ReUnited - Chapter 9 “Strange Behavior”

Chapter 9 - Strange BehaviorSonny and his mother, Flora, travel through one of the Justice Towers and appear in a brightly lit room surrounded by robots. Two robots riding around on a single wheel roll up and scan their entire bodies.“Analysis complete.” One of the robots says. “Full access granted. Welcome back, Flora. Welcome back, Sonny.” The two robots move aside and the wall behind them opens up and reveals a doorway leading outside.Sonny and Flora exit the building and are now right at the center of the famous city Robotoground. Every building and vehicle is made of futuristic tech and robots, androids, and all different types of machines are roaming around freely. There isn’t a normal human or animal in sight. Access here is very restricted. Usually only students from the one of the Prism Realm Academies have access and even then it’s by appointment. But Sonny, Flora, and any Prism Realm Tower Guardian have full access to the futuristic city and can roam around freely.A hover car with a robot driver is parked and waiting for Sonny and Flora. They enter the car and start heading to the Armory off in the distance. On the way, they pass a really tall radio tower that grabs Sonny’s attention. Soon after, they drive by a computer lab that stands taller than the radio tower. Finally, at the edge of the city, they then park in front of a factory.“Right this way, please.” The robot driving the hover car says as he begins to lead Sonny and Flora down a staircase and into an underground bullet train station. “This will lead straight to Molly’s quarters.”Sonny and Flora sit down in the bullet train and it sets off to their next destination. Flora notices the look on Sonny’s face and can tell that he is trying to figure something out. “Is everything alright?” Flora asks her son.“I’m not sure.” Sonny says. “I’ve been to Robotoground a bunch of times, so I like to think that I know this area pretty well. And I’ve never had any bad experiences here but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy as we drove through the city earlier.”“Well you used to hate this place.”“What do you mean? I’ve never hated this place.”“Don’t you remember all those times we went camping with your friends and their parents? The horror stories Lucile used to read to you came straight from her Grimoire. It’s first purpose is to help your other mom open up portals to her friends, but it also holds all our stories from before the Negaverse was created. That story about the massacre in Robotoground that you hated so much... It actually happened.”“What!? Why am I just learning about this!? I thought you and mom told me everything about your lives before.”“We told you everything that we went through. Before this world, my friends and I would constantly get separated from each other. Lucile and I told you everything that happened to us personally. Marshall got the story from Terrance and Marina’s point of view and Goldie from her parents, Sylvia and Sterling. Besides the bad guys, the only people to see the original Robotoground were Molly and Sterling.”“So this place is a replica of the original.”“Of course it is. The original Robotoground got destroyed a long time ago. Along with the rest of that world.” Flora takes a deep sigh.“Are you okay, mom?”“My friends and I call ourselves Guardians. Before that, heroes. Some of us sometimes lost our way but we eventually saw the right path. Most of us anyway. But sometimes I can’t help but think we are the problem.”“What do you mean?”“I wish I could say that I wasn’t responsible in any way for the destruction of an entire world. I wish I could say I could count on one hand how many worlds I’ve helped destroy. Even if it was an accident, I’m responsible for the deaths of so many people. But I can’t do anything about it now. All I can do is try and do better.”Sonny gives his mom a big hug. “Here I was thinking that you and mom didn’t care about the innocent lives that we take when we get reborn. Little did I know that you were dealing with so much more. I’m sorry I shut you out for so long.”“You have nothing to apologize for, Sonny.”Suddenly, a bell rings and the doors to the bullet train open up. Sonny and Flora have arrived at their destination and regain their composure before exiting the train. They go up some stairs and enter a new room full of computers and machines. Molly is sitting at her workbench right at the center of the room finishing up one of her projects.Molly stands tall like a normal human but isn’t human in the slightest. She is half mole-woman and half android and was the only good guy to keep her memories intact when Mira and her goons created the Negaverse. She eventually managed to give Flora and Lucile their memories back, but everyone else got stuck having their memories rewritten. Because of this, the friendship and bond Molly has with Flora and Lucile is unbreakable.“Molly!” Flora yells out in excitement as she runs up for a hug. “It’s nice to see you in person again. I thought you’d be a hologram again.”“I’ve missed you girls.” Molly hugs Flora tight, longer than usual. “Where’s Lucile? I thought she’d be here.”“What? Are you not happy to see me?” Flora dramatically, but jokingly, scoffs and rolls her eyes.“It’s not that!”Flora laughs and says, “I’m kidding! You always take me too seriously.” She continues to laugh. “Anyway, Lucile had a few things she needed to get done but she’ll be here later. Sonny and I are just here to get his Hush Helm repaired.”“Oh yeah. Heather sent it over a little while ago.” Molly grabs Sonny’s broken Hush Helm from her workbench. “These things are supposed to be indestructible. Claire’s never been able to even scratch these things before. Now all of a sudden she can smash right through them? It doesn’t make sense! Fixing it won’t do. So I’m giving Sonny a new prototype Helm. It should be more durable and it has some extra features in it as well.”“You hear that, Sonny?” Flora laughs. She turns and sees her son looking at the data on one of the main computer screens. “Sonny, don’t be rude!” Flora yells. “You haven’t even said hello!”“Is this data on the Wave of Fear?” Sonny asks.“It is.” Molly responds. “Your other mom, Lucile, is coming by later to help me out with that. I have your Hush Hel-““Help?” Sonny continues to stare at the data on the screen. “Can I take a look?”Molly looks back at Flora and Flora nods. Molly then walks over to Sonny and opens up some more files on the computer. Then she pulls up a hologram of the four realms, each mapped out and showing the location of each Tower and its Guardian.“How do you have this?” Sonny asks. “Is this accurate?”“It is. I have millions of drones scanning and collecting data in all four realms.”Sonny looks through some of the live footage on the computer screens.“I know what you’re thinking, and you’re smart to question things. But I’m not spying on any of you. I trust all of my friends here in the Prism Realm, even if they don’t all remember our past.”“Then you’re spying on Mira.”“Correct. She is always plotting something, even when things seem to be going her way. And right now, I can sense something bad starting to boil but I don’t know if Mira is involved just yet.”“Is this about the Wave of Fear’s weird behavior?”Molly laughs. “You are a smart one. Take a seat. I know you know all about our status and our role in the creation of the Negaverse, but for this to all make sense, you need to know more about who the Wave of Fear used to be. You need to learn about my friend, Claire.”•••“Claire, like the rest of us, comes from the Prime Universe.” Molly begins. “Originally an angel from a different spiritual plane, she joined our group after we helped save her world and her people. She immediately fell in love with our friend, Barry, and they became inseparable.”“When Mira wiped everyone’s memories, Barry and Claire’s bond and love allowed them to keep any memories they had of each other. They could sense where the other one was and would do everything to find each other whenever they were separated. They finally reunited and even got married in the middle of the chaos that was our journey.”“A lot happened between everyone’s memories getting wiped and the creation of the Negaverse. Mira and her group were the ones actively against me, but there was another group also constantly getting in the way. Lucian and the rest of the Royal Family lost their world because of Mira and were just trying to survive. But their actions and goals didn’t line up with mine and them succeeding meant me and my friends would lose.”“Shortly after her memories were wiped, Claire and a few other friends were captured by Lucian and his family. After escaping and being reunited with Barry, Claire was out for revenge.”“Lucian’s children, after learning that their father was the Deity of Life taken human form, unlocked deity powers of their own. After mastering this godly power, some of his kids turned against him. But Claire also unlocked a power of her own. By sacrificing one of her angel wings, she could seal away and absorb the Royal Family’s deity powers and gain new powers of her own. One by one, she took away the powers each member of the Royal Family, even those who weren’t necessarily evil.”“There was another deity that chose to take human form and ended up traveling alongside Mira and her goons. Calamity, the Deity of Death, was a big reason Mira was able to succeed in creating the Negaverse. Just before it’s creation, Claire sacrificed her final angel wing and toon away his deity powers. But this was a grave mistake.”“Absorbing Calamity’s deity powers corrupted Claire in a way she couldn’t ever imagine. So much so that when the Negaverse was first created, her Tower appeared in the Shadow Realm instead of the Prism Realm like me and the rest of our friends. After arriving and getting settled in the Negaverse, Claire decided to try out the new powers she gained from all the deities. Each new power helped in a different way, but then she used the Fear Glyph gained from Calamity. She immediately lost control and transformed into what everyone knows as the Wave of Fear.”“After the first incident, Claire just stopped using her Fear Glyph. She felt no need to use it, especially if it was just going to make her lose control and wreak havoc on the world.”“At the time, Claire and Barry’s link made their Towers the only pathway between the Prism and Shadow Realms. Because of this, Mira and her goons would sometimes attack Claire and her Tower. Fighting off everyone with only Barry by her side was almost impossible, so she would sometimes have no choice but to use her Fear Glyph and transform into the Wave of Fear. After defeating Mira, Barry would then have to defeat Claire, sometimes by himself. If he failed, the Wave of Fear would then rampage across the Shadow Realm or travel through her Tower and rampage across the Prism Realm.”“Barry and Claire eventually made an Academy of their own to train others to fight against Mira and against the Wave if things go south. But one day during a class, her Fear Glyph activated on its own, transforming her into the Wave of Fear. Every student died that day and the Academy became ruins.”“After that, Claire’s Fear Glyph would activate itself at random times. Every time she was defeated and was reborn, the Glyph would activate itself earlier and earlier. Until one day when she emerged from her Tower already transformed into the Wave of Fear. We all did what we could to fend her off but it started to become too much for us. We were at the losing end of a battle and things weren’t getting better. But then, the first Tower Shift happened.”“All at once, every Tower in all four realms sank down into the ground and reappeared somewhere else. A few Towers moved over to a different realm, but most of them stayed in their original realm. Some Towers reappeared fairly close to each other, forming a Union that strengthened the Guardians they belonged to. But more importantly, there were a few Towers that fused with another, creating a completely new Tower and giving life four new Guardians.”“Your moms Towers fused and the new Tower that rose up next to theirs gave life to you. Terrance and Marina’s Towers fused to make Marshal and same with Sylvia and Sterling to create Goldie. And lastly, Barry and Claire’s Towers fused and Blaire was born.”“You four being born gave us a way to finally hold back the Wave of Fear. Because Barry and Claire’s Towers were now one, Barry could enter their Tower and prevent Claire from coming out and being reborn. Doing this meant that also wouldn’t be reborn and he’d be leaving his new daughter behind. But this was a sacrifice that Barry was willing to make to keep the Negaverse safe.”“Then we had peace. The Negaverse grew and evolved into the world that you and your friends grew up in. The Wave of Fear became a ghost story. You and your friends were blissfully unaware of the Fear that used to shroud the world. But then it came back. Unknown to us, Barry and Claire’s life force was in constant battle inside their Tower. Claire finally found a way to get the upper hand and escape his grasp. She was reborn and... well you know the rest. She killed you and your friends and you were all reborn for the very first time.”“Sonny, we did everything we could to make sure you and your friends wouldn’t grow up living a life like this. But I guess it was inevitable. Claire just kept escaping from her Tower and you kids now knew the truth. Of course you wanted to help, and who were we to stop you? But you guys didn’t grow using your powers for combat like your parents did. So even though we knew you guys were all powerful, we had to train you. Enrolling into the Academies was the only thing that made sense. We had set things up to where you’d be ready to enroll after a few Celestial Cycles (years), but then Barry and Claire’s Tower split right down the middle and both halves sank into the ground.”“This event sped everything up with you guys and we had to test you early. To no one’s surprise, you all did great. Now we are here, almost two CCs later and things are starting to get worse.”•••Sonny takes in all the information that Molly just gave him and analyzes some of the data on the computer screens and holograms. “So what is it that you’re trying to figure out?” Sonny asks.“Well the obvious question is why did Claire attack the Justice Academy? It doesn’t match any of her previous behaviors.”“So she’s changed tactics before? Are you guys just trying to get a step ahead of her then?”“Exactly. When Claire first began losing control and becoming the Wave of Fear, Claire still had enough control to where she would run away from Barry to keep him safe. So where she ended up was always pretty random. But no matter how hard she tried, she would always be drawn back to wherever Barry was. After Barry and Claire’s Towers fused and you kids were born, her humanity was long gone and she was able to run away from Barry with no problem at all. We didn’t notice what she was doing at first, but eventually we realized that she was going after her own daughter.”“The Wave was targeting Blaire? But why?”“We think it’s because Blaire took almost all of her mother’s Glyph powers when she came to life. Blaire coming to life weakened the Wave of Fear and it wanted its power back. At this point, we had enough forces to hold back Claire with ease. But the attacks were becoming for frequent. Then Claire’s Tower split from Barry’s half and nothing was holding her back anymore.”“But the map here shows that her half of the Tower went to the Chaos Realm. None of the Guardians in that realm should be able to get out. Not without help anyway.”“Exactly. Barry denies it, but his half of the Tower is still linked to Claire’s. She will rampage through the Chaos Realm until Barry has a moment of weakness and then she travels from her half of the Tower to his.”“And Barry’s half of the Tower has moved to the Prism Realm.”“So you see the problem. Our realm is suddenly in more danger than it has ever been. More than that, you kids were in danger.”Sonny looks at all the data again and then thinks back to the Academy entrance exams. “Is that why Blaire wasn’t chosen by any of the Headmasters?”“That is correct. They all knew having Blaire enrolled in their Academies would only result in more encounters with the Wave of Fear. Nobody wanted to take the risk of training her. After some thought, I realized that there was only one place where Blaire would be safe.”“The Divine Realm. So Blaire didn’t really get accepted into the Royal Academy, did she?”“Unfortunately not. Knowing that the only way into the Divine Realm is to be invited in, I knew it was the only place Blaire would truly be safe. And the plan worked.”“It did? Blaire left to the Royal Academy almost two CCs ago. The Wave is still constantly coming into the Prism Realm.”“But it’s no longer going after Blaire. With no access to the Divine Realm, we figured the Wave would be drawn to Barry again but instead it began going after his half of the Tower.”“Is the Wave strong enough to damage our Towers?”“Normally no. Nothing, not even us Guardians, can lay a scratch on any Towers. Even our own. But Barry and Claire’s Tower splitting in two exposed both halves. And ever since Blaire was sent away to the Divine Realm, the Wave of Fear has been slowly chipping away at Barry’s half of the Tower.”“What happens to Barry if the Wave destroys his Tower? And what happens to the Wave if it destroys its other half?”“Our best guess is that Barry won’t be able to be reborn. As far as the Wave, we really don’t know. But that isn’t the issue here.”“What do you mean that isn’t the issue? Blaire might lose both her parents again and she probably doesn’t even know!”“That’s... an unexpected emotional response.” Molly smiles and runs Sonny’s head. “You’re very logical and smart. All you kids are. But it’s nice to see how much you care for each other. Let your friendship with each other give you strength when things get tough. They are fighting for you just as much as you are fighting for them. Always remember, we are united.”Sonny takes a breath and regains his composure. “So what could be more of an issue than Barry’s Tower getting destroyed?”“As important as that is, Barry isn’t in any immediate danger. We are still holding off the Wave well enough for Barry’s Tower to be able to withstand a good hundred or so direct attacks from the Wave. And if the Wave doesn’t attack again right away, Barry’s Tower will regenerate a little. So the issue goes back to the Wave’s behavior.”“Is there anything you guys have done that would change the Wave’s target? It first went after Barry, then it moved its focus to Blaire when she was born, and then it went for Barry’s half of the Tower once Blaire went out of the Wave’s reach. If it wasn’t going after Barry’s Tower, what was it going after?”“After hearing what Barry had to say, I don’t think it was going after anything. When I say the Wave’s behavior was different, I mean that literally. The Wave traveled into the Prism Realm through Barry’s Tower and ignored it completely. Actually, let me just show you the footage.” Molly opens up a few files on the computer and pulls up a video of the Wave’s most recent attack. “What do you notice?”“Hmm...” Sonny watches as Barry effortlessly defends and then knocks down the Wave of Fear. “Normally it takes an entire army to take down the Wave of Fear, but this looks so easy for Barry.”“It’s too easy, actually. Now look at this.” Molly points at the screen.“Why aren’t either of them attacking?”“Barry still has hope that Claire will someday regain her humanity and turn back to normal. He notices something is off and is trying to talk to the Wave. But then...”“The Wave ran away. It’s behaving like before when Claire first started losing control.”“Not exactly. Keep watching.”Sonny watches the Wave of Fear traveling across the Midway and Barry is following close behind, not making contact and just observing. The Wave surges forward at full speed, only stopping to attack any and every creature that it sees. “Why is it... doing that?”“We aren’t sure. The Wave of Fear is known to destroy everything in its path but it has never gone out of its way to kill monsters like this. You can see here that the Wave even turns around to kill a monster that it missed.”“I’m not asking why it’s attacking the monsters. I’m asking about the attacks themselves. It looks like it doesn’t know what it’s doing.”“I don’t understand.”“Remember what you said to me before? You knew that me and my friends were powerful, but we still had to learn how to use our powers for combat. I remember the frustration of having to learn how to use my powers in a completely different way.”“So you think the Wave is trying to use its powers in a new way? I don’t know about that. Claire might still be in there somewhere, but the Wave doesn’t have that much awareness. It picks a target and then causes destruction trying to get to it. It shouldn’t get more complicated than that.”“That’s not what I’m saying. You can see that it isn’t using any new attacks against the creatures in the Midway. It looks like it’s practicing attacks that we’ve all seen before. Kind of like it forgot how to. But it knows what attacks to use so it’s more like someone else is controlling it.” Sonny fast forwards through some of the video. “It keeps doing this for a while but you can see here that it’s finally starting to ignore some of the monsters. Every one of its attacks is hitting its target and you can just tell by the way the Wave is running and flying around that it’s more comfortable than when it first appeared.” Sonny fast forwards a bit more. “Then here, the Wave wanders around aimlessly, ignoring all creatures, even the one in its path. Until...” Sonny pauses the video. The two Justice Academy Towers can barely be seen off in the distance. “This moment.”“This is the part the Wave sets course to your location.”“See, I don’t think that’s the case. If you look closely, you can see the Divine Realm up in the sky behind the Justice Towers. I remember looking up before going into battle and thinking that the Divine Realm looked like it was close enough for me to fly to myself. I know that’s impossible, but it looked that close to us at the time.”“So you think the Wave is going after Blaire again.”“Or maybe Lucian.”“Lucian!?” Molly is genuinely surprised. “Why would it go after him?”“I have no guesses as to why. But what I do know is that the Wave became hyper focused as soon as it saw the Divine Realm and that my sunbeam triggered it in some way.”“What do you mean?”Sonny fast forwards to his encounter with the Wave of Fear. “I annihilated a bunch of the Wave’s scales with my sunbeam, which can be mistaken as light magic. My attack got it angry enough to finally show us something new. It released a cloud of darkness and then it sniped me while I was distracted.”“That... oddly adds up...” Molly plugs herself into the computer and her eyes begin to glow blue. “Can it really be him?” She unplugs herself from the computer and her eyes go back to normal.“Can it be who, Molly?”“Nathan.” via /r/ImmersiveDaydreaming https://ift.tt/37pa6F4