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Chapter 08
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“Hey there, Warren!” Tatiana strutted into the room, not caring that her pregnancy was definitely showing after five months or more. In fact, she might have been damn proud of the baby now growing inside of her.

Wyatt walked in with her, carrying a box. He said, “Hey Warren. Did we miss anything?”

Warren hugged Tatiana and Wyatt. “So much to say all at once. Is that box for me?”

“We found it on the front doorstep. We weren’t sure if you felt boxed in enough already or not. Ow.” Tatiana had smacked Wyatt up the backside of his head.

“Those delivery guys were supposed to at least ring the bell. Thanks for this; it’s the last part I needed to complete something of mine. So, Tatiana, questions. Lots of questions.”

“Shoot,” said Tatiana. “But ask me on the way to the kitchen. I need some juice right now.”

“OK, so when’s the baby due? Do you know what gender yet? How’s your ‘coffee girl’ and ‘expecting mother’ life away from all of the heroics? And did you really just teleport us to the kitchen when it was less than fifteen feet away?”

“We’re leaving it a mystery, but the baby will be due four months from this Sunday.” She opened a bottle of apple juice and gulped down half of it. “Oh, I miss going out and kicking some bad guy ass, but life has been pretty calm when my baby isn’t trying to imitate my martial arts moves. Though, I have had a few customers I wish my baby would jump out and beat the living snot out of them.”

“And the teleportation?”

“Because I felt like it. The doctor says to keep it down, so I only do it when I really need to be somewhere. She also confirmed what you told me months ago, so I don’t need to worry about my child mutating from nanomachines like I did several years ago; not unless another satellite drops on them.” She took another drink. The apple juice was fully drained in an instant, with zero chance of survival. “So, how’s your love life been?”

Warren sighed and said, “Same girlfriend as before. It’s still proving difficult to introduce her to everyone, but we’re trying. Believe it or not, the last woman I had to turn down was Mary’s sister.”

“Nuh-uh! Wyatt didn’t tell me this.”

Warren was walking by the guest bedroom when Jackie called out. “Hey, science-magician guy, I have a very important question for you. Which do you like more, mine or Mary’s?” She was pulling up her shirt and bra so Warren could see her breasts in all their glory.

“Uhh . . .”

“. . . so I was a perfect gentleman, and told her that I was already seeing that movie with the woman of my dreams.”

Tatiana laughed and said, “Wow. Wyatt told me she was some sort of hardcore religious woman.”

“She was, still might be, but I think she broke when her faith was tested by her own superpowers. It’s a shame, really. At least she looked like she was recovering and becoming a new woman by the time she left here.”

“I wish her good luck. What are you working on now?”

“Several things, as usual. I’m soundproofing some of the walls around here; I just got done with a couple areas including the two guest bedrooms.”

“Ooh, Wyatt and I should check that out, just like the last time you soundproofed our base’s walls. What else?”

“I’m rebuilding that contraption that I had made a few months ago – the one that caused as much trouble as it solved. This time, I have all the right parts instead of makeshift ones, so I can do it right, and even add a few features.”

“These features aren’t going to kill us, are they?” She smirked toward Warren.

“My inventions are never that bad. What’s with everyone? Wait, don’t answer that. So, other than that, the only other big projects involve helping someone with a cryogenics issue, and perfecting something that would negate world-wide power suppression for a time.”

Wyatt asked, “You can do that?”

“Mary could when she was a succubus. I’m trying to work off of my limited readings from that day, but they’re not enough. I might have to track down a couple powerful succubi and run some tests. That will have to wait a little bit, I’m afraid.”

“Is it because of the current crisis, whatever it is?”

“That’s right. It looks like I’m going to have to put my gadgets and battle magic to good use again, but it’s too early to tell.”

“That’s why Walter called me in, I think. I came here early thinking more people were around so we could visit.”

All three of them sat or stood around the room in awkward silence. Even though Mortar Mage and Psi Wizard had similarities in their monikers, they were perhaps unable to relate when it came to so many other things. Wyatt was a psychic; one who preferred and specialized in working with emotions and healing energy, but a psychic nonetheless. Psychics made Warren uneasy, with the one exception being the man before him.

Tatiana said, “Since we have time to kill, would you mind if Wyatt and I check out one of the guest bedrooms like we did for the old base?”

“Sure,” said Warren.

She forced a few laughs, and then Tatiana guided Wyatt toward the foyer, apparently not realizing that there was another stairway closer nearby. Either that, or she was leaving.

Once the couple was out of sight, Warren called out, “After the stairs, it’s the second door on the left!”

Tatiana and Wyatt each said their thanks, with their steps up the stairs echoing behind them.

“Alright then,” said Warren to himself, “if that’s not going to change, then I guess I better focus and get this thing done before the others show up.”

He opened the newly delivered package, and retrieved the final component.

Wordless chanting and the swaying foot soldiers added to the ominous atmosphere that Devon witness as he entered the main chamber to witness the ritual. In the middle of the temple was the altar, upon which there were the bones and hair of a young woman.

“You should feel honored,” said Nervaeus, who entered after Devon did. “Our soldiers here are usually the closest mortals come to seeing this ritual.”

“The closest? What do you mean?” asked Devon.

“Take that other mortal I found you with. He’s in this room. Standing there, and there, and possibly over there. Or maybe he’s anywhere.”

“Be careful, Nervaeus,” said Cingeteyrn. Devon had no idea when or where he entered. “Someone might get the idea that this mortal can be omnipresent. It matters not where the pieces have gone, for the soldiers simply are.”

“Mind your own affairs. You have the lady to accompany.”

“So I do.” He smiled, stretching his gaunt features, and vanished like evaporating water.

Seconds later, Cingeteyrn appeared again, this time with Vidnyanta by his side. Judging by her show of strength earlier, she did not need to be walked to the altar, but Cingeteyrn remained like a man lending his pride and joy to another.

“Damn theatrics,” mumbled Nervaeus.

Vidnyanta stood over the bones, and raised a goblet. “Tonight,” she declared, “I take this body, perished before her time, for my own. So begins the ritual.”

Then she drank from the goblet.

“You’re doing what?” repeated Mary. “Warren, when you first built that thing, you knocked out the power in several city blocks.”

Warren said, “I know, but it’ll be different this time. I made upgrades to make it more stable, and have been ordering the correct parts. Remember? Nothing’s exploded or gone crazy in the tests that I’ve run since then.”

“That we know of.” Kyra chimed in with Mary in unison.

“All I have to do is flip the switch, and we can spot every metahuman and mage in an area around the city, and measure their power. We can use this to find any villain or missing hero, assuming we know how every mutant or magic user measures to one another in terms of power. It’s kind of like seeing a forest for the first time, and needing to record every plant. It’s still a process, but here we go. On the count of three. One, two, three!” Warren flipped the main switch on the scanner.

. . . And absolutely nothing happened. Mary wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or scared. After her recent nightmare and the face she had seen in the city crowd earlier, she wanted it to be a relief.

“Perfect! Now, let’s access the computer, and—“

He was interrupted by the lights flickering around the room. Before anyone could speak up about it, the lights went out.

“Warren,” said everyone.

He replied, “That wasn’t me, I don’t think.” The lights turned on again. “There, see? We’re good to go, and it appears that the computer didn’t shut . . . off.” The lights went out again.

Then back on.

Then off again.

“Look!” Kyra shouted, pointing out the window. The whole city was affected, regardless of whether the buildings had generators or relied on the power grid.

Every computer, phone, or computer-controlled set of lights appeared to be hacked. Messages began to appear that made little to no sense to anyone.

Within one bank, a small gang was attempting a heist when the lights turned on and off, both inside and outside of the building. They panicked, and half of them scrambled, tripping the alarms on their way out.

In Talos, the bustling skyscraper district, the lights switched on and off. People, in their confusion, collided with one another in their cars. Along the front and back of a trio of towers, the lights began to spell out “LIGHTS GO ON” and “LIGHTS GO OUT” alternatively.

Some message scrolling boards changed to read, “I can hear you,” or “It’s so cold here.”

A few buildings around the city, which had large television monitors for people to see from across the street, were affected as well. Their regular programming glitched out, and was replaced with a recording of women dancing a Bon Odori.

Mai, walking home from work, spotted the Japanese dancers on one screen. She sent one hand up to her mouth, and thought once again of the little girl she had lost.

No one minded the single plume of green light in the distance, where someone was working dangerous magic. The phenomenon within the city stole away far too much attention for it to be noticed by anyone close enough to see it.

Moments into the phenomenon, a bloodcurdling scream belonging to a woman sounded throughout the entire Paragon area. It shattered numerous windows near the center of the city, and even caused yet another building in the disfigured Faultline district to crumple.

As the scream echoed and faded, the lights continued to change amidst the night-fallen city.

Soundproof walls. Wonderful, glorious, soundproof walls! Tatiana moaned in ecstasy as her husband continued to thrust deeper and deeper into her straddling body. She could barely breathe. Barely think. She didn’t want to, because she felt so good.

The lights outside, and above them, were going in and out.

“Déjà vu. Déjà vu! DEEE-JJAAAA VVUUUUUUU…!” She said, losing what was left of her mind to a second climax.

Electrical discharges startled everyone in the room. Warren exclaimed, “Whoa!” and took a step back from the computer screens while shielding his face with an arm.

Kyra asked, “What’s happening?”

“There’s an unnaturally high current,” Warren explained. “I need to get closer so I can investigate the source. Jeff, could you give me a little help with that power of yours?”

Jeff raised his arms as if to use his darkness powers on the computer screens, but one last surge blasted its way out of them, like a white hot knife through black cloth. The whole room went dark after that.

The whole city went dark.

All it left was the sound of a girl weeping. It wasn’t Kyra. She looked around in the darkness, though she realized how futile that was.

“Mary, are you alright?” Kyra asked.

“I’m fine,” said Mary. “You?”

“Yeah. Jeff?”

Jeff replied, “No problems here. But, if you two are fine, then who’s . . . ?”

Kyra looked in the direction of the crying girl, who she could not see at first. “Warren?” The lights turned back on, however, and the sight was even more confusing. An unconscious Warren lay on the ground. On top of him was a woman with dark brown, nearly black, hair, a mild tone to her skin, and a slant in her eyes.

Her face was largely hidden as the mysterious, naked woman heaved and cried into Warren’s chest.

Jeff let down his crossed arms, and Mary said, “It can’t be.”

The young woman stood up, her head low, and her scraggly shoulder-length hair covering half of her facial features. “Ohmie,” she said, “Jeffers, Mary; help me.” She had taken a step closer, but collapsed like a lifeless doll.

Mary was the one to catch her with her quick reflexes.