Max nods. "Yes, it definitely wasn't something I had planned on doing. And there wasn't malicious intent behind it. I tried to explain that to Shin, too, and that I had tried to dissuade Grace from going further after the first time, but he wouldn't hear it."
She sighs again, her shoulders slumped. "This is the second time I've done something like this, now. It would be easy to blame Violet's influence for what happened, but that's not the truth. It's me, Caio. I'm the one who f%!$ed things up, first with you and then with Shin. How long before I make another mistake and ruin things with Grace?"
"You are what you are, Max, and you know more about yourself now than you did when we tried to be more than friends." He tries to calm her. "We wanted different things and what hurt me then was because you did something that was against what I wanted without telling me first..." He tries to explain it, even if it is hard.
"Like, I wanted you for myself only, while you wanted to experiment... we had conflicting goals, but we did not talk about this. The same happened with Shin and Grace and then you. Shin wanted only Grace, while she wanted both of you, and you wanted her... and you two acted on what you wanted before talking to Shin."
"If there is something to learn about this is that you should make things clear from the beginning." He says, trying not to judge them in any way. "Do you think you'll be happy with only Grace? If not, make it clear for her and ask her the same question."
Max nods. "Yeah, I get it now. I made sure to talk to Grace already about the potential of having an open relationship. I should check with her again, though, now that things have changed with Shin."
She steps over to Caio and gives him a friendly hug. "Thank you, Caio. I can always count on you to be there when I need you."
Pixite-Connie doesn't look very good. Her color is wan and her body heat is cooler than normal for a Pixite. She also feels sluggish.
There's a flutter of movement at the entrance to the amethyst-colored cave in which Conflux and Femtite have hidden. It's Queen Millie and a retinue of her personal guard.
"I hope you didn't think you could hide from me forever?" she asks. "Please come back to the palace. Honestly, I don't know why you're being so dramatic over all this!"
Once Shin arrives with some of Connie's DNA and her requested pieces of sympathetic magic (like the punk rock Barbie), the pieces are set. All it requires now is Indarius to cast his spell to project the team magically into the Nanometeor!
Femtite says to her mother, ”She’s not eating, Mother! Don’t you see? She doesn’t want this. On Earth, you date and marry after a long time… and Connie most certainly gets a say in her body.”
She points out the sweet-spotted fungi she had picked, though Connie never ate it.
”She doesn’t want to eat because she’s miserable. She feels violated, Mother. I say this with love, not to be ungrateful. I’m trying to be that perfect daughter and that perfect girlfriend, and I came here to avoid drama.” Her own glow is starting to redden. ”I don’t understand why, if you approve of Connie, you would try to rush things between us.
“If I can’t get you to empathize with her, can we at least start with the reason? Even your most extreme action has a rationale.”
Femtite did not want Connie to see this. With Mother, you have to play the game. You have to mind your tone, play to her ego, and push just enough… but not cross the line. She still holds the power.
"Been hungrier for longer anyways..."
"All right, done! I think. I confirmed the cells were active enough to be able to integrate with the clone material, so this should act as a piece of Connie's body for her charms to work with," He said as he tucks the vial into Punk Rock Barbie's arms. "All right, Indarius, you're up. I'm going to call and give them a heads up."
Shin takes up his phone and redials the number, calling Femtite up and waiting for her to pick up. "We should all be safe here. But maybe we should have someone stay out of it to monitor and make sure nothing goes wrong?" He asks Percy while the phone rings.
Queen Millie appears frustrated, but not flustered. "I gave you both what you needed, even if apparently you were too naïve to see it! You two were doomed to frustration and sadness as a human and Pixite!"
Her eyes bore directly into Femtite. "Truthfully, how were you going to live your lives together? The human body cannot survive prolonged contact with a Pixite of your size!"
She then looks at Connie. "You tried to assure me of the depths of your devotion to Femtite. Prove it now. You can show that your love transcends your physical form by embracing what I've given you."
”What does it matter? Pixite or human-ish, my body can never give you a granddaughter.
“Is that why you’re so disappointed in me?!”
The phone rings at this inopportune moment. Femtite picks up the call, but does not address Shin. She simply keeps talking.
”Mother, making Connie a pixite does not solve whatever problem you have with me. And I’m sorry to even suggest this in front of the royal guards, but I really feel like Connie is being punished for my failure!”
"Of course you can." He answers to Max as he returns her hug. "I'll talk to Shin, see if he is alright and perhaps help you three make your peaces."
---
Caio doesn't want to interrupt Shin while he was working on Connie's clone, but when he said he was done and even proposed for one of them to stay behind, he thought they should talk. "Shin, I know this isn't the best time, but could we have a word before we do this?"
Millie shakes her head. "Femtite, you can give me a granddaughter! With Connie! You don't think I've taken assurances?!? No! Making Connie a Pixite is the ONLY solution! This is my gift to you! Why aren't you celebrating it!?!"
"Oh f@~@ right off! You didn't 'give' me shit! And just since you seem to be preoccupied with our 'frustration': don't worry, the sex is Really good."
Welp, I guess lese-majeste is off the bucket list
"I'm waiting for Femtite to pick up the phone here, so you've got until she picks up," Horizon tells Caio, before remembering something. "Oh, right - I forgot to mention this, because of the emergency and everything, but starting on our next class I'm going to be stepping back from the leadership role. We're going to rotate the whole team into the position, and I'm going to nominate you to be the first to step up."
He smiles awkwardly. "I just have to take some pressure off of my plate right now. The stress would probably kill me if I kept going like I was doing. Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"
Queen Millie's eyes narrow at Conflux. "What's done is done, child. Throwing a tantrum will not improve your situation."
She gestures at her guards without taking her eyes off of her daughter and her consort. "Despite your displeasure with me, I must continue to look out for your best interests. If you will not take care of yourself, we'll have to treat you like a nymph and feed you."
The guards move forward. What do you do??
"Right, that is good." He says as he motions Shin for a private talk.
"Ok, the first thing is that I saw Grace and Ne'veah pressuring Sophie to stop taking the pills that are keeping the athletes from shifting... I don't know Grace that much, but this seems quite strange and I'm worried if the power from Lua isn't responsible for this." He says as fast as he can. "Wasn't going to mention this until we had saved Fems and Connie, but if Grace is staying here, I think we should make sure the defenses are working... Ne'veah wasn't happy when I stepped in to defend Sophie."
Since the phone was still ringing, he added. "Also, I'm really sorry for your personal life. I know we have not seen each other eye to eye that much, but I'd like for you to know that I feel you." He says as he puts a hand on his shoulder. "If you want to talk, let me know... I know pretty well how losing someone you love hurts."
Of course Connie both swears at Fem’s mom and mentions the sex.
Fem takes Connie by the hand. ”I love you, Mother, but if you want me to one day be queen, you need to trust my judgment.”
Connie and Fem teleport to Mel’s garage.
"That's a problem. I'll have to let the A.E.G.I.S. agents in charge of distribution know." He looks at Caio, holding the phone off away briefly but close enough that he can still hear the ring tone. "Really, you don't have to worry about security here. I've set it up that it would take at least two team members to override protocols if they brought someone else into Unity Station. What you should be doing is reviewing how A.E.G.I.S. is protecting the drug stockpiles they're using to keep the changes in check, because if something happened to that supply we'll be up to our necks in cats."
When Caio claps him on the shoulder, Shin looks at Caio with a distracted cast of his eyes, his ears still listening on the phone. "No one's lost just yet. There's a part of her that still lives in me. Heard it today, so that gives me some hope."
Femtite warps herself and Connie into Mel's garage.
Mel is startled at the sudden appearance of the pair, but she looks fine. Her garage is a mess, however, with machinery and parts scattered across the floor.
"Oh! Femtite! How--? Never mind, you need to know, your mother's looking for you!"
"Yeah, that is the best thing to do for sure." he agrees when he mentions involving the A.E.G.I.S., but he is a bit confused when he opens up... nevertheless, it worked.
"Good to know, Shin. Good for you."
”Mom!” Fem says, shocked-but-unsurprised by the mess. ”We’re getting Connie out—
“—Shin! Now!!”
She doesn’t dare let go of Connie, fearing she’ll faint from hunger. Oh, why didn’t I grab a fungi with my other hand?
"Right! Everyone in position... Max, call Percy." He says as he goes to inspect if none of the chairs are touching the external painted lines of the cheap sheet he had drawn with the meditation circle he had used before to access his own mind.
"My circle will help you meditate, but you'll still need try to keep your mind empty... focus on your own breathing, it helps a lot!" With that he press 'play' on his cell phone for a calming white noise and lights the candles around the magic circle. "Don't worry, I might not be Percy or Connie but I do know what I'm doing."
"Okay?" Shin says, before Femtite's call goes through. "Indarius, we're on! Let's go to the microverse!"
”Medi-WHAT?!”
Ohhh, my Queen Mother definitely knows I went HERE. I thought this projection was going to be relatively instant.
”Oh, Mom, do you have any food? If yes, Connie, please eat before the guards get here.”
|
Percy picks up and stiffles a cough as it would interrupt the moment.
"Okay, first hand out the pods of illicium verum, that's the star anise. All participants shall place the pod atop their tongue and hold it there during the journey. Next while laying in your restful position place a head of Taraxacum, dangelion, over each eye this will act as the lens for your eyes to gaze into the aether and witness what your soul shall see. This is the part where you light everything else in that bundle on the brazier and make sure it's nice and good by the way don't want it going out mid projection. Conflux is near Femtite too right, and safe? Gonna use her as a beacon to transport you to them." There is a bit of time while everyone performs the steps before he asks one final time if they are all ready.
Upon getting confirmation Percy breaths deep and finds himself a good resting position at his desk wrapped up in a blanket so he can properly read the incantation.
Zu'u Qiilaan Wah Fin Sil Onikaan,
Zu'u Qiilaan Wah Fin Onikaan Zeim Fin Bok,
Zu'u Qiilaan Wah Fin Vahzah Onikaan,
Zu'u Qiilaan Wah Fin Lot Zul Onikaan.
Aal Fin Sil Bo Zeim Fin Joor Kopraan Wah Wundun Voth Zii,
Aal Zu'u Dreh Ol Fin Veysun Nau Kolos Nust Kriist,
Wahl Fin Wundun Mul Ahrk Balaan Do Fin Okaaz Strun Do Sil.
Drun Mu Wah Un Zeymahzin,
Aal Mu Koraav Ol Rek Koraav,
Gro Wah Wil Ahrk Sil Rek Tinvaak Ahrk Mu Hon Ek Zul.
The air in the chamber that the team is laying in would be silent aside from the calming music that Caio put on, the once in a while crackle of the burning herbs, the heavy smoke and scent that filled the room, and Percy's chanting. Slowly as he went through the mantra like-incantation the team following all the steps would feel themselves grow cold their breathing slowed to an almost imperceptible crawl. The world around them appearing brilliant even in the darkness. Should they move they find that everything feels light as if they were dancing upon a breeze, to get up they need only will themselves in a direction, and gazing back down to earth they'd see their unconscious bodies left behind in their wake.
The three spirits floating aimlessly from their bodies, colored in the tone of their truest emotion. Grace left in the mortal realm watching over their bodies looked to move at a snails pace if the snail perceived time as a human and was watching another smaller snail inch forward. Colors flowed free from the burning braizer and above it sat Indarius floating with a hand outstretched silent and inviting them to touch. The spirits all knew all they must do is reciprocate towards him and take the invitation.
Mel anxiously nods and pulls out some clumps of sweet-spotted fungi. "Here you go. Darling, I don't know what you can do at this point. I've got the energy matrices of you girlfriend stored, but there's nothing I can do about her actual human body. There's just nothing left at this point."
Her face is troubled. "I... I do understand the queen's motives. Don't you think you should... at least try to accept it? Fems, you're a princess. You're going to be a queen some day." She looks over to Connie. "It might not be everything you'd hoped for, but isn't there some good in all this?"
Indarius activates his ritual and draws deep into his well of power. Magical energies swirl around the group in the meditation circle, pulling their essences into the mystical vortex and flinging them into the pixometric scale -- a feat nearly unheard of in conventional magics or science.
After a swirling, spinning, and disorienting trip through mindscapes of impossible vistas, Horizon, Caio, and Devil Diva land hard inside a dingy and strangely purple mechanic's garage!
Clearly, there is Femtite and two other strange glowing figures. The one moving slowly with wings barely keeping her aloft has a face that is remarkably similar to Connie!
The third bug-like glowing being reacts in surprise at the sudden appearance of human-like beings in her garage. "Oh! You didn't say your human friends were coming! The queen set up contingency plans, you know!"
Pieces of discarded tech around the garage spark and glow with angry red energy, pulling together into an autonomous amalgamation!
What do you do??
”I get it now, too, Mom… but Connie needs to move at an earthling’s pace. Forcing this idea on her will push her away—you’d understand if you were able to come to earth.”
When her friends arrive, Fem sees the red glowing tech merging together.
Caio has barely enough time to acknowledge the pixites before the glowing machines lurch to life, so he steps forward towards them, putting himself bettwen the machines and the pixites. "Connie... I'll try to give you as much time as possible."
"I believe nothing here can really harm me... but I'm not counting on that."
"I am never going to get used to having my mind messed with," Horizon says, looking at his hands, and then at the very strange surroundings. He looks Femtite and the other aliens, including...well, if he had to guess, that was definitely Connie.
"Hey, so, long story short, I started making a clone of your body on the outside. One that should work as your vessel," He says to her, before turning to face the more immediate threat. "Got Punk Rock Barbie holding the vial with the growing cell mass. I am hoping that it's going to work for you contingencies!"
That said, Horizon lets loose with his power!
HOLY SHIT!
Everything in the hangar jumped briefly as he suddenly became a microsingularity in a pixometric world. He shut it off just as fast as he'd managed to turn it on, but he was realizing that using his powers even projected like this was a bad idea.
However, that one moment seemed to have disrupted the amalgam of tech that was preparing to attack them all! "Uh. Yeah, I'm pretty sure if I used my powers here for more than a second, everyone would die," He morosely warns everyone.
Yeah? Well f+&# you too, Mel.
A small smile cracks on Connie's face as Caio materializes, but her face quickly clouds with concern as he speaks.
"Did you get that straight from the Magic Mouth C-dawg? 'Cause I'd err on the side of 'Die in the Game, Die in Real Life' rules if you haven't confirmed!"
Max stands there blinking for a moment when they finally arrive. "That was a hell of a thing," she remarks.
Within moments, though, danger rears its almagamated head. "Right, time to kick some ass!" she shouts, leaping into battle as she rips at the junkbot with her claws!
Conflux sees the appearance of her teammates and realizes that Indarius is pulling off a stunt that requires serious magical juice to power. It's like Horizon, Wolf and Devil Diva are playing avatars of themselves, and Indarius is supplying the game system, server, network grid, interface, and engine and broadcasting this in the real world (or at least as real as this pixometric world can be). It'd be stupid to think that there won't be a cost to all this.
The best thing about the setup, she sees, is that the "players" -- that is, Caio, Shin and Max -- can cut loose with their powers and not be afraid of breaking the Nanometeor in the process.
Femtite assesses the situation and sees that most likely a fight in Mel's garage will threaten her Mom's workshop and inventions. Collateral damage could be devastating to her mother.
Caio steps between the nanomachine and Connie, though the contraption does not appear to be threatening her at all.
Devil Diva and Horizon both attack the machine as it activates to repel intruders. Their combined offense has the thing reeling, stopping its counterattack. One arm hangs limp, sparking, from Horizon's slice and it seems wary of the demoness. In response, it throws up blocks and walls, trapping Max inside a hexagonal field!
Facing then Horizon who is temporarily cut off from Devil Diva, the nanomachine activates its cryo-suppression blast!
Femtite shouts, ”Careful—this is my Mom’s place!”
She looks at the contraption and realizes her mom’s knowledge is the only way she stands a chance against the machine.
Femtite uses one of her mom’s devices to temporarily obtain knowledge, and extend her senses so she can take control of the machine.
She already figured out its main function. ”Caio—Connie’s pixite body is in no danger. My Queen Mother believes the machine is protecting her from you!
“I’m trying to get it to stop thinking you as threats.”
"Pfft. That's easy. Work with me here, Caio"
With a slight wince for the tiny differences in how her hand grips, Connie grabs Caio by the scruff of his neck and guides him down to his knees.
No more force field will stop Devil Diva! Dark energies gather around her body as she hurls herself at the barrier, smashing her way through!
Shin buckles under the pressure of the cold wave sucking heat from him faster than he could accumulate it!
"If you can turn off the cold beam before it freezes me solid, I'd appreciate it!" Horizon says with chattering teeth.
|
|
There was a cooling presence on Shin's real body but Percy shared in whatever linked trauma that Shin felt. So when he felt the excessive cold attempting to breach the synaptic stopgap he simply closed a portion of it off from the shell that Shin was essentially brain piloting.
"Think warm thoughts you're freezing up out here. Emotions are power when using the astral realm as a medium." The words came slow and ponderously as if through great effort.
With the help of Indarius, Shin throws off the cryo-beam of the nanomachine as Devil Diva smashes through the force field with her monstrous might. However, she finds that her magically constructed body isn't quite as tough here. She feels a ripping sensation behind her, and when she looks she sees her tail is off! The appendage whips back and forth where it was caught in the field -- she still can control it somehow!
The automaton looks uncertain as the Pixite it is trying to protect seems to have control over one of the invaders. It hesitates, and in doing so, Femtite manages to override its controls!
The threat seemingly over or at least contained for the moment, Mel flits over to her daughter. "Fems, did I hear your friend right? You've got a clone body for Connie?"
She puts her hands on Femtite's cheek. "There's a... pod. Within Love Bug Two. It can save Connie's body. This one, I mean. But the queen has impounded it."
What do you do??
Fem says to Connie, ”We get the Bug first, okay? Please trust me on this… I get what my Queen Mother wants. I’m not defending her trapping you. But please don’t waste this body.
“It is a gift, and would have been from the start had you been free to safely switch from one body to the other.”
Femtite looks at Connie, then the rest of her teammates, bracing herself for the predictable response.
"So...you cloned a pixtite to give Connie a body that could withstand your world?" Shin asks as he seems to grow dimmer as he pulled in some energy from his surroundings to warm up. It felt much weaker than he expected it to be though. He supposed that had to do with Percy's magic.
"...right. We should talk about this later. It looks like we've got to get your second ship and help you escape the Nanometeor. Caio, what's the plan?" He asks, looking at Connie with some concern.
Fem agrees the science talk can wait. And... ”Yes, you’re right—we need Love Bug Two. Connie can’t ripcord on the Nanometeor.
“Mom?” Femtite holds her mom’s hands. ”Where did Mother take the new Bug?”
Connie looks at Femtite in complete astonishment, barely keeping herself silent while she asks Mel for important information.
"Whoa! My tail!" Max cries, staring at her appendage still stuck in the force field. She thinks about wiggling it, and it wiggles. "That's trippy. I hope it's just a side effect of the projection and it didn't fall off in real life, too!"
She looks for a way to deactivate the force field and hopefully reattach her tail as the others discuss next steps.
Caio gives Femtite a sad look before turning to Connie. "Connie, do you need the bug two to get out of here? We have made all the arrangements you've asked..."
Connie shakes her head. "The setup in Bigsville is Indarius approved?"
Femtite mentally prepares herself.
Predictable. And of course I’m the bad girl…
"Indarius could not help, since he was sick and we did not have much time, but I helped Horizon." He rests a hand on her shoulder. "It is 'as good as we could get it approved'... but I'd not risk your life if I did not think it would work."
He turns to the others. "We are getting home now."
Caio then walks towards Fems. "I'm really sorry, Fems, but if bug two isn't here, it means it is probably heavily guarded. We have no resources to face your Queen Mother, we can't risk the lives of more pixites and we can't risk Connie lose her chance... if your mother could create a pixite body for Connie once, she can probably do it again. With Connie's approval this time."
As he gets really close he adds in a whisper. "I know you are asking this for love but... I feel that if you pressure Connie now, you'll lose her."
Fem is dead silent.
"Oh I'm sorry, now you're making this call for me? Could this be more f$+@ing infantilizing?! And you're worried about- I don't- Jesus f*@*ing Christ, Femtite, Mel, all of you! Strip this body for f**&ing parts as far as I'm concerned. Make a macabre hat out of it. Do a g#&$%&n disrespectful anti-monarchy puppet show with it if you're that worried about it 'going to waste.' You think I'd ever put myself in their hands again?!"
She traced a quick, white circle around where her navel would have been in her human form, and then a second one surrounding that.
"I'm going f~~$ing home."
Femtite is still. Calm, as Connie yells and swears in her face. She makes no move, says no word, shows no emotion.