Chapter 56 (Patreon)

I ran my hands through the tangled, silvery-white mess of my dreadlocks, tightening my grip on the ends and lightly tugging in an idle, almost subconscious gesture. I wasn’t a nervous man by nature; that much was made abundantly clear by how quickly and unabashedly I flipped Brockton Bay right on its head, but even my autismo-brain and ‘cool dude’ nonchalance wasn’t able to prepare me for the sudden influx of anxiety that iced the blood in my veins as four sets of expectant, tense eyes - three, since Trainwreck hadn’t taken that fucking helmet off - burned a curiosity-shaped hole in my face.

My back was against the proverbial wall now, and it was about time I made everything level to everyone. I couldn’t procrastinate and pussyfoot around the subject like a scary bitch anymore; not with the Infused rings I’d spent the better half of the evening carefully creating. Now, if only I could figure out the best way to start it off, because clearing that initial hurdle was the biggest think fucking me up right now.

I was usually so quick-witted and easy with breaking tension, even before my brain evolved and Force of Spirit practically became second nature to activate, so why only now did I find myself hesitating to find the right icebreaker?

The stoic mask on my face fractured, a small, self-deprecating smirk overtaking the neutral frown. 

What a fucking joke.

“Soooo… I just thought of a funny joke! I know it’s kinda awkward right now, since, like, you all just woke up after being knocked out in some temporary magical coma caused by enchanted jewelry, buuut I promise it’s worth it.”

Cassie, sitting beside Aisha in the cool grass, was the first person to break the distinctly awkward silence. Her expression eased, her gaze flitting languidly from the tense, standing form of Trainwreck to the indecipherable stillness of a distracted Sherrel, before she looked straight at me again.

Mischief twinkled in her eyes.

“Y’know what?” Aisha smirked, tilting her head and looking at Cassie with naked amusement. “Fuck it, the silence was getting hella uncomfortable anyway. Whaddya got?”

“Hehehe, I’m glad you asked!” She clapped her hands, turning away from me and leaping to her feet. Her brows lowered into a cunning glare, a cocky smirk twisting her lips. “No cheating, Jason. Now… How much, in ‘Merican units, does a polar bear weigh?”

…

Aisha’s face slackened with confusion. “Wha?” 

Enough to-

“Enough to break the ice! Hehe, get it?! … Guys?”

The exclamation was loud and over dramatic, the delivery awkwardly timed and clumsy, compounded by wiggling jazz hands and a cheesy smile. By any and all means, the joke was complete ass, easily predicted by anyone even remotely familiar with puns… but there was just something so wholesomely funny about the way that Cassie was standing there in the silence, embarrassment slowly burning her face red, hands still jazzing.

I couldn’t stop myself from grinning.

SNORT!

But surprisingly, it was Trainwreck who cracked first.

“Kehahaha!” The giant’s chortles were oddly high-pitched in comparison to his guttural voice, more in line with a chunky pig’s snorts than a human man’s laughter. Four heads, mine included, twisted to stare at him. With his helmet down and his shoulders heaving, he looked like a metal golem having a seizure.

“It ain’t that funny, Trainy,” Sherrel sighed, but the smile on her face betrayed her own amusement. “Ain’t we supposed to be icin’ Jay out ‘till he explains why his rings laid us out on our ass? I thought that’s what we were doin’?” 

Despite her words, the warm glance she threw my way was just that - warm. Not understanding, but it did a hell of a lot more towards reigniting my confidence than the previous states had done.

The fact that she was talking at all meant that Cassie’s little joke had done its job. The ice was broken, and I had to nut the fuck up.

“Yeah, but that was getting lame. Lamer than Iris’ shitty dad joke,” Aisha pointed out, before winking at the red-faced hacker. “No offense. We can work on ‘em later.”

Cassie’s smile was both agonized and genuine at the same time, and she hesitantly dropped back down on the grass. “None taken! I think...”

“Yeah, well, I ‘preciate it.” I pushed off of the Mage stone, sliding off the top and landing softly on the air a few centimeters above the ground. Their eyes turned up to watch me, that familiar atmosphere of expectation pressing in on me, but this time the tenseness was all but gone, chased away by my girlfriend’s antics.

Even if it was still here, though, I would’ve pushed through. My mind was locked in now.

“Let’s start with the obvious, then. The ring…”

My Inventory opened, the electric blue zip of magic flashing our eyes with its arcane glow, and another ring fell out of it - silver, like the others’, but with a masterfully cut onyx placed in the center. Due to Immutable Form resisting any mental attacks or intrusions, I’d worked on it last, just in case I didn’t finish in time. 

Six attempts, six fractured and broken gems that had to be trashed, but the results spoke for themselves.

Ring of Mind-Shielding (Rare)

While this ring is worn, you are immune to any supernatural attempt at reading your thoughts, divining your location, or influencing your mental state. Only with your permission can a creature telepathically communicate with you. With this ring, your mind is your own.

Lose it at your own peril.

Not bad for damn near a full day of gem cutting.

Smoothly snatching it as it fell, I slipped the piece of jewelry onto my ring finger. “It protects your mind from anyone trying to sneak a peek inside or control you. There’s a lot of scary things out there… and I mean a lot. Ya’ll getting knocked out was ‘prolly your brain’s way of disconnecting one of them. Something connected to your powers.”

That was what Hidden Intuition gathered, at least. 

“But I ain’t get knocked out.” Trainwreck, fully recovered from his snorting fit, inserted himself into the discussion. He looked down at his ring, which had grown multiple sizes larger to accommodate his armor. “Nothin’ really feels different. Y’sure mine workin’?”

“You’re… unique, homie. A Case-53, which I’ll get into in a sec. I-” My eyes roamed towards a vibrating Cassie who seemed like she was desperately trying to not interrupt my little speech. “Wassup?”

Her eyes practically shined, the words flying out of her mouth before she could even think to stop them. “Passenger Theory!”

I paused. “Huh?” 

“The Passenger Theory. It’s- hold on!“ She paused, activating her CodeLink with a flourish. 

Sherrel opened her mouth to say something, looked back at my bemused face, and promptly closed it.

Smart woman.

“Okay, here it is - I had to go waaaay back in my Followed Threads.” Cassie cleared her throat and straightened her back, the flush on her face having everything to do with excitement, now, instead of embarrassment. “The Passenger Theory was proposed years ago, but the details are pretty vague and minute… and honestly kinda spooky. I don’t know if I believe any of it, but it’s, um, interesting.”

“Interesting how?” Aisha pressed, her voice an odd mixture of anxious and hopelessly curious. “Stop with the dramatic pauses and tell us what it is before I start freaking out.”

Cassie silently read something else on her HUD, her teeth worrying her bottom lip, and her eyes cut towards me. 

I continued where she left off, thankful and slightly surprised that there was even documentation on the existence of shards. I don’t remember reading anything like that on the wiki. “‘Passengers’, ‘Shards’, ‘Superpower Sugar Daddies’, it’s all the same shit in the end, yeah? Basically, your - that is, you, Cassie, and Sherrel - powers aren’t just created from nothing, like in some B-List Marvel comic strip. They come from these things I like to call ‘Shards’, which are sorta like these… giant, interdimensional alien supercomputers that’s stickin’ to your frontal lobe.”

It probably wasn’t the most accurate and intelligent description for them, but it wasn’t like I had all the knowledge in the world, either. My memory was perfect, sure, but even my neurodivergent ass hadn’t read through the whole wiki entry for Shards. Everything I knew about them stemmed from minor wiki dives and fanfiction… which, thinking more about it, wasn’t very good. But I had to deal with what I had.

If only it didn’t sound so fucked.

Aisha’s face ashamed, though the incredulity seemed to be winning out. “Aliens?” she whispered to herself, breathlessly.

“… Right.” Sherrel coughed, whipping her head between me and Cass. Her plush, full lips quivered, as if she wasn’t sure whether to grin or frown at my words. “Right. Let's start that off from the top, then, sugar. The tippy-top. And I ain’t even gonna ask how you know this shit, but - where do these ‘Shards’, or ‘Passengers’, come from?”

Starting from the very top made sound logical sense. Sherrel was an intelligent woman, and getting the entire picture was the best way to properly vet and parse information unbiasedly, but that was also where things got even more fucked. I was confident now that the rings were working, that their Shards weren’t perceptive of their actions and thoughts, but it still filled me with trepidation.

It wouldn’t stop me, but…

“Ya may wanna sit down for this,” I sighed, looking directly at Sherrel and Trainwreck as I spoke. The lightheartedness in my words had already faded away, replaced by a cool seriousness that matched my focused stare.

Unfortunately it didn’t help the anxiety, but it did lend more credibility to my words.

Trainwreck grunted as he popped a squat, his bulky scrap armor groaning and grinding against itself as he moved, and Sherrel slowly lowered herself down to sit beside a watchful Cassie. Their proximity was noticeably closer, now - their arms and legs touching, but if either woman noticed or cared, they didn’t say a word.

All eyes were on me again, but this time, I didn’t feel my throat lock up. This was simply the way forward.

 “Thanks. Now, if you want me to start from the jump, I guess I’m gonna have to really start from the jump.” My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips, and I began twisting the glimmering band of silver on my ring finger. 

“Waaaay back when, ‘prolly before Earth Bet was even Earth Bet. Two of these giant alien fuckers, two Entities, were wandering space, searchin’ for a new planet to become hosts for their Shards, which are basically these big ass clusters of their bodies that can connect to people and grant superpowers. They’d find a planet, blast ‘em with trillions of these Shards across multiple alternate realities, and basically lie in wait for decades for those affected, Parahumans, to use these powers and create data for the Shards, and by extension, the Entities.”

Hesitantly, as if afraid to interrupt me now that I was finally talking , Cassie raised her hand like a little schoolgirl, nervous butt wiggles and all.

The sight made me - well, not grin, but smirk. “Yo.”

“What was- or, is the purpose? You say that Shards are like alien computers, which imply that us using them is giving them data… but why? What’s the end-goal for these ‘Entities’?” Her voice had a waver to it, one that practically smelled of a slow and agonizing realization that she didn’t want to acknowledge. The question was nearly rhetorical.

Cassie had an inkling, and going off of Sherrel’s pale visage and the tightening of her hands on her thighs, she did too.

“Knowledge,” I supplied simply, stoically. “Entities live for countless millennia, and they’re biggest goal is to stave off entropy. The fucking heat death of the universe. So they need data to do that, and by giving tiny fragments of their power to so many Parahumans throughout multiple realities of a planet, they can farm them for as much data as they can by pushing for them to use it. Exercise that power. Kill and die and make revelations and breakthroughs. For hundreds of years. And when this cycle ends, and the Entities feel they’ve gotten as much as they can from the world…”

“They leave, right?”

Surprisingly, it was Aisha who verbally connected the dots I was leaving out. She leaned forward on the other side of Cass, her face pinched, yet focused. Determined. “I don’t know about half the shit you’re talking ‘bout, but I’ve watched enough cheesy alien movies to know where this is going. They take their ‘Shards’ back and fuck off to another planet, right?”

My lips pull downwards, a heavy feeling weighing in my stomach. “They don’t just take the Shards, Aisha - they wipe out the planet, and every reality therein. Gone. Vamoosh’d. And then they use all the energy forked from regaining their Shards and create a fuck ton of other Entities, blast ‘em off to all corners of space, and move on to the next planet. An endless fucking cycle.”

“Wait, wait, wait!“ Sherrel broke in, cheeks flushed and perspiration gliding down the side of her forehead. She took her trucker hat off her head and ran a hand through her short blonde hair. “That don’t make any goddamned sense, Jay. If these Entities want ‘data’ from us usin’ our powers to- to solve the fuckin’ heat death of the universe or global warmin’ or whatever the fuck, how’s doing this efficient in any way? A buncha angry fucks using their powers purely to kill each other in stupid gang wars and political dick measurin’ contests ain’t all that scientific.”

“You’re looking at it from the wrong angle,” I sighed, looking directly at the buxom woman. “Time ain’t an issue for them the same way it is for us. Not even close. What you might see as redundant is different to a God-like being who will see thousands of planets just like this die out in what feels like the blink of an eye. Even a little bit of data is better than none, and there are trillions of Shards in rotation. Trillions. The big homies in space are gonna find something to help.”

My calm, almost clinical explanation seemed to knock the wind out of her sails. Sherrel settled back, her eyes wide and her fists clenched as she went over my words, and beside her, Cassie and Aisha did the same. The atmosphere became tense and heavy, a biting sense of hopelessness settling over shoulders, and I felt a bolt of guilt shoot through me. I was trying to frame the picture for them, truly start from the beginning, but it was a lot to take in - and understandably so.

There was no happy ending to the story.

But I couldn’t hold anything back.

“How do we kill ‘em?” Trainwreck, having not turned his head away from me since the start of the conversation, spoke up for the first time. His voice was as gruff and terse as always, but I didn’t sense an ounce of fear. 

Interesting. Probably foolish, but sometimes you needed headstrong fools on your side.

“Still workin’ on that bit,” I admitted, furrowing my brow, “But listen - that was all me startin’ from the top, like I said I would. Our situation, and our Entity, read - single - well… he’s a lil’ depressed right now. For the Cycles to happen, you need two Entities, and one of ‘em got merked decades ago when it first arrived.”

That got their attention, and for a bright, shining moment, fleeting hope seemed to revitalize everyone.

“Hold on, so they can die!” Cassie gasped, lurching forward on her knees. Her eyes were shining beneath the moonlight, a wide smile on her face, and a brief scan showed that the shining were, in fact, unshed tears. 

I resisted the urge to reach out and wipe them away.

“The woman who killed Eden, the ‘Thinker’ Entity… she can’t easily replicate it, and neither can I.” My fingers twitched, an old, familiar urge to tap on something solid coming back to me, but I focused on twisting my ring instead. Left and right. “The Entities make these avatars, see - these caricatures of human beings that they can use to subtly manipulate and direct humanity in a way to maximize data. While making these avatars, right after releasing so many Shards, they’re-“

“Vulnerable,” she finished, bitter realization dawning on her face. A breath of air left her mouth, more of a wheeze than anything, and it took me a moment to realize it was a pitiful excuse for laughter. “You’re frickin’ blowing my mind right now, Jay, and not in a good way. What the heck can we do if our window of opportunity’s gone?”

“Better question is, who’s the other Avatar…” Sherrel grumbled, crossing her arms beneath her chest.

Their brains were working overtime to figure out the solution to a problem that not even Cauldron managed to crack after decades of rumination. It was oddly wholesome, in a bittersweet, depressing way. I allowed Sherrel’s question to marinate for a moment while my enhanced brain shot through a few different ways to drop the bomb on their laps, but each and every single one of the imaginary scenarios ended with incredulity and panic, so clearly I just had to brute force it.

Surely they’d appreciate the straightforward honesty.

“Yeah, well, speakin’ of the Warrior Entity’s avatar…” 

Aisha peered at me with tired, bloodshot eyes. “The ‘Warrior’ and the ‘Thinker’, huh? Kinda gay, but poetic.”

“Mm,” I nodded, a grimace on my lips. “His favorite color’s gold.”

She blinked in confusion.

Cassie’s gaze shot back up towards me. “No…”

“Gold,” I confirmed, running a hand through my hair. Again. “Gold hair, gold skin, gold eyes… ‘prolly a gold dick.”

Sherrel was beginning to clue into my words now, her tan skin paling even further as the very obvious implications formed the correct conclusion in her brain. Even Trainwreck’s body shifted uncomfortably, though the big guy made no verbal noise.

Aisha looked between all of us, painfully frustrated. “What the fuck, guys? Is everyone here freakin’ Sherlock Holmes except for me?”

“Hehe…” Cassie giggled, but the sound was exhausted and completely humorless. “No way. The strongest cape in existence - the first cape in existence… is an alien trying to kill off our entire frickin’ planet? Harvest our powers for information?”

“Scion.” The name fell from Sherrel’s lips like ash. Her face scrunched up, as if she could taste it on her tongue. “We’re fucked, aren’t we?”

I didn’t waste time questioning why they believed me so readily. It could’ve been because of the charisma-boosting magic coating my words, or the fact that I was speaking so plainly and seriously after granting them magical rings to shield their minds, but at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter. All that did was make sure we were on the same page. It was my responsibility as their leader.

“No, we’re not.”

Sherrel’s face darkened, an aggression forming on her brow that stemmed from having her entire worldview shattered and flipped on its head in one fifteen minute conversation.

“No offense, Jason, but you can’t fuckin’ drop all of this shit on our laps outta nowhere, tellin’ us our powers are just brands placed on us by world-eating alien parasites, that our world is gonna be iced after everything’s all said and done… Then just say ‘we’ll be okay’! We ain’t like you, whoever or whatever the hell you are. We don’t got crazy magical powers from God knows where, or knowledge on what to do or how to do it or when- We. Are. Fucked.” Her lips quivered with both fear and desperation, her long fingernails biting into her skin hard enough to draw blood.

Before I could respond, Cassie’s soft voice cut in. “Just trust him.”

“‘Scuse me?” Sherrel swallowed, frustrated gaze turning to fall on Cassie, whose bangs fell over and shadowed her eyes. “Kitkat, I know you love him. Hell, I… feel strongly ‘bout Jason too. But be fuckin’ realistic, girl; this shit is soundin’ like a genocide just waitin’ to happen, and he ain’t even tell us how he knows any of this!”

“Because you’re not giving him the room to do it,” Cassie shot back, the softness giving way to that same sharpness from the Dallon residence. She matched Sherrel’s gaze, a frown on her lips. “Jay could’ve left us in the dark, not knowing anything, with our Shards still connected to our brains doing God knows what… but he didn’t. He’s explaining things to us, even if they’re scary. Even if we don’t wanna hear them right now.”

Her head turned to me, eyes wide with such an open, endless, genuine trust that I felt shivers go down my spine.

“So just trust him! And if, after everything, you don’t want to stick around because you’re scared… then fine.” Her lips twitched up, and she rested a hand on Sherrel’s clenched one. “But we’d be sad.”

…

“Haa,” Sherrel breathed, interlocking her fingers through Cassie’s and fixing me with a determined, watery stare. “I’m sorry for freakin’ out, Jay. I’m willing to hear ya out… but please, tell us who you are. Who you actually are.”

Everyone looked at me, almost simultaneously. Some real Children of the Corn type shit. I exhaled gently, going to touch my hair - only to stop, shove my hands in my pockets, and breathe.

It was better to get this out of the way now, so that we could move forward.

“My name is Jason Black,” I began, a small, crooked smile forming on my lips. “My mom’s name was Mary Black, my dad was some deadbeat fuck, and I was born and raised in southern Louisiana. My life was completely fuckin’ normal… ‘cept my Earth was just called ‘Earth’, no extra titles, and we didn’t have Parahumans, or superpowers, or anything like that. But we did have creativity, and evil, and war… so I guess our realities weren’t all that different at the core.”

I shrugged my shoulders, rolling my neck, but the eyes of my listeners didn’t stray. They were locked in, and I saw that Cassie’s CodeLink was activated as she glided her right hand across some invisible screen. Probably a word document.

My smile grew. “Lemme know if I ramble. I’ve been told that I can be self-absorbed at times.”

“Keep talkin’ or I swear I’ll shoot ya in the dick,” Sherrel promised, pointing a finger at me.

“… Bet. So, I guess we can start from the beginning.”

I didn’t hold back.

I spoke of my childhood, of my highschool days, of my college years. For a brief moment, I’d struggled with the decision to mention my true age - not because I was ashamed of anything, but because I didn’t want to confuse anyone - but honesty won out, and telling my life’s story would’ve been damn near impossible without going in chronological order. I was sixteen now, but it wasn’t like that mattered when I was functionally timeless. 

I spoke of my autism and my alexithymia, my time in the army, my relationship with my recovering drug addict of a mother. It wasn’t really anything that was immediately relevant to the topic of Scion and Earth Bet, but once the words started coming out, and I saw just how invested and interested they were in hearing about me, and not just Avalon… I simply let it happen. 

It was therapeutic to the highest degree, and making it clear that I was honestly just like them before a month ago was something that I really wanted to do. It wasn’t a pride thing, as in ‘Oh look, I’m this strong and capable after only a month of progress’. No, it was more of a ‘Oh look, I’m literally just a flawed human being like you are. Magic didn’t change that.’

And I think my point got across to them. Or at least, the three girls. Trainwreck had stopped moving not too long after I started, so he was probably fast asleep.

It was about twenty minutes later that I finally got to the transmigration part of my story, and things got a bit more complicated. I had no intention of telling them that their worlds, and thus their lives, had been nothing but a grimdark web serial by a semi-competent writer back in my world, so the truth had to get a little… flexible.

“-Next thing I know, instead of wakin’ up in my two bedroom apartment in New York… I’m half naked on a bench in Brockton Bay, a note taped to my chest and a shit ton of new information shoved into my brain. Information about the Entities, Shards, Earth Bet as a whole… almost like it was pulled from a fuckin’ Wikipedia or something.”

I’d gone from standing to sitting in the grass and leaning back against the Mage stone. Cassie had fallen to the demons in her head and was sitting on my lap, my chin on her head and her back against my chest, and Sherrel had moved her truck further inland - letting her and Imp sit on the hood. Trainwreck was still squatting on the ground, like a squatter. 

The energy in the air wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, but it was noticeably lighter than it was before. Mostly because talking about my origins gave us a break from the overwhelming weight of the Entities and the Cycle.

“What was on the note? ‘Yo, sorry for dumping you in this absolutely fucked world on the cusp of being harvested’?” Aisha prodded through a mouthful of stale barbecue chips that she’d found in Sherrel’s glove compartment. The mechanic in question held her hand out expectantly, and she poured a healthy pile of the junk food in her palm.

I gestured with a finger, and a chip flew from Sherrel’s palm and into my waiting mouth. “Mm. Close.”

My memory was perfect, so it took no effort to drudge up the note, word for word and letter for letter, in my mind's eye. 

“To one Jason Black - you have been chosen. I cannot offer you much, information or material-wise, but just know that I am looking forward to seeing what you can do. Many beings are watching in interest, so please do not disappoint. The Celestial Grimoire is within you, always.” 

I took a breath, moistening my lips, before continuing. 

“Rise to new heights, journey to places no one from your world has ever thought to go, and become something greater than yourself. One day, if you survive, we will meet face to face. I will answer any questions then. Take care. PS: I would be remiss to not tell you this - you are in Worm. Practice caution.”

Silence reigned on top of the hill after I repeated the words that had been given to me all those weeks ago. Glances were thrown all around, except for the endlessly nerdy hacker who typed notes into her CodeLink. After a few seconds, Cassie swiped at something and pushed the screen away. 

“That’s… a lot to unpack,” she breathed, gripping my hands in hers. “So whoever this being is, they just… swiped you from Earth and dropped you here? And what’s the Celestial Grimoire? What the heck is ‘Worm’?”

I had to hedge this carefully. I didn’t want to lie, but there was a fine line between being honest and being stupid, and I wasn’t a fan of being stupid.

“The Celestial Grimoire was a… creative writing tool back on my Earth. It was used as a way to grant your character different magical powers from across all walks of fiction,” I tightened my hold on Cassie, moving my gaze up to meet everyone else’s. “And whoever this ‘being’ is, goin’ off of the context of the note - they’re probably some sorta God. Like, capital G.”

Sherrel snorted, waving a shaky hand. “Alright, let’s not get silly here. A God, Jason? As in there’s more? Giant alien superpower harvesters are one thing, and that’s fuckin’ crazy to say, but this is-“

“I have an infinitely expanding archive of magical power inside of my soul, Sherr.” I pushed, raising my hand to stall any further interruptions. “And it doesn’t. Stop. Growing. Stop limiting your perspective to your reality and open up your mind. This being gave me access to practically unlimited power, and the magics inside - they are from fictional worlds. Cassie can confirm. In just a month I’ve become the strongest existence on this planet outside of the Endbringers, Scion, and a few other capes. I’m immortal now, can summon meteors from the sky, call down lightning, and shear a man’s soul from his body. Hell, I just got a perk that granted me ‘Divinity’.”

My face slackened, a cool focus pinning the woman in place. “If something gave me the key to becoming a God, then what can they be if not a God themselves?”

“Point,” Aisha supplied ‘helpfully’, swallowing another handful of chips. “Honestly, it doesn’t sound too crazy to me after the whole Scion and Shard thing. Maybe I’m just kinda brain numb from all these big ass bombs, but it ain’t that surprising to think that there’s some God out there iseka’ing motherfuckers.”

At Cassie’s surprised glance, she smirked. “I watch a lil’ bit of anime. Who do you think I am?”

“My future bestie, obviously.” Cassie smiled, though the expression was dimmed by the distracted cogs turning in her brain. She tapped my wrist, and when I turned my head to look down at her, her face was deathly serious. “Worm. If this ‘Celestial Grimoire’ pulls from the- the multiverse, and all of fiction actually frickin’ exists… then could our world - and yours - be just another work of fiction to this God? They said that people would be watching!”

A shiver shot through her body, one so strong that even I felt it.

“I thought about it,” I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. “But there’s too much shit wrong with this world for me to have an existential crisis about whether or not I’m real. I know that I’m here now, with all of you, and you’re here with me. That’s all that matters, right?”

Aisha frowned. “Not really. Not if Scion finds a way to blow this bitch up with all of us inside.” There was a dulled sense of dark humor in her tone, but no smile or smirk to punctuate it. 

Sherrel licked her lips free of salty flakes of barbecue with a sense of purpose. “Fine! Let’s say that the multiverse is a thing, this ‘God’ gave Jason the ability to gain power from all ‘cross space-time, sure - you say that we’re not fucked. That we can survive and stop him from harvesting our world. How?”

“He can’t complete the cycle and ‘harvest’ this world ‘cause of the lack of Eden,” I corrected her, gliding my hands up and down Cassie’s shivering arms. “But one day soon, in the next couple years… one man will give Scion the idea that killin’ off humanity is more fulfilling than wasting away helping it, and that’ll kick off the end of the world as we know it - an event called the Golden Morning.”

“And this ‘God’ told you all of this?”

“I wasn’t told anything. The knowledge was just slammed into my head,” I responded coolly, tilting my head to study Sherrel. “I was brought here for a reason. Dying immediately to Scion wouldn’t bring much entertainment to the peanut gallery, would it?”

She hummed in response.

“So we just gotta stop Golden Morning,” Aisha declared, a spark of hope reigniting in her tired voice.

When I didn’t immediately respond, her eyes cut to me. “Right, Jason? We kill the fucker who aggro’d Scion, and…”

“Scion’s depression is a ticking time bomb,” I sighed, shaking my head. “He’s gonna snap regardless. The difference is whether he snaps in a couple years or a lil’ bit over a decade.”

Her face dropped. “Ha. So either way we’re dealing with pissy-pants.”

“But fourteen years is a big ass window,” I pushed, staring hard at Aisha until she returned my gaze. “And I’m certain that I can end him for good given enough time and room to grow more powerful. There isn’t even a doubt in my mind. But I can’t do everything alone. These Shards - they push for their hosts to seek out conflict and power, and that, combined with how shitty human beings are in general, ends with this world fucking itself without Scion lifting a finger.”

“So you’re sayin’ you want us to hold the fort down.” Sherrel observed, a wry, doubtful smile creasing her cheeks. “Don’t know if you’ve noticed, boss man, but we don’t even have a base yet. Trainwreck keeps whinin’ about it.”

The mechanized Tinker grumbled. “Ain’t complainin’ right now.”

“And while I’m pretty dang confident about beatin’ down thugs and smaller capes, I dunno if we got the moxy to keep up with… all that.” She gestured broadly towards me with both hands.

My eyebrows raised. “You having second thoughts?”

“Hell no! But you gotta admit, compared to this ‘Celestial Grimoire’, we don’t have too much goin’ for us.” Sherrel’s hands fell back into her lap with a plop, and she shrugged helplessly. “Just sayin’ that we might get in the way. I’m a confident woman who knows what she likes and what she wants, but I ain’t stupid or blind.”

I could understand where she was coming from, but once again, she was having trouble looking at it from a more open-ended point of view. She viewed the Celestial Grimoire purely as a source of granting me, and only me, magical power, ignoring the possibility that there were countless ways to empower others within its metaphorical pages. They would never be as powerful as me, not even close, but neither did they need to be. Invictus needed strong, capable members dedicated to protecting, at the very least, this city that I’d began to care for.

Brockton Bay.

I lightly pinched Cassie’s butt, and she squeaked quietly before sliding obediently off of my lap, allowing me to rise smoothly to my feet.

“These things,” I began, gesturing at the thirteen Standing Stones lurking behind me, “Are called the ‘Standing Stones’. Each one gives a different ‘boon’, with a few of them even outright granting a small amount of mana and the capability of learning magic. Cassie and I chose the Mage Stone, and tonight, before all of you head back to bed… I want you to choose and attune to one.”

Seeing that everyone’s eyes were on me, I smirked and turned my attention to Sherrel. “I don’t expect any of you to be me. That’s impossible. But we are Invictus. Unconquered. And I’d be damned before I let any of you ever call yourself weak. I told you everything that I’ve told you tonight because you four will be the core of this team, and will set a precedent. Everything we do from now on will set the foundation for saving this Earth and every single fuckin’ one before and after it.”

My gaze turned to Aisha, who was staring at me, wide-eyed, and then to Cassie, whose flushed face watched me with pure adoration and love. For better or for worse, they were hanging onto my every word with rapt, fervent attention, and I knew that I needed to make things as clear as possible here. They were afraid, but they were also brave. They simply needed something to hold onto.

“For now, we focus on building ourselves up, leveraging what training and resources we can to get ahead, and keeping the world from blowing itself up. Sherrel,” I addressed the mechanic, who found herself jerking to her feet and damn near saluting.

She fumbled with her hands for a second, bringing them back down in front of her body and clapping them together awkwardly. “Uh- shit, yeah? Ignore the cringe, I kinda got lost in the moment boss.”

“You’ll be acting as co-leader whenever I’m not around to make the big decisions. You think you up for it?”

It was an obvious decision. As much as I loved Cassie, she was not leadership material, and she knew this herself. Sherrel, however… Sherrel was a natural leader. She took charge during the Empire cleanup, she effortlessly turned Trainwreck into her own personal bodyguard, and everyone in Invictus looked up to, or respected, her in some way, shape, or form. I knew that I could trust her judgment and her balls, even though it hadn’t been that long.

Sherrel’s cheeks warmed, her mouth opening to say something, only to close right after. Instead of speaking, she merely nodded her head hard enough for me to hear it crack, a bright light of determination shining in her moist green eyes. “Mmhm!”

My smile turned into a grin. “Cool.”

Aisha lightly punched the emotional woman on the shoulder, snickering. “Honestly thought you were already the second in command. Congrats Ms. Badass.”

“She basically was,” Cassie smirked, resting her chin on her forearms as she peered up at the two. “We all listened to her, at least. Makes sense that the ones with the biggest boobies get the most authority!”

“And what’s that gotta say ‘bout our Jason, cupcake?” Sherrel snorted, ducking her head to hide the radiantsmile on her lips. “Boss ain’t dealin’ with milk like this.”

The hacker gasped, as if offended. “Excuse me? Have you seen his chest? Jay’s boobs are, like, hella frickin’-”

Alright now.

“Thaaaat’s enough,” I cut them off dryly, amused in spite of myself. “Fuckin’ perverts. All of you.”

Aisha grinned, wiggling back on the hood of the truck and fiddling with the mask attached to her hip. “I didn’t even say shit, boss. Kinda unfair to group me in with these old women.”

It only took a glance and a whisper for me to vet her honesty.

Aisha finds you irresistibly attractive.

My lips curled upwards. “Your depravity is sickening.”

“Ouch!”

But she snickered at my words, joined by a giggling Cassie and a Sherrel that still seemed embarrassed at the sudden promotion. The atmosphere, finally, was light again - even moreso than it was before I’d started this whole speech about the imminent and foreboding apocalypse. I hadn’t told them who the man that needed to die was, and neither did I tell them about my plan to jump worlds after I killed him, but something in my gut - my Intuition told me that stacking too much pressure on even strong shoulders could wear and break them down.

For now, it was good that I’d given them almost everything they needed to know for the future. Now, we could move forward. I could establish our home base, fit them with magical equipment, and train them - as much as I reasonably can - to better protect the homestead against villains and threats, both foreign and domestic. 

They would need to know more eventually, but the signs of exhaustion were clear. My people needed rest. And wasn’t that still so odd to think about? My people. My charges.

I returned my attention to my people as they were discussing the Standing Stones, Cassie proudly and boastfully reading off the descriptions she’d written on her CodeLink. She had the visor back on, standing proudly in front of the grinning women and silently looming Trainwreck.

“-The Shadow Stone, which lets you turn invisible for sixty seconds a day.” Cassie was saying, giving an interested-looking Aisha a considering glance. She probably meant it to look all focused and smart, but in reality, she simply waggled her eyebrows and scrunched up her nose.  

“When Jay told me about it, I got kinda excited… but your power is basically better than invisibility already, right? Trading things like actual magic or the ability to learn any skill faster forever for one minute of invisibility is pretty crap.”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna lie…” Aisha smirked, running her hand over the ring on her finger, “You already had me at the Mage Stone. Never really had the chance to play too many video games, but magic is magic. Think it got anything that’ll help me stab mofos easier?”

Cassie went to speak, paused, and glanced towards me expectantly.

Huh. I guess I was the resident archmage.

I began to speak, sliding right back into ‘lecture’ mode, “They’re called Nightblades-” 

Drip.

But a strong, incessant, damn near violent pull from my stomach - from my soul - distracted me, yanking me straight out of the conversation. The others stared at me with concern and alarm, their voices reaching out to check on me, but their words were muddled and blended together in the backdrop of my psyche as I drew down into myself. Nowadays, I didn’t need to give ol’ Grimmy too much mind when checking on the motes of light it dragged into my sea of magic, but something in me, something instinctive, bid me to pay extra attention to this chunky pull.

And as I closed my eyes, envisioning in my mind the ocean of stars and light that I knew was my soul… I was happy that I did.

[Quantum Transition Energy (Trinity Wonder - 600 CP)]: The portals between worlds developed by Sylvia’s father utilized quantum transition energy to make a passage between worlds. So why should you not be able to use mana or ki to do the same? By releasing large amounts of energy into the atmosphere and spinning it in a certain pattern, you would be able to stir the quantum energy of the world and create your own personal wormhole to another world. The size of this wormhole can, and often will, vary according to the amount of energy you feed it. 

Naturally, larger portals require not only more energy to produce, but also more energy to keep open. Different worlds resonate differently, so changing which world you are traveling to is simple. Similarly, once you have the coordinates of a world, it is easy to establish wormholes connected to that world. As a package deal with this, you are rather good at remembering world ‘coordinates’ so that you don’t keep losing yourself in the multiverse.

My tongue went dry in my mouth, my heart hammering in my chest with a mixture of excitement, anticipation, and triumph - a blend that I hadn’t felt in what felt like a very long time. I willed the Grimoire to give me more information about this particular mote before I fully reeled it into my soul, but there was no response - only the words that weren’t actually words that inscribed themselves unto my brain. Trinity Wonder meant nothing to me, as I didn’t recognize the name, but what this perk would give me…

What it meant…

This was what I was hoping for all this time. A way to leave this world, leave Earth Bet, and venture forth into endless adventures, where magic and power awaited me. Roughly half of my consolidated charge would disappear upon attaining it, but I would’ve used every bit of the juice I had to gain this ability.

Motherfuckin’ yoink.

As the mote of light was reeled in, nestling deep within my sea alongside other foundational perks, I allowed myself to come back into reality - the stars and lights and galaxies fading, to be replaced by the expectant and concerned gazes of my team.

“You got something else, didn’t you?” Cassie breathed, her dark eyes wide with wonder and curiosity. “You zoned out for, like, five minutes! What happened?”

Knowledge infused my brain. Information on how to bring my considerable mana into the physical world and swirl it into the fabric of space and time, weaving it through the quantum energy of earth’s atmosphere and enriching it all with my magic. I had no coordinates memorized, no inkling of where I would go, but there were ways to get a whiff. I wouldn’t know until I tried, but…

I straightened my shoulders, a new responsibility looming over my head that, for some reason, didn’t feel as weighty as I thought it would.

“So… I just received something pretty sweet,” I started, a wide, quivering grin cutting across my face. “Something that I’ve been waiting on for, eh, about a month now.”

“Is it somethin’ that’s gonna make you even more goodlookin’?” Sherrel harrumphed, placing her hands on her wide, childbearing hips. “‘Cause that can make a woman feel like shit, big guy. Think about us peasants.”

“Right?! That’s what I said!” 

“Nah,” I shook my head, breathing deeply through my mouth and out through my nostrils in a poor attempt to calm my racing, excited heart. “Nah. Nothing like that.”

“You gonna keep us waiting, then? Calling me depraved, you freakin’ sadist.” Aisha snarked, but there was an anticipation in the way that she shifted and moved from foot to foot. Or maybe that was just the undiagnosed ADHD.

I thought about trying out a wormhole then and there, but almost immediately threw the thought away. Too dangerous, and everyone was way too exhausted.

“Mm. You know how I dropped the bomb that the multiverse was real?”

Cassie narrowed her eyes at me, her fingers twitching. “... Yes?” 

“Well,” I licked my lips, feeling my mana thrumming beneath my skin. Ready to be used. “I just gained the ability to create wormholes through reality. Something, something, quantum energy. I can travel the entire multiverse now.”

…

Silence pervaded the hilltop for five seconds. Ten. Twenty-five.

And then-

“W-Wait, what?! WAIT, JAY- W-we can actually get married in Luigi’s Mansion?! WE CAN GET MARRIED AT-” Cassie.

“... You’re kiddin’, right? Oh fuck off, of course you ain’t kiddin’. Stupid sexy ridiculous man. Does, uh- does that mean you can bring me back alien scrap? Like some real fuckin’ CRAZY shit? Mithral? Adamantine? Vibranium?!” Sherrel.

“Dude. Hold on, that means you can jump through, like, anime worlds and shit, right? HA! Oh fuck, they are gonna eat you up. Buff black man with tattoos? Freakin’ NTR wonderland, hehe-” Aisha. Fucking gremlin.

And finally…

“Feh. Bring me alien scrap too.” What a boring guy.

As I dodged the majority of my people’s inquiries about my new power and pushed for them to accept their Standing Stone, my brain - the half that wasn’t focused on corralling Invictus - went through my immediate plans. 

With multiversal travel a tentative possibility, the timeline for everything needed to go up a smidge. Money wasn’t an issue, but the scrap gained from cleaning the Boat Graveyard could be sold off for even more cash or traded in bulk for equivalent resources - although I planned to store a lot of it away for Sherrel and Trainwreck. While cleaning out the Graveyard, I would need to terraform the hill above it to properly hold our new base - the hill was massive, and should be more than enough space to hold it, but I had a certain vision. 

Only, I wasn’t a fucking landscaper, so I’d need to hire a bunch of people to help me see that vision through.

Amy was probably awake now, as well. It’s been hours since I’d taken her from Carol, and although I knew she was smart enough to recognize just where she was since I’d been the one to save her, I also knew that she would need company. Company and reassurance. And magic, of course, because I did not plan to leave her out to dry while the rest of Invictus grew.

And Jack Slash-

Well, his time would come. 

I’d give myself a month. A month to establish Invictus’ base of operations, give them a foundational crash course in the beauties and wonders of overwhelming arcane power, and make sure that Sherrel had everything needed to run the group while I was gone.

Then, in March, Jack Slash dies, and I give Scion the middle-finger on my way out of his local multiverse.

Busy days were coming, but with magic...

Anything was possible.

____________________________________________________

Perks Accepted:

[Quantum Transition Energy (Trinity Wonder - 600 CP)]: The portals between worlds developed by Sylvia’s father utilized quantum transition energy to make a passage between worlds. So why should you not be able to use mana or ki to do the same? By releasing large amounts of energy into the atmosphere and spinning it in a certain pattern, you would be able to stir the quantum energy of the world and create your own personal wormhole to another world. The size of this wormhole can, and often will, vary according to the amount of energy you feed it. 

Naturally, larger portals require not only more energy to produce, but also more energy to keep open. Different worlds resonate differently, so changing which world you are traveling to is simple. Similarly, once you have the coordinates of a world, it is easy to establish wormholes connected to that world. As a package deal with this, you are rather good at remembering world ‘coordinates’ so that you don’t keep losing yourself in the multiverse.

A/N:

So... yes. A lot of fucking talking. A lot of things unveiled. We had to do this, because if we didn't, then it would've just felt ridiculous that no one knows what's really going on at this point. And I think it was handled pretty well!

Now - for the elephant in the room. The perk.

Yes. Yessssssssssssss.

The ticket to multiversal travel is right there. I'm so fucking excited about this perk, you have no fucking idea. It couldn't have come at a better time. Question is, should Jason try it out privately before making the full jump? Would you guys like to see a chapter or two of him just testing it out and going to some random ass universe that I roll for? Let me know.

As for Amy- we are moving to her next chapter! Once Jason, her, and Cass are on the same page as far as everything goes, we'll be getting a lil' timeskip every once and a while over the coming in-universe month as Jason works on the shit he was talking about at the end of the chapter.

Any guesses as to the Stones Sherrel and Trainwreck took?