MsBlackandBlue

Sorry it's been a bit. Personal life stuff had me in a rough place for a while and I was unable to write. But I'm back at it now and hopefully I'll be able to start posting regularly again.

Shudder couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t even understand it. But, somehow, Lucas had found a way to bring Snapshot back to life. Or it was more like he had found out how to ensure she had never completely died. She tried to follow along as he filled in Elise and Krisztina back at Elise’s apartment, but even after experiencing it she couldn’t quite make sense of it.

“What if you’d opened the pouch before time traveling?” Shudder asked.

Lucas shrugged. “I guess there wouldn’t have been anything in there, since I would have told Amelia to put it somewhere else.”

“But you’d already told her to put it in that pouch, right?” Shudder pressed. “So it was already there when Whisper found it.”

“I think it’s like a Schrödinger’s Cat thing,” Prometheus suggested, the floor creaking slightly under his weight. “It was both there and not there until he opened it.”

Must be a magic thing, Shudder decided.

“Can we move this along before my floor collapses?” Elise asked. “What makes you think this will ensure Valkyrie’s loyalty?”

“She’ll owe us her life,” Prometheus replied.

Elise scoffed. “And you think that will stop her from stabbing you in the back and going forward with her own scheme?”

“You have to remember what motivates her,” Lucas explained. “She wants to stop Omega threats, so stopping Valpurgia will be her first priority.”

“My problem is the question of her second priority. The whole point of trying to recruit Valkyrie was to eliminate her as a threat so that we could focus on Valpurgia. Doesn’t extending her life risk achieving the exact opposite of our goal?”

“We got to see who she used to be, Elise,” Shudder said. “They were really good people, all of them. As awful as everything she’s done is, I think she’d rather go back to being the person she used to be. We’ll be giving her that chance.”

Elise looked unfazed. “You’re only saying that because you want to help Tlön.”

Shudder was about to respond, but Adam spoke first. “Snapshot trusts this plan. She wouldn’t have gone along with it unless she thought Valkyrie could be brought back. She might be a supervillain, but all she’s done is help us. She’s not on Valkyrie's side. Even if you think Valkyrie and Tlön are too dangerous to save, we can’t let Snapshot die. That’s not what heroes do.”

Elise sighed wearily. “I guess you have a point there. Snapshot’s helped me out in the past, so I guess I owe her. In fact, I’m starting to suspect that her whole information broker persona was a facade and she’s been manipulating events for decades to protect the city. Valkyrie’s in Sapper’s central base.”

Of course. Shudder should have guessed. There weren’t many places in Fairfield that could hide a military force. “That makes sense. Not many people actually enter his base. Most of the entrances are sealed, and there are still traps which haven’t been disarmed. Just trying to get there could be dangerous.”

“But that hasn’t stopped the occasional urban explorer,” Krisztina said triumphantly. She held up her phone, which displayed a collection of photos of abandoned rooms and damaged machinery.

“Alright,” Lucas said. “Whisper up, Elise, because we’re going in without knocking. I doubt they’ll shoot, but Adam goes first just in case.”

Whisper’s armor appeared around Elise and the group arranged themselves before Lucas opened a portal on Elise’s wall. It led to what appeared to be a circular two-floor hub, with hallways leading off in all directions. They entered from a balcony which rounded the second floor and offered a view of the floor below, which appeared to have been converted into a command center. Rows of computers and monitoring equipment dominated the floor, with a large meeting table occupying the center. Cyborgs of all varieties drew, raised, or in some cases seemingly morphed various firearms to point at the intruders.

Adam held up his hands. “We’re not enemies. We’re here to help.”

“We can save Valkyrie,” Lucas added.

Several of the cyborgs shared a brief glance.

“Could be a trick.”

“Valk wanted to recruit them.”

“If there’s even a small chance they could help…”

They seemed to come to a consensus and the group was ushered into an empty room, with several of the cyborgs remaining behind to keep them at gunpoint. A few minutes later, they were joined by Valkyrie and Tlön. It had only been a day since Shudder had last seen the modern Tlön, but it felt like it had been years. Meeting Samantha had changed everything. No longer did Doc seem like the cool-headed scientist with all the answers. She seemed like a sad, desperate woman who had lost everything.

Valkyrie’s eyes traced their way across the group, taking in the new members. “Good evening. I take it you’ve considered my offer.”

“Actually,” said Prometheus, “we’re here to recruit you.”

Valkyrie’s eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

“The stories about the Norns say that your purpose is to advise and guide the world, but that if you take direct action, your plans are doomed to failure,” Lucas explained. “I don’t know if that’s true or not but, to be honest, you don’t have the best track record. So working for us is your best chance of success. Because right now we have a common goal; we both want to stop Valpurgia.”

“The leader of Heaven?” Valkyrie asked.

“The woman who attacked STRIX and framed you.”

Realization dawned on Valkyrie’s face. “Ah.”

“She’s planning to open a portal to another dimension and summon an army of demons to take over the world,” Whisper explained.

Valkyrie sighed, sounding mildly annoyed at what Shudder had expected to be a shocking revelation. “Of course my work would get tied into an Omega threat. Do you know how long it will be before she acts? The nanites aren’t quite ready for—”

“We aren’t going to use the nanites,” Lucas interrupted. “Ever.”

Valkyrie gave him a disappointed look. “Is this entire display just a bid to stop me from protecting the world?”

“The world has done fine without you for the entirety of human history,” Prometheus said. “People have always stood up to Omega threats. We need your help with Valpurgia, but you don’t have to fix every problem all at once. Maybe a systemic way of preventing Omegas is a good idea, but the nanites aren’t it.”

“Nonsense. It’s unintrusive to everyday life and encompasses the broadest possible variety of scenarios.”

Shudder looked at Tlön. “Doc, do you really think there aren’t glaring flaws with this plan?”

There was the slightest shift in Tlön’s expression, but she said nothing.

“Look, what if you had more time to come up with a better solution?” Lucas asked, removing the cognicrystal from the camera bag.

Both Valkyrie and Tlön locked eyes on the crystal.

“Did you extract Amelia’s soul?” Valkyrie asked, sounding disgusted. “I can’t make another Norn into an Einherjar.”

Tlön stepped forward and leaned down to examine it. “No, look closer. Its ties to us were never severed.”

Valkyrie joined Tlön, crowding around Lucas and the crystal. “Impossible. Records say that at the moment of death…” She paused. “She removed it herself, didn’t she? She knew her death was coming and placed her soul in a vessel.”

She straightened and looked down at Lucas. “So your offer is to extend our lives as long as I give up on trying to protect the world? I’m sorry, but this is much bigger than either of us.”

Tlön lifted the crystal from Lucas’ hand and held it up to the light to examine it. “I’m afraid I’m betraying you, Miriam.”

Shudder felt a surge of excitement. Perhaps a leftover habit from her time assisting Tlön, but it was hard not to feel enthusiastic when Doc was about to do something big. The rest of the room, however, became tense. Whisper let out a small growl and flexed a clawed hand.

“While I appreciate the precautions you’ve taken with your project, I don’t think they’re enough. When you’re instituting something so world-altering, you must consider every possible variable and the simple fact that you placed a woman like Dr. Hunt in charge of programming your nanites is proof that you haven’t. Of course, allowing me to seize her knowledge may have been an equally large mistake as I have already programmed the nanite colony to self-destruct.”

Valkyrie glared at Tlön, who was still busy looking at the cognicrystal.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone’s last hope get utterly demolished,” Prometheus said.

“Samantha…why?” Valkyrie asked.

Tlön looked at Valkyrie. “Because it’s what you wanted, even if you didn’t know it. I haven’t picked up more than a few scraps of knowledge since my arrest. You may not have the same talent for it, but you could have drawn it from Dr. Hunt yourself and successfully held onto nearly as much, certainly enough to give you a strong starting point and only a brief delay to your project. But you allowed me to do it instead. Because you knew that I would keep you in check. You knew that I would stop you if you were becoming the Omega.”

She pressed the crystal into Valkyrie’s hand. “Now we have a chance to live a little longer, a chance to reunite with our sister. These frankly amazing children have done the impossible. And there’s a task before us that all of us can agree is important.”

Valkyrie’s hand closed weakly around the crystal. “Right. Regardless of everything else, Valpurgia has to take precedence. Let’s get started on reviving Amelia.”

The two left, with Valkyrie instructing her Einherjar to make their guests comfortable, something the Einherjar chose to interpret as usuring the group into a different room full of cots. At least there was somewhere to sit.

Lucas sat down heavily on one of the cots. “Honestly, that went better than I expected. Did not foresee Tlön of all people coming to our rescue.”

“So what do we do while we wait?” Prometheus asked. “Because if it’s I Spy, the only thing I spy with my little eye begins with a C.”

“Maybe make a plan to deal with Valpurgia?” Shudder suggested.

“Oh yeah.” Prometheus looked at Krisztina. “So what are vampires weak against? Stakes through the heart? Crosses? Garlic?”

Krisztina sat down and crossed her legs. “I’m pretty sure if you stab anything through our hearts, it would kill us. Not that I’ve tested it or anything, so that’s a maybe. Crosses do nothing. Garlic kind of gives me a mild rash.”

“Silver?”

“It’s like any other metal.”

“What about roses? Everyone forgets that was a thing in Dracula.”

“Seriously? They’re just flowers.”

Prometheus frowned. “Uh…I think that’s all I’ve got. Oh, wait! Holy water!”

“Oh, that one’s actually interesting,” Krisztina said, excited. “Normal holy water won’t work, but there’s a subtle kind of magic thought to be tied to the collective unconscious. A sort of magic of stories and beliefs. We’re vulnerable to this magic. So if a priest or something is capable of it, he could make a type of holy water that would burn us. Technically, he might be able to use things like garlic or crosses, too, but the holy water would probably be the most effective since making it involves a ritual. That makes it more likely to invoke this kind of magic.”

“Great, then we just need to find someone who can do that type of magic,” Prometheus said.

Lucas shook his head. “It’s rare, and remember how she said it’s subtle? Most people who can do it don’t even realize it. And some of those who think they can actually can’t. It would be impossible to know for sure without testing it. What would be better is if we had a weapon we already know is enchanted with that type of magic. Like Excalibur.”

“Excalibur…the fictional sword?” Prometheus asked.

“Excalibur the real sword,” Lucas replied. “Do you not know it’s real?”

“Galaxy Man used it to defeat Eternity’s Shadow,” Shudder added.

“Right, but it was lost when she collapsed into darkness,” Whisper said. “So it’s no good to us.”

“Did you not know this?” Krisztina asked. “It’s basic history.”

“I didn’t follow superhero stuff until recently. I thought it was just…wait, does that mean King Arthur was real?”

“Let’s try to focus on Valpurgia,” Lucas said.

Despite his effort to get things back on track, the group made little progress. It seemed there wasn’t any simple trump card solution to stopping Valpurgia. After about a half hour, Valkyrie reappeared, along with Tlön and an Einherjar with an entirely synthetic body. It was sleek and feminine, but significantly more plastic than Valkyrie’s, silver in color and lacking the near-human flow of the skin.

“I don’t know how to express how thankful I am—we all are,” Valkyrie said. “Amelia explained the lengths you went to to cheat fate and grant us a few more months of life.”

Anxiety began to creep across Shudder. “Only a few more months?” After everything, that was all they had gained?

Tlön gave her a gentle look. “Magic is difficult to describe in scientific terms, but imagine the magic of the Norns is like a snowball rolling down a hill. Over centuries, it’s gotten larger and larger and gained more momentum. By this point, stopping it from rolling where it will is impossible, but you’ve managed to slow it slightly. That alone is an enormous feat. Don’t feel as if you’ve failed because you couldn’t seize control of something larger than any of us. The gift you’ve given us is irreplaceable.”

Shudder was thankfully successful in fighting back tears. Doc was right, of course. She needed to be grateful for what they had gained.

“Thank you all,” Snapshot added. Her voice was different every time Shudder heard it, but there was something particularly strange about its synthetic nature now. Would she still be able to change it when she wanted? “And, Lucas, I’m sorry but I haven’t yet found your mother. Somehow, she’s hidden from my vision. Which may be a clue in itself, but is far from an answer.”

“Right,” Lucas replied. “I kind of forgot I asked about that. I’ve been a little busy.”

“Which brings us back to the matter of Heaven,” Valkyrie said. “Naturally, I’ll commit everything we have to combating them, but I hope you’re not assuming that we’re an instant fix to the situation.”

“Of course not,” said Whisper.

“Good. Because we don’t know where their forces are located, what comprises them, or how she’s planning to attack. I’d suggest that we strike her first, but we can guess that the attack on the STRIX base is only a fraction of what she’s capable of. If she has enough exosuits for even half of the members of Heaven, she’ll easily overwhelm my Einherjar.”

“We could get STRIX to help,” Prometheus suggested. “Right now they think you’re behind the attack, but that Tomahawk guy seems pretty reasonable.”

Lucas shook his head. “Even if we convince him, we still don’t know if we’ll be strong enough.”

“My sisters and I will investigate,” Valkyrie said. “It might take a little time, even for us, but we should be able to get some idea of what we’re up against.”

Suddenly an idea struck Shudder. “Why don’t we get Arachne to help?”

Prometheus gave her an incredulous look. “Because they’re the bad guys.”

“But it’s in their interest to stop Heaven, too,” Whisper replied. “Normally, they would save their resources and let Nova Legion take care of the threat, but with no Nova Legion, they might be willing to lend a hand.”

“We could talk to the small fry, too,” Shudder added. “Get some more superpowers on our side.”

“Right, we’ll set up a meeting with each group. Adam, I’ll portal you to—”

“No,” Valkyrie said firmly. “All of you need rest. You should eat and sleep.”

“But Nova Legion—” Lucas began, but Whisper placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Nova Legion has been through worse. It will take time to get everyone organized, and you might as well use some of that time resting so you’re ready when the fight begins.”

Had Nova Legion been through worse? No one knew what was happening to them in the labyrinth dimension. Maybe it would be just as bad.

Prometheus, however, had something else on his mind. “Cool, can we get pizza, then?”

Lucas sighed. “Fine. What toppings?”

The group made their orders and Lucas portaled away, returning soon with a stack of pizzas. As they settled in a circle on the floor to eat, one of the Einherjar entered the room.

“Hey, everyone.”

Adam glanced at her, then did a double take. “Jade?”

It took Shudder a moment to recall that as Synapse’s name. She examined the Einherjar, who looked to be mostly organic save for a pair of unsettling-looking metallic eyes and an implant near her temple. Shudder had only gotten a glimpse of Synapse’s face, but this could easily be the same girl.

She stepped further into the room. “Yeah. Sorry I disappeared. After I left, I got into contact with Valkyrie myself and she said she could help me escape from the demon.”

Adam was gaping at her, mouth hanging open. “But doesn’t that mean she killed you?”

Synapse shrugged. “I kind of wish she would have let me know that part ahead of time, but it wouldn’t have changed my decision.” She looked at Shudder. “I don’t regret what I did to those people. Every one of them deserved it. But it’s not like I wanted to kill to survive. As soon as I got a chance to live without the demon, I took it.”

She continued to stare at Shudder. What was she expecting? Shudder to yell at her about how she hadn’t made up for what she’d done? Or challenge her to a fight to get revenge? Why did any of that matter if Synapse neither could nor would continue to perform her psychic lobotomies? Shudder just stared back and took another bite of pizza.

Adam gave her a soft smile. “I’ve known you longer than anyone here, Jade. When we started high school, did you imagine either of us would end up like this?”

Synapse laughed, finally breaking her gaze with Shudder. “Our lives have taken some strange turns.”

As the group finished their meal, Shudder left the room to search for Doc. Not knowing where to go, she selected a couple of hallways at random until she came across another Einherjar walking in the opposite direction who, to her surprise, turned out to be another familiar face. He was almost entirely synthetic, but his patchwork coat was unmistakable.

She grinned. “Hedge! How are you doing?” She supposed she knew she’d see him at some point, but it was still a pleasant surprise.

“Er…Hedge?” he asked. “Do you know me?”

Shudder’s heart sank. “Yeah. You don’t remember me? Did Valkyrie take away your memories?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But from how she talks it sounds more like my memory was lost by accident. I don’t think it really matters, though. From what she says, I was a pretty bad person before she found me.”

“Oh,” was the best Shudder could manage. This was a cold reminder that the person she’d allied with was no friend.

“So my name was Hedge?” Hedge asked.

“Yeah. We knew each other,” Shudder replied stiffly. “Listen, are you happy? I mean, are you okay with being here like this?”

He stared at her for a moment. “I guess so. I mean, I think I’m doing alright for myself.”

He didn’t seem like himself. Shudder didn’t know Hedge well, but it felt like some essential part of him was missing, leaving him hollow and docile. Talking to him was both depressing and unsettling.

“Do you know where Dr. Tlön is?”

“Oh, yeah, in her lab.” He listed off the turns she would need to make through the twisting base.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

“See you. Thanks for chatting with me.” He offered her a hopeful smile that for a moment reminded her of the old Hedge before he continued on his way.

Following his instructions, Shudder finally made her way through a door which opened into a lab full of computers, microscopes, and numerous other pieces of expensive-looking equipment which she didn’t recognize. Doc was sitting at one of the computers, lit by its monitor’s glow as she typed. She looked up.

“Oh, hello, Shudder.”

“Hey, Doc.” Shudder felt her heart begin to pound as she tugged at the necklace chain around her neck and pulled out the flash drive, offering it to her mentor. “We need to build an Orbis.”