Beyond The Impossible

Alpha Centauri A, 4.37 light-years from Earth

Kari Zel has little love for gods, considering her upbringing, but even she can’t help feeling sorry for Athena.

The Goddess of Wisdom’s throat has been sliced open with her own spear, which has been animated by the powers of the mysterious being calling herself Siduri.

Kari moves close to Athena by temporarily transforming into light, and she can see that the goddess is already healing herself.

<Are you okay?> Kari asks, feeling a little silly for asking this to someone whose trachea was exposed to the vacuum of space until moments ago.

<Stand aside. This is not a battle for mortals.> Athena replies, communicating by emitting radio waves while her vocal cords rebuild themselves.

<What battle? We’re just here to stop Siduri from getting to Earth!>

<Not anymore. She spilled divine blood and must pay for it.> Athena vows, tossing aside her Neutral Matter spear now that it has been bent out of shape.

Kari has always heard her speak with a very calm and measured tone; she can’t even remember if she has ever seen her angry. But now, Athena looks just furious.

Especially when the bronze-skinned woman with no face stares at her, tilting her head like she’s still trying to figure out what is happening.

<Still not out of my way, yes? I have no business with you, vermin.> Siduri tells her.

<You do now. My business is war, and you just started one.>

<What is war to a celestial being?>

<Let me teach you.> Athena promises, closing the distance to Siduri in the blink of an eye and punching her in the solar plexus with enough force to smash through concrete.

Siduri’s body deforms under the impact, and the punch creates a hole in her torso exposing what’s underneath… or rather what isn’t. Siduri’s body appears to just be an empty shell.

<Curious.> she says, looking down to assess the damage without giving any sign that this is painful to her. Athena takes the opportunity to uppercut her with so much force that Siduri’s head pops open like a balloon filled with too much air.

<What are you doing!?> Kari yells.

<Now she won’t get to Earth. And I can examine her corpse to determine why Noriko was so careful to avoid giving me enough information about…> Athena explains, pausing when Siduri’s head starts to grow back.

<This is war, yes? I find it…> Siduri starts talking, and she’s not even done repairing her abdomen when Athena grabs her wound and literally rips her body in half.

Not even a second later, Siduri’s remains disappear into nothingness and a brand new Siduri appears right next to Athena.

<…inconsequential.> Siduri concludes.

<I disagree. You lost your ride.> Athena informs her, pointing at the spot where she stopped the Ragnarok… the same warship that has just accelerated beyond this solar system.

<Well I had to do something if you were just going to waste time! At least I can move faster than light, and Siduri can’t.> Kari says, retaking solid form.

<You call it wasting time, I call it giving you sufficient time to enter the Ragnarok and instruct its autopilot to take it out of the equation.> Athena smugly replies.

<You could’ve given me more than five seconds!!!>

<You are more than an inconvenience, vermin, you are an obstacle, yes?> Siduri realizes.

<Look, Siduri, try to be reasonable here okay? I know that you had an agreement with Noriko about getting you back home once you reached Earth, but she’s a little busy right now. Just wait here until we fix things, alright?> Kari proposes.

<Or resume your travel at your leisure. Given your limitations, it should take you approximately 4.37 years to reach your destination.> Athena adds.

<You’re not helping, Athena…> Kari says, rolling her eyes.

<The heir of the Usurpers called Null made it clear that her lifespan is too limited to allow her to help us. The speed of light is insufficient, yes? I shall acquire a different vessel.> Siduri decides, with her body disappearing once again.

<She’s gone intangible again. She could be anywhere!> Kari complains.

<Noriko has my sympathy for needing to rely on mortals. She is obviously headed for the nearest ship to commandeer, but I have already programmed all ships in the fleet to disable the automated pilot. She won’t get anywhere.> Athena boasts.

<It can’t be that easy.> Kari replies.

<It is when you plan for all possible contingencies.> Athena insists, even when her own ship begins approaching their position despite not having received orders to do so.

The Aegis, her capital warship shaped like an enormous owl made of Neutral Matter, hovers ominously above them.

<Aegis crew, run a full sensor scan of the sector. Siduri may be invisible to regular sensors in her intangible state, but we should be able to infer her location by…> Athena instructs her people, but even the Goddess of Wisdom is left speechless when the ship begins to warp its shape.

<This is an unusual form.> the ship says.

Even though Neutral Matter is nearly impossible to bend, being able to withstand the temperature and pressure of a star’s core, Kari and Athena watch it remold itself completely.

When Siduri is done, the Aegis is no longer a ship… even though Athena can still hear the screams of the crew trapped within its hull.

It’s been transformed into a 500 feet tall robotic humanoid, vaguely identifiable as female, with wings growing out of her back.

<Oh, Quantum would love this.> Kari comments; even if she recognizes this is bad news, she can’t help being impressed.

<She possessed the ship, and the engine is still intact. We must prevent her from reaching Earth!> Athena vows, charging towards her former ship… only to be swatted aside from the metallic angelic giant, which also charges up the cannons it has integrated into its arms and fires at the goddess.

<“All possible contingencies” my butt.> Kari sighs, transforming into a blast of pure energy directed at her adversary despite the full knowledge that this won’t do any damage.

 

Hoboken, New Jersey, Earth

Heritage Capital Bank

Once Abyss took over the mind of every person on the planet, she had to prioritize the actions of the people under her control.

She needs to keep as many people alive for as long as possible, in order to expand her influence beyond Earth, so all jobs relevant to keeping saving people have not been affected much… other than by the fact that every single employee has the same mind.

Medical treatments and surgeries are still being performed, food is still being cooked, groceries are still being delivered… but one of the exceptions is the entire financial system.

The global economy has simply stopped. Banks are particularly useless right now: Abyss has no need for money, she doesn’t have to protect it because there’s nobody who could possibly try to steal anything, and it’s not even useful to keep employees there.

Which is why Noriko Null and Quantum can confidently step out of a pentagram portal inside the bank without meeting anyone. The lights are not even on.

<So let me get this straight. You recorded a message to yourself in case Earth was under siege and you lost the use of the Nexus, deleting that memory so nobody could find out…> Quantum recalls.

<That’s right.> Noriko nods, using her new divine powers to create a ball of fire that hovers above them to provide some light.

<And you decided that the best place to hide your secret weapon was New Jersey!?>

<It appears to have worked. Abyss must not suspect we are here.> Torn adds, looking around at the completely deserted bank.

<Well, I needed a place I could access by just taking the bus. And the memory is coming back to me now… I founded Heritage Capital Bank through a series of shell companies to act separately from Null Banking. Just so that I could hide something here.> Noriko explains, proceeding towards the bank’s vault.

Quantum follows her closely, while Torn keeps his distance in case this turns out to be a less secure location than it looks.

<I have to admit I’m kind of jealous, Nori. I wouldn’t have come up with something this crazy.>

<Don’t sell yourself short, Max, I just had the Nexus for a much longer time. You can come up with lots of contingency plans if you do nothing but think.>

<No, I mean it. You had the Nexus for less than a day the first time we met and you wasted no time saving the planet, while I screwed up immediately.>

<The Nexus makes you feel invincible, like you can never make any mistake. When it comes to putting the planet or the galaxy in danger because you’ve unleashed weird horrors that used to live in your brain… I’m way ahead of you, Max, believe me.>

<Indeed. You have both saved and endangered all life on this planet multiple times.> Torn agrees.

<Thanks for the vote of confidence, Torn.> Quantum sighs.

<I was voting for Null.>

The trio is now near the entrance to the vault, but Noriko stops before proceeding any further.

<Max, sorry but I have to ask. When you said you tried to use the Tablet Of Destinies to fix our situation… did that actually happen, or was it Abyss lying?>

<No, I remember it clearly. I don’t know if Abyss was already influencing me, but I did ask the Tablet and it said it couldn’t affect any of us.>

<I was afraid of that. And the Mirror is still at Null Tower?>

<That’s where I left it. Do you think Abyss will try getting rid of it?>

<I doubt it. Even if she could destroy it, there’s the possibility that doing that will restore all of us to our natural state… and I don’t think she wants to risk it.>

<Why ask?> Torn wonders.

<Because I don’t like having no backup plans. If my plan fails, our last resort is going back to the Null Zone and use it to retrieve the Tablet… I’d hate to waste our last available wish to defeat Abyss, but it’s worth considering.> Noriko explains, leaving Quantum just more confused.

<Hold on. First of all, the Zone must be the most fortified place Abyss controls! Second, we can’t even get to the Zone without a Portal Generator, and third… isn’t this the backup plan!?>

<No, this is the backup plan suggested by my supersmart self. I’m just workshopping a backup plan to my backup plan. You can take the Nexus out of me… but I’m still Null.>

<Yeah, maybe I’m not crazy enough to take your place even when I have your brains. So what’s this Hoboken secret weapon of yours?> Quantum wonders.

<I’ll show you.> Noriko replies, ripping the vault door out of its hinges by using her divine strength and just tossing it aside as if it weighed nothing, creating a deafening sound when it lands.

<I’ve always wanted to do that.> she admits, the sound of her voice drowned by the sound of the alarms.

<We must hurry. Abyss will be onto us soon.> Torn says.

<Right. It won’t take long.> Noriko replies, wasting no time heading to a specific metallic case being stored in the vault… the whole reason why this bank even exists.

And out of the case, she extracts a bottle made of finely decorated glass.

<This was a gift from Dionysus for my coronation… Maenad Absinthe. The strongest alcoholic drink in the known universe.> Noriko describes, taking great care in how she handles the bottle.

<So what’s the plan? Making Abyss drunk?>

<Not exactly. This is enough to make the whole planet drunk, twice over.>