In the aftermath of her spat against the Jester, Natalia, Azazel, and Katie had achieved the goal they'd sought for, opening the cryostasis pods of the test subjects the Artifacts served as to reveal their bodies, descended from the ice and into their arms. The fruits of their labor lay before their very eyes, all that remained was to get them to a safe location, and inform them of the coming crisis. Azazel carried Mei, Natalia carried Ed, and Katie carried Ashton. Escaping the curtain of the Remnant World wasn't difficult at all, for the mere second they dared to step out of the facility, they vanished, bodies enveloped by an azure-colored light that sent them soaring over the clouds. It seemed, for all three squads, spread across the World, there was a sense of complete success through them all, for their victory at the Riverton center at that time and place was assured.
Plans to meet up at the Evolutionary Capital outskirts were discussed before their departure, for June and Darrell's bodies wobbled at the feeling of their legs slamming against the rock-hard floor, hidden by green layers, for the illusion of softness was nothing more than a simple chimera. To the front of the duo's faces, it was a sight they'd seen only hours before. Azazel, Katie, Nat, all with new bodies sprawled over their backs. The Detective putting down his cousin to rest against a tree trunk with a groan, he rubbed at his nape with an exasperated breath,
"So, got the goods?" Queried the former Crow, to which June giggled at the sentiment, revealing all three from within the separations between the fingers, their otherworldly glow as prominent as the moon above their very heads,
"Without a hitch."
As they entered the worn-down warehouse where nothing but the invisible ghosts of the deceased wildlife lingered, there was a time where she remembered the names of the gathered Artifacts. As it was just on the tip of her tongue, it finally clicked, as the scenery of the Remnants' Domain surged through her mind from side to side to examine the many landscapes the wasteland held, an explanation, courtesy of Katie's father, replayed over the survey.
"The Artifacts you're going to gather have been located as part of the Evolution Frontier's intention of victory.
One: Ryder Karlo's cybernetic finger, holds the ability to stop time, however, that's only if graphed to me or Katie; for anyone else, it simply grants them a sight-seeing ability that peers into the future by just a few seconds.
Two: Madisyn Rivera's hair strand, the same Artifact Mei's ingested. It grants the ability to Blanket to any outsider who wields it, but for Mei, the daughter of who the Artifact's based on, she was likely granted her mother's entire arsenal of abilities.
Three: Matthew Miller's icicle. Anyone who touches it shall be granted the ability to manipulate or discharge ice freely. Allocate those and we should be granted a swift victory over the Founder and his insignificant Evolution Frontier."
Now in the present, everyone had settled, with the three Incarnations laid separately in a row, blankets over their backs. And so, while everyone waited for them to awaken, Darrell threw the finger over to Azazel, easily catching it, just examining it for a moment… then throwing it behind him. Easily, Kate caught it in her raised hand, opening her palm to reveal the mechanical extremity, analyzing the faint whirring it projected, the most infantile electrical spark; there was something familiar about this Artifact, another thing she'd never seen before.
"That's your grandfather's. My father had his arm torn off in the Old World when he was a teenager and had his arm replaced by a robotic replacement. Originally, I'd planned on giving it to Kima, but I'd much rather have you wield it," Azazel turned his body after explaining, leading Katie to squint her eyes at the Artifact.
Without objections, she pocketed it, but even so, the human brain was conditioned to be curious about those it wasn't knowledgeable about.
"Why me and not Kima? Isn't my power sufficient enough already?"
"Hmm… while there is truth to that assumption, there's something I've noticed about the way you use the Blade. You can't use life energy anywhere other than the katana, but, if you keep the finger on you at all times, you'll be able to normally infuse attacks with life energy without the sword. That, plus your muscles-? It makes for a damaging combo, seriously. Anyway, enough exposition. June, give me the strand, and when you see Kima, give her the icicle."
June obeyed Azazel's order, handing him the strand, stepping back as he simply placed it on his tongue, feeling it slide down his throat, shaking his head at the police's flavor, he bent his knees. Bottom drawn to a crate, he scratched at his neck with nails, Katie put a hand on her father's shoulder,
"Before we get on with awaiting the recruits' awakening, we have another matter to discuss. Natalia's power's awakened- or, in other words, she's overcome the mental lock she sealed her ability behind."
Darrell hummed with an impressed tone, eyes closed, his head nodded, meanwhile, June jumped to the air and cried to the air as if she'd graduated from high school, raising her arms as high as she could. Running on over so she could give Smith a tight old hug, the white-haired girl's giggles were comforting, to say the least. Then again, everything mundane would after spending time in that hellish realm they called the Remnant World.
"Can't wait to see you use it against those baddies, Natty!!" Appraised the Wilder sister of her ally, leaving Nat to chuckle sheepishly, a blush covering her cheeks, a hand patting the top of her head.
As time went on and the night turned today, the next afternoon came as quickly with the sun in tow.
The chirping birds, the running water, the chilly air. As her legs slid out, the soles formed but skid marks in the grass, the dirt revealing its brown shade to the world as June raised her arm, just waiting for her opportunity to strike. Right across from her, there was her brown-haired partner, emerging from behind a tree's bark. The outfit she donned was irregular, as it was a whole-black dress with the side cut open, revealing the left leg with a thigh-high over her pale skin, she tightened the gauntlets over her skin with just a tiny turn, unleashing a mechanical crack.
"Ah… I don't feel so basic anymore." As Natalia moaned that aloud, she cracked at her neck, tying up her hair with the scrunchie between her teeth, June couldn't help but smirk…
"You and Katie looked like twins before, not gonna lie. Now, you look kinda hot," June admitted quickly, dancing on her feet, letting her arms shake as she bounced on the tip of her toes.
"I wish you wouldn't say shit like that so casually…" Natalia swept up the remaining strands covering her right eye, letting it hover momentarily, she aimed her hands right ahead. And with blush and anxious smile over her lips, she finished with, "IT MAKES ME SO EMBARRASSED!!"
Back inside their worn-down excuse of a headquarters, as Katie's head rested in the lap of her father, he stood against a wall… positioned just right so he could feel the shine of the sun against the right of his face. Azazel's hand gradually began a stroking cycle the fingers slid across her silky strands of darkness, allowing his skull to rest against the concrete, no matter how demolished it might've been. For their future was assured, the date for the next battle was the 22nd, and surely enough, that was no mere coincidence, meaning, as his hand continued to stroke the hair of his precious daughter, his mind flashed back to that time, in that other World.
Fighting Lucifer with the man he named his brother when he believed himself to be fighting for something so lofty as the life of his child, after learning he would be the father of the next Requiem Child. If only he'd never had fought, would anything had changed? But, maybe it was for the better, for if he'd stood at Hana's Empire, neither of them would've had the chance to fatefully meet and feel the embrace of the other. A second chance in a different world, one where destiny was not manipulated by the selfishness of other Gods, far beyond the scope of man.
"Oi," The man beckoned, Azazel looking up at his boisterous, muscular figure, "Fancy a chat?"
"With you? Anytime. I feel lucky to have another elder on the team, makes me feel less like an aging turtle," Azzy chuckled, rubbing his nape shyly, eyes closed.
"Heh, I know that feeling, trust me. Having to be stuck with June of all kids, that shit wears on you," Jefferson sat himself just a tiny distance across from Karlo, crossing his legs, the duo's eyes locked on a spherical tug of war.
"So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"
"Well… it's something I thought about for a while, I suppose. You informed me about the New Allfather, the Requiem Emperor, and how, before he came into being, it was true that the destiny of mankind was manipulated by the Old Allfather, God. I've come to wonder about my fate, the way my life is commanded. Whether it is my own will and I move forward with my heart, so that my actions are truly my own, or- do there remain remnants of the puppet master that seems to be controlling all humans for the sake of guiding them to their miserable futures? Is it truly possible the New Allfather was wholly benevolent?"
Darrell's question left much up for interpretation, however, that would only be for someone who hadn't witnessed it. That embodiment of light their souls were stuck between, the floor below incorporeal and transparent, just looking down at the infinite void sent illusions of a forsaken endless fall to their minds. Just from that minuscule memory, no matter how temporary, he could mark out the desire of the Emperor, he who cursed the name of the Allfather for what seemed like an eternity. The very idea of being similar to such a monster the Old Allfather used to be, for some reason, struck a humorous chord through his nerves, provoking a laugh.
"Of course the New Allfather could never have been wholly righteous or benevolent, for he had to sacrifice not only his humanity but the lives of others for the end of that nightmare to come to fruition. However, there is one thing he despised more than anything, and that is the idea of being controlled, being the puppet of someone else, someone invisible- whose name he couldn't even know.
The Requiem Emperor wasn't the best person, but I witnessed it... the end of him, caused by none other than his omnipotence. An end to a story that heralded none in sight. The ability to form paths down a road for individuals after being stuck on strings forevermore. The New Allfather granted all those imprisoned by his predecessor... freedom."
There remained a circle of hatred within the center of the soul, no matter how hard anyone could try, they never could extinguish that potential. Within the human heart, the creator designed bloodlust, the infinite potential to destroy others without regard for the caused destruction, the mutilation, for it was all the source of human nature. Designed to be that specification, flesh peeled apart, carved anew from the idea of evil, there existed only he.
The Son of Chaos, fated to bring about nothing but terror throughout the new lands of this mysterious World, for just a simple raising of a limp body, had sent but an explosion through the house. Leaving nothing but despair to fall to, June and Natalia held shaky eyes at the fiery sight, flames erratic, contorting from side to side, as the burnt traces repositioned themselves from the melted particles, they resurged anew from their obliterated counterpart.
For the innards of the flames, destined to split him apart, had started to become infiltrated. Wild songs of flying metal normalized to the roasted bones, for Azazel slashed so carefully, cries as if the man were amid war exiting his lips, easily, the charred body captured the metal aimed at his throat, and with just a tight squeeze from bony fingers, it'd snapped in two. Flying out from inside the wildfire, Natalia immediately caught the soaring body of her savior, cut lip bleeding, Azazel wiped away the red with the side of his sleeve.
Hands attaching to the frame as he crawled out the contents of the abandoned environment crackling with heat, burning flesh away from bone to reveal the charred insides, as he finally stepped his bony foot only the grass… he could feel it peel over him. Like a wave of tranquility washing his soul, arms stretched out, the skin popped out from within the bones, and finally, the hair popped out as the chunks of blood that formed the brain rearranged between the confines of his thick skull.
Those faces of horror scattered over their youthful features, Ashton couldn't help but giggle, veins protruding from within his pale skin… the purple pupil replaced the usual brown and the white eyeball was like the day, overtaken by the curtain of the descending night. Touching his claws' tips to the side of his face so the blood could slick onto his tongue, that elder man, who wobbled so recklessly with a limp, there remained no doubt he was there at that time, at the White House.
"Azazel Karlo, this is our second time meeting, isn't it? You're going down first. So, c'mon. Isn't the Karlo family supposed to be… full of demons?"
To Be Continued.