Consequences

  I spent the next few days going to and from the Rebellion HQ, discussing things out with Rachel and the top brass of the organization. From what Jessica had understood, I had to be in cahoots with them because… something about making the Celestial Ten stronger? The word ending and what not. Whatever the case, she had been left home alone each time the strongest man in the world went out with that stupid halloween mask to talk with the world’s most wanted criminals. Love Love had asked me a few times why she couldn’t go and join the Rebellion too, but I had insisted thoroughly that she shouldn’t. Instead, Jessica resigned herself to just cleaning the house, training with her power, and lounging around in boredom whenever he went out over there, which seemed to be most days. I don’t know how I feel about collaborating with terrorists but… She pursed her lips, thinking back at all the horrible things she had read about the Rebellion, but finally she sighed as she put on the news, seeing as she was done with all the chores. Well, I did sign up for the whole “ends justify the means” schtick, to be fair. If Kronos says it’s necessary, then it is. It’s not my place to question it.

  The news was the same as it had been the past two weeks; mostly talking about the New York incident. They kept replaying clips of the destruction being wrought by the gargantuan monster as well as a few blurry shots of Angellica cutting the creature in half with her “Excalibur.” It was admittedly really damn cool and impressive, but it had been milked so much it was getting boring. The news anchor continued, “And despite the unforgivable amount of destruction and loss of life, the Hero Association has yet to issue a statement beyond the short address from Empress a week ago! More importantly, the world wonders; Where is Kronos?? Why hasn’t he gone back in time and warned us all about this disaster yet? Is he withholding this intentionally? Do the lives of tens of thousands not matter to him?! Or has the legendary Number One’s power finally failed him-” Love Love bitterly turned off the TV, unable to bear the slander to the world’s literal savior any longer. She groaned in frustration, going to grab her phone, “Shut up. If he wasn’t here, we’d all be doomed,” she mumbled, as if arguing with the TV. I don’t really feel like a sidekick right now. More like a maid. She complained internally, feeling useless and like she was wasting time, doing nothing but sitting around all day. She lazily looked down at her phone, her eyes brightening as she saw a new message from Kevin pop up, almost as if he had pre planned to send the message right when she checked her phone. Maybe he did. She thought in slight distress, swallowing nervously.

  She raised an eyebrow, reading the message. “Jessica, I cannot say much for reasons I cannot elaborate on right now. If you really want to commit to staying at my side, take an airplane to the coordinates attached below. The money for the trip is in the middle drawer of my cabinet.” Jessica smirked, putting her phone in her pocket and pumping her fists excitedly, standing up. Finally!! I get to do SOMETHING!! She walked up to the cabinet and swung the doors open, reaching for the middle drawer, looking through the unorganized mess of bills sprawled on it. I really should organize this cabinet one of these days. That’s when she realized she had absolutely no idea how much a plane cost, since she had never even been in one. She hesitated, tempted to ask me, but decided she really didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of the world’s savior and her… Mentor? Master? Leader? She sighed and decided to go for the safe route and grab a couple thousand dollars, putting them into her new wallet and strutting out with a hum and a visible pep in her step. She had no qualms about having to leave and go somewhere else in the world on a whim like this; after all, if Kronos said she had to do something, she would do so without hesitation. He needs ME to help save the world, after all!!

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  “Let me get this right…” Empress began slowly, savoring the words as her intense violet eyes lay on the shrunken down and nervous Immortalis. She stood up from her desk, her eyes wide in disbelief, her head cocked and her jaw clenched, “You not only got robbed blind while you were in your own damn house, but you also let one of the top members of the Rebellion get away?!” Immortalis pursed his lips and looked away from the incredulous eyes of his boss. Empress might only be number Eight of the Celestial Ten, but she was still the president of the entire Association, making her his boss. Number Seven opened his mouth anxiously, “I- He played dirty!! And I didn’t know he was buying time, I was just treating the fight like it was a battle to the death!! L-Like norma-” Empress suddenly slammed down a single sheet of paper on the table with a loud thud, startling Immortalis and cutting him off. She looked him dead in the eyes and turned the paper around so it was facing him. John blinked a few times in confusion and looked down, a very blurry picture of Alexander’s cocky and smug face looking up at him in what was clearly a profile document. Immortalis gingerly picked up the paper, looking down at it with a raised eyebrow and then turning to Empress, “What… what is this supposed to be??” he asked with a tilt of his head.

  Eight sighed and with a pen tapped the rest of the paper, turning Immortalis’ attention to the fact that everything else other than the picture was pretty much empty. Huh? What’s this? The place where the name goes is empty, as well as height, weight, sex… He blinked a few times, looking up at Empress inquisitively. She crossed her arms and laid back on her chair, finally explaining herself, “We know next to nothing about the Rebellion’s top brass. All we have are blurry pictures and a vague description of their powers. I’ve been trying to profile these little rats for a long time now, so I want you to fill this out as best as you can.” John rubbed his chin, more so relieved that his boss didn’t seem to be too angry at him currently. “Sure thing, Eight,” Immortalis answered quickly, grabbing the pen and scribbling down approximate information on Alexander. Name, Alexander. No idea about surnames though. Power, electromancy or adjacent. Sex, male. Height, 170 cm more or less. Complexion? Uhh… Lean… I guess? Hair color, blonde bordering on yellow. Eye color, light green. So on and so forth. Immortalis was keenly aware of the piercing gaze of Empress burning into the top of his head as he continued to write, finally turning the paper around and handing it over to her. Empress sighed and studied the paper, giving a nod, “Your handwriting is awful, John,” she chastised him, making Immortalis slump slightly in shame. He even considered retorting to her snarkily, but decided that that was an awful idea right now.

  Empress was extremely irritated, that much was for sure. She was internally suppressing the urge to rip apart the young brat in front of her with her bare hands, even though he seemed the most meek and passive she had ever seen him. That battle must have left him quite shaken. He claims that the rebel ran away after getting heavily beaten; and it's not like that series of events would be out of the ordinary. I have no real reason to distrust that version of the story... But… something about the way he said it… and the way he is acting right now… makes me doubt his words. She sighed, putting that thought away and grabbed the paper, staring at it intently. As long as he didn’t lie about the end results, which it doesn’t seem like he did, I don’t care if he masks the chain of events for the sake of his image. Any information on these people is good information, as well. She concluded, being in a rather bad mood after having been led on a wild goose chase around Siberia for the past week, only to come back to stacks on stacks of reports about monster subjugation incidents. “Oh and, John, for your information,” she turned to look up at him, which prompted Immortalis to perk up and nod, showing that he was paying attention, “You do realize that the Association isn’t responsible for paying damages to your property or stolen assets, right? That’s all on you,” She set down the paper on top of the stack she had brought out, neatly organizing them. Immortalis’ eyes widened, his lips parting slightly, his crimson eyes staring in disbelief directly at the uninterested Empress’ own purple ones. “Wha?!” he began, putting his hands out in shock, “But I was STOLEN from!!” Empress sighed, tapping the table, looking up at him with apathy, “And? People get stolen from all the time, and it’s not their boss’ responsibility to pay them. If you want your money back so badly, go get it yourself.” Immortalis was aghast, clenching his fists while he stared up at Empress. Eight sighed and turned around to her computer, going back to working on filing information about the attack as well as the various reports she had to catch up on.

  Eventually John internalized that Empress wasn’t messing with him and was dead serious about what she had said. He pursed his lips and stared down at the table in burning hatred and anger. Some of it was directed at her, of course, since he knew that she had enough funds to pay him back. Part of it was directed at Alexander, the desire to rip into the electromancer and kill him bubbling up inside him. But most of it was actually directed at himself. “Empress,” Immortalis spoke up again, making the heroine raise an eyebrow and nod while not even turning to look at him, still typing away. Immortalis sighed, continuing, “I would appreciate it a lot if the story you- we spread around…” he hesitated, his eyes trailing on the floor while he tapped his foot nervously on the floor. Empress understood what he meant immediately, an amused chuckle escaping from her lips as she turned away from her computer and looked over at the despairing hero, “I get it, John. I was going to spread a more favorable version of the events to the public anyway for propaganda reasons. I wouldn’t even give the public a story at all were it not for the fact that famous people died. Do you want that same version to be the one all the important people hear as well?” Immortalis looked up at her, his eyes wide with surprise, a meager smile appearing on his lips, “Oh!! Yes, that… That would be excellent! Thank you,” he mumbled, sighing in relief. Empress chuckled again, turning to her computer once more, waving shoo at Immortalis, “Still, the rest of the Celestials will get the true version for the sake of security, but I’ll tell them to keep it quiet. You’re dismissed if that’s all.” Immortalis stood up, gave her a short bow, and hastily made his exit. Empress hummed to herself a song she had heard earlier, looking over at the security camera footage and at Immortalis walking down the hallways while pumping his fists excitedly before quickly acting composed and dignified as soon as an employee came into his line of sight. I can be such a generous boss sometimes~ Empress thought to herself in amusement. But then something very unexpected happened, watching as instead of immediately heading to the portal room - where Warpbreaker had set up a permanent portal network that led to the Association office closest to each of the Celestials’ residences - the hero instead headed deeper into the HQ. Empress stopped working, her eyes narrowing deep in thought and worry as she watched Immortalis give an employee attitude before making her guide him to the training area, since he had never been there before. She couldn’t believe her eyes. What the hell did that rebel do to you, John?! Empress pondered with pursed lips, turning back to look at the newly filled out document on Alexander.

  Immortalis followed behind the nervous employee as he finally reached the training rooms after what felt like forever. This place is so much more massive than I had expected. He thought to himself in annoyance. He looked around the place and at the many combat rooms, most of them with already a hero inside. Each of them had a visor over their heads, as well as a special white skin tight suit. “So,” Immortalis began, making the employee meep while turning to look at him nervously. She must have been at least ten years older than him, and yet she acted like a scared squirrel. Immortalis grinned, some of his ego coming back to him and his confidence gaining a boost. That's right. I’m a GOD to most people, a Celestial!!! Just one itty bitty loss won’t be changing that any time soon. He cleared his throat, “Explain to me how this all works, then. And be hasty about it!” he demanded. The woman nodded, quickly explaining that the visor would create a VR landscape and enemies to fight, while the suit existed for the VR world to track his movements and also to simulate impacts and stimulate nerves to create sensations to make the simulation as realistic as possible. All courtesy of Maquineer of course. John nodded along, genuinely paying attention as he walked towards the nearest empty room. He waved goodbye to the employee, signaling to her that he wanted to be left alone now. She gave a quick nod and bow, scurrying away. “Well…” John mumbled to himself, walking into the room and closing the door behind himself while undressing to put on the suit, “It’s not like I have anything to lose by being here, right?” He grabbed the lever that adjusted the level of pain the trainee would feel; ranging from light impacts to realistic, and turned the knob all the way to realistic aggressively. Here we go. How bad could it possibly be?

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

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  “You know something we don’t,” Falco told his friend explicitly, resting his chin on his hand while sitting across from Gray as they ate lunch. It wasn’t a question open for interpretation, but rather a statement to be held as fact. Falco’s orange hair swayed from side to side like a flickering flame, his bright orange eyes glowing slightly as he stared at his comrade’s face unwaveringly. It wasn’t an accusation either, as Falco didn’t show any contempt or anger or even frustration with his tone. Gray sighed, looking up from his food and giving the pyromancer a soft yet knowing smile, nodding slightly yet still nervously, his baby blue eyes wavering. “Yeah,” Gray confirmed, taking in another spoonful of the slop they ate every day, “I do.” Falco sighed and swiveled around in his chair, deep in thought. Gray’s been acting funny ever since that masked man came the first time around. He really sucks at hiding his feelings. Falco scratched his chin with a grimace, clearly not liking that things were being kept from him - or from everyone else for that matter. “I’m assuming you can’t tell us?” Falco asked with a raised eyebrow, his eyes dimming as he lit a small fire on the tip of his index finger and placed it underneath his plate in order to heat up his food. Gray nodded solemnly, looking away in shame as he pursed his lips, deep in thought. Falco sighed once more in defeat, deflating while placing his head against the table right as Alexander entered the room and approached the two of them. He had a cask around his left leg while the left side of his face and half of his torso was heavily bandaged. Alexander had just fought a Celestial after all; manipulation or no manipulation, it was never assumed he would escape unscathed.

  “Hey hey, Falco!! Gray too!!” he smirked, slumping down on the chair next to both of them, a wide grin on his face. Gray chuckled politely, glad to get a change of subject, “Are you here to gloat some more? Was it not enough gloating these past two weeks?” he demanded to know from his bandaged friend. Alexander laughed heartily, his cask filled with so many scribbles in sharpie that it was comical; little hearts, signatures, and the phone numbers of more than a dozen women - and even some men. Defeating a Celestial was no small feat, and the story had spread like wildfire - much to Rachel’s dismay. Even if the “victory” was literally just buying time, it didn’t seem to diminish the public's adoration. Falco rolled his eyes and slumped over even more, depressed that Alexander got a big fight before him. Alexander shook his head then, his grin dissipating as he took on a more serious expression, turning to look at the empty table where Rachel and Miguel would normally sit, seeing as they had gone to Vladivostok to pick a half-dead Oliver where the masked man had told them he would be. “Nah. I’ve done enough of that,” Alexander announced, turning back to face them, “I actually wanted to talk about important stuff. Things are finally moving along, huh? All this talk about global unrest and Cassandra being our only hope and whatever.” Immediately Gray pursed his lips, his mood souring, while Falco perked up and stared intensely into Alexander’s eyes. “We have to trust her,” Falco announced with a clenched fist, hitting the table lightly while staring at Alexander with narrowed eyes. The electromancer looked away with a sigh, his attempt at being discreet having failed entirely. Falco continued, “I know how you feel about her, Alex. You know we all feel like that about her,” his eyes glowing slightly once more. Gray nodded, following up, “Still, we’ve been with her for years now. We lived through that together, all of us. Plus, she’s the only one that can even stand a chance, we already discussed this. She’ll make the right decisions, I know it!” he finished with conviction. Alexander sighed and stared up at the ceiling, his frown deepening, “Fine,” he admitted, turning back to the both of them with an uncertain smile, “I’ll put my trust on her. I’m sure everything will go fine anyway!! Let’s go back to talking about how amazing I am, yeah?” Liars. You're both awful at lying. Falco thought grimly.

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  “Why am I here??” Love Love asked no one in particular, looking around one of the beaches of Cancun, Mexico. She was unsure of what she was doing, looking down at a coordinates app on her phone to now be standing exactly where Kevin had asked her. The beach was bustling, with children and families sunbathing, young couples and friend groups drinking expensive liquor. She pursed her lips as she watched the families enjoy themselves, sitting down on a random bench she found. She looked down at her phone and at the new message he had sent her a few hours ago; “Sneak in at night, and STAY HIDDEN when you do so.” Jessica sighed and slumped over, adjusting her sunhat slightly thanks to the insane heat. God, how I HATE cryptic messages like that!! This is so unlike him, too. The Kevin I know isn’t one to play around like this!!… Well, I’ve only known him a short amount of time so it’s not like I know him all that well either, to be fair... More than that, why had he sent her to a luxury beach of all places?? She felt so out of her environment here. Well, taking a look wouldn’t hurt. She was about to stand up and take a look around when out of nowhere something human sized slammed into the ground with a heavy thud right next to her.

  She jumped up, startled, falling off the bench comically. “GAH?!” she yowled out, the sand settling as whatever had just landed next to her stood up and dusted off its clothes. An apologetic voice rang out from the dust cloud, “Oh!! I’m so sorry for startling you, miss!!” Oh my god, I recognise that voice. Jessica thought in a stunned daze. No way. Is this for real?! THREE of them in a week?! This is getting ridiculous!! Jessica blinked a few times, catching her breath as she let out a deep sigh and shook her head to try and regain her bearings. The Austrian cyborg girl was meanwhile dusting herself, the airplane wings coming out of her back disappearing after a few seconds, making her grow in size slightly. “Really!! I’m so sorry!! Are you ok??” Maquineer continued, looking up from her clothes and at Love Love inquisitively in genuine nervousness. Jessica nodded a few times, still slightly rattled, tilting her head, standing up from where she was slowly. She looked down at the legendary Number Five, noticing that she was a lot shorter than she had anticipated. “O-Oh!! You’re worried about me…? T-That’s fine!! Really!! You- Ahem!! You’re probably very busy with important and interesting things right now, yes?” Jessica managed to stutter out, smiling nervously while doing her best to not ogle the Celestial in awe. Holy shit. Kevin, what the hell are you getting me into?! Oh god, act natural!!

  Maquineer pouted, her eyes whirring like camera lenses, deep in thought. “I wouldn’t really call it interesting… More so tedious, really,” she muttered, tapping her inflated cheek with a finger while looking over at the bustling beach, more than one person having turned around at the sound of something hard hitting the sand and Jessicas’ subsequent yelp. She shrugged and then turned towards Jessica, smiling nervously and clasping her hands together like a child anxious to end a conversation and get back to playing. “W-Well anyway, if you’re okay and nothing bad happened at all… I… I’ll get going, yeah?? That’s not rude, is it??” she asked innocently, her voice full of uncertainty and hope, quickly turning around to look at the crowd of people that were slowly starting to recognise the Celestial and were quickly approaching, gulping. Love Love blinked a few times, tilting her head to the side as she stared down at the odd little creature in front of her. This is Maquineer? I don’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. She seems more nervous than me!! Jessica nodded slowly, answering the anxious Celestial, “Don’t worry!! Seriously, it’s okay!” she started, although a small devilish smirk of pride appeared on the edges of her face.

  I don’t feel as rattled as I did when I met Kronos and Immortalis. Love Love noted, leaning forwards to stare at Maquineer’s face as if analysing it, making the Celestial lean backwards in turn. Maybe I’m just getting desensitized to Celestials thanks to Kevin and John. “Just be more careful next time, okay?” Jessica insisted to Maquineer, shaking her hand a small amount. Maquineer nodded rapidly a few times, her eyebrows furrowed. What a weird girl. The celestial thought to herself paradoxically. This is really unlike how everyone else has reacted to my presence before. She quickly snapped out of it, however, and finished her apology, “Y-yeah, okay!! Of course. Again, umm- sorry for scaring you! And… uhh, b-bye!!” she muttered unsure of herself before quickly sprinting away before anyone else could get close enough to bother her, barely escaping the horde by creating a motorcycle with a snap of her fingers and riding off on it. Love Love watched her leave with a curious raised eyebrow, wondering if such a shy girl could really be a Celestial. A small gathering of people shortly thereafter swarmed Jessica with questions, making her understand why Five had been so impatient to leave.

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  Horde took a deep breath followed by a yawn as he sat down on the corpse of a skinless elephant-like monster. He jumped off the creature with a grunt, looking around to try and spot the corpse of the other him that he had brought along in order to subjugate the creature. “What a waste,” he thought out loud, seeing as there was no one else there but the vultures that were sure to come soon. He finally found it under a nearby tree, leaning down and picking up her corpse and putting her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. He turned around to leave, only for his eyes to narrow as he was now face-to-face with the disfigured and flattened face of a crocodile on the body of a spider with human limbs, the creature snarling to make a noise that shouldn’t belong to any of its constituent parts. “Another one?? So be it,” Two sighed, coming to terms with this baffling fact, dropping down his female counterpart and quickly slinging the rifle he had brought with him over his shoulder, taking aim at the creatures’ eyes.

  Various of Horde’s bodies all began to move in sync then and there, getting on their government issued computers and beginning to hack into the system in tandem, discreetly. I’m going to have to take measures more drastic than I expected. A corpse of the Horde was currently being feasted upon by a hawk-like creature with the face of a woman in the jungles of Brazil. Another of him was currently being smashed into a bloody pulp by a stone golem in the Himalayas. Another of her was being taken apart piece by piece by a pack of fungi with teeth. I can’t keep things up like this, not with the resources I have, not with the bodies I’m using. Horde closed his eyes while laying down on a bed in Malaysia, having come to a conclusion. It’s not just that. Number One - Number Zero, I should say - made it very clear that things would become more turbulent from now on. After all, why else would he need to awaken such a powerful being like Angellica at the cost of thousands of lives and possibly his entire reputation and standing? One of him, currently in the middle of Texas, sighed as he checked the stockpile of weapons one last time to make sure, closing a box containing dozens of rifles and grenades with a thud. I’m going to have to make some sacrifices. It’s… my duty. 10% of the Horde mobilized that day, signing up to join their local militaries. Number Two weeped until the following morning.