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| CONTENT WARNING |
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| The following content contains depictions of abuse and discussion of religion, homophobia, sexual abuse, and child abuse. Please proceed at your own discretion. |
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| Season 1, Episode 8 | |
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| Air date | 11/8/20 |
| Written by | CaT |
| Episode Guide | |
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Truth X Morning is the eighth episode of Tech Cross.
Episode
The sun was starting to sink below the horizons of Liberty Park. Teresa had been training as Dupligato, practicing smooth jumps between increasingly smaller shadows, while Anne stood by and watched, providing an extra shadow here and there if needed. With the sky turning dark and thick clouds starting to roll in on the west side of the valley, they decided to pack up and go home.
If only it could be so simple.
The reality of the situation found them tied down by three issues; first, Claire had found Anne in the park, completely ignoring Dupligato in favor of starting an argument about something or other. Second, the sky suddenly became much, much darker than it should have been at sunset. Third, and much to the somewhat guilty relief of Teresa, aliens started attacking.
A squadron of heavily-armed troops in low-level Obsidian Death uniforms began to encroach upon the park and started threatening civilians. Now, this wasn’t much different from day-to-day life on the west side of the valley, but downtown in the center of it was almost unheard of, so it quickly turned into an issue.
An issue quickly resolved by a certain cat-like alien that snuck up on them through their shadows and used her powerful legs to deliver a sucker kick that knocked them out cold, but an issue nonetheless.
With some encouragement from Anne, Dupligato managed to take out the offending parties in a relatively short time frame, allowing things to calm down a bit. Claire immediately began arguing with Anne again, much to her chagrin, but she was suddenly interrupted as Dupligato scooped them both up and jumped into a nearby tree, trying to hide them behind the leaves.
A large alien somewhat resembling an old diving suit stomped into the area, covered in bluish-black armor with bronze accents and a bright red marking on his chest designating him as a commanding officer for the Obsidian Death. His name?
Impetus.
(that's the Latin word for 'attack' it's really cool you guys trust me)
“I saw you go up there, you know!” Impetus looked directly at the three in the tree with a disgruntled expression. “You gonna fight me or what?”
“’What’, if at all possible.” Dupligato winced. “I don’t think my kicks would do anything to that armor.”
“It is impressive, isn’t it?” Impetus nodded, thoughtfully looking himself over. “You know how much work it takes to get armor this thick? It takes years of buffing and eating metal-rich foods to get a coating as good as this. Just ask any other Sanquor! It’s tough as hell to do, but the results really speak for themselves, don’t they?”
“So you get where I’m coming from, then?” Dupligato asked hestitantly.
“I mean, I guess, but I still think you should at least try to fight me.” Impetus huffed. “You know how hard it is to get into a good fight these days? Nobody duels for real anymore! It’s a complete tragedy!”
“How is that a tragedy?” The CrossTrix beeped. “What do you get out of fighting people that’s so important to you?”
“The pillars that drive a battle, of course!” Impetus replied. “Action! Passion! Challenge!” He began swinging his drills through the air haphazardly. “That’s what makes me feel ALIVE!”
“Okay, but personally...I don’t really like fighting.” Dupligato said.
Impetus paused.
“Huh?”
“I don’t like fighting.” Dupligato repeated herself. “I don’t want to hurt someone if I don’t have to.”
“Eh? What kind of outlook is that?!” Impetus looked dumbfounded. “My squad was just out here roughin’ up the city, for cryin’ out loud! Surely that’s worth at least a little fighting!”
“He’s got a point.” Anne said. “Why not just telefrag him like you did with Igneoux’s rogue armor? Wouldn’t take too long.”
“I don’t know what a ‘telefrag’ is, but it sounds great for fighting!” Impetus smashed his drills together in anticipation.
“It’s not great at all!” Dupligato protested. “If I do that, it’s going to kill you!”
“Like I haven’t heard that one before!”
“Teresa, I get your hesitation here, but this guy is literally asking for it.” Anne pointed out. “If you don’t want to kill him, at least do something to knock him out so we can get out of here.”
“Seriously, this is getting-” Claire began before something clicked in her head. “Hang on, did you just call her ‘Teresa’?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Come on!” Impetus grumbled. “Just get down here and fight me already!”
“If you’re looking for a fight, I’m willing to oblige you.” A voice sounded from nearby. “Though I have to warn you that it will be short.”
Everyone turned to see Lucius approaching the scene with an EvoKey already placed into his gun.
“Ooh, is that a challenge?” Impetus revved up his drills.
“More of a factual statement than anything.” Lucius replied dryly, aiming his gun at Impetus and firing.
The bullet ricocheted off of Impetus’s armor and flew back at Lucius, who kicked it mid-air with pinpoint precision and transformed in a bright flash. The light faded to reveal Detonation, who immediately knelt down and punched a fist into the ground.
“The hell’s the point of that?!” Impetus charged forward and slammed into Detonation with his drills, sending him flying back a few meters. “If you’re gonna fight me, fight me!”
“This battle is already over.” Detonation landed gracefully on his feet and shook off the hand he had placed into the dirt. “I had already injected my venom by the time you hit me, so I remain unharmed and the position you’ve put yourself in is...precarious.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Impetus demanded. “I’m just standing where you were just standing!”
“Exactly.”
Detonation mimicked the motion of pushing a handheld trigger, detonating the explosive venom he had pumped into the dirt. The earth beneath Impetus exploded, sending him stumbling backwards a ways before he finally slumped over and fell to the ground, unconscious. Detonation cracked his neck and transformed back into Lucius, who looked up into the tree Dupligato was taking refuge in.
“Remember what I said about you being too naive for this kind of thing, Challice?” He tsked. “This is exactly what I meant.”
Dupligato grabbed Anne and Claire and jumped down from the tree, landing in front of Lucius.
“I’d have preferred if you didn’t have to do that, but I guess I should still thank you for the save.” Dupligato sighed, putting down the people she was carrying. “Why are you out here in the first place, though?”
“Ever since the airship incident, I’ve been keeping careful watch for any potential Triumvirate activity within the city.” Lucius said. “Lo and behold, I found some.”
“Wait, wait, wait, you just called her ‘Teresa’...” Clair interjected, pointing to Anne. “And you just called her Challice...” She pointed at Lucius. “...But that would mean...no, no way, it’s gotta be someone else, there’s no way it’s-”
Dupligato tapped the CrossTrix dial, reverting to human and revealing herself as Teresa.
“Yeah...” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, looking away at the ground. “I-it’s me.”
“You...you...” Claire stammered, eyes wide. “...UGH! I can’t believe you touched me!”
“Is that really your takeaway from all of this?” Anne rolled her eyes as Claire tried to wipe off various parts of her body.
“I see.” Lucius nodded his head, then gestured towards Claire. “So this one is a bit of a dullard?”
“Nobody asked you!” Claire snapped.
“I do not need express invitation in order to perform commentary.”
“You have any idea what’s going on with it being night all of a sudden?” Anne interjected. “You just kind of popped into existence when you got here, so you seem like the kind of guy who would know something.”
“I didn’t ‘pop’ into existence, I’m simply very skilled at moving undetected.” Lucius tsked. “As for this sudden change, just take a look at your phone.”
Anne pulled out her smartphone and unlocked it, her eyes widening when she saw the time.
“12:30 in the morning?!” She exclaimed. “What the heck?!”
“The entire Salt Lake Valley has just experienced a jump forward in time.” Lucius’s brow furrowed. “If members of the Triumvirate were involved, I think it’s safe to say this was their doing.”
“Oh, please.” Claire scoffed. “Skipping forward in time? How would that even work?”
“It would be fairly simple if they managed to get their hands on the data for a time-manipulating Evolvyrn.” Lucius put a hand up to his chin in thought. “The real question is what they did within that time everyone else skipped. If they were willing to go this far for whatever they’re doing, I’m afraid this may be a fairly severe situation.”
“Severe is right!” Another voice butted into the conversation.
The group turned around to find Impetus climbing to his feet.
“Are you really going to attempt fighting me again?” Lucius began to reach for his pistol.
“Nope, I lost that match fair and square.” Impetus shook his head. “I hate to say it, but I got too cocky and left myself wide open. A sore loser ain’t much of a good fighter.”
“Y-you’re really dedicated to fighting, aren’t you?” Teresa stammered, a bit confused.
“It’s only my entire lifeblood!” Impetus retracted his drills and slammed his hands together. “The most powerful kind of self-improvement is the kind you do under pressure! When people clash, they each grow stronger in order to overcome their foes; there’s simply no replacement for the adrenaline-filled experience of a real battle!”
“As long as you’re getting enough raw materials in your diet for your body to build itself up with.” Lucius interjected from the side.
“Well duh, obviously.”
“By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, was there any particular reason you and your little group of miscreants were causing trouble?” Lucius asked bluntly.
“Oh, yeah, we got sent you to distract you.” Impetus nodded. “Boss man got his entire mansion moved up here in the mountains. Didn’t want you finding out.”
He paused.
“In hindsight, I don’t think I was supposed to tell you that...”
“Well, what’s done is done.” Lucius’s pupils narrowed into slits for a moment before he regained control of himself. “I suppose it’s time we leave.”
“Time you wha-”
Lucius and the others vanished mid-sentence, startling Impetus.
“Huh.” Impetus blinked. “Didn’t know he could do that.”
Lucius, Teresa, Anne, and Claire reappeared on a road leading up into the mountains on the east side of the valley.
“Whoa, what the- where the- how the-” Claire struggled to finish a coherent thought, shocked by the group’s evident teleportation.
“Okay, did you do that?” Anne pointed at Lucius, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes.” Lucius replied.
“Are you going to tell us how?”
“No.”
“Yeah, that figures.” Anne sighed. “But why are we here? That alien mentioned something about his boss and you suddenly just...did whatever the heck that was.”
“His ‘boss’ happens to be my father.” Lucius replied bluntly. “The man behind a large-scale illegal arms trading organization that operated some years ago.”
“Oh.” Anne blinked. “You, uh...here to see him?”
“I’m here to kill him.” Lucius’s eyes narrowed.
Anne just stared at him in silence for a moment.
“...Could you elaborate on that for me?”
“People like my father are lower than cockroaches, pure filth whose only purpose is to drag the rest of humanity down with them.” Lucius hissed, clenching a fist to punctuate his statement. “Their endless campaigns of destruction cannot and should not be tolerated.”
“And yet here we stand today.” A voice came out of the shadows surrounding them. “You clearly weren’t thorough enough in your intolerance.”
The group turned to find a pale middle-aged man with white hair wearing an all-white suit approaching them, carrying a matching pure white parasol. Anne noticeably stiffened, prompting a worried look from Teresa.
“I wouldn’t have expected to see you here of all places, Messias.” Lucius scowled. “Seems a little non-gentrified for you.”
“I’m just here on a business visit.” The man in white replied, wiping some dust off of his suit. “If I could have done it remotely, I would, but your father evidently believes everyone on Earth has his wires tapped at all times. Cautious to a fault, but I suppose it’s worked out for him, seeing as how you only seem to be trying to find him now.”
“You knew he was alive?” Lucius bristled at the comment.
“Knew? Lucius, Lucius, Lucius, I’m the reason he’s alive.” Messias lazily shook his head. “You didn’t really think he came out on the other side of that little incident with his body intact, do you? I needed to test some new products, so I took the opportunity to give him some...extensive replacements, to say the least.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, you know Joshua Messias?” Claire stared at Lucius with an expression of disbelief. “What’s going on here?”
“He runs the largest shadow conglomerate of corporations in the world.” Lucius replied without breaking eye contact with Messias. “Suffice to say he’s a competitor and leave it at that.”
“Calling me a ‘competitor’ implies there’s some sort of legitimate competition between us.” Messias tsked. “Your little startup is nowhere near reaching my levels of prominence.”
“If that’s what helps you sleep at night, you’re free to believe it.” Lucius shot back before turning his attention to Claire. “That said, as opposed to me, you’re an average high school student. Why exactly would you know about him?”
“He used to be the bishop of our ward.” Claire answered, looking a bit shaken. “He only moved away a few years ago.”
“I’m surprised to see you here, Claire.” Messias said. “Am I safe in assuming you’re still carrying out the work of casting out wicked influences?”
“Y-yeah.” Claire stammered out in response. Her body language had completely changed as he spoke, going from her usual aggressive demeanor to a passive, frightened personality, something Teresa noted as being nearly identical to her own.
“Very good, very good.” Messias nodded his head with a look of smug satisfaction. “I see you’re still friends with Annabelle.”
“W-well, we’re kind of having a rough patch right now.” Claire mumbled.
“Is that so?” Messias raised an eyebrow and approached Anne, lifting up her chin to get a better look at her face. “Tell me, what seems to be troubling you two lately?”
Anne said nothing, refusing to make eye contact with him. After a tense moment of silence, he simply sighed and turned his attention to Teresa.
“Now you, my dear, I know perfectly well that we’ve never met.” He began extending his hand toward her with the intent to stroke her face. “I’d remember someone with your...assets.”
Teresa leaned back from his approaching hand, shifting uncomfortably in place. All of a sudden, Anne grabbed Messias’s arm in a death grip and threw it down, away from Teresa.
“Touch her and I will crack your skull open myself.” Anne hissed.
“...And I see you still have that nasty attitude of yours.” Messias wrenched his arm out of Anne’s grasp. “My business here is done anyway, so I suppose I’ll be leaving.”
“Not so fast.” Lucius said. “What exactly was your business here to begin with?”
“I simply struck up a business deal with your father’s organization.” Messias waved him off. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Why would you do that?” Lucius scoffed. “We both know my father is an unstable asset at best.”
“Unstable, but very powerful, especially with this new ‘Triumvirate’ of his.” Messias tapped the side of his head knowingly. “Even if a gun is unreliable, it’s much safer to have it in your hand than it is to leave it unsupervised.”
“I see.” Lucius said. “In any case, I’d recommend not interfering this time. It’s more beneficial to me that he stays gone.”
“I don’t need to interfere, so do whatever you feel you must.” Messias shrugged, unconcerned. “In fact, I’m interested in seeing how my technology performs against your abilities. If I were responsible for developing the equipment necessary to destroy you for good, well, I’d certainly be pleased.”
With that, Messias walked off into the night, leaving the group with a sickly atmosphere.
“Messias being involved clinches it.” Lucius turned to the others. “I’m sending you three home before anything else happens.”
“Hang on, do you even know where we li-”
Anne’s question was cut off as she, Teresa, and Claire all disappeared.
“And that takes care of that.” Lucius cracked his neck. “Here’s hoping I won’t run into anyone else tonight.”
“Lucius?” Christine squinted at him. “What are you doing here?”
“It appears my earlier statement was inversely predictive.”
Christine and Lucius stood outside of a large, ornate mansion buried in the woods filling out the mountainside. Christine had already been there when Lucius arrived, using a pair of technologically-enhanced binoculars to get a closer look at the mansion from behind a nearby tree.
“Excuse me?” Christine looked confused.
“Never mind.” Lucius waved off the inquiry. “At any rate, I’m here because my father is here. I could ask you the same thing.”
“Your father is a wanted international criminal and I’m the chief of the Global Police.” Christine replied flatly.
“I suppose that would explain it.” Lucius looked carefully at their surroundings. “That said, for someone who claims to be the chief of police, you don’t seem to have your crew with you very often.”
“They’re usually busy handling something else.” Christine sighed. “I don’t know what’s been going on lately, but things have suddenly gotten wild out there. It’d be easy to blame it on the poor handling of the EvoLock system, but crimes committed by Evolvyrn users aren’t even scratching the surface of what we’ve been dealing with.”
“I’d be willing to bet that this ‘Triumvirate” my father has formed has something to do with it.” Lucius proposed.
“Maybe, but it’s gonna be a while before we can get enough evidence to actually prove that.” Christine replied. “What we do have a mountain of evidence for, on the other hand, is your dad being a dangerous psychopath that needs to be apprehended ASAP.”
“Understandable.” Lucius began approaching the mansion. “Just don’t get in my way.”
“Hang on a second, I haven’t finished scoping out the place!” Christine ran over to him. “We don’t know what’s in there!”
“We know my father is in there, and that’s all we need to know.” Lucius waved her off and kicked in the front door, letting himself into the building.
“Lucius, this place shouldn’t even exist.” Christine protested, following him in. “Last time I saw it, it went up in flames!”
“Those weren’t normal flames.” Lucius tsked. “They wouldn’t have an effect on the mansion itself.”
“How would that even-” Christine took a deep breath to calm herself down. “You know what, okay, I can roll with that, aliens exist, anything’s possible, but that still raises the question of how exactly it ended up here."
“You just answered your own question.” Lucius remarked dryly. “There are at least two Evolvyrns that could accomplish moving the entire building at once, and who knows how many more actual species.”
Christine moved to reply, but paused as the two entered the main hall of the mansion. True to what Lucius had said, the inside of the mansion was very much intact. A large flight of marble stairs splitting off in two directions sat in the center of the hall, with doors to various rooms lining the bottom level of the room. Diamond-patterned purple carpeting covered most of the house’s polished hardwood floor, softly illuminated by curved lamps that dotted the walls near the ceiling.
“This place feels...alive.” Christine noted, unable to shake the feeling that some sort of presence was watching them right now.
“It is.” Lucius stated matter-of-factly. “I’ve been unable to discover how or why, but this mansion seems to have developed a soul of its own some centuries ago. It’s what made it such an ideal place for my father to channel the powers he used to create his offspring. Including me, I suppose.”
“’Create’ his offspring?” Christine questioned. “In a metaphorical sense, or-”
“No, in a quite literal sense; we’re all related to him by blood, but he relied on otherworldly forces to make us.” Lucius’ expression grew dark. “He would seek out women with specific qualities and have them kidnapped and brought to this mansion. At that point he would force himself on them until they provided him a son to be used for the rituals. Daughters would be used as sacrifices. As each son inevitably proved not to meet his standards, he would execute the current woman and search out another one until he eventually received...me.”
“Some of that I already knew from the case file, but what do you mean ‘us’?” Christine raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling me you have surviving siblings out there?”
“Twelve of them, to be specific.” Lucius sounded a bit exasperated, as if this information should have been obvious. “All half-brothers, of course, if you needed that spelled out for you too.”
“Don’t get snippy with me, Raivent.” Christine’s expression soured. “The GP had no reason to believe your father of all people would allow failed subjects to live.”
“It’s less that he ‘allowed them to live’ and more that he couldn’t kill them.” Lucius explained. “When you’re trying to create the ultimate weapon, even your so-called ‘failures’ tend to be quite formidable.”
Lucius paused for a moment to concentrate, eventually opening his eyes and looking down at the floor.
“As I expected.” He tsked. “He’s down in the basement.”
“Alright, that makes things a lot more simple.” Christine perked up and started cracking her knuckles. “Time to get this son of a bitch.”
“Why are you so passionate about this?” Lucius raised an eyebrow. “My father is my problem, not yours.”
“This might come as a shock, Raivent, but not everything is about you.” Christine scowled. “This man might be your father, but he’s committed crimes against humanity as a whole.”
“And what about that makes it your responsibility?”
Christine gave Lucius a flat glare, pointedly gesturing at the plate on her vest that read “POLICE”.
“Again, last time I checked, I was the GP’s commanding officer.” Christine retorted. “I know it’s a foreign concept to Americans, but most of the time, the police are supposed to help people. I was in charge of this case when it started, and I’m going to see it through.”
“...Fair enough, I suppose.”
Teresa, Anne, and Claire popped back into existence on a road running through the west side of the valley, generally in the area of where they lived but not exactly a short walk away from it either. The specific place they ended up in hadn’t seen much development yet, mostly being a single small road surrounded on either side by empty grass fields and a few overgrown trees. Thick clouds began to cover the moon, casting the entire area into darkness.
“...I guess that answers that question.” Anne sighed after looking around for a moment. “Teresa, do you think we could use that bullet train thing to get home?”
“Y-yeah, I-”
“Hold on a minute!” Claire snappily interjected. “You’re insane if you think I’m going anywhere with this, this...this queer!”
“Claire, this is really not the time.” Anne snapped at her. “We’re out here alone in the middle of nowhere after dark. Teresa can get us home safely. This shouldn’t even be up for debate.”
“Safely? Do you really trust someone like her to look after you?” Claire snorted, jabbing a disdainful thumb at Teresa.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anne narrowed her eyes.
“Please, you know exactly what I mean.” Claire huffed. “Her kind are nothing more than perverts, through and through. Heck, she’s probably even worse than Messias.”
Anne suddenly punched Claire in the face, sending her stumbling back a little. It wasn’t a particularly strong blow, but it got the point across nonetheless, with Claire staring at her afterwards in shock.
“Anne, what the-”
“Don’t you ever say anything like that again!” Anne yelled with an infuriated snarl. “You have no idea! No idea what kind of harm Messias’s actions do to people! You have no right to even imply something like that! None!”
Claire was stunned into silence. She had never seen Anne get this angry before, especially not at her. Teresa walked up to Anne, a bit shaken herself, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“A-Anne, it’s okay.” She tried to calm her down. “It’s-”
“Damn it, Teresa, it’s not ‘okay’!” Anne shoved her hand off and turned around to look at her with a weary expression. “None of this is ‘okay’! It’s not just taking a dig at you, it’s downplaying what happened to me! Even if it was just taking a dig at you, it still wouldn’t be okay! I know you don’t like fighting, and I know you don’t like to get mad, but you can’t always just sit there and take the abuse! Sometimes being angry is the right response!”
“That’s the exact sort of talk I’d expect to hear from you, Annabelle.” A voice sounded from behind them. “Disappointing.”
The three of them whipped around to find Joshua Messias standing a few meters away, lazily twirling his parasol.
“I’ll warn you of something right now:” Messias declared. “This night will go by a lot easier for all of us if you drop the attitude.”
As Lucius and Christine ventured deeper into the halls of the mansion, the environment around them slowly began to grow more grim. Ancient symbols and signs were intermittently carved into the walls, creating rips in the dark violet wallpaper. Long-dried stains of blood gradually became a more common sight, while the ends of these hallways seemed to become more sparse.
“Okay, the mansion was big on the outside, but not this big.” Christine noted as they entered another unnaturally long hall. “Some sort of space distortion?”
“To an extent.” Lucius answered. “It’s more of a pocket dimension created by the house itself.”
“Right, right, forgot the house is alive.” Christine pinched the bridge of her nose frustratedly. “Is there anything else I need to know about this place?”
As if to answer her question, a door they had just passed by slammed open, creating an impossibly strong pressure vacuum that seemed to drag her into the room, knocking her over in the process.
“What the hell?” Christine grunted as she climbed to her feet. She began to look around the room, and froze in sudden horror as she caught sight of its contents.
Without even looking, Lucius grabbed her arm and yanked her back into the hallway, slamming the door behind him.
“You really shouldn’t ask questions the house might answer for you.”
“What...” Christine tried to choke down the bile rising in her throat. “The fuck. Was that?”
“That is what my father did to the women he abducted after they had outlived their usefulness to him; usually once the sons they bore him turned around four years old.” Lucius replied in a flat tone. “He made us watch.”
“He what?”
“You said it yourself.” Lucius waved her off. “My father is a dangerous psychopath. He wanted to make us as twisted as he was. This shouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Lucius, I need to ask you for a favor.” Christine’s expression slowly changed from a horrified star to a dark scowl. “I’m here to arrest your father. In theory, that’s what the police are supposed to do in these situations; apprehend someone and bring them in for a judgment from their peers in a court of law. That said...”
Christine almost punched the wall next to them, narrowly reminding herself of the fact that attacking a living building would more likely than not make it hostile.
“If I fuck up and murder the son of a bitch with no pretext...” She continued, grinding her teeth. “Try not to hold it against me.”
“M-Messias?!” Claire stammered. “How did you get here?!”
“Industry secret, I’m afraid.” Messias answered. “Not that it’s even particularly relevant right now.”
“What do you want?” Anne glared, putting her arms out to shield Teresa and Claire.
“Don’t you know it’s dangerous for three young women to be out alone at this time of night?” Messias continued spinning his parasol.
“What are you implying?” Anne’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m not ‘implying’ anything.” Messias looked her dead in the eyes. “You already know what I’m about.”
Messias began to approach. Anne allowed him to get within striking range before suddenly jumping forward and sucker-punching him underneath the chin. He tripped over backwards, uninjured by the blow, but caught off-guard nonetheless. As he stood up, Anne caught sight of a silver BootLock falling out of his coat pocket, something Messias didn’t seem to notice.
“Alright, I suppose that one’s on me.” Messias tsked, dusting off his suit. “I should have expected some resistance from you.”
“Unfortunately for you, I’m not a defenseless kid anymore.” Anne snarled. “I wasn’t kidding about crushing your skull earlier.”
“I’m sure you weren’t, but the point is a bit moot.” Messias cracked his neck. “You’ve noticed what happened to your hand, right?”
Teresa looked over at the hand Anne had hit Messias with; the skin was bruised and her knuckles were bleeding.
“I don’t get it.” Anne hissed, clenching her fists tighter. “What are you?!”
“I am a man of integrity, brat.” Messias rolled up his sleeves, which was followed by his arms breaking apart into mechanical panels and reconfiguring themselves into energy cannons before converting back again. “If I cannot believe in my power to perfect humanity, then expecting others to follow suit is a bit pointless, isn’t it?”
Messias kicked over Anne and Claire, the sheer force of the blow breaking several of their ribs and sending them tumbling to the ground.
“Now, the sooner you allow this to happen, the sooner we can all go home.” Messias looked down at them. “I don’t think anyone here wants this go on any longer than it has t-”
Messias stopped talking as he realized that there were only two people on the ground in front of him.
“Hold on a moment, where did the other one-”
The ear-piercing sound of clashing metal suddenly filled his entire body, violently fluctuating in pitch and tone. The abrupt shock momentarily paralyzed him, freezing him in place. Burstbox stood behind him, having firmly planted the emitters at the end of her arms into his back.
“Teresa!” Anne exclaimed.
Whether Burstbox even heard her speak was debatable. Sheer fury had blinded her to the outside world, and all she could think of at the moment was funneling that rage directly into the sound currently tearing at Messias’s body. Unfortunately, she didn’t get very far before Messias managed to form his left arm into a cannon and swivel it 180 degrees to blast a hole through her side. Forced to hastily grab at the CrossTrix dial and detransform, she was promptly kicked in the gut by Messias, who took the opportunity to grab her by the scalp and throw her into the ground.
“Trying to play hero, you insolent piece of trash?!” Messias hissed through his teeth, shaking with rage as the cracks in his plating created by the noise became more visible. “You would have been better off running!”
Before Teresa could get back up, Messias punted her against the base of a nearby tree, knocking the wind out of her. As she gasped for air with her back against the tree, Messias walked over and began furiously kicking her in the gut. She began choking up blood as the sickening crunch of bones snapping could be heard with every kick.
“How dare you?!” Messias had a wild look in his eyes, accentuating every word with another kick. “HOW DARE YOU?!”
“Please, stop!” Anne yelled as she attempted to stand up, only to fall back down writhing in pain as one of her broken ribs pierced her skin. “STOP IT, MESSIAS!”
“BE QUIET!” Messias roared, visibly deranged.
Teresa’s world began to go dark. She could faintly hear the CrossTrix talking to her, trying to keep her awake, but it was largely drowned out by the deafening ringing her ears and the taste of blood in her mouth.
All of a sudden, the kicking stopped. Teresa forced open her eyes, blurrily catching the sight of Messias reeling over backwards with one of his legs missing below the knee. A black-suited alien with silver markings and purple highlights stood over her, facing Messias with her arms in a defensive position.
“This is your final warning, Messias.” The alien hissed. “Leave.”
“What on Earth-” Messias patted down his pockets, finally realizing that his lock was missing. “How did you get that?!”
“It fell out of your coat when I knocked you over earlier.” The alien replied. “You were too busy gloating about your body to notice. Even with my ribs broken, I was still able to crawl over to it.”
It suddenly clicked in Teresa’s brain who the alien was.
“A...Anne?” She choked out, coughing up more blood.
“I wouldn’t be trying to talk right now if I were you.” The alien turned to her and gently took hold of the CrossTrix, transforming her into Daitenryu to fix her injuries. “...Alright, now you’re good.”
Daitenryu climbed to her feet and shook out her head before spotting Claire still on the ground, clutching at her chest. As Daitenryu and Anne’s transformation rushed to Claire’s side, a spring-like artificial mechanism sprouted from Messias’s stump, allowing him to regain his balance.
“This leg took hundreds of thousands of dollars to construct.” He hissed, turning around to look at the three girls. “Do you have any comprehension of how much money that is?!”
Daitenryu helped an exhausted Claire to her feet, having performed her hymn of healing while Messias was ranting. With Claire safe, she transformed into Dupligato and turned to speak to Anne.
“So...what’s your alien called?” She asked.
“Name on the lock was ‘Silver Break’.” Anne’s transformation responded with a shrug. “Guess we’re going with that. Either way...”
Dupligato and Silver Break turned around to face Messias with a collective steely gaze.
“We still have something to take care of.”
Lucius and Christine’s time wandering the halls of the mansion came to an end as they approached a doorway marked with a pentagram. Exchanging a quick nod before entering, the two of them quietly descended the spiraling wooden stairwell inside, and emerged into a large, empty space similar to an underground warehouse. Grease and blood stained the smooth concrete floor, serving as the final traces of a once-grand layout of unknown objects and machines that had long since been removed.
At the far end of the room sat what appeared to be a large set of security monitors all connected to a single console. Manning the station in a large office chair was a large man somewhat similar to Lucius in appearance, wearing a dark purple suit with a jet-black tie and a dark red formal shirt.
“You didn’t have to try staying quiet coming down those stairs, you know.” The man spoke, his voice echoing across the empty hall as he turned around to face them. “I’ve had an eye on you this whole time.”
“Those are new.” Lucius observed, shooting the man a hard glare. “It almost seems as if you were expecting us.”
“Impetus is an idiot, of course I anticipated he’d screw up like this.” The man tsked. “If it weren’t for his overwhelming strength, I’d have thrown him to the hounds the moment I took in the scrappy remains of his pathetic organization.”
“Sephtis Raivent, I presume.” Christine spoke through her teeth as she and Lucius approached the man.
“Who else?” The man shrugged. “As for you...”
Sephtis took a notepad out of his coat and began reading off the first page.
“Christine Joan Eldridge, age 36, mixed Caucasian and Hispanic, Chief Commanding Officer of the Global Police’s mobile task force, single, never married, found to be infertile after not beginning menstruation during puberty, currently in a professionally questionable semi-relationship with one Dr. Emilia Krauze, age 27.” Sephtis smirked. “Does that sound about right?”
“What the-” Christine froze in place, her eyes widening. “How the hell do you have all that information?!”
“I may not possess my son’s vague psychic abilities, but nevertheless, I have eyes everywhere.” Sephtis flashed a malevolent grin. “I’ve had the Triumvirate watching you and your little inner circle of failures since you assaulted my field agents some weeks ago. Well, save for Lucius, that is.” Sephtis’s eyes narrowed. “He always notices when he’s being watched.”
“I remember you proclaiming the usefulness of that ability when I was still under your wing.” Lucius pointed out dryly.”
“Well, it was a fairly useful ability until you FUCKED me up the ASS by leaving and trying to immolate me!” Sephtis roared, standing up and throwing aside his chair.
“Hang on, that blaze that it looked like Sephtis had died in...” Christine looked over at Lucius. “That was you?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t realize that when I explained the nature of those very flames as we entered the building.” Lucius replied without looking at her in return, refusing to break eye contact with his father.
“The police being incompetent, what a surprise.” Sephtis sneered at her. “By the way, what did you think of the little ‘project’ the house so kindly showed you?”
“I think you’re sick in the head.” Christine growled.
“I believe the modern term for it is ‘Antisocial Personality Disorder’, so you’re not entirely wrong.” Sephtis wagged his index finger at them. “That said, I don’t appreciate the insinuation.”
“I don’t give a shit!” Christine yelled. “You massacred those women!”
“I immortalized them!” Sephtis yelled back, his left eyelid beginning to twitch. “Their sacrifices will stand as proof of my success for eternity!”
“Ah yes, human remains, well known for their ability to remain unchanged throughout the passing of the ages.” Lucius stated sardonically. “You’re not just foul, you’re in idiot.”
“And then there’s this asshole!” Sephtis placed his attention back on Lucius. “You were supposed to be my perfect weapon! My coup de grâce, my legacy! And you threw that all away for what? Money? Power? You could have had everything you ever wanted if you had just fallen in line!”
“If any of your children had inherited even an ounce of your greed, perhaps you wouldn’t be alone right now.” Lucius snarled with an unrepentant hiss. “Unfortunately for you, that’s not quite how it works.”
“Alright, I’m wrapping this up.” Christine interjected, pulling out her pistol. “I’m ready to strangle this piece of shit on the spot, so I suggest we get him locked up before I do something stupid.”
“Ah, what professionalism.” Sephtis rolled his eyes mockingly. “Did seeing my sculpture truly set you off that much, pig?”
“Yeah, that about sums it up.” Christine carefully began walking towards him again, keeping a cautious eye out for a potential trap. “Although truth be told, I already hated your guts. As difficult as Lucius can be, I always wondered what kind of parenting could make someone turn out that way. Looks like I figured that out.”
“As if any ‘parenting’ matters in this scenario, you moron.” Sephtis snorted. “Did Lucius ever tell you exactly what he is?”
“He has intentionally been as vague as possible about it, so no.” Christine narrowed her eyes. “Some sort of fucked-up occult experiment you were doing.”
“And tell me, what do you think the end goal of that experiment was?” Sephtis said. “What kind of successor would I ever deem worthy enough to inherit my empire?”
“A really strong demon or something, hell if I know!” Christine kept her pistol aimed squarely at his throat. “Why is this important?!”
“Because it might just change your perspective a little.” Sephtis tsked. “I wanted a successor with demonic power, yes, but not just any strong demonic power would do. I aimed straight for the top, and eventually, I got there.”
Sephtis flashed a malicious, self-satisfied grin.
“Lucius is none other than the earthly incarnation of the ruler of the damned!” Sephtis sneered. “He is Lucifer himself!”
A dead silence fell over the room.
“...So what?”
“Excuse me?” Sephtis blinked.
“So what?” Christine repeated herself. “Why does that matter?”
“I- you- I just told you I brought the lord of darkness into the mortal plane in the form of my own offspring!” Sephtis’ eye began to twitch. “React, dammit!”
“To be perfectly frank, after finding out about the living house, the concept of ‘Satan’ seems kind of mundane.” Christine replied flatly. “For future reference, if you want that reveal to be more of a surprise, you should probably do something about this mansion being covered in satanic imagery.”
“I’m rather loathe to agree with my father of all people, but he has a point.” Lucius spoke up. “By all accounts, I am the human manifestation of evil itself. As someone with an upstanding moral character, I find it dubious that you’d be willing to put that aside.”
“I don’t think there are words to describe how little I care about that right now.” Christine grunted. “You could be a goddamn Oompa-Loompa and I wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow.”
“Wow.” Sephtis slumped back in his seat. “I mean, I just...wow. You are really determined to take all the fun out of this, aren’t you?”
“Since when do crimes against humanity count as ‘fun’?” Christine growled.
“Since I started enjoying them.” Sephtis drawled. “Try to keep up.”
“Not even a minute into this conversation and I’m already sick of you.” Christine was finally within grabbing distance. “Normally I’d hate to get violent with someone in front of their kid, but somehow I don’t think he cares.”
“I’m sorry, did you just refer to Lucius as a ‘kid’?” Sephtis’s face contorted into a confused annoyance as he sat up in his chair. “He is a weapon! The ultimate evil given physical form to act as the spearhead of my empire! And now that he’s rebelled against me, he’s not even that anymore! He’s nothing!”
“He’s a person! Christine snapped.
“If he were a person...”
Sephtis’s right arm suddenly transformed into a cannon and fired off a blast of plasma at light speed; with no time to dodge, the plasma slammed right into Christine’s chest. The force of the impact was too powerful for her suit to fully absorb, crushing her ribs and sending her crashing to the ground as the plasma itself spread throughout the unit. The suit’s inner lining was instantaneously superheated, essentially boiling the skin underneath.
“...Then seeing that might have actually bothered him.” Sephtis sneered.
Christine writhed in agony, coughing up blood from her shattered ribs piercing her lungs. Lucius analyzed the situation with an unreadable expression.
“See? Nothing!” Sephtis cackled. “He’s not even getting enjoyment from it like I am! He’s just drawing a complete blank!”
In one swift motion, Lucius pulled out his pistol and loaded it with an EvoKey. Instead of pointing the barrel at himself, he carefully aimed the gun toward Christine.
“What are you going to do, put her out of her misery?” Sephtis taunted.
“In a way.”
Lucius fired. The bullet hit Christine just above her collarbone, drilling into her flesh before transforming into a veil of white light. The flash of light cleared to reveal that Christine had transformed into Cremation, healing her injuries. Lucius pulled the EvoKey out of his pistol, ending the transformation and reverting her back to human form.
“Thanks for the save, but couldn’t you have done that faster?” Christine groaned, rubbing her neck where the shot had hit.
“I had to figure out where the bullet could hit you instead of your suit without killing you.” Lucius replied matter-of-factly. “Your writhing made it more difficult to land a clean shot.”
“And I’m guessing the bullets don’t effect you when you transform because you’re-”
“Because I’m Satan, yes.” Lucius sighed.
“I was gonna say ‘because you’re bulletproof’, but that works too.” Christine shrugged.
“What in the world-...what?!” Sephtis exclaimed in disbelief. “Lucius, did you just go out of your way to save someone?! Who taught you to do that?!”
“No one.” Lucius turned his attention back to Sephtis. “It just seems to be the hot new trend among the youth nowadays.”
“Are you mocking me?!” Sephtis roared.
“Even if I weren’t, you would take exception to being challenged anyway.” Lucius tsked. “You’re hardly a stable person.”
“You of all things do not get to say that to me!” Sephtis hissed.
“Then I’ll say it for him.” Christine cracked her knuckles. “You’re a batshit insane son of a bitch. And again, for the record, he’s a person, not a ‘thing’.”
“How many times do I have to spell it out for you? Lucius is NOT a person! What could you possibly gain by putting your own life on the line here?”
“If you want a blunt explanation, it’s quite literally my job, but if you need some sort of personal investment, I have to reiterate how much I really wanna kick your ass.” Christine said. “If you want something that can follow orders, go buy a fucking robot. Children are supposed to be family, not tools.”
“Believe it or not, it’s a bit difficult to track down demon robots.” Sephtis snapped. “What does that even have to do with anything?”
“I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t exactly have a great time of things growing up, so when I see people abuse kids, it really pisses me off.” Christine said. “Lucius might be annoying, but at this point I think it’s fairly obvious why he turned out the way he did. You sexually assaulted women and used their children as lab rats all to preserve your legacy as a murderous criminal. I’d call you lower than dirt, but that’d be an insult to the mantle. If anyone here deserves not to be seen as a person...”
Christine pulled up the SpecOps lock and angrily slammed in the key.
“It’s you.”
“Ironic coming from someone using a transformation matrix.” Sephtis sneered. “If Lucius couldn’t finish me off, what’s a pig too scared to fight me in her own body supposed to do?”
“If I fought you in my own body, I’d just use the suit to rip you apart limb from limb.” Christine turned the key and transformed into Enlock. “As justified as that would be in this situation, you have a lot more people to answer to than just the two of us.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Sephtis narrowed his eyes.
“You’ve destroyed countless lives with your actions.” Enlock said. “Once I bring you in, the world will finally be able to see you brought to justice in court.”
Enlock turned to Lucius.
“The devil’s role in mythology is to punish the wicked or something, right?” Enlock noted. “You feel like helping me out with that here?”
“I’m not particularly interested in executing any form of eternal justice.” Lucius tsked, raising his pistol. “That said, considering the circumstances...”
Lucius pulled out the Cremation EvoKey and plugged it into the EvoGun.
“It appears that my own justice will have to suffice.”
“You could’ve just said ‘yes’.” Enlock sighed.
“Perhaps, but it would hardly carry as much weight.”
“Don’t get cocky!” Messias growled as Dupligato and Silver Break stared him down. “I had that BootLock custom-made! I know its capabilities inside and out!”
“Funny, I didn’t see your name anywhere on it.” Silver Break pretended to muse. “Can’t be that custom.”
“Wh-what can it do, exactly?” Dupligato asked her.
“I’m not one hundred-percent sure, but I think it has the power to break apart solid matter.” Silver Break swung her right hand around experimentally. “I was just trying to catch Messias’s leg before it hit you again, but for some reason, my hand started glowing and the whole thing just shattered.”
“What you’re using right now is an Evolvyrn based on a Teilen DNA sample.” The CrossTrix piped in. “The original species has the ability to create waves of microscopic electromagnetic energy that can cut apart the bonds between molecules. Silver Break’s version of the ability reduces the range of it to requiring physical contact, but once contact is made, its energy is able to flow across the target, creating a ‘shattering’ effect as multiple bonds are cut at the same time.”
“Interesting.” Silver Break nodded. “So basically, it doesn’t matter what this bastard is made of; he’s still getting what’s coming to him.”
“That’s about the gist of it.” The CrossTrix beeped. “But before you shatter him all the way...try to beat him to death for me, will you?”
“C-CROSS?” Dupligato looked down at the symbol on her chest in shock.
“I think I can fit that in somewhere.” Silver Break cracked her knuckles.
“Oh, and now the talking watch is going to try being intimidating!” Messias scoffed. “What, are you going to tell me the wrong time with a particularly aggressive tone?”
“Actually, ever since you started beating Teresa, I’ve been thinking something more like ‘I wish I could get a good angle to blow this man’s head off his shoulders’.” The CrossTrix stated bluntly. “Does that sound more appropriate?”
“Wait, are you serious?” Messias laughed. “’Blast my head off’? Like you have a firearm in there? Who would put a gun in a watch?”
“I-it’s a train, actually.” Dupligato corrected.
Messias stopped laughing and stared at her, dead silent.
“...The fact that you’re not lying only makes that statement more confusing.” He concluded as he finished analyzing her.
“The only one here that’s going to be lying is you, Messias.” Silver Break’s brow furrowed with determination. “Lying face-down in the dirt, that is.”
She acted first, springing forward and aiming a swipe at his remaining leg. Messias jumped backwards, just barely scraping against her hand as it passed. This glancing strike still managed to take out his robotic leg’s kneecap, drawing an annoyed snarl from him. Before he could regain his balance, he found himself grabbed from behind by Dupligato, whose ability to teleport through shadows gave her essentially unlimited movement underneath the current blanket of clouds.
Dupligato began teleporting higher and higher into the air until she managed to breach the cloud layer, taking Messias along with her. Once up above the cloud’s shadows, she let go of Messias and jumped into his shadow on the clouds, teleporting safely back to the ground.
Messias dropped from the sky, creating a small crates where he landed. Apparently nonplussed by the incident, he merely adjusted his tie, stood up, and abruptly shifted his arm into a cannon, aiming it at Dupligato.
“Just try it!” The CrossTrix snapped. “Dupligato can teleport anywhere here at will!”
“I know.”
Messias suddenly shifted his cannon’s focus and shot at Claire, who froze up as she caught sight of the blast. Dupligato instinctively teleported in front of her, taking the shot in her gut. She stumbled back and fell over, reeling from the massive hole that had just been punched into her torso.
Thinking quickly, she grabbed at the CrossTrix dial and reverted to human. While this healed her wounds, the state of shock Dupligato had begun to enter carried over inside her brain and hit her like a truck. She fell unconscious, eyes glazing over as her body attempted to do everything it could to recover.
Messias lined up another shot to finish her off, but was stopped as Silver Break managed to jump forward and land a glowing kick on the tip of the cannon, shattering it. The remains of the cannon shifted back into a mechanical arm, albeit one missing some pieces.
“If you think I’m just going to sit back and watch that happen...” Silver Break growled. “Then there’s a lot of sense I’m gonna have to beat into you.”
Lucius could feel his inherent powers surging forth as he fought.
It was troubling, to say the least.
While Enlock did her best to shield him from the blasts of Sephtis’s cannon, her thick metallic shell protecting her from any major injury, Cremation stood frozen in place, trying desperately to keep himself from exploding. An energy shot managed to get past Enlock, only to warp into a useless piece of glass upon hitting his fire, falling to the ground and shattering on impact.
“Oh.” Enlock blinked. “I, uh...guess you got this handled, then.”
Lucius very much did not have this handled.
Cremation burst into orange flames distinctly different from his natural reddish flames, disintegrating his body and forcing Lucius out of the transformation. Even as a human, the flames continued to rise around him, with one of his eyes having turned completely black save for a single orange slit that served as his pupil. Cracks in his face spread from his corrupted eye, leaving misshapen black lines carved into his skin.
“What the hell did you do?!” Enlock demanded at Sephtis.
“Nothing.” Sephtis smirked. “This is the boy’s own natural power overwhelming his human form.”
Lucius fell to his knees, heaving from the effort of trying to suppress the energy flowing out of him. If he exploded here like he had on the airship, there likely wouldn’t be any survivors this time; the mansion itself, maybe, but even that was debatable.
“This is what made Lucius such a valuable asset for me.” Sephtis laughed. “He tries to suppress his abilities, but when he loses that emotionless facade of his, his hold on his powers slips, turning him into a walking time bomb.”
“Wha- you’ve been holding yourself back this whole time?!” Enlock exclaimed, looking back at Lucius. “Why?!”
“If I ever use these powers...” Lucius muttered through grit teeth. “I become exactly what he wanted me to be.”
“Oh, bullshit, you’ve been using your passive powers like the military uses bullets!” Enlock rebutted. “What’s your actual reasoning here?!”
“You don’t get it.” Lucius hissed. “These flames aren’t like any of those abilities. It’s hellfire. If I use it, I turn into the demonic super weapon he massacred those people to obtain! I refuse to use a power given to me through bloodshed! I won’t tolerate it! I will not give him that satisfaction!”
“If you don’t want to give him the satisfaction, then why the hell are you letting him control you with this?!” Enlock snapped.
Lucius gave her a blank stare.
“...Excuse me?”
“Blood, fire, satanic imagery, we get it, you’re Satan, and you don’t like being Satan!” Enlock continued. “I totally understand that, it’s a really shitty position to be in, but you can’t just suppress yourself your entire life because of what your father thinks of you! It’s not healthy, it doesn’t help anyone, and it’s never going to fix what he did! Nothing will! But you know what might help?”
Enlock pointed over at Sephtis, who was watching the entire interaction with a condescending grin.
“Taking what that motherfucker did, and literally blowing it up in his face!” Enlock yelled. “Even if it’s just this one time, take that power he wanted to control you with and make it your own! That’s the only way to overcome this!”
“I don’t even know if I can!” Lucius snapped back. “You need to run for it right now if you want to make it out of this alive! You only have one alien transformation, and it can’t survive an explosion like this!”
“Like hell it can’t!” Enlock began walking towards him, trying to ignore the burning sensation from the unholy flames. “You’re batshit insane if you think I’m leaving you by yourself right now! Have you even met me?”
“Dammit, Eldridge, there’s no point to this!” Lucius growled. “Are you seriously going to throw away your life just to give me a pep talk?!”
“I’m not throwing away my life, and if I can help it, neither are you!” Enlock grit her teeth as she pushed through the inferno that had grown around Lucius’s body.
“I don’t know what kind of fantasy world you’re living in, but you can’t save everyone!” Lucius retorted.
“I know that.” Enlock finally reached Lucius and grabbed him by the arm. “By God, I know that, and it’s what keeps me up at night. That’s why...”
Enlock knelt down and embraced Lucius, even as her metal armor began melting from the heat.
“I have to save everyone I can.”
Lucius’s expression went blank as he was suddenly thrust into memories of the past. Events he had long repressed finally broke free, and they began to flood his mind as vividly as if they were happening in the present.
A young child clung to his mother, sobbing uncontrollably as she tried to console him.
“I...I’m sorry, Mommy!” He blubbered through tears. “It’s all my fault!”
The mother’s face was blurred, unclear from his memories, but he was able to make out a dark spot around where her eye would be. Her body was covered in various other bruises, burns, and scratch marks. Some of them were long scarred over, while some looked unnervingly fresh.
“It’s not your fault, Lucius.” His mother patted his head reassuringly, speaking softly despite obviously being in a significant amount of pain. “You’re not responsible for any of this.”
“But, but, Daddy only stole you because he wanted you to make me!” The young child continued to sob. “He keeps hurting you, and it’s all my fault you’re here!”
“Listen to me, Lucius.” His mother picked him up and sat him on her lap. “Your daddy is...a very bad man. He’s the one who made all these choices. You didn’t get to decide anything in this.”
The young child kept crying, not knowing what to say but still feeling overwhelmingly guilty. His mother gently wrapped her arms around him, enveloping him in a warm embrace.
“I wish I could have given you a better home.” His mother said. “I wish you were able to meet my family; your family, and not just be trapped here with your daddy. I wish I could make things better for you, but...I don’t think I’ll get the chance.”
She pulled away and looked into his eyes as tears started to swell in her own.
“Lucius, I want you to promise me something.”
“Wh...what is it?” The young child sniffled.
“Your daddy is a bad man who made bad choices. That’s why things seem so painful right now.” She told him, trying to hold back sobs of her own. “I just want you to promise me that someday, if...when...you finally get the chance to makes your own choices...” She paused for a moment, trying to keep herself composed in front of her child. “...You try to make good ones.”
“Will making good choices help you feel better?” The young child asked.
“...Yes.” His mother began to choke up. “Even if...even if I’m not around to see it, making good choices...will make me feel much, much better.”
She scooped her child up in her arms again, and the memory began to fade.
“...What am I doing?”
Lucius took a moment to return to reality, finding himself still in Enlock’s steely embrace. But this time...something seemed different.
Then it hit him.
The heat was gone.
The fires raging around him retained their vicious, crackling visage, but their intense heat had disappeared, rendering them harmless to the now half-melted Enlock.
“Your figure something out?” Enlock let go of him, her voice muffled as a good chunk of her head armor had melted into her faceplate.
“More like...I remembered something important.” Lucius replied.
“Hang on a second, what the hell?” Sephtis blinked in confusion as he realized the fire’s heat had died down. “Since when can you do that?!”
“I’m not quite sure.” Lucius picked himself up off the ground and looked over at Sephtis. “But I think Eldridge may have been correct, actually. I’ve still been allowing you to influence my decisions instead of making them strictly on my own.”
Enlock’s obfuscated mouth curved into a small grin. She stood up and deactivated the transformation, repairing the damage the blaze had done to her body.
“I think I’ve come to terms to something, and I believe you need to hear it.” Lucius stared down his father. “I’ll mostly be working off the cuff, but bear with me here.”
Silver Break swung another kick toward Messias’s forehead, milliseconds away from landing the hit before he dodged.
“I know you’re supposed to forgive and forget, but what you did to me...” Silver Break clenched her fists. “What you’ve done to everyone is unforgivable.”
“Forgetting is a whole other issue.” Lucius dodged a cannon blast from Sephtis and whirled out the EvoGun. “I’d certainly prefer to forget this whole thing and move on with my life, but it doesn’t quite work that way.”
“Trauma is something that gets etched into your brain.” Silver Break took a wide swing at Messias with her right arm. “It’s not something you can just leave behind.”
“And even if you could, the people who create that kind of trauma aren’t simply going to stop existing.” Lucius slammed an EvoKey into the pistol. “There is no true permanent solution to the problem, and as evidenced here, I think simply trying to ignore it is risky at best.”
“So, if I can’t forgive or forget...” Silver Break caught Messias’s wrist as he tried to dodge, her hand lighting up with a purple glow.
“Then it seems as if the only path forward from here...” A fiery aura surrounded Lucius as a glowing pentagram formed beneath him.
“”Is to overcome!””
Silver Break’s power traveled up Messias’s arm a ways before shattering it, leaving him limbless beneath the elbow of his mechanical body.
“You...you...sanctimonious filth!” Messias spat as a claw-like mechanism deployed in place of his missing arm. “You can’t seriously be attempting to lecture a man as if you’re on the high ground while you’re in the middle of dismembering him!”
“Your robotics can be replaced; fixed.” Silver Break pointed out. “What you did to me and who knows how many others can’t. What part of that do you not understand?”
“I suppose I have to concede that particular point, but what happens to all of you doesn’t really matter in the long run.” Messias growled. “What happens to me does.”
“Excuse me?” Silver Break narrowed her eyes.
“Eve was created from Adam’s rib to be his companion and servant in much the same way Adam was meant to be the servant of God.” Messias proclaimed. “I’m aware you at least learned that much from your lessons.”
“That’s what was taught, at any rate.” Silver Break’s glare intensified.
“Exactly!” Messias used his remaining hand to point at her aggressively. “That is God’s law! Men are called to enact God’s will here on Earth, and women are called to help that fulfill that purpose! If a man’s worldly desires begin to overcome him, it is better for him to cleanse himself of those urges and repent than to live with his mind constantly plagued with immorality! As servants of both God and man, it is ultimately your duty to carry a small part of their burden upon yourselves. Your suffering is unfortunate but ultimately miniscule in comparison to the yoke carried by holy men.”
“And is that your justification for beating Teresa half to death too?” Silver Break’s expression darkened.
“Well, no, that was simply my temper getting the best of me.” Messias took a moment to adjust his tie. “I’ll have to work on that in the future.”
The area fell silent.
“...You know...” Silver Break broke the silence in a quiet, dangerous tone. “...There was something I said I was going to do to you if you touched Teresa.”
Messias looked over at her with a confused glare.
“What was it again?” Silver Break looked up in mock thought for a moment. “...Oh! That’s right!”
She snapped her fingers and looked back over at Messias. He wasn’t entirely sure what she was talking about, but there was a nagging thought in the back of his mind telling him that she had indeed threatened him with something. All of a sudden, she lunged forward and grabbed him by the back of his throat, slamming his face into the ground.
“I said I was going to crush your skull.” Silver Break moved her grip up to Messias’s head and began pressing it into the dirt. “And I’ve never been much of a liar.”
The flames scattered around the room gathered together into a pair of fiery snakes, each wrapping themselves around his arms as he turned the key in the EvoGun. A transformation field composed of chains surrounded Lucius, with the holographic constructs seeming to catch fire as they generated.
“Burning...” Lucius muttered to himself. “...Evolutionize.”
He placed both hands on his gun and pulled the trigger. The snakes on his arms slithered onto the gun as it fired, merging into a burning field of power that latched onto the bullet as it spiraled out of the pistol’s chamber. The round shot through the air and looped back around to hit Lucius, who seemed to grab it in mid-air. A bright flash of light surrounded by flames appeared, fading to reveal Cassette.
A significantly different Cassette.
“I’m still not entirely comfortable with using this power, so I’ll try to get this over with as quickly as possible.” Cassette stated, taking a moment to look over his new body before looking back at Sephtis. “But, just to prove a point, I’ll give you the first shot.”
“What, are you trying to intimidate me?!” Sephtis spat, charging up another shot from his arm cannon. “I hate to tell you this, son, but you’re not going to be very intimidating once you’re missing your head!”
Sephtis fired. Cassette immediately sprang into action as the shot approached, swiping thrice at the shot and making it disappear mid-air.
“The fuck?” Sephtis aimed baffled glares between his cannon and Cassette just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “What the hell did you do?!”
“I stole the blast’s ‘momentum’, ‘light’, and ‘charge’, respectively.” Cassette replied. “I’m actually a bit surprised you fell for the taunt.”
Three large cassette tapes ejected from Cassette’s chest, abruptly transforming into small humanoid drones that launched themselves at Sephtis. The first drone carried the stolen momentum, slamming into his chest at high speed and throwing him across the room. The second used its stored aspect of ‘light’ to create a flash that blinded Sephtis for a moment, allowing the third drone to hit him with the stolen charge and fry his robotics before he could recover, creating a cloud of smoke that obscured his body.
All three drones transformed back into tapes and flew back into Cassette’s chest, upon which he reverted back to Lucius, who had managed to regain his standard appearance.
“Hell golems animated by unearthly powers?” Christine asked.
“More or less.”
“Don’t start patting yourselves on the back just yet!” Sephtis hissed as he limped out of the smoke his body had generated. He began charging up another shot in his arm cannon, prompting defensive positions from Lucius and Christine.
“I’m going to kill both of you before you ever get the chance to leave this house, one way or another!” He waved his cannon around as he approached with a crazed look in his eyes. “I’m going to...I’m going to...”
At that moment, the electronics in his arm cannon failed, shooting the energy he was charging up directly into the ceiling. He looked up and saw that it had carved a small hole into the thick concrete.
“H-hang on a second, don’t act rashly, now!” Sephtis stammered out as the room around them began to rumble. “I-I didn’t mean to do that! It was an accident! It was an accide-”
He was abruptly interrupted as a massive block of concrete fell from the ceiling, aimed squarely at him. His robotic body instantly crumbled under the weight, smashed to pieces rather unceremoniously by the falling rock. Lucius and Christine slowly exchanged a blank look before turning their attention back to the remains of Sephtis.
“That’s...not quite what I intended to happen, but I’ll take it.” Lucius cleared his throat.
“Really glad I didn’t punch that wall earlier.” Christine muttered to herself under her breath.
“Ah yes, commit murder by killing one of the most powerful men in the world, I’m sure nothing bad will come of that.” Messias suddenly vaulted himself to his feet, knocking Silver Break off-balance. He whirled around and grabbed onto one of her ankles before she could recover, lifting her into the air outside of her arms’ range. “You’re far too cocky for someone who’s never used this form before. Did you even consider the possibility that it might be weaker than my robotics?”
Messias activated an electric current in his remaining arm, electrifying Silver Break’s body.
“As the one who commissioned that lock in the first place, I know quite a lot more about this form than you do.” Messias stated as Silver Break screamed and convulsed in pain. “Including exactly how much damage it can take without tripping the lock’s safety switch.”
Claire heard Silver Break’s screams and tried to walk towards her, only to fall to the ground as she hadn’t yet recovered her energy from the healing process.
“Stop...it...” Claire begged with as much force as she could muster. “Please...stop...hurting...her...”
“This has nothing to do with you.” Messias brushed her off. “Unruly children must be herded back in line somehow. This is merely a tactic to speed up her cooperation.”
Claire tried to speak again, but found herself barely even able to stay conscious.
“Trust me, I want nothing more than this whole farce to wrap up as soon as possible.” Messias sighed. “I’ve lost my lock and two of my limbs. Once I get you all to calm down a bit, I can take care of my business and leave. Honestly, this is such a handfu-”
Messias paused and listened for a moment. He turned to find Teresa hobbling towards him, her eyes veiled by shadow.
“Well, look who woke up.” Messias sneered. “What, no cowardly sneak attacks this time? Have you finally accepted that struggling like this is useless?”
“Put. Her. Down.” Teresa’s voice was oddly monotone, uncharacteristically devoid of any emotion.
“Sure, why not?” Messias’s arm suddenly shifted into a cannon, shooting a hole through Silver Break’s body and reverting her to Anne. Before she had a chance to recover, Messias placed a foot on her ribcage and began to press down.
“I’ve heard that broken ribs can quite easily pierce your lungs.” Messias threatened. “Unless you’d like to see me test that, I’d suggest you hand over that Omnitrix of yours and come along quietly.”
Teresa began walking towards him, raising a hand toward the CrossTrix.
“Teresa...don’t!” Anne wheezed through the pressure being placed on her lungs. “Just...run away! Get out of here!”
“I think you and I both know she’s too much of a bleeding heart to do that.” Messias snorted in response. “She wants to save your life, so she’s going to walk over here and surrender herself to m-”
Teresa suddenly lunged at Messias, grabbing his face and slamming him into the ground before quickly transforming into Thermosnap and using one of her arm spikes to pin him to the asphalt. She used her free hand to punch into his chest, freezing the surrounding components and causing them to shatter.
“YOU SHIT-EATING SON OF A BITCH!” Thermosnap snarled.
Messias managed to knock her off of him and get to his feet, but this recovery was short-lived as Thermosnap flash-heated her spikes and began using them to rip through his body, melting down the metal keeping him together as she went.
“What on Earth?!” Messias screeched as he was being torn apart. “You were nothing like this before! Nothing!”
Thermosnap grabbed his head and ripped it off of his mangled body.
“ANNE!” She called out. “SHATTER IT!”
Anne quickly grabbed the BootLock and transformed again as Thermosnap tossed the head towards her. She jumped into the air and caught it with both hand glowing, crushing it and shattering it into pieces.
Thermosnap reverted into an exhausted Teresa, who fell to her knees and began smashing her fist into the road until her knuckles were pulverized into a mess of blood and shredded skin. Anne ran over and grabbed her arm, preventing her from hitting the ground any further.
“Teresa, it’s okay!” Anne tried to calm her down. “It’s over! He’s gone!”
“It’s not okay...” Teresa muttered under her breath. “It’s not okay...”
“What do you mean?” Anne asked. “You absolutely destroyed him! He never stood a chance!”
“EXACTLY!” Teresa yelled, tears beginning to stream down her face. “If I had just done that from the beginning, he wouldn’t have...so why didn’t I...”
Teresa grabbed her own head, digging her nails in deep enough to draw blood.
“I’m...” Teresa grit her teeth together. “I’m such a coward!”
Still trying to get through her own gauntlet of swirling emotions, Anne found herself unable to offer any more advice and simply sat down next to Teresa as the adrenaline wore off, leaving her dazed and dissociative. Over in the grass, Claire managed to recover enough strength to slowly pull herself over to them and clumsily grabbed one of Anne’s hands.
“...I’m sorry, Anne.” She choked out. “I...I’m so sorry.”
Lucius and Christine walked out of the Raivent mansion still wearing blank expressions, with what they had just seen still settling in.
“After all of that...” Lucius muttered. “The mansion did him in. The mansion.”
“I don’t even know how I’m going to report this.” Christine blinked a few times as she stared off into space. “’Top priority target Sephtis Raivent found alive as android and then crushed under large rock after pissing off his house’. They’re probably going to put me through a psych eval after this. Actually, speaking of which...”
Christine snapped out of her blank stare and turned to look at Lucius.
“...You know what I’m about to say, right?” Christine asked.
“Yes, yes, therapy.” Lucius grumbled. “I don’t feel like interrupting my schedule with something so trivial, but...maybe.”
“That’s probably the best I can get for right now.” Christine sighed and gave a small shrug. “Well, anyways, I need to report back to HQ sooner rather than later. This...this is going to take some explaining.”
“I see.”
Christine gave him a short solute and walked off, returning to her squad car parked on the main road nearby. Lucius looked up at the stars dotting the sky, glistening much more vibrantly without the light pollution of the city reaching this far into the mountains.
“From now on, I’ll make sure my choices are mine and mine alone.” He muttered to nobody in particular. “And if fate permits...I’ll make them the right ones.”
Inside of a certain corporate robotics warehouse, Joshua Messias rolled his eyes and flipped a switch.
A new robotic body identical to Sephtis Raivent emerged from a nearby chamber, cracking his neck to loosen up the stiffened metal joints.
“I take it you lost.” Messias noted dryly.
“For a given definition of the word.” Sephtis grunted. “I’d rather not discuss it.”
“One of my bodies was destroyed too, over on the western side of the valley.” Messias sighed. “It appears that the current generation is proving more difficult to handle than we anticipated.”
“I moved my entire goddamn mansion to this area just to be closer to your production facility, but if we don’t figure out how to deal with these pests, it’s hardly going to be worth it.” Sephtis huffed. “These cybernetic bodies of yours are impressive, but they’re clearly going to need more work before they’re ready to take on aliens en masse in any meaningful way, let alone my son.”
“Perfection takes time to achieve.” Messias replied calmly. “For now, we must simply wait.”
“For what?” Sephtis narrowed his eyes.
“You’ll see it when it arrives.”
“You better not just be fucking with me.” Sephtis hissed.
“Language, Raivent, language.” Messias sighed. “Honestly, the world’s become so crass as of late.”
“It’s always been like this, you’re just sheltered.” Sephtis rolled his eyes. “By way, about that AI you found- Oberon OS or whatever you called it- are you absolutely certain that thing’s not going to try screwing with this tech?”
“It has no reason to.” Messias stated. “It has only one objective. Just try to stay out of its way.”
“You better be right about that.” Sephtis growled. “Why did you even activate it in the first place?”
“Because it’s eventually going to provide what we’re waiting for.” Messias answered matter-of-factly. “And when it does, no one will ever be able to oppose my technology again.”
Teresa was still in her room.
She hadn’t left the house in days, and spent most of her time huddled up in the corner between her bed and nightstand, staring blankly into space with a somber expression. The CrossTrix stayed with her to keep her company, but their conversations were usually brief.
Teresa’s phone, plugged in to charge on top of the nightstand, began ringing again. Teresa simply covered her ears and waited for the ringing to stop before putting her hands back down.
“You need to talk to her at some point, you know.” The CrossTrix beeped. “The longer you put this off, the worse you’re going to feel.”
“What would I even say to her?” Teresa responded quietly. “’Sorry I let your rapist torture you, I just didn’t feel like going that far’? I’m such a piece of trash.” Teresa clenched her eyes shut. “She’d be better off without me. I think...I think everyone would.”
“Even the people you’ve saved?” The CrossTrix pointed out.
“I...I don’t know.” Teresa let her eyes open up a bit. “I know I was the only one who could act in those situations, but I still feel like they deserved...someone better, I guess.
“Teresa, you need to accept that you have limits.” The CrossTrix said. “Your mental health- and at this point, physical health- is hanging on by a thread. There are things that you just can’t do right now.”
“But-”
“No ‘buts’.” The CrossTrix cut her off. “That stunt you pulled with Thermosnap to finish off Messias? You just straight-up could not have used its abilities like that earlier.”
“What do you mean?” Teresa asked, a bit confused.
“You always hold back in your alien forms.” The CrossTrix explained. “With the exception of NeOhm, your innate fear of becoming your mother and perpetuating the cycle of abuse is always a hang-up, even if you don’t want it to be. The only times I’ve seen you break out of that is when you get overwhelmed by that rage you keep holding back.”
“So I’m either a coward or a monster.” Teresa slumped down a bit. “God, I’m pathetic.”
“That’s not what I-”
Teresa’s phone began ringing again.
“Answer it this time.” The CrossTrix prodded. “I hate to admit it, but talking to Anne might be better for you than talking to me right now.”
Teresa thought for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh and climbing to her feet. Clenching her eyes shut as if to brace herself, she picked up the phone and nervously answered the call.
“A-Anne, I-”
“Yo yo yo, what it is, motherfuckers?” A different voice came from the other end of the line. “It’s ya boy, TechphamousHD, back here for another epic gamer reaction video.”
“What the-” Teresa’s eyes flew open as she suddenly recognized the voice. “I-Isaac, is that you?”
“The one and only.” Isaac answered. “Sorry for calling you out of the blue, but there’s some sort of time warping situation going on in downtown SLC. I’d go check it out myself, but we’re having some...technical issues at the moment-”
“SPILLING ESPRESSO ON THE SPECTRIX DOES NOT COUNT AS A ‘TECHNICAL ISSUE’!” A frustrated Aquadilus could be heard yelling in the background.
“IT’S TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S AN ISSUE, HOW THE HELL IS IT NOT A ‘TECHNICAL ISSUE’?!” Isaac yelled back before returning his focus to the conversation with Teresa. “Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you could head over there and check out what’s going on.”
“O-okay, I guess...” Teresa stammered.
“Thanks a ton. Ring me up if you need any help.” Isaac replied. “Aquadilus is about to have an aneurysm, so I gotta go real quick.”
“If it were physically possible for my species to get aneurysms, I would’ve had one a long time ago.” Aquadilus muttered in the background as Isaac ended the call.
“You don’t have to go if you’re not up to it.” The CrossTrix said.
“No, I...I have to learn to be able to do things when I’m needed.” Teresa took a deep breath. “I can’t back down from this.”
“Well, at the end of the day, it’s your choice, I guess.” The CrossTrix sighed. “But I’m calling things off if you end up getting in over your head. I can’t...I won’t let another Malincious Crow situation happen to you. I couldn’t protect you back then, so I’m going to fight like hell to protect you now.”
“C-CROSS...” Teresa stammered a bit, surprised by sudden conviction in his voice. “...A-alright then.” She nodded firmly. “I’ll put my faith in you.”
Downtown Salt Lake City was utter chaos.
That’s not speaking to the situation at hand, just a general observation.
As for what was going on right now, a small crowed had gathered around a warped area on a road near State Street. A solid few square meters of air had become almost fluid-like in its appearance, floating and waving around like an underwater current. Police were arriving to the scene and starting to block off the roadway by the time Teresa got there, hopping off the Cross Bullet just in front of the blockade.
“What on Earth...” Teresa stared at the warping anomaly, baffled by its surreal structure. “That’s what a time anomaly looks like?”
“Naturally-occurring anomalies, yes.” The CrossTrix explained. “The warping effect you’re seeing is several different versions of the air from various time periods all trying to exist at once. They’re not usually this big, though.”
“Naturally-occurring?” Teresa questioned. “What causes them?”
“Direct changes to the timeline that aren’t necessarily large enough to create a whole new timeline can cause a lot of stress on the fabric of space-time, leading to minor rips here and there.” The CrossTrix said. “They’re usually pretty small and only last for a second or two, so one staying open this long and being this large is a bit concerning, to say the least.”
“Huh.” Teresa blinked. “Wait, how do you know all that?”
“Extranet.”
“Got it.”
All of a sudden, the warped air began to ripple violently. It spat out what appeared to be a person, then slowly settled back down. The person it spat out, an older-looking man wearing a black trenchcoat, carefully pulled himself to his feet and began to look around.
“W-wait a minute...” Teresa’s eyes widened in horror as she recognized the man’s face. “That’s...”
“Crow?!” The CrossTrix exclaimed. “What the hell is going on?!”
Malincious Crow, aged but still easily recognizable, surveyed his surroundings for moment before catching sight of the police.
“Goddammit!” Crow yelled, starting to run. “Of all the shitty luck!”
He bolted down the road Teresa was standing on, throwing showers of strange sparks from his hands that incinerated the blockade in front of him on impact. With the blockade gone, the only thing directly blocking him was her.
“Get the hell out of my way, brat!” Crow snarled, starting to generate another set of sparks.
Teresa stood frozen like a deer in the headlights as seconds seemed to stretch out to minutes, her basic survival instincts cut down by sheer panic. The CrossTrix attempted to recall the Cross Bullet so it could be used as ammunition, but the train wouldn’t be able to shrink down in time, and CROSS was unable to directly control it without physically being placed in the cabin’s control panel. It looked like there was no way out of this.
In that one moment as Crow’s hand approached, Teresa feared death.
“Viva La Vida, bring that road to life!” A new voice yelled out somewhere near the portal.
A lanky purple alien resembling some sort of spiked crustacean suddenly flashed into existence nearby, slamming its claws into the road. The asphalt beneath Teresa and Crow suddenly sprang to life, throwing them into the air like a bull trying to buck someone off its back. An orange blur shot through the air and grabbed hold of Teresa, lowering her safely to the ground as Crow fell and hit the road face-first.
“Hey, you okay?” The orange blur turned out to be a girl around Teresa’s age wearing what appeared to be orange-plated rockets around her legs. As she settled to the ground, Viva La Vida disappeared into shimmering particles, with the person who had summoned it slowly walking over to them.
“Wh-who are you?” Teresa looked between the two of them with a concerned expression. “What’s going on?”
“Call me ‘Tech’.” Theo lifted up his cap a little to reveal his eyes. “That’s about all there is to it.”
Major Events
- Lucius allows himself access to his Inferno forms.
Characters
Protagonists
Antagonists
- Sephtis Raivent
Neutral
- Raivent Manor
Aliens Used
By Teresa
By Anne
By Lucius
By Christine
By Theo
Trivia
- This episode was fully rewritten about five times before finally being released.