Null Tower is only the first building of New York City to lose power; when people are coming out of the skyscraper, the streetlights have already gone dark.
The car crashes start soon: every vehicle coming too close to the Tower stops working, leaving all the damage to inertia. It’s not just the car batteries: phones, radios, TV screens, nothing works.
Torn is standing before the Tower, looking upwards, unconcerned by the people bumping into him in order to escape. One of them is a duplicate of Kari, wearing the Myridian skintight body armor that completely covers her.
<The Tower’s empty, but I can’t send duplicates to Nori’s lab. Where’s Max?>
<This isn’t working> Quantum says, suddenly appearing before them, with a very short breath.
<I figured> Torn comments.
<The lab is completely sealed off; even radio waves and neutrinos can’t get through. You have no idea of how much effort it takes just to get close.>
<I can cut the walls beneath it. Crash the top of the building to the ground level> Torn suggests.
<What good would that make?> Kari asks.
<Good point. Other ideas?>
<We need to know what that thing is. I’ll get Noriko, you try to keep things under control> Quantum says, before disappearing in a streak of light.
The unmistakable sound of police cars approaching and suddenly going silent as they get too close to the Tower means that it’s only going to get worse.
Vesta is biting her nails so hard that they might break despite her invulnerability. She’s an immortal goddess of unspeakable power, but she can only watch the doctors and nurses rushing in and out of Noriko’s room.
<How’s she doing?> Quantum asks. Vesta is too upset to be bothered by his sudden arrival.
<I have no idea. The seizures have stopped but she keeps talking nonsense; her heart rate and temperature are not coming down. I don’t know how much more her body can take.>
<I’m going in> he decides; Vesta tries to hold him, but it’s hard to hold someone who can turn into light particles.
The scene inside the room is worse than he expected. Noriko is struggling against a nurse who is doing his best to tie her to the bed; despite her small size, the girl is putting up a fight.
The heart monitor connected to her chest is beeping faster and faster, and shaking her head from side to side Noriko keeps shouting:
<[a/ξ]=logπΩ !!! ∑Ω2=∞!!!>
<What’s he doing here? Get him out!> the doctor yells at Quantum, tying hold Noriko’s head.
He retracts his hand immediately, as if he just touched a burning stove.
<What the…>
Noriko’s head starts glowing. Or more precisely, something inside her head starts glowing, the light slowly becoming visible through her skull.
<Ω>∞> she says, opening her eyes. Everybody takes a step back as they start to bleed electricity.
<Everybody stand back> Quantum warns, turning his body into X-rays.
He doesn’t like doing it near people, because it’s really hard to keep the radiation at a healthy rate, but this is an emergency.
In this form, Noriko’s body appears as a skeleton. But he can also clearly see something inside her skull: a metal bar shaped like the symbol for infinity, just stuck inside her brain.
“Is that the Nexus?” he wonders; he had no idea it could be that big. He’s not sure how to examine it, but one thing’s for sure: it’s getting hotter. It’s either going to explode or to melt Noriko’s brain, and neither option is acceptable.
“C’mon, think. That’s the thing that makes Nori super-smart. Maybe it’s overclocking or something. She said she can reboot her brain like a computer…would that help?”
With Noriko’s head ready to explode at any moment, Quantum releases a magnetic field inside it.
Her body immediately goes completely numb, the glow from her skull fading like a waning candle.
What started as a normal blackout is turning into chaos. The streets are clogged by cars, phones don’t work, and the darkness is increasing slowly but inexorably.
Kari is trying to get her bearings in this mess; her Myridian body armor completely covers her face, and in this mess wearing a mask is more than a little suspicious.
It’s not long before a cop points a gun at her and shouts:
<You with the helmet, put your hands where I can see them!>
The last two words are accompanied by the sudden appearance of two duplicates, who then disarm and knock out the cop in the blink of an eye. Of course this leads to half a dozen new weapons pointed at the duplicates.
<Seriously, what is it with this planet and guns?> Kari sights, making all the duplicates disappear and leaving behind some very confused cops.
The original is standing together with Torn in front of the Tower’s entrance, facing people who are understandably blaming Noriko for the blackout.
<Nobody gets in> Torn makes clear, blocking the door with a massive red X made of energy swords. Together with Kari creating duplicates, this is the first public use of powers since the battle with the robotic Talos several months ago.
Earth’s first superhero fittingly chooses this moment to appear, and Quantum addresses the crowd:
<Everybody calm down. These people work with me.>
It’s impossible to understand any of the confused questions arising from this simple statement, but Kari manages to whisper:
<How’s Nori?>
<She’s…alive> Quantum answers.
<Oddly specific> Torn notes.
<Listen up, people! I know this looks bad, but trust me, everything is under control.>
So far, the blackout’s been limited to a simple block; the glow of the rest of the city was still able to creep through the buildings. Now even that disappears: suddenly, there is not a single artificial light visible in any direction.
<Great timing> Torn says.
Vesta has not left the waiting room since she came here; she wants to be there for Noriko, even if she has absolutely no clue about what is happening. She knows she shouldn’t worry…she’s seen countless mortals die over the years. From her perspective, every human that’s even died has been too young to die…but Noriko is the one who put an end to two thousand years of self-pity and turned the reluctant goddess into a hero. She doesn’t deserve this.
“Hello? Is anybody there?” a familiar voice says in her mind.
Vesta looks around: there are a few people around, all of which way too nervous to approach the flying goddess, but nobody has said a word.
“I don’t know how long I can keep this up, so if you heard me, please respond. You are not imagining this.”
<Hello?> Vesta says reluctantly, causing people to look at her perplexedly.
“Don’t try to answer vocally. I’m talking through the Neutral Transmitter, so I can only hear your thoughts”.
“Noriko? Is that you?” Vesta thinks.
“Finally. Yes, it’s me. Where is the rest of the Vanguard?”
“Back at the Tower. Gaea, am I glad to hear you…but why through the NT?”
“My body is completely paralyzed; I think the Nexus burned through a few synapses here and there, nothing serious. I’m working on it, but it’s going to take a while”
“Nothing serious!? Your head almost exploded!!!”
“I have it under control now. The interaction with the Negative Drive caused the Nexus to…”
“Negative Drive? That thing you were building?”
“Yes. Have you managed to turn it off?”
The lights go out. Doctors and nurses start running almost immediately, and the chatter about the blackout isn’t far behind.
“We were hoping you’d tell us how to do it, Nori. Noriko? Hello? Nori!?”
“Just give me a minute. I’m having a myocardial infarction”
“A what?”
“A heart attack”
“WHAT!?!?”
“Don’t worry, there are enough doctors in this room to keep me alive. You need to get back to the Tower and destroy the Negative Drive”
“How!? I can’t get in the same room and it absorbs everything we throw at it!!!”
“Of course; I accidentally created an artificial singularity that acts as a gateway to a parallel dimension of infinite negative energy. Basically, an energy black hole”
“How do I stop it? Nori? Noriko!!!”
“Sorry. Turns out it is actually pretty serious; I just went into cardiac arrest”
“Maybe this isn’t the best time to talk business. Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, rest?”
“Vesta, anesthesia doesn’t work on me and right now there’s a doctor rhythmically pushing my chest up and down to restart my heart, so yeah, this is the best time to keep my mind as busy as possible. See, there you go, heart’s working again. Where were we?”
“You were about to tell me how to destroy the Negative Drive”
“No, I was about to say that I’m working on it, because as far as I can tell it’s physically impossible. Luckily, if memory serves, we’ve done the impossible before”
“What do you want me to do?”
“By my estimation, the negative energy field currently covers an area with a two mile radius from the Tower. No technology will work within that area; I need you and the Vanguard to evacuate every critical patient from every nearby hospital. That includes everyone wearing a pacemaker”
“That’s going to be hundreds of people!”
“Since the field is expanding it will soon be thousands; I’ll give you a list”
“But…I don’t think…”
“You can fly at the speed of sound, Quantum can do the same at the speed of light, Kari can be in ten thousand places at once, and Torn…could cause a riot by himself, now that I think about it. Ask him to come here, I might need his help with the Negative Drive”
“Can’t you communicate with him?”
“The field is interfering with the Neutral Transmitter, I can only transmit short range; one of you will need to go back and forth to talk with me”
“Alright, we’ll do it your way. But you have to give me your word that if what you’re doing is not good for your own health you’ll stop right away”
“No, I won’t”
“What?”
“You know what’s going to happen unless we stop this? The field will grow to include the whole planet. Once it reaches its maximum the field intensity will reach a critical level and absorb all energy, not just electricity. It will suck all thermal energy from Earth until it leaves behind a frozen wasteland and seven billion corpses. Without wanting to sound overly dramatic, the fate of the entire human race is now on my shoulders”
“That…that does sound a little dramatic, actually…”
“There is no un-dramatic way to describe the end of the world”
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