Beyond The Impossible

In his career as Quantum, Max Black has learned a new perspective on human senses: when he transforms into energy, sight and hearing become something completely different.

He’s learned to perceive the world around him in a way that would be impossible for other mortals. But when he looks at the struggle between Null and Viper, he can’t make sense of what he sees: the two women are seemingly trying to electrocute each other with black electricity shooting out of their bodies, but Max can sense something else. Flashes of completely random information: images of Earth, landmarks, alien architecture, excerpts from books and poems in a myriad of languages, mathematical formulas, cookbook recipes, nursery rhymes, and more that he can’t even recognize. Too much for his brain to witness for more than the blink of an eye.

“They can both absorb the information of an entire world. It’s like they’re throwing planets at each other” he realizes. He can’t even try to get closer to them: his brain won’t let him transform into energy, and just looking at them makes him feel dizzy.

<Get the others to safety! That’s an order!> Noriko shouts, reminding Max that they’re still in enemy territory. He checks the Oni robot that is still controlled by L.O.K.I, the Ragnarok’s artificial intelligence, by snapping his fingers in front of its face.

<Hey! Still with us?>

<Reboot completed. Access to Oni network unavailable. Warning: logic algorithms corrupted. Attempt to restore factory settings unsuccessful> the robot says.

<Look, just help me get the others to safety!> Quantum instructs it, running towards Viper’s prisoners; much to his surprise, Lily has already regained consciousness and is trying to free herself from the restrains anchoring her to a cross.

<Lily! Are you alright? Did she hurt you?> he asks the blue-skinned alien.

<She tried telepathic torture, but probably didn’t account for the physical differences in the prefrontal cortex between humans and Lampyrians. Can you get me free?>

<No, I’m having trouble with my powers. Hey Loki! Shoot off these restraints, but don’t hurt her!>

<Of course. I am programmed to avoid unauthorized loss of life> the robot answers, releasing six highly precise lasers that cut the restraints on Lily’s hands, feet and wings.

<I can fly away and carry Kari with me; the others are too heavy for me> she says.

<I can carry three humanoids with me> the robot proposes.

<That will be Torn, Syzar and Liosthenes. Take them, I’ll get away on my own> Quantum adds.

<Without your powers? Max, are you sure?> Lily asks him, getting closer to share a moment with him while the robot frees the other prisoners.

<Don’t worry about me. Sure, it’s the alien fortress of an evil genius, but I already got inside alive.>

<Technically, I was the one who got both of us inside> the robot points out.

<Good luck> Lily tells Quantum, kissing him on the cheek before running towards Kari and taking the unconscious Myridian in her arms.

<My wing muscles will kill me for weeks after this> she comments, before walking towards the nearest window (luckily broken during the previous fight) and jumping out of the Divine Palace.

As she predicted, Kari’s weight is very near the limit of what she can support: it will take everything she has to just glide safely until they reach the ground.

Only now she realizes the magnitude of the fight between Null and Viper: dark clouds cover the entire city, with powerful thunderbolts every other second. For a moment she thinks those flashes of light look like a dragon fighting a snake, but she prefers to think it’s just her imagining things.

 

Tanaka star, 6 light-minutes away from the planet

Amaterasu holds the unconscious Vesta in her arms, with the Tanaka star covering almost her entire field of vision. It’s still ten miles away, but the heat and radiation would kill any mortal.

Even the amount of radio waves is so overwhelming that the Oni flying towards her can’t communicate with Amaterasu. He’s holding a large box, just big enough for a person: a coffin made of neutral matter, the only substance that can survive this environment.

Amaterasu gently places Vesta inside the coffin, wondering what’s wrong with her. She’s not physically hurt, her eyes are still open and she has a horrified expression on her face. Amaterasu wonders if she’s dreaming, then recalls: her mother said to throw her into the sun.

She closes the coffin with its six locks, also made of neutral matter, and then throws it towards the celestial object. The mission is over… but Amaterasu is young, curious, and definitely in no rush to get back to Viper.

“Perhaps I should wait to make sure she stays dead” she thinks, looking at the star.

 

Inside the star

There’s no solid surface to stop Vesta’s descent, and the outer layers of the Tanaka star are not particularly dense anyway. Normally, gravity would need less than five minutes to drag her through the 60 miles depth of the photosphere; with Amaterasu’s boost, she does the same journey in a tenth of a second.

The coffin drops into the convection zone, the star’s layer where its plasma behaves pretty much like boiling water: the hottest matter is pushed towards the surface, while the colder one sinks back towards the bottom. Except “cold” is an extremely relative term here, and the bubbles that are rising are at the very least the size of continents.

With her current speed, Vesta will only need about 8 minutes to reach the lowest depth of the convection zone, where a temperature of over 2,000,000 degrees await her.

She’s not aware of any of this: she’s being tormented by visions of Earth’s past; more specifically, of her failures.

One second, she’s inside a mass grave in Africa. The next one, she’s in front of a nuclear explosion in Japan. Then she’s in the middle of a concentration camp in Germany. Then she’s in the trenches of France surrounded by dead soldiers and mustard gas.

All these lives that she could’ve saved, if only she didn’t lack the courage to throw herself into the spotlight. If only she’d been strong enough to accept the burden of that responsibility.

As a goddess, Vesta is as strong as she thinks she is. And right now, buried under the weight of her past failures, she feels weaker than she’s ever been.

 

The Divine Palace

The epicenter of a massive electrical storm that now extends to the entire continent is just one room, where two women have been throwing black lightning at each other for what feels like an eternity. They both pause to take a breath, ceasing their attack; their silver eyes are still shining.

<That was quite something. I’m sure it would’ve killed anyone else> Viper concedes, trying her best to hide how short of breath she is right now.

<How did you learn the Final Abyss?> Noriko asks, going straight to the point.

<‘Cause I’m a genius too? You’re not the only master of reverse engineering, you know.>

<It’s not that simple. I created this attack by killing Abyss, channeling information through the Nexus, and placing a freezing field generator inside my brain to prevent it from exploding. There’s no way even you could’ve done all of that by yourself, Viper. Which means…>

<Look who’s monologuing now. And don’t give yourself too much credit: Inanna killed Abyss.>

<You said the Nexus created a link between us. You’ve been reading my mind.>

<Nothing that boring. Don’t worry, I couldn’t get a look at anything embarrassing, I just have a taste of what you put into the Nexus every time you update that thing. Don’t look so surprised: transferring information at a planetary scale is literally our super-power.>

<So you can’t read my thoughts> Noriko realizes, drawing her Genius Gun and firing it directly at Viper. The clone reacts the same way, reaching for a nearly identical gun and shooting back.

The two shots of pure kinetic energy are perfectly matching, and when they collide they create a shockwave with enough power to push both women back just a couple of feet.

<Not really. But I know how you think> Viper answers, changing the weapon’s configuration: now it projects an amount of focused microwaves that could kill a human in an instant; fortunately for Noriko, her forcefield can block it easily.

<I recognized that weapon. Abyss called it her Terror Gun, right? Do you have anything you haven’t copied from someone else?> Noriko mocks her.

<Let’s say I’m a big believer in recycling things other people throw away. It’s very handy> Viper replies, changing the configuration of the Terror Gun: its parts move to form the hilt of a laser sword, which she tries to use to cut off Noriko’s head. She only fails because the Genius Gun does exactly the same thing, and the two women begin a very intense swordfight.

<Cheap shots about my artificial hand? Stop trying to get under my skin: it won’t work, Viper.>

<Oh really? You don’t mind that our daughter blew up planets who worshipped you?>

<Stop calling her daughter!> Noriko shouts, lashing out at Viper at the worst moment. The clone seizes the moment and cuts off Noriko’s artificial hand.

<You’re predictable> Viper mocks her, preparing the killer blow.

<Then we have something in common> Noriko answers, raising the stump that remains of her arm: it lights up for an instant, and then both laser swords are turned off.

<What did you just do!?> Viper complains, trying to turn the sword back again or to change it back to a gun. But it’s no use: it’s not working at all.

<Power Dampening System. Turns off all artificial power sources.  I believe you have something like this installed in your copies of the Ragnarok?>

<Not your smartest move, Noriko. You’ve disabled your own weapons as well, but I’m the one with an entire planet’s worth of technology at her disposal.>

<Come on, Viper, you want to prove you’re better than me? Let’s settle this right here, right now: no tricks, no guns, no allies. Just you and me. We both know you can’t resist the challenge.>

<You want a fair chance? Who do you think I am, a comic book supervillain? SOUL DISRUPTION!> Viper shouts, dramatically pointing her finger at Noriko.

She clearly expects something to happen, considering how long she pauses before commenting:

<This usually kills people. Why are you still standing? SOUL DISRUPTION!> she shouts again, with the only effect being half a smile on Noriko’s face.

<You should’ve listened to Torn, Viper. You have no soul. Don’t you get what it means?>

<Oh please. I’ve heard worse insults.>

<You forget that for Demons, “soul” is a fancy word for the brain’s operating software. He wasn’t calling you evil, he was telling you that your mind can’t survive on its own… but you already knew that, didn’t you? That’s why you went out of your way to keep me alive. That’s how you were able to access the Nexus or to cause my hallucinations, and why you’re as smart as you are: your brain can’t function without mine. You’ve been stealing my brainpower since the moment you were created, like a parasite. You’re not a viper… you’re a leech.>

<Are you done yet? I can tell when you’re stalling.>

<Of course you can. Enjoy the moment, it’ll be your last smart thought> Noriko taunts her, closing her only remaining hand into a fist as her silver eye shine brightly.

<What, you want to throw another Final Abyss? You can’t do it so soon without killing yourself, and I can manipulate information just as easily as you can.>

<Maybe so. But there is one thing you can’t do> Noriko says, holding out her hand and closing her eyes. But this time she’s not throwing electricity around: just the opposite. A fraction of the electricity powering the storm outside the palace is drawn into her fist, where the light of something powerful is barely visible through her fingers. Then Noriko opens her hand, revealing a construct of pure white energy shaped like the infinity symbol.

<System shutdown> Noriko says, taking a deep breath as she opens her eyes. Her brown eyes.

<What did you just… what is that thing!?> Viper asks, looking around scared with her new eyes.

<I’m not entirely sure, but I think this is what makes us smart. Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand how this works anymore, and I guess you don’t either> Noriko answers, watching the infinity symbol float slightly above her reach.

<You’ve brought us down to normal!> Viper realizes.

<What I do know is that the only thing you’d never do with your power is turn it off like I just did: unlike you, I won’t let the Nexus define who I am. And I don’t need to be smart to take you down> Noriko threatens her, getting into a fighting stance.

<Works for me: I just need your brain, I don’t care how many bones I break> Viper answers.