vic “So force to change?”

Amaz “He asked.”

Vic, “but I didn’t hear you ask.”

Amaz “carl can’t understand this all.  I don’t like tripp.”

Vic, ‘you don’t like someone, they should vanish?”

Amaz, “Not vanishing, still him.  I’m just triggering the change again.”

Vic, “all different?”

Amaz “yes and no.”

Vic, “So beast all are part of you but you are original?”

Beast, “Difficult to explain.  No. Carl is to a certain extent, but he will change if anyone says anything about super powers. We’re both the original, me w/powers, him if never powers. Tripp is odd, he’s naive and oblivious.”

Vic, “Ok, but best friend hank is naive.  Wouldn’t change if had chance. I think it’s wrong to be picking and choosing who comes out, they all have personalities and thoughts.”

Gry “They’re not separate people, though.”

Cai, “Vic, familiar with the mental disorder of Alz?

Vic, Yes.

Cai, some days lucid, some foggy.

Vic Si

Cai, Immagine pull lucid person? Better?

Vic but isn’t violation of natural order?

Cai Is beast not a violation? Are you a violation?

Vic It is a blessing,

Cai, should we not use our blessings wisely though?
Vic, I understand what you’re saying.

Beast, Look, I actually agree with you as far as tripp is concerned.  And this is partially why I was so pissed at BP. If it were without my say-so, it would be a violation.  If we explained it to Trip that we were trying repeatedly to get Alice, Tripp usually would understand. He was the one to ask for Alice originally.

Amaz “Sorry, I picked the wrong one.”

Beast transforms into Alice.

Cavalry “I vote for Garrick.  Sacrifice, aspire to be like him.”

Alice, “Finally voting for leader?” Buck nekkid from waist down.

Gryph, “Kinda.  So far me and Cai.”

Cai speaks up, “I forgot, I promised Vic & Hank that I would try to be less violent in my conclusions of combat in future.  Try not to kill. They made good points. Less legal. Just telling you.

Alice, “Weird. Can they not just attack you in future?”

Geist, “Due process, information esp w/ bp”

Alice, “Beginning to realize i’m more.  Thinking like assassin is not way to grow.  I’ll try to be better Geist. Cai made some good points, so I would like to support him in his bid for leader.”

Vic, “Doesn’t it bother others to be constantly screamed at?”

Amaz, “I tune out.”

Vic, Just volume.

Cai battlefield is hectic, and I can turn down the gain.

Vic but when people talk regularly you can’t hear.

Geist, “I wasn’t with you, but he doesn’t yell to often, is your hearing sensitive?”

Vic, “It can be, but he was yelling into our communicators tonight.”

Geist, “Pushing for leader because there was yelling in earpiece?”

Vic no, just brought it up.

Alice, “Are you talking about BP?”
Vic yes, one that hasn’t gotten a single leadership vote.”

Alice, “BP has stated he’s not a leader but then tries to force people.  I’m a bit biased because I’m really upset w/ what happened tonight, but he can try to push his agenda, and when things don’t go his way he gets louder and swearing more. I’m just thinking if we have a leader based on what I think beast was thinking, leader could talk to BP or any of us… because I’ve done stupid things… we could go with that, and the leader could help us continue and keep us all on the right track.

Cai, “I agree, I think that 1 person that has a cooler head to lead us in calmer times is best.  In battle times, BP is insightful. None of us have the exp he has. I think whoever becomes the leader should rely heavily on him as tactician.  Leaving him in his position that he was supposed to be in is not a bad idea… most of the bumbling was done out of combat. I had to diffuse situation that, because of the confusion of leadership and I got damage to my chassis that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t abducted them.

Alice slips on a pair of shorts.

Deathwish, “What’s up with this? Team meeting and not everyone’s here? Messed up.” chugs tecate. “Kat, we gonna kick some ass tonight?”

Alice, “BP walked out. Do you want a vote on the next leader?”

DW “BP walked out but you didn’t include me?”

Alice, “Didn’t exclude you.”

Geist, “WB, didn’t know you were here.”

Gryph, “I wasn’t wanting to really do an official  vote tonight.”

Caval “I got phone call from geist, didn’t you?”

DW “Yeah, to come back to the base.”

Alice “Be nice to her!”

 

Interrupting DW.

 

Caval “not smart, I knew that.

Alice Smarter than tripp

Caval yes.

Gryph DW would you like to go get BP?

DW Well…

Vic Not like we didn’t invite him.

DW In between sex, he kinda explained what was going on and what he needed to do tonight.  I got what I needed from him, he said “Need you to get out of room.” Came looking for you with a beer.”

Gryph, “We can do this in morning. Geist said we can do this in the morning.”

DW “Waist down, all there.  Waist up, not there at all. “

Alice “Back to meeting at hand, anyone you would like to see as leader of Savior?”

DW “what I would like to see, if we’re going to have a Team meeting, the whole team needs to be here, make sure they’re around.”

Alice, “You’re going to be as disruptive as your partner, I understand.”

Several voices break out, DW, “Hey Kat, I thought we were going to go kick ass because was boring night.”

Amazing, “Yes we were, but we need to get through this.”

DW “Yes, but I don’t understand, you guys are having discussion about BP and he’s not even.”

Amaz “Not true, we weren’t discussing him, we were discussing leadership.”

Vic “Well, we were discussing him a bit. And it started with him in the room, he left, I brought up we shouldn’t talk about him without him in the room.”

Amaz “Discussion started with im in the room but he chose to leave. He chose rest over the meeting.”

DW “Yeah, he looks seriously drained. I’ve never seen him so drained ever before.”

Amaz “Yeah, it was his choice to leave the room though.”

Geist, “Yes. DW Thank you. He told me he needed to do some things, some Jedi things.  Amazing, you are familiar, could it be because of something like that?”

Amaz “Yeah, can be.  Until he gets handle on new powers it could knock him out a while.”

Alice bites her tongue, to not say anything.

DW, “Sounds like you had a great night.  How many KIAs?”

Vic “Mz Wish,”

DW “It’s Ava.”

Vic (under breath) Everyone else says deathwish and you don’t correct them but I’m the new guy, I get it, whatever.

DW “No, it’s..”

Vic “So Ava… Ava. We were talking about BP, he left the room and continued to talk, I objected. But, in all honesty we did talk about black phantom while he wasn’t here.”

DW I’m cool, kat promised me we’d kick butt.

Amaz We can do it.

Vic We acknow savior needs to be less deadly.

Caval “I wanna go out with you tonight.”

Amazing at loss for words.

Alice whispers At least not tripp

Amaz Sure, why not?

Vic, “It is cavalry right?

Cav, “Yep.”

Geist, “Alright, I think we’ve accomplished all we can.  Night sleep, decompress, I’ll go through info.”

Cav “Thought going out tonight.”

Geist, “Those that are going, you can go.”

 

---

Discussion Two, Morning

---

 

Vic, “Alice?”

Alice Yes?

Vic, “You are part of the Beast, Carl, Centaur thing?

Al Yes, it’s a “strange” life.

Vic, is that what you call yourselves?

Al beast in general.

Vic learning. You seem to have a good head on shoulders. Cai, Zeau, BP, DW, good morning!

Gryph comes back.

Cav, “HEY EVERYONE!”

DW, “You better turn that down right now.”

Alice “I don’t know about anyone else, but I had a weird sleep.  I had a .. dream. Weird. Hallway, something.”

Amazing, “Yeah, that’s in your head, i’ve seen it.”

Alice, “BP were you in my… Head?” Dagger staring.

BP,” Wait till everyone’s here and I’ll say what I need to say. Without context it won’t come out right.”

Geist walks in, Shorty’s not coming.  Everyone else is there.

They chat.  Cai, restless, starts jet packing around top of room, testing kinks, seeing how he can upgrade it in the future.

Geist, over comm, “Caedechron!  What are you doing?”

Cai, “Nothin, sorry.”

Geist, “Find somewhere else to do that later. Ok, guys.  Bottom line here. The request has been made to have someone in charge of the group.  So you need to get that voted on.”

Victor, “Ok, I’m here and fully invested.  Hank not so much.”

Geist, “Yeah, I will speak to Greg about that.  You’ve raised some good issues, but I wanted to make sure we could get together this morning and iron out what we talked about last night.  Sorry you missed htis BP.

Victor, Si, its

BP “Before we get on that,”

Victor, “Was I not speaking”

BP “But what I want to say is several questions.”

Vic “So you don’t care that I was speaking. Got it.”

Geist, “All of you.  Stop. Victor, you have said a lot.  We wanted to have black phantom speak, right? It was a big deal to have him present? Let’s let him talk before we get on to business. Ok? Go ahead BP.

BP “Last night there were several questions being asked of me. Wasn’t in right mind set, that’s why I left to do the things I needed to do, to decompress and clear my mind.  It is what it is. I couldn’t delve in and answer those questions. Victor, you asked me about the Yelling. One point over the coms I was elevating my voice. There was a situation in my opinion and exp.  That one of the team members was in trouble. When was loud, make sure everyone heard and paid attention. If that came across as yelling, I am sorry. It’s referred to as a command voice. In that one instance when I called for savior to save one of the members, I was brisk. Situation thought it was something I could lead in.  Alice, do you remember what Beast was asking me about?”

Alice, “You mean when Beast was asking you why you thought it was ok for you to determine what he should do with his own body?” (Pissed.)

BP If you’re referring to making a tactical decision to bring forth alice instead of the beast, – especially when all of these unknown people, possibly brainwashing tripp, want the beast, alarm bells are going off in my head – I thought that our best chance at escape was to bring Alice out, not Beast.  A lot of unknowns in there, and we were surrounded. My tactical decision was to get to safety, and that’s the best of the choices I saw. Ashmadiel has told us some of what to expect with these things, and we perceived them as evil. And in that situation…”

Alice, “You mean YOU perceived as evil.”

BP, “Go ahead.”

Alice, “With no evidence. Because you took no time to determine what happened. You ran in, touched tripp who asked you to change him to beast, and you had no time to make judgement.  Beast relayed info to me. We feel betrayed by you because you did not trust us. Yes, it was Tripp that was in charge, and you don’t trust him, but Trip in the past has been allowed to make combat decisions. You took his decision, said nope, you don’t deserve choice.  That’s why there’s a problem. Because you specifically told Tripp he had no right to decide that affected only him.”

BP, “Well, that’s your perception, I have my perception. If you guys are feeling betrayed, then… let’s go on to the next point. After a little soul searching, I did.. Uh, Quick side note. Seems we may have averted the ceremony of mirrors.  I had a vision last night, and all I saw was regular folk at the eclipse.can’t really say yes or no, not perfectly confident in vision.”

Vic, “Excuse me, confused.  You have vision that you think  says we don’t have to worry about dark mirror magic ritual, but you’re not sure?

BP, “Yeah, as I concentrated, as I looked on the event I’d seen before, the vision of the people doing a ritual in the park at the apex of the eclipse that would bring the world to its end.

Vic, “Just making sure.  You had some idea of the Dark Days coming from the church.  When I came and we gathered and we talked, you didn’t say anything about this.  When we go to this place that has all of this evil stuff… that may have explained why you were screaming in my ear. Because I would have known, had you shared that with me ahead of time as a new member. Not trying to call you an idiot, but quite frankly, Hello.

Bp,”Well…”

Vic, “Why didn’t you tell me this when we went there? When we were talking about going there,”

BP Because you won’t shut the fk up and let me explain, that’s why.

Vic, Ok, may be true now, wasn’t true then.

Vic stands on the floor, is shorter than he was on a chair.

Gryph, “I can see tensions are high, you all have reasons for that. But can we try to civilly get through this? Please? I realize I’m asking people to compromise on what would be a righteous anger, and try to bury it for a temporary bit of time so we can get all the facts out.”

Vic, What was not civil about what I said?

Gryph, I wasn’t pointing anyone out, just trying to get through it.

Vic, Si, just waiting for Mr. Phantom to get through it.

BP, So back to Alice, after the clairvoyance, I did another look, and I looked at carl.  His history. And I think he was.

Vic, so you’re just blowing off statement?

Alice I think he’s trying to finish what he was saying before that, let’s just let him.  I’m done arguing, because no one can change BP.

BP, You wanted me to talk, I am trying to talk, and I get interrupted every time I try and say something.  Ok, I’m trying to get through everything. <BP tells everyone exactly what they did last night, if you guys don’t like my decisions about Tactical things, then go ahead and make your own decisions about that, and it’s done.

Alice, “Has nothing to do with tactical decisions, it’s about your arrogance and your willingness to abrogate the freedoms of the group”

BP OMG it was a fking tactical decision to bring Alice out.

Alice, “Last night when you invaded my mind without permission it wasn’t a tactical effing decision.”

BP, “I wasn’t in your mind.”

Alice, “It is my mind if I see you there.  It is carl’s mind if you do not ask to go in. You are still invading his personal privacy without permission. And your inability to actually accept  when you are in the wrong shows how morally bankrupt you are.

BP Wow. This is… This is too far…

Vic, Wow, Alice, I have some issues with BP but wow.  Chill out, relax.

BP walks out of the building.

Geist, “Nathan… Nathan! Ok, guys. Alright.  I will follow up with him, let him cool off.  Alice I’m sorry, but we need to address at another point.

Alice bows to Geist and says nothing.

Vic Sorry for anything that offended him, trying to give constructive criticism. I’m sorry.

Geist, vic, you’re new, we know, there’s a lot you haven’t known or caught up on.  I will work with you to address that. When you’re confused let me know, we need to let others speak more often.

Vic, didn’t mean to stop others from speaking.

Geist, First off, church doesn’t seem like it’ll be doing future activities.  Church is shut down, members under investigation. The info you provided, Gryphon, lead in to most of this.  Whether or not the public believes it is another story, but they’re being investigated – what they were doing and how.  Secondly, group needs direction. As we were talking last night, we need a leader or director. We talked about Gryphon and Cai.  Those that were here, vote one at a time. Cavalry,

Cavalry, Like said yesterday, def Gryphon.  Sacrificed literally body. Proven leadership.

Geist, Ok, victor.

Vic, Si, unfortunate, I don’t feel it’s fair the person that was formally kinda the leader is not here and wasn’t able to speak fully his concerns.  But that being said, I vote for Cai. Seems logical & Willing to admit mistakes.

Geist, Alright.  Alice? We’ll also involve Beast and Tripp as well as we can.

Alice, Beast was with Gryphon.  I will continue to vote Cai. Not sure what Tripp would vote.

Geist, Would you like him brought in?

Alice, Yes plz

Geist, Katherine

Amaz I’ll try, not as good as BP was.  Do I have consent?

Alice Yes

Amaz, Ok. (try to be gentle,,  no promises.)

Tripp appears and is brought up to speed.  “So, can we vote for BP? I know he’s having problems but I want to vote for him.”

Gryphon, should at least log it.

Geist, we’ll put you down for him.

Vic senior tripp, I should have given that as an option.

Geist, Cai.

Cai, for me, I would vote for Gryphon.  He’s been there longer out of two of us.  Add a vote for Tac leader for BP. Leader should listen to him. Looks at tripp, I know you’re not alice, I’d like to tell Alice that I’m sorry about what happened and this has nothing to do with what happened.

Geist, Zeau.

Zeau looks at each. “Gryph, you are one of only people here, no offense of course,  that I like. But I’m going to have to vote for Cai. He seems detached from emotions more than some of us, and he’s working it cut that off.  We know weak part of being human is emotion.

Geist, DW?

DW Yeah, the angel dude. Yeah.  Sure. We gonna go kick ass today?

Geist, yes. When we settle this.

Tripp, Aren’t you having sex with BP?>

DW Just sex. Ever had sex before?

Tripp, You know, once you go horse, you never…

Gryph, Tripp, that joke was old before..

Tripp, Well I am hung like a…

Didn’t answer question.

Geist, Alright, Katherine.

Amazing, Gryphon. *Googly eyes*

Geist, Gryphon.

Gryph You know there are days I miss you tripp, then there are days…  I felt as one of the nominees it wouldn’t be fair to vote and it would be better to abstain.

Geist looks at Cai, Uh, ok.  I am going to vote for you, Gryphon.  That means you’re the new leader. What do you have to say, mr leader?

Gryphon asked what we wanted out of a leader.  Answers to be forthcoming.

 

Miss Amazing grabs Tripp and brings out Beast, per their prior arrangement.

 

Vic asks about what will be done with BP

Gryph, gonna leave a vm.  Meet at the Skull N Rose. Gonna be a while.

Vic, I would like to apologize in person.  Would that be good or ok?

Gryph, give it time.  I’ll find out if they want to.

Beast, This.  This is what we needed a leader for.  Simply just someone to take responsibility and that everyone will listen so the group can gel

Gryph, I’ll try my best I may fail.

Beast, then we’ll draw and quarter you.

Geist, Perfect.  Those of you that wanted to go out on patrol, let’s do that. Shorty will manage comps to learn how to do it properly.

Vic, Who’s supervising him?

Geist, I am.

Vic, Ok, I am very much in approval of this.  Cavalry, would you like to go on patrol?

Beast, I’d like to bring up before we split.  I have an appointment with someone that may be an evil mastermind.

Amaz, “Still good chance we can kick someone’s ass.”

Beast, Dr. Wendel Moore.

Amaz, “Yeah honey.  We’re going. With you.

Beast, I was hoping to at least have Gryphon there as well, but up to him.

Gryphon, I’ll go.  But I don’t want to get on the wrong side of those ladies.

Vic, “Zeau, Cai, Beast, do you wish to join Cav and I to find evildoers today?  Because I am bold like Tecate.”

Beast, “Umm… I think I’m going to spend the rest of the day getting in the Carl Mindset to properly be carl in front of someone that knows him.”

Vic, Ok.

Cai, “I will go with you, beast.”

Zeau, “I’ll go with you, victor.  (resignedly.) Are you always this tiny?”

Vic, Yes.

Zeau extends forcefield.  Grabs him, “Ok, lets go!” drags him through the door. “Oh, by the way… do you bounce?
Vic Si!

Zeau, Perfect.
Vic Very well.

They leave through the hangar.

Cavalry follows behind.

Hey guys, I just wanted to make sure you knew that the TL;DR is probably the best bet for the faint of heart.  There is content that some may find too real or intense for comfort. I am delving into it full bore, and so if you feel frustrated, bored, or uncomfortable, just scroll to the bottom!  Swan dive imminent…

---

March 28th, 2024. 21:30.00

[Church of Reflections, Interior Meeting Room]

 

The echoes of Ashmadiel’s voice faded, dying on the walls of the surprisingly clean meeting room.  

That’s not a commentary on the Church’s housekeeping team.  The group in the room had, an hour before, been in a room that looked like a psychopath’s birthday party occurred.  2 gallons of blood, added to 165 pounds of bone, flesh, and buffet food coats a surprisingly large area.

The hulking form of Beast seemed deep in thought, pondering the words that had just washed over him.  Trip, then Alice, were caught up in the confusion of the night, drowning in the misinformation mixed with half-truths, and unable to break the surface.  “So, I’m not like these people?” he asked the Guardian-inhabited-Gryphon.

“Yes, you’re different… I uh.. I’m not sure exactly what you are, but you seem to have been created.”

“But How?”

“I do not know.  Alchemists have studied for millennia to unravel the mysteries of gold transmutation, and they didn’t have your science and magics.  So too am I in the dark in regard to your creation. Go to the one that created you, he should know more.”

“Oh, then… Hmm..”

 

[Inside the Sword Prison of Ashmadiel]

 

Garrick sat in an illusion.  He knew it was an illusion because he felt he was in a 10×10 room, but he could see an endless sea of windswept sand mountains. Within the first minute of his existence in this desolate room, frameless viewing screens appeared around him.  He was reminded of old episodes of the Chuck TV show, when people are being given the Intersect.

Instead of random scenes and images, though, he saw periods in his life that fill him with sorrow and regret.  

Garrick interacting with his sister, committing atrocities in jail to fend off the other inmates’ darkness… Scene after scene, haphazard frantic images bathed him in an aurora death throe.  

From the haunted, pained look on his face, those familiar with his empathetic heart could see his thoughts were on Ashmadiel’s endless torment while she waits in this place.

 

[Outside the Church]

 

Geist walked out to meet Victor, who was leaving Hank’s grandma’s house in a hurry.  They met on the sidewalk in front of the church as Hank and I got through the front door of “Granny’s.”

Geist asked of Victor, “Could you tell me more about what happened here tonight?  I need to know what to tell the press.”

Victor responded, his head on a swivel, “Ah, yes senor Geist.  Um, Cai would know better what happened. Me and Him and I, well, we were talking and we thought we might need to talk with everything.  Cai?”

Caedechron looked at Geist, and said “Victor, I think he was asking about the time of the night before he and I got there.  I was there for the death of the first guy, but you seemed you were more aware of the situation… Wasn’t it you I saw wrapped around him?  Geist knows what happened down there in the basement.”

Victor explained his motivations and the situation that unfolded on the main floor.  Geist seemed to have a pound put on his burden with every word. Cai thought he could read the concern written on his face – “how am I supposed to explain this to the media?“

The explanations were made, and not a minute too soon – a windowless white van arrived on the scene, with a garish decal splashed across its side with the words, “Eliza Gunn CH WCTV Ch-5”

Geist looked at Cai, and urgently whispered, “Could you be a doll and help those two people at our base return to their friends?”

 

[Church of Reflections, Interior Meeting Room]

 

Beast reeled from the knowledge that he was not one of the Nightbane.  But he wasn’t a naturally occurring mutant. Someone had done this to him, and he was positive who it was.  His face screwed up in anger and determination as he thought of a plan to get to the bottom of his own history.

That fire, growing in his belly, fueled his words to the young, confused Nightbane of the Church of Reflections.  Ashmadiel returned to her prison, and Gryphon emerged to make impassioned pleas, together with Beast. Phantom strings played a growing anthem, followed by imagined horns, calling to their determination and cores of strength.  The confusion washed away, leaving determination and wonder in its place. They were to search out the other Nightbane awakened by the Church, and take up the fight against the Nightlords’ footholds on the earth. They were to be the guardians of the earth.

Black Phantom – well, Nathan West, since he wasn’t wearing his mask – seeing the unintended consequences coming crashing around their heads, brought everyone back down to solid ground.  Like a kite on the wind, they had shot into the clouds. But like that same kite, without a tether to the ground they’d all be destroyed by the fall caused by the first errant gust. He made sure that they had goals, and that they understood that they were their own heroes.  They were the ones that would and could do all of these things by themselves.

Nathan realized, in his weariness, that the night was not yet over.  He needed to meditate and try to divine the future to answer one question the Nightbane couldn’t answer, and neither could Gryphon – Was there still a threat from the Mirror Ceremony?  Abrupt, partially due to his exhaustion, and partially due to his innate nature, Nathan explained some of what happened with John and Stella, citing the confusion everyone involved had during the night, apologized to them, and left with his most sincere, “Anyway, Peace Out, Mutha Fkers.”

 

[Outside the Church of Reflections]

 

Cai assured Victor that the retrieval of the two ‘prisoners’ from the base was a one-man job, and shoved him in the direction of the eagerly waiting Eliza Gun, Channel 5 News.  As Cai lifted off of the ground, his poorly calibrated ASR (Automated Speech Recognition) software caught some of the interview between the two.

“Who was here?”

“Leader of church of Reflections.”

“Was this someone new? Was it a plot by Sinistry? Or Halcyon? Overrun?”

“…Don’t know the villains of Century Station… new… ”

Cai looked back with his telescopic vision, and saw Eliza speak with Geist after finishing with Victor.

 

[S.A.V.I.O.R. Base Interior]

 

Cai reached the base, and hurriedly walked to his storage closet.  

Every member of Savior has a 10’x12’ room in the dormitory section.  Everyone has at least a bed that suits their individual needs, except for Cai.  He has a pile of crates, several industrial outlets, a wire music stand for physical sheet music, a free-hanging oLED, and a comfy patch of wall to lean against when he’s charging or not acting in any outward way.

After checking it again for gore, he placed his violin – a Stradi he was gifted by the estate of a Glasgow Symphony 4th chair, if you wanted to know – and bows reverently in his second foot locker – the one for more fragile items.  He decided it would be better to keep it in the base than knocking around a robot’s chest in the middle of combat.

To fill the vacancy, he grabbed his hover drone.  Better battlefield knowledge should help the group, he thought.

Off to release the captives he went.  No sooner had he opened the door to the room Stella was in, that he was attacked by tendrils of some inky black substance.  He ducked behind the door, but not before catching a glimpse of what was in there.

The only being in the room was a woman with a strange, dark complexion.   Her arms were wound about with barbed wire, and on her back were a pair of enormous, fetid, decaying bat wings – if bats grew to the size of humans.  The tendrils came at him from her hands, where half a dozen sprouted from each hand.

““Stella, I’m sorry, i’m here to take you back to the church, i apologize, it was a confusing time, i didn’t know what was going on. one of my friends said you needed to be taken here for your safety…”  And no, there wasn’t good grammar. Cai was shaken – the tendrils did some serious damage to his hands and face, and that just didn’t happen all too often. He’d been in a dozen fights since getting this body, and as long as he’s had his class IV body armor on, this was the first time it didn’t completely protect him.

The two prisoners, one from the open room, the other muffled in the shut one next to it, plead to be released.

Cai held his hands up in submission, and walked into the doorway. “Promise not to shoot?” he asked belatedly.

The woman asked, “Are we free to go? Let my friend out.”

“Ok, I will let him out I can also take him to the church if you want.” Cai reassures her as he walked slowly to John’s door and unlocked it.

Inside this room was an enormous, amorphous blob.  Pseudopods were questing out, grabbing random makeshift weapons, and waving menacingly toward the door.  Stella said from behind Cai, “he’ll take us to the church. Calm down.” Though she held her form at the ready to do violence, the Blobathan reverted to just John.

Cai offered harnesses to the two, explaining that it would allow him to carry them with more comfort than their previous journey.  They agree to try them on, but follow the robot cautiously.

They arrived at the hangar, and as stella put hers on, she looked at Caedechron ponderingly. Then, without warning, her wings fell and started to spontaneously decompose, the barbed wire began to be absorbed into her skin, the color of which changed to her regular tone. Warily, she put on the harness. “Better not be trick…’’ she muttered.

“I can assure you it’s not, but my word doesn’t mean anything to you right now and I understand that.” Cai grabbed a handhold on each harness, a strap used to secure rappelling lines or other parachuters, and flew the two back to the church.

 

[Church of Reflections, Exterior]

 

Several groups of police officers and EMTs approached Nathaniel West as he stood next to Geist’s luxury hovercar, asking if he needed assistance of some kind.  Gryphon, after exiting the church with the other members of the team, walked through the crowd and was seen conversing with several women. The Rubber band man stood a short distance apart from Geist’s hovercar and Nathaniel, with an outrageously cartoonish ear, distended to the size and shape of a tuba’s flared bell.  

Beast exited the front doors with the stragglers of those that were in the basement as Caedechron dropped John and Stella on the steps next to them.  Exclamations of relief and explanations of the night’s events burbled out of every crack around them, and Cai left them to it. As the two members of Savior distanced themselves, Cai’s ASR caught the following.

“I know we don’t interact often, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Yeah,  what do you need?”

“Carl set up appointment with mut gen doc tomorrow.”

“We are the weirdest people.”

“I think he’s the reason I’m messed up.  We don’t want Carl to be in charge when we go to the appointment tomorrow.”

“Ok…”

“So if you could jus…”

“Hold on.  … no, dw it’s the beast. No I gotta.  Yes, it’s fking boring, just let me handle it.”

“Stop by my place tomorrow morning and make sure I’m the Beast and not Carl.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Geist beckoned those of savior that could not fly toward his ‘car, and said, “Savior, away.”

The heroes left the aftermath to the professionals, and returned to their home base.

 

[S.A.V.I.O.R. Base, Hangar and Meeting Room]

 

Tensions were raw and at the surface as the group arrived piece-meal in the base’s hangar.  After a short discussion, it was decided to have a quick run-down of the most important or time-sensitive aspects of the night.   Geist said as everyone gathered, “I wanted a very quick overview of what happened, and the overall rundown of the church. A ten-thousand-foot-view as it were.”

He and gryphon started walking to the meeting room, but Nathaniel said, “I wanted to have a full AAR first thing in the morning, I have to decompress.”  Those in the hangar could see his drawn, exhausted, and haunted expression.

The discussion that followed was caught by Cai’s ASR, and has been added into a separate log for some clarity.

To summarize, the tensions did not get addressed properly before Nathan felt he had to recuse himself.  He needed to tie up loose ends to the night, and the psychic pressure on his mind had started to take a serious toll.  On his way out of the meeting room, he ran into Deathwish, who agreed to do some more ‘running-into-him’ in Nathan’s quarters.

The rest of Savior, dissatisfied with the events of the evening, and the abruptness of Nathan’s departure, continued to discuss the problems facing the group.  It was decided that Savior was in desperate need of guidance and unity.

Zeau, the perpetual student, mumbled under his breath something about “Anthropologically” and “Hegemony” and “Nation-States” and then he went off on a tangent about “Ender’s Game” and the unbalanced series written by one of his favorite authors.  Truly, it must have been a love-hate relationship. But Cai understood the reference to hegemony, and agreed with Zeau’s connection. The only way to truly govern this group would have to be through the persuasion of the entire group, unified in following a single entity or goal.  Savior’s made up of too many strong wills for success to be achieved otherwise.

 

[S.A.V.I.O.R. Base, Corridors and Dormitory]

 

Meanwhile, during the hour that the discussion was happening, and after Deathwish rejoined them in the Meeting Room, Nathan West borrowed a cosplay outfit from Carl’s dormitory that was much too small for him.  For an outside observer, the entire night would have been bizarre, but it was necessary.

Returning to his candle-lit room, he meditated.

In the small hours of the morning, he finally moved again, draping the cosplay over his shoulders and sat cross-legged on the floor, serene face lifted slightly toward the ceiling.  In his new, clairvoyant trance, he was able to put to rest his worries about the Mirror Ceremony. He also searched the ether for any way to help Carl. Despite being gruff, he felt compassion in his own way toward the young adult, and wanted to find an answer for him.  

After several confusing hours, he found himself in the hallway that Carl’s mind projects when psionic adepts traipse through it.  He caught glimpse of a conscious Alice behind her usual door, and he returned to his own mind.

 

[S.A.V.I.O.R. Base, Machine Shop]

 

The following was caught by the ASR, though most of the conversation was missed.

Cai, asks “What kind of Phones does eveyrone have? Does everyone have one? It’s just strange that no one knows where anyone else is. We’re in 2024.”

Gryph, “people are worried about security, especially BP.”

Cai, “Yeah, but AI helps. It could secure things.”

Gryph, “Archie, could you keep things secure?”
Archie, “Yep. Pretty Darn.”

Gryph, “Do our comms give position?”

Archie, “In base, yep.”

Gryph, “Could it be modded to do out in city.”

Archie, “Possible, yep.”

Gryph, “Do it!”

Cai, “Perfect.  So another thing, I pioneered a universal app to be a firmware upgrade on Robot Audio.”

Gryph, “Ok… uh, do you want a Job?!?”

Cai, “Uh, Yeah, I’m kinda jobless right now, so that’d be great.”

Gryph, “I could use a new head of research.”

Cai, “Do you do stuff with Medical?”

Gry, “We currently have some gov’t projects, but I hope to use the funds from that to pay for humanitarian enterprises. Entry level 90k sound ok?”

Cai, “Yeah, sounds just fine!  The second thing is… Could I work with you on parts for a fighter jet for the group? Some can fly, some can’t.”

Gry, “Amanda would be super ok with that.”

Cai, “perfect, I have some ideas.”

Gry, “are you free Monday?  Sign-on bonus, working on a new body, possible, in future.

Reminded of the original body existing.”

During their conversations, they performed body work on Caedechron, and repaired the battered sections of Class IV Armor he usually wears.  Unusually in-sync, they improved the robot’s body past where it originally was, firming up the structures, and hardening some of the armor plating.

 

[S.A.V.I.O.R. Base, Morning]

 

Tensions were shallowly buried over the night, with several of the key individuals not resting properly.  The following discussion, resulting ultimately in one member possibly leaving, and another being raised to leadership, have been saved from Cai’s uncalibrated ASR.

After the voting was completed, it was decided that much of the group would accompany Beast to his appointment with the leading mutant doctor.  

 

[Outside, Moira Taggart of Century Station, LLC]

 

The group arrived at the clinic’s address in Silver City, consisting of: Beast in Carl form, wearing a suit; DeathWish; Mrs. Amazing; Gryphon; Caedechron; and Victor.

No sooner had they arrived than an explosion shook the ground.  All but Gryphon jumped on Caedechron’s shoulders or arms, and rose to the Doctor’s floor.  The faces Cai saw brought the whole situation around, and connected dots in his mind. These were the same people that attacked Beast’s other friend, at Indbur Industries.  The need to capture them alive burned in Cai’s chest, as he started to run through battle strategies.

---

TL;DR

The Church of Reflections shattered like glass, followed by parts of Savior, followed by the windows of Professor Xavier’s girlfriend’s Century Station labs, to be followed soon by the bones of those trying to hide Beast’s past and future.

by Alyssa Herring (with fan art from tumblr)

hi.  i’m not good at this but i wanted to do it for quasi (thank you spell check btw!) .  She’s a goddess so my friends and i followed her to century station from Austin. i’m gonna start with the first time I saw her.

i was working at the dentist’s office when a huge dude crashed through the front wall.  he was a mostly normal looking dude built like a truck but he had a horn on his face like a ryno. i thought he was big but a second later a bigger glowing red and gold lizard stuck its neck into the shop and grabbed his arm and threw him out onto the street.  a beautiful voice like the kind you would expect to come from a really glamorous supermodel said “Stop!” and everything froze. even the sounds outside got quieter for a second. when i got the courage up i ran outside and the dude was on the other side of the street holding a girl with a gun to her head.  the big glowing lizard was right next to me looking at the dude. the lizard noticed me and patted my shoulder with her tail. suddenly i felt a strange pressure behind my eyes like i was getting a migraine. i looked at the dude across the street and he looked into my eyes. suddenly it was like he was falling in love with me or something and couldn’t look away from me.  i saw the lizard jump in the air and fly over to the dude but he didn’t notice her or something because he was still looking at me. The lizard grabbed the girl and then wrapped the dude up in her tail and flew away.

That was the first time i saw quasi.  after scrolling through tumblr that night for a while i noticed a few posts about run-ins with this lizard who i found out is actually a chinese dragon or something.  I was hooked. i read everything i could find about her. I realized the dragon gave me some kind of hypnosis power. have you ever heard of a superhero that can give powers? nope. superheros can’t do that only gods.  

i haven’t gone to the mosque in years.  my mom is super upset about that but i stopped believing in Allah or any kind of god.  i still wear the hijab but that’s less about god and more about myself. but that day i saw a god and was directly touched by it.  

so this is what i found out about the god.

she calls herself quasi which is something to do with french or maybe a disney cartoon?  she is like four feet tall and twenty feet long. her head is like a mixture of a lion’s head a dog’s head and a lizard’s head.  she has bright orange one foot long mustaches. she has a ridged set of black antlers on her head. she has a stylish uneven maroon mohawk running from the back of her head to the end of her tail along her spine.  the scales on her back and arms are vibrant red, and the larger scales on her underbelly are metallic gold. her hands have five clawed fingers. she has sharp teeth and a long tongue.

when you see her in real life, there’s a kind of aura around her.  you can’t look away even if you wanted to. when she speaks, you do what she wants you to do.  i have never felt this kind of power.  more than just the power she’s a good god.  she helps everyone especially people that don’t have a voice.  

I started to look for her and found out shes a human! or at least that sometimes she goes around like a human.  her human form is called Karia. a bunch of people on tumblr, stumbleupon, instagram, flipagram, facebook, doongle, and twitter talk about orientation and how she’s an advocate.  i don’t know anything about that. all i know is she’s a goddess that helps people.

so i started to follow her around and help her out wherever i could.  She got a job as a bounty hunter. What better job could there be for a goddess that likes to save people?

i was the only one following her that didn’t put the extra advocate stuff on her for quite a while so when people from the internet wanted to come along with me i didn’t let them.  eventually i met tommy mejia. he was like me, following her because she helped him get away from a mugger. we started to call ourselves the real “quazi nauts” and we got the quazi tattoo.  here’s what mine looks like… i tried to copy what it looks like but it looks better on my arm.  the symbol is supposed to look like mercury who was a god of change and trading and stuff. the orientation advocate people say its a symbol for non-binary orientation but that’s not the original meaning.

eventually we came across shayan peersen and kobe barker.  we followed her around and became friends. we started to learn martial arts and kobe taught us how to use guns.

then all of a sudden she told us she was moving to century station.  it took us a while but we all found jobs and moved too. the weeks we spent in century station without quasi were the hardest we ever faced.  but she came finally and we’re a team again!

Hey there again!  TL;DR Below, but why not read my journal entry anyway?  It’s fun, and the TL;DR jokes make sense when you know what happened. =)  Anywho, do what you will, I’m off.

---

So much is going on right now, I don’t know if I can even make this short.  I have written long entries, and so I feel like anyone reading may find them frustratingly pedantic.  But the events of the last week have been such that I feel I’ve had a lifetime in this body.

While reading through my past journal entries, I had the insight that I’m playing through a real-world scenario of Dorothy’s Tinman.  Granted, the allegory is a bit more on-the-nose for my situation than it was meant to be, but I am not sure how I missed it.

I sit here, in Hank’s adopted Nana’s living room, passively analyzing the blood and entrails that still hadn’t come out of the cracks in my robot components, looking back at the last few hours.  What I have come up with is a horror movie where one of the friends is a sick, sadistic murderer – and in this case it’s because he’s a murdering, heartless robot.  Listen a while and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I mean honestly! I hadn’t done more than punch someone before I died, and now I’m a killbot on a mission to destroy all humans…

---

After arriving at the Church of Reflections, I shot at a woman I wasn’t sure was a threat, and then stood uselessly at the doors of an empty meeting hall.  Those that were inside other than Gryphon passed through the doors to start addressing the bedlam. BP yelled at me again to go get John and Stelman, so I grabbed him by the collar, and launched myself in the direction he indicated.  I dropped him on one side of them, and I rounded in front of them to cut off their escape.

The RubberBand Man caught up, and detained them by wrapping his legs around them, his head sticking up between their shoulders like some weird clothes hanger.  BP told me to bring them to the base, to which I quipped, and he started to call Geist. I said, “fine,” and took the gift-wrapped couple with me. The Horseman was following me, so when I got to the Hangar entrance, I waited for him to catch up around the corner before passing through the bay doors made to look like the bottom of an old, abandoned community pool.

Archie complained and I told him Hank was with us.  I asked Archie about holding cells, and was told we had none – since we weren’t really in the kidnapping business – so I put the two prisoners into a couple of the empty dorm rooms and locked them in.  While rushing about with Victor to grab food and water for the prisoners, and a better carrying method than a pair of utility arms wrapped around someones’ waist, BP jumped on the coms yelling at Shorty.  Victor, who hadn’t been introduced to absolutely everyone earlier today, didn’t know who the clone was, so I explained his situation in as many derogatory words as I could. This just caused confusion with the latino, so I told him he’d see when we saw him, as BP asked us to kick his butt into line.

I burst into the control room, and saw something that didn’t surprise me – Shorty’s shorts around his ankles, righty working, and lefty clicking.  It seemed he’d found some compromising videos of the Mayor through the surveillance equipment. Phantom veins throbbed in my temples, and I blew a gasket… but not literally.  I started to grab for the teen, intending to make him get into line, but for whatever reason the human was evading me. Whether grabbing for his neck, nuts, or hands, I was simply too slow.  Archie wasn’t helpful either, as there weren’t any authoritative ranks put in place other than to make Geist the highest clearance. I wasn’t able to lock the kid out of the surveillance room, but Archie said he’d keep an eye on the city.  

Through all this, Victor had backed into a corner, holding his hand over his mouth and nose.  When I left the room, he gladly followed, getting his harness on. Trip and BP had talked over the coms, and BP was worried.  He told us to get back to the Church to help him rescue the shapeshifter.

We didn’t see Hank anywhere, and Victor said he probably went back to his Nana’s house – where he’d been at the beginning of the night.  The jockey called his horse, and directed me to where he’d been told to go – across the street from the church! Well wasn’t that convenient?  No, not really.

We called for Hank, me with my loudspeakers, and he popped his head out of a quaint centennial house.  We went to recruit him, but he wanted to be nice to Nana. I told him we could assure her we’d be back in an hour tops, and we’d play cribbage.  Hank thought that’d be acceptable, so we went to find our friends.

Through the front doors, and down a side passageway, we followed Geist and Gryphon.  As we started down an oversized staircase my audio pick-up registered a commotion, so I took off, drawing my weapons and putting my back to the wall next to a closed door.  Gryphon arrived at my side almost immediately, and he kicked the door in, running into the fray. I glanced into the room to see where best to go, and my brain convulsed reflexively.  

I’m a fan of Horror films, but seeing beings of asymmetrical form and outlandish makeup in person does something to you.  You have to just stop and pull yourself back together. Luckily this time it only took me a handful of seconds to get back to fighting shape.  

By the time I was ready to move, everyone had gotten into the fray.  Mutant animals, demons, mutated human forms, there was no unifying base other than “Wrong.”  I sped past all of them, though, seeing BP and Alice being hounded by one of the beings, and one that seemed to have his wits about him.  A disorienting scream had erupted and was reverberating off the mirrored walls, so I used what I could remember of aerodynamic physics to negate the effects.  It seemed to cut the confusion a bit, but everyone was screaming for a cease fire.

I think I would have gone along with the cease fire if the “Leader” hadn’t continued his aggression.  I shot him with my particle beam wrist cannon, and it struck him in the chest. An expression of shocked pain crossed his face, followed by concentration, and the entire room went black.  If not for my radar and thermal sensors, I’d have been completely blinded. As it was I still was a bit disoriented. I yelled at him to drop the darkness, and he complied.

Geist told Savior to stand down, so I lowered my weapons.  Gryphon started talking to his sword – so very freudian of him – and then addressed the freakshow.  He started to talk about Nightbane, and their conversation seemed to make some progress with the underlings, but when he mentioned they were fighting against the Nightlords, Mr. Leader’s face contorted in rage for a fraction of a second.  Time slowed, and I pointed my gun at him. I yelled a warning to Savior, and he lunged at me. My laser targeting system lit up a dot on his forehead an instant before his head collided with the barrel of my particle beam gun. The gun fired, and the body exploded from the force.  Blood, Bone and Viscera coated the mirrored wall panels that hadn’t been shattered by the explosion.

The shock of it washed over everyone’s face, and I excused myself while they sorted out the situation.  Victor and Hank followed shortly after, and we sent EMTs down to deal with the survivors. After a quick rinse, the three of us took a much needed detour for some Cookies and Cribbage.

Such violence and destruction, and while playing through the events, I was the only one that took any sort of violent actions, the only one that had used weapons.  Was I truly supposed to be part of this group? Was Lunet right, and I needed to be placed at the mercy of CS Department of Corrections? Why was I so quick to anger, resorting to it when in any sort of charged situation?  How could I change? Could I?

These questions I’ll just have to mull over, I guess.

---

TL;DR

I kidnapped two lovebirds and put them in a cage, stopped a diseased snotrag’s deviance temporarily, and made a disgusting firework.