Beyond The Impossible

Null City Spaceport, planet Myridia

Max Black a.k.a. Quantum turns back into human form, shocked by the experience. He changed into energy only by sheer instinct, and sudden transformations always disorient him.

It takes him a while to understand what happened. Someone attacked the building… an explosion, maybe? Then he looks at what used to be a shop: someone dropped a boulder on it.

<Where the hell did that come from!?>

<We have to leave. Now> the Mist says, appearing from the white smoke leaking from the rubble.

<Not until you tell me what’s going on!>

<The Guild wants you dead more than I thought. They sent someone from their Inner Circle.>

<What does that even mean!?>

<It means you’re already dead> a female voice answers.

There’s only one person approaching the scene, while everyone else flees. She takes off the robe, revealing a dark skinned woman; on Earth she could pass for Arabian or Indian, despite the straight blonde hair. She’s not wearing much: a brown top that only covers the essential and a loincloth that reaches her knees, held in place by a belt with a prominent bronze scarab.

<But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.>

At her gesture, the ground shoots darts of stone. Quantum and the Mist manage to avoid them by turning respectively into light and smoke.

<You know her?> Quantum asks.

<Amanra Anneke, the Scarab> the Mist answers.

<Yeah, see, that doesn’t mean anything to me…>

<Get out of the way, Mist. Your bounty is just 25 million, you’re not worth my time.>

<Try someone who’s worth 300 million then> Quantum retorts, shooting enough electricity to knock her out. He has no idea of the actual value of his bounty, or how exactly the whole bounty system works: all he knows is that it sounds impressive, and that he’s facing a human.

A stream of sand intercepts the bolt faster than the eye can see, dispersing the electricity into the ground. Amanra giggles.

<300 million? How cute. My bounty is 10 billion Ω. Do you have the guts to take a shot at me?>

<Quantum, we should call for backup. She’s too dangerous to fight alone.>

<Relax, I’ve got this. I’ve fought gods to a standstill.>

<So have I! Let’s see what you’ve got> Amanra smiles… and her eyes become completely black.

“Just like Abyss” Quantum thinks. Distracted by the sudden turn of events, he’s taken by surprise by the woman’s next move. The ground shakes as dozens of rock monsters take shape; each of them is at least as big as the Armageddon Armor, and they look just as powerful.

<Take them down, boys> Amanra orders.

 

The Myridian Palace

The commotion caused by the attack has been heard all over the city. Even sitting down on the highest tower of the Palace, Vesta felt the ground shake.

“Max, is everything okay?” – she asks telepathically through the Neural Transmitter, without receiving an answer.

“Not a good sign. Noriko, can you-”

She doesn’t get to finish the thought: a sharp sound cuts the communication. Like fingernails on a chalkboard, directly into her brain.

“What the…” she thinks, too distracted by the sound to notice what’s coming towards her: a massive boulder, probably weighting several tons. She doesn’t have enough time to melt it; she could just fly away and avoid it, but the rock would definitely hit the building.

Vesta decides to take the blunt of the attack, slowing down the rock before it can do any damage.

<Nice catch. You look pretty in shape for a million year old woman.>

Vesta holds the rock with one hand to prevent it from falling. The woman who talked to her is sitting cross-legged on a much smaller rock, which is floating in the air.

<Do I know you?>

<I’m the Scarab. Never heard of me? Here’s my card> the woman answers, snapping her fingers.

A few seconds later, a dozen new rocks appear over the horizon, flying rapidly towards the Palace. Vesta doesn’t waste any time: she uses the boulder she’s still carrying like a giant baseball bat, hitting every rock to throw them into the distance.

The Scarab seems amused by Vesta’s attempt at defending the Palace, even clapping her hands.

<So it’s true that you haven’t gone soft! This could be fun after all.>

<Fun? You could’ve killed hundreds of people!> Vesta protests.

<I know> the Scarab answers. Her fully black eyes don’t do anything to mask the insanity below.

Vesta is taken aback by her dark stare, long enough for the Scarab to summon back every rock thrown away by Vesta. But this time she doesn’t try to hit the goddess: the rocks change shape, forming a cocoon around the target and squeezing.

<Enough> Vesta protests, flexing her muscles. She easily pushes away the rocks, even though they weigh several tons, but it seems useless: the cocoon follows every move she makes and gets increasingly dense, as the Scarab keeps summoning new material from it from the ground.

<Keep trying, grandma, I can throw the entire planet at you if I want. In fact, why don’t we try that?>

Vesta’s cocoon falls to the ground, smashing through the concrete street that leads to the Palace.

It tries to fly back, but the earth moves to swallow it back until it’s completely buried underground.

<That’ll keep her busy for a while. Now let’s see if her boss is more of a challenge> the Scarab comments, standing up. Dozens of smaller rocks realign themselves to form a stairwell that leads to the Palace’s rooftop.

 

New Rhetra

The bullet storm unleashed against Old Man Vor’s house is impressive: no less than fifty robots have been deployed for this attack. They pause only to reload, but that’s enough.

Torn kicks down what’s left of the entrance door, shouting:

<-Cut of a thousand deaths!>

As he moves his arm, hundreds of red energy daggers are released at once. They hit the robots in all the critical points, from the firing chamber to the central processing unit, destroying all of them with a single move. Kari Zel, hiding behind his back during the attack, is sincerely impressed.

<How did you know where to hit them?>

<Practice.>

<Nori, did you get this? Hello? The Neural Transmitter’s out.>

<That’s no coincidence> Torn agrees, barely finishing the sentence before being hit by a water stream powerful enough to knock him back inside the house. Kari turns to see the origin of the strange attack, only to see a girl snickering.

<Really? And they say Null is genius of the team.>

She looks Kari’s age, with bright blue highlights in her shoulder-length brown hair… not unusual for Myridian standards… and she’s wearing an extremely tight cyan dress.

<Just give me the coordinates, child, and nobody gets hurt.>

<You’re not giving orders here. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re outnumbered> Kari answers, creating two duplicates right next to the newcomer. They are supposed to kick her in the stomach and punch her face at the same time, but as soon as they touch the woman her body becomes water.

<Maybe, but you’re outgunned> she retorts, conjuring another water stream. Kari creates a duplicate that pushes her out of the way just in time: the pressure is high enough to cause the duplicate to disappear. Unfortunately, Kari simply falls into a mass of water that wasn’t there a second earlier, and every attempt to swim away is thwarted by the water adjusting its position.

<You didn’t even give me time to introduce myself! Mortals these days, no respect. I am Thespia, Nymph of the Spring, but you can call me->

<Red parting of the sea!> Torn shouts, releasing a single red energy scimitar that bisects the nymph into two separate parts…but she doesn’t seem to be in pain for this.

<Needle of the eye! Cut of a thousand deaths!> he shouts again: the first attack pins down the enemy with an energy spear, the second releases yet another barrage of daggers.

It’s all useless: everything goes right through her body, which changes into water as soon as she’s hit.

<Are you done? As I was saying, call me Naiad> she finishes, pointing her finger at him.

The pressure of the water she shoots is much higher than before, high enough to wipe out the entire house like a concentrated tsunami and bury Torn beneath the rubble.

Kari is released from the water bubble. As she gasps for air, she looks up to see a snake made of water flying behind Naiad.

<Now… about these coordinates…>

 

Null City Spaceport

The Scarab has left the premises, but her rock monsters are still following her orders. Quantum has been able to keep them at bay, blasting them with various forms of energy, but the monsters grows back after each and every attack. He’s impressed by how much the Mist has been able to keep up with him, avoiding the monsters with a combination of acrobatic skills and his teleportation ability; he uses some sort of small explosives to harm his enemies, but they’re just a temporary measure.

<So, this Scarab chick. What do you know about her?> Quantum asks.

<Amanra is part of the Inner Circle, the highest ranking members of the Guild. She’s…>

<Look out!> Quantum warns the Mist, giving him enough warning to turn into smoke before being smashed by one of the monsters. Quantum retaliates by slicing it in half with a laser blast, but the monster quickly reforms.

<How does she control these things!?> he complains.

<She’s bonded with a Drylon terraforming device. As far as I know, it’s impossible to shut it down.>

<I don’t know about that, but it can be rebooted. Wait here!>

Quantum disappears, leaving behind a very confused Mist.

 

Myridian palace, the President’s office

Noriko has been trying to restart the Neural Transmitter for several minutes, but with no success. She’s working at the President’s desk, receiving information from the local authorities.

President Sil and Todd Slate are looking at her work, while Ganos Lal is calmly staring at her.

<Did you find anything?> the President asks.

<They’ve reprogrammed my Anti-Oracle satellites to cause permanent interference to the Neural Transmitter. Whoever did this is almost as smart as me.>

<Which means you can fix it, right?> Todd asks.

<There’s not enough time. They’re here> Noriko answers, leaving the desk to draw her Genius Gun. Just as she does this, a dozen guards are pushed through the door by a wave of sand.

Noriko sets the weapon for lethal force and is ready to hit Scarab before she has time to react… but she hesitates when she sees that she has fully black eyes.

<What’s the matter? You don’t like what you see?> a dark voice whispers in her mind.

A rock flies towards her, knocking the Genius Gun off her hand. Ganos Lal jumps at the Scarab, creating two duplicates to hold her arms while a third is supposed to punch her, but her effort is completely useless: Scarab doesn’t miss a beat and knocks her out hitting her head with a rock.

<Noriko Null, I suppose. I thought you’d be taller> the Scarab notes.

<I thought you’d be tougher> Quantum replies, appearing right in front of her and blasting her head with the most powerful magnetic pulse he can generate… which doesn’t anything to prevent him from being hit by the same flying rock that took care of Lal.

<That trick doesn’t work once you reach the Abyss state, moron. What about you, Null? I’ve already taken down your best puppets. Do you have any bright ideas?>

<Just one: I surrender> Noriko answers, raising her hands.