The old man looks at Praetoria with a kind but sad smile. He reaches out with his rough hands and touches her arm. "They're with you, onee-chan. They're here." He points to Kayla's heart.
The lift stops at the top of the lighthouse, revealing a beautiful view of the water, and the shining spectacle of Halcyon City in the distance. The older Shin steps over to a rickety chair on the deck and eases into it. His lined face lights up as he takes in the stunning view.
It was a stunning, spectacular view. Horizon kneels next to the chair and takes it in. For everything that this place was a dilapidated wreck of a lighthouse, at the very least he could see one reason now why anyone would live here. He could see himself living here, in this spot.
"...I thought I was coming here to get answers. Instead I've got more questions than ever before." He says to his future self. Not the one he hates, but possibly the good one. "...Can I save Hoshiko? Our granddaughter?"
A subtle thought occurred to him - apparently he did meet a nice Japanese girl like his mother wanted. Maybe one of the Ogawa sisters.
"...Do you have any regrets? Anything to pass on?" He asked, hating to ruin the moment. He knows the elder Shin probably doesn't have much time left, but he has to get as much as he can in the meager amount of time he has left.
"<I wish we had more time. I wish I could ask you a thousand things. All the girls we loved, the adventures we had, the worst moments and the best. But, you're just another version of what I could be, aren't you?>" He asks quietly in Japanese.
Praetoria uncomfortably takes a step back after he pokes her heart, mostly due to what his words imply. She grits her teeth. It’s just a ploy. And this is some alternate time nonsense.
She remains vigilant as they reach the top, stepping out and looking around for threats.
"I tried to show myself a better way. One of peace. But I'm still out there, full of hate," he whispers. "Going back and forth, trying to escape this loop."
He looks up with a kind smile to Shin, and takes his hand. "You'll see in time. Anything is possible. I won't close off your hope by saying something cannot be done. Maybe this time. That's what I always said."
He turns back and watches the water. "Apotheosis is coming. Save Psyche. They'll want her to be the bridge. Without her, they'll have to go after the other two. The ones too dangerous to control."
Shin felt that he was punched in the gut. Why was Psyche in danger? Who or what was Apotheosis? "Who do you mean by they?" He asked, afraid of the answer. Afraid that somehow he'd be stuck like this Shin in a recursive loop, over and over again. It was too much for him, as he gripped the lighthouse railing.
You should try and ask him what he knows before it's too late, He thought to Psyche. Maybe she could make better sense of this elderly version's words. He was glad at least that nothing dangerous was happening. It looked like he'd been paranoid for naught.
”Apo-who?” Praetoria asks, growing frustrated with what appears to be a waste of time.
__________
"A bridge?" Like how Vespid wanted to loveuse me? To connect with everyone? Psyche had stayed below. A vague bid to give Shin some privacy, even if she was riding shotgun in his mind.
"Is apotheosis what the Chosen are working on with the Mongrels? Some kind of mass-uplift?"
Apotheosis is a name I think. It must be who was pulling the strings of all these villain groups, Shin thinks to Psyche, worry gnawing at his thoughts about her now. It seems that they got more information than they had sought after all. If Apotheosis needed a powerful telepath like Psyche, then they could figure they would be coming for her. That they needed her.
"Thank you." He told his elder self, turning to him. "But is this enough to know to change my fate?"
"Enough to change your fate?" he wheezes. "No way... to know. You just... have... to have... faith."
His strength truly is fading, and he sinks back into the chair, trying to keep his eyes on the horizon. "Maybe... this... time..."
Psyche was a bit perplexed.
This all sounded like good news! Shin wasn't doomed to become Dusk; if time travel let you change things, Dusk probably didn't know everything they were planning; and Shin got to see living proof that he could make good choices.
She understood why this could be bittersweet, but the only things she could feel from Shin were fear and worry.
Is it because of Apotheosis? Whether that's a person or an event, it takes more than an ominous name to make a threat. And if they were going after one of the Sentinels, it's best that it's me. I'm pretty dangerous to control too.
"...Maybe this...time...?" Shin repeats, wondering why he would say something like that. The idea is sudden, like a kick in the head, as something clicks into place. He whirls around and grabs his elder self's hand.
[B"Wait!"[/b] He looks at the old hands - his hands - hands that should have the scars from the cuts he got that day picking up glass and waiting for her to come back. He wears panic on his face, looking at this Shin. "How many times? How many have I tried to fix things?!"
Isaiah/Inquiry was moderately confused. But they had expected that; this was a time mess, after all. Still, this 'Apotheosis'... apparently had been a problem on the previous loop. Best to be cautious... and to consider ways to protect Psyche, if that's who was in peril.
For the moment, they just lurked near the lighthouse, watching for incoming danger.
Then man's eyes finally close. He whispers, and only because Shin is so close can he hear him. "Doesn't matter. Use this one..."
A slow breath escapes his lips, but he doesn't draw one back in.
Isaiah, your request for data just announces that one of the temporal loops has closed.
Psyche does another telepathic sweep of the area. If I were a super villain with some sort of chronal knowledge, this is exactly when I would strike.
She pulls a little focus from her team to do so, but can't bring herself to leave Shin's mind. I shouldn't make him feel more alone while he's dealing with this, even if I really don't get it.
What am I missing?
Praetoria considers putting a hand on Shin’s shoulder, but stops short. ”Shin...we should go...”
Shin stares at himself. No, he had to correct that. He'd just watched himself die and was now staring at his still warm corpse. A Shin from the future, who'd lived a life of a hermit starting somewhere in the past. A Shin that wasn't able to fix everything that needed to be fixed. One who had decided that it wasn't worth the trouble of attempting to change anything anymore.
"...How many times...?" He whispers, hands trembling as they held the elder Shin's own. He's crying, and tears are leaking out from under his visor.
He'd forgotten Praetoria was here with him until she spoke up, and he stiffened as he looked back at her. Thoughts whirled wildly in his head about theoretical physics, letters his father had gotten from colleagues, the idea of the butterfly and the cat. Things that made more sense to him than Kylie.
"...I can't just leave him here to rot. Custom...I'm Buddhist. I'd want to be cremated." He said, voice cracked. He looked down at the old lighthouse, thinking that it would be easy for it to go up in flames.
"...Can you get Scorch? I need her help. Give me a moment alone please." He asks Kayla.
Please Kylie. Just a minute to myself.
Gently, Psyche eases herself from Shin's mind.
Needing to be alone, needing not to hear someone else's thoughts in her mind, that, at least, was something that made all the sense in the world to her.
After a call to the authorities and assurances that the body of the old man in the lighthouse will be seen to, the Sentinels fly back to their base. The flight back is quiet once more, as everyone mulls over the answers -- and questions -- that the elder version of Shin provided.
Upon arrival at the base, Silver Shield is waiting for you all. Her armor clearly repaired at least to the point of function, she looks impatient as you all file in.
"What happened to the elevator?" she asks testily. "First the Rhino, and now this?" She sighs, and shakes her head. "Anyway, I'm here to give you an accounting of the items stolen from the sites that were hit earlier today."
She has Blockbuster list the information from each site. From the Dawkins facility, a genetic recombinator was stolen -- a microscopic instrument that can restructure the genetic code in single-celled organisms. From Halcyon Medical Institute, a genetic scanner that can decode the strands of DNA in samples provided to it. And lastly, from the Halcyon University College of Medicine, samples of a prototype virus designed to insert special chains of DNA into existing strands for repair of genetic anomalies. The Double-helix Institute, however, has not revealed what was sought after at their facility, citing proprietary rights and the fact that their entire building was slagged.
"We have consulted with Dr. Howard Dawkins on this, and he surmises that it was most likely some form of gene resequencer that was the target at Infini-Corp, based on their statement to the media. Given Chiros' considerable knowledge into genetics, it's possible that he could create some sort of plague with what's been stolen. And though that has not been the Chosen's MO before, it's a possibility we must take seriously.
"Isaiah's signal was last detected in Rustside. In light of the perceived danger, we're organizing a strike force; Heralds have been brought in as well. We'd like for you to take part as well."
She looks at each of you expectantly.
Praetoria looks sheepishly away at the question of the elevator, but thankfully the topic changes quickly. ”Yes...we’ll help. But afterwards...afterwards I was hoping perhaps I could talk to you and the rest of the teams about something?”
A corner of Psyche's lips twitches as Praetoria agrees on the group's behalf. I guess not getting knocked on her tuchas when we went to the lighthouse did her some good.
"When you speak of a plague, do you mean a classic disease? I don't know what the mechanism would be precisely, but given the Mongrel's involvement, I would assume that they would use it as a vector for some sort of induced genetic chimerism."
Psyche's facial expressions are usually very purposeful or very subtle, but something in the set of her jaw, the tilt of her eyebrows suggests apprehension.
Shin wasn't a biologist, and the science involved with DNA was just coming out in his time. Which now had an ironic twist to it, thinking about that. Just which time now was his time?
"Sorry. We were chasing a lead," Horizon says. "We can talk about it later. If you need help, you've got it." His voice is hollow and mirthless, shoulders slumped as he keeps his eyes towards his feet and tries to think. Maybe he just needed a distraction from his doom. Blasting bad guys with energy beams, that could be better than spending the rest of his night cooped up in his room trying to figure out how many times he was going to screw everything up.
"...Have you ever heard of a villain calling themselves Apotheosis?" He asks Silver Shield. It seemed like a long shot, but he figured this was the best time to try and see if he'd warned correctly.
Silver Shield nods in affirmative to Praetoria. "Sure."
Grimly, she agrees with Psyche's assessment. "Correct. This is, of course, the worst-case scenario we're anticipating. Sometimes, we choose to wait and respond to whatever the villains may be plotting -- especially when we don't have all the answers. But something like this, well, we're not going to give them the time to use that equipment they stole."
"Of course we'll help!" Scorch pipes up. When Shin asks about Apotheosis, she thinks for a moment. "I don't remember reading anything about him." she says, "but 'apotheosis' is, like someone changing from a mortal into a god or something, isn't it? Maybe Psyche's right. Making all the humans into half-animals or whatever would qualify kind of. It'd fit the Mongrels' MO as well. Why would the Chosen be involved though?"
Silver Shield folds her arms, looking uncertain about anyone called "Apotheosis." "I haven't. I'll run it through Blockbuster and the Alliance's databases as well."
Mattie doesn't know of any villain called Apotheosis, and feels only slightly comforted by the fact that Silver Shield doesn't know either -- at least that means that her studies haven't lapsed.
Scorch and Frostbite's mentor gives her a nod. "That's the big question: we thought that the Chosen and Mongrels wouldn't work together because we thought their goals were at cross-purposes. The Chosen has always been against spreading powers to the masses, while one of the Mongrels' goals had been to create more human-animal hybrids. But they teamed up, so whose outlook has changed? Do the Mongrels want to lead, or do the Chosen want to increase the number of metas in a haphazard manner like a virus?" She bangs a table in frustration. "I wish I knew for certain."
She looks to Horizon when Blockbuster comes up with nothing. "So what's this about someone called Apotheosis? Do you think this is related?"
"There's really no way to know without more information. Just a threatening sounding name for now."
Psyche had no intention of being benched in the middle of something like this, especially to help protect her from some vague, unknown threat that she might be best suited to deal with in the first place!
Praetoria looks to her teammates and says ”Even if we have no idea what to expect, there is one thing we can go into this knowing. The Sentinels will be sticking together. No splitting up this time. It didn’t go well for us last time, so let’s not make that mistake again.”
As she speaks, a pair of gold and silver batons appear in her hands, and she deftly twirls them around like.
She looks back to Silver Shield and asks, ”So what do you guys have planned for our part? Anyone in particular you want us to focus on?”
"I couldn't tell you the first thing about what they want to do with all of that equipment. I know physics and medicine, but not microbiology. The lead we found mentioned Apotheosis, like it was the name of someone, not the literal definition. There's not much more to tell," Shin says, rubbing his temples. He's benched and continuing to look down at the floor. If not for speaking up, one would think he wasn't paying any attention to this at all.
Praetoria called out that the team had to stick together this time, looking like a valkyrie in her armor. He didn't rally to her cause, but he agreed that it was probably better for them to stick together. Perhaps he'd blend into the background this way. Keep out of the way, figure out what to do from here.
He glances around, noting that Isaiah at least is giving him attention. That wasn't off, considering what he'd been through. He got up at let the others plan things out, taking Isaiah aside for the moment. "I still have no idea how your ship works, but it must have ways to scan for things we still have no idea how to look for. Was there anything weird about me? Either me? Different from Dusk?"
"First the Rhino, and now this?"
"That's what I said..."
"Um... what if they planned to make a bunch of weak metahumans...? Like the Mongs wouldn't feel so freakish if there were a bunch more but they would mostly only look different but not powerful, these new metas would then increase support for the Chosen because they would now be part of the out group but again would weaker versions so they wouldn't be a threat to the Chosen...? Rory looks around hoping his idea doesn't sound too dumb.
"A plague that grants powers could be very problematic... and could be made even worse if they have some way of targeting which powers it grants. Not to mention the usual zombie plague, mind-control virus, or just plain bio-weapon options. I'll want to help with the operation; I should be immune to any plague they're cooking up, and Inquiry should be able to sniff it out if they try to release it on us. Also provides a good airtight space for folks to hide in in case of biohazards."
____
Hmmm... I haven't really gotten a good read on Dusk, so I can't tell you for sure. I'd need to get a solid deep scan on each individual to sniff out any differences in your temporal signatures. The mere fact that there is more than one instance of you running around means that any time loop going on is going to be pretty unstable, so I'm sure you can break out if we all try."
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I thought the Chosen weren't particularly fond of the "mutant" cases? Holly says to Rory. But, whatever they're doing, we need to stop it.
How big is their hideout, do we think? Holly asks the Shield If it's small enough, maybe I could make a dome over it, stop any gas or whatever. it'll make it harder for me to go on the attack, but that might be worth it A dome over the site. everyone would know I was an essential part.
"I don't think we know the precise location of their base," Mattie replies, "just the general location. In any case, they're sure to have planned for an attack - even it they don't realise we tracked them. So i agree with Praetoria - we shouldn't split up. That just makes it easy for them to concentrate on us a few at a time. Depends on what the other teams want us to do though I guess. I'm happy to follow their lead, they've got more experience than us at dealing with things like this." she turns to the Silver Shield.
"When are we planning to go in?"
"More than...?" Shin stiffens and grabs Isaiah by the arm, drawing them even further away from the group, as far as he thinks will be out of earshot.
After speaking low to Isaiah for a while, Shin returns to the meeting, glancing at Praetoria before crossing his arms and listening to everyone.
"...ning at all? Hey! Shin!" Psyche's voice suddenly cuts through the din of Shin's waking nightmare.
"I was going to stay out until you invited me back in, but I can't just listen to this."
The Horizons and Dusks freeze as Psyche appears in Shin's mind's eye.
"Ever since Dusk's message THIS is all you've been doing!" She floats between the combatants, seeming untouched by the violent tableau.
"You've created this idea in your mind that there's nothing you can do - that for every idea, every option, Dusk will be there to match you. You know that it can't be that simple."
Unerringly she drifts towards the Horizon that houses Shin's point of view, hovering at his own height.
"Horizons and Dusks aren't the alpha and the omega. You know that at the very least, you can choose peace."
She places her hands around one of his. "I know you haven't gotten a chance to process any of this, and it's crazy that we're just running straight into the fray again, but for now, I just need you to believe that the oldest you was right. That you can win.
"Can you do that?"
She gives a look around at the multiplicity of Akenobos and gives a slight shudder. "I just hope you didn't get the clones fighting thing from my nightmares - I really do try to keep those to myself, but this one always comes back, cause...
"Well, it's one of the best ways to beat me. Force me to do everything at once. It's not that I'll run out of power, but it takes focus. That's what happened when I fell fighting the Crab, that's why Warthog almost tagged me with that fountain. I was just in too many places at once."
She turned away from Shin, taking in the shifting mindscape. Slowly the frozen Horizons shimmered and shrank slightly, until a chorus of Psyches stood in their place, still locked in combat with dozens of Dusks. "It all goes fine, until there's just that one thing more."
A single Dusk begins to move in slow-motion, creeping up behind her, darkblade crackling, his gaze fixed on the nape of her neck.
"When I'm overloaded like that? I've just got to hope that I've got someone watching my back.
"Is that going to be you?"
"...You sure you want me to be the one watching your back?" It was his head, so he imagined Praetoria standing between Psyche and Dusk. He was sure that she was better suited to protecting Psyche from threats like Dusk. His fantasy version of Kalya punched Dusk into dark mist before striking a power pose.
"I can't say she's great at leading, but she's got the power to keep you safe. As long as you're saved I don't care who acts as your shield. It might as well be someone better than me on their worst day," He says back to her. It feels strange, talking to her in his head like they were there in his cramped shared bedroom back home. Which he now found himself in with Psyche. Strange psychic perceptions.
"I'll be okay, Psyche. I'm just coping as best as I can. I wish we had time for..." He wasn't sure, but he definitely wanted a cigarette right now. Something to calm his nerves. He also needed to not think the kind of thoughts that teen boys thought about their attractive friends while she was there, wishing to forego responsibility to the city and just lay in bed until morning.
Oh, and now his overactive imagination placed Kylie in his bed. That wasn't intentional, he could swear. Just that she was nicer and more intelligent than most girls his age he knew.
Kayla smiles at the support from, all places, Mattie. She watched quietly as Shin, Isaiah, and Kylie went off on a private conversation, but felt she’d make a bad impression on Silver Shield if she left the planning and briefing part of this.
She walked over to Blockbuster and tapped a few buttons on the keyboard and an image of the district known as Rustside comes up on the screen. ”Blockbuster: can you map out known hideouts in this area secretly capable of housing the combined teams of the Chosen and the Mongrels?”
"Welcome, Praetoria," the computer responds, then the map lights up like a Christmas tree with all the possible locations within Rustside. There are thirty-two abandoned warehouses and industrial sites, sixteen locations still in operation but with a sizable closed section that could be used, a sprawling trainyard, and approximately two miles of abandoned subway tunnels beneath the area.
"Yeah, it's a bit of a cluster," Silver Shield admits. "That's why we get to the last known location, and see if we can find any clues about where they've gone next. And we go in force, since we don't need to lose a handful of us by blundering into their lair."
She puts her helmet on and moves to the busted elevator. "Get some rest, and get your heads on straight. We're heading out in the morning. The Heralds are meeting with the Alliance at the Arbco Steel Mill at oh-eight-hundred."
She turns to leave, but then remembers. She looks at Praetoria. "You wanted to talk about something? Now, or after we take down the Chosen and the Mongrels?"
The tug of Shin's mind was strong, but nothing she couldn't overcome. She just always tried to step lightly when she actually put herself inside someone's dreams or musings. Even when she stopped everything from moving, she did that as part of a dramatic entrance, giving his mind a nice new focal point to keep him from pushing back on trying to maintain his self destructive fantasy.
She didn't push back against the world shifting and shrinking to a single room. A room where despite the signs of his family they were very much alone. The room shifted again, just enough to put her actually in the bed, and, she noted, as Kylie.
She could've stopped the whole thing, kept them outside, especially could've stopped herself from being put in his bed, but she was a guest here. Kind of an uninvited guest too.
So she accepted what his mind wanted, then just slid out from under the covers to stand at his bedside.
"You know, oldest you seems to have been here, known the rest of us, but then decided to face things alone. That should give you at least one idea of how to do better. " The other Sentinels began to appear in the room.
" We've all got your back too. Just don't turn away from us."
"Silver Shield just said we're not moving out till tomorrow, so you've got at least some of the time you need.
See you out there."
Kylie vanished from his mind's eye, but the sense of her presence remained.
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Shin looked especially grateful for the opportunity to get some rest before they went after the Chosen and the Mongrels. He glanced over at Kylie and managed a small smile at her, before heading to his room.
"I'll get some sleep soon...if anyone wants to talk, I'll be in my room," He adds, taking off his visor and entering it. He's perhaps a little more hopeful now than he was before. Maybe there's an opportunity to change things for the better if he really tried. But he was also sure that people would probably have questions for him about what happened in the lighthouse, so he put off changing to for bed until any had come or gone.
He sat at the terminal in his room, linked to Blockbuster's systems, and took to the keys. Still a little awkwardly, but at least he could use search engines this way. There was still more that he needed to know. So he might as well finish learning about the Second World War to start. It couldn't be nearly as screwed up as his life the past couple of weeks.
Praetoria shakes her head. ”Let’s focus on one thing at a time...”
For a moment she thought about following Shin into his room, even just with her mind, but, well, even with him trying not to think about it, she'd ended up in his bed.
She needed a little space from that.
She thought about actually heading back to her own dorm at the Halcyon Academy, but with an early morning attack on the way, it seemed much simpler to just crash with the team.
Kylie made a quick incognito shopping trip before starting her nighttime routine. She'd made the mistake of relying on borrowing Mattie's lotions and the like, and her pores had been paying for it all day.
She floated down the elevator shaft, numerous shopping bags trailing behind her, and then each levitating over to the other girls who are staying here.
"Cameras will be on us ladies. If we want to play the part, we have to look the part. Our first major team up is not the time for a breakout."
She keeps an 'ear' out to make sure no one feels too put upon, or uncertain of how on earth to perform a skincare regimen, but otherwise she changes into her nightgown, brews up a nice chamomile, and begins her own long road to bed.
Just hope there aren't any awkward dream visits...
When Kylie returns to the base, she comes baring a truly ridiculous number of shopping bags containing a enormous range of creams, powders, liquids, infusions and soaps, together with a vast array of brushes, razors, and more than a few items that Mattie can only guess the function of. Protesting weakly she, nevertheless, lets the others s offer advice as to what each of the items is for, and how best to use them. When she finally goes to bed she does so encompassed in a cloud of sweetly smelling vapor that kept her awake longer than usual...
A small space that seems, somehow, larger than the interior of the small trailer that it, very clearly is. Sun shines in through the small windows illuminating a rumpled, but clean space. Under the bed toys peak out from a plastic crate - a stuffed bear, well thumbed paperback books ,a Praetorian action figure. On the bed lies Mattie. Cold. Very cold. A voice, incoherent, her father's, argues with another and is cut short.She looks up from beneath the safety of the bed clothes. Red. So much red.She feels cold. A figure turns to face her, its face hidden, splattered with red. Heat. Screams. Flames.... A figure watching unburnt.
With a jolt Mattie sat up in her bed, her shirt dripping with sweat. It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last. The dreams came more often when she was stressed though. She glanced at her phone - 2:00 am. She'd better not wake anyone. Trying her best to remain quiet, she tiptoed through the living area to the kitchen and filled a glass from the tap, quickly drinking it before heading though to the shower. There, she turned the hot water to full, leaving the cold water tap untouched as she stood letting the steaming water wash over her.
Kayla didn’t join in with the other girls when they started doing the skin care thing. ”Ever since I got my powers, I’ve not had so much as a bruise. You guys have at it.”
She instead makes her way to Isaiah again, holding her busted up phone for him to look at. ”Still think you could fix this up?”
She then goes into the girls room and finally lets her armor dissipate. She changes into some shorts and a short cut t-shirt before heading back out to the common room and flopping down over the back of the couch. She leaves her lower legs dangling over the back of the seat, while her head and hair hang down off the front facing the television. She uses the remote to flip through the channels, actively avoiding any news shows or entertainment networks. She finally settles on a movie station, which was part way into the movie Taken.
She lays there in that awkward position, absentmindedly bobbing her bare feet to some unheard tune.
_________
"Sure, just give me a bit. Inquiry is on a scrapyard run, going to need more metal to fix things up. And before you ask, yes, I make a point of paying for it all. Scrap is cheap, but I'm honestly going to start charging for this if everyone keeps breaking things."
Isaiah considered the phone. It was busted, sure, but all the parts were still there. It would be pretty easy to reconstruct. Still, between this, the Rhino, the elevator... a disturbing pattern was getting set.
____
Inquiry/Isaiah woke from its sleep cycle, finished with updates, reports, and writing home. It detected motion down in the base... probably Scorch, based on the hot shower. Well, it'd have to see about bumping into her during its nighttime activities. There was a lot of work to be done on this base, so there was bound to be something to do in that direction.