Beyond The Impossible

New York City, Earth

Vesta hovers a couple feet above Null Tower, legs crossed and eyes closed.

As she concentrates, two figures of fire emerge from her body. They clearly have her silhouette.

As they rise into the air, they almost seem surprised to recognize each other.

<Planning to replace me?> Kari Zel asks her, sipping from her cup of coffee as she looks up at the goddess above her.

One of the beings of fire flies towards her, speaking with Vesta’s voice.

<This is so weird, Kari. I’ve forged my flames into humanoid shape before, but I’ve never felt them as part of myself. My time spent with your powers gave me a new perspective…>

The fire women dissipate, unable to stay in a coherent form for long, but Vesta completes the sentence without missing a beat, once she opens her eyes.

<…but I have a lot to learn. I can barely create two duplicates, let alone ten thousand!>

<I’m glad you got something from being mortal for a while. I might also have figured out a few tricks after using Max’s powers, but… I’ve also gained a lot of respect for what it takes to be one of the heavyweights.>

<What do you mean?> Vesta inquires, lowering herself to gently land on her feet.

<I’m not exactly the most powerful member of the Vanguard, you know? I can’t blow up planets or move around at the speed of light. And if I mess up, I can always rely on my duplicates. But being in the middle of a crisis as the only person who can realistically help… it’s a different skill.>

<Don’t sell yourself short. You were great.> Vesta congratulates her, giving her a friendly bap on the back.

<You’re kidding me, right? Let’s face it, Vesta, we blew it. We were not prepared in the slightest to get our powers scrambled, and we came closer than ever to losing the planet and probably the whole Galaxy with it.> Kari dejectedly comments.

<Come on, aren’t you being a little too harsh?>

<We got complacent, Vesta. We’ve had so many victories over the past years that we lowered our guard. President Devane shouldn’t have been able to get the drop on us, and after defeating Abyss more than once we should’ve been more prepared for her return.>

<Now you’re starting to make me worry, Kari, usually it’s Noriko who gets paranoid about this kind of thing.>

<You should be worried, Vesta. The stakes have never been higher: when was the last time we faced someone who didn’t want to at least take out the Olympian Galaxy? And the whole business about Siduri and her people… I don’t know. Am I the only one who thinks Noriko’s being a little too secretive about it?>

<Now that you say, she did seem more focused on that than on helping Earth’s recovery.> Vesta admits, stroking her chin pensively.

<I’m not typically the “doom and gloom” type, but the whole way we handled Abyss does leave a bad taste in my mouth. I can’t imagine how Max must be feeling.> Kari adds.

 

Max Black’s apartment

Quantum has been sitting on the couch for the past hour, staring at the TV. Every once in a while, his eyes transmit an infrared signal to change the channel.

Not that there’s much variety. For obvious reasons, everything anyone seems to want to talk about is how Abyss took over the lives of every single person on the planet. And how to deal with the aftermath. And how the Vanguard and the Olympian government fit into this.

Jane Blake returns to the apartment with some groceries, trying to make conversation.

<You have no idea what mess it is out there! I swear people are just nuts… what’s the point of stockpiling on groceries at this point? Everyone looks like this is the first time the world almost ends!>

She expected Max to give a reaction to this, probably making a joke about how this is tame to what routinely happens in comic books.

He doesn’t. He just watches the news showing footage from closed circuit cameras during the Abyss days… people just walking like drones, doing the absolutely essential tasks they were assigned and nothing more.

<Everything okay, sweetie?> Jane asks him, sitting next to him.

<I was the smartest person in the world, Jane. Not only I didn’t do anything with it, I unleashed that monster on the world.>

<Don’t blame yourself, Max. Even Noriko wasn’t able to keep Abyss under control, remember?>

<I thought I could do better. The moment I realized I had the Nexus, Jane, I was overwhelmed by so many ideas. I wanted to build power armors, spaceships, giant robots… but then I couldn’t stop thinking about Lily.>

<Your alien ex-girlfriend?>

<I was kind of disappointed in Noriko for not being able to save her from Lampyrian aging, and deep down I knew I wouldn’t get to keep the Nexus for long. I figured that eventually I’d get back to just use force to solve problems, so this time maybe I’d use my head. Maybe I could do the stuff Noriko never has time for… you know, cure cancer and stuff like that. And it was exactly the opening Abyss was waiting for, locking me out of my own mind.>

<If it’s any consolation, Max, I know Noriko also feels guilty for not using her abilities to the fullest. Perhaps you should talk to her about this? She’s literally the only person who could relate to what you went through.>

<Maybe we should call it “Abyss Hosts Anonymous”.> he says, finally allowing himself to smile.

<“Abyss Abducted Anonymous”> she suggests.

<“Abyss Annexed Anonymous”. Bet you can’t find a better one!>

<“Abyss Assimilated Anonymous”!> she adds.

They both start laughing at the absurdity of the discussion, especially with the TV on the background talking about the seemingly endless string of international incidents.

<Wait, wait, I have a better one!> she says.

<Will you marry me?> he interrupts her.

Jane Blake has met gods and demons, has been stranded alone on an alien planet in the middle of a civil war, and was just possessed by a malignant superintelligence… and yet this is probably the moment of her life she was least prepared for.

<Where did that come from?> is her immediate reaction.

<Well we’ve been together for quite a while, and you know I love you, so…>

<That’s not what I meant, I just… I didn’t think you cared about marriage, and… it’s so sudden!>

<Jane, when it looked like Abyss was going to win… before I came up with a last minute solution, all I could think of was how much I didn’t want to lose you. All the knowledge of mankind at my disposal, and you were still at the top of my thoughts.> he admits.

<Oh my God, I thought… I don’t want to make a scene, but that’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me.> Jane admits, fighting back the tears.

<Also I’ve always thought that the superhero not wanting to marry because his enemies would target his loved ones is a stupid cliché, you know? I mean at this point my enemies are targeting the whole world, so…>

<Max?>

<Yeah?>

<Stop ruining the moment. Of course I’ll marry you, silly.> Jane tells him, shutting him up for good as she embraces him.

 

Global Defense Organization headquarters, Washington D.C.

Noriko Null always feels weird being in the office of Todd Slate. Not just because the former New York senator is her ex-boyfriend, but because the very existence of the GDO is a lingering reminder of how she still hasn’t fixed her relationship with Earth’s governments.

<Noriko, please take a seat. Sorry it took so long to contact you, but you know, the Abyss Days threw all bureaucracy into disarray.> Todd tells her, offering her the chair in front of his desk.

<“Abyss Days”? Is that how we’re calling them now?>

<We had to call them something, and the name stuck. Everything okay?> Todd asks, vaguely gesturing towards his head. She knows exactly what he means.

<Abyss is gone. For good, this time.>

<I seem to recall you said the same thing before. Are we finally done with your evil counterparts? Please tell me there isn’t another Viper just waiting around.>

<There’s no more clones, and I’m 100%… well, 99.9% certain I have Void under control. I haven’t told you about Rei yet, haven’t I?>

<You have a perfect memory, Noriko, you know you haven’t. Should I ask who this is?>

<Evil alternate reality doppelganger.> she answers, without missing a beat.

<Honestly, Noriko, where do you find these things?>

<Heaven.>

<I don’t know why I was expecting an answer that made sense. But let’s go back to the Abyss Days; as you can imagine, I wanted to see you to get your side of things.>

<Everything I can share is in the report I already submitted to the GDO. You know me well enough to realize you’re not going to convince to share anything more than I already did… what you really want to know is if I had a hand in avoiding a much bigger disaster.> she says.

<I’ve learned that when things seem to go too smooth, it’s a safe bet you did something behind the scenes. There are dozens of reports of world leaders acting completely out of character and taking the same exact cautionary steps, including using the same wording in their orders. What was that, mind control? Did you use your Golden Eyes again?>

<I might have given a push in the right direction. It was a one-off thing, though, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do anything on that scale again.>

<Noriko, of course you realize this isn’t going to make any government feel any safer.>

<I don’t give a crap about how governments feel as long as the actual people are legitimately safe. In fact, I believe the GDO has overstayed its welcome, don’t you think?>

<The fact that we didn’t keep the planet safe is a good reason to reform the GDO, Noriko, not to get rid of it. I hate to remind you, but the Vanguard also didn’t stop Abyss from taking over.>

<Ouch. Point taken. But come on, Earth doesn’t need the GDO to keep it safe when there’s the Olympian Empire. And you should take the opportunity to solidify Earth’s relationship with Olympus, before it’s too late.>

<What do you mean?>

<Let’s just say there’s growing talk in the Olympian Senate… and from my vassals… to move the capital of the Empire from Midgard City to a planet that is fully a member of the Empire.>

<I can’t say I’m surprised. You didn’t expect the galactic capital to be confined to a city-state on a planet that isn’t properly part of its territory, right?>

<No, I expected Earth to join the Empire as a full member. It already fits all criteria except for one… the lack of a planetary government.>

<Please, please tell me you’re not seriously considering exploiting this crisis to create a world government!>

<What’s wrong about that?>

Todd Slate takes a deep breath, relaxes on his chair and gives a long sigh.

<You know who called me this morning? President Wright.>

<Devane’s Vice-President. He didn’t waste any time after being sworn President, didn’t he?>

<He asked me to be his Vice-President, Noriko. I accepted.>

<Meaning that, if you’re confirmed by the Senate, you’ll be second in line to be President of the United States.> Noriko realizes.

<And you’re asking me to help you relinquish sovereignty to a world government.>

<Yeah, uhm, I guess I just did. I really, really need to work on my timing.> she admits.