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Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 2:46 pm
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 6:09 am
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The wolf's jaw went slack for a moment at Legio's simple and direct answer. It didn't take long for her to get loud again.
"What the Hell?! Why?! And what's with you right now?! What, get a little taste of someone with a backbone and suddenly WHERE'RE you going?! Don't walk away when I'm yelling at you! I don't care how indestructible you think you are, I'll still beat the...s**t..."
The wolf looked over the small piles of inert Daedalus soldiers that were being made by the security personnel. She didn't know how it happened, but it looked like there was no longer an internal threat in Valhalla.
"Damn. This is some wild s**t. Wait...don't tell me you're gonna start eating them?" she asked Legio with a disgusted lilt in her voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gidget was confident that her computer could handle the rest of the trip home from there. It was time to address the people.
"Valhalla. We've won. From the courageous defense of our home, to the brave attack on Daedalus itself, we've come out on top. I know...that we didn't come out of this without some loss, but their sacrifice was not in vain. We are still here, and we will live for those who gave everything for us. There will be transport metas and medics making their way through the facility to make sure we help everyone we can. Everyone...well done."
She turned off the comms and then sat back with a hair sigh. The neural plug removed itself from her spinal sport, and she finally gave herself a chance to cry. She put a hand over her stomach and huffed. "Ako..." she hiccuped.
Her legs shook as she rose from the chair. Controlling throughout the assault had taken a toll on her. She slowly made her way to the man of her dreams and sat next to him. She grabbed his shoulders and hoisted his head onto her lap. She gazed down at him and ran her delicate yet worn out fingers through his hair. A few tears fell onto his face as she took her moment to hold him.
Ako was still mostly out of it. In the back of his foggy mind he was being jostled around by something small. Then he felt something play with his head. It wasn't until his cheeks started to become damp that he began to come back to the land of the conscious.
He looked up at a wonderful sight. Her's was definitely the first face he liked to see when he woke up. She was crying, but she was smiling too. Did that mean they won?
"Gidge. Is it...did we?" he asked in a hushed tone.
Gidget nodded happily and wiped the tears from her eyes with her forearm. "Yea...we won. You helped keep us safe."
He beamed weakly and turned his head toward Gidget's body. He shifted himself and put a hand on her stomach where he thought the baby might be. He was pleased when she put her hand on top of his. His head turned once more to look up at her. He smiled and quipped., "I had to keep you safe if I'm going to marry you."
Gidget gawked at him for a moment. She huffed with a laugh and replied, "Ako, I love you, and I know we just went through Hell, but there'd better be a real proposal in the near future."
Ako got a playful look in his eyes and grinned. "...Maybe."
Gidget's laughed and sniffled. Without another word, she lifted his head up with the help of her knee and kissed him deeply.
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 10:39 am
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 3:20 pm
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 1:00 pm
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 9:23 am
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Heather and Deora both became silent when Gidget's message was put out. They looked to each other with mixed glances of relief and sadness. Heather was the first to speak.
"It's over...Trinity's team took out Daedalus. We...we..."
She put her hands over her eyes and started to weep. As she fell to her knees, the spikes on her back started to release steam. Her scales fell off as her body became fully human again.
Deora sighed with grief and walked over to Heather. It was easy for her to manipulate the steam around her so she wouldn't be burned. She knelt down beside Heather and put her arms around her in comfort.
She then looked up to Alec and Kerana. "We saw what was left of Liv on the roof of the main building. You guys have power over life and death, right? Is there something you can do?"
Alec shook his head solemnly. "If her body was destroyed beyond what can sustain life, then I cannot stop her soul from crossing over. The best I can do is...wait."
Alec's eyes glowed a haunting blue as he seemed to look around at nothing. What he was actually doing was making an attempt at locating Liv's soul for one last message as he had done the day before. There was just one problem.
"Her soul is gone. It is nowhere I can find it. That means she is no longer dead." he said with a lilt of optimism.
Heather sniffed and looked up from her hands. "Really? But how?"
"I don't know." he replied with genuine shock. He turned to Kerana and asked, "Kay, can you find her?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leo and Dawn made their way to Crystalion's dorm. Once they heard the announcement from Gidget, they figured she'd go there with Ravan to rest. Once they were in front of the door, Dawn blinked them onto the other side of the door. What they saw brought a gasp to Dawn and stunned silence to Leo.
There was some sort of dark creature asleep by their mother. But Crystalion didn't seem to be afraid of it. It didn't take long for Dawn to recognize the creature's build and platinum blonde hair.
"Ravan?" Dawn asked cautiously while she put her hands up to her mouth in shock.
Leo looked at Dawn and then the thing on the bed. "What? No! That's not Ravan. That...it's..."
Leo looked over to his mother as Dawn went to Ravan's side. "Mom, what happened to her?" he asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wolf spun around at the sight around her. She had been to the Himalayas in her travels, but what she saw took her breath away. Her lupine eyes took in so much more than Freya's ever could, and Okami was rarely ever awake during the daylight.
The way Legio sat and asked her to join him reminded her a lot of her father. It calmed her a bit, but she still felt the need to put up a front.
"Alright, but not because you asked me to." she muttered as she moved across from him.
She tried sit as Legio did, as she used to do, but she found it difficult with her digitigraded legs.
"Ach. s**t. Hold on. Almost. Ow, ********'! Wait. Got it. Okay."
After she settled down and took a deep breath she looked at Legio and blurted out, "Just so we're clear, I still hate your ******** guts."
She then brought her hand up to her mouth and cleared her throat. "But...you've saved Trinity and Rydia a world of heartache by bringing me back. So...thanks."
"That brings me to my fist concern. What am I? I'm obviously over a hundred time more powerful, but why? Am I like you? Do I have to devour people to sustain myself?"
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 9:17 pm
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Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 3:48 am
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Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:07 pm
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Heather shook her head at Kerana's apology. "You're sorry? What do you have to be sorry for? You and Alec have given me hope." She shot up from her kneeling position and gave Kerana and Alec a hard double hug. "Thank you!"
Alec grunted and strained to croak out, "Yer welcome...pleaz stahp."
Deora was also elated to hear that Liv was alive, but for her it was bittersweet. She would never wish ill will to Liv, but Deora knew she didn't stand a chance.
Heather let Alec and Kerana go. She was still in mid laugh when she felt something in the back of her mind. She turned around and looked to Deora. The water meta rubbed her left arm and shuffled anxiously. After a few seconds, she simply looked Heather in the eyes and nodded with a smile. Heather smiled back at her and mouthed thank you too.
Damien watched the scene unfold. He was happy to see them all happy after such a terrible day. A large floating object in the skyline caught his eye. He didn't need to look hard to see it was Valhalla on it's return flight.
Suddenly, he felt a stabbing sensation in his head. He cried out and clasped at his head. Earth and light were close. His power had recovered enough to fulfill his purpose. The Ancients demanded his cooperation.
"No!" he called out to no one. "I wont!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn looked up at her mother and nodded, "Of course we wont." She tried to make her hand glow to wake Ravan up like she used to do. She was shocked when her light was seemingly swallowed by the darkness that enveloped Ravan.
Leo took a few steps closer to the sleeping gravity meta. He wondered how someone so tortured could look so peaceful when she's asleep; even if she was in such an awful condition. Part of him felt like the incident from the day before only compounded on her already fragile psyche. But she seemed to be fairly focused when she left that morning.
"Did something set her off? I mean, I know she's...like, perpetually angry, but it's not like her to just have a fit. Not like this." Leo asked his mother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wolf's gaze hardened. She lifted her right hand in front of her. She concentrated on making it human. After a few seconds, the bestial features began to melt away from her elbow down. She was fascinated, but she was still bothered by it. She gave a single huff of humor through her nostrils and returned her hand to her new normal.
"It would be disingenuous of me to take either of their forms. They sacrificed their individual souls to create me. A sacrifice that was ultimately in vain. I failed to kill Eclipse, and in doing so I'm now subjected to this pitiful state. Despite how glad I am that Trinity and Rydia need not mourn me, I feel disgusted by what you've made me. Neither woman or wolf anymore. I'm essentially the alien from John Carpenter's The Thing. A malleable copy...that retains my soul."
She put her hand back down on her lap. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel the cool air as it entered her lungs. Lungs that she had just been told were a thing of habit rather than necessity. Her amber eyes focus on Legio again. "Speaking of retention, tell me. Do you still retain my memories?"
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Posted: Sat May 30, 2020 5:21 am
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Posted: Sat May 30, 2020 11:42 am
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"Then you know that my clan was trained to specialize in neutralizing and bypassing what we called kekkō nōryoku; what we now know are just metahuman abilities. What I did to you yesterday, when I struck your pressure points, was one such technique to make someone who seems invincible vulnerable."
Her explosive golden aura began to radiate off of her like stream from a hot stone. "We never got a chance to talk about what my curse actually is. Yes, on the surface it's a virus. But for me, it's much deeper than that. Freya's soul was marked at birth. She was doomed to eventually lose herself to the beast within. Through the efforts of her parents, that beast was domesticated and given a name. But that didn't change what was to come. One night their souls would clash and destroy their minds in the process."
"But they bypassed that by agreeing to sacrifice themselves to keep Trinity or Rydia from having to put themselves in a situation neither was ready for. I'm the result of that sacrifice. I may not be the mindless creature I was meant to be, but it doesn't mean I am clean either. My soul is marked just as Freya's was. I can feel a new beast sleeping in me. On the new moon, that beast will take over my body."
The golden aura subsided as she finally got to her long winded point. "It will not be a pup like Okami was on her first night. This monster will be stronger than me in almost every conceivable way, able to negate resistances, and be driven to satiate it's hunger by any means necessary. You made it, so now it'll your responsibility to contain it."
"You can probably feel it, but I plan to attack you with the intent to kill in a few moments. I have to know if you can stop what you've created. If you die now, and there's no one to contain the beast, then I will take my life before the next new moon."
With a coordination she didn't possess earlier, she hopped to her feet and dropped to a ready stance made to take advantage of her lupine anatomy. "Round two starts now. Stand up."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn couldn't believe what she heard. Ravan could be her sister by blood? So many more questions came to mind. She wondered what the petite meta was dreaming about while in such a deep sleep. She placed the palm of her right hand on Ravan's forehead and listened for her thoughts.
Leo nodded and agreed, "You're probably right. C'mon Dawn, let's go to the others and see how they're doing. I imagine all this excitement has done little to calm their nerves."
Dawn whispered, "Shh. Wait a sec." She listened closer for some sort of mental activity, but there was nothing. Was she in a coma? She pushed her already taxed and out of control powers to the brink. It was only then that she could make out the faintest sound.
It was crying child.
Dawn straightened up and looked to Crystalion with troubled eyes. "Mom, I don't think she wants to wake up. The only thing I can hear is how scared she is. It sounds so dark and alone in her mind. Maybe she knows how dangerous she is like this. What if she put herself to sleep so she wouldn't hurt us?"
Leo glared at Dawn, and then Ravan. "What?! That's crazy! You're powers are out of wack because you haven't taken your meds since yesterday."
He walked around to the opposite side of the bed, took hold of Ravan's shoulders, and shook her in an attempt to wake her. "Ravan! Damnit, Ravan! Wake up! You don't get to go through this alone! We've told you that! C'mon! Yell at me, call me a jerk, dangle me by my ankles! Just wake up, Ravan!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Damien stumbled a bit, but stayed on his feet. "It's them! They want me to connect the last two Ancient's to their metahuman chosen. But I wont do it! GAH! I've been their puppet long enough! Hrn! I'm my own person now!"
It was then that Damien finally broke down. Something had been weighing on his mind since he realized his connection to the Ancient's granting of boons. "I-I don't know what'll happen to me when I'm done. I'm...we're not supposed to exist in this world. I don't want to go. I'm scared."
Deora looked to the boy with pity, and Heather admired his courage. Alec, on the other hand, was in no mood to hear it.
Alec marched to the boy, grabbed his shoulder, and spun him around till they face one another. He grabbed Damien by the collar of his shirt and hissed, "You're scared? You're Scared?! Cassandra, you'd best not touch me right now unless you want to lose an arm! Kid, you don't know what real fear is! I've seen what's coming through the eyes of Crosis! The Decaelum, the Hellstar, whatever you want to call it, ensnares planets; blocking out the sun as it draws energy from both it and the organic creature's on the surface! It's hellish warmth keeps the planet alive while killing the flora so the inhabitants of the planet starve and turn on each other like animals! All the while it watches the surface with countless house sized eye and a! Big! City sized one! All while it's shapeless, tireless, and merciless minions gather food for it."
"Damien. It. Is. Coming! Whether you like it or not! You need to grow up in both mind and body! We need you to finish what you started. And I promise you this. No matter what you think is going to happen to you, none of us here are going to let anyone take you away! You're one of us! We watch each other's backs, and we don't abandon anyone who needs us!"
His rant over, he let go of Damien and took a few steps away.
Damien looked wordlessly and teary eyed at the people he'd helped and grown to like and love.
Deora smiled gave the boy a confident thumbs up. Heather put her hands on her hips, smirked, and nodded to him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in Valhalla, Chariot slowly came to. She shuffled and halted when she felt something stop her arms and legs from moving. She looked down at her body to see that she had been adorned in a hospital gown and fitted with cloth restraints. She frantically looked around the room until her eyes settled on a cat lady with one eye covered.
Rydia stared coldly at Chariot while she scritched behind Carak's ears. The wolf-hound growled a a low register as he kept his eyes on Chariot. "You're awake. Good. Now that you're up, we can get what we need out of that psychotic head of yours and bring you to justice."
Chariot giggled and plopped her head back down. She couldn't wait to break free and have the fun that Trinity promised her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doctor Leonard Acula was brought out of his slumber by the sound he was all to familiar with. The sound of someone shuffling through medical instruments. He turned his head over when he heard a familiar hissing sound.
"Theresa?" he inquired.
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Posted: Sat May 30, 2020 1:19 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:54 am
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