Chapter 63 (Patreon)

Sonya sat in her office, staring at the small cluster of screens. The brief call with Bernetta had come and gone, Veloce would be in the country the next day. Sonya scrolled through the list of registered heroes. There were a few names she recognized, most of them on the right side of the war. The War. She closed her eyes and caught her breath again, her hand going to her throat. She rubbed her neck and let out a sigh, trying to put the images out of her head. She could still see Chunhua’s lifeless face in her mind, but it had been superimposed with the face of the woman on the television just a few hours before.

She glanced at the mirror on her desk, noting the faint stains beneath her eyes. I’m a damn mess.

She shifted her gaze towards the list again and kept scrolling. There were plenty of powers worth analyzing, heroes worth investing in, but that was all future plans. She needed to keep consolidating her power base before she went any further. She was established now, but there were complications that needed to be addressed before she moved forward into the next phase. An Set and Hyunh needed to go. They were directly antagonistic towards her public persona and that was a problem. She needed to cultivate an image of sterling silver, she’d done well so far but there was more to do. It had to be insane to even consider she was playing both sides.

She paused as she was scrolling. It was a huge list, and it took a while to find certain names while browsing for powers.

Stella Hanks was part of the first wave, unsurprising. She’s in Mississippi? I see. Liberty should probably be the next one I take care of after An Set. She would have been the first but he decided to make a personal nuisance of himself. I’ll need to start monitoring her soon, the longer she is left alone, the more dangerous she becomes. 

First Wind wasn’t on there, neither was Majordomo, Astaroth and Craftsman weren’t on the initial list of licensed heroes as well. She was surprised not to see Qilin as well, the woman had become a hero very early on in the past timeline. She had basically been traded with China like a sports star for- Sonya found Chunhua’s profile and froze. She looked down at her trembling fingers and clenched her fist. She shifted her jaw left and right and leaned back in her chair, taking another steadying breath.

Seeing her again had been overwhelming. I need to clear my head.

She glanced towards another one of the screens on her desk, it looked for all intents and purposes like a weather radar but it was far from it. She’d asked for a direct stream of the data that Amos was getting for the mana radar set up on top of the current ASTA headquarters. Her lip twitched as she stared at one of the dots on the screen. There were several minor dungeons in New York, nothing as potent as the one beneath Times Square, but still would be a problem if left unchecked and unmanaged. Firestorm's team was out clearing out the monsters in them while leaving the bosses alone. These dungeons would be the first that ASTA directly mined.

Her finger tapped on the desk, faster, her knee twitching, her eyes focused on one of the dots. Her lips pressed into a thin line.

I can’t concentrate. Damn it. Tomorrow is going to be hell. How the fuck am I going to get through that damn press conference like this?

A knock came to her office door and she jerked. She looked up at it and frowned, Marta? Damn it, did Amos unlock my door? That brat.

She willed the door open and looked back down at her screens, “Marta.”

“Amos-” She started and Sonya glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow, “-you figured that out already, obviously.” Her friend said and walked over to her side. Sonya tensed and dismissed Chunhua’s profile, leaning forward and staring at her hands. “Sonya, what happened?”

“Explaining it would be very difficult,” Sonya said cooly.

“Your mysterious knowledge?” Marta asked, half joking.

“Yes,” Sonya said, not even bothering to phrase around it. She looked down at her fingers. “I recently acquired a way I could share it in a way that is a bit clearer, but to be honest I’m not ready to use it.”

She was talking about the ability analyzed from the Chairman, of course; Share the Path. The ability had seemed very strange at first, especially coming from the Chairman. Some people had abilities that appeared almost tailored to their personalities, which led to Sonya’s confusion. Share the Path allowed someone to share memories in a controlled way. Instinctively she understood that it provided the images almost like a reel and in a compressed way, feeding the information over a short period rather than having them live it out in real time.

Why would a politician need that? It didn’t make much sense. Then a few thoughts occurred to her about sharing plans without verbalizing them. After that more ideas came to her and she realized that it was actually a rather useful and functional power.

Marta frowned but nodded, “I understand.”

Sonya let out a sigh, “I’ll share eventually, I just… need time. I need to clear my head, Marta.”

“How can I help?” Marta asked earnestly.

Sonya looked up at her and smiled, “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Sonya said a little more weakly than she intended. She looked back down at her hands and clenched them together. “I need you to pose as me tomorrow for the press conference.”

“I don’t know the material as well as-” She was cut off as Sonya reached out and took her hand. Sonya pulled Share the Path out of her warehouse and fed in the memories of practicing for the press conference, the information needed based on what she knew. She also shared how Share the Path worked and when she’d acquired it. Share the Path didn’t have to be specific moments, that's why it was a spectacular power. It could be hard information if she wanted. 

Marta didn’t pull her hand away as her eyes fluttered, then she gasped as Sonya released her hand. “Now you do.”

“What was that?” Marta asked, breathless. “Wait-” She blinked and tilted her head, “Share the Path, you got it from shaking hands with the Chairman. It… Okay I get it.”

“Can you handle it?” Sonya asked, looking up into her friend's eyes “I need some time alone.”

Marta nodded, “Yes, take all the time you need.”

Sonya smirked, “I won’t be long.”

–

Sonya stood alone in front of the portal with a duffle bag in her hand. She felt out her surroundings. No one was present. This part of the subway had been abandoned a long time ago. She set the bag down and opened it, pulling out her Ishtar gear. She changed and looked back up at the portal, turning on her helmet with a mental flick. She let out a breath. Uncommon-tier, not as far along as the Time’s Square dungeon though. It’ll do. She thought as she walked inside. She felt the buzz of the energy making up the portal wash over her and took a deep breath as she took in her surroundings.

This particular portal wasn’t one that replicated the structure it was inside but rather opened up into its own tiny pocket world. It still seemed to mimic its surroundings in a small way, though. She found herself standing at the entrance to a tunnel made of stone, a lengthy cavern that stretched forward as far as the average eye could see. She could see the end just fine, though, and of course the critters that had quickly scampered to hide when she appeared. Her smile thinned, it had been a long time since she killed a goblin.

She strode forward and set the bag on the ground, reaching for the knife strapped to her waist and slipping it out. She twirled it between her fingers and strode forward before stepping to the right and vanishing. There was a squawk of confusion somewhere down the hallway, five goblins, short, squat, pudgy creatures with large heads and beady yellow eyes, scampered out from behind the stones that they had been using to hide. They hurried to the portal and looked around, jabbering incoherently amongst themselves.

I don’t need full power for this. Just a little energy to disappear for a moment, Sonya thought, her fingers digging into the stone of the ceiling above the goblins. No need for uptime.

She let go.

Her knife fell like a silent guillotine, one instant she was on the ceiling, the next she was in the midst of the goblins. Blood sprayed from one of them, its spine severed down the middle. She pivoted and swept her weapon out horizontally, catching two of them across the neck and separating their heads from their bodies. The remaining two had just enough time to turn in her direction before a knife entered and retracted from their throats in quick succession. In a matter of heartbeats, they had fallen to the ground, dead.

She stood up and whipped the blade, cleaning the blood off and staring down at the corpses.

“If I use the bare minimum of my powers, it doesn’t seem like I strain my inner reserve too much. Going all out cuts into my uptime,” She murmured thoughtfully, “More than enough for these things.”

She glanced up at the hall ahead of her and affixed her mindset. For just a little while, she would be a scout again, clearing out the trash for the heroes that came in after her. She touched one of the bodies with her foot and pulled storage space from her warehouse, it vanished. She turned away from the remaining bodies and strode down the hall, blade at the ready, before vanishing again.

The next room had ten of the god forsaken things. Sonya didn’t fight them directly, instead throwing a corpse of one of the ones she’d killed earlier near the entrance. The ten goblins looked at the corpse in confusion, sniffing the air and yammering to one another. Three of them hurried over to examine the body only for a flash of white to blitz past them, cutting them down before vanishing again. The remaining goblins in the hall shrieked at one another before four ran over this time, a lot more cautious. 

There was a cry of pain, and the four investigators spun around to see that the three they had left behind in the center of the room were dead and on the ground. They whipped their heads around, trying to find the source of the danger as a pair of hot-pink eyes glowed down at them from the ceiling.

Sonya rolled her shoulders as she walked down the next hallway. How hard do I need to go for it to count as eating into my internal energy? She questioned. So far she was only using her enhanced speed and strength just a little bit. Most of it was her own skills as a scout. Do I have to have all of cyber punk active at the same time? She frowned, It’s hardly a solution, I still can’t go full power. I have to concentrate while fighting goblins of all things. She clicked her tongue in irritation. She shrugged. I’m just blowing off steam anyway.

Sonya let herself get lost in the carnage as she worked her way through room after room. The Uncommon-tier goblins falling for the same strategy pretty much every time. It wasn’t hard to confuse their senses with the thick scent of blood. They weren’t exactly the smartest creatures in the world either. As she fought and killed, she let her mind drift. She needed to figure out how she was going to handle meeting Chunhua, how she was going to deal with Hyunh, how she was going to find Otis, what she needed to do.

Even in her post-violence clarity she found it hard to come up with specific plans. Her mind kept drifting to Chunhua, to seeing her face again. How am I supposed to stay calm when I see her again? What can I say to her? Hell, I don’t even think I’ll be able to say ‘It’s nice to meet you’ without choking. All I want to say, all I want to get across, all I want her to know…

She looked down at the dozens of bodies around her. A level of slaughter that would take Firestorm’s entire team to accomplish in a similar amount of time.

“I missed you,” Sonya breathed.

She looked up at the ceiling, I’ll need to have Marta pose as me for the meeting. I don’t have a choice. It would be nice to shake her hand and acquire Lord of Jianghu, but I don’t think I can carry on a conversation with her without fucking it up. I’m not ready. I’m not strong enough.

She walked away from the bodies, deep in thought, Now what about Otis? I need to strike first. He’s going to reveal himself one of these days and I need to be the one with the momentum. What do I know?

She knew that he had tried to come visit Colin shortly after she’d acquired the lawyer. Out of curiosity she had monitored the security cameras of his old office and had seen the blurry looking man walking through the building, searching for Colin. It was strange, though, despite knowing who it was, her emotions hadn’t even reacted to seeing him. It was like he wasn’t really there. That damn power of his. If it wasn’t for her cybernetic brain, she probably would have overlooked him on the cameras. It was helping resist it, a little.

He was following his old path. He was coming. One day she’d see him face to face. Not now though, not yet. He hadn’t joined as a licensed hero, though that wasn’t surprising. He didn’t respect any authority beyond his own and the rules of heroes in this timeline were far stricter than they were in the previous timeline. She’d made sure of it.

She clenched the weapon in her hand, “My head isn’t clear enough, I need…” She trailed off as her eyes landed on the end of the tunnel ahead of her, a large opening that lead into an even larger room. The boss room. Her lips pressed into a line and she strode forward. I need more clarity. Fighting goblins isn’t enough. The stress is still there, the anxiety. I’ve been letting the stress build, time to get it all out, the restlessness, the anxiety, the worry. Let it all go. She thought as she stepped into the room and vanished again.

In the center of the room, an enormous, rotund, green-skinned monstrosity looked around in confusion before starting to pluck at its teeth again. Above it, a pair of neon-pink eyes blazed with unrestrained bloodlust.