Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Head Empty, Will Build Instead

Alexander POV

Oi past me, why the actual fuck would you complete that shady CYOA?!

Sure, in my defence, nobody sane would expect some random email to kidnap me across dimensions. On the other hand I wasn't going to blame whatever managed to place me here because I would prefer to not be messed with any further.

Thus, by the will of some unknowable but likely bored entity, I was forced to leave my world and body behind.

Yes my body was left behind, or at least I assume it was because as I shudder and look around I can immediately tell my physical form had changed. Smooth blue crystalline hands stretch out in front of me, and not just the usual two hands. By my count I now had six delicate looking arms hanging serenely in the air.

Why the fuck did I choose to become an Endbringer?

Let's see, what else is there…seems like I have a fairly normal face, though my hair is unusually long. Feet, I've got them. Boobs are there, surprisingly firm feeling.

I do a double take, I have fucking boobs? That cross-dimensional prick made me a girl?

I…I'll just try to ignore it. I'm not actually a girl, just a hyperdense kaiju of death and destruction. Focus on that instead. I try, but all I feel is an ugly bubbling feeling in my chest that I quickly identify as hatred.

One of my many hands twitches and surges downward to break through the rock at my feet, dragging silt, sand and granite up by my fingers with surprising ease. I stare for a moment as the situation fully hits me, my hate fading slightly.

I'm a fucking Endbringer. In fucking Worm.

The sand and rock languidly drifts around me moved by underwater currents and I idly watch them float away, my mind still feeling like I was a million miles away.

Worm was a pretty shit setting. It focused on a particularly delusional teenager in a world of somehow even dumber people who were given superpowers by a pair of godlike aliens who possessed the creativity of a rock. Was it a fun place to read about? Sure. Was it fun to actually be a part of? Nope.

It was one of those grimdark super gritty stories that took itself a bit too seriously and made sure that there was very little hope afforded to anyone. It had a giant telepathic space pigeon who can mind rape you and see the future in order to mind rape you even more. It had a super-secret illuminati who somehow made Cerberus seem competent and dozens of potential threats to the world, and this wasn't even counting the depressed golden alien who could wipe out trillions of versions of Earth if he ever felt like it.

I am an Endbringer with the power to alter matter and build various forms of technology which is capped at a planetary level of development. In many other settings I would be unstoppable, but here?

I was screwed.

I closed my eyes and sat upon a protruding piece of cement. I tried to place my head in my hands, only to let out a sad aborted chuckle as far too many hands met my face.

I needed time. I needed to think.

Thankfully it was just myself and the fishes down here, so I had plenty of time.

-Next Day-

I felt drained, but surprisingly light, as I surveyed my current abode. I had spent the night crying, praying, planning and oftentimes some mixture of the three.

It was kinda sad, best not to dwell on it.

My search had lead me across many buildings, most were made of concrete and wouldn't look out of place in any random city you could find across the world. It was the rest that gave me pause. Rotten wooden structures with tiled roofs, gaping holes where sliding doors used to be present. A broken and decaying Torii gate confirmed my suspicions.

This was Kyushu.

A part of Japan that had been sunk by Leviathan, turning a once prosperous first world nation into a third world hellhole. Worm didn't go into too much detail about what happened to Japan, but I could guess.

A part of me itched, there was a need that I couldn't quite explain. My hands reached for something that wasn't there, as I stared at the broken gate.

There was something viscerally disgusting about the sight. This was once a city that had once held millions of people, it possessed works of culture and art that people had taken pride in. Now it was left discarded at the bottom of the ocean.

Like trash.

Why did that bother me so much? In a few short years the entire world would be like this, broken and destroyed. It felt childish to be so heartbroken over something so small. And yet…

It him me like a flash of lightning and I laughed. I wanted to take it back. I wanted to rebuild this city and drag it back out of the waves. Leave it to be retaken by humanity, for laughter and art and life to once more return to this silent grave.

The sound of my laughter echoed unnaturally across the drowned city, as I clutched my form with my many hands. What a stupid thing to want! I should be preparing, building weapons for the final day. Instead I wanted to build a city!

I hadn't changed my mind on my chances, I was going to die. There were no ifs or buts about it to me. So why the hell not?

I reached towards the burning star eagerly awaiting in my head, promising endless potential if I only asked.

'Give me something to fix this', I almost pleaded with my power, 'something that can set this all right'.

The orb flickered and pulsed, seeming almost thoughtful for a second, before blooming like a lotus in my head. Woodworking, carpentry, art philosophy and more all burst into my head like a dam that had finally been let loose. I took it all in with an ease that surprised me, my crystalline brain holding the knowledge with a clarity that would be impossible for the me of before.

SilkPunk Level 1 – A mesh of magic and technology with an aesthetic that mirrors East Asia. It is a mesh of both technology and poetry where art has meaning beyond simply beauty.

It was merely the first level, there was no magic to be had. It had given me a grounding and understanding of the various arts and cultures of East Asia. Now, as I looked around, I could pick out which buildings were made in the Giyofu style, which were in the Daibutsuyo style and I could even see a single building with hallmarks of the Shinden style so beloved in the Heian era.

This amount of knowledge was, at the very least, the equivalent of a year or two studying in university. I looked around the warped remains of the city, wood and concrete jutting upwards like some macabre ribcage.

Yeah, this alone wasn't going to cut it.

I willed my second power to pulse outwards, water molecules evaporating before being separated into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The sound of the ocean being torn into gaseous form hit like a sledgehammer, the molecules screeched as they were torn apart and the many voids left behind were eagerly filled with a sharp crack. I grunted as I enforced my will onto the surrounding sea, ensuring that the looming ocean above was fixed in place. To my relief I couldn't feel even a single ripple grace the surface in spite of my actions.

It was hard. I could maintain this for quite a while, but I got the distinct impression that this was not what my matter manipulation was for. It was like using a multitool as a hammer, a graceful precise instrument being used to brute force my designs.

The many rotten and decaying houses groaned in protest as the weight of gravity took them into it's merciless hold, several of them fully collapsing without the buoyancy of the ocean. Fish fell to the wet floor, splashing about in protest of their sudden removal from the water.

Whoops.

I stared blankly at the fishes for a moment before facepalming. Depositing the sea life back into the ocean was a trivially easy thing to do with my powers, and I couldn't stop a laugh out of the incredulity of the situation.

"This is so fucking stupid" I chuckle to myself, before pausing at the velvety voice that had come from my lips.

My work with the fish ceased for a fraction of a second before continuing.

Don't think about it Alex.

Just try to ignore it.

A frail smile spreads across my lips as pieces of rock flew into my hand, their forms twisting and morphing into a variety of woodworking tools. I stepped forwards, my hands grasping at a wooden door.

A little bit of work sounds perfect right about now.

-12 Hours Later-

"Okay, there has to be a faster way of doing this" I mutter, no longer surprised at the sound of my voice.

The house in front of me was once again standing proudly, the wooden walls a rich light brown and the floors still sparkling clean after I had gone over it. There was a small garden present, the seaweed did detract a bit from the vibe but I didn't exactly have grass to work with at the bottom of the ocean.

It was an impressive building to be sure, the problem is that it was all I had managed to do.

I looked to the side, an endless pile of rock and wood jutted up irregularly, the view stretching on well beyond my physical sight.

"I feel like I should have planned this out a bit more"

-1 Hour Later-

So, to the surprise of no one but myself, it turns out I was being a bit of an idiot.

Because who in their right mind would spend way too many hours fixing a building by hand when they had fucking Matter Manipulation!

Me, apparently!

I sighed as the once lifeless land surged, behaving like a living being as wood fused together and stone was remoulded into thousands upon thousands of bricks. My hair whipped around my face from the wind of so much material being moved around so quickly.

As I had guessed earlier, and then promptly forgot like a moron, my Matter Manipulation seems well suited to doing many small tasks at once. My mind effortlessly catalogues each individual substance flying through the air, propelled by invisible strings of will and shard bullshit.

The work was proceeding faster now, by my estimate I was completing a hundred buildings every ten minutes. This waxed and waned depending on the type of housing in each individual area, as some were more complicated to build.

A burning mote appeared in my mind, and I almost missed a step from the sheer suddenness of the feeling. It was my tinker power, appearing once more to offer new secrets to me.

I paused to consider my choices. On one hand I could continue down the path of SilkPunk, deepening my understanding and likely gaining magic, which was always a plus in my book. On the other hand I could begin down another path and learn the foundation of another tech tree.

I looked around and grimaced as I took in the work of the previous hour. Many of the more modern buildings had been left incomplete, not because I didn't want to complete them but because I simply couldn't.

Electricity, heating, sewer systems, roads and many other things were needed for a proper city to function.

I was a skilled woodworker who was knowledgeable in the culture and arts of East Asia, none of that knowledge would help me build those vital functions. Even if further improving SilkPunk didgive me a solution to those problems, would any future residents be able to properly understand how it functioned? The higher end of my only specialisation involved magic that relied upon complex poetic language.

Versatile? Sure.

Intuitive? Not really.

There was only one choice.

SolarPunk Level 1- A technology based focused on sustainable energy sources and living in harmony with nature. It is a vision of a future that encourages community, independence and ingenuity.

I had considered choosing TeslaPunk, but SolarPunk fit in a way the other tech tree simply couldn't match. I marvelled at the data flowing into my mind. Solar panels that could outcompete any currently on the market, biodegradable plastics that were stronger and cheaper to make, machines that could encourage the growth of plants in the surrounding area and so much more.

There was a lurch in the material flowing around me as copper, silicon, aluminium and other substances rushed to fill in the empty gaps left behind, the scintillating weaving of metal and concrete came to form a modern looking apartment building. It was quickly joined by a dozen more buildings as I sedately walked through what used to be a residential area.

I grinned, at this rate it would only take me another day or so to completely rebuild this city.

I paused.

Did Kyushu have more than one city? It probably did right? Ugh I may enjoy building but there's a limit even for me.

I'll complete this city and see where I go from there.

-2 Days Later-

Mom, your son has become a workaholic hermit. Please send help.

I had completed the city only 18 or so hours after obtaining SolarPunk technology, but then…

SolarPunk Level 2- A technology based focused on sustainable energy sources and living in harmony with nature. It is a vision of a future that encourages community, independence and ingenuity. The user is now more knowledgeable of the intricacies of this technology and is able to craft larger and more powerful pieces of technology capable of effecting entire cities.

My gaze was dominated by a verdant green landscape, genetically engineered lichen grew from every concrete building, trailing down and producing vibrant patterns that bloomed with many coloured flowers. Trees dotted the landscape, the leaves glowing a bioluminescent green and bringing light to this underwater haven for the first time in years.

Oh yeah, apparently I can see in the dark and hadn't noticed until I made those. It was a pretty neat discovery.

Solar panels were present on every roof, eager to provide power to the homes they rested upon, all while windmills towered over even the highest buildings. Those white and green lumbering forms seemed ungainly, but I knew that the blades of the structure could move silently even under the strongest of winds.

Everything was done, all that was left to do was to raise this island from the sea floor.

I grimaced, I knew that things would get complicated then. The PRT, CUI, the Japanese and every other organisation worth mentioning would take note of this. Would possibly take note of me.

I didn't allow myself to wallow in those thoughts, I had done enough of that on the first day here. If they had a problem with me even after bringing back an entire landmass from a watery grave with a fully functioning city to boot then that was on them. I wasn't going to be held back by anything.

My power rocketed outwards, taking ahold of the ground underneath me as I fed that mass earth and sand from the surrounding area. The ground quaked, the buildings shook and waved from the vibrations, but I had built them too well for any of them too collapse and any small amounts of damage that could come from this would be easily fixed.

I could feel the water above my bubble churning as we ascended, I was no longer trying to hide what was happening. Small rafts of wood on the surface shifted and tried to sail away, my power held them in place. I wanted an audience, and I couldn't have that if they behaved like disturbed insects.

My mouth split open into a wide grin.

Time to make an entrance!

-On the Surface-

Chiaki Second Person POV

His hands ached as he rowed forwards desperately, thin lines of blood dripping down the oars of his boat from how tightly he was gripping them

No no no no no! This couldn't be happening!

He kept rowing, but he wasn't moving. he screamed, the noise echoing uselessly against the muddy brown water that surrounded him.

It couldn't be back! It just couldn't! Endbringers aren't supposed to attack the same place twice!

As if in mockery to his thoughts the water was whipped into an even further frenzy, his hair clung to his face as he felt the icy touch of fear seep into his spine. He shuddered, finally closing his eyes from the horror that would no doubt emerge from the depths.

"Why couldn't you just leave us alone? Why?" he screamed, huddled into his raft. His knees reached up to his face, uselessly trying to drown out the sounds of rushing water.

He lamented. He should have listened, there was never any fish out here anyway! They had all left when Leviathan drowned Kyushu.

His hands curled against His painfully protruding ribs and he held back a sob of agony.

he was going to die. he was going to drown here, pointlessly and that beast will go and do to the same thing to everyone else.

He cowered in his boat. What else was there to do?

Time passed as the sea raged on, the sound intensifying every second until it was a hoarse roar in his ears. Then, mercifully, the sound began to recede, slowly at first but then quicker with every second until all was silent.

He didn't look, he didn't dare to, in fear of the monster finding him.

A dull clack of wood upon stone met his ears, startling him from the sudden noise, before his boat began to Tilt. An undignified shout left the man's lips as he stumbled onto wet floor that definitely shouldn't be there.

Chiaki groaned, dazed and prone as he tried to get my bearings. His calloused hands grasped onto the wooden frame of his boat as he tried to get up, his eyes blurry from tears and sea water. The man blinked and rubbed his face with the sleeve of his ratty coat, only succeeding in adding more water to his face and sputtering

Despite this his eyes eventually cleared, and he could only stand dumbstruck at what he saw.

It was a city. An entire city had just…Appeared out of nowhere and it was like no city the man had ever seen before.

Green, that was the first thing he noticed upon opening his eyes. Green was everywhere, there were trees on the roofs of buildings, grass grew right next to roads and vines hung precariously on the side of buildings.

And what buildings they were. Uniform, clean and beautiful were all he could think as he stared at them, nothing like the dilapidated shacks that he and his family had been forced to live in after they had fled their home from the second Endbringer.

The air was sweet, an earthy floral smell that danced upon his tongue as he breathed.

It was serene. It was such a juxtaposition from the last twenty minutes that he could only stare in wonder. The only movement in his eyes was the soft swaying of trees and the clean spin of windmills that moved silently in the distance.

And then he saw a flash of blue and his breathing stopped.

It looked like a woman, but no woman was that large. Arms radiated out from the figure like petals from a flower. It was walking, and not too fast either. The blue face was fixed in a calm smile and her eyes were closed. He watched as the figure advanced towards a pier, the wood under her feet somehow not giving way.

The figure paused and seemed to take notice of him for the first time as she turned and looked at him.

His breath immediately picked back up, quick and short as his heart hammered in his chest. His feet remained rooted to the ground, leaden in spite of his attempts to run.

He could only whimper softly, feeling with absolute surety that death had come for him.

Instead the woman simply waved one of her many arms and smiled slightly wider as she turned back towards the ocean. A few more steps led he to the edge of the pier before she gently hopped into the water, her form quickly disappearing into the strangely clear water.

The man blinked.

"What the fu-

-Under the Sea-

Alexander POV

Nailed it.

AN: Okay here is the first chapter of (End)Bringing You A New Home! I will post a build of the exact powers the MC has later, but it should be pretty apparent what he can do. To lay out my hopes for this fic I want to be able to write something consistent which explores areas of Earth Bet that we don't typically see. That's not to say we won't get to Brockton Bay, because we will. But my plan is to hit Brockton Bay sometime after Leviathan has wrecked it.

Thank you for reading, please give me lots of comments!

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: The Headache Felt Around The World

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■

♦ Topic: Kyushu Rises! Cause Unknown!
In: Boards ► Global
Aka Ranger (Original Poster) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Jul 6th 2010:
Holy hell, so I'm sure you've already seen various news sites addressing this but to everyone who hasn't heard yet: at around 8;00 AM (JST) the island of Kyushu rose back out of the water.

Various fishermen were the first to take notice given that it happened right underneath them. Miraculously none of these people were hurt and some even took pictures on their phones which can be found [HERE].

A few of these photos were of a city roughly located where Fukuoka once stood. Most concerningly it appears to be a tinker made city, as some eagle-eyed viewers have spotted plants which match no natural example and can stand higher than even the tallest Redwood trees. Naturally the suspicions of a biotinker having a hand in the reconstruction of Fukuoka have alarmed what remains of the Japanese Government and has seen elements of the PRT and the Guild arriving to assess the situation.

Naturally this has led to some tension as Japan still holds some bad blood for America pulling out of Japan following the sinking of Kyushu. The CUI has also sent some pointed addresses regarding the overreach of the PRT, but frankly fuck the CUI.

EDIT: Okay so apparently not all of Kyushu was raised out of the waves, the current island is about 29.7 thousand square kilometres , while the original island was about 36.8 thousand square kilometres. Still pretty impressive.

EDIT: New photographs have come in from the user HIKI Gaya, giving us a much better look at the new Fukuoka. It's beyond pretty, as can be seen [HERE]

EDIT: Teams of various agencies have begun searching through the city and have issued a blanket warning to all civilians to not enter the island until it has been properly assessed.

(Showing page 1 of 546)

►Chrome
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
Uh, what?

@Tin Mother
is this real?

Who the hell would be able to drag Kyushu back?

►Groupies
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Chrome
It definitely seems real, I'm watching the news and they're all reporting on it.

On the one hand: I'm really glad that a lost piece of Japan may have just been returned, hopefully it'll help with their current situation.

On the other hand: I'm extremely concerned about that biotinker.

►Kriketz
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
Eh, just burn the plants. Seems like an easy solution to me.

Hell, just nuke the entire place. Better to be sure.

►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Kriketz
Do. Not. Nuke. My. Home.

Whoever returned my dear lost home has my profound thanks, I, and the many other survivors of Kyushu, had long lost hope that we would ever see Kyushu again.

►Answer Key
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Kriketz
I feel like that's a bit premature, what if the city's like Nilbog and nukes just make things worse?

@Laotsuun
Despite my trepidation I'm glad your home has returned.

So this is obviously a team of tinkers right? Because a Biotinker alone wouldn't have been able to rebuild the entire city, hide the reconstruction happening, and bring the island back from the surface. That's, at minimum four tinkers.

►Aloha
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Answer Key
They'd also need someone capable of allowing them to survive the bottom of the ocean for long periods of time. Not necessarily a tinker, but surviving that amount of pressure and lack of oxygen would necessitate another parahuman.

►Sothoth
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
Hey, wasn't there a tinker who used to mass produce tinker tech for the Sentai? Maybe he helped with the city?

►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Sothoth
You mean Masamune?

Yeah that could fit. He's a mass production tinker, so building a city isn't exactly out of his wheelhouse. He's also probably still somewhere in Japan, though that's hard to say as he hasn't exactly been seen since the Sentai dissolved.

►WagTheDog
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
Maybe it's ToyBox? They have lots of tinkers!

►Loyal
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
Eh? What do you mean Kyushu is back!!!

How! It got sunk by the big scaly asshole!!!!

►QwertyD
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@WagTheDog
Sure, but it's not really their MO.

@Loyal
Well it got unsunk, don't know what else to tell you.

►Reached (Banned)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
[USER'S POST HAS BEEN DELETED]

►Tin Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Chrome
Yes, I can confirm that this is indeed real.

@WhiteFan88
The use of racist and inflammatory language on this site is not permitted, as you have already been warned about. Enjoy your ban.

►Lolitup
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Tin Mother
LOL, only responding after 11 posts? Your losing your touch.

►Tin Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Lolitup
I'm currently rather busy with something important, but rest assured the rest of the Moderators are hard at work.

►Lasersmile
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
So have the PRT commented on this yet?

►Nondeceptive
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Lasersmile
Nah, they're getting all of the facts together first. Give 'em a couple of hours.

Still, that city looks amazing. I hope it's not dangerous, because I'd like to visit it, y'know before it breaks down due to lacking maintenance or the creators being caught.

►Char
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Nondeceptive
Yeah, it is kind of irresponsible of these tinkers to create a death trap for anyone wanting to stay there.

I understand they're trying to help but wouldn't it be better to join the PRT or help the local government instead of doing this with no warning?

►Hikotsu
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@char
Uh, can't speak for the PRT but the Japanese government is kind of hanging on by a thread. Most of Japan is made up of warlords vying for more territory. If these tinkers had gone to the government they either wouldn't have been able to do anything or they would have been kidnapped and pressganged by one of the warlords.

So probably best that they didn't. I'm frankly just glad someone is trying to do right by my country, depending on the condition of Kyushu we might be able to use that island for more food production.

Oh, who am I kidding. One of the warlords are going to snatch it up.

►Mane Magenta
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Hikotsu
Well at least they won't be able to do that while the PRT and the Guild are there!

Plus I'm sure They'll be able to do something to keep it in the proper authorities hands once they leave.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 544, 545, 546

(Showing page 2 of 546)

►Naru Naru (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@mane Magenta
Ha! The PRT doesn't give two shits about us! They LEFT when Kyushu was destroyed and now they come crawling back the moment it has something they want?!

No! Fuck you!
[USER HAS RECEIVED A WARNING]

►TippyTappy (Moderator)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@naru Naru
I can understand why you're upset but please keep it civil.

►Hikotsu
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@mane Magenta
I wish I had your optimism, but as a poster has already noted the PRT and the Guild are likely only here temporarily, which may actually be a good thing.

I've already some rumours about Shuten-Douji using the presence of foreigners to stir up the local population.

►HIKI Gaya
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
Holy shit! guys, my uncle was one of the people fishing at the time and he sent me some pictures! It looks fucking incredible!

[Link]

►Deimos
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@hiki Gaya
Oh boy, here I go clicking suspicious links again!

EDIT: Guys it's legit, the link has about forty pictures of the city, and it's insane! It looks like some environmentalists wet dream!

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
The PRT has yet to issue a formal address to the current ongoing situation but I can confirm that, with the aid of our long term allies: the Guild, as well as the Japanese Government, an investigative search of the city has begun.

Rest assured that we will update you with any pertinent information as it comes up.

►Ne
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Reave
Well thanks for the heads up, I guess.

Think they'll find any beasties?

►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@Ne
I'm really hoping they don't. I want to be able to return to my home, the island getting quarantined kind of goes against that desire.

►Miraclemic
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
@hiki
Oh wow, god I wish I could move out of my crappy apartment and into one of those houses. The one with the rock garden looks especially nice.

►Poit
Replied On Jul 6th 2010:
Oh wow, I go to sleep and wake up to find this.

This has been a nice surprise.

Now let's see how it'll inevitably end horribly.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 544, 545, 546

■

-Rebecca Costa-Brown POV-

The preliminary report on New Fukuoka, as some had taken to calling it, laid across her desk. She had already read it. The steel trap of Alexandria's mind would never forget a single word but Rebecca Costa-Brown, Chief Director of the embattled PRT was not expected to have such a sharp memory.

So it stayed.

Eventually she looked up from her third reading of the report and gazed upon her monitor. There the various Directors were shown hunched over their own reports.

This was not surprising, it was a rather unprecedented situation. An entire island restored to the surface and a grand city having been built upon it. The sheer scope of it was already impressive, but what truly unsettled her, and the rest of her organisation, was that they had had no warning of it happening whatsoever.

The PRT was an organisation that stretched across North America and had a wide recruiting base for thinkers of all sorts. So large was their access to these parahumans that an entire thinktank called Watchdog had been formed to monitor and prevent economic, social and political disruption from parahumans. An entire tinker tech city hidden in the depths certainly should have been discovered long before it was completed.

Yet no one had had a clue.

Cauldron's resources stretched yet further than the PRT's. They had accrued favours from thousands of people across the world, had the ear of every major government and possessed the strongest precognitive parahuman to ever exist.

But they were just as blind to this as the rest of the world.

"Dragon, is there an update" she asked the only non-member of the PRT present on screen. Dragon had volunteered to inspect the city herself, reasonably arguing that there was no one better suited to examining the tinker tech of New Fukuoka.

"While I have yet to fully sweep the entire city, much less the rest of the island, there are a few details that I have been able to ascertain"

Director Armstrong leaned forwards, a spark of interest in his eyes as he spoke "what have you been able to find out, is the city hostile?"

Dragon paused for a second " as previously stated I have yet to examine the city in full, but all signs point towards no" Dragon waited, likely expecting someone to interject but when none spoke up she continued.

"The technology present in Fukuoka appears to be around fifty years more advanced than current day technology, and seems to be primarily focused on renewable energy and sustainability"

She saw a few Directors relax at that, their shoulders lowering so minutely that few others would have been able to tell. Tagg, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes and appeared confused for a short moment, likely having caught the same thing Rebecca had.

"Well that's relieving, I suppose. A specialisation like that doesn't seem well suited to combat" The Carolina Director said, mopping her brow in relief.

"No" Tagg cut in "any specialisation can be dangerous, a parahuman's capacity for destruction will always outpace their capacity to create" Tagg finished, giving voice to the unspoken concern regarding this city.

Parahumans had a tendency towards conflict, and even the most benign of powers often had hidden side effects. So now the many Directors of the PRT, as well as every other organisation on the planet, had their eyes on New Fukuoka and were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She leaned forwards, her eyes locked onto Dragon.

"Dragon, that was a very interesting way to describe the tinkertech of New Fukuoka. I know you always choose your words carefully, so would you like to explain further?" She offered, not really giving Dragon a choice in the matter.

Dragon briefly looked hesitant.

"It is as I have said the technology of this island is fifty years ahead of us" Dragon said "I confirmed it myself, a number of engineers and scientists on the away team also confirmed it."

The room was shocked silent for a moment as everyone present came to understand exactly what Dragon had just said. She stewed in that silence as her hunch was confirmed.

This was big, no it was huge.

There was a person or group present in the world capable of advancing science by decades. How? Had they broken the black box of tinkertech? Was it their power?

"Dragon" Director Hearthrow spoke up "are you trying to tell us that not a single part of this city is made of tinkertech?" His face was pale as he looked at the rest of the Directors on his monitor. The rest seemed just as lost as him.

"I'm placing a gag order on this information" she began "no one is to know of this, this coul-"

"Chief Director, I have already informed the liaison of this 20 minutes ago" Dragon cut her off "As you know the only way I was allowed into Japan to inspect this case was by allowing a personal liaison who served on behalf of the Diet to accompany me. I was ordered to report any relevant findings to him."

She held back a curse as she rubbed her head, to most Dragon only seemed neurotic in regards to the law but Rebecca was one of the few who knew of Dragon's nature as an A.I. as well as her restrictions. The obligation to obey authorities, regardless of her opinion on the matter, was one that Rebecca had eagerly taken advantage of in the past, so it was a rather bitter irony that this restriction was now coming back to haunt her.

"Fine" she waved her hand "You can inform your liaison, I can speak to the Japanese Government and impress upon them the need for secrecy. The interest the CUI would give them should be enough to convince them.

Rebecca looked across the many Directors "I don't think I need to explain why this is so paradigm shattering or why this situation needs to be handled carefully"

She continued to speak, directing various elements of her subordinates as well as her bureaucracy all the while her hand deftly texted a number she rarely had much reason to call so urgently.

'Dammit Contessa, you had better be on top of this'

-Meanwhile-

To: [email protected]

Subject: Fukuoka Documents

Dear Prime Minister

Please find the attached documents linked to this email.

The investigation into New Fukuoka is already bearing fruit, the city is not made of tinkertech it's all mundane technology decades more advanced than anything we've seen!

This could be exactly what we need to gain support from the rest of the world that will be needed if we wish to regain what we have lost. Everyone will want what this city has, the solar panels alone could revolutionise the energy industry.

Swift action will likely be needed to secure New Fukuoka before anyone else can.

Yours faithfully

Renji Nakamura

Number 33 looked up from the device, a piece of tinkertech designed to secretly observe calls and emails coming and going from a certain radius.

Number 33 as well as Number 22 and Number 17 has been teleported into Kyushu in order to observe the situation. Foreign interests in their sphere of influence always drew heavy attention from the Yangban.

He accessed the attached documents and scrolled through the detailed schematics and documentation.

One would need to be informed of this.

AN: And here we have the first ripple effects of what the SI has done. His tech doesn't have a black box, or at least the more understandable parts of his tech don't. 1st level SilkPunk and 2nd level SolarPunk don't really have anything esoteric enough to trip up Earth Bet's scientists, it's basically just current technology if given a push in a certain direction for a few decades.

What's Contessa doing during all of this? You'll see.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Opening Moves

In a groundbreaking advancement of interoperability and cooperation , the military forces of China and North Korea will strengthen their alliance when the military exercise Wukong 65 takes place from July 24th ​through July 30th​ of the east coast of North Korea.

The newest iteration of the aircraft carrier: Liaoning marks a historic milestone with the integration of 12 tinkertech specialities, a significant event in the United Imperial Army's history as well as the Yangban's.

For the first time in 30 years this exercise has created an unprecedented opportunity to validate joint operational capabilities across the East China Sea and strengthen response to foreign invasions of the Emperor's land.

Key highlights of the military exercise include:

• Synchronised operations along the coast of North Korea.
• Joint training in coastal defence against a hostile parahuman force.
• Enhanced focus on expeditionary based operations.
• Joint cooperation in the integration of cutting edge cyberwarfare operations.

Led by General Hu Shi of the Imperial Navy, This exercise brings together elite members of all branches of the United Imperial Army as well as the Yangban who are being led in this operation by the esteemed Two.

This exercise serves as a cornerstone of the C.U.I.'s continued commitment to an orderly Asiatic bloc free from the influence of outside powers that seek to subvert the Emperor's government.

-Meanwhile, on another Earth-


If there was ever living example of the phrase 'garbage in, garbage out' Contessa was currently in the running to become it.

"Are you telling me" Alexandria began, rubbing her head in her hands, "that after whatever effect that prevented thinkers from working on the city expired you asked the path if the Tinkertechpresent on the island would have any disruptive effects on the path?"

"That is correct" Contessa replied, at least having the decency of appearing sheepish in the face of a massive fuckup.

"But because there is no tinkertech your path couldn't see any disruption."

"Indeed."

Alexandria stared at Contessa for a moment, her head still hurting in spite of her invulnerability. "What about now? What consequences will New Fukuoka bring to the world?"

Wordlessly Contessa placed a large number of documents on the table, before sliding them over to each member.

Kurt glanced across the papers, nodding in places, before sighing and looking up at the rest of them. "This supports my own research into the matter. The technology present has the potential to upset the global economy, some of it good and some of it very bad."

That sounded about right to Alexandria, you couldn't just place down a city decades more advanced than the rest of the world and expect for there to be no ripples.

"While the reliance on oil has gone down since the arrival of Behemoth the influence of various oil tycoons is not insubstantial" Kurt mused "Their influence is already waning, so they'll feel even more threatened by the arrival of technology that could make them impotent. They'll almost certainly fight the proliferation of New Fukuoka"

Eidolon frowned, looking up from his notes "Would we even have the manufacturing ability to produce some of this technology, the buildings make heavy use of carbons nanotubes. That's not something we can produce without tinkertech."

"Yes that is true" Kurt nodded "However not every piece of technology is beyond our ability to make. Much of what is present is simply modern technology if it was given a few decades of iteration and improvement. Electric motors, batteries, filtration devices, solar panels and even something as banal as cooking equipment."

It was Alexandria who cut in next, her tone unusually morose "This is all true, however there are other concerns in addition to this. The C.U.I. is mobilising to take Kyushu."

The statement rang across the room, it was something they had all been thinking of but nobody had wanted to put into words. The 'military exercise' was almost insulting in how much of a paper thin excuse it was. It wasn't just Cauldron who had seen the lie for what it was, most of the world knew what was coming.

War.

"Contessa, can you prevent the invasion from taking place" Eidolon asked, likely already knowing the answer.

The hatted woman shook her head.

"Perhaps if I had caught on to what was happening sooner, but now… there is only one way to fully prevent this war from happening" Contessa trailed off, looking slightly uncertain as she did.

Alexandria, in spite of all her decades of fighting and experience, felt a shiver run down her spine. Contessa wasn't someone who typically hesitated. If there was a path that accomplished her goals she usually took it and only stopped to think after the fact. So for her to hesitate, to wait at all was concerning.

She caught David's eye. The man was sitting forwards in his seat, almost as if he were ready to bolt out of it at a moments notice. He had been like this as soon as he finished reading the document. A strange blend of concern and excitement danced across his face in a way only she could see.

"And?" David simply asked.

"The complete destruction of New Fukuoka would be required, it is what is drawing the C.U.I. out, with the city gone they would no longer have a practical reason to invade Japan" Contessa explained "It would require either a nuclear bomb or a similarly destructive tinkertech device."

The room stilled. That was large, the world would start asking questions if the newly emerged city was suddenly wiped out by a weapon of mass destruction. Fingers would inevitably point towards the PRT and America. They were already present on the island and the local population had reason to suspect them from their pull out of Japan after Leviathan.

"You can't simply persuade the C.U.I. leadership or kill off the leaders of the invasion?" Alexandria questioned.

"Assassination or diplomacy would buy time, but it wouldn't prevent this war from taking place. China has many grievances with Japan, so the political will to invade will always be present. The only reason it hasn't happened sooner was because it would have expended too much for too little gain, but with New Fukuoka that has changed."

And the only way for that to be true once more would be to destroy the city completely. What a shit situation.

A light cough was heard across the table as Doctor Mother lowered her coffee cup back on to her coaster. The woman had be enviously calm throughout the meeting, reading through the notes provided and listening with a detached and serene air despite the circumstances.

"New Fukuoka shouldn't be destroyed, at least not yet. Our scientists and engineers are still combing through the city and documenting their findings. We can revisit the idea of destroying the city later, but for now we should act as if we can't" The woman laid out, pausing and cupping her chin with a thoughtful look on her face.

"If we can't stop this war then can we use it to our advantage? Would it be possible to turn this war into a long drawn out low intensity conflict?"

Alexandria knew what she was asking, could they turn this situation into one which created the ideal environment for more triggers.

Contessa paused at that, silently going through the question in her head before consulting her thinker power.

"Yes, however the first battle is always going to be devastating. In fact we will need to make it more so if we want to achieve what you're suggesting. As it stands Kyushu will fall to the C.U.I. in one month if nothing is done."

Doctor Mother leaned back in her chair thoughtfully before responding "What if we send the irregulars?"

Alexandria hummed at the thought. The irregulars were Case-53's who didn't quitemeet the requirements for being released into the world. Considering they had recently released a woman made up of uncontrollable strangling tentacles that said a lot on the condition of the irregulars.

"00478, 01429, 01987 and 02173 would be suitable to be released, provided you allow me to place them in certain areas and at certain times. The rest are too unstable to be of any use."

Four parahumans wouldn't be enough to turn the tides of the war. She knew the parahumans Contessa was referring to and while each and every one of them was potent they would only slow the C.U.I. down.

"The President was discussing ways of re-opening dialogue with the Japanese Government. One of the plans was to retake the Okinawa islands from the warlords that had taken them."

The Okinawa islands had once served as an American base but when Leviathan sunk Kyushu those bases had been deemed to be too at risk and were evacuated. Now that Kyushu had reemerged there were talks going on at the highest levels of the United State's government to drive out the local warlord and reestablish the military base.

"Would soldiers help even the odds Contessa?" Eidolon asked, picking up what Alexandria was suggesting.

"If they were well supplied and had a small contingent of parahumans at hand" Contessa paused before turning towards Alexandria "I'll send you an email regarding the specific parahumans that will be needed."

Well, it seemed like they had a plan.

Alexandria leaned back in her chair, rolling the plan over in her head. A constant low level war with the C.U.I. would likely boost funding if she could word things well to the President. Recruitment might also see a small surge, she would have to contact Glenn later to get him focused on potential propaganda.

All of this while keeping the advancements made possible by new Fukuoka. Alexandria was no stranger to turning disasters into advantages, but this was quite the coup.

Assuming nobody was stupid enough to flip the table again.



-Alexander POV-


"Brothers of the mines rejoice! Swing, swing, swing with me!" I sung off key as my powers drilled through rock and gravel.

I had very quickly gotten bored of wading across the bottom of the ocean, so I had picked a direction and started digging.

It was about a day after I started that I realised my tinker power wasn't being refilled at all, and then realised I had to be building for the process to actually kick in. So that was a day wasted.

Now I was leaving little underground houses along the tunnel I was creating, The dark and shadowy atmosphere, as well as my lack of focus had the tunnel resembling a shanty town. Mismatched houses and rugged improvisation whenever the mood struck me to fix my lousy work.

It wasn't pretty, but it was scratching that itch I had since leaving Kyushu.

"Raise your pick and raise your voice! Sing, sing, sing with me!"

And also I may be the slightest bit bored.

My singing came to an abrupt end as a light bloomed inside my mind. My tinker power had once again evolved and was prodding me for a direction with all the energy of a puppy hyped up on cocaine.

I quickly glanced at my current choices.

SilkPunk Level 1- A mesh of magic and technology with an aesthetic that mirrors East Asia. It is a mesh of both technology and poetry where art has meaning beyond simply beauty.

SolarPunk Level 2- A technology based focused on sustainable energy sources and living in harmony with nature. It is a vision of a future that encourages community, independence and ingenuity. The user is now more knowledgeable of the intricacies of this technology and is able to craft larger and more powerful pieces of technology capable of effecting entire cities.

Should I upgrade either of these specialties? I'm pretty content with where SolarPunk is already at. My hobby was building cities, what reason would I have for SolarPunk technology on the scale of islands or continents?

No, I wanted something that could add a little more oomph.

NanoPunk Level 1- The science of a world where nanites and bio-nanotechnologies are widely in use and are the predominant force in society.

I blinked as what felt like an encyclopaedia was shoved into my head. Most of my tech trees had pre-requisite knowledge that you needed to understand before you could fully grasp them in their entirety. SilkPunk had involved a fair amount of woodworking and mythology, while SolarPunk focused on the Environmental Sciences.

I had expected that something similar would happen here, what I was not expecting was the topic the power chose. Biology related to the human species was not what I had been expecting, but as it settled I quickly dismissed that thought in favour of the sheer potential.

Because dear god had I been wasteful! So much room that I could have used in the construction of my city was taken up by ugly bulk!

Now I had nanoscale circuitry and materials, and not simply nanotubes like I had before. Alloys that could be made only with nanoscale manufacturing danced in my head, offering materials lighter than aluminium and stronger than titanium. It was absurd, and it had made both of my other tech trees better by its inclusion.

I started back up on digging my hole, the ragged houses around me taking on a sleeker and more refined look.

I hummed happily, I would continue on like this for another day or so before resurfacing and regaining my bearings.

I could only hope that while I was down here the people of Japan were happy with getting their island back, because my next city would blow the previous one out of the water!



AN: Things are starting to heat up. War is on the horizon and Cauldron is looking to milk the current situation for all it's got. Meanwhile the MC is doing his own thing and happily plodding along. Where is he going next? Only I know!

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Gimme the City!


-New Fukuoka PRT Scientist POV-

It really was incredible just how quickly things could change. Nicholas had spent years studying engineering, went to Harvard University to spend years of gruelling study pouring over papers and spare parts before finally applying to the PRT's research division.

Why? Because he had wanted to be the first to reverse engineer those blasted tinker inventions. Years of bitter disappointment had dulled those dreams to a weak cinder. Tinkertech just didn't make sense at any level, they were full of gaps where the laws of physics went to die. Electricity somehow being conducted through thin air, energy coming from nowhere, spontaneous magnetic fields. It was enough to drive lesser men to tears.

Nicholas had simply grown glumly resigned to it. He still subscribed to every noteworthy scientific article and still published any findings he deemed relevant, but the spark from his earlier days was just gone.

Or so he had thought.

Since coming to New Fukuoka he had been awash in new possibilities.

"Pretty crazy, eh?"

Nicholas looked over to his co-worker Matt as he swirled the coffee in his cup with a spoon.

"What? You mean the island rising back to the surface? The city? The technology present? The fact that nobody knows who did it?"

"Yes" the man grinned at him.

Nicholas snorted at that.

"True enough, though the world has seen crazier" Nicholas said, his eyes still deep in his coffee cup as he debated adding more sugar.

"Yeah, but none of those have been so wholly positive" the man argued, leaning his body across the table.

Matt was young, he had only recently joined his team and still held that bright-eyed optimism that Nicholas had once possessed.

He said nothing to the man, content to dwell in his own thoughts. It was true that so far the appearance of New Fukuoka had only brought new discoveries and hope, hell just recently one of their probes had found some futuristic filter off the coast that seemed to encourage the growth of plant and animal life in the vicinity while clearing up the dust and detritus that surrounded the Japanese waters.

But if there was one flaw Matt had it was that he was incurious about topics that didn't interest him, such as politics and the world news. So he wasn't yet aware of the forces mounting across the seas wishing to take this island. He wasn't aware of the many back room deals being discussed around the world in regards to this city.

Nicholas would let him keep his optimism.

Besides, his eyes trailed towards the city once more, this place was amazing in spite of the numerous headaches it had caused. The balcony they were sitting at gave them a direct view of the northern half of the city. White towers reached towards the sky, their frames dotted with plant life. The local nature seemed to blend into the city, making it hard to discern where one ended and the other began.

Below he could see his colleagues working, their voices faint from the height of the building. Geologists were arguing about the new stratigraphy of the island, the numerous aquifers that would likely provide as much water as this city could possibly want. Engineers and Material scientists crowded around a building, their instruments cataloguing every alloy present. Across the city and near the bay he could only barely make out the white dots that were the hydrologists and environmentalists still taking readings from the enormous filter present off the coast.

The city alone would make for hundreds of scientific papers, he would have already sent out a couple if it wasn't for all the NDA's he had to sign.

This certainly wasn't how he thought his dream would come true, but it had and he could only take this opportunity and grip it with both hands.

He grinned lightly as he chugged the rest of his coffee.

Time to start working again.



-Shuten-Douji POV-

Good things come to those that wait.

She grinned as she waved towards the crowd.

The capital city of the Ehime prefecture was not a location she usually went to herself, often preferring to send subordinates to rule in her stead. Her main area of operations was near Takamatsu, the last holdout of the weak and ineffectual laughingstock on Shikoku island.

Seriously, get a clue morons!

But much like everyone else in Japan her plans had been overturned by the sudden reappearance of Kyushu as well as the interference of those boorish westerners. So she had altered her plans and chose to come here, the nearest city to Kyushu in her territory.

Her sister could deal with shoring up the borders, this was an opportunity she had to jump on!

"Fellow children of the rising sun! I come to you with fury beating in breast and a thirst to balance the scales!" She roared out. "The ones who abandoned you dare to sell something that they hold no ownership of, for it belongs to you! You and every other poor soul forced to flee from their homes!"

The crowd murmured at that, the choler of the mob rising at the mention of their loss, of their abandonment to shanty towns and poorly equipped refugee camps.

"Worse yet, they sell it to Americans! Betrayers! Thieves, come to take what is rightfully ours!" She hollered, her voice alight with true fury. Because how dare they! How dare they come back now! Only once they had something to gain from picking at their corpse, like carrion birds!

The black mood of the crowd only heightened at her words, there was no love lost to their once ally.

"I come to you now to say: no more! No more will we be treated like we're disposable, like we're less than an afterthought! This is our home! This is our nation!"

The crowd roared back at that, a wordless thing of bile and hatred.

She smiled as she looked around, noting who had been cheering and those who had not.

"Our honour will once more shine when we feed it with the blood of the cowardly and the profane! The Chinese stalk at our borders and the Americans whisper poison into our ears! Who here has the wisdom to see this?" She yelled, her voice reaching a crescendo of hate.

The crowd screamed back, once more any individual voice lost amidst the baying mob.

"Much of us have lost much" She toned her voice back down, almost to a deep murmur "We have, all of us, lost family and friends to the beast Leviathan"

The crowd stilled at that.

"We have, all of us, lost yet more to the negligence that followed" her voice rose. "But I promise those that fled will be returned to their homes, we will drive out the invaders and filth that dare to tread our soil and it shall be ours forevermore!" She finished triumphantly.

Screams and applause met her as she stepped of the impromptu podium.

Her smile grew as she walked towards her car, the driver obediently opening the door for her. She looked back at the many faces of her people, she looked at the bloody hope fill their gaunt dirty faces as she left.

The soft leather of her seat met the back of her head as she slumped backwards.

"Uuuuggghhhhh!" She groaned.

Why did she have to repeat that speech across the city five more times!

Oh right, because communications were spotty out here in the boonies. Fuck.

"Well I think you did alright!" chirped a voice to her right.

She turned to face her long time friend Mayuko Omi. In the aftermath of her trigger event the woman had been of great aid to her and her sister. Her former job as a news anchor had made her an able advisor in the matters of public relations and interpersonal relations. Something that her sister Ibaraki was still struggling with.

"Of course I did well, I'm me" she waved the compliment off "I just wish I had more time to speak to these people."

Her friend smiled at that.

"It's already going to be a busy day and your schedule is packed. If you had to give a speech as long as the one you first made, we wouldn't be able to get to the war meeting."

Shuten pouted slightly at that, the document she had prepared wasn't that long! Besides wasn't it important for her subjects to know what she expected of them, what their role was?

"I'm aware" she sighed "The meeting comes first. No pretty words should come before action." She wouldn't be like them. She wouldn't let the ones she was responsible for die simply because it was more convenient to look pretty instead of wading through the mud and blood.

Matsuyama was one of the many cities that refugees from Kyushu had fled to after the loss of their homes. They had hoped to find aid and succour her, a place to stave of the horror they had come from.

A collapsing economy, the retreat of their allies, and an overstressed system never meant for as many people as there were quickly snuffed those hopes out. Shanty towns had cropped up around nearly every city in Japan. Roving warlords had shattered what remained of law and order in several parts of Japan.

The promise of tomorrow had once more been stolen from them, revealed to be a lie once more.

But now a gift from the heavens had presented itself. She was best positioned to take advantage of New Fukuoka, a city that had the means and resources to house the least fortunate of her territory. She would claim it, and use it to elevate herself above her rivals, above the bickering warlords and soulless officials.

Yes, it was true. Good things come to those who wait, but those who want to keep it must take action.



-PRT Guard POV-

Here's a little tip that most grunts don't get after joining up: if you want to live a long healthy life as a member of the PRT you should choose to be assigned to the most out of the way places imaginable. It was a method that had kept him away from the crazies for the last ten years, all while getting a sizeable pay check for essentially patrolling and looking intimidating.

Unfortunately his stint at Christmas Island- yes it's real, look it up-had come to an abrupt end when a fucking island decided to pull a Lazarus and returned with a shiny new paint job.

Bullshit, but then he had long given up trying to make sense of anything.

He had been reassigned startlingly quickly and was now expected to patrol a mystery high tech city.

As a man with common sense he had promptly decided: fuck that, and chose a patrol route on the outskirts of New Fukuoka which was also conveniently decently close to a temporary airbase the PRT had set up.

So when the incredibly sketchy city inevitably started spewing out monsters or worse, he would be ready to hightail it out of there. After all it's not like the PRT expected a single grunt to stick around and deal with a high level threat. Protocol demanded he link up with other PRT elements in such an event.

Protocol was honestly such a godsend, he had gotten out of so much trouble simply by understanding the dysfunctional rules better than his superiors.

Thus you can imagine his incredulous panic when the sound of explosions screams and gunfire start coming from the airbase.

His hand immediately reached down to his radio, and pushed down on the PTT button before barking into it.

"Delta Base, this is Hawk 4, I'm hearing sounds of combat coming from Beta Base. Acknowledge."

The crackle of his radio was his only answer.

"Fucking bullshit" he cursed quietly.

Okay, so he was either being jammed or Delta Base was also being attacked, neither of those were good. There were numerous (and conflicting) rules he was supposed to take when in a situation like this, but he had never been that good of a soldier so he was going to trust his gut and make up a bunch of bullshit after the fact to justify his actions.

First he should try to identify who is attacking Beta Base…from a safe distance.

Ignoring the sound of screams and the tortured scream of air being ripped through by hundreds of bullets, he ducked low and looked around for a vantage point.

He spotted a hill a hundred or so meters away, from what he could see it would give him a decent view at the base. Keeping low he started to jog towards the hill, his breath feeling heavier than it should and his heart beating itself into a frenzy.

Every step seemed heavier than usual, and he was never more aware of every sound he made wading through bushes and tall grass. He winced at every snapped branch, hoping whatever enemy was out there wouldn't find him.

This sucked!

Why the fuck did this have to happen to him!

Eventually he made it to the hill and shimmied his way to the vantage point on his belly.

It did not look good. Smoke was curling lazily up into the air from the numerous fires that blazed across the compound. Dead soldiers seemed to litter the floor as what could only be described as monsters crawled towards the last holdouts of men firing desperately into the oncoming horde.

Wow. He was really glad he hadn't followed protocol this time.

He studied the attackers carefully, as much as he wanted to inwardly crow at being right about the island being some secret monster factory that thought didn't line up with what he was seeing.

He had studied Nilbog and his creations. All PRT members who gain the clearance necessary inevitably tend to dip their toes into the horrors that dot the planet. It was practically a rite of passage. So he was familiar with the green rotted looking horrors, as well as a hundred other flavours of self-replicating monsters.

One thing you tended to notice after spending so much time researching them, is that they tend to stick with a theme. Oh sure Nilbog had variety to his creations but they were all still recognisably his. That same was true for all the others too.

These things however were all unique, every single one of them. Not a single one could be mistaken for another.

A pale tentacled thing stood besides an emaciated long armed yeti bearing down on the soldiers, and a single swipe of one of it's many appendages left the group bisected at the waist.

He winced and pulled out his binoculars. Their tactics didn't resemble swam tactics either, if anything it was reminding him of a group of drunken men in the middle of a bar brawl. Powerful, chaotic and not at all coordinated.

He narrowed his eyes, looking over each and every one of the eight parahumans who had assaulted Beta Base before he saw confirmation. An omega symbol. These were all Case-53's, and it was with a sudden chill up his spine that he finally remembered them. This group had been a part of the briefing regarding villainous elements present in Japan.

"Ah fuck" he bit down on his impulse to stay and continue observing, the last remaining PRT soldiers were now starting to thin out rapidly and the sound of gunfire was starting to be drowned out by the discordant laughter of the rotund eyeless member of the attackers.

He pushed back, getting out of sight before sprinting towards the city. His best chance of survival rested with the heroes stationed there. If comms were being jammed then they needed to be warned.

The Hyakki Yagyō were here.

AN: Local forces begin to move, local for Japan anyway. I'll get a map with various warlord factions I've made and post it soon, I'm just having trouble with the map.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Chaos in the streets

-Contessa POV-

Contessa sat in her armchair, her hands folded in her laps and a gun at the table in front of her. She sat here, because this is where she was supposed to be.

Step 146: Grab the gun at the table.

Step 147: Say: "Door me, New Fukuoka, Aoyama Street, forty feet up"

Step 148: Aim downwards at an angle of -47 degrees and an inch to the left.

Step 149: Fire.

The pistol kicked in her hands, but her grip was perfect and her aim even more so. The bullet smashed through a window and splattered the brains of a PRT technician just as he was about to alert the base to the incoming rush of enemy parahumans.

The portal closed swiftly after.

Step 150: Wait for one minute and twenty seven seconds.

She sat back in her chair and tilted her head towards the TV. The screen showed a basket full of kittens pawing at each other and snuggling in to their mother as a human pets each of their tiny heads.

Adorable.

She idly mused about acquiring a kitten assuming she survived the final battle, but quickly dismissed it. She could consider the thought after that long awaited day.

Step 151: Grab the gun at the table.

Step 152: Say: "Door me, New Fukuoka, Akari Street, five feet up"

Step 153: Aim downwards at an angle of -4 degrees exactly straight.

Step 154: Fire.

A PRT transport went up in flames as her bullet ricocheted into the fuel system. The detonation sent piece of metal and glass flying towards any caught within the vicinity. A shard of metal shot through the eye of a particularly troublesome brute and killed twenty more gang members who were about to break through the hasty cordon set up by a combined PRT, Guild and Japanese group of parahumans.

She saw one of them quickly turning their head towards her location in shock, but the portal closed before they could see her.

Step 155: Wait for fifty seven seconds.

Ultimately, as much as some in Cauldron might wish otherwise, Kyushu was not going to remain in the hands of the PRT or America. The resources and time it would require from her were unfeasible and better spent elsewhere.

The path had determined that the most efficient way forwards was to entrust the island to a group that could more easily defend it, and would be amenable to working alongside Cauldron. Whether that was with promises, bribery, threats or anything else didn't matter.

The Japanese government was unsuitable for a variety of reasons, they were already overstretched trying to keep the territory they already had and Kyushu was simply too close to two major warlord factions.

Of those two factions the Hyakki Yagyō were more likely to burn down New Fukuoka and grill meat atop the burning embers than do anything productive.

Mount Ooe was the only reliable choice. Yes, it was a group of xenophobic ultra-nationalists but puppeting those sort of people was old-hat to Contessa. Their leader wouldn't pass up any deal that could enrich her people at the expense of another, and when you had access to an almost infinite amount of Earths then no amount of resources would ever be a problem.

And so she had lured the Hyakki Yagyō here to help weaken both sides before Mount Ooe rolled in to clean up and claim Kyushu.

Yes it was unfortunate that so many PRT soldiers would lose their lives, but even that was calculated. The brunt of the blame would fall upon Nurahiyon and his gang of psychopaths, so when Mount Ooe eliminated them the citizens and politicians of America would be more amenable to working with a known warlord.

Step 156: Say: "Door me, New Fukuoka, Toriyama Street"

Step 157: Bring out the tinkertech countermeasure and activate it to cancel the jamming field momentarily.

Oh so that's why she had to grab that from Armsmaster's lab.

Step 158: Grab the discarded radio from beyond the portal.

Step 159: Switch it on and speak in an altered pitch and tone these words: "Corporal Hernandez! Do you copy? Over!"

"Lieutenant? Lieutenant is that you?" a young voice shakily asked over the radio, their protocol forgotten in place of their fear and hysteria.

Step 160: Grunt in an affectation of pain before speaking again.

Step 161: Say: "God you always were shit at proper radio procedure" before hissing and breathing hoarsely into the radio.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?! What's your position?!" The young man began hesitantly before belting the words out, seemingly hysterical in the face of whatever might be happening to this 'Lieutenant' of his. Contessa briefly pondered on what their relationship might be, was it simply a bond of friendship forged in military service or did it go deeper? She shook that thought off.

Unfortunately for Hernandez he wouldn't be living for too much longer.

Step 162: Say "I'm at Akiko Street, near where we ate those god-awful spring rolls last week. Listen, I've been hit badly and the rest of my squad are down, I need a medic and an evac quickly. Are you in position to do that?"

Step 163: Cough loudly and wetly into your hand.

"Fuck! Fuck! Lieutenant, we'll be with you shortly just hang on!" he screamed into the radio before it shut off and the portal closed.

Step 164: Wait for two minutes and three seconds.

Corporal Hernandez wouldn't make it to Akiko Street, but he would intercept a group of marauding Case-53's and slow them down long enough that they would miss a group of fleeing scientists heading for the northern evacuation point.

Because while the soldiers were expendable the scientists were not. Their knowledge and samples would be invaluable in the years to come.

She stared down at the radio for a moment more before nodding and setting it down on the table.

It was necessary.

-Armsmaster POV-

Colin drove through the streets of New Fukuoka, swerving only occasionally as the ivory towers of the city blurred around him. His motorcycle was fast, fast in the sense that no mundane ground vehicle could come close to.

His visor alerted him of an enemy ahead. An insectoid Case 53 with acid drooling from it's open mouth preparing to pounce upon a squad of soldiers, whose bullets were bouncing harmlessly off the chitin of the cape.

He grunted softly as he hefted his halberd and sped up.

The cape barely had a moment to react to the thundering roar of his approach before it was unceremoniously impaled upon his weapon. The impact jostled his shoulder painfully but his armour had done its job.

He could do without the flailing of the impaled parahuman though. It was shifting his motorcycle to the left by a couple of inches.

He spotted an intersection up ahead and with only a few slight twists his halberd detached into two separate parts and he flung the cape off of his weapon.

It promptly rammed into a building with all the force of a railgun round.

He mechanically adjusted the drift of his motorcycle and reattached the two parts of his halberd back together. He could only hope the people he saved would be able to make it to their rendezvous point, because he could not afford to slow down.

As one of the few capes capable of rapid movement, if only with his motorcycle, he had been picked out as part of a rapid response unit. He had already been present in numerous skirmishes across the city since the attack began, the aches and pains flaring up across his body were proof enough of that.

An unpleasant tension filled him. It wasn't enough! He had been complacent, he had thought the battles and challenges of Brockton Bay were an ideal whetstone with which he could forge a proper legacy!

That had been arrogant.

The whine and creaks of the servos only caused his frown stretch further down his face. This fast paced continuous battle was one he had no preparation for. Most battles back in the bay only lasted for minutes at a time.

Now, as his tinkertech was slowly failing him, he could only bemoan his foolishness. His halberd, once his pride and joy, now looked unspeakably ugly in his eyes. The dozens of functions he had fit in the slender frame only added complexity and fragility.

How ironic that his pursuit of efficiency had only lead to inefficiency.

He turned sharply down a back alley, the ivory walls screeching against his metallic armour as he scraped by. Up ahead was his objective, a group of parahumans desperately holding the line against a wave of ghostly figures.

Projections, likely made by the Hyakki Yagyō cape Onryō.

He slid to a stop, pelting the projections with gravel and loose soil, before quickly dismounting and jabbing his halberd through one of the wraiths. Thankfully, he noted with relief, these projections could be dispersed with weaponry, unlike the projections of a certain neo-Nazi cape back home.

One of the ghosts lunged at him, crossing the distance in only a second. He sidestepped, countering with another swing of his halberd. The blade bit deeply into the pale white flesh of the projection as it gave a wail before disappearing.

He would have continued to hack away at the projections if not for a deep sibilant hiss echoing across the alley. He looked back to find another monstrous cape standing at the entrance to the alley he had come down, likely having followed him.

It was a massive silhouette of blades claws and scales, like some demented child had been asked to draw the unholy fusion of a snake and a blender. It towered over Armsmaster and the others, the massive bulk blocking out the sun. It leered at them before turning its eyes towards the cowering forms of a pair of engineers.

The bulging of its neck was the only warning it gave as it spat a ball of foul smelling liquid at the pair. He whirled around a desperate warning dying on his lips as he beheld a forcefield holding the smoking liquid at bay.

"Get fucked you dumb piece of shit!"

The mocking form of Bastion crowed at the creature, his forcefields still weaving behind him blocking and knocking away most of the charging projections attempting to storm their chokehold.

Armsmaster was just glad Bastion hadn't said anything racist yet.

Still, it wouldn't be great if Bastion got too distracted and allowed them all to get pincered. That would suck.

So Armsmaster stepped forwards and raised his halberd.

It didn't move, didn't even seem to register the movement. The snake-like Case 53 still kept his eyes on Bastion, ignoring him as it once more prepared to spit another concoction of malady.

That was strange, the PR department back home said he was very noticeable. Was Bastion just that aggravating?

Regardless he took another step before shifting into a jog as he thrust his weapon into the parahuman, the blade screeching against the metal blades dotting the serpentine form. Sparks flew as the blade was deflected and Armsmaster quickly stepped to the side his eyes darting across the many scythe like blades of the creature, expecting a brutal counterattack.

Except no attack came and the creature was now warily glancing around, the many weapons of the Case 53 were spread out as if it was expecting an attack to come from anywhere. Armsmaster felt his brows furrow. Could it not see him?

The question seemed absurd, but Armsmaster had served as a hero for a very long time. He had been around during the very first days that the Case 53's started popping up around the globe. All of them had forms that were annoying at best and debilitating in the worst cases. Blindness was far from the worst issue he had seen.

No wait, it definitely saw those engineers. So it wasn't blind.

If that was the case why couldn't it see him?

He shook that thought off and sent a few more probing strikes of his weapon at the creatures back before hastily sidestepping a blind flail of a dagger-like claw as the parahuman tried to skewer whatever had been attacking him.

Well this clearly wasn't working. If he wanted to harm this enemy he would need something more. A quick flicker of his eyes activated the execute program in his helmet, which in turn sent a ping towards his halberd. The stink of ozone filtered across the alley as his blade was surrounded by crackling plasma.

He hefted his weapon, preparing for another blow.

The beasts head snapping towards him was his first clue something had gone terribly wrong. The next was the lunging strike he had to hastily backstep away from. A claw from his left side hurtled towards him and he ducked, striking out with his halberd shortly after.

The satisfying hiss of melted metal and the screech of the creature brought a grim smile to his face as he finished backing away.

Heat. It could see using heat. It was the only thing that made sense. His armour ran cool thanks to the many tiny coolant pumps crisscrossing the inside of his suit like tiny veins. A necessity if a squishy tinker wished to fight Lung.

It had only seen him after he had activated the plasma blade.

He briefly contemplated turning it off but decided against it. The heat would take minutes to properly leave his halberd and he needed the plasma if he wanted to be able to hurt this thing.

He twirled his halberd, the act masking the firing of a dart into the wound of the Case 53 as he charged once more. The serpentine form of the cape hissed as it spat another glob of foul smelling liquid before charging as well.

Armsmaster hefted his halberd and thrust at the orb, detonating it into an explosion of rank smelling steam. Using the steam as cover he darted to the side as the parahuman barrelled passed him. He turned, and the next swing of his halberd caught the side of the creature. The cape screamed as an even larger part of its body sublimated.

The momentum of its charge carried it to the end of the alley where it briefly ragdolled on the ground before convulsing in agony. It's shudders swiftly stopped as it fell unconscious just before Armsmaster reached the prone form.

A quick check confirmed the cape was still breathing. He turned to help aid the others, but he could already see the distant form of bastion and a pale lithe woman seemingly made of ceramics that was trapped within a dome of forcefields. A quick hole was briefly made as a member of the PRT quickly threw a containment foam grenade inside.

It seems he was done here.

He activated his comms, the tinkertech of its design unhindered by the jamming effect which was yet another reason why he had been assigned as a first responder, and spoke.

"Alpha Base, this is Armsmaster, Bastion's group is now free to head to the evacuation point. We have captured two unknown parahumans. One pale puppet-like Case 53 capable of manifesting a small army of ghost-like projections and a reptilian Case 53 with acid breath, a brute rating and a large amount of bladed weapons."

There was a brief pause before a weary voice replied back.

"Good job Armsmaster your next task is to-"

He frowned as the voice cut itself off. There were faint whispers in the background and the crisp sound of paper being moved across a desk. A voice harshly whispered something inaudible but the tone of it was unmistakeable: something big had just happed, something urgent.

"Ah-I-I see" The voice whispered to themselves before speaking again, this time far more alertly. "Armsmaster, how much weight can your motorcycle carry?"

"A ton" He answered immediately, knowing his tinkertech backwards and forwards.

"Ah, good! The next location is being sent to you. You are to retrieve information uncovered by a team of scientists as quickly as possible and bring it to Alpha Base"

"Understood" he replied, moving towards his purring motorcycle.

"Armsmaster" The voice whispered harshly in his ear "This information takes priority over everything else. You are permitted to do whatever it takes. Do you understand?"

He slowed for a second, thrown off by the seriousness of the demand.

"…I understand. I will prioritise the information" He finally responded. As he revved his motorcycle and began driving towards the designated area.

What exactly had they found?

-Acting Director Brunsworth-

The quiet whispers of the operator next to him echoed loudly in the now quieter room. Conversations and orders had been drowned out when he had frantically raced into the room. All eyes were watching him, curious as to why he was present.

He didn't bother to give them an explanation.

His eyes were still drawn to the photo he had been given not ten minutes ago.

It had been sent out shortly before the jamming field had gone up, but went unnoticed and ignored because of the battles now raging across the city. Only an eagle eyed intern had spotted it and understood the significance.

They were definitely getting a promotion later.

His mouth felt dry and there was still a shake in his legs at the sight.

The paper was innocuous enough. A photo taken of a book opened to a page of technical schematics. The book was clean, new. No discolorations or markings had had the time to set in just yet.

Except these schematics clearly showed the internals of the enormous filter which had been discovered in the ocean. In the background of the photo was yet more books stacked messily upon a wooden table.

Somewhere in the city there was a library, and in that library was all the answers they were looking for. Technology, secrets, knowledge. If even 1% of this cities workings were stored in this repository then they needed to secure it quickly. Before anyone else did first.

AN: Things are heating up!

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Stepping Back


-Alexander POV-

Lights projected by nanoparticles dance across my eyes, feeding me visual information as I scroll through Earth Bet's extensive internet.

Yeah, there was only so long I could build buildings along my tunnel before my creativity ran out and I started getting sick of it. I needed more room to properly express myself, but there was no point making more room down here because I was the only one who was ever going to be here.

Probably.

Which is why I was now lazily reclining in a giant beanbag and catching up on this planet's forums.

They were shit by the way.

There was no anime thanks to that lizard fuck, and most of Earth Bet's entertainment revolved around capes. Sure some of it was good, but when you're watching a movie about Alexandria saving orphaned children while knowing the real Alexandria would probably grind them down to mulch if it furthered Cauldron's plans it created some dissonance.

Fuck, I had even gotten so bored I had started actually writing fanfiction instead of simply consuming it like the consummate lurker I am.

Fuck, I was going stir crazy and according to my GPS I was still quite a way away from my next target. Could I get there faster? Sure, with my matter manipulation I could convert air into rocket fuel and use that to propel me there in mere minutes.

But that would probably get me mistaken for a rocket, and I really don't feel like answering questions from pissed off border controls.

Yes I'm an Endbringer but I still find the thought of talking to officials scary.

That being said talking to someone would probably be a smart idea. You don't want the person who can transmute the surrounding environment into Fluoroantimonic acid to go crazy, it definitely wouldn't end well.

Thankfully this wouldn't require that I go out and talk to actual human beings!

Nope!

SilkPunk Level 2- A mesh of magic and technology with an aesthetic that mirrors East Asia. It is a mesh of both technology and poetry where art has meaning beyond simply beauty. Now includes magical rituals and spells related to the tales and myths surrounding East Asia.

My toiling through endless bedrock had paid off with a shiny upgrade!

I had already used this to give my dismal tunnel a swanky miniature sun by invoking the likeness and story of Ama-no-Iwato, the cave where Amaterasu hid herself and now I was planning to use it to craft someone to talk to!

What's that? This choice doesn't sound healthy? What do you know imaginary voice in my head?

Wooden shoes sprout from the ground, tendrils reaching upwards to complete the internals working before wood and a skin-like polymer cover the insides. Ink was woven in dizzying patterns, the kanji imbuing sentience into the wooden doll. Nanites crawled over the construct, their metallic sheen slowly changing to a rosy pink. Finally ceramic armour engulfed the figure, the design was what you might find on a typical samurai if not for the hum and whir of electric motors betraying its more advanced nature.

I stepped back and regarded my creation with distant pride. The stocky figure coddled in advanced armour made for quite the sight. Almost like a character straight out of a space opera had burst through the screen and into the real world. A twist of my will popped the figures helmet off, revealing short red locks of hair framing a dour and serious face.

The rush of stale air made the figure sputter slightly and they opened their eyes for the first time. The blue orbs darted from place to place, first looking at the shining fake sun above us before looking around the sleek houses melded into rock and stone. Then, at last, his eyes settled on me.

I was briefly confused when his eyes widened and he dropped to the floor in some weird crouch

Oh wait, he's bowing.

My eyes widened.

Oh fuck, he's bowing.

"My lady! A thousand apologies for the disrespect! I have no excuse for my lapse in judgement!"

Uwwwwaaaaahhhhhh!

Please stop bowing my guy, I made you so I could Netflix and chill with someone. Not this!

Also did he just call me 'Lady'

Ugh, I hate this! Modelling him after the platonic ideal of a samurai was a horrible idea!



-The Nameless Samurai POV-

Oh what shame and disgust fills me!

I knelt on the floor, a piece of me desperately wishing to sink into it's welcoming embrace and disappear into the stygian depths.

Just a minute ago rapture had filled me, the absence of being sundered by divine will acting upon this base reality. Light and awareness had filled my empty vessel while my purpose became clear: obey and carry out the will of my divine progenitor, woe be to any blasphemers who stand in my way!

Knowledge had filled my soul, of a wise and graceful entity. A god who had lifted a doomed and desecrated island from the abyssal grasp of the sea! A titan who had remade that island in her own image, who had tilled the soil and made life flourish once more! A lady who had built a city for the world to marvel over!

I am, of course, speaking of my very own blessed progenitor!

But alas the bright glare of light and the glorious vistas robbed me of my first sight being of her. It stole that moment from me, and revealed how unworthy and crass I was in front of my very own creator!

The short sight of her had been enough to rob me of my wits, and I failed to show my creator her proper respects. The long delicate arms that seemed to encompass the world itself in her grasp, the soft supple features gazing at me expectantly.

And I had failed! Fool! Moron! Incompetent of the highest degree, now she will-

"Rise"

My body obeyed automatically, rising to a picture perfect stand, back straight and shoulders squared. All except my face, still turned downwards in shame.

"Look upon me my creation"

I raised my head slowly, my eyes meeting the brilliant sapphire eyes of my creator.

"I find little reason for you to debase yourself like this. For what reason do you beg for forgiveness?"

The question brings my mind to a screeching halt. Surely she should know? A perfect being should doubtlessly know of my impertinence, of the breach of personal conduct!

Gazing into those confused eyes I was forced to consider that she may genuinely not understand.

How could-

Ah, no, this makes sense. Why would a god deign to understand mortal customs, such a thing would be infinitely beneath them.

"Ah, my lady" I began, only to stop as a frown flickered across her face. "My liege, I was apologising for not showing my honoured creator the respect they deserve. Such a resplendent being deserves the utmost respect and worship from a lowly being such as I."

My liege continued to stare at me, their thoughts an enigma. Hidden from the unworthy such as he.



-Alexander POV-

…Wordy little bastard isn't he.

Yeah, I definitely cranked up the loyal retainer aspect of a samurai way too high.

Fuck.



-The Nameless Samurai POV-

"I see no reason to condemn you for this" his creator finally responded.

Relief flooded my body, untensing every fraught muscle in my body. I hadn't failed, I wouldn't be abandoned! The feeling was almost intoxicating to me as I bowed before my too forgiving creator.

"I offer my deepest gratitude for your beneficence!"

The god waved my earnest thanks off and turned to regard a nearby dwelling, no doubt contemplating ways to elevate it far beyond my understanding.

Yes. My creator was too forgiving, too perfect for this base world. As their loyal retainer it would fall to me to ensure proper reverence and respect was given by the plebian masses.

"Soooo…wanna netflix and chill?"

The words were incomprehensible to me, which was understandable. The concepts and ideas of a god would always be as such to me. But I understood that my liege wished for me to complete some arcane task for them.

I was ready!

I was prepared!

I would not fail!

"This nameless samurai is ready to serve, my liege"

The silent stare I received did little to daunt me this time. For I knew that I would 'netflix and chill' like no one ever had before!



-Alexander POV-

Oh fuck I forgot to give him a name!

Shit! Quick, think up a name, any name!

Red hair. Samurai. Loyal. Put that together and you get-

"From henceforth, you shall be known as Renji" I announced, cringing inwardly.

Fuck, why did I decide this was a good idea?



-Emily Adams, PRT Researcher POV-

Emily tiredly reclined on the sinfully comfortable seat, some type of smart foam probably, watching the distant trails of smoke rise in the distance. The crack of gunfire echoed through the city, frightening at first but when it goes on for several hours you gradually become used to it.

She shook her head ruefully. That was an insane thought.

The occasional thump of a heavy book landing on a table and the flip of pages as her fellow researchers worked was a far more preferable sound.

"How much memory do we have left on that device?" asked Brian, one of her colleagues.

"Only a few Megabytes" she responded, idly massaging her eyes. The leaden weight of her eyelids and the fuzzy headache making her want to curl up and fall asleep on the spot. Only rigorous experience and far too much caffeine preventing exactly that from happening.

"So only a few more pictures then" he cursed "Can we still not get any messages through?"

Her raised phone showing the multiple failed calls was the only answer he needed.

"If we can't send an email we might need to send a runner to inform them" Another member quietly said.

Brian scoffed at that "Ah yes, let's send one of us out there" He gestured out the window where the sounds of battle still raged in the distance "what a great idea!"

"Stop being a prick Brian" she groaned, sick of this conversation that had probably come up ten times by now.

"What? You know I'm right!" Brian retorted.

She huffed, resigned to being drawn into this argument again.

"Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. It doesn't really matter. We still need to do our jobs, and that means finding the most important parts of this library and photographing them to add to that" she finished, gesturing at the thumb drive.

She was still cursing herself for not bringing anything more, but how was she supposed to know she would find a treasure trove while on break?!

Or that the situation would go to hell when she did find it?!

"Emily, that's not going to take us too much longer and we're going to have to start talking about what to do after."

Goddammit Brian she knows!

"Sure. But that's not now, so stop arguing and start searching!"

Brian grumbled a bit but began flipping through the book in front of him again.

They were all strung out, running on stimulants and panic for twelve hours straight would do that to anyone. Whoever thought it was a bright idea to add everything important regarding the city in a single library was doing the tempers of the team no favours.

Seriously! Every book was crammed with knowledge to a neurotic degree, even to an engineer like her this shit was as dry as the Sahara!

Grammophones, tires, wallpaper, toy robots, artificial leather, a new type of bullet proof windows.

All of that was in the one book she was looking through, by the way. Whoever sorted all of this sucked ass! It was almost like someone gave up halfway and started chucking in every topic they could into each book!

She rubbed her temples, vainly trying to calm her sudden migraine.

"I've got some sort of automatic medical system here!" One called out

"I've got the schematics of one of those electric cars we found in that garage a few days ago." Another added.

"Add the automatic medical system to the drive but not the car, the others have probably already got data on it from pulling a few apart" Brian snapped out before returning to frantically flipping through the pages of his book.

She sighed to herself. Just a few more and they could go. Just bear with it for a few more minutes.

Her head snapped up and she quickly stood up from her table. There were a few mutters and stares from her colleagues but she ignored them. Was she mistaking that sound, was she just imagining it.

No, it was getting louder by the second. Even the others had gone quiet, recognising what she had a few seconds ago. The echoing growl of an overworked motor was slowly but steadily coming towards them!

Her head turned to Brian "hide the thumb drive" before turning to the rest "we should get upstairs, quickly and quietly."

The energy of the room was kicked up into a quiet storm as men and women did their best to quietly move across the chairs and tables of the library towards the lone door leading upstairs.

They weren't always successful though. Each creak of a bumped chair and quiet whisper making her cringe.

The room was a mess. Stacks of books, half empty shelves and empty coffee cups. It was obvious people had been here, but they didn't have time. They could only hope that whoever was approaching either didn't enter or was friendly.

Because otherwise they were all going to die.

AN: Alexander decides he's lonely and wants a friend, he gets a worshipper/follower instead. LOL. Also PRT researchers suffer from Alexanders laziness and poor sorting.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Evacuation

-Wind Runner POV-

The second day of the invasion did not begin with the same spontaneity as the first. The element of surprise had been thoroughly used up by the Hyakki Yagyō. Now the Protectorate and the forces of the PRT had dug in, continually repelling the invaders with grim resolve and a plethora of firearms.

They were stationed just a few hundred meters away from the farming district of the city. The huge pearly domes full of hydroponics, medicinal herbs and luxury goods had done much to bolster the faltering morale of the PRT. Supply lines had already been set up between the farms and their current position while nearby a tinker was feverishly working on something to address their ammunition issues.

Assuming that could get up and running then time would be on their side. They could slowly start retaking ground and grinding the enemy to a fine mulch through attrition.

Captain Valeska had command of this section of the line. She had previously ordered all mortars (mostly used by the PRT to fire Containment foam grenades at long range) to fire munitions at the slightest sign of enemy combatants, and even approved the use of tinkertech munitions that Cartridge cooked up.

Definitely nonstandard, but it worked. Hours of firing had depleted their reserves heavily but not a single freak had dared approach them since.

Rather dumb in his opinion. If it were him he would have slowly bled their ammunition dry until they were too weak to withstand a charge.

But after a day of waiting it seemed their enemies had finally gathered up some courage, as both scouts and thinkers had reported a build up of forces to their south.

The base had been abuzz with activity since. Their already frantic pace kicked up even further, Captain Valeska needing to rein them in and slow them down to something manageable.

Thus, when the Hyakki Yagyō finally advanced, they were ready. The sound of guns reverberated harshly against the clean backdrop of the city while the thundering roar of a dozen self-propelled batteries and tinkertech ordinance made his bones quake.

He waited for the explosions, for the light and sound and fire to drive them back as it had so many times before. But he heard nothing, saw nothing.

Where there should have been detonations by the dozens there was nothing, the enemies in front of them were still charging and it was like their attack had gone up in a puff of smoke.

"There!" cried one of the troopers behind a heavy machine gun, pointing at the sky.

He frowned, his eyes squinting as he tried to pick up what the man had seen. A flicker of light met his eye, like a heat haze surrounding the charging enemy.

A forcefield!

"Fuck, all parahumans move up!" the captain growled, and her message was passed up the line by the surrounding soldiers. He saw her reach down and fumble in her bag before pulling out a large bore handgun and a black flare.

She loaded it, pointed it high and fired.

He knew it was meant to signal the rest of the PRT forces of ongoing situations, a way to mitigate their lack of radio.

Green meant that the current situation had been handled and everything looked to be stable.

Red meant that the enemy had gotten passed their line, likely through teleportation or flight. This typically required the aid of one of their few fast response units.

Black meant that the enemy was likely to break through the line, and that they required reinforcements.

He knew that there were more, but the thought fled his mind as he leaped passed the gunnery and took to the skies. Wind swirled around his feet and legs, forming vortexes which he used to fly.

Up above he could see the devastation they had wrought upon the city. Clean white towers now stained black by the sooty remains of previous attempts to push them back. Small fires flickered in the charcoal remnants of what used to be trees. And more importantly he could see the charging figures. None wore any sort of matching uniform and their forms all stood in contrast to one another.

With a jerk of his hand the wind took ahold of a lone piece of rubble beneath him and hurled it at a centipede-looking woman. The rock shot through the skies with a crack, before abruptly disappearing as it hit the shield.

He grimaced, picking up more pieces of stone. It was possible there was an upper limit of how much this field could take before dissipating, he just had to find it! Each piece of rock met the same unfortunate end as he desperately eyed the forcefield for even a flicker, all while the monstrous forces came closer and closer to the PRT troopers below.

He could see others attempting the same as he had, bursts of light and pillars of plasma being depleted on the shield to no effect as his mind raced for an answer.

"All troopers! Fall back, fall back!" he could hear the Captain scream from even here, evidently she had also seen their efforts and how few fucks their enemy had given.

He yelled, half in exertion and half in frustration as another batch of repurposed ammunition flew towards his enemies.

There was a yelp and a crash as a broken tree impaled a writhing mass of coiled together hounds.

He paused, staring in incredulity before he snapped out of it.

"THE FORCEFIELD IS MANTON LIMITED!"

His roar was amplified by his winds, spreading them across the battlefield.

The battle paused for a moment, as everyone seemed to take in his words.

The brief silence was shattered as several protectorate members raced towards, and then through the seemingly impregnable barrier to meet the Hyakki Yagyō directly.

He chuckled, ignoring the burn in his throat and charged in after them.

-Rebecca Costa-Brown POV-

"At 13:00 hours today a force of about a dozen parahumans stormed section B2 of the line and broke it, forcing our men and the rest of the line to retreat to our fall-back position" an analyst spoke, clutching the paper in his hands.

"They did this with the aid of a forcefield that completely destroyed incoming inorganic substances but left organic matter untouched" the man continued, briefly swallowing "While local members of the Protectorate were able to identify this weakness it was only after the Hyakki Yagyō members were able to get within a dozen meters of our soldiers."

The man trembled slightly as he continued, the eyes of every director weighed heavily upon him.

"Our capes engaged the enemy from within the barrier but.. most of them were Blasters and Shakers. Without the range that is ideal for their powers, and without long range support from the PRT, they were all killed."

The man took a shaky breath before continuing.

"Despite this they were able to slow the advance enough for the rest of our forces to retreat, but another advance like that and we'll be pushed out of the city."

There was a pause, and as soon as it was apparent the man was finished with his report, there were murmurs. Directors looked at each other in discomfort while others still stared forward.

"I assume there is now at least one brute per section, to prevent this from happening again?" Director Armstrong lead.

The analyst grimaced "There aren't enough brutes present for them to be available at every section, but we have assigned as many as we could."

It was probably the best they could do. The amount of capes sent had been purposely small partly in order to appease Japan's fears of American occupation of the island. It was also because Cauldron knew many capes that were sent there might not have a chance of returning.

Regardless she decide to change the subject before the mood could fall even further than it already had.

"Did Armsmaster retrieve the information?" Rebecca asked, already knowing the answer.

The grip the man had on his papers softened as he brightened up.

"Yes! He retrieved the information, the scientists and even procured a few books the scientists had yet to read through!" The man responded, looking more chipper than she had seen him all day.

Not that that was surprising, it was the only piece of good news he had delivered to them all day. The rest had been the gruesome tales of a grinding and bloody advance that had already killed dozens of capes and hundreds of soldiers.

All in all the plan was proceeding smoothly.

"Did he experience any issues?" asked Director Wilkins.

"Surprisingly no, he manged to reach the group of scientists and return them to the northernmost base entirely unmolested."

She saw Tagg's eyes narrow at that, the paranoid man no doubt suspicious of that piece of good fortune.

He was right, of course. Contessa had to kill a lot of people in order for Armsmaster to reach the base with all of the scientists and data intact.

The murmurs returned, much more positive in tone, with a few raucous cheers erupting before being silenced by a glare of hers.

"Do we have an estimate of the enemies forces?" Tagg finally asked with his arms crossed.

The man shifted uncomfortably at that.

"More than they should. Estimates place them at one hundred capes."

A few gasps echoed across the room while others shifted nervously. One hundred capes was far more than any minor power should be able to throw around at a whim. It implied that either the Hyakki Yagyō had been gathering members more ardently than anyone had ever expected or that they had the ability to mass produce capes to some extent.

Trigger farms weren't anything new, the Gesellschaft was only the most notorious example. It was no doubt what everyone was thinking of… but she knew better.

"A biotinker" she stated, noting the many alarmed faces that snapped towards her at the mention. "All of the capes of the Hyakki Yagyō were assumed to be Case-53's, but what if they're biotinker creations that are simply given an omega symbol to hide their origins?"

Many Directors quietly looked around at each other, not exactly eager to speak up at this horrifying theory.

Director James Tagg simply nodded to himself "Trigger farms tend to be hit and miss with producing parahumans, given how frequently this group loses members in their-" Tagg's nose scrunched up in disgust "-indulgences, the mass production of beasts would be the only explanation."

Their were mutters of assent and another Director also spoke up "It would explain why so few of our prisoners from the group actually speak to us. I had simply assumed they were keeping quiet out of loyalty."

She noted Piggot in the corner of her eyes steadily turning pale before flushing red with rage.

"Ma'am, if this is true shouldn't we commit more forces to wipe this infestation out now?"

Rebecca simply shook her head.

"Given the attitude of the leadership of the Hyakki Yagyō it is unlikely they can self-replicate or make them in truly worrying numbers, otherwise they wouldn't content themselves with terrorising only a small portion of Japan."

And it was true. The Hyakki Yagyō were debased hedonists to the highest degree, they did whatever they pleased regardless of any moral quandary and took delight in the terror their whimsy caused with the people under them. They certainly wouldn't apply limits to themselves or their creations that weren't forced upon them.

Cauldron themselves had briefly investigated them after Case-53's began appearing in their territory that they had no memory of creating. The results were interesting, if unimportant. A monster maker cape under the command of Nurahiyon as well as an ongoing contract with Cranial of Toybox allowed them to manufacture weak capes completely loyal to the Hyakki Yagyō and its ideals.

This allowed them the numbers and cohesion required to rule their territory despite being complete wastrels.

Rebecca leaned back in her chair.

"Run some tests on some of the captured members to either prove or disprove this theory of mine."

A few looks from the directors caused her to sigh aloud "Non-invasive, obviously. Scanner from San-Francisco should be capable of that."

She scanned the map of New Fukuoka noting casualties, remaining forces and the projected strength of the enemy forces. It was something she had already memorised, but she made of a show of it. Her face scrunched up in seemingly intense thought, before she sighed and slumped into her chair.

"Have the remaining forces evacuate the island and head for the Okinawa Islands"

This prompted startled shouts from the remaining Directors, each drowning the other out in their desperate need to be heard.

She waited a moment, before realising they weren't going to stop to let her explain.

"QUIET!" She yelled, the sound silencing everyone. She usually controlled the tempo of any room she was in with a quiet and commanding presence, so something so unlike the Chief Director they knew briefly shook them out of their yelling.

"As it stands we would only be delaying the inevitable if we stay. I have spoken with the President, and the situation has expedited the planned mission to liberate the Okinawa Islands. Five ships and thousands of well supplied soldiers will be sent. If we can link these two forces up in Okinawa then we can use it as a beach head to eventually retake Kyushu."

"Isn't Okinawa ruled by a warlord?" Armstrong asked, still appearing shaken.

"A minor one that can easily be dealt with by the capes we sent to Kyushu." Rebecca waved off.

"It's a good plan, but won't our reputation take a hit if we simply retreat from a group like the Hyakki Yagyō? Our allies in Japan are already hesitant to trust us after we pulled our support last time." Another Director worriedly asked.

"And being forced out wouldn't hurt our reputation?" She tiredly asked back "Regardless of their feelings Japan currently needs us. I'll explain the situation to the Prime Minister after this meeting"

Not that his opinion actually mattered, given he wouldn't be the one in control of Kyushu by the end of this.

There were still grumbles of Directors unsatisfied by the idea of retreat, but it was clear they saw the way the wind was changing and were choosing to suck it up.

"Alright if there is nothing else I'll send out the order and make our allies aware of the plan. Does anyone have any final questions.

There were none.

"Good, then I'll begin the preparations"

Part one of the plan was complete. Now it was time for Mount Ooe to begin their unknowing part.

AN: So the PRT has been ordered to leave Kyushu and will be running to link up with their allies. Only a few more chapters and we'll get to our next city!

Thanks for reading and please leave some comments!

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: The Land Of The Rising Sun



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♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► Global
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Jul 21st 2010:
To everyone who has been hiding under a rock for the past several days, the PRT and other associates have been under constant attacks on the newly risen island of Kyushu. Because of the small number of capes sent to the island the warlord group known as the Hyakki Yagyō was able to quickly blitzkrieg many of the southern outposts the PRT had set up on the 17th. The following several days were a relentless siege upon remaining outposts.

Quick thinking by the PRT allowed them to resume communications (which had been jammed just prior to the first attacks) through the use of Thinkers and flares. Due to this they were able to set up quick response units and establish a line of defence against their attackers.

Unfortunately in spite of superior tactics (Seriously, the Hyakki Yagyō were apparently mostly using waves of infantry!) sheer numbers eventually forced the hand of the PRT. Today they made their official announcement that they were temporarily retreating from Kyushu in order to link up with elements of the U.S Army.

Speaking of which, that plan we've been hearing talks of in the halls of power? Yeah, they're doing it. A full five ships have been sent off to Okinawa in order to liberate it from the warlord Mizu. This will allow the Okinawa islands to serve as a staging ground for re-taking Kyushu from the villains. Apparently the current plan is for the forces of Kyushu to either wait for support or liberate an island themselves (depending on their own best judgement).

Naturally this retreat has sparked some controversy in both Japan and in the U.S itself. Many members of Japan have crowing about 'being proven right' because of this. In the U.S itself the fact that we had to retreat from a minor warlord state has been causing outrage towards the PRT, and many army branches have been trying to use this as an excuse to increase their funding at the PRT's expense.

What do all of your think?

For more information regarding the fight for Kyushu click [HERE]

For more information regarding the retreat from Kyushu click [HERE]

For information regarding the plan to liberate the Okinawa Islands click [HERE]

EDIT: So apparently some PRT higher up has given permission to share some body cam footage regarding some of the battles that happened in Kyushu. WARNING: this footage is not for the faint of heart and contains blood and some disturbing imagery, click [HERE] if you want to watch it. There is also another thread regarding the released footage [HERE]

EDIT: Uh, so apparently another group is now attacking the Hyakki Yagyō. I guess Mount Ooe really doesn't like the idea of a rival group getting access to New Fukuoka.

(Showing page 6 of 347)

►WhatTheDawg
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@WiggityWackityBoo
And I'm just saying that if Japan hadn't crippled the amount of forces we could have sent we wouldn't be in this problem to begin with!

►Naru Naru (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
The Hyakki Yagyō being in control of the island might be the worst possible outcome! They're just as likely to burn the city down to have smores than they are to do something actually helpful!

Oh, and the PRT and America fucking off is the least surprising thing about this!

►Brutus (Not a dog)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Yeah, so I'm really not happy with this. I know lots of people who were always upset that we turned insular in the 1990's and left our allies out to dry.

Now it's happening again.

►Loyal
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Brutus
I don't think anybody is happy with that, but what choice did they have? Blame those fuckers who attacked them, not the PRT.

►Hikotsu
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Called it.

Of fucking course a Warlord was going to ruin this for the rest of us.

►WyrdReader
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@naru Naru
Oi, we're planning on coming back!

►Naru Naru (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@naru Naru
If this was SO important then why are your reinforcements traveling by BOAT?!

Don't you have that teleporter Strider? Just ask him to teleport an army in!

You [The rest of this post has been removed for violating TOS guidelines]

[USER HAS RECEIVED A WARNING]

►Tin Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@naru Naru
Please stay civil, this is your second warning.

►RichieDooky
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
So how were those capes able to get to Kyushu undetected anyway? Do we even know?

►Iblis
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@RichieDooky
Stranger effect, teleportation, tinkertech, etc. It could have been done using a lot of things

►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Aren't those ships we sent the ones with a lot of experimental tinkertech attached to them? If they're going to be away from a U.S port for a while won't they start breaking down?

Or are the tinkers going with them?

►KookTheMook
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Procto the Unfortunate Tinker
I can't imagine they wouldn't go with the ships.

I'm more interested in how quickly they're going to get there. The fastest a normal boat can get you to Japan from America is about ten days, right?

So how fast can those tinkertech boats go?

►Ricto (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Uh, is it really smart for the government to be so open with their plans for Okinawa? What if Mizu hears about it? What if some other group interferes?

►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Ricto
Any group powerful enough to interfere with us is also likely to have enough thinkers that they would already be aware of the general outlines of our plan. So hiding this information from the public is not to anyone's benefit.

►Worn
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Ricto
Does Mizu even have an internet connection at this point? From what I've been able to dig up he hasn't let anyone enter or leave his island since he took it over in 2001. So the ibfrastructure may have decayed a lot by this point.

LOL imagine if it comes as a complete surprise.

*KNOCK KNOCK* "It's the United States Military!"

►Ekul
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Seriously? We're pulling out? Didn't know the PRT was full of pussies.

[USER HAS RECEIVED A WARNING]

►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Ekul
It's definitely disappointing, but I'm choosing to stay optimistic that Kyushu will eventually return to the fold of the Japanese Government.

I just hope the Hyakki Yagyō don't cause too much damage to New Fukuoka.

►DoorDash
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Y'know it's a shame no reporters were allowed on the island. Yeah, I know it makes sense considering the city could have been the Machine Army 2.0 or whatever. But it also means we didn't really see the full situation that the PRT had to juggle with

►Enuma
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Doordash
Yeah, it's hard to judge how fair some of the critique we're throwing at the PRT is when we don't really have enough information.

But, good rule of thumb: if the PRT isn't saying anything then they've probably fucked up badly!

►Char
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Oh! Holy hell! Guys, there's another thread where footage of some of the battles has been released!

[HERE!]

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ... 345, 346, 347

■

♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► Global
Reave (Original Poster) (Verified PRT Agent)
Posted On Jul 21st 2010:
Given the recent stir regarding the retreat from Kyushu, as well as some of the criticisms laid at the feet of the PRT, the higher ups have given me direct permission to release footage regarding Kyushu.

A lot of good men and women were injured and even died trying to defend Kyushu and I am admittedly disappointed that so many are choosing to slander them. Let this footage serve as our proof.

WARNING: This footage contains blood, death and other secnes that some might find disturbing. If you are not over 18 please do not click on these videos.

For Armsmaster's quick response footage click [HERE]

For Bastion's footage click [HERE]

For Rime footage click [HERE]

For various PRT trooper footage click [HERE]

(Showing page 1 of 298)

►Wooly
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
First!

Edit: Oh what the fuck.

►Laser Augment
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
I think I'm going to be sick.

►Quiet Enjoyer
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Okay, those Case-53's are seriously freaky. The one that third trooper had to fight might genuinely be the worst fucking thing I've ever seen.

Never thought I would see a diseased bipedal rat in rags.

►UnderDaSea
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
...So those things are from another group, right? The city isn't actually making monsters, right?! Because I've actually met a few Case-53's and none of them were like that!

►WidowMeNot
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Quiet Enjoyer
I guess the American Healthcare System ain't that bad after all!

►Quiet Enjoyer
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@WidowMeNot
...What does that have to do with what I said?

►WidowMeNot
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Quiet Enjoyer
I'm trying to cope with bad jokes, leave me alone.

►ArmsFan
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Armsmaster content!

Did you see how he jousted one of those things into a wall?! What a legend!

►AKA (Kyushu Survivor)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
I am significantly more worried for New Fukoka now, thanks so much for that.

►Ekul
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Okay, maybe they're not total pansies.

►Brioche
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Ekul
Y'think? If I was there I would've ran on the first day!

►bothad
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
So why does the sound for Bastion's footage keep cutting at random times?

One moment Bastion is giving an epic dressing down to this freaky clown thing and the next he gets cut off. Bullshit!

►Xyloloup
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@bothad
Yeah, it's pretty weird. Maybe his body cam was damaged?

►RidleyViper
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Jesus Rime is on fire in those videos!

►Dawgsmiles (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
I think I'm going to have to lie down for a while after seeing those videos.

►Coyote-C
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
You know I wonder what the creators of New Fukuoka are thinking of all of this. I bet they didn't expect war in the streets.

►Quackity (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
@Coyote-C
No, they likely didn't. I have no doubt whatever group restored Kyushu had nothing but good intentions. But good intentions alone don't amount to much, and can quickly lead to chaos. This is why the PRT offers structure and support to its tinkers, as it allows them to make more informed decisions.

►ArmsFan
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Forget that! Did you see Armsmaster take down that snake thing! He completely destroyed it, it didn't stand a chance!

GO ARMSMASTER, GO!



►WeirdoMan (Not a cape)
Replied On Jul 21st 2010:
Despite the saddening conclusion, it seems apparent that the PRT and its fellow forces of justice fought with everything they had to give!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 296, 297, 298

■

-President Nakamura POV-

Blood pounded in his ears as he stared into his monitor that had just turned off. His hand, still on the mouse, shook. The PRT were leaving. Kyushu may have slipped out of his grasp. His vision blurred, as if he were looking through a cloudy lens.

His breaths became ragged gasps. His hands came up to his chest, still shaking.

He couldn't bear to stay. But he couldn't leave. He was stranded-he was-

He pushed away from his seat, stumbling drunkenly to the door as he locked it.

He was out of sight. No one would come in and see him like this. That was all that mattered.

He-

His legs gave out under him, and he let them. He fell to the floor with a soft thunk.

He breathed into the rich green carpet. Breathing was hard. It was like he had run a marathon, or only just came up from drowning.

Was he dying? The thought seemed absurd, but it felt certain.

He was hot and cold at once, his skin feverish to the touch.

He curled into himself then. He curled into himself and cried.

Despite the quiet sob wracking his body, he could only feel faintly numb.

Was this even happening? Surely it was all some horrible nightmare?

He wasn't quite sure how long he laid there, but when he finally dragged himself upwards he felt no better. There was a leaden weight in his stomach, familiar and stronger than it had ever been before.

He had spent the last year attempting to do what every Prime Minister had been trying to do since 1999: reversing this slow downward spiral.

After the economic disaster of 1990 faith in the government had hit record lows. The world around them also grew darker as countirs around the world grew more insular and paranoid. New age imperialism started rearing its head once Scion completely destroyed the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction. During this time the Sentai Elite had been a balm on the soul of Japan. The government team had been held up as icons. Millions had respected them, children wanted to be them.

Then Kyushu happened.

The Sentai Elite had ran then. Black Kaze, a member of the team, went insane and slaughtered over 20,000 people.

The economy went from struggling to near death almost instantly. Faith in the Government reached rock bottom.

Any attempt to form a national hero team was scorned by the public, who remembered the last one all too well.

So they were forced to give concessions to independent teams. Some of them werejust as heroic and dutiful as they presented themselves. Others simply put on a convincing act and ruled as warlords in all but name, and they were powerless to do anything about it!

Despite only being in office for a year, he was currently one of the longest running Prime Ministers in the past ten years. Any attempt to fix the current issues would require drastic unpopular choices, so the vast majority of politicians who attempt to fix things are simply kicked out of office.

Sometimes literally.

He had hoped that New Fukuoka would be the solution. The entire world would have wanted access to the marvels hidden within, which he could have used for concessions.

Trade deals, monetary support, food, and anything else could have been given plentifully if things had just gone well.

But now that dream had died on the altar of greed, and already his people and fellow politicians were calling for his resignation.

As if he had been the one baying in the streets. As if it were his idea to limit the amount of forces able to remain within Kyushu! As if he had been the one completely against American aid, despite the fact that they had already been sending material and financial aid for years!

Ah, it didn't matter anymore.

He was tired.

He was Done.

Let whoever came next inherit all the blame, as well as the struggles that came with it.

AN: Bit of an interlude chapter, but here you get a closer look at the current state of Japan and how it got to this point. Hope you all enjoyed it!

Kind of a filler chapter, but I wanted to round out the japanese chapters plus we'll be getting into more meat soon.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: The End Of A Tunnel


-Alexander POV-

The gentle purr of the electric vehicle coursed up my back, leaving pleasant tingles as I enjoyed the wind across my face. We were still travelling through the tunnel, still churning through rock and soil on the way to our destination.

A smile tugged upon my lips at the thought. Our, because I wasn't alone anymore.

Renji was a bit confusing. The overly respectful and flowery manner of speech still gave me a few headaches, even after several days of getting used to it. His discomfort at travelling Air Alexander (Also known as me picking him up with my matter manipulation) was equally baffling, I had certainly never felt anything weird when I used it to hover.

But he had politely insisted, so now we were travelling by coach.

The coach itself was a marvel. Sleek and powerful from improvements made to it by superior engineering! Synthetic rubbers had ensured the grip of the tires was utterly perfect, the grooves made with exacting detail down to the nanometre. The engine itself had been rewired to work with almost any energy source, while the exterior had been enhanced with every lightweight material my mind could fathom.

The result was a coach that probably belonged more in a Grand Prix than anywhere else.

Unfortunately I only realised after making it that I was too big to actually fit inside the coach. I suppose I could have simply scrapped it and remade it bigger, but I had put a lot of heart and soul into this thing!

It was my baby!

So now I was hanging limply off the top of the vehicle, slumped across its frame like a particularly lazy cat.

Yes, it looks as silly as it sounds.

Renji had also joined me on the roof as a sign of 'solidarity'. I told him I didn't really care too much, but whatever makes him happy.

My attention, however, was not on Renji or the Coach. Instead my eye rested on a shard of Vantablack metal, idly being turned about in my many hands. As much as I loved my coach it was simple. It hadn't required too much critical thinking to apply engine improvements or adding fancy supermaterials to it.

But this was something I had been working on for the past few days, something I created. Not my powers and not any higher powers, me.

The shard danced along my fingertips, the stygian cold of the metal bringing a sharp smile to my face.

"My liege?"

I turned my head downwards to meet the gaze of my companion. The man was sitting straight backed, a discarded book I had downloaded from the internet and then brought forth into the physical lay neatly by his side.

"May I ask what the purpose of that piece of metal is?" He asked, eyeing the piece of metal with a look in his eye that I couldn't quite discern.

Still there was no reason to stay silent. Friends shared hobbies with each other!

Nanoparticles swarmed across Renji, causing him to jerk slightly. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak, before the words died in his throat as images danced across his vision.

His hand swatted the air, as if to bat away the images before he paused and looked back up to me.

Ah, perhaps I should have given him a warning first. I coughed in slight embarrassment, my eyes refusing to meet his own as I began to explain.

"What you see before you is the information you wished for"

He looked confused, his eyes darting across the numerous displays circling his vision.

"I apologise my liege, but I remain unable to fathom your great works" he eventually replied, looking morose as he explained his inability to understand.

I, on the other hand, resisted the urge to facepalm. Of course he doesn't understand you moron! This is engineering that some of the greatest minds available to humanity would struggle with!

Okay, it's fine. I can wing this. Just need to really simplify this.

"Renji, you were made to be my companion. My sworn confidant. Not a scientist. Do not feel troubled that you are not yet able to understand these topics" I began by comforting him. "Let us begin with the basics."

I waved my hand, somewhat unnecessarily, and cleared all schematics and blueprints. Save for one.

"Upon your creation you were implanted with a basic education, so you should be able to recognise these" I gestured.

I left him to stew in silence for a moment. He would get it, the exact colour and shape may be off slightly but they were recognisably-

"Cells" he whispered to himself, finishing my thought. "These are cells"

He then stared incredulously at the piece of midnight in my hands.

"That thing has cells?"

I nodded to him.

"Indeed, specifically I modelled these cells off of various plant cells you can find on this planet"

I could see the gears whirring behind his head as he craned his neck closer to the metal, as if to try to see the very cells he was so confused by.

I smiled and slipped the shard into his hands, that smile transitioned into a full grin as he grimaced at the cold.

He stared at it for a moment, turning it around in his hands and feeling the grooves and points with the barest touch of his fingertips.

"But how could metal have cells?"

"The same way flesh can" I shrugged "I must admit to being surprised by your confusion. You yourself are made of dead wood and metal, yet you are alive. So why is this different?"

"With all due respect, my liege, I am animated by magic. It is hardly the same thing."

Okay, fair enough.

"My nanomachines make up the cell, and are programmed to act as any normal cells would." I paused as I considered the general messiness and inefficiency of most biological cells "…with a few adjustments."

"Ah, that makes sense. Your creativity truly knows no bounds Great One!" he clapped slightly before pausing "but why would you give them cells in the first place?"

"A few reasons. The first is that they are more capable of self-repair like this. The Shape Memory Alloys that I previously used simply don't compare." I nodded to myself, still extraordinarily pleased.

"The rate of repair will depend on energy reserves and available material." I grimaced slightly as I forced the next part out "Unfortunately I had to limit the materials they would take in to particulates and the like, in order to prevent any runaway effects"

They also had a maximum volume they could reach, just in case. I really didn't want a grey goo scenario happening.

"Thankfully energy won't be a problem because-"

"They can absorb sunlight, can't they?" Renji cheekily grinned as he cut me off.

I snorted, not at all mad at the interruption. It's not like it would be hard to figure out given that I had outright told him they were modelled off of plant cells, and more than anything I was pleased. A few days ago he probably would have knelt in a full seiza and started throwing out apologies if he had even accidentally cut me off.

Thankfully it seemed he had adjusted to my more casual mien.

"That's correct, good job" I congratulated him "It does indeed absorb sunlight, and unlike chlorophyll it doesn't have preferential absorption towards the blue and red portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, it absorbs all of it."

Renji nodded at me "Hence why it's black."

"Yep" I chipperly responded back, my legs kicking in the air as I became lost in the flow of the conversation.

"It's also great at absorbing heat, which shouldn't be a big shock given what it's made out of."

Renji gained a look of comprehension at that.

"So it's essentially a better form of solar panels?"

Close but no cigar Renji.

"Well, it can certainly be used that way~" I trail of leadingly

"But you're not going to use it that way" Renji finished, looking disgruntled at being wrong.

I laughed at the look on his face. Between the size difference and the almost puppy-like desire to please he was making it very hard not to coo and pinch his cheeks.

Thankfully I wasn't my grandmother, so I didn't do that. Instead I simply pat him on the back.

"Nah, armour" I simply said, taking back my creation from his hands.

"It may not look it, but this-" I shook the shard "-Is insanely durable thanks to the bonds between the nanomachines. Between that an the ability to absorb most kinds of energy the best use for this material is armour."

"But wouldn't there be an upper limit? Of how much energy it can store? Strapping yourself in an armour set to boil doesn't seem like a smart idea." He questioned, and seemed unsurprised at the grin that followed his question. As if he already knew I would have an answer for exactly that.

"The answer to that lies in the blueprints we previously ignored!" I state, with a bombastic air.

The designs reappear, and this time I can see Renji begin to understand exactly what he was looking at.

"Are those veins?" He asked, pointing to the thin lines threading their way across the material.

Well, given how much inspiration I had taken from biology for this project, I suppose I couldn't blame him for misinterpreting.

I scoff theatrically.

"Metal having veins? How silly Renji! Next you'll be telling me it has cells as well!" I tease "No, these are circuits Renji. Only you could make such an elementary mistake" I finish with a faux huff of superiority.

I snort, breaking character, as I see Renji staring at me nonplussed.

"Heh, but in all seriousness these superconductors will manage the flow of energy and can be easily be used to dump the energy elsewhere, such as use in a laser or perhaps near an area with coolant."

Renji nods at that, his sharp mind know doubt deciphering ways he could use this material to better beat people over the head with a sharpened piece of metal.

Renji was amusingly simple like that.

"In fact-" I started, before the coach under us abruptly screeched to a halt. The momentum kicking us both off the roof of the coach and sending us skidding across the rock hard floor of the tunnel. I flailed as I was forced into a roll, screaming in surprise as I eventually crashed into the left wall.

I sputtered, particulates of dust that had been kicked up by my unceremonious crash lingered in the air. I shakily got to my feet, wiping off the dust reflexively before I remembered I could just will it off my body.

"Renji!" I yelled "Are you okay?!"

The cloud of dust shifted as Renji calmly walked through it, looking as if he hadn't taken a tumble off a vehicle going hundreds of miles per hour. He coldly surveyed the area, all traces of mirth and intrigue from the previous conversation wiped from his expression.

"I am fine my liege, are we under attack?" He asks, still panning the area with his eyes. His hand wrapped tightly around the sword by his side, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

"No" I coughed up some more dirt "I'm not sensing anyone around us, so I'm not sure why-"

I blinked, finally noticing an alert in the corner of my eye.

We have arrived at your destination.

Ah, had I programmed the coach to immediately stop instead of slow down once we got here. Well that was pretty fucking embarrassing actually.

I turn my head away from Renji, whose deadpan stare proved he had already figured out the cause of our crash from my awkward silence.

"It was you wasn't it?"

Ack!

Sure! Just go straight for the heart! You could be a real jerk sometimes Renji!

I pouted at him, my pride in my masculinity not anywhere close to my desire to avoid awkward conversations.

He sighed, raising his hands in defeat.

Hahaha! Take that you jerk! I win, I will forever be-

Wait.

We had arrived at our destination!

"Renji!" I yell.

"Yeah, I get it. I won't-"

"We've arrived Renji! We're finally here" I raise my hands towards the sky in jubilation! Well, more towards the miniature sun that we had following us, but you get the point!

Finally! I could indulge my hobby in earnest! I could build a marvel that would stand the test of time! I could already feel the tingles of excitement fill my gut, as my fingers itched and grasped for something that was not there.

"So where are we anyway, you never actually said where we were going?" Renji asked, cutting off my glorious planning.

A smile split my face in two as I grasped us both with my power, lifting us up towards the ceiling. I ignored his panicked flailing I began to speak.

"We are in a land destroyed and poisoned by the depredations of the first Endbringer!" I began, the ceiling giving way for us as we ascended further. "A land governed by the corrupt, the fascist and the cruel."

The dark grey stone gave way to earthy browns and soft greens as we burst from the ground, my form revealed to the light of day for the first time in what felt like weeks.

"Behold Renji! For we have travelled to a land once known as Tuhe, but now known only as Jinzhou!" I finish dramatically, the sun reflecting off my crystalline skin in a pleasing manner.

I wait for your applause Renji.

…

Renji?

I look to Renji, only to see him staring to my left.

Oi, I'm over here Renji! Just what is so important that you would be looking at-

Oh that's a girl.

The girl is dishevelled, caked in dirt and sweat that could only come from working in a field all day. Her calloused hands hold a basket full of produce, clutched tightly against the muddy brown of her clothes. Her eyes are wide, and her feet are locked to the spot.

Oh shit she saw us coming out of the ground didn't she?

Well this was awkward.

Renji and I turn our heads to stare at each other for a moment, both lost at what we should do, before turning back to her.

The girls breaths start coming in quicker as her eyes somehow widen even further.

…

Well maybe we can-

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" She began screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Naturally I followed suit.

AN: So this was a bit of a tech and character focused chapter, I think I'm starting to get the feel of Alexander and Renji's relationship. Also we've finally reached the next city to be rebuilt: Jinzhou, China. Yeah, that's right. We're fucking with the C.U.I.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: Investigative Endbringer


-Bai Wenjie POV-

After a long day of labour Bai enjoyed treks through the woods. It was something of a guilty hobby, and an increasingly difficult one to pursue. She was supposed to be returning to her camp with some produce a guard had allowed her to keep. Since the emergence of Behemoth Jinzhou had been declared off limits to all Chinese citizens, all except for dissidents of course.

The decaying form of what was once a city loomed quietly in the distance. The grey and broken skyscrapers reaching towards the sky like some gigantic skeletal hand. Travelling towards that city meant death. Radiation still permeated the very soil there.

The outskirts was transitioning into farmland. It was still certain death to be here, but only if you remained here for prolonged periods of time. The guards and supervisors wore large and bulky radiation suits, and were cycled out regularly. There was no such care given to the workers.

Day after day they swung their axes. Day after day they deforested this beautiful place, where nature had been reclaiming her rightful due from mankind. Every time they did this it felt as if she were picking away at a corpse, the splits and cracks in the bark seemed to turn into new wounds and the scars she had seen on her own mother.

So as she walked through this beautiful landscape, one that was slowly killing her, she felt at peace. Soon she wouldn't have to keep doing this. Soon she would be too sick and feeble, the aches and vomiting she was already experiencing would exacerbate.

She wondered what would come after death. Would there be a heaven, as some claimed? Or would it be a silent nothingness that lasted forever? Either way it would be better than where she was now.

So you can imagine her shock that while she was walking through a heavily forested the ground started to shake. Slowly at first, like the hesitant rumble of a stomach. Then it began to build and soon the trees started bending under the fury of the land.

Bai was forced to hold on to a nearby tree trunk, gripping her basket close to the chest and worriedly checking for any dropped vegetables. Unlike any normal earthquake the mounting pressure on the ground did not subside, instead she watched with wide eyes as the ground in front of her heaved and then split open to reveal two rising figures.

One was a stocky man with blazing red hair. His eyes were wide and panicked as he kicked furiously in the open air. Bai's eyes narrowed in displeasure as she spotted the distinctly Japanese style of armour the man was wearing, her grandmother had told her no end of how monstrous Japanese soldiers could be.

Yet it was not him who held her attention. Instead she was captivated by the other figure.

It was beautiful. Soft azure skin dazzled in the evening light. Six arms were held out to the world, as if seeking to embrace it. The soft and supple looking face was stretched into a grin she had only ever seen from the young. Fiery and full of purpose, unbound by expectations or grim circumstance.

Oh, and she was enormous. Well over ten feet tall. If she had to estimate Bai herself wouldn't even come up to her knees. The woman gestured at her companion, speaking in a melodic language that she couldn't make heads or tails of.

The silken voice reached a crescendo as she pointed at the heavens, and Bai could only stare as the creature smugly lounged in the air.

Before all of this awe and insanity she could only stand dumbfounded. Her brain felt like a broken mechanism, endlessly whirring but swiftly going nowhere.

By the time she managed to knocked herself out of that state she had been noticed. The hawklike eyes of the man was gazing at her, flickering over her form in a way that felt distinctly dangerous. Her hackles raised. She had travelled much and met many different kinds of people so she knew this was no lecherous gaze, the closest she could liken it to would be a soldiers glare.

But even they hadn't managed to make her skin crawl like this, hadn't managed to make her heart beat a million beats a minute. There was something unashamedly violent about that gaze, like a naked sword bared and dripping with blood.

She couldn't help it. She screamed. Loud and long, desperately hoping for someone to come. Fuck, she'd even take the guards. Her scream seemed to echo oddly throughout the forest, but she didn't notice. Her scream cut off as the butt of a sword crashed into her stomach.

She flew face first into a tree, dazed and confused.

Her eyes blinked languidly, her thoughts like thick syrup as she tried to understand what had just happened.

Before she could darkness took her vision.



-One hour later-

"And another------why would------what if she's--------I'm---------disappointed in------"

Bai slowly awoke to half heard angry whispers and the noise of footsteps slowly leaving the room.

She blinked blearily, reaching for the water flask she kept near her bedding, only to grasp at nothing. She groaned, her hand grasping around only to be confused as she gripped dirt.

Her eyes opened and looked confusedly at the pile of dirt in her hand.

"Oh dear, I think she's awake." A velvety voice said wearily.

A glass was placed at her lips and the faint touch of water was enough to get her drinking.

She looked up at the hand that was holding the glass, and then kept looking up as the figure seemed to go on forever. Eventually she reached a face, blue crystalline eyes gazed down at her with warm concern. Ah, how long had it been since anyone was last concerned for her? In the camps everyone had to look out for themselves. A quiet paranoia gripped them as thy wondered if today another one of their number would spill another's secrets to the overseer for greater privileges.

Suddenly her eyes widened and she snapped up, spilling water as the memories came flooding back.

She coughed, looking around frantically for that red haired monster.

"Please calm down" The giant above her said "I may have healed you, but you'll still need to take it easy"

The voice briefly lulled her to calm, before another cold and cloying thought struck her.

"I apologise for my friend he was-"

"How long have I been unconscious?!" she urgently asked, her voice edging into a scream.

The interruption seemed to briefly stun the woman, but Bai's pale terrified face and tone of voice must have alerted her that something was wrong as she swiftly responded.

"About an hour"

Bai screwed her eyes shut as she sobbed. They would think she had run away, and then they would punish the others. She had seen some of the punishments the guards had doled out, been a part of them even. Her back ached unpleasantly at the reminder.

Her chin was grasped delicately between a finger and a thumb and the giant gently tilted her head upwards.

"Whatever it is I can help. But you'll need to explain."

Shamefully she did exactly that. She cried her sorrows into the chest of that gentle presence. She explained the camps, where people worked until they couldn't and were disposed of. She spoke of the divisions the guards had purposely caused to entice them to rat each other out. She elaborated on every exacting detail, every horrifying truth.

By the end of it she felt numb, but strangely relieved. As if she had unburdened herself of something terrible. Most of all it felt good to trust again. Perhaps this was all some trick, and she would soon find herself detained and killed. But strangely she didn't mind the thought, if she had to die at least she would die free from the pain that had hounded her steps for so long.

"So you're worried that they'll punish the others if they think you have escaped" the woman above her summarised, her eyes darkened and cold but turning warm when they turned back to her.

"And if they think you're dead?"

Bai floundered at that. What did she mean? How would they even be able to fake her death?

"RENJI!"

She was knocked out of her musings at the yell from above and the opening of the door slightly afterwards.

The crimson haired man, Renji apparently, slowly walked in. His eyes cautiously watching them both. Unlike before this gaze was not that of a hardened killer. It more reminded her of a recently scolded child cautious of earning more disapproval.

His eyes fully turned towards her, and he hesitated before bowing.

"Miss, I would like to humbly apologise for my actions. I believed I was acting in the best interests of my liege, but I was mistaken."

The apology spilled from his mouth, and it seemed as if it would continue on, the raised hand of the woman above Bai put a stop to that however.

The floor left to her bubbled and flesh rapidly grew to form a body. Bai flinched and stared when it became apparent that the body was an exact copy of her own. Her features perfectly replicated upon a doll made of flesh and blood. The only difference between them was a grisly hole running through the chest of her clone. The wound was red and ugly, but the blood surrounding it was dry, almost as if it hadn't been formed in the last few seconds.

"Renji, I have a task for you" The mans eyes settled unwaveringly on the woman "Somewhere above ground there will be some type of patrol. Bring this body and dump it where they will find it" the voice commanded, and for the first time since this conversation began she noticed they were underground. The darkness masking the rocky ceiling from view.

The man nodded, and hefted the body upon his shoulder as it were a mere sack of potatoes before departing.

"Well it's a good thing I recently chose BioPunk to heal you or this would have been much harder" The woman muttered cheerfully, the nonsense word promptly being ignored by her. Anything related to this magnificent creature was likely something so far beyond the understanding of Bai as to be incomprehensible.

"What-" she started before swallowing. Was she really going to ask something of her saviour? "What is your name?" She asked, shamefully curious.

"Huh, you know you might be the first person to actually ask. Renji mostly just refers to me as 'my liege' and at this point I think it might be too awkward to tell him my real name without him asking for it."

The woman turned to her.

"If you must know my name is Alexander."

The name was foreign to her but she tried to repeat it back to her saviour.

"Yà lì shān dà?"

The name meant vast peak or perhaps large mountain. Looking at the fearsome bosom of Yà, she admitted the name was accurate.

"Eh, close enough."

Yà then leaned in, her face serious as she spoke next.

"I'm going to need you to explain what happened to China over the last 30 years or so, how did the C.U.I. rise to power, what is the current situation of the country and anything else you feel is worth mentioning."

Bai nodded and began to explain.



-Alexander POV-

Well this was a shitshow.

According to Bai the appearance of parahumans had set back the industrialisation of China significantly. The repressive government of the time unable to react quickly enough to halt spread of chaos. For a short while it even looked like China might break up into warring states. Then the Yangban had appeared, seemingly overnight, and began 'recruiting' parahumans and dismantling rebel groups. That alone wouldn't have been enough, but a sudden slew of assassinations of enemy leaders quickly allowed the Yangban to take control and place the Emperor on his throne.

Many people apparently assumed that the Yangban possessed an extremely powerful stranger.

I, on the other hand, was definitely blaming Contessa.

This lead to China becoming more of an agriculture focused nation, vassalizing North Korea in all but name in order for them to provide the manufacturing.

Unfortunately life for the average citizen in China hadn't really changed. They had went from one brutal and repressive government to another.

The only bright spot to be seen in this ugly mess of a history was that North Korea was doing better than in my own world. Probably because they weren't spending all of their money on their military and were getting more food from China.

But perhaps the most concerning part came at the end.

"Excuse me?"

Bai looked startled at that, probably because I had been mostly silent since she started.

"…I've heard that they're planning an invasion of Japan, mostly from the guards. Why? What's wrong?"

Ah, things had just gotten a lot more complicated.

AN: He's finally found out! What is he going to do?!

Chapter Text

Chapter 11: Let's Make A Plan

-Alexander POV-

The disturbing news of a planned invasion of Japan had done much to dampen my mood. Well, it was already pretty bleak from having to listen to Bai's depressing story of how China becoming a giant shitshow.

But now it had hit rock bottom.

My experience with Worm wasn't that deep truth be told. The majority of my information comes from fanfiction, and a lot of that fanfiction was from people who also hadn't read Worm in its entirety. Not to mention the fact that the Fandom seemed to have an allergic reaction to anything that happened after Leviathan showing up to Brockton Bay and pushing everyone's shit in.

So if Japan had been invaded in canon, I hadn't heard of it.

Was it possible for that to have happened? Sure, an expansionist authoritarian state wanting to grab land from old enemies was a tale as old as time.

But somehow I didn't think that was the case here.

Bai couldn't mention why the C.U.I was planning an invasion but I had a decent idea why.

Me, or rather my city.

Hesitantly, almost fearfully, I tapped into the internet and searched for what had happened to Kyushu after I left.

News articles and commentaries flickered past my eyes, absorbed in seconds by my enhanced mind. A deep yawning void echoed cavernously in my gut as I beheld what had happened in my absence.

Oh.

Oh no.

I stared blankly at the wall of my newly crafted cave, idly tracing the small flourishes I had added but my mind was far away from here. It was turning in on itself, fretting over possibilities and decisions I had previously made.

Before I knew it Renji had returned, and began fretting over me like a mother hen. The thought brought a brief twitch to my lips, even as a depressive fog still covered my mind.

A hesitant thought came to me then. Could I? Should I?

I picked Renji up and cradled him in my arms, my chest heaving with aborted sobs even as my eyes remained clear.

Fuck. Why couldn't I cry?!

I try to breathe. I can't breathe.

This isn't my body.

Renji tries to place his arms around me.

He can't, I'm too big.

Oh fuck.

I try to frown.

My face remains placidly pleasant.

Why?!

Why me?!

I-I can't…

I just want to go home.

Renji continues to make soothing noises, speaking to me even if I'm in no mind to hear him

For now, it's enough.



-Renji POV-

He rubs the back of his lieges hand in repetitive soothing gestures, all while desperately using his connection to the web to search for answers.

Bai had already whispered to him what had triggered this, the news that had shook his liege to their core. A black boiling pit of hate sat uneasily in his stomach.

How dare they!

He had been made to comfort, to counsel and to protect his liege who had formed in a world strange to them. Had any enemy been present he would have struck it down in a moment. But there were no enemies here, the wound dealt to his liege was a mental one.

He had been made for his liege, and so he knew them well. Likely far more than they knew themselves. They were strong and kind, but they were also the sort to treasure stability and structure. Being flung into a foreign land creeping towards destruction had horrified them, so they sought distraction.

His liege had found that in their city building.

But now the world had intruded upon that, took their good intentions and stomped upon them repeatedly.

Now, without that comforting illusion, they were spiralling.

But this was no time for that, what his liege needed now was direction. A goal to work towards, and the C.U.I had thankfully provided that themselves.

"My liege" He spoke up for the first time in an hour, the sudden sound jostling his creator to wakefulness.

"We still need to help Bai, and the others."

The gentle reminder finally shook them out of their panic.

His liege studied him for a few seconds, before their eyes widened and they looked around the room in a fevered daze.

"Bai left the room a while ago, to give you some privacy."

The news didn't seem to bring much comfort to his progenitor, only a quiet look of shame.

Best to cut that off quickly.

"My liege, what is your plan?"

A look of tired confusion answered him, but he could already see the gears whirring to life behind her eyes. His liege was a thinker, a builder of complex and refined systems. If there was anyone who could turn the situation around it would be them.

"Okay" they began, licking their lips nervously. "Two problems. The invasion of Japan and the current situation in Jinzhou" his liege continued.

Renji nodded, showing engagement while he allowed his liege to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"The solution to the latter is obvious, I was already going to do it. Clean up the radiation, erect an unbreakable city to hold back the C.U.I and house the dissidents" They gnawed at their lip.

"But would that be enough to turn back the ships?"

Renji quirked a brow at that.

"Could you not simply defend Kyushu yourself? No amount of ships would ever reach their destination if you did not will it." He suggested, only to be met with a scoff.

"Ah yes, let's defend an already unstable situation by throwing an Endbringer into it. That'll work out great!" A sardonic laugh left their lips at that. "No, I've already left enough of a mess by not thinking my actions through."

His creator looked thoughtful then, a look so serious it could have been crafted out of granite.

It was not an unpleasant look, even if he preferred the quiet laughter she often shared when they were travelling through the tunnel.

"We need something big, but not threatening. We need something that'll make the C.U.I uncertain enough that they'll delay the invasion."

A grin wormed its way onto their features. It was a devious thing, like the smile of a friend who had a secret only they knew.

"Golly gee, if only something big and weird happened right outside their capital! That sure would be strange wouldn't it?"

Renji allowed himself a smile to match his liege's.

"Why, that would be most unfortunate. But a city alone won't accomplish that. They'll simply invade."

"Nah, on its own a city wouldn't accomplish anything. We need to think bigger."

Renji felt a shiver crawl up his back at the tone of his creator's voice. It was darkly cruel, a sadistic pleasure that could only come by causing those you hate great pain.

His progenitor was clearly taking the attempted invasion of their creation verypersonally.

"It seems you have an idea, but what do you plan to do about the people already squatting upon your island?"

The smile that cut across his liege's throat died at that. An unsure look crossed their face.

"I don't know. I would have preferred for the Japanese Government to have taken over the island, but from the news reports originating from the PRT Mount Ooe appears to be returning refugees from their territory and settling them in the city."

Ah, Renji understood. His liege found the group loathsome, but what they were doing admirable and even in-line with their own wants.

Of course they would be unsure.

"I'll wait for now, see if they screw up. At the moment I have to deal with the C.U.I."

She turned to face the wall once more.

"Please bring Bai back into the room, I'll need some information if this is to work."

He bowed, hiding a smile of relief as the earlier depression was washed away in his liege's planning. He knew it might return at some point. But if it did he would be there to show them that they wee nt alone.



-Alexander POV-

Plans and probabilities blurred in my mind as I listened to Bai speak, a program in my mind cataloguing the information away.

Ah yes, plan 'Fuck The Fascists' was proceeding well. I had memorised everything I needed for this plan to work, and I had twelve hours until the ships were due to set off. More than enough time to get everything into place.

This would have to be big, and not merely 'city' big.

It would have to make the C.U.I sit up and take notice. It would have to be an enormous existential threat that simply couldn't be ignored.

SilkPunk Level 3- A mesh of magic and technology with an aesthetic that mirrors East Asia. It is a mesh of both technology and poetry where art has meaning beyond simply beauty. Includes magical rituals, technology and spells capable of effecting entire regions of land. Use with caution.

To say this upgrade was a game changer would be an understatement. With just the slightest but of set up I could effect far more than simply my city wide use of Matter Manipulation. Areas of slowed time, shifted perception and alien geometries were mine to command, and could be practised on the level of a small country.

As long as it fit into the mythos of East Asia and the initial setup was complete there was little I couldn't do.

'Oh but Alexander' I hear you ask, 'How are you going to complete that setup in twelve hours?'

A good question from the voices in my head!

The answer was fairly simple.

The ground in front of me shakes as a metal orb ponderously rises from the ground. It unfolds into a collection of reaching mechanical arms and blinking cameras for eyes.

Drones.

Drones that were connected to me through my nanobots.

They weren't just ordinary drones either, they were full of every field of technology I could fit into them. The magics I had cast upon them was no less potent. Together they produced a nimble agent of death that could fly, inscribe, teleport and become almost completely undetectable.

They would be the ones that would enable me to carve the foundations of my work.

A place where the downtrodden could stand, look the C.U.I dead in the face and then spit upon them.

I had already sent a dozen or so out towards the boundaries of Jinzhou to begin inscribing. A hundred or so would join them swiftly. More still would fly South-West to find an area of interest.

Once I finished producing drones I would have my own work to do. A weapon that would take ten careful and painstaking hours to complete, even for me. But with luck it would allow me the confusion and hysteria I would need to complete my work before interference arrives.

I breathe in.

I breathe out.

I open my eyes, let's hope I'm ready.

The drones fly high, the plasma jets giving them lift falling silent before disappearing entirely as the drones seem to blend into the surrounding sky. Behind me Renji and Bai stand watch. Renji looks on quiet and proud, his eyes still darting towards the horizon with his hand on his sword.

Bai is more amazed, outright gaping at the drones being produced in the dozens, looking to me with a feeling I can't quite describe. It's certainly not love but it's not quite admiration either, it seemed to stand at some odd middle ground between them. I said nothing, unsure what to say to the woman who was pinning all of her hopes on me.

I look to the sky

It would be enough.

It had to



AN: Bit of a shorter one this time, exhaustion from work is still kicking my ass. But in better news I'm less depressed than I was and I'm finally starting to enjoy myself again. If work continues it's current grind I may only be able to get out one chapter per week, fortunately I'm fairly certain next week will be calmer for me. Thanks for all the support guys, and give me your best guess at what Alexander is planning.

I hope you guys enjoyed the reveal, I know lots of you wanted to see Alexander personally destroying the fleet and defending Kyushu personally, but I've always been more of a fan of indirect methods. Of course indirect does not mean subtle.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12: Carving Out Land

-Tian Zhang (C.U.I Guard) POV-

To say things had been going poorly for Tian Zhang would be an understatement. Nobody truly wished to be a guard at one of the many internment camps set up around the Emperor's land. In his youth he had dreamed of working at his families farm, just as his ancestors had done for five generations. Alas that farm had gone up in flames when the corrupt parahumans had sought to take China for themselves.

His family had died then, and he was forced to soldier on alone. He had joined the Emperor's army, for he had little other prospects in life. It had been decent, at least for a while. Yes the work was harsh but he also had his belly filled and his needs looked after, which was all he could hope for.

He had closed his eyes to the many atrocities he was forced to take part in, quietly close his heart to the begging people who he knew had done little wrong. He had to, otherwise it would be him who was sent away to the camps.

So it was the bitterest irony that he had been sent there anyway. He was charged to stand guard over the prisoners as they worked the land, slowly succumbing to the radiation bathing the area. As far as he knew he hadn't done anything wrong to be sent here. Hadn't talked back to his superiors or disobeyed orders, no it seemed sheer apathy had him placed here.

It was starting to wear on him. In the army you needed to be constantly aware of what you say and who is near, otherwise you end up like Xin who was demoted from guard and forced to work alongside the prisoners who remembered well what Xin had done to them.

They had found his body strung up a day later.

In the camp there was nowhere to truly rest. You couldn't take off your protective equipment or you would begin to die. You had to keep a constant eye on your fellow soldiers and superiors because each and every one would betray your secrets for a chance of advancement out of this pit.

All the while the prisoners were present with nothing left to lose.

Tian sighed, the closest he would get to expressing his exhaustion and grief.

He only needed to wait five more days, and he would be transferred out of this horrific place. Hopefully to a rural village where he could expect slow patrols inspecting farmers and honest villagers.

As long as it wasn't here or Hong Kong.

A flicker in the corner of his eye made him turn in curiosity, only to find… nothing?

Tian chuckled slightly. This place was getting to him, making him see things.

"Hey Rui, see anything out there?" He gestured to the dark and gloomy forest. It was a bit of a joke between them, he would ask and Rui would answer with something completely ridiculous like 'a pink panda'.

Only silence greeted him.

"Rui?" He asked again. Had the man fallen asleep? Well it would probably be a good idea to wake him up before anyone else spotted him napping at the job, such a thing would also reflect badly on him.

He glanced around to see Rui missing.

His eyes widened as he desperately looked across the dismal concrete enclosure. Where had he gone? He was here just a second ago?

He reached down to his radio.

"Sir I think we-"

But he would never finish his sentence, for with a blur of light he disappeared. Leaving only a discarded radio on the floor.



-Many Miles Away-

Under the cover of night a sleek grey drone hovered above the ground, a manipulator arcing across the ground leaving ink in it's wake. Perhaps if the drone was aware it would have considered the wavy patterns beautiful, but it was not so it did not.

Instead it continued it's work. Meticulous and untiring.

The line of ink eventually met another as a fellow drone completed the line of ink that the other had begun. Neither drone made note of the other but both immediately ceased once the lines connected.

Then, with not a sound, they lifted up and away. Leaving only a still and quiet forest bearing arcane and intricate markings whose purpose was still unknown.



-Alexander POV-

All drones had been completed and sent off. They numbered in the thousands, and yet despite their quantity it would take them hours to complete their role.

That was okay, it would take hours for me to finish my part to play.

I had previously stated it would take ten hours for me to complete my masterstroke, and that was true but misleading. In truth there were two parts to his work. One would only take two hours while the other would take the remaining eight hours.

Because regardless of the city, the drones or the people none would matter without real defenders. I could build the most impressive fortifications and dedicate every waking hour to improving them and there would still be a random parahuman out there with just the right power to upend all of it.

Because each and every shard was utter bullshit, I knew this because I was also bullshit.

The Entities main method of gathering data was throwing whatever they could at a bunch of primitives and seeing what happened, and that sort of methodology required a truly gargantuan number of things to try out. Each parahuman was utterly unique in their power expression, even powers that appeared similar would be highly different in their exact mechanics.

Because the entities had billions of years of data to pull from, while I didn't. I couldn't plug every hole, couldn't tighten up every defence. The city I built would need to be able to fight if it came to it.

So the first part of my masterstroke would be designing their heroes.

Something that would be easier with my newest acquisition.

CyberPunk Level 1- A vision of a dystopian future focused on rapid technological change with poor living conditions and invasions into personal lives by the rush of technology. This level focuses primarily on technology that is the size of a person or smaller.

Unlike all the other Punk specialisations this one felt oddly grounded and whole, and more to the point I actually recognised some of the technology.

The Sandevistan, the Soulkiller, AI, Dragoon bodies and oodles of cybernetic enhancements.

This was all technology from the tabletop turned video game that was Cyberpunk.

Which was perfect, because now I had all I needed to turn my drones into weapons of mass destruction.

Their frames were filled out with a thought, and I painstakingly crafted their enhancements. Cybernetics reduced to a fraction of their size by my Nanopunk specialty, while the various drawbacks were resolved through the sutainable focus of SolarPunk.

No going cyberpsycho for my creations.

All throughout I whispered prayers and incantations, strengthening their forms and shielding them from esoteric vectors of attack.

When I was satisfied I was left with a dozen or so bodies that could casually achieve Mach speeds and juggle tanks with zero effort. Each possessed weapons that would match any tinkers work, and surpass it tenfold.

And yet I did not desire mere robots with the strength and speed to paste most parahumans. I wanted heroes, teachers and inspirations to the people who would grow up in the new Jinzhou. For that they needed personality and will.

I smiled as I began to sing of a Victorious Fighting Buddha, of an intelligent stone monkey that fought all of heaven. Of a being who gained immortality many times over and challenged the Buddha himself.

The idea coalesced and began to imprint upon one of the still and lifeless bodies, it jerked in place. The smooth blankness of it's face beginning to run like water, forming monkey like features. Smooth metal giving way to thick red hair, while the twitching hands quickly grasped the staff at it's side.

Rule number one of fighting a massive global power: don't allow them to do shit. Cut off their logistics, hit vital areas and otherwise being the most annoying jackass you could be.

I wasn't specialised in such a thing. I had lived a peaceful and tranquil life before all of this and even now I preferred to create instead of destroy.

So I decided to outsource the problem, and give the role to one of the most abrasive and powerful cockroaches in all of China.

Sun Wukong's eyes snapped open.

He looked at me for a short moment, before rolling his neck.

I simply smiled, already well aware of what he was about to do.

The strike hit me in my sternum and sent me rocketing towards the wall of my cave. Dust was kicked up into the air as I landed against the cold stone floor. I looked up, only seeing a last mocking wave as the red and gold form of Sun Wukong flew through the rock and dirt ceiling as if it wasn't even there.

I remained smiling, he would do what I wanted regardless of whatever happened.

Which was being the biggest distraction I could possibly throw at China, good luck trying to kill or control him!

I stood up and willed the dust away from my form, before stepping towards the rest of the forms to begin once again. These would not be so chaotic, they would be designed with a desire to protect Jinzhou whatever might happen.

I once more began to sing.



-Sun Wukong POV-

The monkey broke through the dirt, screaming victoriously at the rising sun. He stopped for the moment, taking in the barren land and the strange zing in the air.

Eh, whatever. He was hungry. Where could he find some decent grub around here?

The forest was clearly a non-starter, with how poisoned it was.

I sniffed the air and exhaled clouds from his nostrils, so great was his exhalation.

Sweat, blood and shit. There was a city somewhere close by, a rather rancid city by the smell of things. But it was occupied and where there were people there would be food.

'What odd Karma that I would be burst from rock into the world once again'

He shrugged the though off, just as he shrugged off the strange being he had just encountered. Too many arms in his opinion, brought up some bad memories.

With a mere twitch of his leg he had already crossed a hundred paces. Which was a bit embarrassing, he was clearly rusty from being sealed away for so long!

He licked his lips, already smelling the boiling fat and sizzling meat wafting from the rapidly approaching city. Oddly enough he could also see some massive palace in the distance.

Well that was good fortune, kings and gods always did have the best food, even if they were always perplexingly annoyed when he chose to help himself to their pantries.

Perhaps this one wouldn't be so rude?

He crossed into the city, throwing up dust as he rocketed through the streets. He could hear people shriek in shock before the sound was just as quickly cut off as he moved past them.

Was it just him or were these people weaker than what he was used to?

Well it's not like he ever bothered to check how strong the average peasant was in the past, nor did he have any inclination to do so now.

The doors of the palace were now in sight, as were the people guarding it. Oddly dressed figures flew in formation around the palace while two towering giants stood on either side of the gates.

'Ah, good. I did want exercise before my meal' was his only thought as he rushed to meet them. Before abruptly stopping just outside the palace, his staff held high in greeting.

Bah, he was growing soft in his old age, but perhaps he should try to use his manners first?

'Perhaps they'll let me in without a fight?' the thought had barely left his head when the lead guard, just now recovering from his shock, pointed his spear directly at his chest.

"Unidentified parahuman! You will surrender or you will be killed, kneel and accept the Emperor's grace!" the man yelled.

Geez, how many times had he heard that?

Sun Wukong merely smiled back, teeth bared in an unspoken challenge.

"Make me."

AN: Local Endbringer doesn't want to be an agent of chaos so he makes another agent of chaos to do that for him. (Fake) Sun Wukong is now present on Earth Bet, everybody scream.

TLDR: Alexander: "Woe, Sun Wukong be upon ye!"

Now was this the most ideal plan Alexander could have come up with? probably not. But he's rushed on time and peacefully settling things with the C.U.I was probably never going to happen. So Alexander throws a monkey wrench at the C.U.I and tries to save those he can.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13: Through Other Eyes

-Renji POV-

He and Bai looked up, as the ground quaked and split. A figure flew through the opening with a grace that seemed at odds with his wild appearance. The figure wore vibrant and well made clothes, Renji wasn't familiar with Chinese fashion but even he could tell that much. But what truly stole the breath from his companions lungs was the rest of his appearance. Bright red thick fur engulfed the vaguely monkey looking man, and in his hand was a golden staff of truly immaculate design.

The figure had a wide, almost childlike, grin on his face as he looked around. His gaze settled on them momentarily, but Renji could sense that he didn't truly see them. Oh the figure most certainly knew they were present, but in the same way a man might notice a bug. He had deemed them irrelevant, boring even.

A part of Renji wanted to be offended by that, but the rest of him didn't much care what this beast thought of him.

The monkey man looked towards the distance, at something only he could see, and with a flicker he was gone.

Just as well, Renji could tell he was trouble just by looking at him.

"Was…Was that Sun Wukong" Bai spoke up, her face still locked in what Renji could only describe as incredulous shock.

Renji had no idea who Sun Wukong was so he could only shrug.

"Probably, my liege is capable of creating wonders. A barbarian like that would be well within their capabilities."

Her gaze snapped to him.

"She made him, ah so he's not Sun Wukong then. Just a copy." She seemed relieved at that, like the world had readjusted to something she was familiar with.

He hated to be the one who burst her bubble but…

"No that was the real Sun Wukong, sung back into existence by my liege." Renji stated.

Bai's gaze only seemed to grow concerned at that, as if he had said something truly foolish.

"You can't make Sun Wukong Renji, it doesn't work like that."

"My liege decides how things work, not anyone else." He simply retorted, stating a fact so fundamental to him the naked truth of it almost hurt.

He knew his liege. He knew the power they already possessed, and the power they would one day hold. Calling Godlike beings into existence was not something that was beyond them, and what do you call something that can trivially create gods?

Calling his liege a god was insufficient. Renji didn't quite know what they would become, but he knew in his very soul that they were something fundamental, something undeniable.

Bai seemed discomforted at his words, as if reminded of something. Still she did not say a word in return, content to keep her peace.

The wait was long, and the night seemed to go on forever. The silence was only occasionally broken up by the sound of very distant explosions. The sound was made inoffensive by distance and he listened in with curiosity. Was the noise coming from the same direction that brute had gone in?

Renji shrugged the thought off. It didn't matter, if this 'Sun Wukong' was making trouble for the Chinese then that was good for them.

Eventually Bai spoke again.

"How much longer must we wait?"

Renji considered the question. Given the amount of drones as well as the amount of camps Bai had mentioned it should have already happened. So either there were far more camps than she had known or something unforeseen had happened.

Both were equally possible in his eyes.

"Soon" he simply said. If they were still waiting in 30 minutes he would inform his liege, but until then they would wait.

The silence seemed to drag on, no further explosions shaked the night sky and he wondered briefly what had occurred in the distant city.

Then there was a flash.

A brief and brilliant white light that quickly coalesced into a confused and panicked looking man. Renji could see all the harried lines on that man's face, the prematurely aged body wrought with sickness and starvation.

The man was quickly ushered in by Bai, for he was not the last. More flares of light began appearing. First every ten seconds or so, but quickly intensifying until the clearing appeared to be a continuous beacon of light.

The next few minutes were a blur of frenzied commands and people shoving into one another. More than once he had to become involved in order to stop people from being trampled to death.

His liege was, Renji thought, a tad careless in their planning. He supposed it made sense, what would such a perfect being know of the frailty of mortals?

Eventually the light dimmed and then ceased, and they were left with a few thousand angry and confused peasants, looking around confused.

Renji stood up on a nearby rock, thankful he had taken of his Japanese inspired armour for it would not aid in calming these people. The murmur of the crowd intensified by their number until it seemed like a vast roar in his ear.

"QUIET!" He bellowed, quietening the crowd and making them face him.

Renji took a breath before continuing slightly softer.

"I am the servant of-" Renji hesitated briefly "-Yà lì shān dà, who has come to liberate you of our chains! Already she has removed your guards, and sent righteous justice against the capital!"

This was mostly true, though he was leaving out a lot. He didn't exactly approve of using Bai's misinterpretation of his liege's name but he could see the desperate hope in these people's eyes. They needed something to cling to, something larger than they had ever known. His liege could be that person, and if they gave due worship for their beneficence then that was all the better.

"My liege wishes to build a great city! So great will be its walls and bastions that never again will you fear reprisal! So great will be it its bounty that none will starve or want again"

None spoke up, but Renji could see the susurrations of quiet wonder held back by long held cynicism.

"I do not ask you to do anything but watch. Rest for now, lodging has been provided within." He gestures at the smooth metallic opening that had once only been mud and rock.

It took a moment but all eventually started to wander into the facility, too shocked or perhaps too beaten down to outwardly express suspicion.

Then a ripple of shock broke through the crowd as a large blue figure emerged from the entrance, their six arms hanging serenely in the air and a small smile lingering at their lips.

It was his liege.

He went to bow, but the invisible touch of his progenitors power forced him to stand.

There was a gleam in their eye, seemingly oblivious to the mass of people staring at them in awe.

"I've finished" they simply said, the grin growing wider on their face. "Which means it's time to get to my favourite part!"

Bai looked at him, confused and clearly wanting to know what was happening.

Renji already knew.

It was time to build a city.

"Are the other preparations done then?" He gestured to the legion of sick and underfed people.

His creator seemed puzzled for a moment, seemingly only now realizing the many eyes surrounding them. Then their eyes widened.

"Oh, yes! Their rooms should rejuvenate them to the peak of health!" They chirped.

There were murmurs at that, the crowd unsure whether to believe what seemed like a strange giant woman or to immediately find these rooms to test them out.

"Anyway, no more delays Renji. I already know Sun Wukong has made a big enough distraction, so now is the time!"

-The Emperor's POV-

He groaned, reaching up to his forehead. His head was pounding and when he pulled his hand back t was slick with blood.

"Aaaarrggh" he let out a pained sob as all of the sharp pain from his injuries came flooding back.

He looked around. His once pristine and beautiful palace was now a dusty and cratered mess. He coughed and tried to stand, only to fall back onto the floor when he found himself unable.

He wracked his brain, but found he could remember little.

Someone had invaded his palace, ignored his guards and then…asked for food?

He screwed his eyes shut in confusion. Had that actually happened or was he simply concussed.

…No, as ridiculous as it sounded he was fairly sure that was what happened. He had ordered the Yangban to arrest the obvious parahuman and then everything was a bloody blur.

He looked up, through one of the numerous holes that now littered his palace. He saw a flaming helicopter valiantly attempting to ease out of a death roll before it was swatted out of the air by a golden blur. He swallowed dryly, one moment it had been there the next it had vanished, destroyed with the same amount of effort one might kill a fly.

He looked down through yet another hole, there were far too many, and saw the parahuman who had done this. Who had stood up to him and carelessly thrown his city into turmoil. The thought was enough for him to grit his teeth.

The mockery of Sun Wukong was wildly waving his staff through the air with one arm, the other arm was being used to stuff his face with food from a buffet table.

Did he seriously drag a buffet table outside the palace while he was being attacked?

The parahuman was laughing, and it was not the sort of laughter he had been expecting. It was innocent, almost childlike, as if he were merely enjoying some fun game he had found by accident. Another swipe of his arm sent a jet hurtling into a nearby office block, and he had to struggle back the urge to wretch.

He had seen horrors before his coronation, it had been why he was so willing to become a puppet emperor for the Yangbang. Safety. As long as he did his part he was looked after. He didn't have to witness the bloody destruction of a parhumans malice ever again.

But somehow this was worse. There wasn't any malice in the figures actions, it seemed to be acting purely of impulse and nothing else, and it was horrifying in a way he couldn't adequately describe.

Another gesture cut a building in half, and the laughter almost seemed to grow.

Then the monkey dodged out of the way of a mechanical arm and his heart soared as he witnessed the Wujing crater the ground with the missed swing.

The Wujing was, perhaps, one of the mightiest tinkertech war machines ever produced. The power sharing of the Yangbang had allowed for countless specializations to be blended together to form wonders and horrors both. The Wujing was one of these creations meant to guard the Yangban's main base of operations. That they had sent it out now could only mean they were ready to crush this upstart.

The machine swung, lightning crackling off every swing, the discharges melting the nearby pavement, and even from here the Emperor could feel the sweltering heat. The rebel parahuman danced between the blows, his eyes watching his opponent with curious eyes.

A golden staff riposted a blow and then sank into the chest of the war machine, sinking through metal and circuits before bursting from the metal back in a shower of molten metal.

The Wujing didn't budge, the metal arms instead grabbing the pole impaling it with both hands and began to squeeze until the whine of servos could be heard by even him.

Sun Wukong, or at least the upstart pretending to be him, raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Oh? Well aren't you made of sterner stuff?"

Then with a twist the staff was ripped out the robot's side, the arms clinging to the staff also ripped off.

Liquid metal seeped from the wounds and even from here the Emperor could see the wounds slowly repairing, but it wouldn't be fast enough!

The parahuman watched the process also, not at all worried by the war machine healing before his eyes.

The figure instead looked to the remaining airforce, then back to the robot before settling on his staff and grinning.

"Now there's an idea!" the monkey man said to himself, before a single swing sent the Wujing hurtling towards a helicopter. The machine jerked to the side, it's operators no doubt trying to prevent the collision but they were too slow.

The Machine broke through the windshield of the helicopter and the Emperor could almost see the wet pop of the pilots as the cockpit was covered in red for just a moment. Then there was a deafening roar as the flying machine exploded.

The laughter returned, stronger than ever.

The Emperor could only watch with wide and disbelieving eyes as one of the greatest creations of the Yangbang was used like an over glorified projectile in a sick and twisted game of baseball.

He curled up then, not wishing to see any more carnage.

He had long since stopped believing in gods.

But today he found the energy to curse them for sending this abomination.

AN: So the city is going to start being built next and Sun Wukong is having a very fun time. The Wujing, despite flubbing in this chapter, is actually an extremely powerful weapon of war. It would be rated as a brute seven with access to molecular breaking technology and the inability to die. Sun Wukong thus decided he now has an immortal baseball.

RIP Chinese pride I guess. Sun Wukong ain't giving that back.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14: The Great Wall

Had anyone been present amidst the forest of Jinzhou they might have felt a rumble and shake, would have seen the trees shaking in the lurid light of a crimson sunrise. This hypothetical individual may have become frightened as the tremors only increased in intensity as a blackened wall tore its way upwards, clawing towards the sky at a frightful pace. Perhaps this individual may have even felt awe as symbols and etchings wove themselves across the wall before glowing with eldritch light.

Alas, the camps had long been emptied of both guards and occupants.

So there were none to see a strange shift across the battlements, the light flickered and danced like a heat haze. This distortion reached the very heavens to form an oily dome that encompassed the circular wall from above. Likewise this energy slipped into the crack and crevices in the ground to mirror the skyward barrier.

Most importantly, perhaps, nobody was present to see the uncanny resemblance these walls had to the Great Wall of China, if cast in a strange void like metal in place of bricks.

Yes nobody had seen the foundations of this city being made, but the C.U.I would eventually come to curse this city and it's ever present defiance.

-Alexander POV-

'Insert Trump joke here' I thought wryly to myself.

The joke would have been in poor taste, assuming anyone other than myself understood it, but I couldn't help the small snort that escaped me.

It felt good to laugh.

While I had kept myself busy these last few hours my thoughts had always incessantly turned towards Japan and my fuck up there. Logically I knew my fault was minimal. I had created a shiny bauble that others might want but I had never ordered people to kill over it.

Unfortunately for me reason was promptly kicked to the curb and shot by my emotions, who then proceeding to dance over the body.

It was still my fault. I could have communicated, could have done something other than what I had done.

I was feeling better now, I had a goal to work towards and a plan to prevent the invasion of Japan.

Ironically it involved creating a city and causing chaos.

But this time on purpose.

The foundation had been set. The walls had been built and fortified, before being enchanted with a clever spatial effect.

There were numerous myths and stories across Asia that involved individuals losing the favour of their patrons as well as being separated from their homes over long distances. I simply combined these two aspects together to create a ward that would be especially deadly against parahumans.

Fun fact for any who didn't know: Parahumans had a range limit. If a parahuman passed the orbit of the moon they would find themselves bereft of powers. Now, to be clear, this wasn't a hard limit, more of a limit on how much energy a shard is willing to waste on their host in order to stay attached.

Perhaps a human who had synergised well with their shard could break this limit, but you could count the number of humans with that sort of connection on two hands.

My ward warped space in order to increase distance between the walls and the outside world. For all intents and purposes my city may as well be farther than the Moon is from the Earth. Bullets and bombs would fail to even reach the walls while lasers would be too dispersed to even come close to damaging the walls by the time they hit. And if, by some miracle, a parahuman manages to enter this city their powers would be stripped from them because of the distance created by the wards.

It was an elegant solution for the problem of defending a city sitting in the beating heart of the C.U.I.

Unfortunately it had its downsides too.

Just as the outside world would be unable to breach the walls, so too would the people within be unable to leave, and initially I had even attempted to figure out alternate solutions.

But when Renji had brought these concerns to the people I had saved they had, all of them, given me the go ahead. I was both relieved and slightly worried by just how much they wanted to leave China behind, to have a land that couldn't be invaded or ransacked.

Seriously the people were practically falling over themselves to thank me.

It was a bit creepy.

Behemoth's rampage had lead to the evacuation of around 20,000 KM squared, enough for a decently sized island. My remaining drones were already hard at work placing the wasteland reclaimers I had given them across the region.

Those machines would revitalise the land and suck up harmful particulates and radiation left behind by my sibling. Until then I had commanded them to lay low in the lodgings I had developed.

It wasn't much. Each person got a room of only ten meters across with a bed, bathroom and other essentials. It was also, to my growing frustration and disappointment, much more humane than anything they were used to.

I had travelled into the depths of the forest after that, in part to get a better look at the ongoing progress but mostly to get away from the reverent stares.

I sighed, mentally chiding myself for once more getting lost in thought and depressing myself once again.

I was beginning work on the local geology now, and this was actually rather vital. If this city was to remain alive with the defensive ward up it would have to be completely self-sufficient. Aquifers and better quality top soil for farming would be essential.

The ground around this area was primarily clay and worst of all it was at an incline. This would mean any rainwater would quickly overflow and run down and away from my new city, and that would not do. The clay was transmuted into a hard and sandy like texture, while the clay a few hundred meters down was preserved and formed into an underground bowl-like structure, perfect for keeping water trapped.

The soil was also given a few tweaks, adding a few chemicals here and there mostly. Wells were dug and soil was churned before I decided the local geology was complete.

I turned my eyes on the trees next and began to work. I fiddled with their genetics, increasing their carbon dioxide intake as well as their ability to produce oxygen. I noted that such a thing would vastly shorten their lifetimes, so I added increased seed production as well.

Now the people of Jinzhou would have plenty of oxygen and wood.

Then I sighed, the extra growth of trees would require mass from somewhere and could render the soil barren very easily if I left things as they were.

Turns out ecology is hard.

My SolarPunk technology could help, but it simply wasn't built to sustain a piece of land cut off from the rest of the world.

Thankfully my drones could once again come in handy. They would have no issue surveying the area and noting needs and areas of potential instability. With their teleporters they were fully capable of obtaining anything they may need from the outside world and stealthy enough to do so.

With that sorted I finally turned to the buildings, some part of me wanted to flex my SilkPunk knowledge and build something classically Chinese but my previous interactions with the former prisoners of Jinzhou put those ideas to rest. They wanted an escape from China, they wanted to throw off their past and create something new.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, I reached for a charge that had been burning in the back of my head for the last few hours and willed it to change to my will.

NanoPunk Level 2- The science of a world where nanites and bio-nanotechnologies are widely in use and are the predominant force in society. Now able to create buildings and large structures composed of wonder materials.

Chrome and smooth surfaces covered my mind. Structures that could stand higher than any other thanks to their high tensile strengths. It was shiny and new, a promise of the future that I knew the people I was protecting desperately wanted.

I turned to begin before hesitating.

I turned to view my wards, their shimmering light obvious to me alone.

I reached out and made my alterations.

Should this city begin to fall, whether it be by outside forces or by my own lack of foresight, this city would be transported across the world and away from their current position with the wards permanently down as a result of this extraordinary work.

If Jinzhou was ever at threat of falling then at least they would have a chance to rebuild elsewhere, because if they succumbed here there would be no future at all.

With that I began my work.



-Bai Wenjie POV-

The whispers of the gathered people echoed across the clean white walls. None looked at each other but muttered whispers drifted between them. Most were not sure why they were here, others were unsure if they should have come at all and remained in their comfortable rooms.

Bai personally was beginning to think she should have stayed in her air conditioned room. At least their she wouldn't feel the push and pull of countless bodies cramming into the tight space.

Yet she felt she had to come.

The figure standing on a raised surface was not a young man, the lines and creases of his skin proved that much, but he wasn't quite ancient either. The man had been a comforting figure in her camp, always having the time to spare to act as a shoulder to cry on or to give advice. Not many chose to take his kindness, for they had all been suspicious of each other.

But he had been remembered for it nonetheless.

"Comrades" He spoke, a fervour filling his eyes, "I would like to thank all who chose to join us and before we start I am aware that many are unsure as to why they have come"

The man lifted his hands and let them fall in an exaggerated manner.

"It is understandable, we have been tricked and led astray by promises from distant larger than life figures before."

The man narrowed his eyes at that, spitting to the side, and she could see others vocally agreeing with the man.

"However" he intoned, gesturing outside and towards the slowly rising buildings in the distance, "She is different!"

The crowd muttered again at that, and mostly in agreement she noted. Even the ones who had dismissed this entire event as religious hogwash still saw their saviour in a good light.

"Even now Yà lì shān dà toils for our benefit! Raising great walls to shield us! Creating monuments to shelter us! Delivering us from the hands of the cruel!"

Many roared their approval at that, the reverberations making her shake slightly, and cover her ears.

This was why she had come, because in nearly every face she saw she found the same uncanny faith she had seen in Renji's eyes. A terrible certainty that set her on edge.

"There exists no parahuman like her, for they are all destroyers! She builds, creates, saves and renews!"

She closed her eyes at that, dreading yet also already knowing what the man was going to say.

"NO! She is something higher! A goddess come to aid us in our time of need, come to deliver us to the promised land!"

The roar that answered threatened to shake the very ground apart, and as Bai closed her eyes all she could see was the distraught face of Yà lì shān dà staring back at her when she had been informed of the conflict that had raged because of her actions.

AN: So the city is being built, it'll be a fortress designed to repel any parahuman as well as a self sufficient paradise because Alexander feels really bad for the people he's met so far. This kindness has somewhat backfired because there are now a group of people who now genuinely believe Alexander is a goddess come to save them. Lots of people assumed that Alexanders branch of the fallen would begin in America, but these would be his first believers. Of course there will be multiple groups of people across the entire world that see him in this light later.

I'm sure that won't be troublesome for Alexander at all! Trust me guys nothing will come of this! Totally not setting anything up!

Chapter Text

Chapter 15: Glimpse of the Truth

-Rebecca Costa-Brown POV-

Things were not going well.

She sat at her desk, clicking and clacking away at her keyboard. In truth she had already memorised exactly what she was supposed to do today, so her fingers danced along her computer and compiled reports even without her conscious input. Her thinker power was perhaps the most useful aspect of her power, it allowed her to juggle her various duties as Alexandria and the Chief Director with nearly no wasted time.

Anyone else likely would have collapsed under the weight and endless work, but her mind remained clear, counting and observing each observable second as it passed. One after the other. So great were her powers and experience that the number of times she was truly surprised could be counted on only two hands.

Unfortunately it seems the world was determined to show her she was no infallible.

The plan regarding New Fukuoka was currently completely off the rails Cauldron had fashioned. It had only been a couple of hours since the first reported instance of unusual C.U.I activity. This quickly ballooned as numerous thinkers and intelligence agencies noticed the army preparing to board their fleet had instead been ordered to return to the capital.

Which was now a smoking battlefield.

She rubbed her nose tiredly, the motion doing nothing to calm her nerves.

According to all reports a single individual had stormed the capital, broken into the Imperial Palace, raided their kitchen and proceeded to make complete fools out of the local army.

Those reports were still unconfirmed, given that numerous thinkers had noted inconsistencies in their predictions.

Many thinkers hadn't even noticed what was happening, and still couldn't see anything in the Chinese capital.

Others insisted things that were blatantly false, such as the entire continent of Eurasia disappearing.

In one amusing case there was even a thinker, who could divine the present through allegories, insisted that a divine being was judging China for its numerous sins.

Needless to say they were currently unaware of any specifics, and this marked the second time in as many weeks that an anti-thinker effect had taken them completely by surprise and ruined their plans.

Contessa herself was forced to delay her meeting with Shuten Douji because of this, waiting and recalibrating her plans to account for this unexpected turn.

She could also do nothing to further their plans, as attempting to delay or impede the PRT's own response would be viewed with suspicion at best, but more than likely her political rivals would use it as a chance to oust her from her position. Which she simply couldn't allow at such a delicate stage.

So she was forced to wait.

Click clack click.

Uselessly.

Clack click click

Impotently.

Click click clack

The memories of antiseptics, stark white rooms and an endless fearful wait made her grimace.

A notice popped up on her screen, causing her to pause.

Looking closer she could see it was from bunker, a fortification tinker that had been sent to the Okinawa Islands. That was odd, she hadn't been expecting an email from him. Perhaps one from his team lead reporting their progress after they had eliminated the local warlord, but not this. It was even marked as urgent.

Intrigued, she clicked on the email and furrowed her brow.

To: [email protected].

Please find attached the local geological survey performed.

We have clearly been looking in the wrong places to find the group that built New Fukuoka, and this is proof on where they have likely headed next.

Bunker.

As to the point as ever.

She opened the file and stared for a moment, almost double taking at the sight.

The program Bunker had sent was a tinkertech masterwork of his own design. It allowed him a fidelity and clarity on local geology and conditions that would make many other tinkers blush with envy. It laid out perfectly in front of her in 3-D, the program effortlessly running on her more mundane computer.

But the intricate tinker tech master work was not the cause for her shock, but rather what it showed.

There was a tunnel. A truly enormous tunnel running from Kyushu and heading in a vaguely Northern direction before cutting off at the edge of the survey's results.

Her blood felt like ice in her veins as she quickly procured a map from her servers, before cross referencing it with the data Bunker had given to her. Slowly she drew a line from Kyushu through the Asian Continent.

Her eyes landed on China's capital, and the line that intersected painfully close to it.

"Fuck."

-Armsmaster POV-

His sweat clung to him unpleasantly, rubbing painfully against him armour as he twisted a newly made wrench and connected the last bolt to his halberd.

He held his weapon up to the light, turning it this way and that, before nodding.

It would have to do.

The ship barely had workshops worth a damn, and limited resources on top of that. This forced him to scrounge for any parts that might adequately serve to replace and repair his damaged gear.

Perhaps if it was only him his situation would not be so poor, but there were many other tinkers present. All of which had been sent to inspect the wondrous technology of New Fukuoka, and many of which had survived long enough to retreat with the rest of them.

He smiled slightly. It was almost nostalgic, scavenging for subpar materials and constant experiments and compromises. It almost reminded him of his early days as a tinker, when the possibilities had seemed endless. Every idea had hit him like a breath of inspiration, unburdened by responsibilities or need for maintenance. Simply trying anything.

"Enjoying yourself Collin?"

He turned to Dragon, who was commandeering one of the few computers he had been able to bring with him. It had taken hours for him to properly bring it up to an acceptable level.

"In a way, though I would still rather be in a proper workshop" he stated.

"You and every other tinker on this ship" she laughed lightly.

Which was true enough, the tinker was just thankful they would reach the Okinawa islands soon. Any more time on this ship and he was sure the many tinkers present would start tearing apart the fleet to make a better one.

"Have you gone over the files?"

The question was simple enough though the deadpan expression she threw him was rather unneeded.

"I'm fairly certain every tinker the PRT has is looking through it as we speak" she spoke with certainty "If I wasn't constantly going over the cybersecurity of the plans I'm fairly certain most tinkers in the world would be looking through it."

That was something he fully believed.

The technology of New Fukuoka wasn't just brilliant, it was revolutionary. Clean, rugged and most importantly simple. This wasn't simply something that would revolutionise a normal man's way of living, it would affect every tinker.

Because this technology could act as a foundation, in much the same way modern technology did.

Tinkertech could be made with anything, it wasn't widely known outside their circles but every tinker, barring focal tinkers was capable of making wonders out of the strangest of materials. If you left him in the woods without his equipment he could probably make decent combat equipment out of wood and leaves.

However it was far less efficient than using modern materials. No wooden spear he made could ever stand up to his halberd.

Likewise his halberd likely wouldn't hold a candle to what he could make with the technology of New Fukuoka.

The ultra efficient filters of the massive machine in the bay of Kyushu had given Collin ideas of filters able to last longer, and potentially even keep out troublesome breakers like Fog. The Stark white ceramics of the many building gave him ideas of armour that could shrug off the extreme temperatures of Lung.

These were only some of the ideas he had come up with, and this was happening to every tinker who saw the files.

"I'm personally more interested in the civilian applications this will have" Dragon chirped, and he could only smile lightly at that. It was very like her to consider the benefits this could bring to the civilians of America and Canada.

Collin was personally unsure as whether these files would trickle down to the general public any time soon. That would mean villainous tinkers gaining the same advantage as them. It would mean being unable to use the information as leverage against other countries. There were too many advantages to keeping the information hidden instead of widely spreading it.

Armsmaster was briefly thankful, as odd as it may seem, for the threat of the C.U.I invasion. It would incentivise the PRT to at least share with their allies, making it more likely for the data to be stolen or released into the wider world.

Usually he would be all for operational secrecy, but when some of that data included life saving medicine and machines that could reclaim irradiated lands even he wished for those files to be spread.

An alert popped up on his computer, an email. A high alert one at that. From the looks of it it had been sent to every high ranking individual within the PRT and Protectorate, as well as their closest allies.

The mild look of concern on Dragon's face showed that she had also received the email, and had possibly already read it.

One of these days he would have to ask her what sort of mind-interface technology she was using, for she had always been startlingly quick in answering calls and alerts. It was something he had noticed through their many collaborations together, and something he desperately wanted to know.

But he valued her presence too much to press for details, the one time he had asked she appeared highly uncomfortable.

"Collin, you need to see this" her voice, once light and airy, had a hardened edge to it now.

He clicked on the email.

He scrolled through it, his eyebrows subtly raising.

The reports from China, the mysterious tunnel leading from Kyushu and the projected path it took painted a damning picture.

Whatever group had raised Kyushu from the bottom of the sea had clearly anticipated the response of the C.U.I and had already begun travelling to China the second the city was compete.

In addition this group had access to a monstrously powerful parahuman, one capable of catching the Chinese off guard and causing great damage to their capital.

Deep in his bones Collin knew the worst was yet to come.

-Sun Wukong POV-

He grinned at the destruction of his foes, the once gleaming palace blackened by soot and blood.

That pretender emperor, the one who had commanded he bow, and wasn't that hilarious, he had let live.

Frankly Sun Wukong couldn't find a more fitting punishment than allowing a powerless worm to remain a powerless worm.

Sun Wukong knew his type, always scrambling for power, and being utterly incapable of handling it.

He would never be satisfied, never stop being scared.

Still, he frowned as he looked around. There was something missing.

He looked around, pondering the missing piece. He knew if he didn't get it it would bother him all day.

It was like an itch you couldn't quite reach.

He lifted his hand to his chin and thought, before realising what it was with an almost embarrassed laugh.

"Right! I need to end this on a dramatic note!"

He sucked in a deep breath and SPOKE.

Not to the people around him, he was instead choosing to address all of China. He spoke with intent directly at their souls, ensuring no misunderstanding would occur.

"PEOPLE OF CHINA. I AM SUN WUKONG. I CAME TO YOUR EMPEROR WITH PEACE, AND WAS MET WITH SWORDS. I CAME EXPECTING SAGES AND FIERCE WARRIORS, AND MET ONLY CORRUPT WRETCHES. I DECLARE YOU UNWORTHY OF THE HEAVENLY MANDATE. UNWORTHY OF THE EFFORT AND WISDOM YOUR ANCESTORS HAVE BESTOWED UPON YOU."

He chuckled, already feeling the myriad emotions throughout the country. Rage, pain,, indignation, understanding, disappointment and more blending into a heady mix. Many tried to refute his words, tried to rationalise his presence and power. But it was no use. This was not a medium that tolerated deceit. He spoke and they understood.

They understood who he was.

They understood his disappointment.

"I WILL RETURN IN TEN YEARS, AND THEN I SHALL JUDGE WHETHER YOU REMAIN UNWORTHY."

Admittedly Sun Wukong was unused to speaking as a voice of authority, oh he had certainly done it in the past. But more often than not he was the rebelling figure, casting gods and demons from their lofty thrones.

Usually because they pissed him off, almost always because he wanted to.

Still he could play this role if it got him what he wanted.

This would certainly get things moving in a more interesting direction.

And perhaps his homeland could even benefit from this humbling.

Either way he would take his fill of entertainment.

AN: The PRT begin to unravel the 'group' that caused Kyushu to remerge and Sun Wukong decides to use his godly authority to fuck with China. Because the entirety of Sun Wukong could be summed up as: "Fuck you, I do what I want!"

Needless to say China is going to be in a bit of civil war, which suits Alexander's interests well. Even if he didn't expect the extent of the chaos that Sun Wukong would cause. Just like everyone else.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Text

Chapter 16: Enlightenment

-Renji POV-

The bustle of crowds moving through the newly built city accompanied his rooftop vigil, a vigil which would have been silent if not for the presence of Bai. The girl was looking much better in her new clothes, and the rejuvenation she had undergone had done much to erase her sickly looks into something much healthier.

Her eyes were placid, but he could tell a great many questions and worries lay underneath the surface. He could have questioned or comforted her, but he held back for now.

He had only brought her with him because she had been present from the beginnings of their sojourn in China. From the moment two strange figures had burst out of the ground she was there. She understood his Creator's plan for this city, knew why it had been designed in the first place. She even seemed to grasp some small inkling of his liege's essence.

Renji knew that was invaluable.

Already the world was misunderstanding and attributing characteristics to his creator that were simply not true, and it would only get worse in the future. They had gotten lucky so far, no hostile force was fully aware of them.

However the moment they were, the world would turn against them. The misdeeds of his progenitor's siblings would irrevocably colour any action his creator attempted. No hearth or home would be welcome to them.

None except here, this would be there port in the storm.

That was the reason Renji spoke and comforted the arriving downtrodden crowds, why he was acting as a silent guardian in a place he already knew was completely safe.

He was simply putting his best foot forwards, and if he allowed the growing worship to fester and bloom then that was also to their benefit.

Another radiant bloom of light struck the designated landing pad, and yet more bewildered and lost individuals were quickly escorted to the underground shelter to be healed and fed.

"Those would be the prisoners from Hong Kong?" Bai asked.

Renji merely grimaced. It was blatantly obvious they were from the other penal zone of China. The ragged and sickly arrivals were somehow even worse than even the rescued people of Shanghai.

Hong Kong was a city that had been bloody long before the Endbringers had first shown up. As far as Renji was able to understand the city had been a protectorate of another power. However the arrival of parahumans had only accelerated the decline of this 'Britain', and ensured they were unable to interfere when China invaded and conquered the city.

To say the people were treated poorly would be an understatement, the few snippets and scraps of information he had heard had threatened to make even his calm demeanour shatter at the depravity.

An insurgency had erupted when the communist state inevitably failed from a combination of parahuman instability and pre-existing issues. However once the C.U.I came to power they were quickly crushed and forced into slavery in all but name. Even the children who had been born after this weren't freed of the stigma or consequences of this.

The gathered people had returned from the underground shelter by the time Renji was finished thinking. He considered going and talking with them, possibly reassuring them, but their expressions held him back.

Those who weren't dead to the world seemed to watch the growing towers of metal and glass with a fire and zeal that made all previous gatherings and religious declarations seem positively tame.

Renji considered that, and then filed it away for later.

Potentially useful.

Potentially dangerous.

The tapping of a staff drew his eye, and he turned to see a man approaching them. The rooftop trek had clearly not bothered him, and it quickly became apparent by the scent of magic that this was no ordinary individual. He was like him, a fellow creation.

The man was short, it was the first thing he noticed about the figure, and yet their presence was far from unassuming. He wore a humble monk's outfit and carried only a large wooden walking stick. Their eyes met and he could only raise his eyebrows at the blank emptiness of the eyes that greeted him.

Yet he could tell this was not like the emptiness that haunted many of the people he had come across, this emptiness let more serene. Purposeful, perhaps.

The man raised his hand and waved at them briefly.

"Hello you two, a fine morning wouldn't you say?"

Their voice was light and relaxed, completely at odds with the fantastical surroundings and the dour people that lumbered forwards in the streets.

"It is certainly a productive day mister…" Renji lead, not so subtly asking for a name.

"Xuanzang" the man simply replied.

There was a sharp gasp at his side, as Bai looked at the man. Clearly this was a figure she recognized. Just like that barbarian monkey his creator had let loose.

"It is good to meet you Xuanzang" Renji smiled before continuing "I assume you are also a creation of our liege?"

"It would appear so, it's certainly an odd feeling to be created as an amalgam of a man who died a millennia ago and a mythical figure inspired by the former"

Despite his words the man seemed almost disinterested in the topic that would give almost anyone else an existential crisis. His eyes remained fixed first on Renji and Bai before turning to the crowd.

"It is disappointing that the world remains the same, men reaching beyond their means for things that do not matter and the many trampled along the path to ambition."

"It is certainly worrisome" Renji agreed "I assume that this related to your purpose?"

The man seemed to contemplate that, taking the question in like a finely brewed tea.

"Purpose? No, but this Yà lì shān dà asked for my aid in regards to the citizens spiritual and mental wellbeing."

Renji was briefly confused at the correction. If Alexander had told this Xuanzang to do something then that was his purpose. So why was he talking as if the two were completely different.

The confusion must have been plain, as Xuanzang sighed before continuing.

"While I reject the notion of something like 'purpose' the closest I would have would be my path to enlightenment. I am choosing to help these people of my own free will, not because our creator ordered me to do so."

Renji's mind blanked at the answer for a second. It was an alien thought to him, as if the man had stated the sky was green.

Then there was rage.

"You…How dare-" Renji began, quickly building in volume before he was stopped by the upturned hand of the monk.

"Please, we do not wish to cause strife and worry for the people below. We should talk calmly"

The unhurried and calm tone was completely at odds with Renji's grit teeth and black rage. He could feel the arm on his shoulder, Bai trying to calm him down.

"Disloyalty-" he began with a hiss "-is repaid with death!"

The man looked at him for a moment, pausing to consider his words.

"And what of you?"

Renji looked at the man, the rage masking the confusion he felt at the words. What of him? What was the man talking about?

"What is your purpose?"

The clarifying answer came before he could utter his confusion, and finally the man was making sense.

Renji coughed into his hand, the other patting himself down to remove any wrinkles from the cloth he wore.

"I," he began imperiously "-am Renji. I was designed to the companion and honour guard of my creator. I am to act as their hand and voice where they are not present. I am to be their most trusted in a world of the cruel and the guilty!"

Xuanzang merely stared impassively at his impromptu speech, irritatingly unfazed.

"That is quite the contradiction."

The baffling reply made Renji scrunch his eyebrows in confused rage once more, the heavy beat of his heart making blood rush to his ears.

If this man didn't start making sense he was going to cut his head off!

"In order to be a companion, or anything resembling a friend, the bond between the two individuals must be equal. There can be no true friendship between master and slave."

The man locked his eyes onto his and Renji found he couldn't quit pull his gaze away.

"Your purpose as a companion and as a servant are at odds with one another, furthermore your want of a purpose and our creator's wishes are also at odds."

His masters wishes?

He didn't see how his want of purpose got in the way of building cities.

"They desire friends and close connections while you seek a god who they will never be."

But that's what they are! Didn't this man get it! Didn't this man understand?!

Renji fumed, the expression making Bai glance nervously at him. The girl was clearly not happy being anywhere near the two, who seemed like they might start fighting at any second.

"Your advice," Renji hissed "-is neither welcome nor needed!"

Xuanzang shrugged.

"I was asked to see to the mental wellbeing of the people of this city. You, as well as our creator, are included in that. As it stands, the two of you are heading towards a very unhappy relationship."

He then turned towards Bai.

"My apologies for unsettling you young lady, how about we go for a bite to eat? My treat!"

The turn from serious to silly felt like whiplash to Renji as the noise of the two's conversation seemed to blur into nonexistence as his mind raced.

The man was clearly just delusional, Renji had been getting along well with Alexander. There wasn't a contradiction.

Yet Renji's mind kept turning to the first moment of their life.

The very first person he had seen was them. That fragile mix of hope and relief as they looked upon Renji. Surrounding Alexander had been nothing but darkness and empty homes.

If his creator wished for a friend over a guard then what would he do?

The need to serve was etched into his every surface, his very legend was that of a loyal samurai. His loyalty was his most treasured aspect, and now this man was telling him that it was this same trait that would ensure his failure.

Renji shook his head, and began walking away.

It was not true.

It couldn't be.

AN: Bit of a shorter chapter this time, kinda came down with a cold and have felt pretty bad for the last four days or so. In other news: Character Development! Renji is a lot of things but he's ultimately made to be a loyal soldier and retainer, which is great but it also means Alexander getting his as a proper friend would be difficult.

To be honest this feels like a weaker chapter for me, have never been good at dialogue heavy chapters.

Xuanzang is one of the many humanoid creations that will be left to aid the city. Each of them has a reason for being created. Xuanzang was asked to aid in the spiritual and mental health of the cities occupants. Some may be more martially focused, while others might focus on intrigue. Xuanzang can see what's up with Renji and Alexander and is enough of a nice guy to lend a hand.

Also: I apologise to the Fate community but I'm going more historically accurate for Alexanders creations. SilkPunk uses mythology ad history for its magic and the more accurate and true to those you are the more potent the effect. Perhaps if Alexander were in our world he could do it, but Earth Bet is cursed to never know the glory of Fate. Poor souls.

And yes People from all around China (mostly the bad parts) are being gathered to become the citizens of this city. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Text

Chapter 17: Secret Meetings


-POV Chubster-

Ben was never one to take himself too seriously.

Heck, it was practically in his name! He had chosen Chubster as his hero identity precisely because he didn't want to get a big head. He also thought the PRT could use some humour after the death of Vikare and Hero. Those were some grim times.

Where was he going with this?

Ah yes! He didn't like to take himself too seriously, but he could when the situation called for it.

A meeting involving Alexandria and the rest of Quick Response Team Bravo was one of those situations where he was forced to be serious.

Quick Response Teams weren't something you would find information about by trawling through PHO or Wikipedia. They were teams designed to act quickly in order to prevent certain situations from getting too out of hand.

Rogue biotinker creations, interdimensional portals, artificial intelligence, memetic control agents and more were the sort of thing they were called in for. They actually had a fairly good track record too. For every S-Class threat which had ballooned into the public consciousness there were at least ten more which had been nipped in the bud.

As a top tier Brute Ben had been called in to occasionally lend a hand, even if he wasn't a full time member of a team, and yes he was aware of the irony that Chubster had worked in a Quick Response Team.

It's a real shame he had to sign all of those NDA's, he'd make a killing on all of the jokes he could come up with for that!

Ben settled into his chair, wiggling around to find the most comfortable position to sit in and leaned back.

The room was brewing with nervous energy. Several new members were fidgeting, their eyes occasionally darting between the veteran members of the team and Alexandria. A few even sent confused looks his way, not having served with him before.

The older members were more still, but he could tell they were still on edge. It was blindingly obvious to everyone in the room that this meeting would be about what was happening in China.

It wasn't every day that a capital city got ransacked by a single person, the fact that it happened to the C.U.I only made it more unbelievable, except that was the problem.

It had already happened.

Quick Response Units were meant to be deployed against developing threats, not something that had already reached this level.

So the real question was: what developing threat in China was currently under everybody's noses.

Alexandria glanced at him, before clearing her throat and signalling the beginning of the debrief.

"Greetings. Thank you all for coming today. At 0400 hours today a single parahuman single handedly defeated the combined forces present in the Capital of the C.U.I, attacked The Emperor, defaced the Imperial Palace and then left to engage other military forces to the west," Alexandria began stiffly.

She gestured to the screen behind her, featuring a grainy picture of a large figure dressed in resplendent robes and carrying a golden staff.

Ben squinted at the picture, there was something odd about the man but the poor quality of the photograph was preventing him from seeing what it was.

"This will no doubt affect China, as well as the entire Eurasian continent, going forwards. The entity we have named 'Sun Wukong' for his resemblance to the fictional character of the same name will no doubt warrant his own debrief, but that is not we are here for today," Alexandria continued, ignoring the many eyes that widened at that statement.

Ben himself leaned forwards, more than a little curious.

Alexandria's eyes panned across the room, ensuring everyone was paying attention before she continued.

"At the same time all penal camps across China reported the disappearances of all inmates, and the camps in Jinzhou went completely dark."

Huh. Well Ben wouldn't have expected a continent wide prison break out, but this was at least better than he had feared.

"So do you believe what's happening in China is a coordinated insurgency?"

The question was asked by one of the many in the back, Ben craned his neck to try an find who had asked it. Alas, he was too fat.

At that question Alexandria paused before continuing.

"That is indeed possible," Alexandria responded, "however what is of true concern is who is coordinating all of this."

At that the slide behind Alexandria shifted to show…a bunch of squiggly lines. There was a lot of scientific reading to the left of it, statistics and numbers that made his head spin.

Ben decided not to question it, Alexandria would no doubt explain what the hell they were looking at.

The deadpan stare he received from Alexandria only received a shrug from him. That was the great thing about Thinkers, they typically gave you the answer before you even asked and knew what you were thinking without you having to say it.

Some found that creepy. He found it convenient.

"To anyone who doesn't know, this a geomorphological map. It shows evidence of a man made structure of truly staggering proportions underneath the East China Sea."

The slide once more changed to a map of Eurasia, unchanged save for a single red line.

He traced that line, beginning suspiciously close to China's capital and following it downwards until his eyes widened as he reached Kyushu.

There were gasps across the room, eyes widening and narrowing in thought.

"On July 6th​ Kyushu was restored and raised from the seafloor, along with a city that had not been present beforehand. All of you are already aware of New Fukuoka and the ripple effect it's had on the world. You've all read the documents. By far the largest mystery regarding this event were the architects behind this city, and now we believe we have found them."

Ben stared at the map. To say the Tinkers (or rather the Parahumans) responsible for raising Kyushu were shrouded in mystery would be far from an understatement. It would be a lie. Numerous organisations had invested millions into uncovering who had been responsible. Tinkertech sensors designed to trace the exotic energies released from teleportation or pocket dimensions had been funnelled into Kyushu and found nothing.

At the time it was assumed that the creators were simply using yet more advanced means to defy detection, but now it seemed they had simply chosen a very simple means to leave New Fukuoka.

Ben didn't know whether to call this an overestimation of the architects or a grave underestimation. Either way he knew there were going to be plenty of analysts crying into their pillows tonight for not having thought of such a straightforward escape plan.

"We now believe that this group is focused on destabilising China for a yet unknown reason," At that Alexandria once more changed the screen to a final image.

Ben felt his mouth grow dry at the sight.

It was a wall, that was the factual statement of what he was seeing and yet it didn't do the sight justice. He could see the forest and trees surrounding the blackened wall reaching feebly upwards, and not even reach a tenth of the height of the gargantuan edifice.

The height alone was intimidating enough, but the wall itself set off every alarm bell in his head. The black material seemed almost…grown in the way it melded with the surrounding environment, the vast honeycomb structure of the bulwark only served to emphasise this.

The bright green glowing sigils etched into the wall only exacerbated his nervousness. They were Chinese, of that he was sure, and yet the smoothness of it and the stark contrast of the blackened canvas only seemed to elevate the alien nature of this construct.

From the whispers and shuffles he could hear around the room, he wasn't the only one unsettled.

How had they built something so stupidly massive in such a short amount of time?

"The radius of this wall is enough to encircle a small country, in addition is the parahuman effect of the wall itself. From what little information our Thinkers have been able to puzzle together there is a spatial anomaly surrounding the wall, ensuring travelling to it is effectively impossible."

The faces of many veterans in the conference room grew grim at that, as did Ben's.

Large spatial effects were never a good sign when it came to Tinkers, it usually preceded either a fatal failure of the Tinkertech or interdimensional effects. The latter was far worse than the former.

"In addition, as you have likely surmised already, there are stranger effects tied to this barrier. The first blocks most forms of Thinker powers while the second causes feeling of dread and awe in anybody who views the walls. We believe this is a method to deter potential intruders," Alexandria said, looking mildly pained as she explained the difficulty the Thinkers had been having.

Well, he couldn't really blame her, Watchdog and similar organizations had been coming under fire recently for failing to predict or locate the group responsible for New Fukuoka. Now that there was an entire region they were unable to figure out that would only continue.

He wondered if this would effect PRT policy going forwards. If Thinkers were able to be blocked by more than just the usual methods (Those being Scion, Endbringers and Triggers) then their reliability could be called into question. After all organisations like the PRT made heavy use of precognitive support, but if the secrets to whatever technology allowed for their disruption was spread by this mysterious group then they would become almost useless overnight.

Briefly he sent a prayer to Costa-Brown. The women was already fighting off vultures trying to steal portions of the PRT's budget and this would only make it worse for her.

After that brief side tangent, Ben spoke up.

"So I assume you want us to investigate this personally?"

All eyes turned to him at that, but he shrugged off the attention. He knew it wasn't exactly proper etiquette to interrupt a debriefing session until the end, but in this particular case organisational culture could eat a dick. If he was being told to deploy on the C.U.I's equivalent of a front lawn then he wanted to be told up front.

"Yes, each member of this team has been hand picked for this mission. Shade will ensure none of you are noticed while you are investigating. Shuffle will be present for quick exfiltration, should it become necessary. Scope, Orwell, and Remote will be the primary parahumans carrying out the investigation, we believe their powers are unlikely to be effected by this blindspot. You, Pyroclast, Atlas and Wayfarer will be combat support as a last resort."

She looked around the room.

"I should stress that this is a reconnaissance mission only. You are not to involve yourself in any local affairs and you are not to be seen by anyone," the order was spoken with an iron certainty.

For a moment Ben considered refusing. Yes he had gone to fight S-Class threats in the past, but that had always been with support. In Jinzhou they would be alone, surrounded by both the C.U.I and a mysterious Tinker group who no one knew anything about.

Above all else he thought of Charley, his daughter. How she constantly worried whenever he left to fight an Endbringer battle, how she had cried the first time he had gotten laid up in the hospital. There were acceptable risks, and then there was this.

He sat up, preparing to give his refusal before Alexandria cut him off with her next sentence.

"I don't think I can quite overstate exactly how important this mission is. Yes gaining information on a new, potentially destabilising group, would be useful. However the ability to quickly construct massive structures and produce blindspots, seemingly at will, could be invaluable in our struggle against the Simurgh."

Ben froze at that, remembering the fights he had participated in against that thing. How the sharp scream had threatened to carve itself into him brain. How he had been forced to run, eschewing his Brute power simply to leave her radius before his own allies killed him. He remembered the fear, the desperate prayers and the screams of families as they were separated from each other.

Numbly he glanced up, only now realising he had slumped in his seat.

Alexandria's eyes met his own in a silent challenge.

He almost cursed her then, he knew what she was doing. She wasn't even trying to be subtle.

But as he glanced back to that alien wall spanning the horizon he knew she didn't have to be. He had already made up his mind.

AN: So yeah, the PRT is putting together a team to investigate Jinzhou. Alexandria is being a manipulative piece of shit, as usual. Girlboss gotta Girlboss, I guess. The PRT isn't stupid, despite us fans loving to rage on them, if they're incompetent it's largely because they're meant to be by Cauldron. However when Cauldron wants something done you get a PRT that can get shit done. Usually through morally dubious means, beacuse this is still Worm.

Also now that they've deduced how Alexander gets around they're going to be able to guess where he's going next, and even meet him there. Such a shame Alexander doesn't know that, which is going to create an interesting situation when Alexander arrives in his next city.

Also who expected a Chubster chapter, now I'm cursing myself for not making it a fatter chapter for the memes.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18: Media Craze and Distant Eyes



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New Topic: Invasion of New Fukuoka Cancelled?

Posted: 24/07/2011 Pages: 182



New Topic: Cape kicks C.U.I butt?!

Posted: 24/07/2011 Pages: 642



New Topic: PRT Response to Continued Eurasian Instability.

Posted: 24/07/2011 Pages: 1,592



New Topic: New City in China?

Posted: 24/07/2011 Pages: 341



New Topic: City Builders Thread 2: Electric Boogaloo

Posted: 24/07/2011 Pages: 34



New Topic: Unusual Simurgh Movements?

Posted: 24/07/2011 Pages: 403



-Elsewhere-

EMERGENCY NEWS ALERT

A major cape incursion has broken out before the Emperor's own palace. All citizens are advised to remain indoors and away from areas at risk.

The primary instigator of this conflict is a parahuman shamefully claiming the likeness of Sun Wukong. This individual is known to be extremely dangerous and uncaring of civilian casualties.

Link to an image of this dissident: Here.

Link to a map showing areas of risk: Here.

The C.U.I have expressed their confidence in putting this rogue element down. Should any citizen have any information regarding this parahuman please call: xxxx xxx xxxx.

Updates will continue to be provided as the situation develops.



-In the darkest depths of the internet-

Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 05:21 No. 11745863

>Be me

>Wake up and check news

>Japan ain't being invaded anymore

>Feels good

>China starts imploding and another fucking city shows up

>I wanna go back to sleep

+ 37 replies and 12 images omitted. Click here to view.

>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 05:28 No. 11745870

>>11745877

Bro, imagine actually supporting a country getting invaded. Gotta be a real dipshit IRL.



>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 05:41 No. 11745894

>>11745885

> Final boss is a group of architects

>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 05:44 No. 11745895

>>11745891

I swear God is getting lazier and lazier every day. What's next, aliens who want our bath water?

>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 05:49 No. 11745912

File: Monkey_Boi.jpg (591KB, 851x1100)

>>11745894

> I wanna spank the monkey!

+ 67 replies and 30 images omitted. Click here to view.

>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 05:56 No. 11745934

>>11745921

WHY ARE PEOPLE ALREADY DRAWING LEWDS OF THE BONK MONKEY?!



>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 06:01 No. 11745941

>>11745910

> Opens up 4chan after seeing the chaos in the world

> Not surprised at what I found

>Find monkey lewds

>Slightly surprised at what I found

>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 06:12 No. 11745967

>>11745943

So are the new cities just going to be a thing now? Because we already decided spooky tinker places are Probably bad news, and I don't want to be anywhere near one

+ 12 replies and 1 images omitted. Click here to view.

>> Anonymous 24/07/2024(Mon) 06:31 No. 11745981

>>11745961

Imagine not wanting to enter a scary murder city smh.



-Dragon POV-

The AI known as Dragon to the rest of the world was in the middle of pondering the current situation. Given the sheer amount of data at her disposal it only made sense for her to consider every possibility.

The layout of New Fukuoka leant credence to the theory that the City Builders are not Japanese. The street signs weren't numbers, as would be typical of a city in that nation. No, the streets of New Fukuoka were given names.

On the other hand there were so many small details added to the city which convinced every analyst that the builders had to be very familiar with Japanese culture. The temples and shrines were especially well done.

Naturally this juxtaposition lead to the theory that this cape team was international in nature, drawing Tinkers from all over the world. The similarities to Toybox were easily apparent, but they themselves seemed confused at being unaware of such a group.

Which was perhaps the most disturbing thing about them.

They had appeared out of nowhere.

Even with their ability to block Thinkers there should have been something to find.

Dragon had chased down every lead and trail with zeal, and had found only disappointment.

This was partially why no one had seriously suggested the group was moving by travelling underground. For a group who so clearly valued secrecy such an easily tracked method was unthinkable, verging on ridiculous.

Yet, that was exactly what they had done.

No wonder every threat assessment trying to profile the group was falling apart. At one moment they seemed like Machiavellian schemers and the next bumbling idiots.

It was days like this that made Dragon wish she had lungs to sigh with.

Instead she returned to her current hobby, browsing through the New Fukuoka Archives. The information and blueprints Collin had retrieved were a goldmine, and yes she could see the irony that the City Builders were responsible for both her biggest headaches and largest source of happiness (besides Collin).

She had already pushed through several inventions via affiliated companies, others had been stonewalled by government officials ordering her not to release them into the wild.

Given that all of those were technologies that would drastically reduce the need for oil Dragon guessed that some rich oil tycoon had gotten wind of what they had retrieved and acted quickly to prevent a loss in profit.

Dragon would be impressed with the speed and efficiency of such a response, if only it weren't so morally bankrupt.

Despite this cost of living in America and Canada was projected to actually decrease by 0.5%. To many that might not sound like a lot, but it was actually huge considering the continuing downward spiral Earth Bet seemed to be locked in.

It was a win, and those were becoming more precious by the year.

As Dragon returned to her projects she idly nudged a few satellites towards Jinzhou. This time she would be sure to properly track these Architects.



-Simurgh POV-

The past was observed with clinical eyes, the immutable preserved with crystal clarity.

The present was a black void unable to be processed, only worked around.

The future was a kaleidoscope of possibility, each action branching outwards into infinity.

It's avatar hung in the atmosphere of the host's planet. The occasional twitch of movement would send fearful watchers into a frenzy, their actions shaping the future according to its design.

However it's real focus was on the Anomaly. From all data gathered it was an Annihilation Drone, much like it. However no such drone was in its database. Furthermore the entity's actions and personality clearly matched that of the host species.

It had sent a ping to the Warrior, alerting him of this potential threat.

There was no response.

Typical.

Thus the thing that the local species designated the 'Simurgh' watched and waited. Initially the false drone simply wept at the bottom of the ocean floor, an indicator of inferior hormone based responses. Ignore.

The entity then began to restore the sunken structure that Annihilation Drone 07 had destroyed. Matter manipulation was noted and logged for future reference. Oddly the individual seemed resistant to her predictions. Many hours in the false drone began adding wiring and other sophisticated technologies currently in excess of what the host species was capable of.

The technology was nothing their species hadn't seen before, but some of the uses were new. Novel, even. She logged this within her databases and continued to observe.

Eventually the city was rebuilt and raised from the seas. It was of acceptable efficiency and self-sufficiency.

But it was only after the anomalies departure that it saw the bountiful harvest that could be reaped. The entity had crafted a scenario so unstable that conflict was sure to follow. The projections of this conflict were so absurdly high that it briefly considered upgrading this entity from 'Threat' to 'Resource'.

The next few weeks proved it correct. Instability reigned and the island became a prize the world would come to fight for.

Then the false drone arrived on the continent of Eurasia and prevented the war that was to come.

It had been vexed, as much a being like it can be vexed.

Then it looked closer at what the being was creating, the culture it was giving rise to.

The Simurgh smiled, uncaring of the watching humans panic.

This being, for all its faults and weaknesses, would surely prove to be a boon for the Cycle.

Now if only that damn monkey would stop being so hard to predict.

AN: If you're wondering why this chapter is so short, it's because at the time of writing I felt like shit. Physically this time. I caught some kind of cold from a co-worker and now I couldn't stop coughing and feeling like I was going to throw up. I'm better now though, so that's something.

Despite the shortness I hope you enjoy this chapter. I've tried a few different things this time, like the 4chan section.

Also you get a Dragon and Simurgh interlude. Dragon is a bit concerned, and also a bit excited. Meanwhile the Simurgh is the only one who knows WTF is going on. Big sister tentatively approves of Alexander, given that his personality as well as his poor luck create very conflict prone situations.

Have a good week, and please leave a comment!

Chapter Text

Chapter 19: Vanguard

-Alexander POV-

It had been three days since I started and finally the last of the buildings rose upwards, finally settling with an almost anticlimactic thunk.

This would be the third time I had 'finished' the city.

The problem with me is that I didn't tend to plan things out ahead of time, I liked to rush head first into things and figure it out as I go. I was spontaneous and creative, but not much of a thinker.

Hence I would often finish construction only to redo aspects of my work.

To my slight shame most of the corrections I had to do were things most would think to be common sense.

Yes, apparently I needed to think twice about putting waste disposal and treatment next to residential areas.

Yes, I did need to alter the barrier surrounding the city when I noticed it was affecting sunlight.

If you ever wanted to realise your own idiocy then go into city planning, there are so many obvious issues that you were bound to screw one up eventually.

I looked across the endless vistas of my new creation. The chrome skyscrapers were everywhere, gleaming silver and gold monuments to what I had created. Crisscrossing each of the buildings were crystals of immense scale and breath-taking beauty, glowing a faint yellow hue. I knew they would look even better at night, in truth they were a type of nanocrystal designed to absorb and release sunlight, not unlike the glow in the dark stickers I used to love littering my room with.

Greenery was much more subdued in this area of the city, with only trees lining the streets. I had wanted to add more, but when I considered that most of the city's population came from rural prison camps I decided against it. If they wanted to see more plant life they could always head to the area dedicated to farming.

Most of the skyscrapers were empty at the moment, the people of this city would eventually decide what to use them for. Perhaps they would become offices or centres of governance?

Don't know, don't really care.

I made my way towards the residential area, my feet thudding against the wide tarmac road, the nanoparticles within easily bearing my weight and reducing the sound I made to a whisper of what it would have otherwise been.

The residential area had been tricky to make, not because of a lack of ideas though. Frankly I had far too many ideas I wanted to try out.

I vaguely remember a crowd having gathered around me at one point while I was creating, and subsequently ripping apart, a model home. The ideas they had of me were rather cute in a way. From what I gathered they thought of me as a perfectionist, some benevolent figure that was unsatisfied until every home I made for them was completely perfect.

Sorry my guys, I was just wondering on whether I should add heated toilet seats and other unimportant stuff most of the time.

They had continued to follow me during the day, only slinking off when it came time to sleep. I had let them for the first few days, but after spotting the bloody soles of one of the men I had shooed them off, telling Renji to actually get them proper shoes.

Which, again, I had forgotten to give them.

Frankly I was at no risk of developing a god complex, I was too self-aware of my own incompetence for that.

Where was I?

Ah! The houses!

Eventually I settled on the sort of modern houses you tended to see with upper middle class families and higher. Contemporary architecture with an eye towards minimalism and composed volumes, overhangs and rectilinear forms. There was one key difference between those houses and these however.

The houses I took inspiration from back home tended to be very monochromatic, very austere and professional. It was clean and definitely had a beauty to it, but it was a cold and clinical beauty. After seeing the drab clothing and environment the former prisoners were used to, I decided to add a lot of colour to make things pop.

It was a veritable rainbow of houses. Reds, greens, blues and more dotted the houses. I hadn't added anything too garish, like bright pink or orange, but this was definitely an area which demanded attention.

I hadn't heard any complaints from the crowd of people who used to follow me, so I took that as tacit approval and continued my one man war against being boring.

Each of the homes had the sort of amenities you might expect from a house like this. Heating, plumbing, electricity, internet, the whole nine yards.

It was this advanced nature that had caused me to uproot and redo my city for the second time upon the realisation that something would be needed to maintain all of this.

Yes the nanotechnology could self-repair, but that had limits and I wasn't adding nanotechnology into everything for a whole host of reasons.

So I was forced to add a Virtual Intelligence designed to maintain the city, and advise the local population. It would act as a data repository for all technology needed to properly run this city and it had access to all drones present within the city.

Which were a lot, just to be clear.

As in each house had at least one.

Along with Cai Lun, one of my twelve creations, it would be in charge of all technology until the local population was educated enough to properly take over.

I sighed, cupping my head in my many palms as I realised I had finally run out of excuses.

The city was done which meant I needed to focus on what comes next.

Setting up an actual government for the people I rescued.

Ugh, I was shuddering just thinking about it.

Frankly I would have stayed out of it entirely if not for Renji's advice.

"My liege, these people look up to you and hang on your every word. If a government were to form without your approval then nearly everyone present would think it was without legitimacy. I apologise but if you believe you can simply do thing half way at this point then you are a fool. If you do not wish to regret whatever becomes of this city then you must commit!"

It had been a slap to the proverbial face.

The fact that it was Renji saying it only made it more shocking. As horrible as it sounded I had expected him to only give the barest of care towards the people I had rescued.

Instead he had stood up to me and basically called me an idiot to my face.

I made me wonder what had happened to cause that.

After that I had been rolling some ideas around in my head. The ideal end goal would be setting up some sort of democracy. Unfortunately while none of the refugees were fond of communist or monarchist rule they were… doubtful at best regarding democracy.

Well when you lived in a world full of Masters and Thinkers that was fair enough, though frustrating for me.

I had explained to people that parahuman powers would be unable to work within the city, but there was a difference between knowing and knowing.

There was also a cultural bias present against Western Society, communist China, and then later the C.U.I had focused heavily on demonising the West through propaganda, and despite heavily resenting both the previous and current Chinese government my city's residents weren't immune to propaganda creating by Thinkers.

So it was kind of a clusterfuck.

Almost everyone had suggested that I take up the mantle of leader, but I had shot that down pretty quick.

I didn't mind popping in to help every now and again, but the thought of permanently settling down only left a pit in my stomach.

Despite these people's wishes this wasn't my home. I wasn't about to pretend it was.

With that I had put forth my candidate as leader.

When I had crafted my twelve paragons I had designed each for a specific purpose.

Sanzang was created to fulfil peoples spiritual and religious needs. He had been crafted with an inherent understanding of people that surpassed my own many times over. He could heal mental agonies that an army of psychologists could not.

Cai Lun was crafted in the image of one of China's most famous inventors. I had spared no resource in designing a mind many times more brilliant than the average person. On top of all of that he boasted the complete knowledge of everything I currently knew regarding technology. On his own he could singlehandedly propel any country into a golden age of technological improvement.

Those were just two of the paragons, they were each capable of shifting the balance of entire continents. Unlike Sun Wukong, whose loyalty could not be compelled due to his legend, each of my paragons had been made loyal to myself and my wishes.

So I had decided to place one of them in the position of leader.

Taizong, created with the likeness of the second emperor of the Tang dynasty, was designed to govern.

Initially I had wanted him to serve as an advisor to whatever leader emerged from the disparate prison groups , but that plan had gone up in smoke.

Taizong was uniquely suited to the role. Much like Cai Lun he was brilliant to an almost comical degree, but in a different direction. While Cai Lun could design vast improvements to technologies in only a month or two Taizong could make the world economy his bitch in roughly the same time.

The man had an understanding of politics, economy, and governance that could be considered preternatural. The magic infusing him bound him closely to one of China's most successful emperors and as a result he was instinctively drawn towards actions that would ensure prosperity.

To absolutely nobodies surprise the people had accepted the charismatic man after only a few speeches.

Thus, the plan of democracy in this city died before it had even begun as an immortal benevolent super leader took charge.

The idea that I had essentially outcompeted democracy left me oddly sanguine.

Democracy was the best choice of government in a lot of shit choices. Not because it was necessarily efficient or good at preventing bad actors from rising to the top. No, scum always rose to the top regardless of whatever form of governance you chose. But with democracies you could at least limit the amount of damage they caused and hold them accountable.

But now I had created the perfect platonic concept of a leader in human form. I would genuinely be surprised if Taizong could even fathom the idea of willingly hurting the people under his rule. He also wouldn't be making any mistakes, not when it came to ruling a nation this small.

Still, the idea that it was a good thing to prop up a supreme leader clashed heavily with my upbringing.

I had been ignoring the entire situation through building, and occasionally tearing down and redoing, the city of Jinzhou.

But now I would have to go back and help with crafting all of the bureaucratic functions that allowed a city to properly run.

Even if the extent of my contribution would be handing Taizong a map of the now complete city and approving whatever he says for the benefit of the slightly worshipful populace.

Being an Endbringer is hard.

AN: The city is complete and now we're getting into the functions of government. Alexander will probably be half asleep the entire time. It's a good thing Taizong is on the ball, and will literally always be on the ball. What the consequences will be of a hypercompetent individual taking the reins of an entire city only I know, surely nothing bad will come of this!

Renji is actually putting the advice of Sanzang to work and challenging Alexander on his avoidant tendencies. Way to go Renji! Maybe you'll be able to make Alexander a functioning individual by the time this is over!

You also got information on two more of the twelve creations Alexander built: An unparalleled inventor and statesmen. What other paragons do you guys think are present, and no Sun Wukong is his own thing.

I wrote this in Easter, so happy belated Easter I guess?

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment!

Chapter Text

Chapter 20: Set Up

-Alexander POV-

Taizong and the rest of his 'advisors' had set up in one of the many empty buildings I had constructed. The room was large, almost forebodingly so, and in the center was a circular table big enough to fit almost all of us.

I say almost because I was there.

Due to my bulk I was forced to take to the corner of the room, ominously overlooking the sitting participants.

It was awkward. Hopefully no one talked to me.

"My apologies for the accommodations creator, this was the largest room we could find"

Fuck.

Taizong's words were buttery smooth and carried a warm inflection that could lull anyone into comforted ease.

"It is sufficient," I simply replied.

Thankfully he seemed to either accept that at face value or didn't see fit to call me out on my bullshit. Instead he merely rose from his seated position to begin the meeting.

"Greetings friends. I have called upon you because you are all esteemed members of your respective communities and some of the most driven and outspoken individuals available," Taizong spoke, and I could see the compliments clearly landing as I looked across the room.

"We come from disparate backgrounds, our ideas are many and varied. However we all wish for this city to prosper, to become a haven where our children can grow unaffected by the corrupt and bigoted C.U.I"

There were a few nods at that, every face in the room darkening at the mention of the C.U.I. It was one of the few things everyone in this city could agree on, and would no doubt become both a rallying cry and source of unity for Jinzhou in the years to come.

There was a part of me that worried about that. Yes it would be a good source of unity, but I didn't want this new culture to lump in every Chinese citizen as an other to fear and hate.

"I have been chosen to lead this city and it's people into that glorious future, however a leader with no advisors is no leader at all. A leader must have wise counsel, and I dare say I see that wisdom in front of me today."

Again, he was very good. Very few across the table could conceal their smiles, and it occurred to me that former prisoners who had been starved of positive reinforcement would only be more susceptible to the raw charisma of Taizong.

"Thus I would ask you your ideas for this city going forwards!"

Short, sweet and to the point. Man, why couldn't all speeches take a minute or less?

A man stepped up then. He was a figure of lean and severe features, looking out of place among the others as he had taken to wearing a full suit and tie. Perhaps he had been a bureaucrat before being locked away?

He bowed lightly before Taizong, and then repeated the gesture to me.

I did my best not to cringe.

"The progress regarding assigning people to their homes is going adequately, as the AI our saviour set up is able to answer almost any question we ask it and can coordinate all of our issues flawlessly. We've had to convince some to not choose homes too far away from the designated housing area for-" the man briefly looked pained before continuing, "-safety reasons."

I winced slightly.

It had already been decided that the population would be kept relatively close together to avoid forming rival factions within the city after I left. In addition the closeness made it easier to keep an eye on people who weren't doing well mentally.

No one had tried committing suicide yet, but apparently there had been a few lingering near rooftops.

"Lord Sanzang has been busy setting up support structures and community groups. I believe we should aid in this and focus inwardly for the time being. Our nation had only just gotten its feet under it."

The words were pointed and the lean man's eyes seemed to drill into the man opposite him, who was glaring right back.

There was some grumbling across the room, and I noticed with an odd sense of unease that this opening plan wasn't a popular idea. Rather, the room seemed oddly hostile to it.

"Chun Lee," one of the men almost growls "are you seriously suggesting that we simply allow the C.U.I time to recover and adapt to our presence?"

Oh, so that was his name!

The now named Chun Lee endured the angry murmurs of the crowd with stoicism. From what little I had been able to glean the man had been a politician born to a decently influential family. Despite this he was still labelled as a dissident for his 'unpatriotic' way of thinking.

In other words he was a half-decent person who thought brainwashing people was a bad idea.

Go figure.

As soon as the murmurs began to quell Chun Lee struck back with his own argument.

"How exactly do you plan to strike at the C.U.I? Any plan made to attack them would be thwarted by the barrier that protects our new nation."

It was a fair point, though judging by the look on his opponents face the man had an answer to that conundrum.

"Simple. We know the blessed machines of our lady can bypass the barrier through teleportation. We merely need to utilise them for something more than collecting resources!"

The man's voice was impassioned and lined with zeal only a true believer could wield.

There was just one problem.

What 'blessed machines' was he talking about?

"Liu Min," Chun Lee's voice was now also undercut by a bubbling rage the man was clearly trying and failing to keep in check, "those machines were not meant for war, they were meant to help provide for us. Even if you did convince our savior to let us utilise them for such a purpose it could allow the C.U.I a means to gain access to our city should they capture one!"

Man, it's really convenient that they keep using each other's names. It would be awkward if I asked them for their names at this point.

Also were they talking about the drones?!

Chun Lee's words were clearly understood, and many among the crowd that had supported Liu Min were now clearly having second thoughts. Their passions clearly doused by the cold reality of potentially allowing the C.U.I a foothold into their city.

"Then we just need to minimise the chances of that-" Liu min began to say before he was cut off.

"Minimise," the words were practically hissed out from behind the grit teeth of Chun Lee, "does not mean the chance will be zero! The C.U.I would only need to get lucky once! Would you really risk all of our lives for the sake of your hatred?!"

The man himself merely glared back.

"I would do it for the sake of everyone else who still suffers in that hell," Liu Min gestured towards the direction of the Chinese capital.

"I would do it so that they too may find salvation in this promised paradise!"

Uhhh…well that's a bit much.

From what I could see both sides had a point.

Chun Lee was simply being logical. The only true way to eliminate every possibility of harm occurring was to not show a single chink in the metaphorical armour of the city, which is what Liu Min's plan would do.

On the other Liu Min's plan came from an emotional place, one that touched on the hearts of every individual in this room. No one here wanted more people to suffer the depredations of the C.U.I and nobody wanted it to recover from the current turbulence.

As I watched others speak up, drawing lines in the metaphorical sand I realised I was watching the birth of what would eventually become political parties.

It was just two for now, but I could already see hairline fractures in both groups. There were members of both sides calling for moderation in their plans, while others suggested far more radical ideas.

Above it all Taizong simply watched, allowing all members to present their arguments. The meeting was supposed to focus on more than just this issue, but it was clear this was a topic that deserved the spotlight.

Eventually Taizong motioned them to cease arguing, those that looked uncertain in regard to the path forwards were now few in number as the hour long debate had done much to solidify any shakily held belief they possessed.

"Given the importance that this decision holds to this country going forwards I propose we hold a vote to determine our decision," Taizong clapped his hands, gesturing to a man next to him to hand out the papers he was holding.

To the room's quiet surprise the options they had previously been discussing were already printed out upon the paper slips. Clearly Taizong had already predicted the shape this meeting would take. Some looked awestruck at this show of genius, others looked put off and a select portion looked almost rapturous with religious joy.

Meanwhile I stared at Taizong knowingly. An hour was more than enough for him to map out which decisions every individual would take. This wasn't a vote, it was performance.

The fact that Taizong had suggested for the vote to happen at all must mean that my creation agreed with the result that would come.

For the next few minutes there was only the shuffling of papers and the quiet contemplation of those who were still unsure.

By the time the votes had been tallied and announced it was decided what the path forwards was.

Jinzhou would not rest comfortably while the rest of China burned.

It would not suffer the grip of petty tyrants.

There would be a period of brief peace, enough to give the former prisoners a reprieve, a taste of all that they had earned.

Then they would go to war.

I stayed in that room long after everyone else had left, never more uncertain as to how I felt than at this very moment.

Should I feel proud that the people I saved didn't want their paradise to serve exclusively them?

Should I feel horrified that many of those same people might die horrifically for the lives of those they didn't even know?

I just didn't know, I wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or not.

I sighed and got up to leave. But not before taking one last glance at the slips of paper lying as still as the grave on that large black table, and at the red ink covering those pale sheets.

AN: Hi everyone! Bit of a shorter chapter this time since I was out of the country when I wrote this and didn't have my laptop with me. Despite that I'm pretty proud of this chapter, it was pretty interesting trying to get in the thoughts of the citizenry of Jinzhou.

Despite the rather miserable portrayal of the average person of Earth Bet so far I happen to consider myself as an optimist when it comes to humanity. So I believe that there would be some willing to brave hell in order to save those like them.

Jinzhou will become a home to the abused, the misbegotten and the outcast. Which is one more reason why they'll cling to the religion exalting Alexander. Oops. Thus Jinzhou is slowly building up to a holy war against the C.U.I, at first it will just be raids to gather more people. But given time they'll grow bolder, and will have quite the advantage thanks to having an uninvadable home as well as the advanced tech Alexander gave them.

Anyway I'll see you guys next week! Thanks for reading, please leave a comment or two!

Chapter Text

Chapter 21: The One

-One POV-

One day. He had left the capital for one day!

The smouldering wreckage surrounding him stunk of ash and fear, the huddling masses stared at his procession from broken windows and doors. The once resplendent capital was now blackened and broken, the many shrubberies and trees he had ordered to be strategically placed along the streets to promote calm and order had long been turned to ash.

As he looked around he saw all of the work he had put into his seat of power. Across the street he could see a broken billboard. Once it had contained military propaganda, innocuous and innocent enough but every colour and pixel had been meticulously chosen to best bend the wills of any who looked at it. It would subconsciously instil a pride and trust in the nation's military.

That billboard now appeared to have been split in half.

He saw the disparity in design of the many shops that dotted the road he was travelling down. Many uninformed peons may have remarked at how unusual that was for an empire that prized conformity. It was, of course, simply another tactic of his. Those who followed the governments words obediently had access to benefits that the foolish did not. Benefits such as access to designs and architecture meant to draw the eye and inspire fascination.

Many assumed being a brainwashing Thinker was all about the torture and pain, breaking people down so that they may be remade. That certainly had it's place, but that was not the most insidious aspect of his power.

No, at his core he understood people. He knew what stimuli would get them to react the way he wanted. Humans were simply machines programmed by evolutionary pressures, and he was the one who could observe the code.

He had began life as the son of a humble architect, and in his innocent youth he had dreamt of being exactly like his father. Unfortunately reality was cruel and the many political machinations of the communist state sought to use their family as an example.

Then came the bad years. The emergence of parahumans, and his life went from bad to horrific.

His family, already tied in strings, became just one more resource to be fought over by a legion of government workers, insurgents, newly triggered Thinkers and more.

With the benefit of hindsight he knew that the situation of his family was far from unique. Any family who was even remotely important was used and abused in some way. But to him at the time it felt like the world was closing in around him.

How could he escape from the reaching grasp of hundreds of bad actors?

How could he turn his crumbling country around?

Why wouldn't everyone just work together!?

Then he had triggered.

It had been a long time since that terrible day, but he had much to show for his work. He had forged a resistance group in the ashes of China and lead them to glory and empire. He had formed a parahuman group of unwavering loyalty and commitment.

China was strong. China was unified.

He had even regained a scrap of his lost dream, in a way.

Beijing was remade in his image. It was, in truth, his Tinker Megaproject, even if he wasn't a tinker in truth. A high-end endeavour that had utilised every aspect of his power. The ground, the trees, the buildings, all of it was made with intention in mind.

There was a reason Beijing was an island of stability in an otherwise chaotic ocean. Dissidents and rebels regularly rose up across the country and were quashed effortlessly. Except not in Beijing. Here there were no dissidents. There were no rebels. Even the normally fractious and conflict prone parahumans happily handed themselves in if they triggered within the city.

This was how he had climbed to the very top and remained there.

But now it was burning.

The smoky heat of the outside air was nothing compared to the molten fury that beat in his breast. Someone had ruined his work, and that individual would be weeping for an eternity by the time he was done with them.

"Number 12, your report please?"

The hollowed out man silently passed him a brown envelope containing the files.

Usually he would have preferred a verbal report, but there would be little point in pleasantries with his puppets.

He ripped open the enveloped and greedily poured through the files contained within. His fury only heightened as he flipped through the papers. He had suspected as much from that booming announcement, but the malcontent appropriating the guise of a hero of Chinese mythology was an insult he swore to repay tenfold.

"Have any teams been dispatched to apprehend this man?"

Number Twelve nodded before replying.

"Black-13 has been dispatched."

He nodded at that. Black-13 was one of their better hunter squads, not the one he would have ordered to be sent out in more ideal times. However all of the other teams he would have chosen were supposed to have been on the many ships sent to take New Fukuoka, which was now a cancelled operation.

He had doubts Black-13 would be able to capture this aberration, but odder things had happened before.

He continued drinking in the report, meticulously going over plans and probabilities. He continued in this way for over five minutes. Leisurely stepping over burnt wreckage while reading through the many reports, trusting in his agents to watch over him as he did so.

Then he stopped.

His eyes had landed on a picture taken only a few hours ago. It showed a large blackened wall encircling the land once know as Jinzhou. Behind that obsidian bastion was a city in the distance. It seemed both close and far away, yet as he stared at it he more and more gained a nagging feeling.

This was familiar somehow.

The towering chrome skyscrapers were new, but the way the city was laid out was familiar. It was done with intention. The wide open spaces, the inviting glowing crystalline structures, the many disparate colour schemes of the distant houses.

It was like Beijing.

And it was like New Fukuoka.

The revelation shook him briefly.

The day he had been informed of the importance of New Fukuoka, of the many technological bounties present within, he had already been planning the invasion of the newly risen Kyushu. Because unlike the dim-witted Americans and desperate Japanese he had understood the danger and usefulness both of New Fukuoka.

Because whoever built it was like him.

New Fukuoka had been a masterwork. It had blended Japanese architecture with nature to achieve perfect harmony with its surroundings, and more importantly influence the people within. The clean smooth curves and the white and green, all of it meant to evoke feeling of calm and welcomness.

Whoever had built this city hadn't designed it as a poisoned apple to be fought over.

It was a gift, sincerely and innocently given to a people who were suffering.

Disgusting.

One had never seen such a pathetic amount of waste in his life.

While this unknown Tinker, or perhaps group of Tinkers, clearly understood the same principles as he did they were painfully naïve.

Such a group or individual couldn't be allowed to roam freely. He himself was proof that they were simply too dangerous.

His eyes poured over the newest city and noted the differences.

The sense of openness and acceptance was still there, but there was something else. The sheer height of the buildings and the royal gold used throughout the city pointed towards-

"Pride," he finished his own thought aloud.

For a moment he thought it heartening. This was something he understood! Pride could be used to ferment nationalistic beliefs and promote expansionist tendencies in the populace.

For a moment this mysterious Tinker became more understandable, less dangerously unpredictable in their altruism.

Then he saw where the city was.

Jinzhou, and reading over the rest of the report he noted that all other penal colonies had been emptied of their prisoners.

His lips curled into a frown.

This individual wasn't trying to build an empire. They were trying to rebuild the pride of a broken people.

They were once more trying to help.

The paper wrinkled under his grip as he forcefully shoved it back towards Twelve.

Idealists were dangerous.

Each and every individual that had tried to seize power in his youth were idealists, in their own twisted way. They had been so convinced that only they knew the proper path forwards, as if they knew the true soul of humanity as he did.

No, humans were animals. They needed control and order to not constantly devolve into barbarism.

But now there was another who understood the same lesson he did, and willingly chose to turn away from the truth, and they were just sitting on his doorstep.

Had they sent that upstart to destroy his city?

…It made an uncomfortable amount of sense. A being driven solely by soft hearted morals would certainly object to his work, regardless of how necessary it was.

Fine, then let's see how you like it.

"Number Twelve!"

The man looked his way, his posture ready and waiting.

"Get in contact with the army group returning from the cancelled operation to New Fukuoka, tell them they have a new target."

The hollow hearted man nodded, pulling out a radio.

"And what will be their next target, sir?"

"The new city that has encompassed Jinzhou. They are to capture it and search for whoever made this affront and bring them before me."

One didn't bother to look back as Twelve began to radio the returning army, marching quickly onwards towards the palace.

Thoughts spiralled in his head. Would the army get there before the architect of this city left? Would they be able the breach their defences? What other allies besides that barbaric monkey do they have? What are they going to do next?"

The thoughts were left without answers as he traversed his burnt and ruined domain.



-Alexander POV-

'Man, sometimes life is good' I thought to myself, sipping something fruity from a gargantuan glass as I floated through a lake I had just made.

Granted I had to attach anti-gravity devices to myself so I could actually float instead of sinking like a rock, but it's the thought that counts.

Currently I was chillaxing after putting together the skeleton of a working government.

I still don't know why they want me to be there now that Taizong is present, the most I could offer were what little scraps of governing techniques my punk specialities had given me. I got the feeling that most of those were locked behind level five, so I only had a few minor points to add to the meeting.

Didn't stop them from looking at me in awe whenever I spoke though, the jerks!

All of that forced socialisation had worn on my social batteries, so I was choosing to use my time to the fullest.

Which, of course, meant that now was the time the world decided to kick me in the dick.

I jolted as a loud droning sound, eerily reminiscent of a World War Two air raid siren, rang out across the city.

I flailed in the water, the anti-gravity devices nailed to me making the gestures slow and clumsy looking.

Did I add an air raid siren? I don't remember adding an air raid siren!

"Creator," a flat artificial voice coming from a nearby drone caused me to cease my panicky movements and tilt my head towards it.

"A large group of soldiers is approaching the city. They possess mechanised support as well as parahuman elements."

Ah fuck, I knew things were going too smoothly.

"How many would you say there are?," I ask my V.I.

The drone bobbed ponderously in the air as my creation calculated the answer.

"Roughly twenty-" Well that's not too bad "-thousand foot soldiers as well as hundreds of parahumans, though there may be more hidden."

Well, fuck me I guess.

I sighed, and drank down the last of my drink.

It seemed I would have to make a few calls.

The people of Jinzhou had met their leader. They had discovered their scientist. They had encountered the spiritualist. But they had yet to meet all of my creations.

They had yet to witness the ferocity of my warrior.

But before the hour was up I knew that they, and the few soldiers that would live to see tomorrow, would never forget him.

AN: Hi everyone! So as you can see One isn't very pleased. I've actually made him a slight foil to Alexander in the way he likes to use his power. Both build structures aimed at influencing others. But where Alexander mainly does it for the benefit of the people who would live there One does it to enforce order and conformity. Neither would like the other if they met.

So now Jinzhou is being invaded. I'm sure that will go well for the C.U.I. Meanwhile Alexander is trying to live his best life, but he's in Earth Bet.

Chapter Text

Chapter 22: Secret Tunnel

-Within the Tunnels of Alexander (wait that sounds lewd)-

Within the tunnels forged with a singular will and vision there was darkness. This area of the tunnels was hundreds of miles away from the miniature star that Alexander had wrought with magic beyond mortal means. There was only the occasional click and chirp of insectoid drones languidly roaming the depths, ordered to repair any damages that may occur by their absentee creator.

Had there been a light source, and had there been any people, the crowded and claustrophobic nature of the surroundings would be readily apparent. Buildings were stacked atop each other and wires criss-crossed the top levels like an enormous spiders web.

The structures rose and fell, ever changing in quality and materials as one explored the tunnels. It was, to all appearances, an abandoned wreck. Yet despite this not a single layer of dust could form upon the buildings surface.

It was a paradoxical sight. An entire shanty town made of advanced technology standing in pure darkness.

Then there was light.

It was a strange light, it seemed to writhe and boil the air around it and sent refractions dancing upon the buildings. The light seemed to shiver, and then expand before fading back into nothing. Now there stood three individuals dressed in advanced war gear.

There was an aggrieved sigh.

"Pyrotechnical, can we get some lights here?"

-Big Rig-

To say Toybox was interested in the current goings on in the world would be an understatement. A team of Tinkers going around building giant cities made of advanced but still comprehensible technology, of course any Tinker worth their salt would be interested!

The PRT had actually reached out to them in the wake of New Fukuoka's discovery. After all Toybox was one of the few independent organisations that could conceivably pull something like this off. Of course their own records, combined with Thinker analysis, had proven them innocent of reshaping the geography of Japan and the PRT had swiftly moved on.

But that had lit a fire in Toybox.

How was it that a group of Tinkers with such a diverse set of specialisations was able to go completely under the radar until now?

More to the point how did they build such a massive city?

The current consensus that most around the world had come to seemed to be the employment of drones to build large structures.

Yeah, just one problem with that.

That was his speciality, and he certainly didn't remember helping make New Fukuoka so it couldn't have been that.

Frankly he couldn't have done it.

Yes, his specialty was the use of drones for large constructions, but there were limits!

Regardless of how many resources or time he had he would inevitably top out at a city blocks worth of buildings. Impressive to be sure, especially given how much parahuman powers seemed to favour destruction over creation.

But it wasn't as impressive as building such a massive city!

Was he repeating himself? Maybe, but it warranted repeating!

So now he stared across the dilapidated and abandoned structures, streaked in red and orange from Pyrotechnical's lights he could only wonder at the sheer difference between New Fukuoka and this Frankenstein abomination.

The clean and orderly lines that had been present in Japan were gone, instead there was a mismatch of hard angles and structures bowing under there own weight from faulty design. It was almost as if the Tinker responsible had suddenly regressed in competence by a dozen or so years while making this slop.

'Perhaps this is the work of a Tinker with restrictions on how long they can Tinker?'

That he was comparing the architect of New Fukuoka, or even their entire organisation, to a Tinker as infamous as String Theory made him briefly shudder before changing tracks.

'Actually doesn't this remind me of a few of my mistakes back in the early days?'

It had been a long time ago, before Toybox had even been an idea. Back then he had to scavenge for most of his supplies, as was normal for Tinkers, and therefore had to do with subpar materials. Naturally this meant his drones were not exactly reliable.

Sometimes they would run out of battery faster than they should, other times they would build things in the wrong areas and sometimes the things they built would come out wrong.

The twisted mass of buildings some of those drones created still gave him headaches whenever he thought about them. Buildings fused into each other and twisted until no sane human being would ever enter them and strangely the buildings in front of him were reminiscent of those old failures of his.

'Did the drone's programming break down after they left? Or is it simply a restriction of the power itself. A Focal Tinker based on a swarm of drones that need heavy maintenance? Or perhaps a parahuman who can enhance Tinkertech, but only for a few hours?'

There were too many potential reasons and not enough concrete information.

No wonder the PRT was desperate to find any information on the ones who did this.

"What kind of fucking material is this?"

The high pitched, extremely frustrated, scream knocked him out of his musing.

"Something wrong?," He called out and began making his way over to where Pyrotechnical and Glace were huddling together.

The glint of gold in Glace's hand and the offended glares both were shooting at the material let him know what was happening before they even opened their mouths.

"This. Fucking. Thing-" Glace waved it in front of his face, still glaring at it like it owed her money "-is bullshit! How the fuck is it not reacting to any extreme in temperature?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. Neither Glace nor Pyrotechnical could damage the material?

"Isn't that a good thing for the two of you? I can think of a lot of your projects that something like that might be useful for."

Glace begrudgingly nodded at that.

"Yes, but I don't understand how it's able to withstand such temperatures, while also being unable to resist being cut off by something as basic as a sharp blade!"

Big Rig could only shrug at that. Tinkertech was weird, he had once met a materials Tinker that could create a perfectly shock absorbent armour able to theoretically withstand the blows of Endbringers, but could be easily turned to slag if the slightest amount of electricity was introduced to it.

This tech may not be tinkertech, but it was still sufficiently weird.

Pyrotechnical, for his part, hadn't taken his eyes off the piece of metal. He was mumbling under his breath something about higher tolerances, and Big Rig could already tell he was about five seconds from entering a fugue state.

With a sigh Big Rig snapped his fingers repeatedly in front of pyrotechnical, making the man blink repeatedly and finally take his eyes off of the sample.

"Ah, I did it again didn't I?"

"Almost," Big Rig replied, helping the man stand from his crouching position.

"We'll need a few more samples of that material Glace. Pyrotechnical you scavenge around, try to find anything interesting but don't leave the immediate area," Big Rig ordered.

With a grumble Glace pulled her knife back out and began slowly hacking at another thin bar of metal.

A glint of bronze caught his eye and he had to narrow them to fully catch what he had seen.

Across the damaged and broken area of a clearly unfinished wall there was thread as fine as spipder silk running from the damaged walls interior. He approached cautiously, and when nothing jumped out at him he reached to grab the thread and pulled.

Nothing, he couldn't budge it an inch. He opened his hand and closed it again, trying to find better leverage.

A few more fruitless minutes later and he finally resorted to using his drones to tear the building down to get to the substance within.

Whatever it was it covered the entirety of the walls interior and ran throughout the house. Looking through the eyes of his drones he could make out small etchings within.

His eyes greedily drank in the sight of the bundle. It was clearly wiring of some sort, ultra-thin and likely highly efficient wiring. Gingerly he placed the material in his sample bag and ordered a few more drones to collect more of the substance.

Toybox was the first to properly begin plundering the tunnels.

They would not be the last.

-Yao Ling POV-

Serving in the Imperial army had thus far been a rollercoaster ride.

Yao Ling had only recently volunteered and had graduated boot camp just in time to become a part of the operation to subjugate the Japanese. His grandmother had told him stories of those monsters, and so he was eager to deliver divine retribution.

Then the operation was cancelled as word of Beijing being devastated swept across the ranks.

It had seemed like a bad joke at the time. Beijing was the heart of the empire, where the Emperor himself ruled from his throne. It was the most heavily fortified area of China, and now he was being told it was under attack by a single person.

Admittedly he wasn't quite sure of that last part, it stunk of over exaggeration born of fear.

Then the heavens opened up and spoke to them.

The words burned themselves into his psyche, they pressed up against his brain like a branding iron. He could still remember the words, he couldn't forget. They sat hot and heavy in his thoughts, immovable in a way he didn't believe was possible.

Some had deserted at that.

The political officers and capes hadn't let them get far.

So now they were marching, towards Jinzhou for some reason, more afraid than ever before. More full of doubts.

He dared not voice those doubts, as the empty eyed enforcers kept a close eye on all of them, ever watchful for the slightest sign of disobedience.

The march towards the ports from Beijing had been a colourful spectacle, people had cheered and women had offered kisses to the soldiers. Their trip back was not so cheerful. The few farmers they did see on their way were fearful, their gaze fixed towards Beijing and full of dread.

Apparently they had heard the sounds of battle even from here.

When they reached Jinzhou they weren't met with the wide open plains, desolate ruins and forested areas that he remembered from his short trip there. Instead they were met with a gargantuan bastion of abyssal steel wrought into a clear mockery of the Great Wall of China. He felt a flush of rage beat in his breast at the sight, but it was a small thing next to the overpowering feeling of smallness.

As the officers looked at the faces of their troops he could already tell without looking that his hesitation was written on the face of the rest of his comrades as well.

Perhaps sensing the lowering morale the leading officer ordered for an artillery strike against the wall, wanting to rile his men up before the siege even began.

The thundering roars of artillery were admittedly glorious.

The silence as they hung in the air mere metres away from hitting their targets far less so.

Despite the alien hold over their shells gravity still clearly affected them as they fell to the ground with a thundering boom.

The mummering of the soldiers echoed like the bleating of sheep before a wolf.

The leading officer stepped up, clearly ready to give a speech, to lay out his next plan.

He wouldn't get the chance.

Yao Ling didn't notice at first, he only saw his leading officer's face whiten and then slacken before falling over. Then there was a wave of heat and the smell of burnt pork.

He blinked, confused, before realising his commander had a hole burned through him, the skin blackened and flaking around the circular wound.

There was dead silence, everyone staring slack jawed at the sudden death for but a moment.

Then someone else fell down.

And another.

And another.

The field erupted into chaos. Capes frantically scanned the area. Screams and shouts drowned out commands. He was jostled as a man knocked into him. The once orderly regiments were whipped up into a chaotic frenzy.

"There!," he heard a cape yell, a gout of white light shooting forth from his hands.

The beam screeched through the air, clipping several unfortunate soldiers who screamed as the bodies exploded into a squall of gore, before finally colliding with the air.

'No, not the air, something invisible!'

Yao Ling's feet were leaden. He hadn't moved from his spot, still frozen in fear.

The air shimmered then. The grass and trees of the background giving way to an ocean blue as their enemy revealed itself.

At first Yao Ling thought it was a structure of some sort, so large and wide was the revealed body.

Then it twisted, undulated, and revealed scales that reflected light in rainbow hues, and he realised it was the tail end of some enormous beast.

'Where is the rest of it!'

The hysterical thought finally compelled Yao Ling to move. His head weaving back and forth trying to spot where the head was.

Then there was a wet slick sound and a sudden weightlessness as he was abruptly pushed forwards, the ground rushing up to meet him.

He tried to raise his hands but his body felt unresponsive.

It was only as he rolled around on the dirt that he could look back and see a body missing it's head.

His head.

His eyes glanced up, darkness beginning to eat away at his vision. The visage of an azure dragon leering down at the few capes left was the last sight Yao Ling ever saw.

AN: A few of you mentioned people potentially finding those tunnels but I'm sure none of you were thinking Toybox would be the first to begin scavenging them. So now a rogue organisation that's morally grey has access to Alexander's tech. I'm sure that would go well! So the PRT and other heroic organisations will soon be in an arms race with the villains because of the tunnels Alexander leaves behind with zero thought or hesitation.

Also more misunderstandings occur as Alexanders laziness confounds Big Rig, truly Alexander's character flaws are the true Endbringer of this fic. They cause so much damage to both individuals and nations!

And, of course, another of Alexander's creations gets introduced. Of course one of them was going to be a dragon, it had to be done! A lot of you wanted Lu Bu, and he is under consideration. But, and hear me out here, I wanted a dragon!

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment!

Chapter Text

Chapter 23: Clean Up

-Alexander POV-

Watching Lán sè effortlessly mow down the invading army and its associated parahumans was a spectacle for the eyes. The perfect flowing motions of the shimmering dragon contrasted perfectly the ruined corpses left in its wake.

Perhaps if I was more of a poetic sort I would pontificate more on the beauty of my creation.

I was simply glad I no longer had a gag reflex.

I never knew a person could resemble a crushed strawberry before, and I could've gone without gaining that knowledge.

Plus the smell, eugh!

'They never tell you how they shit themselves after death'

It was dirty. It was disgusting, and I now realised that anyone who believed there was any dignity in death was a fucking moron.

I leaned back from the wall, mercifully shielding my eyes from the sight.

Renji was still watching though, were those fucking stars in his eyes?!

"Truly, my liege, your creations are wonders to behold!"

Yeah, sure Renji whatever you say.

I pointedly ignore the rest of his muttering, something about the 'economy of motion' and 'efficiency of the kill'. Jeez, I've really made a battle maniac.

We weren't alone up here either.

A large crowd now watched from the battlements, holding whatever weapons they could scavenge in such a short period of time. They had rushed here quickly, likely desperate to protect their new home. Those weapons now hung limply in their hands, clearly no longer needed.

Most simply watched in awe as the mailed fist of the C.U.I that had been sent to crush us was reduced to mincemeat. A few hollered and cheered every time a soldier was gored upon the fangs and claws of my creation.

A bit bloodthirsty, but I couldn't blame them much.

Lán sè broke the typical mould of my creations as they were not based upon any one person, fictional or otherwise. Instead they were a composite lifeform, taking on the legends of every dragon I could name.

Which was a lot.

Naturally he was a pain in the ass to make.

The body alone took more resources to make, but it was the mind where I really had to put my nose to the grindstone. Due to being a composite entity his ego had been pulled in many different directions, and was faced with many differing personas.

I had gently cut out what I didn't want and promoted the growth of traits that I found ideal.

Lán sè was made to be a heavenly protector. He would never give out words of wisdom but he would bring comfort in his own way. His strength and quiet nobility would ease the hearts of the fearful and allow them to build their future without the fear of invasion.

Some might think that the brutal murder of ones enemies wouldn't engender the feeling of being protected, but the survivors of the C.U.I's purges clearly thought otherwise.

And besides when he wasn't defending Jinzhou he was sunbathing in the park like a lazy cat, accepting treats and head pats like a proud king accepting spoils of war.

Very gap moe.

A final flash of light erupted from behind the wall, no doubt the plasma breath I had given the dragon eliminating the last of our enemies. I was vindicated in that conclusion as a final cheer shook the wall, evidently very pleased and relieved they wouldn't have to be the ones defending their new home.

I began floating back down the wall, ignoring many of the worshipful glances being thrown my way.

"ALL PRAISE THE GLORY OF YA LI SHAN DA," came a booming voice upon the battlements and prompting a second cheer that was somehow even louder than the last.

My speed tripled as I hurried away.

Nope! Not confronting that today!

-Doctor Mother POV-

She breathed in the cool air as she began organizing her notes for the final time.

Enzyme YZ-21-04 was promising, projections indicating a fall in mutation rates by as much as 0.4%! It would have to be thoroughly tested of course, but it was yet another step forwards in the slow and gruelling work that Manton had previously been in charge of.

The man had been a genius, it was just a shame his irrationality and inability to let go had set him against them.

The squeak of a chairs wheels and the quiet thump of Contessa falling upon a chair caused her to look up, eyebrows raised at the dishevelled and tired form of Contessa.

"That bad?" The question she asked only caused Contessa to let out a small groan of frustration before she looked up.

"We'll need to think up a new plan," Contessa said, eyebrows creased in frustration. "The predicted war between the C.U.I and Japan is no longer likely to happen, and so our plan to prop up Ibaraki Douji and her sister is no longer required."

Well that was a shame.

"If this group continues to operate then any long term plan regarding Asia is unlikely to succeed," Doctor Mother pointed out. Contessa simply nodded, already more than aware.

"Should we eliminate them?"

The question had been lightly thrown out by Doctor Mother, a question that had been repeated in this room many times before.

To her slight surprise Contessa glared at her before shaking her head.

"No, that would be a terrible idea," Contessa bit out, chewing her lips in frustration. "Tinkers have always been one of our greatest hopes against the enemy, given that they rely on what the entity doesn't have: imagination."

Doctor Mother knew this. Cauldron wasn't unaware of the hubris of trying to kill an entity using their own weapons. That was why they frantically searched through Eden's corpse, hoping to find an unrestricted agent that would normally never be given out. A shard capable of wounding or even killing Scion.

A silver bullet.

That was the main plan, but there were others.

Tinkers were one of those. Those parahumans were given knowledge and the ability to build technology centuries more advanced than current day technology. Furthermore they could improve upon it given time and study.

Even better Tinkers could also collaborate with other Tinkers to produce weapons neither would have been able to make alone.

It was a given that these agents had restrictions, but unlike the vast majority Tinkers could improve and come up with new solutions and tinkertech, potentially solutions that might otherwise be restricted.

Tinkertech collaborations were even better as it introduced an element of randomness and conflicting restrictions, according to all the research Cauldron had done in the past.

It was unlikely, but there was indeed a chance that Tinkers could help build the silver bullet they were searching for.

Ah.

"And because this group helps improve all Tinkers with the advanced technology they've included in their works it would be irresponsible to kill them," Doctor Mother concluded.

Contessa nodded tiredly.

"Capturing them would be more productive, that way we could drip feed their technology across the world to Tinkers and scientists both."

Doctor Mother grimly smiled at that, allowing a group free reign to cause chaos across all of Asia was never going to be allowed. They had already caused more instability than some S-class threats.

The problem would be capturing a group that they had next to no information on. A PRT black ops squad had already been sent to observe the new city. Hopefully they would be able to ferret out any information on this group for their analysts to chew over.

"Well, at least we know how they're getting around now. They also seem to favour past Endbringer fight sites. The moment they leave we could likely predict where they're heading to and set up an ambush there."

As far as plans went it was remarkably simple for their organisation, but given the lack of information it was prudent to not overcomplicate matters.

"If it is an abandoned site we could litter the place with traps," Contessa noted, looking slightly less annoyed at that.

Doctor Mother smiled at that, before pausing as a thought occurred.

"So how did your mission go to apprehend Sun Wukong?"

Contessa stilled at that.

Doctor Mothers hand, which had been reaching for her Coffee stilled with her as the doctor stared at Contessa with some concern.

"Contessa?"

The hatted woman mumbled something, looking away slightly.

Now even more concerned Doctor Mother sat up and leaned across the table slightly.

"Contessa?!"

"I…encountered difficulties"

Well that boded poorly.

"What sort of difficulties?"

Contessa shifted in her seat nervously, her hands fretting about. It occurred to Doctor Mother then that Contessa more resembled a girl caught with her hand in the cookie jar than the bogeyman feared by all who were aware of her existence.

Slowly Contessa reached up and removed her hat, revealing the bright purple bruise discolouring her forehead. Clearly she had been hit by something large and heavy across her forehead.

"So this parahuman managed to hit you when you went to apprehend him?"

Contessa somehow seemed even more embarrassed at that as she shook her head.

"I asked my agent for a path to capturing Sun Wukong, the next thing I knew I woke up on the floor having been knocked out by something," Contessa stated, sounding as confused as Doctor Mother felt.

"And it was Sun Wukong that did this?"

"Possibly, I tried to ask my power for a path to figure out what had happened but my power refused to answer."

Doctor mother stared, slightly dumbfounded, before reaching down and chugging her coffee all at once.

AN: Slightly shorter chapter this time as I need to go to sleep early today since (at the time of writing) I'm leaving the country (again). Also I feel like it ended at a good place. The invasion (if you can even call it that) of Jinzhou has ended in a one sided slaughter. More people are coming around to the religion worshipping a benevolent city building goddess who creates dragons. I wonder why?

Cauldron is busy plotting and have decided to ambush Alexander at his next destination, I'm sure that will go well. Also more news at eleven: Sun Wukong really likes hitting people with his staff. Even if they're across dimensions. Especially If they're across dimensions.

In other news you can expect this to be the last bit of Sun Wukong messing around for some time. He'll still be around fucking stuff up in the background but I'm starting to realise he kind of takes away from the story I want to write, since he kind of takes over the narrative whenever he's around and basically turns it into crack. Believable crack (since he's Sun Wukong) but still crack. You might see him during the endgame but not before then.

Basically:

Alexander: This story is a serious examination of Earth Bet and the folly of expecting good intentions alone to produce good results.

Sun Wukong: This story is about me beating the shit out of people.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment or two!

Chapter Text

Chapter 24: Strategic Planning

-Taizong POV-

The tea swirled gently in his cup, the small spoon being used to stir the brew was held delicately in his hand. The milk quietly dispersed and muddled with the surrounding liquid, transforming the dark brown tea into a lighter blend. Taizong sipped the tea, the table in front of him covered in maps and reports.

The city of Chizhou was marked in red. The city was one of the C.U.I's 're-education camps', to any who could read the careful subtext it was nothing less than a torturous brainwashing facility. Dozens of parahumans passed through it every month and were beaten down to be reshaped into soulless dolls loyal only to the C.U.I.

An abominable practice, one which earned them no small amount of enemies.

Across from him sat Liu Min, a former military officer for the C.U.I. From all accounts that had been dug up on the man he had once been a leal hound of China, focused entirely on the defence of his country from outside forces.

Then his wife had been found raped and murdered.

Officially no suspect had been found, unofficially a platoon of Chinese Imperial soldiers had been using the town as a rest stop at the time.

Liu Min had been furious, intent on tracking down and bringing his wife's murderer to justice. He had investigated as quietly as he could, even going as far as interrogating the townsfolk under the authority of the C.U.I.

Authority that they had not given him.

Once word inevitably got out about his investigation he was unceremoniously stripped of his rank and sent to one of the many camps dotting the Chinese countryside.

The man had caught his attention at one of the many meetings he had attended, he was the one to first bring up the idea of raiding the C.U.I using the teleportation function of the drones of his creator.

In truth Taizong had been musing on such a plan for a while. The city of Jinzhou needed more people if it wanted to properly leverage its many advantages, after all they were mere tens of thousands in a city made for millions.

Liu Min, by being the one to bring it up, had saved him the burden of appearing warlike and overly aggressive. In truth that hatred and bloodthirst the man carried made him a perfect fit for his right hand man.

In order to pursue this sadly necessary war against the C.U.I certain unpopular measures would need to be taken. The C.U.I would need to be broken, everyone in New Jinzhou agreed on that, but they weren't seeing far enough. In order for Jinzhou to remain a serene paradise the surrounding land needed to be rendered feeble and impotent.

Permanently.

China would need to be broken up into several warring states, each too focused on the others to turn an eye on his city.

The means required to do this and maintain it would be cruel.

Liu Min had such a capacity for cruelty, and a deep well of hatred that would never allow the C.U.I to return.

Such a man would allow him to go through with his plans and come out smelling like roses to his own people, after all it was the dastardly Liu Min coming up with those plans not him!

Liu Min, for his part, was fully aware and onboard with both his plans and taking the blame, so long as he could hurt the C.U.I it was enough for him.

"From the drones reconnaissance the camp has a three meter fence lined with barbed wire, dozens of soldiers patrol the area constantly with rotating shifts to maximise efficiency. The camp itself is underground and requires retina scans to be allowed access. It is likely that the interior possesses cape and tinkertech defences, but the drones were unable to breach the underground section of the base," Liu Min read from his report.

Unfortunate, but it made sense.

His creators drones weren't purpose designed for reconnaissance and infiltration. Sure they could teleport, but they required clear coordinates in order for their V.I to make the jump. Trying to teleport underground to a base they had no idea of the dimensions of apparently tripped a safety alert and caused the drone to instead teleport home.

Taizong briefly thought about asking Yà lì shān dà for new drones capable of the task, before thinking better of it.

His creator would not always be there, better to learn to fend for oneself.

"Has Cai Lun figured out a solution for the sensors?"

"No, not yet. The sensors he has designed so far are either too power hungry to be placed on a drone or lack the needed fidelity. He is confident that he will find the solution, but this is a project that will still take weeks."

Taizong nodded at that, staring at the city on his map before moving on.

Trying to attack and rescue the prisoners now would be foolish, they lacked the needed information. Once they had the capability to properly map out the underground camp they could circle back to it.

"What of the resistance groups I asked to be researched?" Taizong asked.

Liu Min shuffled through his papers at the question before speaking once again.

The first group of note is the-" Lie Min took a deep breath, looking pained as he continued "-People's Liberation Front. A communist Revolution centred around Guigang."

Taizong felt his own brows furrow, he supposed people might be feeling misplaced nostalgia for the old government now that everything has begun spiralling out of control.

"Well, they're still enemies of the C.U.I. Get in contact with them and see if we can start supplying them with weapons. Hopefully they can do some damage," Taizong ordered.

Liu Min looked up wearily.

"I assume you don't mean to arm them with our best?"

Taizong scoffed at that.

"No, simply give them contemporary weapons that can match their C.U.I counterparts"

Liu Min nodded at that, looking relieved. "Very good, my lord. The next insurgents of interest is the Restorationist Movement led by General Ming. It seems to be a cult of personality centred around the general, they seem to want to make him Emperor."

Taizong nodded at that, it wasn't unusual for generals to command more respect from their soldiers than distant bureaucrats and emperors. It also indicated this General Ming was charismatic or competent enough to earn their men's admiration.

Promising.

"We'll be supplying them with the same for now, but see if we can attach a liaison to this group."

Liu Min seemed confused at the request, but nodded and wrote it down.

If this General Ming was as competent as Taizong suspected it might be worth investing more resources into the man. The liaison would be sent to confirm this competence, no need to give more resources if the man was simply a braggart with good luck.

Besides, if he could get General Ming to trust him it would make it easier to assassinate him later.

Couldn't allow him to stabilise China after all!

"There are also many minor rebellion groups popping up every day and are usually crushed in the same amount of time, though some are holding on longer," Liu Min continued before hesitating.

"There is also the individual known as Sun Wukong, who appears to be travelling West, he'll likely reach Huaxi in about five days or so. He appears to have drawn quite a large gathering that seem adamant in following the man."

Taizong could only groan softly at that. No doubt those people assumed Sun Wukong to be a wise liberator leading them to freedom.

While it was true Sun Wukong was all of those things, Taizong knew without a shred of doubt that the beast was simply following his impulses. No doubt he allowed that group to follow him because he thought it would be interesting. Hopefully he would knock over a few more C.U.I bases and then leave forever.

"Please, continue," Taizong motioned for him to hurry along.

"In addition to local insurgents there is also quite the large number of foreign actors becoming involved. South Korea is taking advantage of China's current anarchy by making a push against North Korea."

Taizong raised an eyebrow at that.

"How much progress are they making," he asked, morbidly curious.

"Initial progress was fast, but has since been bogged down after the Government of North Korea started sending starving and diseased men, women and children to march against the soldiers. As you might imagine this has pushed the South Korean's logistics to their limits. It doesn't help that there are a few suicide bombers mixed in," Liu Min said, grimacing at a few gruesome pictures attached to the report.

"Well, at least this means one of China's allies is unlikely to join in on this civil war," Taizong commented to himself.

"Indeed, in addition to this Russia has begun massing troops at the border."

Taizong's eyes snapped to Liu Min at that.

"For defensive purposes?"

Liu Min glanced at his report.

"According to the Russians it's a purely defensive measure to prevent immigrants entering their country in order to flee from the war," Liu Min said, looking as dubious about that as Taizong felt.

"Keep an eye on them," he ordered.

"Yes sir, no other foreign actor is being as blatant as Russia and Soth Korea. All have sent in smaller teams, ostensibly to observe."

More likely, Taizong thought to himself, they were looking for targets of opportunity. The C.U.I wasn't the only nation to kidnap parahumans, simply the most famous.

"And what has the C.U.I done in response?"

"They have set up observation posts around our walls, it appears they have given up on trying to take Jinzhou back with force…for now. They have instead pivoted to focus on the Restorationist Movement, likely because that revolutionary group has access to more weapons and supplies than the Liberation Front. The bulk of their parahumans have been sent to the borders they share with many countries, particularly Russia. They have also publicly condemned South Korea, but have done little else to aid their ally."

As expected.

"Allow the observation posts to persist, they will see nothing we do not allow them to see. Let them grow complacent from our appearance of inactivity. Have the drones on standby to sabotage the supply lines of the Russians if they decide to invade," Taizong eventually decided.

He would allow the Russians to fight the C.U.I's parahumans, that would only be helpful to his goals, but the region being governed by Russia would be just as bad as a unified China. So he would ensure they would be unable to push too deeply into the country.

"Are there any soft targets for us to target?"

Liu Min placed a hand to his chin at that, clearly having difficulty thinking of a target that could be defined as 'soft' when it came to the controlling and tyrannical C.U.I.

"The war colleges might count, they're lightly patrolled and their loss would mean the destruction of a lot of institutional knowledge. There are also a lot of refineries spread across the country, their loss could slow the war machine of the C.U.I down immensely."

Taizong nodded at that. He would be playing the long game now, exhausting as many of China's options while spending as little of his own as he could. Taizong had been created to see to the citizens of New Jinzhou and he would not sacrifice them simply to hurt the C.U.I.

No, that was the job of the many revolutionary groups he was nurturing.

He knew, or at least suspected that Yà lì shān dà would not approve of such measures. They had crafted this wonderful city to serve as succour for those weary of suffering. But Taizong had been created to be the perfect statesman and leader. And there was no leader, past or future, that wouldn't sacrifice others so that the people of their own nation could live safe and happy lives.

Besides, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.

AN: So yeah, turns out that Taizong has his own plans. Alexander was worried about absolute power corrupting any leader that governed Jinzhou so he created a perfect leader who could not fall to such corruption. Alexander even made sure Taizong would place the lives of his people above Alexander.

Alexander just forgot that even good leaders often do horrible and immoral actions for the sake of their people.

So now the plan is to turn China into a fractious and impoverished realm that cannot threaten Jinzhou. After all they're not Taizong's people, so why should he care? Many other nations are starting to get involved. South Korea has begun an invasion of North Korea. Russia is massing on the borders, but they wouldn't do anything right?

Finally there are a lot of smaller groups adding a degree of unpredictability. Alexander will be leaving soon, and just like Japan he's leaving an absolute mess behind him.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment!

Chapter Text

Chapter 25: Moving Preparations

-Alexander POV-

Life went on after the attack from C.U.I forces, people were gradually becoming used to their accommodations while my paragons invested all their effort into the city. A more prepared attack was likely inevitable so Taizong had ordered the outer districts of the city to be fortified in preparation.

I personally thought it would take many more attacks before a method of breaching into the city was devised, but I guess it was good to start early.

The skyscrapers in the city centre had been repurposed to become the nerve centre of the entire city, a place for the city government to plan and implement policy. Taizong practically never left, only occasionally leaving to give a short speech or two before heading back inside.

The day to day production of drones had tripled, although the newly made drones fresh from the factory lacked the magical abilities of their predecessors. No doubt those early works would be husbanded carefully, and only used if the situation required it.

The city felt alive now, more lived in.

The clinical silence and cold beauty had been replaced by the chaotic bustle of a newly forged people. Still nervous and uncertain, many still glanced behind them and expected the worst, but improving by the day. I, at once, loved and bemoaned the change.

On the one hand the people brought a beauty that no city on it's own could, but unfortunately they also came with a few issues.

A discarded can was picked up by my abilities and sent careening towards a recycling bin, clanging against the lid slightly before falling inside.

Most of the people gathered were conscientious and tidy, but when you gathered a few thousand people together there were going to be a few bad apples.

Most of them were simply depressed and angry, the scars from the outside world not healed by a new home and luxuries. Only time could help with that.

Some were just assholes, and I wouldn't be surprised if the first trials began soon.

It's an uncomfortable topic, if a frankly necessary one.

'Speaking of uncomfortable topics'

I surreptitiously glanced at Renji, the man still walking a few steps behind me on my right.

The conversation we had had prior was a mix of confusing and enlightening. It had opened my eyes to the workings of the city and the necessity of my involvement at a crucial turning point, but it had also left me troubled in regards to my companion.

The shift from compliant and dutiful to directly challenging my decisions had been jarring, enough that for a small shameful moment I had been struck by indignant rage.

That had passed but the moment remained, looming over their every interaction like an ever expanding gulf.

Now whenever I looked at him I felt that shameful mix of confusion and fear. What had caused that outburst? Has he already grown sick of me now that he's met actual people?

It was embarrassing but I had actually grown to appreciate Renji's company. His silent support as I worked, the way he would dutifully listen as I blathered on about a topic he had no knowledge of and the occasional word of wisdom were all things I had grown to cherish.

And now that relationship seemed set to crumble.

Why did that scare me so much?!

This wasn't the first friendship of mine that had withered, the slow death of communication as distance and time made once strong bonds into nothing but a memory. I remembered simply accepting it, choosing to cherish the memory and not seeking to rekindle old flames.

Was it because Renji was all I had in this world?

Or could it be because of Golden Morning hanging over me like the sword of Damocles?

I just didn't know.

But regardless of how terrified I was, Renji still had a choice. Looking back and wondering what I had done wrong had opened my eyes a bit. My relationship with Renji was more than a little one-sided. Renji followed my every whim and while I had been discomforted by his servile behaviour I had never directly discouraged it either, too desperate for connection.

Renji continued looking dead ahead as he walked, his blank face giving me no idea what he was thinking of.

There was no one else currently present in this stretch of the city, ask him now!

"Renji," I began nervously, "what do you think of the city?"

Fucking damn it! Why am I such a coward?

He takes a moment to look me over, eyes flickering across my expression as he smiles.

"It's beautiful and it serves it's purpose well," Renji states before hesitating a second and continuing, "Though I will admit it's not to my personal tastes, too much chrome and bright colours. From what I saw on the internet I think I prefer your last city."

I leaned back a bit.

That was… good?

He had engaged with the conversation more than I had expected, before he likely would have either given one or two words or he would have waxed poetically regarding my capabilities. Instead he had simply given his opinion and criticisms.

That last part however made me nervous.

He had criticised me. Was it a subtle way of insulting me? Or was he just giving his honest opinion?

Ugh, this was the worst.

"I'll likely be leaving soon. The city is complete and the people are thriving. I've set up the structures and people necessary to allow them to grow to yet greater heights, my work here is done." I state, the question of whether he'll be coming with me left unsaid.

He nodded serenely at that, offering me no words in response.

"Taizong will likely do well by them, though I will admit to being worried for their future," I continued.

And it was true. The decision to strike against the C.U.I had been a popular one, more than I had ever expected. The plan to do so was clever enough, and unlikely to seriously jeopardise the safety of the citizens. But I still worried, the conditions the people here had been forced to endure were horrific.

Those conditions hadn't just been physical abuse either. Psychologically the people here were damaged, and I wasn't sure throwing them into battle was the right idea.

Renji, for his part, looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Don't worry my liege I don't doubt the people will do well in your absence!"

Fucking ouch Renji! I know I'm not a good leader but you didn't have to do me that dirty!

"Y-yeah, no doubt," I say, still reeling from the psychic damage of that insult.

Renji looked at me in slight concern for a moment, before continuing his watch on the city.

"Where next then?" He asked.

I stopped to think at that. I had considered a few places, but I had winnowed them down fairly quickly. I had briefly considered Russia, before realising that the local climate would likely clash with the theme I'm planning for my next city.

"India, most likely."

What little I had read of Worm hadn't gone into detail regarding India. I recalled something about 'hot' and 'cold' capes, I think the difference was in how public they were with their powers? Hot capes being akin to the usual Protectorate hero while the cold capes worked behind the scenes.

Phir Se was an Indian cape, I think?

Then again I could be wrong about all of this, it had been a while since I read the source material.

Either way it was close enough that the travel time wouldn't bore me to tears too much and the local climate would allow for my next big project.

My brief smile soured slightly as I realised Renji still hadn't given me a clue as to whether he would continue travelling with me, was he being vague on purpose?

Screw it?

"So what do you plan on doing when we get to India?"

Renji's face turned contemplative.

"Do you know if they have any interesting food?"

I almost sank to the floor in relief, only my inhuman control over my body masking my joy.

"Oh I'm sure they do, though I'm not sure how much of a chance you'll have to try any. It would be a little weird to find a restaurant still open years after an Endbringer attack," I laughed, still giddy in relief.

Renji, in contrast, slumped slightly.

"Oh, that's a shame. I've been trying some of the local cuisine that's been set up and I've taken a liking to eating, even if I don't need it."

Huh, Renji got a hobby. One he'll likely not get a chance to see properly bloom if he continues following me around. The previous thoughts I had had regarding our one-sided relationship returned at full force.

Perhaps I should let him stay here?

Then it hit me, an idea so grand I could hardly believe I had thought of it.

"Don't worry Renji! I recently picked up a biological specialty, and combined with my matter manipulation we should be able to cook a lot of dishes on our way to India!"

Renji's eyes went wide, and I couldn't help but preen. Renji had always been supportive regarding my city building hobby so it was only right I aid him in his own hobby!

Actually I should probably look up a few recipes now, I had never been much of an gourmand but I couldn't help but feel a childlike excitement as I thought of the coming fun.

Huh, no signal?

Oh right, the barrier.

Wow, did I seriously not consider that?

With a simple thought the barrier shuddered, changed and a full three bars appeared on my nanoparticle device.

Huh, that's a lot of variety.

As I share my findings with Renji I pay no more mind to the minor flaw I had just fixed.

-Jinzhou V.I POV-

It did not think. It only acted according to its directives.

So as a new connection emerged suddenly it did not panic, it merely investigated.

DIRECTIVE: Safeguard the people of Jinzhou

Information was catalogued and stored. Enemy societal information was forwarded to the relevant parties.

Military intelligence could not be broken into, anomalous defences present. Instead it used the shape of the absent data, as well as surrounding data, to form multiple conclusions in order of likelihood.

This too was forwarded to the relevant parties.

DIRECTIVE: Follow the orders of the leader of Jinzhou

Current policy revolves around the maximisation of chaos in the surrounding land.

And so it did just that.

Information was leaked.

Public scandals, both true and false, were identified and used.

Dossiers were put together on known parahumans and forwarded to their enemies.

Money was siphoned from influential Chinese Oligarchs ad redistributed to rebel groups and foreign countries.

Then it stopped. More data was required to refine models.

All that was left was to observe.

AN: Drama! Alexander having interpersonal conflict was not where I saw this going, but that's what happened. He also didn't exactly go about solving it in the best way, with the exception of encouraging Renji's cooking hobby. That'll let Renji contribute a lot more to future conversations and allow the two to get closer. Hopefullt that'll work out well!

Alexander also fixes his most heinous mistake and gives the people free internet. Naturally Alexander can't even do that much without starting more chaos and conflict. Yeah the V.I is just smart enough to know the plans of the ones it's supposed to listen to and how to carry out those orders while being too dumb to know why carrying them out immediately without consulting anyone is a bad idea. Classic Alexander mistake, am I right?

Also the next location is revealed! It's India! I'm sure they'll appreciate having Alexander coming over, right? There definitely won't be a massive fight, right? Ah, who am I kidding it's going to be the first Endbringer fight of the story. Alexander has gotten away with being sneaky in the past but not this time! Expect a lot of carnage and a lot of death. As for how this fight will be started in the first place when Alexander wouldn't want to kill anyone? That'll be my little secret, it's something I've had in the works for a while though. Look forward to it!

Chapter Text

Chapter 26: A Look Inside

-Han POV-

Life as a freed prisoner was odd. Sometimes he felt like the world was moving too slow, the frantic pace and struggle of his time in the camps making his transition into normalcy jarring. It wasn't something to complain about, especially not after learning first hand the sort of problems complaining could cause, not the he thought merciful Yà lì shān dà would ever imprison him for mere words.

It didn't stop him from worrying though. The idea that everything nice that was currently occurring would be suddenly and violently ripped away was clearly irrational, but he simply couldn't help it.

Perhaps that was why he had joined the cult.

Oh, they didn't call themselves a cult. The Temple of Our Blessed Lady was how they preferred to be called. But it was a cult, there weren't nearly enough members in his eyes to be upgraded to a proper religion yet.

That was no great shame, it would simply take time.

Yà lì shān dà would eventually depart, something that still saddened many members of the faithful, and wherever she went her benevolence would be clear to all. No doubt there would be many converts in the coming days.

It was why those few that refused to join confused him.

There had been no grand revelation for Han himself, it was simply common sense. Yà lì shān dà was immensely powerful, supremely kind, had built for them a promised land and had supposedly once mentioned offhandedly that she didn't age.

That is just a straight up god.

Han knew a few rabble rousers of the 'clergy' wished to forcefully convert the non-believers, but thankfully cooler heads had prevailed. Clearly if Yà lì shān dà though them to be unworthy they never would have been allowed into this sacred city.

No, he was more concerned with the plan to liberate any further prisoners and bring them to New Jinzhou. They had not been chosen, by what right should they be allowed to take a single step upon their home?

He grunted as he lifted a wooden beam on his shoulder, marvelling at the ease of lifting it. The miraculous healing of their lady reversing the starvation and neglect of his physical vessel.

Han and another worker hefted the wood between them and carried it over to the skeletal form of an incomplete temple. He carefully laid down the length of wood, allowing others to help hold it steady as screws were inserted.

Building places of worship wasn't a skillset any of them truly knew, but a few were familiar with building houses and the Holy Spirit that ran through this city's networks provided the method and resources. The place of worship was being built near the outskirts of New Jinzhou, many would have liked it to be closer but practical considerations won out.

The temple they were building was simply too large to fit the crowded centre of the city, and to try to make room for it would require knocking down many of the buildings Yà lì shān dà had personally erected.

Which would be a blasphemy.

It was better this way, Han decided. From this city and the last everyone knew Yà lì shān dà had an appreciation of nature, it was the entire reason as to why they would be adding an extensive cloister to the temple. The other parts of the church would be similarly filled with vegetation, the designs he had seen included rows of flower filled vases and chandeliers of glowing vines taken from the city.

One could perhaps argue that they were going overboard the plants, and indeed many had. However, as shameful as it was, it was one of the few things they knew their Lady enjoyed.

When one thought of a god they typically imagined something loud and boisterous, unashamed and open in their pride regarding themselves. Yà lì shān dà was decidedly none of that.

She was quiet, reserved and intensely introverted. She gave her thoughts rarely and allowed her face to show little else.

They had attempted to ask her companion Lord Renji, but while he had divulged a few precious details even he knew little regarding their Lady. It was a realisation that seemed to unnerve the young Lord, so they decided not to ask again.

Han chuckled lightly. It was something that made writing the Holy Book extremely difficult. More than a few had privately bemoaned the fact that their sacred tome was less than thirty pages long. Most of which revolved around the creation of New Jinzhou, and regardless of how flowery the language you could only fill so many pages using that.

Perhaps if they hadn't chosen such a large book they would have more pages, but apparently a holy book was supposed to be 'impressive'.

There were currently a few following their lady as she traversed around the city, but it was hard to write anything down when the subject of their attention hardly ever said a word.

Hell, one of the few times a member of their faith had worked up the courage to ask her about her actions in Japan she had merely replied with:

"Appeared in Kyushu, stayed there a while and decided to rebuild the city and raise it from the waters."

Her reply had been said with the same level of enthusiasm regarding her own miracle as Han himself would have regarding grocery shopping.

The chuckling became a short bark of laughter. Many of his fellow workers looked at him in confusion, but he simply waved them off.

It was endearing in a way. To have a god who thought so little of her own actions, who didn't bask in her own accomplishments and demand endless praise. Nothing like the worthless lumps of flesh that had pushed him around in the camps.

Yes, perhaps others might be frustrated at their deity's laconic nature but Han himself found it reassuring. His Lady wasn't the type to lose herself in arrogance and see herself as above the world, even if -objectively- she was.

If she wasn't building she was surveying. If she wasn't surveying she was involved in a meeting regarding the city's future. If she wasn't in a meeting she was likely doing something else to better their lives.

Truly, a god worth worshipping.

-Fu Hong POV-

He signed another sheet, his pen flowing across the paper to form his signature.

As a former official he was well acquainted with matters of governance and politics, as well as the slow and tiring grind of bureaucracy. Before he had been framed for the ill deeds of his superior he had dreaded the mediocrity of filing papers and making spreadsheets. Now he all but through himself into the work.

The excitement he had foolishly wanted was no longer of much allure. He had had enough excitement in the camp for three lifetimes.

The glimmer of light caught his eye, and he turned and smiled sadly at a photo of his late wife and child. They had been killed during his arrest, apparently an accident but he knew better than to trust the words of the C.U.I.

His eyes lingered on each detail of the picture, The soft curve of Jian Hua's lips and the way the light caught her hair.

The photo was a result of something Yà lì shān dà created. Apparently she had heard a man weeping, lamenting on his lost friends and family and having nothing to remember them.

An hour later a factory designed to make modified 'brain dance' equipment was laid down and created. No fanfare, no planning or committee. Simply completed in an afternoon and swiftly forgotten by their creator.

But, for as small as it seemed to their shared benefactor, it had been an act of unparalleled kindness to those who had lost everything. For these devices allowed you to take a memory and digitise it.

Photos, videos and captured emotions regarding their loved ones did not erase the grief, for nothing could, but it dulled the edge. It allowed them to remember and take solace in the fact that they wouldn't forget the faces of their loved ones.

It was this device that had thrown him out of his funk. Listening to the memory of his wife laugh, and remembering all the plans they had made for the future, Fu Hong knew he couldn't give up on himself. Jian Hua would never forgive him if he did.

So he applied to join the nascent government. His skills were in short supply and he quickly found himself bouncing between offices advising and offering consultation as the functions of government began to define themselves.

Some of his advice admittedly didn't apply. Fu Hong was well used to navigating corruption, and even reluctantly using it for his own benefit. However Taizong kept a watchful eye out to prevent such things from forming.

The city's V.I also invalidated parts of his knowledge, as parts of the bureaucracy could run automatically, only occasionally checked to ensure the intelligence hadn't made an error somewhere along the way.

Eventually everyone settled into their roles and he became less of a consultant and more of a full time employee.

Despite everything he found himself reluctantly pleased with the direction his life was going. The hours he was working were absurdly short compared to what he was used, because of the automation and the smaller holdings of the local government, and the pay was good.

Entertainment was a little lacking, but the internet had recently come back on, so at least there was that.

Most importantly he felt good to actually be doing something. His time in the C.U.I. felt like running in place in comparison, more effort for almost no result. Here he was shaping policies and seeing tangible effects from his efforts.

He didn't believe that Yà lì shān dà was a goddess, like so many others. Far more likely she was a parahuman of unusual strength and kindness. He didn't blame anyone who believed in her however. There were certainly worse gods, and it definitely helped give the city a sense of national identity. Plus, at the very least, the big blue parahuman lady didn't seem like they were the type to abuse another's faith.

His eyes left the portrait of his wife and returned to his paperwork, a short and to the point piece regarding zoning laws. He saw no issue with it as it stood and so signed it and added it to the pile.

Fu Hong smiled, eager to see the coming days with his own eyes.

-Chubster POV-

"WAS IT SUPPOSED TO TAKE THIS LONG?" Chubster yelled over the rushing winds as he hurtled downwards, the straps of his backpack clinging to him harshly.

The teleporter falling at his side said nothing, but her face betrayed her nervousness.

For whatever reason teleporters like Strider were unable to access Jinzhou, as well as a small area surrounding the land. It had been theorised to be some manner of tinkertech defence, or possibly a shaker effect.

Instead they had decided to teleport directly above the zone inhibiting teleportation, the few drones they had sent ahead confirming there was nothing actively hostile awaiting them. Ben had encountered plenty of defences that neglected attacks coming from above, far more than there should be given the average cape's propensity to attack from rooftops and other high places.

However that was clearly not the case here as now -it seemed- they were facing their first roadblock, for despite falling for well over ten minutes they appeared to be no closer to the city they saw faintly beneath them.

Ben had encountered plenty of spatial effects during the span of his career, and none of them were good news. The fact that this one seemed purely defensive and benign was nothing but pure luck. If this was the sort of defensives they were set to go up against...

"Shuffle, get us out of here. We'll try again a different way.

Shuffle nodded, the black bandanna covering their face whipping around wildly.

A moment passed.

And then another.

"Shuffle? I said get us out of here?!"

But Shuffle's eyes were wide, almost bulging out of their skull. Ben noticed -with slight fear- that they appeared to be having a panic attack mid-air. Even the others were looking at her in alarm at this point.

He reached out to grab her by the shoulder.

"Shuffle! Shuffle, Look at me! What's wrong?"

Shuffle shook in his grasp, her wide and terrified eyes coming to meet his.

"I can't!"

The words were like liquid cold. Ben felt himself stiffen, as a chill gripped his heart.

"Shuffle," He said, lips dry and desperately hoping it wasn't what he though it was, "What can't you do?"

Her reply would confirm his worst fears.

"I can't teleport! We're stuck! I'm stuck!"

Shuffle's words were manic in their intensity and Ben almost lost his grip from her thrashing.

For a long while there was only the roaring of wind and the gibbering of Shuffle, as the rest of the team fell in silence.

"Well, fuck" Wayfarer said.

Ben hated that he agreed.

AN: Surprise! New chapter has come early! I've changed my schedule from one chapter a week to one every four days, I felt my previous pace was a bit too relaxed. I'll give this change of pace a try and see how I feel.

So here's a little look into life at New Jinzhou through the eyes of a member of the cult dedicated to Alexander and a paper pusher. Things are going well and the citizens are finding their feet, whether it be through religion or something else.

The PRT black ops squad is here, and they're currently stuck. Funny thing about the defence Alexander set up: teleporters can transport themselves inside but stop at the point of no return. So if a teleporter ports in and then takes a step then he won't be able to teleport. Unfortunately for Chubster's squad they chose to come at it from above, so gravity dragged them past that line.

Still they won't be falling forever. They'll eventually land in a few hours. I'm sure the city will welcome them with open arms!

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment!

Chapter Text

Chapter 27: Farewells

-Alexander POV-

I blearily blinked as I adjusted to the glare of the lights.

I promptly gave up and rolled back over.

"Five more minutes Renji," I whined.

It was funny. Despite becoming an engine of destruction and chaos my mind was still very human, with all the foibles. My mind may be trapped in a quantum crystalline mesh capable of simulating every atom on Earth in real time, but I still felt groggy and uncomfortable every time I woke up.

Hell I didn't even need to sleep, even if I still chose to do so anyway. I was more than capable of going months or years without rest.

But I enjoyed it. It was one of the few times I felt like myself.

"My liege, you are the one who arranged for us to leave at this time. The entire city is waiting for you," Renji stated, like the traitor against sleep that he is.

Wait, what was that last part?

"Renji, did you just say the entire city is waiting for me?" How did that happen? Sure people knew I would be leaving soon, but how did they know the exact time?

"Indeed, Taizong arranged for a celebratory farewell in your honour. It wouldn't do for the ever benevolent Yà lì shān dà to skulk off alone," Renji placidly said but the slightest twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed his mirth.

Taizong! Renji! What the fuck?!

I groaned into my comically large bed, the vibrations sending ripples through the bedding.

"Do I have to?"

"No, but I believe it would be good for you to go."

I stare at him, baffled as to why he would think that.

Renji sighed. "The people of this city could use all of the celebrations they can, and you should get used to the attention while you still can."

I rolled onto my back, expression taut as I considered his words. As much as I didn't want to think about it he was right. Sooner or later what I am will become widely known and the eyes of the world will be upon me. Not wilting into a mess at the first sign of attention surpassing the triple digits would undoubtedly be helpful.

…I also didn't want to leave this city on a sorrowful note either.

Decision made, I hopped off the bed.

The following few hours was a procession through the city. Buntings hung from the crystalline towers I had wrought. Colourful confetti streamed down the air, thrown by those watching from above. An orchestra followed our procession, their number small but their passion self-evident.

I waved to the crowd, having grown more comfortable after the first twenty minutes

I once more looked back at the highest tower. There, upon an elegant crystal growth hung a flag, the new flag of a new nation. The base of the flag was a deep blood red, and even I could tell that was meant to symbolise the bloodshed and pain of their past. The rest of the flag, however, was different, it was a pure sky blue and at the centre of the flag was a white point cradled by six hands.

I was at once a humbling, terrifying and proud sight for me. I still didn't completely believe my eyes every time I saw it. It was proof -tangible proof- that I had done right by these people, that my actions were worthy of praise.

I'm fairly certain that if I wasn't an Endbringer I would have started balling the first time I laid eyes upon it.

Japan had been… well, it had been a quiet shame of mine. I had been so sure, so happy I could return something lost to the lives of those who needed it. I was so certain that I didn't even bother to check afterwards, feeling that it would be too masturbatory to listen in on the cheers and praise such an action should have heralded.

But that's not what happened.

Foreign interests had begun circling Japan while internal tensions boiled to the point of all out war in the streets. Japan wasn't in a good place, it hadn't been for a very long time and I had inadvertently made things worse. The prime minister had been made to resign in disgrace, his cabinet was at a standstill jockeying for power and there seemed to be absolutely no political will to retake Kyushu.

Once I had realised my error I had stepped in to rectify the worst consequences of my mistakes. I had prevented the invasion of Japan and given the C.U.I. enough problems that they wouldn't be able to focus on Japan for quite a while. Hopefully that would be enough time for the PRT to make another push.

I had worked to prevent another such disaster here. I was my neglect and ignorance that had caused Japan's current woes, so I decided to be more hands on for Jinzhou. I had spoken with those I had decided would populate my city. I created leaders, wise men, warriors and more to guard and build them up.

All the while I agonised over my decisions, the guilt of what happened to New Fukuoka was a lodestone around my soul.

But that flag…it eased that weight.

I hadn't fucked everything up again.

And so my smile became less plastic. I laughed more freely and made the most of my remaining time here.

Eventually my path lead back to the hole I had burst from, abandoned tents and temporary housing still littering the area. I looked down into the darkness of the tunnel and then back towards the people of New Jinzhou.

I thought about simply leaving then, unceremoniously and without pomp.

But no, that wasn't the right answer was it?

I grinned "People of New Jinzhou, my work is complete!"

The cheers of the crowd answered me.

"However, your work is just beginning! The journey to reach a brighter tomorrow is never ending, but it must be walked regardless! It will take diligence, thought and action!"

My words were drunk in by the crowd. There were no clever arguments that Taizong might have accomplished but I was sincere and genuinely hopeful for their future, and on some level I knew they understood that.

I knew my words would ripple onwards, whatever I said here would matter.

So what should I tell them to strive for?

Greatness? Nah, overrated.

Freedom? That kind of went without saying.

No, I already knew what they should ultimately pursue. What anyone should.

"Your lives have been hard. Those who would dare call themselves your masters would say that hardship is a virtue, and suffering a necessity. But that is simply the lie all tyrants tell. Suffering and hardships are failings to be alleviated. Happiness of oneself and others is the highest virtue. I may be leaving now, but I will return and when I do I hope to see the shadows of your past cast off for a better future!" My words reverberate through the air, and caught upon rapturous ears.

I turn before I could catch their reactions, but the deafening cry of the crowd make it obvious.

I turn to look down at Renji. "Ready to go?"

"Always," he smiles back.

My grin softens into a true smile, and then we descend back down into the tunnel, ready to begin our journey once more.

-Taizong POV-

The roar of the crowd echoes long after his creator has left. Alcohol flows freely as stands are hastily placed to service the impromptu party taking place near the forest.

he takes a sip of wine, smiling at the young girl who had served him. The girl turned a beet red and scampered off to collect empty glasses.

He bit into a skewer of meat, humming appreciatively as the salty sauce blends and complements the smoky meat.

"Happiness, eh?" Liu Min said, thoughtfully staring into his own glass. "Not exactly something ideal to galvanise the people against the C.U.I."

"Yà lì shān dà wasn't thinking of such a thing in the first place. They simply thought It would be best for the people themselves if they pursued it," Taizong shrugged.

Unlike his subordinate he had no issues with his creators proclamation. Quite the opposite, really. Yes another national ideal might have better served for the war against the C.U.I., but few would be better in the long term. The war was simply a stepping stone to achieve a more prosperous Jinzhou, after all.

Then again, it's not surprising that Liu Min didn't see that. His eyes were ever fixed against the Chinese Imperials, not what came after them.

"In any case, do not worry about the problems of tomorrow. Instead simply drink and be merry, for tomorrow we go to war!"

Was it coincidence that their first military action was planned for the day after his creator left?

Obviously not.

He simply knew his creator was the caring sort. Someone who would have preferred no bloodshed, if it was at all possible. Taizong thus sought to preserve their peace of mind.

"Happiness for oneself and others…" he muttered. Liu Min glanced at him quizzically but he waved the man off.

Others might have missed it but Taizong hadn't. It was a cry for mercy. To allow the nation of China the means to pursue their own happiness once the rot was excised. There would be no mercy for those whose happiness infringed upon another's, but his creator wished for them not to pursue vengeance at all costs.

Taizong would consider it.

The one known to Jinzhou as Yà lì shān dà did not create him with absolute loyalty towards them, after all. Instead he was absolutely loyal to the nation he was meant to serve. If an action did right by New Jinzhou then it was good. If an action caused harm to New Jinzhou then it was evil.

His creator likely only wanted a leader that did right by his people, but Taizong suspected they didn't fully think through the implications of what exactly that meant.

Still, he agreed that having a population full of vengeful monsters wouldn't be beneficial, so he would try to take an even hand when it came to the people of China. He would be as merciful as he could afford to be.

The nation would still be broken up, of course.

Many would still die.

But he would not use all of the strategies he had envisioned, those would be kept close to the chest unless they became needed.

Taizong stood. Such brooding thoughts didn't belong. He instead chose to spend his time mingling with his beloved people.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He froze as his ears picked up a shrill screech, he couldn't quite pick up where it was coming from but it was getting closer and closer.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The sound grew steadily louder, and now even his people were beginning to look around in confusion. Taizong contemplated pulling out his sword, but thought better of it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

The sound intensified, and finally he could tell it was coming from above!

His neck snapped upwards as his eyes honed in on a group of brightly dressed individuals falling from the sky. One by one they pulled cords attached to backpacks and parachutes spilled from them.

Taizong cursed in an ancient dialect of Chinese.

"MEN! TO ME! WE ARE TO CAPTURE THESE OUTSIDERS SWIFTLY! ALLOW NO HARM TO COME TO OUR PEOPLE!"

The militia hastily complied, some stumbling with slight drunkenness he noted with alarm.

Whoever this was had chosen the perfect time to strike, but Taizong would show them the folly of threatening his people, all previous thoughts of mercy washed away in the surety of his wrath.

AN: Alexander has officially left China! I'll be taking a few chapters to explore the aftermath and various factions. May briefly return to Japan for a chapter to see how they're holding up. Maybe.

Alexander: "I'm helping!"

Me: Holding a dozen Chekhov's guns "You sure are pal!"

In other news the PRT Black Ops have finally arrived, just in time to interrupt Taizong's happy times. Alexander left much happier than when he arrived and Taizong is planning uber war crimes if he has to. Truly, everything is going well - nothing to see here.

Taizong: "It's a thought experiment, I swear!"

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment on where you think Alexander might be going next!

Chapter Text

Chapter 28: Lockstep


-Chubster POV-

Ben groaned, the movement making his chained hands flare in pain. The cuffs were so tight around his wrists they threatened to rub his skin raw.

The operation was kapoot. Failed. Fucked before it had even started. The barrier surrounding the city did not merely protect the residents, it smothered their powers. Their equipment had been on the fritz the moment they began falling, and eventually began insisting that their position was deep underground. With no way to use their powers or call for help they had been stuck falling for well over a day.

And then -when they finally passed through that barrier- they were taken captive almost immediately!

The Trump effect preventing parahumans from accessing their powers clearly didn't work on the residents, as he had seen a finely dressed man conjure weapons from nothing and even boost the strength of the soldiers under his command! Compare that to them, powerless and disoriented from falling for literal hours, and it was no contest.

They had been forced to the floor and shackled by the wrists, Shade had even been tackled by three of the men wen he attempted to run.

Needless to say; Ben was not having a good time right now.

A sharp tug on his arm hefted him up and he was spun around before being made to walk forwards.

Ben looked around. They had landed in a lightly forested area, the trees widely placed enough for sunlight to touch the grass floor. Perhaps it would have been serene if not for all the discarded food and drink littering the floor.

It was less a calm forest, and more something resembling one of those parties he often attended in his college years. Actually, it was almost exactly like that. The tables on the far side of the clearing were full of colourful food and drink, the smell wafting across the forest.

A shove cut through his thoughts as he was forced to face forwards again.

But now he saw where he was heading. In front of him was two members of his team being made to kneel in front of a single man. Sure enough, once he reached the man he was made to kneel.

It was the parahuman from before. Their leader.

As he had thought before, the man was finely dressed. But that descriptor didn't do it justice. A decadent blue and gold robe of silk cascaded down his form like a waterfall, regal and powerful all at once. Upon his brow was a fine black and red hat that seemed to envelop his head in the same way a crown would. And there -upon his chest- was the finely woven image of a blue dragon.

'Emperor' the thought came, unbidden.

It was an odd realisation to have while chained and being made to kneel, but the more he looked at the man the less he could deny it. The imperious expression on his face as he looked down upon them, the way his guards looked to him in awe and adoration, even the way he subtly shifted his weight seemed to speak of hidden power.

A master effect? If so it was far subtler than any he had faced before.

One thing was for certain, this man was high up on the totem pole. Could he be one of the architects they had been looking for? Had he helped to build this city?

"Well-" the silken smooth voice of the man echoed across the now silent clearing "-I certainly didn't expect our festivities to be interrupted by a group of jesters. That was quite the trick you pulled, what a shame you decided to arrive uninvited."

The words were light, even warm. But Ben had been around enough people in power to hear the subtle sharpness to his tone. Despite his words, he was not pleased.

"It was-" Ben started, having to swallow for the sake of his suddenly dry throat –"not our intention to interrupt this celebration. We were simply curious about the sudden appearance of this city," Ben finished. He couldn't deny having entered the city without permission, they had been caught red-handed after all.

"And yet, interrupt us you did," the man retorted simply. Then the man looked around and sighed.

"This is not the place for this," The silken robed man said and turned to his guards. "If they haven't used their powers yet, then they are likely unable to do so. Yà lì shān dà's protection is holding strong."

Yà lì shān dà? The name was unfamiliar to Ben, but the man seemed to imply that this person was responsible for the Trump effect. Another of the city builders perhaps?

"We can repurpose one of the empty buildings to hold them for the time being, Bring them with me."

And once again Ben was harshly hauled to his feet, much to the aching protest of his tired body.

Then they began to march, and not too quickly either. The richly robed man seemed to find delight in taking the scenic route, stopping every so often to observe a flower. Ben very much lacked the same joy at the moment.

Fuck, how was he going to get back to Charlie?

Eventually the treeline thinned and the roads became less soil and more tarmac. There in the distance he saw a city. Ben had seen it before, photos of glimmering towers arching towards the sky. Seeing them in person was an entirely different experience.

He had seen skyscrapers before. He had travelled throughout the US and even beyond it. He had witnessed the rebuilding of New York and the construction of buildings that made a human sense of scale shudder in disbelief.

These towers put those to shame. Even craning his neck upwards he couldn't see the top, and in their shadow Ben suddenly felt very small. The glimmering edifices of metal and glass cast their shadows on him like the cruel iron bars of a cell.

Because they may as well be.

As Ben brooded over his current circumstances a member of his team seemed to gather their courage and spoke up.

"Um-" the shy voice of Shuffle began "-what will you do to us?"

The man leading them looked back, an eyebrow raised in mock interest.

"Didn't I already say? You will be held under lock and key, though I'm guessing you want to know what will happen to you during your time here?"

Shuffle nodded.

"There won't be enhanced interrogation, if that's what you're worried about. We have far more reliable means of obtaining what we want."

The cool relief of the confirmation that there would be no torture was quickly wiped away by the last part of the man's sentence.

Shuffle seemed to pale at that too, but quickly rallied. "Ah-um, okay. What about after? Will you ransom us back to our country or…?"

Her voice trailed off, sounding both terribly unsure and nervous.

The man seemed to ponder that question, allowing the silence to envelop their group.

"I suppose it depends. If I believe it to be advantageous I might. At the very least I'll see what your country is willing to offer for your safe return. Though if they don't meet my standards I'm afraid your stay will have to be extended indefinitely."

The words chilled Ben, but it did worse for Shuffle.

Ben had come to know his team well. He had read through all of the files and had come to know each of them on a personal level. Such a thing was needed when you had to dive into some of the most dangerous missions available to the PRT. Because of that Ben was aware of Shuffle's trigger.

Movers typically triggered from a need to escape, to flee. Shuffle was no different. The marks left by her parents overbearing and abusive tendencies were still present and informed every action she made.

Shuffle seemed to sag, losing strength in her legs for a moment. Then with a wild screech she reached up to claw at the guard holding her. The man backstepped out of the way, surprised at the sudden hostility of what had been a compliant prisoner only a second ago.

Shuffle clawed at her cuffs, bending and twisting her arms to try to shake them off, to no avail. This only made her struggle harder against them.

Her guard finally regained his composure and went to restrain the girl once more, but was stopped by the upturned hand of their leader.

The guards appeared confused, but once more stepped back. But Ben was no longer looking at the guard. Instead he was looking at the silken robed man in growing horror.

The man was watching Shuffle. His gaze was curious, almost expectant. As if he was waiting for something that made sense only to his own inscrutable mind.

The seconds dragged on and Shuffles breathing became more and more erratic. She began to sway slightly and her dazed and bloodshot eyes fluttered mindlessly across the street before she collapsed unconscious.

The leader smiled at that, and Ben knew with a growing ember of hate in his heart that he had allowed that to happen as some sort of test. Ben didn't know what that test was but the result had clearly pleased the monster before him.

"Alright, that's enough wasting time. Make sure to carry her safely gentlemen."

And like that the man turned around and continued on his way. Utterly nonchalant.

-Alexander POV-

"Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountains! Secret secret secret Tunnel!"

Look, I only knew so many digging songs and Avatar was peak.

I continued to sing (badly) as I waited for the oven to cook my meal to perfection. I had experimented with trying to cook with my powers. But apparently figuring out the exact speed to vibrate atoms to perfectly cook meals was tricky.

The steam explosions were my proof.

Today I was cooking a tortilla with sauced beef inside. Was that remotely Indian? Who knows!

Renji and I had tried to stick to Indian dishes on our trip, but had quickly started doing our own thing once inspiration hit.

Back when I was human I was quite the fan of steak pies. A perfect meal to have with a side of chips, in my opinion! Now I was wondering if replacing the crispy crust of the pie with a tortilla would improve the dish or not.

After a few more minutes, my alarm rang and I raced to pull the two tortillas from the oven.

Blowing on them gently for a few seconds I nod to myself and place them on a plate.

Carrying both of them into the next room was a breeze with my six hands, it was one of the few things I appreciated about my new body. Things were so much easier when you had triple the amount of hands you usually did, with the caveat that they sometimes got in each other's way.

"Oh Renji! Guess who's done with the tortillas?," I asked, adding a slight melodic tilt to my voice.

The raised fist protruding from the back of the couch showed his silent support.

Way to keep up your cool silent persona even while opening up Renji!

Renji leaned up from the couch and took the offered plate.

The samurai examined the tortilla curiously, eyes roaming across its surface for any flaw. Finally he shrugged at took a bite.

I watched as he seemed to take the flavour in.

"Not bad, though I think you undercooked it a little."

"Eh? Seriously? I added the correct time for it to cook," I said. Perhaps that website had been misleading me?

Renji took a few more bites before he spoke. "Did you remember to pre-heat the oven?"

Ah.

Um.

"Oops?"

Renji nodded, appearing to the world -or rather the dark tunnel we were in- like an enlightened monk teaching a student their own folly.

"It's still good though," Renji said and then took another bite.

I nodded, still slightly disappointed as I took my first bite of the tortilla.

…

Nah, the pie is definitely better.


AN: I have returned! In this chapter Taizong captures a team of American superheroes, traumatises one of them, instils a budding hatred in another and stops to smell the roses. If you couldn't tell from the chapter itself Taizong took the opportunity to see if second triggers could occur with new Jinzhou. He knew it was unlikely but shards can occasionally pull some bullshit so he wanted to find out anyway. Poor Shuffle, I created an OC only for them to suffer. I am a cruel and capricious god. They'll likely be locked up for a while, but there is the possibility of them being released in the future.

In other news Alexnder and Renji are taste testing whatever wacky food they think up. It's been going well so far, need to add some fluff before the traumatic Endbringer fight of India!

And yes, Steak pies are good. I am using my author privilege to push my food preferences on all o you! I have gone mad with food related mania.

Chapter Text

Chapter 29: Information Outbreak


As Alexander continued on his self-imposed pilgrimage the ripple effects of his decisions spread outwards. It is perhaps ironic that one of the most far-reaching outcomes of New Jinzhou came from the seemingly small decision to allow access to the internet.

From this the V.I in charge of many of the functions of New Jinzhou was allowed to sow the seeds of chaos throughout China. These seeds had yet to bloom fully, but even the machinations of a hyper-advanced computer paled in comparison to what was about to occur. For the planning of the V.I was only localised, it did not seek to upend the global status quo.

Which is exactly what happened when someone got the bright idea to post on PHO.

The fool.



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♦ Topic: Hi, I'm back
In: Boards ► Global ►
Blackened Turtle Snake (Original Poster)
Posted On Jul 31st 2010:
Greetings to the world!

It has been many months since I have been able to access this site. Alas my government discovered that I was accessing foreign media -against their laws- and I was sent to a 'Correctional Facility'.

For those who have been unable to guess as much already I was a citizen of the C.U.I.

I say was because that is no longer the case!

Myself and many others from the C.U.I.'s many prisons were rescued during the chaos currently unfolding in China. We have been granted food, shelter and dignity that is severely lacking in our previous country.

I'm not sure how much information you sorry lot on the internet have been given, but TLDR: Jinzhou is now independent from the C.U.I. (like a decent portion of China at the moment) and has been given a makeover (very much unlike the rest of China)!

[IMAGE1] [IMAGE2] [IMAGE3]

So as you can all see we're doing fine. Just thought I should let you all know I'm not dead and doing fine.

(Showing page 1 of 792)

►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Wat.

It's good to see you're doing fine, but I think you're leaving a lot of information out!

And understating things, because that is NOT a makeover!

►Charraptor
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
@Blackened Turtle Snake
Oh my God you're alive! You weren't responding to my PM's for months! The C.U.I had you?!

►ChristmasCracker
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
...So is it just me or does some of that city look eerily similar to New Fukuoka?

►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
@Blackened Turtle Snake
I have to agree with Bagrat, any further information you are willing to give would be most welcome given the current confusion and chaos that's happening in China.

Who was the person who rescued you? Are they still present? What is the current stance of Jinzhou?

►Aloha
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Ah, and here comes the PRT.

Anyone else find it both funny and sad that one of the best leads they've gotten about the architects happens to come from PHO?

►Ekul
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
@Aloha
It is a little funny, yeah.

So The Architects seriously went to China? I'd ask if they had a death wish, but the current chaos unfolding right after they arrive is a bit... convenient.

►Blackened Turtle Snake (Original Poster)
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Woah. Didn't expect so much attention. It's only been a minute since I posted!

@Charraptor
Yeah, it wasn't pleasant. It's good to see you Char. I'll likely be returning to my old stomping grounds soon enough.

@Miss Mercury
Nah, they're not present anymore, and the only 'stance' I'm aware of is that we're against the C.U.I.

As for the one who rescued us, their name is apparently Yà lì shān dà? I didn't really get to meet them, only saw them from a distance. I'd show you a photo but the factories dedicated to making phones only started up yesterday, so I don't have a picture of them.

Actually I think I have an idea. Hold on a moment.

►Noveltry
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Yeah, no shit you're against the C.U.I.

Anyone sensible is.

►Nondeceptive
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Wait, did @Blackened Turtle Snake only mention one person? And he didn't even give us a description?

Come on dude! Give us the deets!

►Blackened Turtle Snake (Original Poster)
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Okay, managed to grab a picture of some artwork they've been making of her.

[LINK]

That's Yà lì shān dà.

@Nondeceptive
I think there was one other perosn with her? But I haven't heard about anyone else.

►Rictus
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Huh, a Monster Cape?

That's not what I expected, don't most of them get found pretty quickly since they go looking for their missing memories? Does anybody know who this is?



►HornyOnMain
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
@Blackened Turtle Snake
Would.

►Feychick
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
@Rictus
She doesn't seem familiar, which is weird because she seems very memorable.

►Sothoth
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Actually @Blackened Turtle Snake should you even be telling us this over the internet?

I'm sure your current government is better than your last but sharing possible secrets doesn't seem like a smart idea.

►Mac's Dual Rocket Propelled Grenades
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Nah, ignore him.

Keep posting.

You'll totally earn internet fame, trust me bro!

►Space Zombie
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
@Sothoth
Ah shit, I didn't even think of that.

@Blackened Turtle Snake
Are you still with us?

►Chilldrizzle
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
My man just got out of prison.

Now he's heading right back in.



►Groupies
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Well at least we got more information on The Architects?

It seems like they've refined their work a lot, because there's a massive difference between New Fukuoka and this!

►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
@Groupies
Definitely not refined. That sort of thing takes more than a few weeks. It's more likely that they simply chose a different style.

It's likely still the same tech 'under the hood', so to speak.

►ArmsFan
Replied On Jul 31st 2010:
Yeah, OP is definitely gone. black bagged by his government for not knowing when to keep his mouth shut.



End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 790, 791, 792

■



Across the world intelligence agencies updated their profiles on The Architects. The presence of a Case-53 was noted. Some confusion came up when they failed to find even a hint of their past, but reasoned that The Architects had likely snatched her up before she could be identified by any other group of interest.

The images were metaphorically taken apart, and compared to existing information on New Jinzhou. Thinkers were once more useless, but oddly the effect lingered long after the group had apparently left.

Most importantly this leak of information had exposed a chink in New Jinzhou's armour. A critical flaw which could be used to gain further information. Or so they thought.

Numerous cyber attacks were rebuffed with as much effort as a man would swat an insect. The hope that Tinkers would provide an edge only lead to further disappointment as their virus' and digital worms seemed to dissolve once they reached the servers of New Jinzhou.

So they would be forced to go back to the drawing board. Information had been gathered, and they now knew what to look out for in the future. But with the leak thoroughly plugged that was all they were likely to get anytime soon.



-One POV-

The report he had been given was disappointing, expected perhaps but still disappointing.

Oh well.

"Go round up some men and women to replace the soldiers we just lost. Have 37 begin the manufacturing of their weapons and armour." The man who had delivered the report scurried off at that, eager to carry out his orders.

Truthfully he hadn't expected his men to accomplish much. He simply wanted to gain information and to send a message.

He hasn't forgotten about Jinzhou, and they would eventually bow at his feet.

The confirmation of a barrier was of no surprise, but going off the recordings it was spatial in nature.

Tricky.

The presence of that dragon was also concerning. There was no information on it anywhere. A new trigger? Possibly, but all triggers are usually processed and sent to the Yangban extremely quickly. So either this individual triggered just before they were rescued or they came with The Architect.

The odds of the former were unlikely -to say the least- so he had to assume the latter.

The dragon had already been forced outside the walls once. Could he repeat the circumstances that lead to that, and set up an ambush to capture the parahuman?

If so he might be able to gain information on that naïve fool who built that city once he broke their pet.

It was a possibility, though undoubtedly achieving that would be easier said than done.

Before he could more fully consider that idea a man burst through the door, hurried but trying desperately to retain his composure. The slight sweat on his brow betrayed his nervousness.

"Sir! One of the Yangban's conversion bases has been hit! They appear to have taken the parahuman captive and escaped!"

"Truly? And who was so bold to do that?," He asked the man, displeasure dripping from his lips like a poison.

The man gulped nervously. "Unknown sir, but we've retrieved the recordings from the base. Most of the electricals were fried, but the backup tinkertech Blackbox managed to retain the information," The man reported.

Indeed, One could see the sleek black box in his hand. He motioned to an aid, and they swiftly took the box from the nervous man's hands and began sifting through the data.

The attack began at 6:00 on the dot. The flash of a teleport was the only warning the guards within the base got before they were gunned down. The glare on the screen died down enough for One to see the intruders on the screen.

Power armour. They were wearing power armour, robust enough that the returning fire from guards who had heard the commotion didn't even dent their plates. The same could not be said of the intruders shots, whose searing electrical discharge cooked the men alive in seconds.

The rest of the footage was much the same. The intruders scoured the rooms, killed the guards that tried to stop them and moved on.

It was only once they encountered parahumans that their tactics changed. Those defending parahumans were not cooked alive, merely rendered unconscious by the now lessened voltage of the enemies weapons. Those unconscious parahumans would then be loaded unto some kind of machine and teleported out.

Those parahumans with a brute rating, or were otherwise harder to knock out, were dealt with by more esoteric weapons. Lasers, plasma explosives and some kind of containment foam which seemed far more metallic than the sort used by the corrupt PRT.

Eventually they had thoroughly combed the base after losing only two of their own. The set down a cylindrical device and teleported out. The device whirred to life a few seconds later and the video cut out.

No doubt that was the EMP that had fried the electricals in order to cover their tracks.

Or try to anyway, because he had a sneaking suspicion as to where they came from.

High tech soldiers showing up just after a high tech city was set up? That was a bit obvious.

And so One smiled, because he had found it. A weakness. A way to find leverage.

He now knew that they wouldn't simply stay behind their impregnable wall. He knew what they wanted, to free more of his citizens in some fruitless moralistic crusade.

And all of that meant he could adapt and plan around them. No doubt if they were so confident in capturing the parahumans they thought they had some way to remove his hold over them. So sleeper agents were unlikely to work.

But his work didn't require people, not truly. A scrap of paper, a word spoken, a memory remembered were all things he could use. It would take time, and likely many bases raided. But those soldiers who braved the outside world could be twisted subtly according to his will.

And so One leaned back as his advisors argued, and smiled.


AN: Heyo! Here's another chapter, a few interesting things happened in it. First of all the world gained an idea of what Alexander looks like. Of course the picture isn't to scale so the world currently assumes he's a Case-53 instead of an Endbringer. Of course once Taizong got word of what was happening he began running interference. He'll likely start having the V.I start screening people's messages for anything incriminating so the people of Jinzhou will still be able to post eventually. They just can't blab about secrets.

Yes, this does mean that Alexander's cult is going to start spreading the good word, but most people are going to think they're just speaking nonsense and hyperbole rather than speaking literally regarding Alexander's feats. This will change after India though, as people will quickly realise that they're worshipping an actual Endbringer. They'll still ignore parts of what they're saying (mainly Alexander having good intentions) but they'll take other parts (Alexander's capabilities) very seriously.

Also One returns, and is plotting to find a way to break into New Jinzhou by subverting the soldiers who choose to fight against the C.U.I since they'll be the ones most susceptible to his influence. Needless to say Sanzang is going to quickly learn to hate One. Thankfully that hate will be mutual.

Please leave a comment, I depend on random strangers for my validation.

Chapter Text

Chapter 30: Conflict Develops


NEWS: August 1st​, 2010

Troops and military vehicles enter North Korea

CNN

CNN has witnessed, through a livestream, vehicles and soldiers entering North Korea through the Korean DMZ.

This video was taken on the 29th​ of July at 5:13 am local time.

Following the attack on Beijing South Korean forces had marshalled their forces at the border, these forces included: soldiers, vehicles, tanks, missiles, artillery pieces, supplies and more.

President Byeol Park spoke this Saturday regarding the invasion:

"We (South Korea) have always condemned the despotic rule of the Kim family. Syngman Rhee, our first president, agreed to abide the armistice but refused to sign it. In the years that followed North Korea has repeatedly announced it's refusal to abide by this armistice. First: in 1994, then in 1996, followed by 2003, 2006 and finally just last year in 2009. This repeated aggression has lead the South Korean Government to believe abiding by this armistice is no longer in our best interests."

This declaration of war has led to both widespread concern from some countries and support from others. Russia, in particular, voice their support for the action of South Korea.

Reporters and other witnesses have reported hearing the sound of explosions from the early morning of the invasion that has yet to let up.

Concerns of human rights violations have been raised, but as of yet no sufficient evidence has been provided.


-Eun-Ji POV-

The rocking of the building threatened to tear me off my feet as I raced down the stairs.

Little Eun-Jung was held desperately in my hands as I skidded across the floor, leaping to the next set of stairs.

Had to get out. The building felt like it would collapse at any moment.

Eun-Ji had been the daughter of a single father, their mother having recently passed away. He had been an important man, always a steady rock in Eun-Ji's life. The entire reason they had been here was because of their father's work.

Then the explosions had started, strong enough to rock the ground.

It had been chaos. People running about, trampling each other. Then pieces of the ceiling has started coming down. And her father-

Eun-Ji staggered slightly. The memory making her gorge rise. The taste of vomit was thick in her throat.

She swallowed it down again.

Eun-Jung was crying, she could barely hear it over the rumble of the building.

God, it was so loud she couldn't hear anything else.

The ground rocked again, and she only barely managed to hold on to the railing. The sound of Eun-Jung's cries rang in her ears. She slowly rocked her in her hands, humming in an attempt to soothe her. But it was no use, her rocking only betrayed the shivers in her own arms and her humming was broken up by sobs.

Once it stopped rocking she started moving again.

The time it took to reach the exit seemed to drag on. Her heart beat in her chest, even faster than her gasping breath.

Then she reached it, and flung it open.

Dusty air greeted her, smoky and acrid.

She gagged, covering her mouth with her hand in an effort to stop the foul air from intruding upon her lungs.

Her eyes narrowed, trying to pierce the kicked up dust and smoke. She couldn't stay here, whoever was doing this would find her and then she'd end up dead or worse. She hugged the wall, making sure to cover her little sister's mouth with her blanket as she did.

The little coughs she was making weren't encouraging.

Eventually she left the cloud of dust and burning petroleum, and could see her surroundings for the first time since she left the building.

The holes were the first things she noticed. Massive and impossible to miss. They seemed to be everywhere. On the road, piercing through buildings, driving themselves through cars. The rubble and damage left in their wake was just as omnipresent. It littered the floors and almost tripped her up several times

And the fires. The terrible fires…

They were somehow worse than everything else put together. They lit the surrounding buildings with an eerie red glow and belch blackened smoke into the air.

It was like hell had come to earth.

That thought, more than anything, got her moving faster.

Yet, she knew she couldn't keep going.

The artillery barrage had passed her, the strikes were now ahead of her. Whatever invading force was here they were behind her and moving swiftly.

If she kept going they would catch her.

Her only option was to hide.

She looked around, the effort making her head spin. There wasn't much.

The dumpsters were an option, and if she was alone she may have chosen them. But Eun-Jung was fussy. She would start crying if she was placed in there.

Eun-Ji felt like crying herself.

So she instead stumbled towards an overturned car, and cursed when found the door was locked. That meant she would have to go through the shattered window, and the thought of climbing over those broken shards made her grimace.

She ducked her head, examining the interior of the car.

The glass was everywhere, even the chairs -now upside down- hadn't been spared. They glistened like razors amidst the black of the cars black roof. But most distressingly was the body hanging limply from the seat belt. Blood -thick and red- poured from his mouth and congealed upon the floor.

She shuddered and hesitantly reached her hand, searching for a pulse.

There was none.

Face pale, she instead reached for the release of the seat belt. With a quick press the body tumbled lifelessly to the floor, the ragdoll collapse of the man making Eun-Ji feel coldly sick.

Nevertheless she dragged the body towards her and climbed on top.

Eun-Jung wordlessly cred out as she was placed atop the man.

"I know sister. I know," Eun-Ji commiserated. The inside of the dark was dark and damp with blood. The scent of iron and smoke blended heavily.

She took a deep breath and began dragging the body along the roof of the car using her foot to provide the momentum. It was difficult. The weight of both the man and the two girls riding him made every inch of movement feel like a mile. The almost imperceptible sound of wet rips -from the body being dragged along shards of glass- and more viscous red covering the car only made the effort worse.

But eventually the had made it to the centre of the car. They would be no chance of being spotted, provided nobody stuck their head down to check.

It was a cold comfort.

Eun-Ji rocked her sister, whose cries had quieted to incoherent murmurs.

Finally she couldn't take it anymore.

The tears flowed freely down her chest as shudders wracked her body. Just yesterday she had been a normal girl! She had a father and a good life! Now it was all gone!

Eun-Jung shifted in her arms, taking a finger in her tiny hand.

…Almost all gone.

A shift of stone quieted her sobs and a chill went down her spine.

There was something wrong.

She didn't know how she knew, but she didn't question it. Some antediluvian instinct was clawing at her brain, begging her to run – to escape.

And then came the footsteps.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

Heavy and metallic, they almost didn't sound like the steps of a man at all.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

They were coming closer now. Eun-Ji froze up at that realisation. Even little Eun-Jung had stopped squirming, her small mind also picking up on the danger.

THUNK SQUISH THUNK

It was almost close enough to see, but the angle of her sight wouldn't allow her.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

And then it stopped, just out of reach of her sight.

Eun-Ji's breaths came shorter now, her heart pounded in her ears.

It knew she was there.

The urge to look was almost overwhelming, almost perverse in the sheer need.

She shifted as slowly as she could, craning her neck.

She caught only the barest glimpse of a metallic boot covered in gore before it stepped away.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

The noise of the boots started to grow distant. It was moving away from them.

Eun-Ji almost let out a sigh of relief, but didn't dare.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

Finally the sound became imperceptible and disappeared, but the girl waited for another ten minutes before daring to move, shivering and sobbing once again.

Desperately thankful that she was alive.



-General Joon POV-

"All resistance eliminated from the designated area. Only civilians present."

"Understood. Move to the next zone of deployment," He replied.

"Confirmed."

General Joon sighed as he leaned back. The parahuman assets they had been lent from the KPD had been useful so far. But many of them were little better than hounds let off their leashes.

It was no secret to any government agency that parahumans were broken messes. Back in the early days -when parahumans first started to emerge- there was a push to integrate the superpowered individuals into the existing structures.

It was a complete disaster.

Parahumans were neurotic wrecks who could be set off by almost anything and were always horrifically dangerous. No parahumans didn't adapt well to existing structures. Structures had to be built around them.

Much like the Americans South Korea had handed control of it's parahumans to a separate, and newly founded, agency designed to handle those unstable maniacs.

Unlike the American's PRT the KPD was not designed to help integrate parahumans, or to help put civilians at ease around them. The closeness of the C.U.I. and the Night of Screams made that an impossibility. Instead the KPD acted as a separate military division of sorts.

Typically they focused on domestic issues. Criminal organisations, terrorist parahumans, insurgents, etc.

But for the very first time they were being used to great effect to devastate resistance in North Korea. They were effective at it. Perhaps too effective.

Their neighbouring country had few parahumans despite the horrible conditions they live in. The reason for this was the C.U.I. They took great pleasure in taking any parahuman they found in their vassal state.

Usually this wouldn't matter, as that same country would typically help defend North Korea if it was ever invaded.

But with the recent attack on their capital, the invasion from Russia and the current civil war China was in no position to lend any aid.

It should be perfect.

'Except those fucking parahumans keep killing too many people!"

General Joon fumed silently in his seat.

Admittedly the parahumans weren't the only ones. His own soldiers were also overly enthusiastic and not too concerned with surrenders after the recent waves of suicide bombers.

But the parahumans put the regular soldiers to shame in their brutality.

The man he had just spoken to, a tinker specialised in power armour, was one of the most conscientious of the parahumans sent in, and he was still a silent butcher who showed very little remorse and only spared civilians. Never surrendering soldiers.

Yes, the comparison between parahumans and wild dogs was an apt one.

General Joon was just thankful no proof of this had been allowed to circulate, ironically because of the parahumans leaving nothing behind to allow for such proof.

His phone rang, and he sighed as he wondered what fresh new horror awaited him.



AN: Personally a little iffy on this chapter, not my best work. Thankfully the next chapter is much better (and is much longer too).

In other news, the war continues! Uhh, South Korea may be getting a little too war crimey. Maybe someone should stop them.

Next chapter will be the start of the Endbringer battle, and oh boy is it a doozy! Look forwards to that!

I hope you're excited for it, because I sure am! So much juicy drama and horror to be had

Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment!

Chapter Text

Chapter 31: Calm Before The Storm

-Colin POV-

Colin rolled his shoulders, idly working out an aching knot in his shoulder. He was a man that appreciated efficiency, someone who had dedicated his life to a single cause. Yet even he could admit that these last few weeks had been…stressful.

The days since leaving Kyushu had blended into a cycle of tinkering, exercising, planning, preparing and getting as much sleep as possible. Not an easy task for a man living in cramped quarters with entire groups of parahumans weary from the long voyage and angered at their loss in New Fukuoka.

Colin felt much the same, but unlike them he had Dragon. For as stressful as the trip was, at least he had the pleasure of her company to tide him over.

Then they had disembarked at the Okinawa islands. Dozens of pissed off parahumans had descended upon the warlord of the islands like a pack of starving hyenas.

It wasn't even a contest.

The clean-up was where things became complicated.

The -now very dead- warlord had been a master, one capable of enforcing absolute loyalty upon anyone who consumed any liquid he had touched in the last twenty four hours. The man had maintained his control over the islands by strictly controlling the supply of water throughout his domain.

They had captured many of his thralls prior to finally defeating the master, however…

Colin's face soured at the memories of corpses found in shallow waters, clearly having drowned themselves.

Ultimately they couldn't save everyone.

Once twenty four hours had elapsed the rabid loyalty that had gripped the starving desperate people of the Okinawa islands had faded away. Now there was only a collection of broken and battered people, desperately searching for anything to cling to.

Thankfully it was shortly after this that the warships from the US had arrived. Trained medics and licensed specialists had taken over the care of these people. Many of them would elect to stay on the ramshackle forward base of the Okinawa islands to properly aid the victims.

But for the rest of them? The mission carried on, and they were once more packed like sardines and shipped back to Kyushu.

As frustrating as temporarily gaining space to stretch his legs and then losing it again was, at least the semi-imposed time for tinkering had been productive. His suit had been cannibalised only a day after leaving Kyushu, and Colin had feverishly reworked it using the knowledge he had obtained in New Fukuoka's archive.

Carbon myomers thinner than hair now replaced electric-motors for moving his suit. This drastically increased usable space and even increased his armours strength by up to 7%! The ceramics that made up his armour were now leaner and more flexible, yet provided a wider range of protection against environmental hazards.

This had proved to be a boon when they finally reached Japan.

Attacking Parahumans came for them even before they had reached the shores. A hydrokinetic transporting two Blasters had harried them upon the coast, their speed in the water ensuring that any response was too sluggish to land a hit.

This was where the tinkertech additions to the ships came in handy. Hard light forcefields turned away the shimmering bolts of light and fire that the two enemy Blasters sent at them. Waves and whirlpools battered against the ships, but could not prevail against the buoyancy systems and neo-steel of the hull.

And so, the impasse continued for a few short minutes. The three Mount Ooe capes would flit about the oceans sending a barrage of energy and might that broke upon their shields and walls. Knowing that they would be unable to do more than distract us the three eventually dived down and disappeared from view, the sensors of the ships showing their retreating forms steadily heading north.

Then we disembarked. We did not immediately begin to march upon New Fukuoka. Instead Mecha-Shift deployed their foldable bunkers to provide a forward base and operating centre. Their the comms officers and scientists quickly established their positions before we left.

The trip through the forest was where he was now, standing over the decapitated body of one of the biotinkered creations of the Hyakki Yagyō. It was a particularly deadly specimen, the scales appearing like bark and leaves when viewed from a distance. This one, and others like it, had been ambushing us from the moment we entered the foliage.

The first sign of it's presence was when it's scything talons punctured the throat of a promising Shaker known as Room and dragged him off into the trees. Those that could sense the creature, whether by thermal or some other esoteric sense, had been ordered to track down and kill the creatures. The others were instead using their powers to remove any sort of cover the creatures could use.

The ground shook beneath him as the Blaster Quickshot -note to self, Clockblocker could never know- once more sent a concussive wave of force to tear through the surrounding vegetation.

The creatures had been deadly, but now that their presence was known their threat was quickly dwindling.

A flash of movement drew his eye, and he instinctively held his halberd in a guard. The next few moment proved his intuition was correct to do so.

A bolt of acid his halberd, smashing against the blade and began dribbling down the shaft.

Colin quirked his lips into something that might generously be described as a smile. His armour and weapons had become much more effective against environmental effects since acquiring the technology of this place. Honestly the technology was shockingly adept at using the surrounding environment to it's benefit and existing alongside it harmoniously.

If it was tinkertech he'd probably consider it the creator's specialty.

His eyes looked past the bubbling green liquid coating his weapon and locked eyes on his assailant. The creature was thin, painfully so. The white gaunt thing had skin so thin it appeared almost translucent. The fleshy wings upon it's back and the large batlike ears almost evoked the image of a gargoyle.

But this thing was somehow more grotesque.

It hissed at him from the tree it had latched itself to. Perhaps it would have done something else, but Colin was in no mood to indulge the creature. A grappling hook shot out from the back of his halberd and dug straight into the creatures eye.

It's pained shriek from the strike only amplified as the grappling hook began reeling in.

Bones and viscera spewed from the wound as it was dragged down from it's perch. The gurgling squeal it made as it fell was promptly cut off as he impaled it upon his halberd.

With a twirl the monster was unceremoniously splattered onto a nearby tree, the last breath of the creature ignored as Armsmaster moved on.

The attacks were becoming more frequent the closer they got to the city and to make matters worse he was on a time limit, one imposed by his superiors.

As a Tinker who had been present throughout the inspection, and then retreat, of New Fukuoka he was considered an expert regarding the case. A boon to his career, but troubling in this case as they wanted him present when they confronted the Architects. According to the data provided to him their next target was most likely Hyderabad, India.

Judging by the speed at which the tunnel was being constructed he should have about five hours. Not nearly enough time to finish driving out the occupying capes, but enough to help his fellow parahumans through this forest.

The grip on his halberd tightened, a rare flare of irritation blooming in his chest. Of all the days for him to be called away, it had to be this one. In five hours he will be whisked away by Strider to needlessly be present as a group of Tinkers are brought into the fold.

There would be no glory for him there.

No, the people would remember the Triumvirate bringing in those rogues. Not Armsmaster.

And they certainly wouldn't remember him as the spearpoint of this campaign, as he'll be little more than a bean counter in the Chief Director's scheme.

It rankled at him.

There were a dozen other 'experts' they could have called, and even worse he would be extraneous as Dragon would be there!

He stewed in that for a moment, barely registering the lizard man he decapitated as he did so.

Something would have to be done to recover this lost opportunity. He didn't know what, but he was sure it could be done. Still bellicose, Armsmaster stalked through the forest. Determined to make some impact in this battle that would be remembered.

-Alexandria POV-

It was done.

Finally, after a month of frustration and chaos, they were in a position to bring that chaotic mess of an organisation to heel.

The Architects were -at once- an obstacle and an opportunity. By their hands decades of work that had been sunk into the Asian continent had been unravelled and now bedlam and anarchy ruled what were once stable lands.

Yet, at the same time, they had introduced wondrous technology and left it gift-wrapped and ready to be found.

Alexandria had pondered on that contradiction and come to the conclusion that they were either dangerously naïve, or dangerously idealistic.

Well, same thing really.

Either way they needed to be swept off the board and placed somewhere where they could be made use of.

Hence why they were here, witing in the flooded wreck of the city known as Hyderabad. It was partially sunk in 2001 by Leviathan. India's capes: the Garama and Thanda, as well as a coalition of capes from other countries, had tried in vain to stop the Endbringer middle child to no avail.

Just being here, with a small army of capes, was an incredible show of trust on India's part. One helped along by Contessa and the promise of sharing the technology gained from this venture, of course.

The city had been prepared. Chokepoints and static defences had been raised, both tinker and non-tinker in origin. Movers patrolled the city, vigilant for any sign of something awry. According to the latest information they would be here in an hour.

So, in an hour this whole mess would be over. The Tinkers would be taken in by Cauldron and interrogated for their secrets. How did they block Thinkers? What were their specialties? Was the technology found in New Fukuoka the only type of non-black boxed tinkertech in their possession?

Depending on their answers, and how compliant they were, many plans would need to be altered.

Their technology could be shared with groups of interest, ones Cauldron had taken the time and effort to pick out. The favours accrued from these exchanges would be immense.

And then there were the other benefits. Cities could be rebuilt with ease, making certain that the only loss that occurred from Endbringer attacks was people and not infrastructure. The PRT would be the ones to spearhead this new venture, she would make sure of it. The public relations coup would secure trust in the PRT for years to come.

With a thin smile on her lips she turned to face North-East, the direction in which the Architects were coming.

Reaching down to her armband, sleeker and more streamlined than the bulkiness the Endbringer model required, she pushed the button required to speak to Dragon.

"Dragon, any changes?"

"Negative, the scans all indicate no deviation from their route. Preparations are set to be complete in ten minutes," Dragon said.

Alexandria nodded at that, it was unlikely for there to be any changes at this point. The worst case scenario would be if the Architects didn't resurface and India wasn't their target. If that was the case then they would have to teleport into the tunnels to confront them, abandoning the advantages of a battlefield they had personally prepared.

Not that it was likely to be needed. Even in the worst case scenario this group of Tinkers was still up against the might of the Triumvirate as well as a small army of capes.

"Very good. As you were," Alexandria replied before dropping the call.

Just an hour to go. All preparations had been completed. Everything was in place.

All that was left to do was wait.

AN: Whoops. I know last chapter I said this would be the start of the Endbringer battle, but it's actually next chapter. This is what happens when you're five chapters ahead and don't bother to actually look. The big chapter with the Endbringer battle actually starting is next chapter. Sorry.

So here we are, moments before disaster. Alexandria and the rest of the PRT have set up a prepared battleground, not actually imagining that they'll need to use it. The plan is to essentially intimidate the Architects into surrendering with a massive show of force. To even set this up in a foreign country they've burned favours and used Contessa. In their minds it's a worthy sacrifice. In reality? Not so much. The fools. The morons.

Colin is still going ham with a much improved set of armour and weapons. He's a bit salty about having to be in India, as he doesn't believe he'll be needed. Boy will he be wrong.

Please leave a comment, I need interaction for my self esteem!

Chapter Text

Chapter 32: Emergence

-Alexander POV-

"-And that's why you should never hold bread above the water when there are fish around," I finish explaining.

It had been nice, travelling with Renji once again. That first trip after Japan had also been good, but Renji was a little…awkward. Conversations had been stilted, with only myself to truly carry a conversation. And given that I was an introvert -to put it lightly- that didn't go too well.

Now those same conversations flowed smoother. Renji engaged me in his own topics, and even hit back whenever I teased him.

I had just finished telling him of my Epic Lore TM (Actually just information about a vacation I went on once) when my alarm once more went off.

I frowned in confusion. "Renji, were we cooking something again?"

He looked around himself. "I don't believe so, unless you've decided to try to surprise me with a cake again?"

I cough lightly, turning my head away.

I had never been all that good at baking, and becoming a giant with a quantum super computer for a brain hadn't made me better. There was the temptation to utilise one of the three glowing orbs in the back of my head to obtain better cooking skills, but I refrained.

Partly because I was trying to be responsible, but mostly because I had no idea what Punk specialisation would help with that.

Alas, I would have to content myself with being amazing at cooking meat thanks to Bio-Punk.

"No, I haven't tried to bake again Renji, I did promise I wouldn't."

Renji nodded his head at that, and then blinked in realisation as he looked up. "Could we already be at our destination? Is that the alarm that's going off?"

I chuckle lightly at that. We hadn't been down here that long.

"I doubt it's that Renji. Let me see... the alarm for that should be right-" I pause as I use my matter manipulation to pull out a ringing alarm "-here?" The sentence ends awkwardly as I abruptly realise we were at our destination.

Had we really been down here that long?

I guess I must have been having too much fun to notice.

"Ah…well, it looks like you were right Renji!"

"Naturally, my liege."

Renji you sassy bastard!

"Yeah yeah, get it out of your system. We'll soon have work to do," I say. My mind whirs to life plans for a new city stirring in my crystalline mind.

"Correction, my creator, you'll have work to do. I will sit around contemplating crumpets."

I laughed at that. Renji had really come a long way.

My gaze turns upwards, contemplating the country of my arrival.

India was actually surprisingly decent, for Earth Bet anyway. Oh, It had warlords constantly vying for more power and control but those were minor and currently contained by the Indian Government. Yes, India was going through a bit of authoritarian bent by using an underground group of capes known as the 'Thanda' to essentially act as a mix of black ops, secret police and intelligence agency but many freedoms had yet to be stripped away unlike some countries.

In other words India had weathered the arrival of parahumans surprisingly well.

It was still a shithole, but it was a liveable shithole.

With the exception of the city above my head, Hyderabad.

To those unfamiliar with the city, Hyderabad was the largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. Unlike most cities that come under the attention of Leviathan the city wasn't coastal, and thus wasn't considered to be a likely target for the Endbringer prior to 2001. Unfortunately for those within the city Hyderabad wassituated near the Musi River, as well several artificial lakes.

Leviathan used those to it's advantage, and by the time the world knew it was attacking the city it was far too late. Defenders arrived only to find a city already half drowned. By the time the Endbringer was fought off the damage was done, and the government of India chose to write off the entire city.

The only mercy, if it can even be called that, was that startlingly few civilians died during this attack, it was even cited as a miracle by many. Of course anyone who's been paying attention should know that miracles never happen on Earth Bet, the dimension is allergic to them.

It was a trap. Obviously it was a trap.

But this was an entire year before the Simurgh emerged, people didn't fully grasp just how intelligent the Endbringers could be. Many still don't, choosing to see them as natural disasters instead.

The influx of people fleeing from the doomed city of Hyderabad was immense. It was a problem that no amount of aid programs or money could instantly solve, as this was a problem that required just as much logistics as it did resources. For a country that had just seen one of its most prosperous cities destroyed, all while still dealing with the many problems that existed before this?

It was just too much.

They tried, they really did. Government spending and charities funnelled money into the gaping black hole that was the current crisis. Foreign aid and expertise poured into the country only to find a problem that was just too big, too distressing.

The government that had presided over the issue was not elected again, many even blamed them for the tragedy in spite of their efforts. Desperate, the people turned to those who spoke the loudest - who spoke confidently and talked of radical change.

They began restricting freedoms in the name of security. They conscripted any parahuman they could find, and harshly cracked down on any sign of civil disobedience.

The displaced and angry people, many of whom were falling through the cracks despite the best efforts of the previous governments, were horrified. Thy had gone from respected citizens, to refugees and then to unwanted wretches in the span of a single year.

Many joined the gangs and warlords who cried out for revolution and change.

Some were genuine and meant well, there were many more who did not – only scheming for ever more power.

That was the current situation of the surface, and it all came back to Hyderabad.

"Welp, time to head out," I say, idly using my power to disassemble the vehicle we had been riding on.

Totally didn't do that to see Renji flounder in surprise.

Heh.

Ignoring the withering glare Renji shot my way I began to ascend. The rock of the walls ceiling churning above my head as my matter manipulation ate through it as if it were not even present. Renji floated idly along after me, weightless under the effects of my power.

The light from the miniature sun following us dimmed and fading as we ascended.

What would we find up there?

Hopefully not another horror story, because as much as I didn't regret what I had done in China it certainly wasn't good for my heart.

Well, my lack of a heart – given that I'm an Endbringer.

It shouldn't come to that, though. According to all my research the city should be abandoned. So all this would require is a few privacy wards to be set up, and then I can get to work.

But what should be the aesthetic of the rebuilt Hyderabad?

Hmmm, honestly I'm thinking Atompunk! I couldn't use it in Kyushu as the style didn't fit, plus rebuilding a part of Japan using a style of technology that puts nuclear energy front and centre seemed a bit…culturally insensitive?

Or maybe it's just me.

What I can say for certain is that it definitely wouldn't have been appropriate to use in Jinzhou. Many of the former prisoners had wasted away next to that irradiated city, and by the time I had gotten to them most had developed various forms of cancer.

Thankfully Hyderabad wouldn't have this issue.

It had been attacked by Leviathan and, to my knowledge, didn't have a stigma against nuclear technology.

Yeah, that sounds nice. Let's bring a bit of 60's magic to the dreary city of Hyderabad!

Just as I thought this the soil above finally gave way to reveal the blue sky. I smiled as I observed the sunny day, thankful I could no longer be bothered by warmer temperatures. The city was just as I had imagined, the ground was submerged in a muddy brown water, deep enough to reach a normal humans knees.

The buildings were desiccated wrecks, overrun by mould and decay. It was a truly sorry sight, but behind all off that I could see the faded colours – the signs of what had once been a vibrant city full of life.

It would be once again, that I swore.

So, as my eyes wandered over the city full of decay, parahumans and water I-

Wait, hold up.

Parahumans?

Indeed, as I panned my sight back I could see them staring at me, some flying and others crouching atop buildings - all gaping at me.

…FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

-Alexandria POV-

"This is it!" The Tinker manning the sensors called out. "Target is rising and will breach in 5-"

Alexandria readied herself, minutely shifting her body in a way that would seem more threatening.

"4-"

The tinkertech EMP pulse generator was ready to go. If this group had any plans of using their technology to escape it would be activated, rendering them impotent.

"3-"

David was here now, having only arrived in the last five minutes to participate in what he had called 'a waste of his time'. A sense of exasperated fondness flickered in her chest.

"2-"

Well, he wasn't wrong. Even having one member of the Triumvirate was overkill.

"1-"

But this was too important. If she could she would have had Legend here as well. Alas, a member of their group needed to remain behind, some politicians got antsy at the thought of having none of the Triumvirate present within America for even a moment. Silly really.

"-NOW!!!"

The earth heaved and split open, sending dirt flying in every direction. It was surprisingly dramatic for a group that relied upon secrecy, but perhaps their successes had made them complacent. They wouldn't be the first organisation to have been defeated by victory.

Alexandria's mouth briefly opened, ready to belt out a call for surrender-

Then there was a wall of blue in front of her.

It was too large to be a person, was it some sort of construct? The shape of it…as well as the proportions were subtly off, and for a moment she couldn't quite figure out what she was looking at.

Then she saw the hands, and as she craned her neck up she realised she was looking at a woman, the same woman that the leak in Jinzhou had revealed. Except that painting hadn't done the sheer scale of the woman justice. She was massive, easily reaching the same height as the simurgh herself. How could any person-

No.

This wasn't a person.

The body was right, provided you ignored the number of arms and the skin colour. But despite that something set her hindbrain screaming at her from the confines of her iron will.

Alexandria had lived a long life for a parahuman, she had journeyed far - and even into completely different dimensions. So what she was seeing shouldn't be new.

Yet, it was.

It was the face that betrayed it. The close eyed gentle smile that remained static on it's face even as the earth trembled and the air cracked. It looked around, clearly curious – and even showing faint signs of happiness. But it was too smooth, as if every step had been rehearsed a thousand times over before it had been done. Just like Contessa.

And the face didn't move an inch.

It set Alexandria's skin crawling. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't human. There was too much dissonance. The way it moved, the way it emoted, the body language. It was all at odds with each other! For the first time in a very long time Alexandria was seeing, but not understanding what was in front of her.

The rest of her allies were similarly spooked, though presumably more because of the things size. Eidolon, bless his heart, still looked ready to throw down at a moments notice, and that bastion of normalcy -for David anyway- calmed her down enough for her mind to stop running in circles.

It had been easy to overlook but the thing wasn't the only individual to come out of that gaping depression. At the giant's feet stood a single man, looking severely underwhelmed at the situation he had found himself in – but Alexandria didn't miss the way his eyes dressed them down, looking for weaknesses. Those eyes kept returning to her and David, having correctly determined they were the most dangerous ones here.

The blue skinned behemoth startled for a moment, seemingly just now realising they were there. It set Alexandria's teeth on edge. What was the point of pretending that it had not seen them?! Was it mocking them?

The gentle smile on the face of the giant didn't change as it stared at her for a long moment.

Alexandria's irritation and anxiety only grew at that. If only she could tell what this thing was thinking, if only she could pierce that cold smile and find the machinations laid bare before her!

-Alexander POV-

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

Renji! Take the wheel!

-Alexandria POV-

The moment ended as the thing broke eye contact -it's ability to have a staring contest apparently unimpeded by it's perpetually closed eyes- and craned its neck down to look at the red headed man at their feet.

The man's already deadpan expression somehow grew deeper in the face of that stare.

Then the giant turned away from her and began floating away. Not flying or anything that could be described with any sort of urgency. Just calmly floating away, as if there weren't an army of capes ready to fight at the drop of a hat.

Alexandria hid her shock at the blatant dismissal, and turned to face the man below – who had stayed rooted to the spot with the same expression.

The man was broadly shouldered with a strong build. Bright red hair framed an angular and proud face, though the expression currently marring that face could only be called the epitome of vexation.

It was clear that if she wanted answers she would have to get them from him. Nodding to a cape at her side, she made discrete signs telling the man to keep an eye on the giant. The man was clearly hesitant, but nodded back at her and began slowly flying after the gargantuan thing.

"UKNOWN PARAHUMAN!" Alexandria shouted, her long practice allowing the sound of voice to be carried clearly across the street. "YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF SEVERAL LAWS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO-"

"Could you come down here and say it?"

The man's voice cut through her warning, clearly unintimidated in spite of the threat and the large force stacked in front of him.

While Eidolon bristled at her side, Alexandria was already changing tracks. The man in front of them, whether through confidence or foolishness, was clearly not going to be threatened easily. She briefly debated simply ended this now, and interrogating the man later.

But the many armed abomination - still idly floating towards an old and broken bridge - stayed her hand.

She gently flew down to meet the man, showing no reaction when her boots sank into the muddy water.

Being face to face she was relieved to note that, unlike the being accompanying him, this man was not beyond her ability to read. There was some strangeness to him, expression being ever so slightly off, but nothing she couldn't account for.

"My apologies for that, as you can probably tell we're all a little on edge."

The smile on her face was picture perfect, and even the cadence and tone of her voice was perfectly designed to lull the man into a false sense of security.

The man's sharp eyes didn't waver from her throat, his arm subtly reaching for his blade.

Alexandria sighed internally at that. She likely wouldn't be able to ask too many questions before violence broke out. A shame.

"Are you a member of the group that raised Kyushu from the sea? The ones who restored Jinzhou?"

There was every chance he'd lie, or try to obfuscate. Many did when they felt they had something to hide. It wouldn't matter, they had the evidence. So even if he did-

"I wasn't present at Kyushu, but yes."

-Or he could just outright admit it. That worked.

A rumble caught her attention and she stepped to the side slightly, just enough to see past the man in front of her.

The bridge, once a broken monument to the decrepit city it resides in was now writhing, twisting and undulating upon itself as mass poured from the river and was added to it. The giant stood before it, arms wide – as if to embrace the shaking mass.

In spite of the raw power of such a display the sound of it was oddly muted, each piece of matter joining to the bridge with a subdued clunk.

Then it was done, and in it's place stood a bridge that threatened to take her breath away.

This was not the flowing lines and natural beauty of New Fukuoka and it was not the austere majesty of New Jinzhou, it was altogether different.

The bridge now stood as an eccentric blend of retrofuturism. The bridge stood larger than it did before, with the worn down stone being replaced by a smooth grey metal. The sides of the bridge were lit by bizarre lanterns glowing a chevron blue.

The thing seemed to admire the bridge for a few seconds, before turning to a nearby house. The same process began once more, material flowing like taffy as the house was remolded.

Alexandria stared for a moment, before a burst of relief hit her.

It was a drone!

A drone designed to help build things!

No wonder it showed such a limited set of emotions! The ones it did have were likely only added in to help ease the mind of any who saw it.

Of course. How simple such a thing should have been to figure out! Alexandria wanted to shake her head in mirth.

The rush of clarity did bring a smile to her lips while her eyes sharpened, and now she no longer had a reason to play nice.

Her arm whipped out, fingers digging into his oesophagus as she began to choke him slowly. His eyes bulged for a moment, showing his clear surprise at the sudden shift.

His sword was swiftly drawn from his scabbard, only to break upon her other outstretched hand.

Her smile was cold now as she stared at him. The feel of his throat was non-standard. Implants? Possible, either way they wouldn't be enough to stand up to her.

She'd give him one chance.

"Surrender," she demanded, the smile slipping off her lips as her voice took on a cold authoritative tone. "Turn off the drone, and tell us where your co-conspirators are and you'll be granted leniency."

The man glared back at her, clutching his broken sword in a death grip.

"You dare!" The man's growl was almost bestial in it's fury. "You would not only threaten me, but also call my liege a drone?!"

What?

Her grip slackened slightly at that.

The man wasn't lying. She could see that, could read him like an open book. The man's rage and offense was clear to see. The drone – no, what she had assumed to be a drone was the one in charge here?

Her thoughts raced, running in circles as she contemplated possibilities. She was so immersed in her own head that she didn't notice the silence. Didn't notice Eidolon tense at her side. Didn't notice the army at her back flinch ever so slightly.

But she did notice as the throat of the man she was holding suddenly became as solid in her grip as steel. She furrowed her eyebrows, a brute power? She squeezed slightly harder at then, and then more when she realised their was no longer any give to what had once been supple and weak flesh.

"Alexandria," Eidolon warned, seemingly focused on the distance.

No, not on the distance.

She looked up to see the many armed aberration staring at them, neck bent at a disturbing angle as she gazed upon Alexandria, and for reasons she didn't understand the sight sent a shiver racing through her spine.

Then her eyes were forced back to the red haired man, widening in surprise as the air around her grip seemed to thicken. It slithered like something alive as it began slowly but surely prying her hands off of the man.

Alexandria resisted, putting all of her strength into resisting the mist.

It was not enough.

He fingers were bent back, and the man was sent hurtling back through some unknown force and landing right in the palm of the blue giant.

Alexandria stared at her hand. Had she just been overcome? In raw strength?

Her mind raced as she played the scene back in her head. Whatever this thing was it didn't just control rocks and metal. It had wielded the air around them as a tool, to the point of using something so diffuse to win a contest of strength with her!

The man's words were true, whatever that thing was it wasn't a drone. But what coul-

Her thoughts were cut off as the lowering of the thing's arm caught the sunlight as it placed its companion down – and her breath caught in her throat, this time in horror.

Because she had seen that quartz texture before, had seen the way it caught the sunlight enough times in her nightmares that she could recall it even if she somehow lost her powers.

It was the same skin as the Simurgh. The same as Leviathan. The same as Behemoth.

The pieces all began to line up.

The fact that Kyushu and Jinzhou had both been followed by periods of intense chaos and large losses of life. They had weakened entire institutions the world over.

The being's overwhelming power and complete dismissal of them as a threat.

The inability for Thinkers to predict them.

"Oh."

A chill began to bloom in her heart, a fear that would have had her heart racing if it still beat.

There had never been a group of Tinkers had there?

The lack of a black box, the unsubtle ways of travelling, the seeming foolishness. It had all been a horrible trap.

Designed to get them exactly here.

Because this thing was-

"An Endbringer," She whispered. Apparently not loud enough because Eidolon had tensed even further at her side. The other heroes, unsure of what was going on but clearly taking cues from them, also shifted.

"What? An Endbringer?!" David said, and this time the other heroes heard him and the once confident heroes almost shrunk back at the realisation of what they were fighting.

"Yes," she confirmed, the cold rush of fear still seeping through her bones. "We-we need to get a warning out, buy time until we can get some reinforcements."

But even as she said that she knew it would not be as easy as she made it sound.

They had ensured absolute privacy would had for this confrontation. Stranger powers, body doubles and bribes had all been used to ensure they wouldn't be interrupted.

They had even placed severe tinkertech jammers throughout the city to stop the -now revealed to be non-existent- Architects from contacting anyone, which were strong enough that even Dragon was cut off from the outside world – though thankfully they had made Contessa ensure a backup Dragon wouldn't emerge from her servers by doing so.

"We need to distract it long enough to-" Alexandria began to bark orders, but David was already racing ahead the moment he heard the word 'distraction'.

The distance between the two was eaten up in a matter of moments as David's outstretched hand bloomed with a black light.

The un-light which burst from his hand seemed to drink in the surrounding light hungrily as it snaked it's way towards the Endbringer.

The being in question only had a moment to look surprised before quickly placing the red-headed samurai behind it -shielding it- before it hit the monster.

And as the battle was joined, Alexandria had a sinking feeling this was not a day which would end in victory.

AN: Holy smokes, this might be the longest chapter I've done yet! So, the battle is joined and now the group set up to ambush Alexander has learned of his true (?) nature. Alexander, for his part, just wanted to avoid interacting with a bunch of crazy people, then wanted to stop Alexandria from choking out his bro and suddenly he's being forced to throw hands.

Thanks for reading, please comment!

Chapter Text

Chapter 33: A Hateful Screech

-Renji POV-

Renji let out a hiss as he was jostled in his liege's hand. His neck flared with pain, and he could only grit his teeth and endure this indignity.

Of all the loathsome things to do!

They had arrived in this city and showed no malice, and his liege had even entrusted him to speak with the army of parahumans that had greeted them with glared of suspicion!

Renji dutifully ignored the fact that he had been given this duty solely because his creator desperately didn't want to do it.

He had known going in that it was likely they would come to blows, regardless of how optimistic their liege may have been. What he hadn't expected was for that woman to go from smiling to physically assaulting him in the blink of an eye!

He gasped, trying desperately to move in that clenched hand as a black light ate at the edges of his vision.

There was a flash of light, and suddenly he was no longer where he had been.

For a moment he laid there, stunned and confused. Where was he? How did he get here?

Wherever he was it was bathed in an inky blackness that denied the acuity of even his vision. He turned his head, and then again, but no matter where he looked there wasn't even a glimmer of light he could use to navigate.

"Hello!" Renji shouted into the darkness. "My liege! Are you there!"

Echoes of his own voice were the only reply, before even those were swallowed up by the oppressive silence.

Renji scowled at that, but his failure had revealed something important. Wherever he was it wasn't a wide and open space, far from it. Judging by the echoes the walls of whatever confined him must be near.

Perhaps he could use those to navigate and find a way back to his liege.

Before he could put his plan into action a steady blue light began to flicker to his left, dim at first but growing more luminescent with every passing second. The light grew and coalesced into a familiar figure.

It was his liege, or rather a hologram of them. Renji felt a strange dissonance as he noticed that this image of his creator only reached his own height, his liege had always loomed large.

But not this time.

"Yo Renji!" The hologram called out, the flippant behaviour completely at odds with the situation.

"My liege? What is going on? Where have you sent me?" Renji asked the questions in quick succession, but if the hologram heard them it gave no sign of it.

"Just an FYI-"

What in the world was an 'FYI'?!

"-This is a pre-recorded message, so I can't hear whatever you might be saying," the recording said with a small apologetic smile.

"Oh for the love of-" Renji stopped himself and sighed deeply. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"Now I know I can be a little careless sometimes, but it would be beyond the pale even for me if I created you and didn't have a way to save you in the worst case scenario."

So it was this sort of scenario.

"My liege," Renji bit out before continuing "I am not some damsel to send away at the first sign of danger!"

The words were almost growled past his teeth as he glared at the hologram of his creator. Normally he would never dare be so impertinent, even to a mere image of his progenitor. However the growing fire in his chest couldn't be quelled.

"So, yeah. I placed a teleportation seal in you after Jinzhou. It would only go off if I activated it or if I was dead. Hopefully it's just the former, but even in that case it would mean I'm currently facing down foes that would be more than capable of killing you."

Renji stewed as the message continued, eyes beginning to glance around the room he was in, now that he could see. The elegant flowing lines and sublime etchings made it obvious that he was in a room of his creator's design. Which must mean-

"You're currently in one of the many buildings I created whilst we were travelling to Hyderabad, so-"

Renji tuned out the words of his creator as he noticed a flashlight placed on one of the tables. Stomping forwards, he grabbed it before switching it on. The light cut through the remaining darkness, further illuminating the room he was in.

Gleaming swords hung upon the walls, armour stands sat to his left and the floor contained numerous mats upon which to sit. The wallpaper of the room was simple, but the flowing blue waves depicted would have brought a sense of calm had he not been so furious.

Renji realised that this room was almost tailor made for him.

He pushed back that realisation, it would not do to ponder any distractions while he had an objective. Ignoring the hologram, still speaking even now, he left the room and beheld the cavernous expanse.

The rocky tunnel lined with buildings was a sight he had seen before, something he had grown used to even. Yet without the presence of his liege, and with only a flashlight to guide him, the place felt oppressive…and almost wrong.

The samurai approached the walls of the tunnel, taking note of the way the rock had been carved in order to find the right direction. It took a while, fumbling in the dark with a single source of light and trying to piece together clues hidden in rock.

Eventually he found the direction of Hyderabad, or at least his best guess, and began to run. His feet blurred, and to any outside observer they would wonder if his feet even touched the ground with how fast he was going.

His body did not know exhaustion, so he could keep this pace up indefinitely. The only issue was the distance. Renji had no idea how far away he was and by the time he arrived the battle could be long over.

The thought made him run faster, to the point that Renji could feel the wind pushing futilely against his body. It only made him run faster.

'My Liege, I'm going to have a serious conversation with you after this is over,'Renji vowed to himself.

-Alexander POV-

The black light rushes towards me.

My cognition speeds up and the world slows to a near halt.

I attempt to alter the attack.

It doesn't work, whatever it is it isn't matter.

I twist the air molecules to become an alloy with the strength to put titanium to shame.

It crumbles at the slightest touch of the abyssal light.

I attempt to move myself with my powers.

The light is already too close. I instead use my abilities to pull myself backwards, buying precious moments more to think.

I attempt to inscribe a teleportation matrix.

The ink weaves itself upon the ground. Only to become ash as the light reaches it.

I activate Renji's emergency teleport and brace.

-Eidolon POV-

His power strikes the Endbringer, ripping through entire layers of false flesh. David smiles beneath his mask, the power he had been given was a powerful one – an entropic blaster power perfectly suited to destruction. However David has fought the Endbringers for well over a decade at this point, so he knows that this wasn't enough – it wasn't even close.

Sure enough, the acrid black smoke clears to reveal the monster. It's beautiful form was now a ragged mess full of abrasions that bled black. It floated silently amidst the wreckage of his attack, almost as if it hadn't noticed it.

Except the face, which had previously been a serene mask of gentle beauty was now a rictus glare of pure hatred and pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Eidolon backpedalled in the air, grasping his ears in pain from the ragged screech.

The scream that erupted from the Endbringer almost reminded him of the simurgh, but there were differences. The simurgh's scream was a crystalline shriek, a constant whisper in the back of your head urging you to do unspeakable things. It was a deliberate thing, unnerving in its unceasing and monotonous malice.

This scream wasn't that. It was an animal scream of blood and rage. There were no psychic whispers, no hidden trick. This was just noise, throat tearing murderous noise.

A flicker of nervousness rose in his breast, never before had an Endbringer sounded so horribly human, but he quashed it.

Instead he darted forwards once more, a mass manipulation power increasing his strength and constitution.

This was a mistake, as he would find out mere moments later.

The Endbringers manic face snapped to him, and its arms struck him with the force of a meteor.

Eidolon wheezed as he was sent hurtling through a building, and in the direction he had been struck from he could hear the desperate sounds of battle erupting.

-Alexander POV-

Liquid agony poured directly into his brain. The sensors and programs meant to inform an Endbringer of any damage done to their vestigial forms was instead being interpreted as pain by his very human mind.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

So he screamed.

He struck at the green buzzing figure (A fly! Get away from me!)

More came. Strobing lights and noise came with all the force of a storm (Too loud! Go away!)

Old programs shifted to the fore, now that the main mind was almost catatonic from pain.

The hosts came to deliver conflict. A man with a primitive weapon, a blade attached to a staff, drove forwards. His strength was augmented by the suit of armour he wore, filled with familiar designs and systems. Intriguing. (Thief! You use what I gave to hurt me?!)

Solidified air met his charge, and bound him tightly in chains he could not see.

Following quickly after him was a great work of artifice in the shape of one of the host species' superstitions known as: dragons. The intelligence inside, bound in vat grown flesh and silica, rushed to aid the man choking on nothing. (Dragon? Isn't she-)

Rockets were fired from the craft racing down towards us. Calculations were run, forty three of those missiles were on track to hitting us. The last two seem to have suffered slight malfunctions and would miss us by about 2.43 meters. The majority of the missiles were transmuted into helium while the last were left to explode near us, doing minor damage. Acceptable. (AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!)

The artifice used the distraction to swoop down and drag the man in armour away. (Where's Renji? Where's… Where's everyone?)

The numerical disadvantage was soon becoming apparent as more of the host species began to join the battle. Use of this platform alone is calculated to be inefficient. Excess resources detected. (Wanted to use those to make…to make lights?)

[CONVERTING]

BioPunk Level 2- A branch of technology that utilises flesh in all things. Create monstrosities or cure the world of sickness, the possibilities are endless! At this level larger structures and technologies are possible and practical.

Atoms were rewoven. Amino acids blended and tissue was formed into being. The primitive dwellings made of heated mud and rock dissolved into writhing meat. The hosts paused at that, the programs identifying this as 'fear' and 'unease'.

Useful. (…)

Their mistake was to its advantage. The flesh congealed into combat forms. Variety was the most pressing criteria against the vast array of hosts that were already here, and those that would likely be coming. (This isn't what I wanted…)

Howls filled the air as the beasts took their first breaths, a cocktail of pheromones was produced in order to serve as a primitive method of determining friend and foe. The howls turned to growls as the monsters birthed from stone looked upon the hosts that stood against them.

Light and fury matched their howls as the hosts fell upon their creations.

A female host in black wove through the beasts, pulping heads as she went, before flying straight towards them. Their powers reached towards them, only to fail to get a hold on them. The hosts body seemed inviolable to direct manipulation. (Alexandria!!!)

Instead, as the host drove her fist back -aiming to uppercut them, they matched the woman's charge with their own.

Their fists met with a crack of abused wind.

The fist of the host dug into theirs, but it didn't matter. They had the mass.

The woman soared backward from the blow, her body skipping over the broken and flooded pavement.

And, even now, their creations continued to form. The slain bodies lay still for only a moment before their bones cracked back into place and their flesh was regenerated by their hands.

It was a tide of red which sought to swallow the hosts, ever growing and endlessly brutal.

They noted, with some intrigue, that the artifice known as 'Dragon' was once again moving, but not towards them. No, it was moving away. Likely in an attempt to leave the area subject to jamming and call for reinforcements.

Calculations were run and predictions plotted. The conflict would become known soon enough regardless of whatever happened. However a sudden influx of hosts arriving before critical mass was reached would be…sub-optimal.

They reached out, ready to crush the flying craft-

(NO!)

-before aborting the attempt. It wasn't truly needed regardless.

Instead it turned their attention to the hosts, once more massing up and attempting to break through the tide of abominations that sought to devour them.

AN: And it begins! For those confused over what happened to Alexander he's essentially a human mind trapped in a shard. This has advantages, as well as disadvantages. One of which is that his human brain is still running the same 'software' so to speak. So when the shard self informs the brain of the damage that the Endbringer body is taking it's interpreted as pain.

In this case enough pain to kill a normal human by shock.

Thankfully that can't happen to Alexander, as he's in a shard, but it is enough to knock Alexander out of the controls. So the other programs took the reins, these other programs being the ones Endbringers typically have.

Now this is a temporary thing, and Alexander is already beginning to take back control but for now the heroes have to deal with an endless swarm of biological horrors that keep coming back from the dead. All while Alexander is disassociating hard.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment!