Since she became the world's smartest teenager, Noriko has done some weird things.
Hiding in a black van while a C.I.A. agent is shooting the human-shaped biological weapons that are trying to kill her doesn't even make it to the top ten.
she admits, adjusting the seat to her five feet height.
The Blue lands on the roof, tearing it apart with his bare hands. Agent Warden fires a few shots, but the bullets are just absorbed by the Blue.
Torn is right outside the van, slicing the Blue and wielding a red energy sword in each hand. Every time he cuts one of the Blue in half, two more take its place; he's already fighting eight.
He sees the Blue tearing the roof apart; from what he's seen, an unarmed Noriko doesn't stand a chance.
Torn's body is suddenly surrounded by a whirlwind of red swords, which cuts the eight Blue into a million drops of blue goo. The Blue attacking the van notices.
He jumps off the vehicle and without saying a word walks menacingly towards Torn. The red-skinned fighter has four words to shout:
He throws the red energy javelin with enough force to impale the Blue's head to the van. Meanwhile, the blue goo is already forming a new army. Torn looks at the impaled enemy, still alive and struggling to free himself. But the Blue hasn't duplicated.
Then he looks back at the blue substance shaping itself into dozen new copies of the Blue.
Noriko steps out of the van to admire the many artificial humans impaled to the ground, still technically alive but unable to free themselves.
she suggests. Torn gives her a confused look, pointing at the defeated enemy.
Elsewhere in New York City
This is definitely Quantum's worst fight. Not the hardest…he's fought an indestructible robot, half a planet of telekinetic murderers and a goddess. It's not his worst defeat, because technically he hasn't lost. It's a stalemate…sort of.
He's fighting artificial humans called the Blue: they are immune to his energy attacks and they keep creating new copies of themselves. He can't harm them, they can't harm him.
He can't leave the fight, because right behind the hundreds of artificial humans there's a rapidly growing number of onlookers and journalists. As long as he's the target, they're safe.
So Quantum just stands in the middle of the enemy army, turning into an intangible and harmless mass of light. Yawning.
One of Kari's duplicates appears right in front of him, asking in broken English:
<ιμπροvισε> she answers in her native Myridian language. Two Blue try to grab her, but she makes herself disappear in the blink of an eye and they end up headbutting each other.
Then Quantum snaps his fingers. He knows how to win this.
Which means that when Quantum turns into a positive magnetic field, the Blue are immediately pushed towards him.
If Null were here, she'd explain that Quantum's understanding of what he's just done is scientifically impossible, but she wouldn't argue the following step: changing into pure thermal energy, Quantum vaporizes the Blue so quickly that they don't have time to adapt.
The result is that Quantum is once again standing triumphant in the now empty street. One of Kari's duplicates appears once again, jumping in excitement like a five year old.
<Τηατ ωασ αωεσομε!!!>
<Ωηατ?>
The Sun
Vesta has been here many times before. Her uncle Helios used to take her here every few hundred years when she was younger.
Now she's here to bury her sister Demeter. She wonders if this is what she would've wanted…gods don't talk about their own funeral because they think they'll never get one.
They know they can die because it's happened before. But it's so rare that they can pretend it's impossible. And as far as Vesta knows, no god has ever been killed by a mortal.
She should probably ask Hades if there's a precedent. He knows everything about death.
Vesta is floating a few thousand miles above the Sun, holding Demeter's corpse in her arms. She can take the heat and the radiation, but resisting the star's gravitational pull takes all of her power.
She lets go, no longer protecting the corpse from gravity. Demeter's lifeless body plummets into the star faster than the eye can see. Vesta doesn't know what will happen to her...it's possible her immortal body will survive the journey. But no one will ever disturb her.
She wipes the tears from her eyes, even though it shouldn't be possible for any kind of liquid to exist here, and she flies away.
An undisclosed location
From the outside this looks like any other generic storehouse, but it's just the entrance to a high security installation. Agent Warden has just led Noriko, Kari, Torn and Quantum to a well lit conference room which is barely furnished.
<ωιλλ σομεονε πλεασε τελλ με ωηατ'σ γοινγ ον?> Kari asks.
<ωορκινγ ον ιτ. Agent Warden, my N-Phone please> Noriko adds. It's not a question, it's clearly an order.
he answers, handing the phone back to the silver-eyed girl.
<Τηισ ωοθλδ βε εασιερ ιφ Vesta ωερε ηερε.>
Torn explains.
<Τηισ ισ φθcκινγ ριδιcθλοθσ. Ωηυ αρεν'τ ωε τακινγ τηε Τοωερ βαcκ?>
Quantum and Kari are visibly worried by her question, but Agent Warden smiles.
Noriko tries to keep her cool, but her shining eyes signal that she's exasperated by the situation. It's too dangerous to try taking the Tower back without knowing what happened to her father, to the Heart of the Universe, to her inventions…
The holographic projectors in the room are activated, creating a tridimensional image of a man wearing a very nice suit.
Khloe VII, capital world of the Demeter Theocracy
The Divine Palace lies in ruins. A ten year old girl is walking through the gardens; the plants die with her every step, and a rotten decay spreads like a plague throughout the planet.
A decrepit old woman is patting the back of a Chimera, a monstrous fire-breathing lion with a snake for a tail, which is gleefully devouring one of the Oracles.
Anesi Mithrades, current Lady-In-Waiting and highest ranking mortal in the Theocracy, is kneeling before a beautiful woman with dark grey hair.