Beyond The Impossible

New York City, New York

Since Null Tower is still under reconstruction after being damaged by the Winter King, Kari Zel has been living in an upscale apartment that she can only afford because she works for the richest person in the world. Now that person, Noriko Null, is sitting on the couch surrounded by other seven duplicates of Kari.

<How can you be pregnant!?> Noriko asks.

<You know I have a husband on Myridia, right?> Kari reminds her.

<Sure, but I thought all duplicates were sterile.>

<That’s true. But once the original body is pregnant, our powers instantly stop working> another Kari reminds her.

<You sound pretty happy about this>– Noriko comments, strangely gloomy about the situation.

<Of course I’m happy! I’m going to have a baby!> one Kari exclaims, giving a high five to another.

<What’s gonna happen to the duplicates you already have? You said your powers stopped working, but you’re still here> Noriko notes, still trying to make sense of the situation.

<Same as usual: hitting us with enough force to kill us will make us disappear. But we can’t create new duplicates and we can’t absorb each other to gain knowledge> the purple haired girl explains.

<At least until a few hours after birth, then we’ll go back as normal> another Kari adds.

<Until then, we’ll have to do with 774 of us> the last one concludes.

<That’s… a lot.>

<362 on Earth, 3 on the Ragnarok, 12 on Myridia, 396 scattered throughout the Olympian Galaxy, and one in Hell. Don’t worry, I’ll still be able to do my job at Null Technologies and the Vanguard.>

<Uh-uh. I’d still like Dr. Kalama to examine you, just in case.>

<There’s no need for that. We were duplicated before conception, so the pregnancy won’t have any effect on us> Kari continues to explain.

<Alright. So… congratulations, I guess?> Noriko shrugs.

<Gods, Nori, hold back your enthusiasm, you’re embarrassing me> Kari mocks her with a monotone voice that could pass for an impression of Torn.

<I’m not good with this… baby stuff. If it makes you happy, more power to you, but I’m not going to react like a schoolgirl on a sugar high just because…>

<Kari!!!> a woman screams; even if Noriko didn’t recognize the voice, it’s a little hard to mistake Vesta for anyone else when she’s floating outside the window.

<Oh my Gaea, I can’t believe you’re pregnant!!!> she shouts, floating inside to hug Kari as soon as she’s opened the window. The other duplicates rush to hug the goddess, leaving Noriko behind seemingly ready to disappear inside the couch.

<I’d take a rematch with Hephaestus over this> she sighs, burying her face in her hands once the other women in room start squealing.

Hell, 163.000 light-years from Earth

Kari isn’t exactly prudish, but there’s something incredibly off-putting in the way Torn is touching her belly: he doesn’t seem to be doing anything, but she feels a warm sensation flowing inside her.

<Interesting. You’re here, but something keeps trying to pull your essence away> he says.

<Is that your way of saying that now you believe I’m pregnant?> she replies, pushing away his hand and pulling down her shirt.

<Tell me how this works. Why aren’t your powers working anymore?> he insists.

<I’ve already told you, it’s because my original body is pregnant!>

<That’s not what I asked.>

<Ugh, fine. If you must know, it’s because the Monolith back on Myridia… the Drylon device that gives us powers… can’t distinguish between the DNA of the mother and of the child, so whenever I try to duplicate, the Monolith doesn’t respond. Why does this matter to you, of all people?>

<Because something similar happens to Demon females. It appears that Myridian duplication powers are more similar to the Blood than I imagined.>

<You’re bringing this up because you have some sort of Demon childbirth wisdom?>

<Demons give birth the same way humans do. The child comes of the female’s…>

<Yes, Torn, I know how babies are born. What’s your point?>

<I’ve recently reached the conclusion that it would take me decades of training in Hell to surpass my current knowledge of the Blood. If I want to be of use to the Vanguard against the next threat before Null is too old to fight, there’s only one being who can help me… and I believe she could train you as well, now that your connection to Myridia has been severed.>

<Sounds great. There’s a catch, right? There’s always a catch in these things.>

<You must be willing to work with a goddess.>

<That’s it!? I’m not a fan of gods, but Vesta is one of my best friends!>

<A goddess who might destroy your whole race if she doesn’t like the way you look at her.>

<Honestly, that describes at least half of the gods I know> Kari shrugs.

 

Erebus, Stygian Galaxy – 3,070,000 light-years from Earth

Rhea steps out of the portal, smiling and looking fresh as a rose. By contrast, her granddaughter Enyo crashes down, sinking into the pool of finely pulverized bones.

<Are you alright, dear?> Rhea asks, offering Enyo her hand to pull herself up.

The Goddess of War refuses, levitating above the bones. Every muscle in her body aches: traveling here using her own power would’ve required more than a year, but Rhea’s wormhole shortened it to a little under a day at the price of massive gravitational strain.

<Rain?> Enyo says, looking at the red drops forming on her black uniform; she’s had enough battles to recognize it’s blood, not water, falling from the clouds.

The sky is unlike anything she’s ever seen: there are no stars, hidden by a pitch black nebula that surrounds the planet. It’s constantly squirming and moving, sometimes letting some dim red light illuminate the surface.

<Ugh. This place is as ugly as I remember; it could really use some flowers, don’t you think?>

Enyo doesn’t respond, but considers Rhea’s comment a masterpiece of understatement. The crushed bones and the rain of blood are actually tame compared to the Palace Of The Dead in front of them.

A true monstrosity of gnarled spires and twisted columns, made with a mixture of flesh, fossilized tumors and finely engraved skulls, crowned by a front gate of ebony and plutonium in the shape of sharp teeth, ready to devour anyone foolish enough to enter.

<The f##k are you doing here!?>

The blast of green energy hits the ground with the subtlety of a nuclear blast, vaporizing countless tons of skulls and bones. Enyo prepares for battle, ready to face the attacker, but the energy doesn’t touch her. Instead it floats around her, flowing behind Rhea and coalescing into a sphere that the older goddess easily keeps in her hand.

<How the f##k did you do that, you co##su##ing motherfu##er!?> Persephone shouts, floating closer to the intruder to her realm.

Rhea hasn’t seen her for centuries, but she’s still the same: green hair and eyes, dragon tattoo drawn on her torso covered only by a metal bikini, foul mouth.

<Language, sweetie.>

<S##t, you’re not Hestia> Persephone suddenly realizes: the goddess in front of her is virtually indistinguishable from Vesta.

<Come here and give your grandma a kiss, dear> Rhea tells the Queen Of The Underworld, gently tossing the sphere of energy into the stratosphere. Once it hits the dark nebula it explodes with the force of a small nuclear arsenal, illuminating the planet in a spooky and radioactive green light.

<Oh, look, it stopped raining> is the only comment Rhea has on the devastation she just caused.

 

Midgard Station, Antarctica

Noriko steps off the Valkyrie shuttle, unzipping her leather jacket after she’s handed a metal briefcase to one of the Nullbots. The station may be located in a frozen wasteland, but the inside is starting to feel a little cozier now that there are hundreds of robots taking care of turning this research outpost into the foundation of something much bigger.

The Nullbot with the briefcase follows her into the laboratory of one of the few human beings living here: doctor Dmitry Voron is sitting at his desk, holding a pen in his mouth and looking at a holographic screen.

<Sorry it took me so long. I had to go through the schedule of all Kari’s Earth duplicates.>

<You should’ve sent an android, isn’t this the kind of thing they’re built for?> Voron answers, still keeping his eyes on the screen.

<Myridians get mad if you send other bodies to do personal stuff when you can use your real one. What’s this?> Noriko asks, taking a holographic tablet from the desk before sitting on it.

<I had some ideas on how to improve the efficiency of your Star Drive engine. I was thinking about connecting O.D.I.N. to a few supercomputers to run some simulations.>

<Uh-uh> she nods, scrolling through pages after pages of calculations. Then her silver eyes shine for a few seconds, before she hands the tablet back to Voron.

<Nope. You can’t overload it like this, you’d turn the engine into a microscopic black hole. What are you really working on, there?> she insists, stretching towards the screen in front of Dmitry; despite his protestations, she’s able to have a look at the screen.

<Is that a blueprint for a teleportation device?>

<It’s just a little side project>– he answers.

<Well, it won’t work like that, unless you’ve found a way to induce a wave function collapse into a density matrix without a tachyon field generator.>

<You make it sound easy.>

<It is, I came up with a working design years ago, but I don’t have the materials to build one on Earth. You shouldn’t waste time with this kind of stuff, Dmitry. It’s way above…uhm…>

<Way above my level?> he finishes the sentence for her, clearly upset at the observation.

<Anyway! I have something you might really enjoy> she quickly changes the subject, opening the suitcase that the Nullbot is holding and taking out a left metal arm.

<You want me to fix your prosthesis?> he asks; by his tone, she might as well have asked him to clean up her toilet.

<This is the miniature God Eraser that I built when the Nexus was controlling me. I might need it to kill a god or two soon, but even the older version put too much strain on my brain… I don’t want to touch this thing until it’s modified to be a little safer.>

<This might be the most feared weapon in the Galaxy> Voron says, clearly in awe of the design.

<Well, I killed the God of Fear with it. Be careful not to activate it directly, though: this thing needs so much brainpower to run that you’ll fry your whole brain in a second> she warns him.

<Well, we can’t all be you> Voron comments under his breath, taking the prosthetic arm from her.

<What’s that supposed to mean?>

<Nothing. I have work to do> he answers harshly, concentrating on the job: he’s able to unlock an access panel, revealing the intricate circuitry beneath it.

<Dmitry, you’ve been avoiding me since we came back from Athena’s ship. If I did something that upset you, I’m… careful with the superconducting wires, they can still hold a dangerous…>

<You want to do this by yourself?> Voron asks, giving her a look that confirms he’s upset.

<I was just trying to help> she justifies herself.

<Don’t you have some international treaty you need to work on?>

<Hm, yes, they’re discussing the setup for the Global Defense Organization at the UN, but… well I was hoping we could spend some time together> she admits.

<You can go. I’ll be over here if you need me… doing the grunt work.>