19: Failing Defenses

Felicity Finds Family

A Transgender Super Coming of Age Adventure

From the Super Heroine Universe

Chapter 19: Failing Defenses

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Can Felicity and her family rescue Beth from Tharngara, the Oopsey Daisey attacking Hotel Colorado?

Copyright 2025 by Sasha Zarya Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Author's Note:

This novel, in it's entirety, is available on my Patreon. Patreon Free Members can read my new complete book by chapters, Things We Do for Love. This novel will be posted by chapters on Fridays, until the novel is complete on BCTS.

The tesseract's crystalline structure began to show hairline fractures as Oopsey Daisy's chaotic power surged beyond all previous levels. What had begun as targeted attacks against the divine construct's defenses had evolved into something far more devastating—a systematic assault that seemed to draw strength from the very act of destruction itself.

"The defenses are failing," Felicity gasped, her connection to the tesseract allowing her to feel every crack that appeared in its supposedly impenetrable structure. "The chaos is adapting faster than we can counter it."

The entity's form had grown to encompass nearly the entire lobby, its writhing mass of shadows and screaming light now pressing against the hotel's protective barriers with increasing aggression. But worse than its expansion was its evolution—the chaotic energies were becoming more focused, more intelligent, as if something was teaching it how to overcome their defenses.

Hope's warrior instincts recognized the tactical shift immediately. "This isn't random anymore. Something's directing it, coordinating its attacks against our specific weaknesses."

As if summoned by her words, the air in the lobby began to thicken with a presence that made the chaotic entity seem almost benevolent by comparison. The temperature dropped to levels that made breath visible, and the very walls seemed to recoil from what was manifesting in their midst.

From the depths of the chaos emerged something that predated nightmares—an ancient entity whose very existence was an affront to everything that lived and loved and hoped. Tharngara revealed itself slowly, its form shifting between states of being that human minds were not designed to comprehend. It was shadow and substance, void and violence, the primordial force that had existed before creation decided that suffering was not the only possibility.

"Tharngara," Hanna breathed, her ancient wisdom allowing her to recognize the entity despite never having encountered it directly. "The First Corruptor. The one who taught chaos how to feed on innocence."

The ancient entity's presence filled the lobby with malevolence so profound that it seemed to have physical weight. This was not merely evil—it was the absence of good, the negation of hope, the primordial force that had spent eons perfecting the art of turning love into despair.

"A primordial corruptor," Dr. Meredith Zvezda whispered, her mathematical understanding providing context for the impossible. "It doesn't just destroy—it transforms. It takes the purest emotions and inverts them, making love into obsession, hope into despair, family bonds into chains of suffering."

The tesseract blazed with recognition as Felicity's dimensional sight revealed the true horror of what they were facing. Tharngara was not just using the child as a conduit—it was feeding on her pain, drawing sustenance from her desperate need for family connections. The entity had turned the little girl's greatest strength into her greatest vulnerability.

"An opportunistic predator," Lynn said, her maternal instincts allowing her to perceive the cruel intelligence behind the corruption. "It targeted her specifically because she was searching for family. It used her longing for belonging as a weapon against her."

Through the swirling chaos, glimpses of the child's true nature continued to break through. Her name was Beth, and she had been wandering between dimensions for what felt like lifetimes, seeking the family connections that would give her existence meaning. Instead, she had encountered Tharngara, who had offered her exactly what she wanted—and then corrupted it into something that served its malevolent purposes.

"The ancient pattern," Hanna realized, her connection to the hotel's living systems allowing her to perceive the entity's history. "This isn't the first time. Tharngara has been corrupting vulnerable children across dimensions for eons, turning their need for love into fuel for chaos."

The revelation hit the assembled family like a physical blow. The little girl trapped within the chaotic entity was not unique—she was the latest in a long line of children who had been isolated, corrupted, and transformed into weapons of mass destruction. Tharngara's methodology was refined through countless applications, perfected through millennia of practice.

"Beth's corruption," Felicity whispered, her heart breaking as she perceived the child's history through her enhanced dimensional sight. "She was eight years old when she found the entity. She thought she was being adopted by a loving family."

The tesseract pulsed with indignation at the cosmic injustice, its infinite energy responding to the need for healing that lay beneath the corruption. But every time Felicity attempted to reach Beth with her abilities, the entity's defenses adapted, creating new layers of protection that seemed to anticipate her methods.

But Tharngara was not alone in its corruption. As the battle intensified, another presence began to manifest—one that carried the weight of guilt and self-loathing so profound that it had transformed into active malevolence.

"Peter," came a voice that held the cadence of someone who had once been good, once been protective, once been everything a guardian should be. "My name is Peter, and I failed them all."

The entity that emerged from the shadows was a corruption of everything sacred about child protection. Peter had once been a guardian spirit, assigned to protect vulnerable children as they navigated the dangers of interdimensional existence. But his failures had accumulated over the centuries, each lost child adding to his guilt until the weight of his inadequacy had transformed him into something that served the very forces he had once opposed.

"A corrupted guardian spirit," Miss Devereux observed, her clipboard crackling with readings that documented the entity's tragic history. "He was supposed to protect children who fell through dimensional cracks, but his failures consumed him."

Peter's form was a mockery of protection—armor that had been twisted into restraints, wings that had been corrupted into nets, eyes that had been transformed from watchfulness into surveillance. He moved with the jerky motions of someone fighting against his own nature, his guilt-driven malice making him more dangerous than pure evil could ever be.

"Strategic partnership," Hope realized, her warrior training recognizing the tactical nightmare they were facing. "Tharngara provides the raw corruption, Peter provides the knowledge of how to prevent rescue, and Oopsey Daisy provides the chaos that makes coordination impossible."

The three entities had formed a perfect system of mutual support. Tharngara fed on Beth's suffering, Peter used his knowledge of child protection to prevent rescue attempts, and the chaotic entity that Beth had become provided the power to maintain the corruption against any force that tried to break it.

"Guilt-driven malice," Lyra observed, her book writing itself at a frantic pace as she documented the psychological warfare being deployed against them. "Peter's using his knowledge of what children need to systematically deny it to them. He's become the opposite of everything he once stood for."

The corrupted guardian spirit began to target the family's emotional bonds with surgical precision. He sent waves of doubt toward Lynn, trying to convince her that her maternal instincts were inadequate. He whispered poison into Hanna's ancient wisdom, suggesting that her centuries of experience meant nothing against such coordinated evil. He attacked Hope's warrior confidence, reminding her of every battle she had fought alone.

"Psychological warfare," Felicity gasped, feeling the tesseract strain against the coordinated assault. "They're not just attacking our abilities—they're attacking our reasons for using them."

The three forces working together created a system of corruption that was greater than the sum of its parts. Tharngara's ancient malevolence provided the foundation, Peter's corrupted knowledge provided the strategy, and Beth's chaotic power provided the means. Together, they were overwhelming even the tesseract's unlimited energy.

"Coordinated corruption," Mr. Medici breathed, his instruments showing readings that painted a picture of systematic evil. "They've created a feedback loop where each entity's power amplifies the others. The more chaos Beth creates, the more suffering Tharngara can feed on, the more guilt Peter experiences, the more he helps maintain the corruption."

The hotel itself began to show signs of instability under the multiple threats. The reality distortions created by the coordinated assault were affecting the building's fundamental structure, causing walls to shift between dimensions and floors to exist in multiple realities simultaneously.

"Reality distortions," Dr. Zvezda observed, her mathematical understanding providing context for the impossible. "The hotel's dimensional anchors are being systematically corrupted. If this continues, the entire structure will collapse into chaos."

The family's desperate response pushed all their abilities beyond their intended limits. Lynn's maternal instincts expanded to encompass not just Beth but every child who had ever been corrupted by Tharngara's influence. Hanna's ancient wisdom reached across the eons, drawing on the collective knowledge of every guardian who had ever faced such corruption. Hope's warrior training evolved into something that could fight on multiple dimensional planes simultaneously.

"All abilities pushed beyond limits," Hope commanded, her voice carrying the authority of someone who had accepted that survival might require everything they had. "We break through their defenses or we die trying."

Felicity felt the tesseract strain against the coordinated evil as she channeled more power than she had ever attempted to use. The divine construct's crystalline structure began to show stress fractures as it struggled to maintain coherence under the unprecedented demands.

"Even unlimited energy," she gasped, her connection to the tesseract allowing her to feel its struggle, "is having trouble against this level of coordinated malevolence."

But even as the tesseract strained against the forces arrayed against them, Beth's true nature continued to break through the corruption in brief, precious moments. In those instants, she was not Oopsey Daisy the chaos entity—she was just a little girl who had been looking for a family and had found a nightmare instead.

"Help me," she whispered, her voice somehow carrying across the dimensional barriers that separated them. "I remember what it felt like to hope. I remember wanting to belong somewhere. Please don't let them take that away from me."

The child's brief appearances provided the only glimpse of hope in an increasingly desperate situation. Each time her true nature broke through the corruption, the family could see the person she had been before Tharngara's influence—innocent, loving, desperately seeking the connections that would make her feel whole.

"The child's will," Felicity realized, her voice tight with the strain of maintaining the tesseract's integrity against the coordinated assault. "She's still fighting. After everything they've done to her, she's still trying to break free."

The tesseract pulsed with recognition at Beth's courage, its infinite energy responding to the child's desperate struggle with something that transcended mere power. This was what the Goddess had meant about helping others become who they were meant to be—not just healing existing wounds, but fighting to prevent the creation of new ones.

"The coordination is breaking down," Hope observed, her warrior training recognizing subtle shifts in the entities' attack patterns. "Every time the child's true nature breaks through, it disrupts their system. They have to work harder to maintain the corruption."

The observation provided a crucial insight. The three entities' power was not self-sustaining—it required constant coordination to maintain the corruption against Beth's natural resistance. If they could find a way to support the child's will, to give her something to fight for, the entire system might collapse.

"The family bonds," Lynn realized, her maternal instincts providing the key to their strategy. "They're attacking our connections because those connections are what the child needs. If we can maintain our bonds despite their psychological warfare, we can provide the anchor that allows her to break free."

The tesseract blazed with recognition as the family unit reinforced their connections despite the coordinated assault. Lynn's maternal love, Hanna's ancient wisdom, Hope's protective instincts, and Felicity's healing power combined into something that transcended their individual abilities.

"Together," they said in unison, their voices carrying across the dimensional barriers with the force of absolute conviction. "We are family, and we don't abandon our own."

The declaration struck the coordinated corruption like a physical blow. For a moment, the three entities' perfect system wavered, their coordination disrupted by the sheer force of unconditional love being channeled through the tesseract's divine energy.

In that moment of vulnerability, Beth's true nature broke through more completely than before. Her face became fully visible through the corruption, her features showing not just fear but desperate hope and the beginning of recognition.

"Family," she whispered, her voice carrying the weight of someone who had finally found what she had been searching for across multiple dimensions. "You're offering me family."

The tesseract strained against the forces arrayed against them, its crystalline structure showing stress fractures that threatened to shatter the divine construct entirely. But in that moment of maximum danger, it also showed maximum potential—the unlimited power of divine love channeled through bonds that no force of corruption could break.

The battle for Beth's soul had reached its crucial phase. The ancient evil that had corrupted her was about to discover that some bonds were stronger than any system of malevolence, and that love—channeled through infinite divine energy and anchored in unshakeable family connections—could overcome even the most coordinated forces of darkness.

All seemed lost, but within that darkness, a single light continued to shine—the will of a child who had never stopped hoping for the family she had always deserved.