Mumbai, India
As he disintegrates the last of the Centurions, Max Black a.k.a. Quantum takes a moment to watch the destruction brought upon the city by the Empire of Shadows. Technically, this isn’t his first warzone… but the Myridian uprising was on another planet. This is Earth.
The Centurions came out of nowhere, targeting civilians both with guns and explosions. Quantum can’t get mad at them: they’re just mindless artificial constructs. The Empire is another thing.
“Quantum to Null. I have secured the last city. Tell me you’ve got the bastards who ordered this” he thinks through the Neural Transmitter, which relays his thoughts through radio waves.
“I’m a little busy at the moment” the girl answers through the same channel.
Quantum grins his teeth, transforming his mass into light and disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Cheyenne Mountain complex, Colorado Springs
A fraction of a second later, he’s standing in front of Noriko Null and shouting:
<What do you mean busy!?!?>
Startled by his appearance, Noriko almost drops the device she’s assembling. Torn instinctively creates a red dagger and touches Quantum’s throat with its tip, ready to cut him.
<Not so close> he threatens.
<What are you guys doing? In case you’ve forgotten there’s…> Quantum begins to scold them, when he notices where he is: deep underground, in front of a large hole that goes on for several feet until it reaches the surface.
<…a giant hole next to you. What’s going on here?>
<The Cursed Daughter has followed us from Myridia and she wants to kill us all> Kari Zel answers him; Quantum can’t recall hearing so much fear in her voice.
<Unlikely, she’s probably been on Earth this whole time. And if she wanted us dead she could’ve easily killed us when she took the Heart of the Universe> Noriko comments, without bothering looking up from the device; Quantum doesn’t recognize the design, but since her silver eyes are shining he knows she’s using her superhuman intelligence to its fullest to build it.
<Wait, who took the what to do what?> Quantum asks, scratching his head.
<Evil goddess. Alien weapon. Bad things> Torn summarizes.
<You wanna elaborate a little more?> Quantum pushes him.
<Very bad things> the man with red skin adds.
<Whatever; we have to find out where the Empress of Shadows is hiding.>
<Later. This is more important> Noriko cuts him.
<The hell it is> Quantum complains, holding Noriko’s arm to move it away from the device, forcing her to look him in the eye.
<You don’t get it, do you? The Empire has killed thousands of people today. We’re not letting them get away with this> he says.
<You saw the Heart teleport a mountain from the Moon to New York, you know how dangerous it is. I have to stop the Cursed Daughter before she learns to use it.>
<So you think this was just practice for her?> Kari asks, looking at the damages to the bunker.
<Focus on the Empire; we’ll handle the crazy goddess> Quantum says to Noriko.
<Nobody gives orders to Null> she answers, her eyes shining in anger.
Quantum and Null keep staring at each other, with none of them willing to let the other one call the shots this time. Until Kari asks:
<Where’s Blue Star?>
Outside, the mountain is ablaze. The entire area has been bombed in a disparate effort to destroy the Talos, but it didn’t work. Not only the alien robot is undamaged, but Eris didn’t even get her hair messed up. Vesta looks like hell.
She’s barely conscious: it takes all of her concentration just to keep herself together, after coughing more blood than should be possible. She’s felt something similar once, under the influence of Noriko’s God Eraser, but this is a thousand times worse.
<It’s really something, isn’t it? I mean, we gods are basically living information, you know that. We cobble up a bunch of molecules and we pretend they’re our bodies, but we can be anything we want. We’re the computer programs that control reality, and I’m the mother of all glitches.>
<You…should be dead…> Vesta manages to say, before the Talos steps on her. Her scream of pain makes Eris laugh of joy.
<Man, I could listen to this music for ages. Anyway, it turns out it’s hard to kill someone who doesn’t have a body anymore, but thank you for trying. Now, let’s talk business for a change.>
The Talos picks up Vesta, holding her by twisting her arms behind her back.
<You know what I want. We’ve been talking about this for centuries. Except this time I have the Heart of the Universe, so it’s my way or…well it’s just my way, aunt Vesta.>
<I’ll never give you the Palladium. Zeus hid it from you for a reason.>
<He exiled you too, didn’t he? “Crimes against divinity”. We’re both guilty in his eyes. But did you deserve imprisonment here? Did I deserve to lose my body, to be the ghost of a goddess? Did->
A blue energy blast hits Eris by surprise, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. Her hold on the Talos is shaken, and Blue Star has a chance to run towards Vesta.
<Are you alright?> she asks, regretting the question: Vesta has lost a good thirty pounds and she’s covered in blood, even though there are no visible wounds on her.
Worse, Eris is already back on her feet and her body is surrounded by a black cloud.
<You…YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!!!!>
In a fit of rage, Eris unleashes a new kind of energy blast: instead of a single stream of destructive power it’s a hailstorm of explosive energy bullets, each as big as a football. Blue Star is frozen in place: there’s no way she can absorb all that energy coming from different directions.
<CUT OF A THOUSAND DEATHS!!!> someone shouts from behind her.
Every single bullet is deviated by a red energy dagger, resulting in Blue Star being completely unharmed. The bullets explode when they hit the mountain behind them, with a deafening blast that covers Torn’s words:
<Third round.>
<I’ve had just about enough of you mortals!>– Eris shouts, raising her hand to use the Heart again.
Kari takes her by surprise by creating a duplicate behind her and pulling her hair. Disoriented, Eris doesn’t have the time to react to the second duplicate punching her in the stomach and the second twisting the hand holding the Heart.
<I can’t believe I was actually afraid of you> Kari says, stealing the Heart from Eris – But you’re not a goddess anymore, aren’t you? You’re just a woman pretending to be one.
<Kid, you’ve just signed your own death sentence.>
The Talos lifts one of its arms, ready to reduce Kari to ashes with a plasma shot. It shines blue for a second, then it remains completely still.
<I don’t think so. I just absorbed all of its energy…its battery is dead> Blue Star reveals.
<It’s over> Torn adds, knocking on the head of the Talos to make sure it’s offline: the robot doesn’t react, but Eris is not taking this well.
<I am Eris, the Cursed Daughter of Darkness! I will not be defeated by mortals!!!!>
<Not just mortals. Heroes> Quantum says, appearing before Eris and attaching something to her left wrist.
<What is this!?> Eris asks, trying and failing to take it off.
<It’s a God Restrain. It’ll prevent you from jumping to another body> Noriko says, calmly approaching Eris without looking up from her N-Phone.
<Wait, you mean she doesn’t have any powers now? She’s just human?> Kari asks.
<It doesn’t matter. I’ll just wait for this body to die and find a new one.>
<But it means I can finally do this> Kari adds, kicking Eris as hard as she can between the legs.
The goddess collapses, holding her crotch while writhing in pain on the ground.
<In case you’re wondering: yes, it hurts girls too.>
<What, that’s it!? You guys were talking about her like she was going to start World War Three, and it took you five minutes to come up with a plan to stop her!?> Blue Star complains.
<We’re the Vanguard. It’s what we do> Torn points out.
<And what about the Empire of Shadows? You made a big deal about how finding their base was more important than fighting the Cursed Daughter> Kari recalls.
<The Empire is being taken down as we speak> Noriko reveals.
Beaten and humiliated, Eris is ignored by the Vanguard. They don’t see her smiling.
“Heroes. Too busy winning to understand this is exactly what I wanted” she thinks.
Tokyo, Japan
Leiko Tanaka takes off the visor that lets her control all the Centurions, throwing it on the floor. It’s the only sign of anger she allows herself.
<Operation Dark Dawn is over. Disconnect all communications> she orders, rising from the control chair. Her attendants don’t waste any time carrying out her orders, severing the remote control of the thousands of artificial lifeforms spread across the planet.
The blinds rise to reveal a view of Tokyo from a large window wall. Leiko takes a moment to watch it: there is smoke still rising from the streets, thanks to the dozens of explosions. With the exceptions of the attendants, who as artificial constructs won’t talk unless required to, the Core is the only being present. The small metal ball floats towards Leiko:
<This is pathetic. Triumph was within our grasp and you…warning. Six projectiles approaching.>
<What are you talking about?> Leiko asks, looking at the window: just the twilight. But then she notices something is distorting the Sun’s light, and she steps back.
<Our location’s been compromised. Abandon->
The windows shatter on impact; Leiko runs away to avoid the shards of glass. There isn’t any sound: six Nullbots just appeared out of nowhere, disabling the holographic projectors who made them invisible. They talk in unison, in Japanese, undamaged by the bullets fired by the attendants.
<Empress of Shadows. You are under arrest. Surrender quietly and you will not be harmed.>
<You have no authority here, or anywhere else for that matter. And I’m not without resources.>
The Core fires an electric blast towards the Nullbots; the electricity jumps from one to the other, but they don’t collapse like Leiko expected them to.
<Target is hostile. Activating nonlethal weapons.>
Three Nullbots raise their hands, ready to neutralize Leiko. She doesn’t try to escape: it would be beneath her. She just stands proudly, ready to be incapacitated by a taser.
Then all the Nullbots disappear. She does a double take, then looks around her: they may have turned invisible thanks to their holographic projectors, but they don’t have any reason to.
<What the…>
<You blinked>– someone behind her says. Leiko has never seen him before.
He’s a white man, in his early twenties, with a formal evening jacket over a cheap T-shirt with the symbol of a snake twisting around a staff.
<So this is Earth, hmm? A little more primitive than I thought, which is kind of a bummer.>
<How dare you approach me without permission, Olympian scum?> the Core says; the disdain in its voice is much worse than usual.
<You have a Drylon database core? I broke mine out of frustration three thousand years ago.>
<You destroyed an artifact from the most powerful alien race of the universe? Why!?>
<It annoyed me. Besides, they’re programmed to give as little information as possible to non-Drylon lifeforms, which makes them more trouble than they’re worth. You don’t need it anymore.>
The man suddenly appears five feet closer, holding Leiko’s hand to kiss it. She doesn’t resist.
<You’re a god, aren’t you?>
<Hermes, god of thieves, tricksters and traders. I have a business proposition for you.>
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