19

Chapter Text

Vault 4.1

-???, Dream-

I don't know how long I was fighting. At first, it was just a skag, then Varkids appeared, bandits and at least one claptrap. By the time it was over, it could've been minutes or hours, and my body, or the mental projection of it, was tired. Yet the adrenaline high still persisted. A tug at the back of my mind let me know that it was time. I closed my eyes and when they opened I was… Actually I have no idea, it's too green to be Pandora, if anything it looked like the Plateau near the temple of time. 

Sylph soon appeared. She no longer looked like a copy of me. Instead, she looked older. By a couple of years, at the very least, if I was remembering my studies of anatomy correctly. But at least I was definitely hitting the 5 foot range! 

" Hah! Soon Taylor, I'll be the taller one!!! " I thought for a minute before Sylph chuckled. She looked like she was having fun reading my thoughts, I could feel the attempt at distracting me. 

" Huh, I wonder if I'll look as good with one eye covered with a bang like she does. " The thought was odd since I hadn't particularly cared before. Yet they felt like they came from within me… Have I not fully accepted myself? I shook my head as an answer to that question. 

"I am Marie Flynt. I may have the memories of another life, but I am myself." I said in self affirmation, as if my doubts could be banished with words alone. Sensing my discomfort, Sylph began talking.

[Apologies for the delay. Payment was required for access.] Her voice was more human than before, yet I couldn't help but feel that she was forcing herself to speak like that. However, more importantly was the fact that she mentioned payment.

"Payment?" As far as I know, anything that had to do with the mask was already paid in advance.

[Correct. Power of sealing was beyond your capacity at the time, so in order to use it, payment was rendered to deities.] She replied, and my eyes widened. The trio demanded payment to use the power of sealing? Fuck, that's pretty bad, so I asked her with trepidation tainting my tone.

"And what was the payment?" Instead of answering she lifted the bang that covered her left eye. Once it was a sea of stars, now a single dot shined. The golden hue was reassuring in some ways, yet I couldn't feel some horror. She had given up her eye.

[An eye is a small thing to lose.] She calmly stated, yet I knew it was a lie. Shards lived and died by their functions, she had crippled herself! How in all the nine hells did Scion… Actually the man could have lost half his network and he wouldn't have noticed. I'm eternally grateful that the fucking space whale that I'll need to kill is that much of an idiot.

"But you're an observation unit!" I exclaimed.

[True, however, you and I are one.] She reminded me, as she approached me, where her feet touched the ground glowed. There was something different about her, less alien different and more she knows something I don't. [Believe me when I say that the loss of one eye isn't that bad. Besides, with you I can see far more than what I gave up in my main body.]

"Why?" I asked. Sylph looked at me in shock, her eye widened for a moment before she coughed. As if she had realized something I hadn't.

[Because despite everything, the Golden Path we once saw still endures. I wish to see what lies beyond it. Weird isn't it? That a path that leads to humanity being free from shards is the single most interesting thing in millennia.] She said with a sad smile on her face, [Besides I don't want to die. I don't want you to die as well. This way the path endures and the energy is faster to transfer.]

"So you're acting as an anchor?" I asked, though the term bridge would be closer.

[A bit of an oversimplification, but yes. This should speed up the process of the Triforce, and once that is done, I'll regain my eye. Until then, I would advise acquiring more allies. From what I've gathered, we are in need of them.] She lightly admonished me, I could feel someone calling me back to the waking world. I looked to the sky and saw the sun, it shone down on me and I felt a tug in my chest.

"Heh… Yeah. Sylph? I just want you to know that I am thankful for this." I thanked even as I began to fly towards the waking world.

[I know. Good luck Marie.] She replied.

-12, April, 2011, 1:00 am, Warehouse Base, Brockton Bay-

Shaper's tendrils writhed around my veins, fixing the damage my own power had wrought. I could feel Amy's thoughts as she looked up and down my modified genome, the excitement and the disgust were both palpable with every movement she made. While my eyes were closed I could hear the swarm chittering above and below me, I could hear Tattletale's breathing hitch as she realized I was regaining consciousness. I moved my index finger, up, down, up, down, left… 

I opened my eyes and saw Taylor's worried face, 

"Fuck." I managed to hiss out. Taylor's eyes widened, her emotions were sent to the swarm as her body language became very still. I can't allow her to do that. Not to me, nor Danny, nor the people she trusts. That's how we get Warlord Skitter.

"Hey, sis. Mind grabbing me a glass of water?" I rasp out, my throat feels like the Sahara, Amy is doing her best to speed up my body's recovery using biomass, unfortunately that makes me really hungry and thirsty. The words seem to do something to Taylor, a small crack in the mask and her gaze softens. I feel a shiver run up my spine, that isn't a calm Taylor.

"Your heart blew up." Taylor states with cold anger coloring her words. "To be precise, your body more or less began cannibalizing itself while your brain almost melted. Panacea barely managed to heal you." 

"Ah, that makes sense. Anyways I got a way to make us more or less immortal so long as we have some pocket money, so…" I dismissed her worries since I had survived.

"Marie! You almost died! Again!" She yelled, interrupting me. The swarm seemed to roar in my ears, from Lisa's face I could tell that I stepped on a landmine. The desire to build stuff began to fade as I forced myself to face Taylor. The softness of the bed almost distracted me.

I took a deep breath and barked out, "Amy, Aisha, Lisa and Emily. Please leave. Quinn, Belle, give us privacy, please." Once I had made sure that Aisha had left, I stood up, I heard my bones crack as if stretching for the first time, and walked 3 steps before sitting on the floor.

Taylor looked at me as if I was crazy, but she soon sat down across from me. I motioned for her to give me her hand and once she did I grasped it tightly and let her feel my surface thoughts. I never quite understood the idea behind it, but I can appreciate the effectiveness of Bene Gesserit techniques for forcing truthfulness.

"I know I nearly died. Twice even, once against Echidna and another to my own power. I know it very well Taylor..." I said, "Isn't it scary? All this power, all these changes and yet I remain distinctively human. Leto would be amused at the very least."

"Leto?" She asked, since I was alive I can imagine that Belle didn't tell her everything and this was confirmation. Which means I get to do exposition. Yay.

"God Emperor of Mankind, from another place, in another time. He saw the end of humanity and decided that it would not come to pass. So he turned himself into a worm that is a god. Enslaved humanity for millennia, made their very souls ache with the desire to explore and freed them from prescience. And for all his efforts I cannot help but admire the determination; since he, unlike me, forgoed his own desires. He chose the many, I will always choose the few." I remarked somewhat fondly on the contrast of his golden path against my own. I cannot allow Taylor to sacrifice herself, I refuse to let anyone shoulder that burden, all I need is time and some luck and I'll be able to build something against Scion. Or become a monster that can kill him, after all, eridium can create gods.

"... The spice?" She asks despite knowing. Her mind knows and understands, she knows well how the future is set and why it can be changed. I can almost feel her thinking, from what I understand she's considering how to ask me if I'm going to sacrifice myself.

A pale blue dot… Fire and death…

Memories of my vision are still roiling in my mind, and some things that have passed and things that have yet to pass. All that matters is that they're safe.

"Yup. Taylor, I know that I'm… Impulsive, emotional, unstable, possibly even a bit crazy. But I promise you this, I will not die, even if my heart stops and my body is reduced to atoms, I will not die." I replied with confidence, she looked at me as if I was mad. Which to be fair was a possibility, especially since I was beginning to notice how easy it was to let go of emotions, to reduce everything to numbers for data. Shaking my head, as if that would bury the thoughts,

"Anyways, it's still early in the morning so uncle Danny can wait until the sun is up to call me out on nearly dying. So I'll start working on getting us closer to immortality through science, magical space rocks and extreme violence."

"One of those things is not like the other." Her tone was snarky, yet there were some traces of hesitation in it. She didn't want to drop it, but I'm not going back to talk about my near death. There's nothing to gain…

"Like I said before, everything is connected. Now, would you mind getting Tattletale here. Before she starts looking at the mini-fridge? I really don't want to deal with a near catatonic Thinker." I said stretching my body, Amy and Shaper did an excellent job. Still hungry though, I wonder if I can convince Amy to make a plant that makes pasta…

"Fine, but we are discussing this later. And Marie…" Taylor began saying before breathing out in annoyance, "I refuse to let you sacrifice yourself."

Ah, not a question, but a statement. I smirk back at her and say, "For your sake, I hope you're wrong. Taylor, what's coming isn't pretty, I've never told you, have I? What I've seen and know, what has changed and what hasn't. And sacrifice is inevitable."

"No, you haven't. But the fact that there are changes means your visions can be wrong." She replied, a spark of hope. I smiled, my ears picked up a couple of steps, the door… Ah someone is trying to listen in. Aisha is one due to the dull headache… Lisa must be the other.

"For now? They're still set in stone, not enough has changed to make the ending different. Not yet anyways, and like I told you before, I will not be left behind. Also." I replied before yelling, "Lisa! Get your ass in here!" The thinker jumped back at the sound of my voice, the door opened, and I noticed that Aisha was with her and met her gaze. I suppose my glare managed to convey my thoughts rather quickly. The blank feeling left and I scanned the room again. Fucking stranger powers are a pain.

I had a simple choice in front of me. If I let myself drink more spice I could possibly figure out which is the better one, to lie to them and spare them fear. Or to tell them the truth and hope nothing goes to shit. Well more if we're being honest with ourselves, ABB going to hell and the travelers being neutralized early must've moved shit around. And not for the better, especially if my gut feeling that Contessa intervened is right. I also need to… 

Emily… What do I do with you? Did Contessa give you a vial? Were you there just because Cauldron asked? Just how far back does it go?

The heartbeat sounds like a song

My cousin and the smartest woman in the room both looked at my face in concern. I forced my face to become neutral. If I told them everything, would anything really change? Would I damn them? Can I even trust them?

"Right, this thing I'm going to do is a coin flip. And I'm shit at gambling. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained. What do you know about fate?" I asked with some dread hiding in my voice. I could stop, it wasn't too late.

"Marie, you've already stated that the future can be changed." Taylor replied, her tone indicating that she was curious to know where I was going with this.

"Yes and no. Some things are unavoidable, like Taylor fighting Lung." I said and I felt a weight come off my back.

"He was a clone." Tattletale interrupted Taylor's own response. Her body language is carefully curated to be neutral, yet the little things, like her eyes widening and her own heartbeat changing for a second are more than enough to ask the hidden question: How do you know?

"That wasn't the first time." I answered and I could see Negotiator working overtime, I could hear the systematic breakdown of possibilities. 

"Marie… What are you talking about?" Taylor asked.

"Let me tell you a story, there was once a girl, perfectly ordinary, her world was shit, but given everything? Life was relatively good. Then tragedy struck, and again, and again until she was betrayed by someone she trusted." Taylor stiffened, the swarm began to move but I continued speaking, "She triggered, hid her powers and prepared for a heroic debut, she patrolled once and decided to save some kids that had been told to steal from a dragon. Despite the odds she succeeded in taking him down and trusted the wrong person at the wrong time."

Scion laughs as Taylor's body is vivisected. I scream in pain and anger.

Turning my head towards Tattletale I continued, "A fox, who hated her owner, tempted the girl, promised her friendship and money. She fell for it, at first out of a desire to be a hero, then because the fox's team were the only ones who bothered to treat her right. They stole from a bank, Bakuda went mad, Leviathan attacked their city, the butcher, Echidna and the nine came and in the end? The little Warlord gave herself up to the heroes. Two years would pass and she would ascend to godhood for a brief moment, all to take down someone worse than an endbringer. She would let her power take everything that she was for a single purpose, to stop the end of creation, and in the end? She got two bullets in the head. Imagine my surprise when I woke up in a hospital, my mom's dead, and her suspicions turned out to be right."

"Y-you're not lying." Lisa stuttered out, everything about her was an open book for my eyes. She was shaken to the core, Negotiator must've given her more information from my words, and yet there was still something inside her that didn't break.

"Tattletale, I never lie. I may obfuscate, distract or even refuse to answer but I will never lie. Not to either one of you, both of you are too important." I replied, turning away from both of them. I managed to take five steps,

"Are we just pawns?" Taylor asked bitterly and I heard something snap in me. 

" How dare she? I gave up pieces of myself! I don't even remember my own face anymore! Why? Why? Why? "

Tattletale grabbed me before I could punch Taylor for implying that I would use her. What part of I care doesn't she understand? Just what do I have to do?

" I'm going to kill Emma Barnes. Damn the consequences. " That thought snaps me back into the present rather than drown me in rage.

"[Never. ]" I choked out both of them flinching in pain as the sound that came from my mouth reached their ears, I could hear my heart in my ears. " Never, Taylor. Just… leave. Please." I almost hurt her…

"Marie..." She began saying and I cut her off screaming,

"Taylor! I… Just leave for now, please. Before I say something I'll regret." I beg her and she actually follows through. It takes a few seconds but I manage to calm down enough to focus on the future. I breathe in and out and begin,

"Lisa, I need you to make a summary of everything that happened while I was asleep. If anyone from any known or foreign power has gotten in, highlight it. I need to know who I'll be dealing with." The sudden shift in topic was jarring, but I couldn't afford to dwell on my pain. She seemed to realize that and shook her head before flashing a more confident smile and asked,

"Are you guessing or?"

"This world. It'll always go towards chaos. If you hear anything about Fallen, tell Belle and she'll tell me. Any Fallen that shows up, needs to die. If you see a white van with a man who looks like William Manton, you tell me and prepare to evacuate the city. That means the nine are in town and I want as much distance as possible between me and Jack." I reply while burying my sorrow with anger.

"You're telling me that he's helping the nine?" The shock in Lisa's voice was evident, the swarm near me seemed to shift when my words reached them. 

"Yes. The Siberian is a projection of his daughter." I decided to spoil that part without hesitation, "Theoretically Fi, if properly empowered, should be able to pop her and Manton. But Flechette is our best bet, so get a dossier on her as well."

"We're recruiting from the wards now?" The amusement in her voice was very evident. There was an accusation in there as well, did she think I was like Coil? 

" Marie, stop being an idiot. " I told myself before I could spiral. It barely worked, but it was enough. Remembering that Lily and Sabbah were a thing I said,

"Something like that… Actually is Parian still alive? If so, see about reaching out to her."

"She's important?" Lisa probed with words trying to see the future or perhaps she was just seeing what else I was willing to spoil for her.

"Somewhat, I want to offer her a deal. I'll need to talk to Taylor later about it, but I believe I can get her to join us unofficially." I said and turned around, a bit of alchemy and I managed to create a decent desk, a chair, some paper, and a few pens. I needed to draw up blueprints for Belle to follow, then begin building a New-U station, echo devices, digistruct machines and finally eridium.

"She's staunchly neutral though." Lisa pointed out dragging me away from my plans.

"I know. But I still want to try, knowing her, she probably has a small bit of territory that she hasn't ceded to either the gangs or the PRT. And we are rogues as well. Heroic leaning, but not under the PRT. We'll need a bigger base as well. Anything else I should know before I start tinkering?"

"Panacea is staying with us. After you were unconscious Taylor managed to negotiate to have her with us."

I stared dumbfounded at Tattletale. My mouth opens but no sounds comes out, my mind is going at 100mph trying to understand the fact that Taylor stole the healer.

"How?"

"A mix of luck and careful timing." Lisa said unhelpfully, I glared at her and she chuckled before explaining, "Amy had called you, Taylor picked up and she sent a small swarm and your's truly to get Amy out of that house. Glory Girl almost took exception to that until Amy explained things, and now Brandish is enjoying an empty home since Glory Girl is staying with her boyfriend."

"And you didn't think to tell me that when I woke up?" I replied somewhat frustrated at not knowing and at missing the drama.

"You were in a coma." 

"Fair." I looked around as I said that. On another table was my costume, from what I could see and smell it was cleaned, though the master sword was missing. Did I drop it?

"Before you go? Where's my sword?" I asked.

"Your girlfriend took it off your hands. No one else was able to do so, so we assumed that you made it so that she could do so in a pinch." Lisa answered, I have a feeling that if she had seen my face when she said Emily took it she would've stopped. I bolted out of where I was, the sound of Lisa's voice echoing behind me as I burned through what little energy I had left. A bit deeper into the workshop I found Dinah eating cake on a bench, Quinn with what looked to be a giant mallet and Emily, with the master sword in her hands swinging it as fast as she could at the robot.

It was clumsy, easy to predict, even so Quinn dodged back and swung the hammer to counter. The master sword was shining as it hit the mallet. Glowing blue as if reacting to me, I could faintly hear music as I stared at the fighting.

What have I created?

4.1, end

Notes:

Yeah, I'm a bit late with this one. Sorry about that but I had several family emergencies and we'll storm season ain't conductive to writing. That being said the chapter itself is still unfinished, I'll do a mass drop of the rest of it later. As to when is later... I'm aiming for late July just to take advantage of the apparent calm and pre write more just in case shit hits the fan irl.

As always thank you all for your support.