Beyond The Impossible

Boreas, 30.000 light-years from Earth

If there’s one thing Leiko Tanaka knows, it’s loneliness. Even before she was imprisoned by her daughter, she always ended up alone. Which is fine by her: she doesn’t like people all that much.

Boredom is another matter. She has no contact with the outside world and she’s not allowed to put her hands on any device, not even on a book.

All she can do to pass the time alone is thinking. Only thinking.

And scheming.

Her dark thoughts are interrupted by the door to her cell being opened. That rarely happens before she has been sedated, and this time there isn’t even a doctor coming into her cell; in fact, nothing happens: the door just stays open.

Leiko is skeptical about this, but it’s the only chance to escape she has received in months.

She cautiously gets to the door, listen carefully to understand if anyone is waiting for her on the other side. When she doesn’t hear any sound, she takes her chances and leaves.

She only gets to enjoy a few steps into her newfound liberty before someone shoots her right knee.

Leiko shouts in pain and collapses, unable to stand up.

<Hi Mom. It’s been a while.>

Even before listening to that voice, Leiko already knew who shot her. There isn’t any blood on her knee; the bone was has been cracked as if it was hit by pure kinetic force, but there wasn’t a real bullet. An injury consistent with a shot coming from a Genius Gun.

<Noriko. Did you gather the courage to finish the job?> Leiko asks through the pain.

<Tsk tsk. Wrong name, Mom.>

Still kneeling down, Leiko receives a kick to the face from a leather boot for her question.

She spits blood and leans against the nearest wall to at least look at her assailant in the face.

<Want to try another one?>

Leiko now realizes this isn’t her daughter. Not exactly, at least: the weird echo in her voice was already a sign, but the fact that her eyes are now completely black with glowing silver irises is the final clue.

<You’re not Noriko. You’re one of her alternate personalities. Void?>

<Strike two! I’m not that boring wannabe. Now, if you don’t call me by my real name, I’m ready to go for three.> is the question followed by the woman holding a Genius Gun pointed at Leiko’s head this time.

<Abyss?> Leiko says, with the shadow of fear in her voice.

In response, the target is altered slightly so that the Genius Gun shoots the wall… making a serious dent into it. That was definitely a lethal shot.

<Ding ding ding! Give this woman her prize! Congratulations, Mom, you just won fifteen more minutes to live.>

<I thought the real Noriko killed you.> Leiko recalls, but Abyss doesn’t like that: with a flick of a switch, the Genius Gun changes mode and sends an extremely painful electrical shot into her mother. Not enough to kill her, but enough to knock anyone else unconscious.

<Let me set something straight, mom: I AM THE REAL ONE, get it!?> Abyss shouts, grabbing Leiko’s hair and using it to bash her head against the wall. Twice.

<And no, your milquetoast crotch-spawn didn’t really have the guts to off me. No, she just had that Sumerian hussy Inanna to erase me from her brain. >

<So you did die.> Leiko says. She decides to stay on the good side of Abyss… if that exists. She doesn’t have the strength or the resources to stand up to her at the moment.

<Of course! And it did WONDERS for me! Inanna created mental blocks that prevented Noriko from recreating me again… until, of course, Noriko died as well. Once she was resurrected, her mind was fair game once again. Especially since I had now learned subtlety.>

Abyss starts to pace back and forth as she explains, gesticulating and fidgeting with her weapon as she talks. Leiko is surprised by how much her entire body language is completely different from Noriko’s.

<Bit by bit I started to scratch at her subconscious, clawing my way through her soul. It’s tricky, you know? It’s crowded inside that diseased brain of hers. Well, maybe I should say “of ours”, at least for the time being.>

<What do you want from me? Besides the enjoyment of making me suffer?>

<Yeah that is hilarious, isn’t it?> Abyss asks rhetorically, shooting another kinetic blast that breaks Leiko’s left shoulder. It’s as painful as if she was just hit by a running car.

<Hey remember when we first met? I stabbed your guts. Good times, am I right? I used to hate you so much I left you alive to make you suffer more.>

<You don’t… hate me… anymore?> Leiko struggles to ask, barely holding on to consciousness.

<Man you are a tough b#tch. Well you see Mom, I did a lot of soul-searching while I was dead, and I think I hate you slightly less than I hate Noriko.>

<Lucky me.>

<But hey, don’t take this the wrong way okay? Hating everybody is kind of my thing. Sort of comes with the territory when you’re created from the concentrated worst parts of humanity. Some of the worst of the worst came from you. Here’s my thanks for that.> Abyss says, once again pointing the Genius Gun at Leiko’s head.

<Really? That’s all? After that little speech of yours, all you want is to kill me?>

<Well I am f##king insane. I learned to embrace it.>

<You said you hated Noriko more than you hate me.>

<That’s right. But I can’t kill her without killing myself… not yet, at least… so I’ll just settle with sending her a message: I’m back in charge.>

Hearing the familiar sound of the Genius Gun powering up, Leiko has little hope of convincing Abyss to let her live. But she’s determined to look at her murderer in the eye, so she fights as much as she can to stay awake… managing to see the energy dagger hitting the gun.

The Blood construct embeds itself into the weapon, making it unable to fire.

Abyss turns and holds out her hand: three more Blood daggers stop in their tracks, freezing their movement in the air and then disappearing.

<Drop the weapon.> Torn orders, the light of the fire pentagram behind him fading away; he has a Blood sword in each hand, and his eyes are on the second Genius Gun in Abyss’ hand.

<Look who we have here. The guy who couldn’t even save his people.>

<I won’t ask twice.> Torn says, moving forward at incredible speed and swinging the sword with the intention of slicing the gun in half.

Instead Abyss just grabs the blade, or rather the aura emanated from her body touches it: she’s repelling the Blood.

<Really? You think you can use the Blood to hurt me? My soul once overpowered and controlled the entirety of Hell’s power. This is child’s play.> Abyss boasts, moving to shoot Torn.

His Demon reflexes are far superior to a human’s, however, so before she has the chance to pull the trigger Torn simply grabs her wrist and squeezes it hard enough to force her to drop the weapon.

<You don’t have the Vial of Destiny on you. I can hurt you.> Torn warns her.

<Can you? You couldn’t even save your people from being slaughtered by Ares! Such incompetence: he couldn’t even finish one meager genocide.> Abyss says, hoping the psychological attack would distract Torn enough to allow her to access one of the minor weapons Noriko keeps in her leather jacket.

<You talk too much.> he replies instead, lifting her with one hand and slamming against one of the walls; this disorients Abyss for a moment, which Torn uses to just rip apart her jacket.

<Hey, at least buy me dinner first!>

<Release Null. Now.>

<And if I don’t? What are you gonna do, torture me? As if that would work!>

<Null has made me swear that I would kill her if there was a chance you would take control of her body permanently.>

<Oh I know. I have her memories. Did she also tell you she never believed you’d actually go through with it? That she made you swear because it would reinforce your allegiance towards her, making it easier to manipulate you? Not that you ever needed too much effort, you’re too stupid to think for…> Abyss stops only when Torn puts his hand on her mouth.

<Stop. Talking.> Torn orders firmly.

Abyss struggles to break free, but Torn’s strength is overwhelming and her attempts to attack his soul are ineffective. Even when his powers are diverted to create a new pentagram.

<Oh crap. You were serious.> are Quantum’s first words when he crosses the portal. His first priority, however, is taking care of Leiko: she has lost consciousness.

<Is she…>

<Still alive. We’ll take her to a doctor later. Now we have to deal with Abyss.>

<Are you sure it’s really her?> Quantum asks. As if the black eyes and the shouting of profanities muffled by Torn’s hand weren’t enough.

<I heard the screams of her soul resonating through the Blood, an echo of her first attack against Hell. Like fingerprints on a surfboard.>

<Fingernails on a blackboard, but okay. What do you want from me?>

<You are the only one who can deal with Abyss. Shut her down.>

<Are you sure? We don’t know how this will affect Noriko.>

<She will gladly accept anything that spares her the agony of being Abyss.>

<You’re right. I’m sorry, Noriko.> Quantum apologizes, generating a powerful electromagnetic pulse right inside her brain.

And Abyss ceases to exist.

 

The Mindscape

Abyss realizes she’s back. And that this is just a mental simulation of reality. She’s not really inside a metal cage suspended by a chain over a chasm of boiling lava, and Noriko Null isn’t on the other side of the cage staring at her.

<Please tell me at least you killed Mom.> Abyss says.

<Stop calling her that. And no, I didn’t.>

<You just can’t help being a complete failure, can’t you? You couldn’t even finish ONE job!>

<I could say the same thing. You took control of my body and the only thing you managed to do was shooting an unarmed woman.>

Abyss scoffs at that remark, looking around at her cage.

<Nice mental barriers. Taking them down should be a fun couple of days.>

<You’ll find that harder than you think. And even if you did, you have nowhere to go.>

<Are you kidding me? Diomedes and Roxiana escaped, and I’m way better than those losers.>

<You forget, I have full administrative control of the Nexus now. I made sure this section of the Mindscape is isolated from the rest. I’ll keep your personality running as a background program; this way you won’t have access to my mind.>

<But that works both ways, doesn’t it? You can’t read what’s in MY mind.>

<Like I want to hear whatever crazy garbage goes on in there.>

<Don’t you want to learn what ideas where fully yours and which ones I pushed? Whether you truly are responsible for the assassination of Aura Syzar? If you took the throne for the good of the Galaxy or because you crave power as much as your mother? What was the final push that helped me gain control?>

<Just stop, Abyss, you can’t hurt me anymore.>

<Exposure to Ichor helped… but the last drop was the realization that you were actually relieved by Kylon being transformed into a block of ice.>

<That’s ridiculous.>

<You can’t lie to me, Noriko. You realized you don’t love him and you’ve been wondering how to break up with him without hurting his feelings. But you can lie to yourself and pretend that you still care about that relationship.>

<We are done here.> Noriko dismisses her, manifesting a door to leave the Mindscape.

Abyss is alone no, her simulation along to be terminated now.

All she can do to pass the time alone is thinking. Only thinking.

And scheming.