Beyond The Impossible

Asgard Station, Null Zone

The station has been in lockdown since Abyss took over, programmed to quickly eliminate anyone trying to access this dimension without authorization.

So when Maximum Security Vault #4 opens on its own, half a dozen Nullbots immediately open fire. Their plasma blasts bounce harmlessly against Noriko Null’s body, before the robots are cut in half by Blood swords.

<Leave one head intact. And take Noriko back to the Empyrean.> Max Black orders, his voice nearly drowned by the sound of the alarm.

<Why would I need…> Noriko starts protesting, only to immediately kneel over when she’s completely overwhelmed by a searing pain spread throughout her mind and body.

<Because there was bound to be a God Eraser waiting for you. Get her out, NOW.> Max snaps, with Vesta creating a duplicate to carry her friend on the other side of the vault door.

<Do you even know what you’re doing?> Kayla Black asks her brother, while generating a precise laser incision to open up the cranium of one of the Nullbots to expose the circuitry.

<I have the Nexus now. I could attempt to dumb down what I’m doing to a level you might possibly understand, but I suggest you focus on keeping me alive.> he replies harshly.

Kayla tries to follow what he’s doing, fidgeting around the robot’s mainframe by connecting it to the half-dismantled phone he brought along, but she’s distracted by someone lifting a twelve-ton storage container and throwing it at them like it was a football.

A spear of Blood energy impales it before it can land, and Kayla then fires two energy blasts using both hands to melt it into slag.

The molten metal falls on the bronze-skinned man that threw the container, casually wiping it off himself like it wasn’t white-hot.

<I don’t know whether to be impressed you’re smart enough to figure out the Tablet Of Destinies is the only thing that can stop me, or disappointed you’re dumb enough to think I wouldn’t guard this place.> Gilgamesh says, but it’s only his voice: there can be no doubt Abyss is in control.

<Can we beat this guy?> Kayla asks her brother.

<No. But follow the plan anyway.> Max answers, without looking away from his work.

<I can feel the Demon preventing me from possessing any of you. Easily fixable by removing his spine.> “Gilgamesh” says, moving towards them.

<Cut of a thousand deaths!> Torn shouts, unleashing an impressive stream of Blood daggers that simply bounce of the demigod’s skin.

Kayla provides assistance by shooting energy at him, but all it does is burn away the remains of the molten metal as Gilgamesh keeps moving towards them.

<I wish you could understand what a dumb idea it was to come here. All I need is to keep one of you alive long enough to unlock that damn vault for me.> he explains, getting close enough to grab Torn by the hand and lifting him off the floor.

Kayla interrupts her attack to avoid hitting the Demon, who Gilgamesh holds up like a trophy while his grip gets dangerously close to breaking his bones.

<Help me out here, dumbass. What exactly was the brilliant strategy behind firing blindly at the invulnerable target?>

<Distraction.> Torn replies.

A duplicate of Vesta pops into existence right next to Gilgamesh, catching a vial that’s been thrown at her by the original. With one swift motion, she takes the demigod by surprise by shoving it into his mouth.

He reacts by throwing Torn at the former goddess so hard that the duplicate vanishes spontaneously against the impact, and then he starts to lose his balance.

<What the Nergal was that!?> Gilgamesh wonders, visibly struggling to stand up.

<Maenad Absinthe, the strongest drink in the known universe. You just ingested enough to send a hundred humans into an alcoholic coma, but if my calculations are correct, it should make you tipsy enough to resist Abyss.> Max calmly explains.

<Did it work?> Kayla asks, still keeping her hands aimed at Gilgamesh and ready to fire.

<A little too well. I feel like my brain is on fire.> the Sumerian admits.

<That’s because the God Eraser is set so high that even a demigod can feel it. Just give me a couple of seconds, I’m almost done here.> Max says, and after a few moments the alarm goes off.

<Emergency reboot completed. Security keys randomized and security returned to factory setting. Threat level reassessed.> O.D.I.N. communicates through the speakers across the station.

<Are we safe now?> Vesta asks, while helping Torn get back on his feet.

<I would say “safer”. I managed to hack into the station’s systems and undo the modifications Abyss carried out while she was possessing me, but she still controls Earth.> Max explains.

<We have to hurry. This station just became a primary target.> Torn urges the others.

<Only if Abyss is willing to lose any chance to get her hands on the Tablet, but she might indeed be crazy enough to risk that.> Max acknowledges, opening the vault’s door.

Which opens which such violence that he’s very nearly hit by it when something rushes out with enough speed to push everyone else away just thanks to how much wind it creates.

<GIL!!!> Noriko shouts, hugging Gilgamesh with enough strength to pulverize the bones of a mortal and to leave him out of breath before she kisses him.

<I was SO afraid Abyss would kill you off just to get back at me!!! Are you alright!? Did she hurt you!?> Noriko asks, showing an uncharacteristic display of affection in front of her friends.

She immediately regrets it, and instead of blushing her divine powers raise the room’s temperature by a dozen degrees.

<Uhm, I mean, good job team.> she tries to save face.

<I’m glad your boyfriend’s safe, but we still have to free the rest of the planet. And unless your plan is to get everyone on Earth drunk, I don’t see how…> Kayla begins to protest.

Stopping when Noriko holds up the bottle containing the rest of the Maenad Absinthe.

<That is your actual plan, isn’t it?> Kayla realizes.

<Humans don’t have the same amount of tolerance that Gilgamesh’s people have, we will only need to distribute a small dose.> Noriko explains.

<Technically, a little over eight billion small doses. With Abyss being aware that’s our plan, since she has direct experience of Gilgamesh’s memories.> Max points out.

<If you have a better option, I’m open to suggestions.> Noriko replies.

<No, it remains the plan with the best chances of success… slim as they are. But Asgard Station has all we need to execute it, and we should have enough time to pull it off.> he reassures her.

<Unless Abyss has a backup plan.> Torn adds.

Everyone turns towards him, in silence.

<Which she probably does, with billions more resources than us. Why are you all staring at me like that?> the Demon wonders.

 

The White House, Washington D.C.

President William Devane has been nervously biting his nails for so long that might as well lose his appetite, despite not having eaten anything since Abyss took over the planet.

He’s currently the only person on Earth still in possession of his mind, imprisoned in what used to be the residence of the most powerful man in the world.

Time has slowed to a crawl. He has nobody to talk to: every single member of his staff has been laying on the lawn for hours, just taking turns to eat and use the bathroom. Just the bare minimum to keep them alive; socializing with the President is not even an option, and for the same reason all media are completely silent.

The solitude and silence have been slowly driving him insane, just as the dread of what will happen to him once Abyss is done.

When he notices a change in the lighting outside the White House, at first he wonders if he’s just imagining it. But the sky has indeed turned red like twilight is approaching, despite this being almost noon.

Once he gets out into the Rose Garden and looks up, he’s not sure whether having gone insane might have been a better.

Streams of electrical sparks are rising from brains of the people of Washington looking up, coalescing into a massive semitransparent body with a distinct red tint.

From the ground it’s hard to make sense of the details, given the strange perspective, but it does seem to be the body of a slim female.

When she turns and looks down, President Devane is horrified by her face: it resembles a twisted jack-o’-lantern that seems to be continuously carving itself.

<Well, what do you think?> Abyss asks him, and her words feel like nails on a chalkboard in his brain.

<What are you doing!?>

<The process was too slow. So I’m applying a trick that I learned when I took over Hell a few years back to speed things up… now I should be able to get what I’m after before burning through all these tiny brains.> Abyss explains, with her manifestation growing larger with every word.

The President can’t know it, but she’s already visible from space.

<Wait! What’s going to happen to me!?> President Devane asks, giving voice to his only priority.

<You’ve been a very useful little cockroach. You can have this joke of a planet once I’m done with it… well, what’s left of it anyway.>

The manifestation now rises above the clouds that it dwarfs, leaving behind the planet supplying its sustenance and her only witness.

 

Alpha Centauri A, 4.37 light-years from Earth

Kari Zel has tried everything she could think of. Every form of energy she could transform into has completely failed to even dent the colossal robotic body that Siduri has assembled for herself, mostly thanks to the hull of Neutral Matter she took from Athena’s ship.

The Goddess of Wisdom has done most of the actual fighting, or rather the attempts at fighting.

No matter what she tries to do, Siduri’s control over the body she’s assembled from the mass she absorbed is so complete that she appears unstoppable.

Especially since absorbing not just Athena’s ship, but also dozens of ships from the Olympian Fleet and the entire Rigil Station itself.

Even worse, Kari has to constantly switch forms to avoid having her own energy added to the new form. After one of her retreats, she’s relieved to see that Athena’s call for help actually reached an ally. The fact that she’s able to see her is a testament to how badly the battle is going.

<Never thought I’d see the day. Athena herself calling for help.> Enyo says, taking pleasure in rubbing Athena’s pride against her face.

<Are you just going to gloat, or do you want to help!?> Kari complains to the Goddess of War.

<What is this creature you are fighting?>

<Long story, but essentially… an intangible being from the other end of space that can possess matter to make bodies for herself.> Kari summarizes.

<I see. So without the matter she’s possessing, she’s harmless?>

<I hope so. Now are you going to fight or just talk!?>

<Talk is not my style. I’d much rather SCREAM!!!> Enyo declares, unleashing her signature attack. Kari knows that her so-called “War Cry” can devastate worlds, but witnessing it up close is something else.

Even in the emptiness of space, the power to rip a planet to shreds is transmitted into the atoms of her target. It’s enough to shake the mass Siduri absorbed into disintegrate itself… but the process stops almost instantly, once she completely transmutes her entire body into Neutral Matter.

Adding insult to injury, instead of actually fighting Enyo she just grabs Athena and throws at her the other war goddess like a discarded toy.

<This is a more efficient body, yes? Resuming primary mission.> Siduri declares, and by using engines from Athena’s ship that she absorbed she readily flies away faster than light… headed straight for Earth.