31

Throne 5.6

"This is the castle of fantasy that holds many paths and wishes… Answer my call… Mold Camelot!"

-Shielder

April 29, 2011, Brockton Bay, Docks base, 9:00 am-

If someone had told me that mentally dying a few hundred times would be enough to knock me out for an hour, I would've punched them for scaring me. But they would've been right. All I remember is stumbling back into my workshop and then oblivion. 

The chittering of the endless swarm caressed my body for a brief moment before the smell of flowers filled my lungs. "Not yet, but soon." A voice called. The warmth of the sun coursed through my veins, heating my frozen body.

Somehow, between then and now, I had been carried over to DaVinci's workshop, strapped to a rather comfortable table, gotten hooked to several health monitoring devices, and probably had some blood drawn knowing how DaVinci works.

"So Leo, why am I strapped to a table?" I blithely asked, wondering if I should just escape.

"Long story short, the sword spirit carried you here, and then you began to toss and turn, so we had to hold you down before you broke something. Also master, I need to ask what the hell you were thinking?" My servant replied with a dangerous glint in her eyes. But unfortunately for me my mouth runs faster than my brain so I replied with,

"About the sword or the black barrel?" 

"Black Barrel! We designed that with the intent of using the master servant link between Mash and you! Anything else was untested and theoretical at best!" She yelled with surprising fury, I didn't think she'd care that much.

"Sorry, I wasn't in the best headspace." I said as an excuse, and she shook her head.

"Dammit, I'm supposed to be the little sister between both of us." She pouted, and my eyes twitched, "I guess I'll have to be the responsible one for now. Regardless, whatever happened in that room, it really messed with you. On the plus side you are very healthy, more than usual. Your circuits are significantly strengthened. If I had to make a guess, your output is similar to a higher end caster servant, even if your control is worse than a berserker. We need to fix that soon." The restraints around my body loosened, and I sat up, slowly removed the iv's and asked while nursing my left wrist.

"So no more fainting or aches when installing?"

"Not unless you do something like spam Rhongomyniad. Or, in your case, Albion… Master, is your Saber card Barghest? And your archer card Baobab Sith?" Leo asked with a straight face, and I just nervously smiled before clarifying.

"No. Believe it or not, my luck isn't that great." I replied, ignoring the fact that I managed to summon her, Voyager, and have Morgan and Melusine as class cards. "If you must know, my Saber card is Sir Bedivere. Archer is William Tell. Rider is Mandricardo, Assassin is Corday." I revealed the cards without prompting.

"And caster?"

"Miyu Edelfelt, and for now, I don't intend on using her card. Hopefully, her power will not be needed at all." I added somewhat hesitantly, learning who were in the cards was a shock and a half by itself, learning where they differed from the limits of the system covered the other half.

"Oh? Why is that?" 

"I don't want to play the part of a holy grail. Plus, she retains authority over class cards." I explained vaguely as I noticed some bugs that were in jars still for half a second. Taylor must be awake. I should speak to her about being a self-sacrificing moron. 

Leo blinked, and her mouth opened before closing. "That's a good reason. So a miniature Chaldea?" Universal genius strikes again. She correctly guessed what Miyu's noble phantasm can do.

"Yup, a trump card among trump cards. But it could also end the world, so I'd rather never have to use her. Anyways, what's the prognosis on Taylor?" 

"Whatever was in the potion, King Gilgamesh gave her stabilized everything. Her circuits are now fully developed, and from the tests there is no chance of any rejection down the line. If she was peak human before, then she's well within the realm of superhuman now, not that behind from your own enhancements. Nothing too exciting as far as comparisons to servants go, but she should be able to fight them." Leo said, handing me a tablet. If anything, she was underselling what Gilgamesh had given her. Her body seems to be constantly in a state of reinforcement in direct comparison to how it was before. If this kept up, she might overtake me in terms of speed. What the hell did Gilgamesh give her? Ambrosia or its original equivalent? 

"Regardless, you should talk to her." Leo interrupted my thoughts, and I flinched. 

"Maybe you can-"

"No. And unless you intend to waste a command seal, I won't." Leo cut off that idea from my mind before it even formed.

"Please. I'll let you build a tower or three." I tried to plead, but the deadpan look was clearly a giant no.

"Master…"

"Fine," I pouted, "I'll talk to her, not like I don't tell her everything anyways." The silence from Leo was damming in its own right. Now that I think about it, I hadn't talked to her, more like given orders and expected her to follow. Fuck me.

I'll give Taylor some level of credit, she's self aware enough to recognize when she fucked up. There was barely a horde of bugs following me as I approached her room, the door opened and Lisa bumped into me. 

"Fuck." She said immediately upon looking at my face.

"Yup. Stay, you'll want to listen to some of it, since you're already planning on trying a summon later." She stared at me, I could almost hear her thoughts scream. She shifted her posture ever so slightly, a bit more defensive. Why? She must be thinking of summoning, might as well warn her off.

"Are you blaming me for Taylor's decision?" She asked as if she was preparing for me to do something to her.

"No." I replied immediately, that caught me off guard, though I can see the logic. "She's responsible for her own actions, just like you and me. Speaking of being responsible, you and Leo will have to hash out some way of regulating the energy output for summoning. I mean it, don't try to do anything without Leo or me around to assist you." I added and she nodded. The surprise on her face was rather refreshing to my eyes.

Taylor sat upright on her bed, which smelled of Lisa and Amy, who was hiding under the bed. There were also small changes in her room, for one the bed itself was bigger than before, she possessed a new hardwood desk that had several papers and books stacked one on top of another. Lisa's laptop was there as well, unpowered but I had no doubt that I could find the charger and cable if I bothered to search. On the corner there were some odd plants and bugs, different from the ones I made. Did Amy make them? If so then, I'll have to congratulate her, we need better plant life.

"If I interrupted something I can leave and just ask you three to keep it down and make sure that Aisha isn't in the room." I quipped and heard some footsteps stop at the very edge of the door. Leo materialized, grabbed Aisha with the metal claws on her backpack and walked away. I had been joking on the Aisha part…

"I know I fucked up." Taylor started and I cut her off.

"Taylor, we fucked up. So let me explain a few things, I have a regeneration point in this base, if I die I'll come back to it. I never explained that to you or even tested it, but it works." I assured her, "That being said, I wouldn't have stopped you from summoning if I had known beforehand what you planned."

"You expect me to believe that? Marie, you literally kept me away to deal with Nilbog!" She pointed out and Amy slowly left her hiding spot. I sighed and explained,

"Mama Mathers. That's the reason why I wouldn't risk you. Sensory overload would be the beginning of what she could do to you, my hard counter to her was Vicky and you can ask Amy where I left them." I didn't add that plan B was actually getting shot by Belle and Quinn., she had enough on her plate as it was.

"You think-"

"She hijacks all your senses, not even AI is truly safe from that memetic hazard. This isn't a question of if you're strong or weak, or even me underestimating you." I cut Taylor off in anger, "The best chance I had beyond making a crater the size of the east coast was using a berserker install just to counter it!" My shout silenced her retort, I was screaming at a teenager… 

" ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME BOY?" He screamed, the fucking belt was heading down…

Fuck. I'm not that bastard and I won't take my anger out on her.

Breathing out I continued, "Taylor, I will only say this once. I am not Emma Barnes, I will never betray you. Mama Mathers was a problem that I had to take a risk against without you. Because she was a hard counter to you, me and 90% of the fucking parahumans." My words were tinged with frost as I literally drained the heat from the room. Tightening my control over that part of myself I let a few moments pass before the room temperature returned to normal.

"Regardless, you're a master now and you should probably learn this, all servants are bound to your 3 command seals, those tattoos that you have on the back of your right hand. Each seal is an order, become stronger, come here, use your noble phantasm, those are some examples. The variant that you and I have regenerates one a day, and you can thank Leo for that since she rebuilt the generators that allow for that." I explained slowly giving them time to ask, none of them did so I continued,

"Furthermore, the servant you got is King Gilgamesh, you know his legend and you should be aware that this is after his pursuit of immortality. You may experience some dreams of his life and I urge you to not use him like an expendable tool." I pleaded knowing full well how patronizing I was appearing to her, but Lisa also needed to know. 

"I wouldn't." She replied and part of me wanted to believe her, but I was reminded that she did try to chain me because she thought I wouldn't let her try to summon anyone. Memories of Khepri also threatened to surge and I felt Sylph help me squash them back to the depths of my mind. I ignored her and looked at Amy.

"Thank you. Thanks to you and your sister, several dozen lives that I would've had to take were spared." I revealed, most parahumans that had gotten into Ellisburg were part of the fallen, the few that weren't and held some sense of self preservation were… guided to them, if one stretches the definition to include running away from the mad woman shooting beams of death.

"So did they pay up?" She changed the topic and I almost laughed at it. "They did, although I had to make a deal and reduce the amount of money. I'll have to ask Lisa to wire you and Vicky $100,000 each, it's the least I could do."

"A $100,000?" Amy and Lisa said at the same time. Taylor's mouth opened but no sound came out. I hadn't forgotten that we still had access to Coil's fortune, Lisa was in charge of distributing it. From what I had read, she has been investing in various places thanks to numberman. Point was, our group was rather well off, but being able to just give out that amount was shocking.

"The Mathers family bounty total was around $500,000. Nilbog is worth several million, plus I destroyed his breeding pits and cleansed the land." I added, "Anyways there's a deal I took that I'll explain later." 

Deciding that I had shocked them enough I continued, "I'm going to be building another black barrel, if you want you can come with me and I'll answer your questions, or you can stay here and make out with Lisa and Amy. Whatever you choose, I'll respect it." I ignored the blush on all 3 girls' faces as I left. I made it 20 steps before I punched the closest wall and made a decent sized hole in it. I barely feel my fingers through the concrete as Brian coughs to get my attention.

"I'm guessing you're pissed, boss." He asked somewhat nervously. Am I that scary?

"More tired than anything. I had a realization and I'm not taking it well, but what do you need Brian?" I admitted much to his apparent surprise.

"Nothing much, just a favor."

"Aisha will be safer than you and me during the fight against Leviathan, I promise." I preempted the question not really caring if he believed me.

"That's a relief but it wasn't that. I need an assurance that if I die-" He began, and yet…

"You won't. And even if you did, I'd bring you back. I'm installing echo devices on all of the costumes today, I'm not letting anyone die Brian." I cut him off a bit more harshly than I intended. He opened his mouth and closed it before shaking his head.

"You promise?"

"Yeah, you have my word." And with that said he gave me a bottle of water and some aspirin. Small wisps of his darkness surrounded them and I drank them even if they didn't do anything to me. He soon left me alone again and I walked into my workshop, Leo and Voyager were silent as I began working in the second black barrel. Unlike the first one I made I took my time with it, in this case I hammered the metal out by hand while using alchemy to finish it.

The runic array was the same as Quinn's, the main difference was that I had lightened it by about 10 pounds. A knock on the door to my workshop took me out of my admiration for my handiwork, Missy or rather Vista entered without invitation.

"What are you doing?" She asked and I pointed at the giant fuck off cannon I built.

"Making a gun to kill a god or twenty. Why? You want one?" At least my snark is still working as intended.

"As if…" She started to reply before pausing. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Yes. I am a Tinker, if I don't arm at least one parahuman with the power to punch a god I'm doing something wrong. Though unless you got a brute rating hidden you won't be able to use one of these babies." Shrugging my shoulders I added, "What do you actually want Vista? And don't say that I join the wards or something equally as stupid."

"Why not?" Her grin gave away the fact that it wasn't a serious consideration in her mind at all.

"Because I'd probably spend half my time punching Gallant and the other half being held down by Armsmaster due to not being allowed to build dangerous things on the regular. Now, who asked you to ask me to join the wards?"

"Couldn't I be doing so out of the goodness of my heart?" She avoided the question by asking one of her own, and yet I couldn't hold it against her.

"Missy, you don't hate me but you definitely don't like me. My issues with your crush on Gallant aside, I did humiliate the wards when I went to talk to Mars. You have no reason to like me or want me on your team."

"Fine, it was Aegis who suggested that." She grumbled out before adding, "So you know all of our identities?"

"Yup, and before you ask, no I don't intend to do anything with that information. I respect the rules." I said with a straight face, her deadpan stare didn't make my eye twitch.

"No killing happens to be one of them."

"My mother was killed by Hookwolf, who only managed to get to that point because Kaiser and his empire existed; they also paid the price. Bakuda tried to kill me, so did Oni Lee. March also counts towards self defense. Plus the bastard son and his idiots were assisted suicide at best. And unless you're trying to convince me that sparing the Ziz bombs was an option there's not much you can throw my way." I explained my reasoning, although I was fully aware she didn't agree with it. Her body language said as much, and yet her face softened for a moment when she heard my admission of why I went on my spree.

"So the rumors of you killing Oni Lee are true?"

"... Actually, good point." I acknowledged and summoned Emerald into my hands. One swift transformation later and I tapped the floor, several runes became etched in a second, mostly to contain any blasts and Emerald opened the mirror realm. For one moment I'm thoroughly impressed as it anchors the location in the museum to here, the next a dried up corpse falls on the floor.

It was Oni Lee, the costume gave it away, even if most of the mask had been destroyed. The body itself showed intense levels of physical trauma, as if the muscles had been pulled out of the skin and then caught fire. The smell of burnt meat permeated the air for a moment before I waved Emerald at Oni Lee's remains. A barrier of mana formed above him, sealing away the stench. Vista managed to get to the garbage can and emptied out her breakfast.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't sure if he was alive or not." I commented as I approached her, she glared at me. 

"What the fuck is that?"

"Oni Lee after getting Bakuda bombed in a mirror dimension. I do apologize for that, I should've gone ahead and used some prescience to see the result." I mentioned while grimacing. Oni Lee at least deserved one last fight with me that wasn't just being dumped into another dimension to die.

"What the fuck are you?"

" A parahuman with that realized that she is acting like a know-it-all bastard and is trying really hard to not suffer a meltdown because of it. " I thought for a moment before saying, "Someone who just spent most of the night fighting a horde of monsters and most of the early morning dealing with politics. I'm aware that seeing a corpse is distressing, but at this point my mind is too fried to give a shit."

"So the news about Ellisburg being destroyed is real." She stated with surprise coloring her tone.

"Do you just doubt everything?" I asked somewhat tired of the constant doubts directed at my words.

"Well the livestream was heavily censored-"

"Livestream?" I interjected and she simply nodded.

"Uber and Leet, and the live stream itself was stopped after you began blowing the monsters up en masse. According to them the amount of gore was too much for the censors so they would stop the livestream and work on editing." She revealed without any hesitation, I felt dread rising along my spine. Sylph was laughing, Leo sensed my distress and asked if I was alright, Voyager was actually listening to Emily try to play the violin. 

"Please tell me that nobody heard what I said." I spoke while hiding the ever increasing panic in my voice. As much as I would like to believe I was convincing, Sylph's laughter was proof enough that I was quite deluded.

"You have a pretty singing voice." Missy admitted much to my horror.

"A…" Words did not form, I considered making a hole in the ground and waiting for Behemoth to kill me. Maybe building a time machine and blowing my brains out before I started singing would be a good idea. Rayshifting should theoretically work, I'd need to build a working model and coffin, no wait I need to build a copy of the world then make a pin…

[You are being overly dramatic.] Sylph chided in my mind and that snapped me out of my spiral. It also snapped me straight to anger.

" Well fuck you too. I'm so embarrassed, why did you let me sing while killing goblins? " I practically yelled at my shard in my mind.

[Like the spacefold host said, you have a nice singing voice. And we were enjoying it.] Sylph replied with unfamiliar calm. I could almost see her smug smile at my ever increasing shame.

" It's Missy or Vista, you know this. "

[True, but I'm currently trying to keep spacefold from panicking over your reactions. It is very worried and excited about the possibilities of more DATA… Understandable under the circumstances, you should make friends with her.] Sylph said as she showed me an idea to use against Leviathan.

" Fine, I was planning on playing nice with the wards anyways. " I replied as the idea of having Vista and Grue coat the city in darkness was a rather good one for providing an escape for the injured.

"Ah great, I guess my legacy will be marked as a manic tinker with a perchance for singing." I complained and Missy laughed a bit.

"Probably, though, what are you going to do about Oni Lee?"

"I'll cash in his bounty with Leviathan's." I decided and had Emerald drop the corpse into the mirror realm. A small part of me realized that the only faction left with parahumans that wasn't the PRT was the Merchants and I felt like laughing. 

"Vista, would you mind giving me an hour so I can finish making some gadgets? I'll listen to your actual question afterwards. And who knows maybe we can go and have some fun, find a break in or two and have a calm patrol." I offered, Missy's eyes narrowed for a moment before asking, "What's the catch?"

"Just some of your time, you listen to an offer and you get some shields that can withstand several train wrecks for you and the rest of the wards." I explained turning my back on her, I let Emerald go and I felt them thank me wordlessly. I still needed to finish the echo devices, make a mystic code for Lisa and… Taylor. A combat mystic code would be the simplest answer…

"Can't you Tinker with me here?" Vista interrupted my thoughts and I shook my head, "If you're willing to not ask me questions, then sure. For the most part this is just assembly, the more advanced stuff is ritualistic so any distraction could cause an issue."

"Ritualistic? What are you? A wizard? Witch?"

"Yup, tinkering is 60% space magic, 40% bullshit. So go back to Dinah, tell her I've calmed down and thank her on my behalf." 

"I…" She began to make an excuse and I interrupted her.

"You fell asleep next to her like it was nothing, which implies some level of trust. Either in her or in us, and you clearly don't trust me. maybe Weaver, but not enough to doze off especially when she wasn't here. So that leaves the former undersiders, and I seriously doubt you trust them, as well as Dinah. Who, as far as I'm aware, is a stranger to you beyond being the niece of the mayor thus a possible kidnapping target. But she is related to Triumph, and you do trust him." I explained much to her mounting surprise.

"Triumph being her cousin, and knowing that she works with me would allow for you to be secure in the belief that there's at least a plan B, as in backup, should I attack you. I'm not blind or stupid Missy, while Aegis probably did tell you to ask me to join you; Triumph probably told you to keep an eye on me and rescue Dinah or something like that." I explained my theory and her reaction confirmed it. 

Space began to warp and I cleared my throat, "Vista, I do not care what your orders are. If you want to know what my plans are just ask me or Dinah. Hell ask anyone in the base. If you want me to make you something, just ask me. No need to try and fight." I let my irritation wash over my words as the walls began to wobble. Then she stopped, as if realizing something.

"You said Leviathan. What did you mean by that?" 

"In a couple of days we'll be attacked by Leviathan. Don't worry, I plan on evacuating the civilians. And then making a throne out of Leviathan's skull." I summed up the future for what felt like the 5th time today. 

"Wait, I thought you were a Tinker!" She exclaimed, I suppose barely anyone is into self augmentation these days if it comes as a surprise. 

"I am, I just augmented myself to allow for prescience. And a brute rating. Wanna breathe fire? Shoot lightning? I'm willing to augment you as well, Vista." I replied after a moment of getting lost in my thoughts. She shook her head and asked,

"What's the catch?"

"You help with the fight against Leviathan. Your role would be mostly support. Between you and Grue, I can make sure to have Leviathan's eyes on me and the brutes that can tank a couple of his blows. That or set up a control field across the city to force him into a kill box."

"You seriously expect me to only play support?" Her anger was evident, and I understood why she has spent years of her life being treated like the baby of the bunch. She wants to prove herself to be taken seriously as a hero.

"Nope. I expect you to save people when you're not stopping waves." I stated, "I may be a bit arrogant, or even blasé about Leviathan, but he is dangerous, and for my plan to work, I need you."

"And if you're wrong?"

"I join the wards and become a slave to the PRT until I retire. You'll probably hear about it from Piggot tonight or tomorrow." I mentioned dismissively.

"Slave? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I made a deal which basically says if I'm wrong about Leviathan, I join the wards and everything I make, do, and even my image is part of the PRT. They say jump, I'm already in the air, they say apologize for killing Kaiser, I have to do it with a smile on my face. I would be the most psychotic murder happy ward kept under a very tight leash." A bitter laugh escaped my mouth at the memory of how absurd the situation was. There was horror etched into Missy's face.

"You aren't joking, are you?" She stated, and I merely smiled at her. I didn't get why she was angry, but a part of me appreciates it. "Dinah warned me about how you say the most ridiculous things and never lie." The space between us shrunk in an instant, and she punched me in the face. I blinked as the sting disappeared. There was pure anger in her eyes.

"That's for humiliating me in the Rig. Now what the fuck do you need me to do?" 

"What?" 

"What do you need me to do? You said Leviathan will attack soon, so what do you need me to do?" She wasn't angry at me… That's a first.

"Take a gene bath, get some physical and mental improvements, speak with your power, and assist the twins during the evacuation and the actual attack." I summed up as the door opened and Belle arrived, her eyes shone like twin suns. Oh right, the black barrel ceremony, I need to get on that.

"Uh okay, Missy I'm not going to say welcome to the team, but thank you for being willing to listen. I'll see you in an hour, Quinn will take you to the rig. Get a change of clothes and I'll set the gene bath in the meantime." I quickly ordered as my other robot daughter appeared behind Belle and grabbed Missy in a bridal carry and ran. Part of me wondered if they just enjoyed carrying people like that.

The ritual for binding the black barrel to Belle went off without a hitch. Interestingly it did confirm what I initially thought of them, Belle and Quinn are fully separate. Their roots are the same, yet they developed different egos, different souls. It took me a couple of hours to finish setting up the echo devices and shields for everyone, making the gene bath for Missy and starting the mystic codes for both Lisa and Taylor. After making sure Missy didn't have any adverse effects to the augmentation I left her at the rig with a dozen or so shields and some notes for Armsmaster should he try to Tinker with them.

"You don't make things easy for yourself do you?" Leo commented as we went over the composition for Volumen Hydrargyrum. "Recreating one of the Supreme mystic codes from basically scratch, and then giving it away. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Lisa needs something to protect her. I'm surprised you haven't mentioned Taylor's mystic code." I mentioned changing the topic. Said mystic code stood in front of me, since I had no doubt that Taylor would want to get the class cards; I decided to make her a kaleidostick. Although she should be able to use Emerald, I'd rather she has her own. Hardest part was remaking the spirit to maintain the sentience of the code… That and adding other things like an emergency beacon, echo device and shield, several guns including a rocket launcher and an emergency alchemy kit. 

"Not much needs to be said, though I haven't heard it speak." Leo pointed out placing her hand along the staff, and she was depressingly right. I know I did everything right, and yet the mystic code wouldn't activate.

"Yeah, maybe they're shy? Regardless, it is time to begin the process, activating the runic circle… Now!" I exclaimed and the world flashes blue then white. I can feel the drain of my mana and grit my teeth as I feel pins and needles across my arm and hand. 

Form is irrelevant-

Loyalty is absolute-

The mystery remains-

Bound until the root-

In the middle of the runic circle lies a single droplet of liquid mercury, I say droplet but the reality is that it could fill a single tea cup. It ebbs and flows freely through the air, there is no doubt nor hesitation as it loops over and over. It awaits instructions, I draw out a knife and it leaps towards it. 

"Okay, the hard part's done." I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding. Grabbing the other kaleidostick I head towards Taylor's room. On the way there I see Dinah feeding Judas, Bitch is eating something while Amy is writing on a notepad. Her siren tattoos are ablaze as she keeps a single cup filled with iced tea floating. Passing the other training room I hear Aisha fall to the ground and roll out of the way from Emily. Brian is supervising and though I cannot see his face, his posture is relaxed so no need for me to interfere. 

I reach the room and knock twice,

"Come in!" Taylor says uncharacteristically happy. When I enter the first thing I notice is the elegant stone throne that sits on the corner of the room, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires and rubies decorate it. Gilgamesh is lazily reading a stone tablet on one hand while flicking through a modern one with the other.

Lisa is several files deep into another investigation, and Taylor has several books open. I recognize them, my alchemy recipe books. Gilgamesh takes one look at me, laughs and returns to his spirit form. " One of these days I'll drop kick him. " I can almost hear his laughter in the depths of my mind as a reaction to my thoughts.

"So, what's up?" Taylor asks, again something is weird yet I ignore it over handing her the kaleidostick. Her eyes widen slightly as she grabs a hold of it.

{Master identified. Self designation Amethyst.} It said loudly, {I am at your service my lady.} Amethyst has a rather deep voice for a magic wand, that or Emerald is playing with their voice pitch on high.

… Why did I get the quirky one while Taylor got the serious one? No wait, focus on the present Marie; you can think of parallels later. Clearing my thoughts and throat I walked over to Lisa and said: "I'm entrusting you with something really dangerous, this is a mystic code. I've modified it so that it binds itself to you and your bloodline going forward. It is liquid mercury and it is known as Volumen Hydrargyrum." 

"Okay, so what's the catch?"

"You need to cut yourself with the knife. Afterwards, it'll bind itself to you." I explained as simply as I could, the silence was deafening.

"You're joking, right?" She asked, staring at the knife like it was a live grenade.

"Nope. It's that or we stand around in a circle muttering Latin, German, Japanese and English for like an hour, while liquid mercury is mixed into your blood." The blank stare of annoyance to horror was honestly satisfying to see. I glanced at Taylor who was busy either talking to her new weapon or to Gilgamesh, she seems to be pushing her emotions into her swarm by the look of her face. Lisa looks at me for a brief moment before taking the knife and placing her hand along the edge.

One swift cut later and she has her own mystic code. Liquid mercury pools beneath her shadow and rises slowly as a small orb, the size of her palm. It floats behind her before slithering down her arm and back into her hand. A small ring and bangle form soon after. She flicked her wrist and the items returned to being small orbs floating around her. If I did my math right then it should grow to a regular human sized golem within a week as both Lisa and it get used to each other.

A bright flash of light blocked my view for a moment and I saw Taylor with the kaleidostick in staff form. Her costume hadn't changed at all, which meant that Emerald was a troll and had me convinced that a fucking dress was necessary. 

"I'm going to rescind Emerald's internet privileges." I muttered as Lisa activated her circuits for a brief moment and the liquid mercury orb split in two, then four, eight, sixteen. Each circling around her before fusing into a tiny doll-like creature, the face itself was blank although it wore a simple dress made of itself. It was no bigger than my palm at the moment but I knew it could grow.

"This is amazing, I can even get some feedback from it." Lisa marveled at it, her left hand slowly reaching out to the golem. The golem lifted its own hands and grasped the outstretched finger of its master. I felt a small pang of jealousy, this was something I couldn't experience.

April 30, 2011, 9:00 am, Hebert Household-

"You sure know how to make a girl blush Marie. Even if you are dramatic." Emily said, her voice lowering to a whisper as she kissed me.

I woke up in my room and stared at the ceiling. I could feel the blush on my face as the vague memories of that dream faded. The small clock next to my bed showed the time and despite the looming presence of Leviathan's arrival literally darkening the skies, I was more nervous about what Emily asked.

"One date, just the two of us."

What possessed me to agree? 

Because I want to get to know her.

What made me think that the day before a fucking endbringer attack I could afford to relax? 

I deserve to live for something.

Something that isn't Scion's end.

Part of me considered just putting up my costume, going to the rig and breaking both of Sophia's legs and fusing her to a tree for a few hours to see her screaming in pain. That part of me… I hate it. Not the violence, no not that but the desire to just hurt them all. It would change nothing, it wouldn't even satisfy me given that I would want her to be hurt more as proportional vengeance.

I breathe out, my trembling hands slowly and deliberately scratch my arms. I can feel it, the way my nails bite into my flesh, muscle and dig into my veins. The moment they leave my skin heals leaving nothing but the echoes of pain. 

The rush of the water hitting my face awoke me from my daze, the sudden change of cold to boiling hot was soothing. My skin slowly turned red then back to its usual pale color, reminding me of the changes I had made to myself, the lack of scars, the telltale signs of me being an idiot that was constantly getting into fights, a piece of me hated it. However, this served as a reminder, a very constant and unavoidable truth. That this body was mine, that my memories were real, a mantra to keep me steady.

I heard Taylor rush downstairs and I put on some clothes, I didn't have any makeup, though it would've been odd if I had. My hair was as dead as the grave so it was significantly easy to make a ponytail as I walked downstairs. Outside was a nondescript van, I considered summoning Emerald, but instead walked out, avoiding the broken step and tapped on the glass.

Collin and Emily's father both stared at me and I flashed my most reassuring smile at them. Steven Cross didn't smile back, but at least he looked like he had rested, Collin stared for a moment before the brief sound of dragon telling him to smile cut through the silence.

Then I looked back and saw Emily dozing off with two guitar cases on top of her. Oh, that type of date… A part of me was disappointed, but I supposed hanging out all day was actually nice. Better than going around Brockton Bay for now anyways. God knows I'd probably take her to the pier and do nothing.

"I'll pick her up at 6:00pm sharp." Emily's father said, his eyes trying to drill a hole in my forehead with his glare alone. I'm guessing he doesn't appreciate the fact that I was outed, then again the only idiots that would attack me were the Fallen. And they are still reeling from the death of Mathers.

"Got it Mr. Cross." I replied, opening the door to the back and picking up Emily with one hand and the instruments with the others. One advantage of getting outed was a lack of concern over showing off powers, then again the neighbors were very pointedly minding their own business, so it didn't matter.

"Before we leave, I would like to extend an apology from the head of the PRT for Shadow Stalker's actions." Collin said, running out of the car and intercepting me as I headed back into the house. I nodded and walked past him, he was rather subtle about the little machine he placed on Emily's neck. If it was something bad I would apologize to Dragon for turning her boyfriend into a modern art exhibit.

Turns out it wasn't, a small recording of a conversation between him and Hannah, in essence? Even if I was betrayed by the PRT, they would make sure I wouldn't go down alone. 

"I did not join this organization to raise child soldiers!" Miss Militia yelled at Piggot.

The day itself was relaxing, Emily was calm, she didn't mention anything to do with Leviathan or even anything to do with parahumans. Instead we talked about movies, music, simple things, she even sang… It felt familiar, like a rope pulling me along past memories. I also sang alongside her, I didn't know she could sing kick back. Or that she could in fact sing with a deep voice. We spent hours playing instruments, only leaving to get some food and right back to playing. Would I be able to do this again? After Leviathan, would I even be allowed?

I didn't tell her about the dreams, the flashes of our other selves, I didn't want to make it awkward. I didn't want to suggest that her shard was slowly awakening, and that it was broadcasting things it shouldn't. I refused to think that the spice would show me futures that were never meant to be. I didn't want to think that the reason that she acted the way she did was because of the alternate me. That I could never be her… But I could be me, maybe I could even be a better me.

"I really enjoyed today. After tomorrow… Well not immediately, would you like to continue?" I asked, my eyes looking away from her face. 

"Oh? Asking me out for a date?" She teased her fingers poking at my blushing cheeks. Our eyes met briefly and I saw it, behind the teasing, hope. My throat felt like a desert, I don't want to hold it, I can't accept being the source for her joy.

I deserve…

No, I want to free myself.

I can be happy

Can't I?

"Yeah. I'll even buy you something nice." I promised with all the confidence I never felt in any life before. Her eyes widen and she hugs me, I hear the muttering of: "Finally!" from her buried face. My hands slowly caressed Emily's head, I could feel something inside me cry out.

" You'll get her killed!"

"I won't."

"Liar! It's your fault they're dead!"

" I swear it. I will protect her."

" No matter what happens, I will always save you." The ash falling is cold next to my words. 

The memory fades from my mind as soon as it appears. I can feel tears welling in my eyes, pain that wasn't mine, and yet so familiar echoed in me. "Thank you." She whispers as her face comes closer to my own. I see the universe in her eyes for one fleeting moment before Danny knocks on the door. Frustration flashes on her face far more than it does on mine as we both glare at him for a moment. At least the lasagna was good, garlic bread is the best thing ever.

After she left I felt empty, so I just walked down to the old workshop. I extended my hand and tried to project a hammer into existence, it broke as soon as it was formed. I had no talent for projection magecraft it seemed, a rather harsh realization that would kill my dream of unlimited blade works. 

" Oh well, I'll just have to make up with quality over quantity. " I think to myself as I begin the final preparations. 

"Fly me to the moon, so I can kick its fucking ass ~ " I sing to myself as I begin making ritual blades, emergency healing supplies like mana injections and some minor improvements on my costume. 

[This plan of yours is sound. I believe it will be enough.] Sylph added as she saw through my memories what we were going to do.

By the time late night rolls I sat upon the medhall building with my Ocarina, looking over the city. My city, Taylor's home… I needed to focus to believe in that. I grab a small tube full of spice and down it in one go. This addiction may kill me, but it'll kill my enemies first. The now expands into view, I can see all the variables and I grasp the string of fate that leads to victory.

"Call…"

I began to chant as my magic circuits ignited.

"Call…" my voice echoed over everything.

Brockton Bay houses over a million souls, each of them had a place here. A home, a small belief that they belonged here. In my territory, I would let them live in peace. An intruder would arrive today, he would fall beneath my wrath.

"Call!" I commanded and placed the Ocarina in my mouth. The song of storms comes as naturally as my own breath.

"I am the one who calls the storm. I am the Ruler of this land." The runes beneath me react to my proclamation, the PRT begins to mobilize as the rain I summoned clashes with the one Leviathan has sent our way. Far away from my shores, from my workshop, from my home, the storms clash. The runes beneath me lose their light as it spreads through the city and I place the Ocarina again on my mouth, the inverted Song of Time plays. I feel the pieces of the triforce resonate.

"Come Oh engines of destruction, challenge me for my land. The earth will not give you fruit, the winds will not bow to your whims, the water will be like sand on your throat and you will find no warmth regardless of flame. This is my territory, and it will be your grave!" Lighting punctuated my challenge towards the Endbringers, a hyper specialized field that would weaken them. An ingenious application of the synergy between the energy of the triforce and magecraft. Without Gilgamesh it would've been a pain to implement, mostly due to his specialized materials. Hell his idea of making Brockton my territory was genius given that by right of conquest I do rule it.

The troopers arrived on the rooftop as the endbringer alarms sounded across the city. They raised their guns in my direction and I smiled, several of them lowered their guns immediately, others just placed them on the ground and stepped away. I'm not that scary, am I?

The distant storm roared, I smiled and said to everyone over the sound of the endbringer sirens.

"GOOD MORNING BROCKTON BAY! Yes, I know it's midnight and most of you are asleep, writing fanfiction involving Panacea, Glory Girl and Flechette or trying to commit crimes within the range of my fist. Well good news for all of you, I don't have time to deal with your bullshit, as you have heard Leviathan is coming and we at the Avalon Foundation are offering a one time offer. We will evacuate you to Boston using our state of the art Shadow Borders, for the next 5 hours you, your family and neighbors can enjoy the luxury of riding a Tinker proof tank out to Boston. Then later today you can all take turns posing with Leviathan's rotting corpse. If we even leave that much left of the giant gator." Several of the troopers lowered their guns at my announcement, I jumped down the building and flew towards the beach, staring at the open ocean. Within the next few hours I would meet with the Triumvirate; Legend would do me the favor of making sure people followed my plan. 

The digistructed Shadow Borders roared to life across the city, I trusted Lisa to handle it alongside the others. I grabbed Morgan's card and focused, letting her consciousness touch my own as I installed the card. Frost covered my lips as I began cursing the land in order to harm Leviathan.

"Now then, shall we begin?" My question was answered by a roar in the distance and one storm met the other.

-Throne 5.6 end-