//------------------------------// // 132 - Brave New World, Part 2 // Story: Songs of the Spheres // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Eve needed some way to cope with what was going on. Corona was decidedly unavailable for emotional support at the moment – besides testing her wings and realizing they still worked, she hadn’t done anything but look forlornly at the sky and cry from time to time. Eve only put a comforting wing around her some of those time. Rarely did she talk. She was afraid of what she’d do if she did. Raging Sights didn’t say much either, unless Corona addressed it directly. So Eve had made a list. She didn’t have any paper, but she was able to find a patch of dirt and a stick. Her hooves still worked for holding things, and simply making a list was comforting. Even if it wasn’t a very nice list. Things we know: The collapse didn’t go as planned. Physics is not even close to standard. Not quite Mushroom Galaxus. The Dark Tower still exists. The world we are on is a patchwork world. Passive magic exists. Active magic is deactivated. We survived. Together. T A breeze came through and blew Eve’s list away. She let out a sharp enraged scream and rammed her hooves into the ground. A spark shot out of her horn, hitting the ground and sending some dust flying. She was elated for a moment – magic must be returning slowly! That was something to be excited about! But then she remembered – she had the Element of Magic in her crown, an artifact that maintained its power as part of the ‘passive magic’. For all she knew it was just the energy from the Element seeping into her. Why is my connection to the Element so… so fuzzy? I can feel it, but it’s… like Raging Sights, it might take time. There’s clearly magic in this world, it’s just a matter of figuring out how to use it. Yes, Eve, that’s right, figure it out. You can do this. You’re the Bearer of the Element of Magic itself, you can do this! She took in a breath, closed her eyes, and focused. She knitted her brow and fixated on simply lighting her horn. She tried putting effort into it, just forcing thought into her horn, but nothing happened. So, instead, she tried to feel the magic around her horn. To prod it lightly, testing the waters as it were. She felt a response from the sea around her, a slight shifting of the local magic field, or aether. Progress. Instead of trying to force it, she allowed her effort to meander around like a sea, poking, testing, feeling, shifting with the winds of magic. Then she felt it – the Element of Magic. She had done just enough moving around the new magic to find the connection to the artifact again. A solid connection. The Element of Magic flashed brightly and her horn lit up. “Yes!” She cheered. “Yes yes yes yes yes!” Now that she had a fix on the Element of Magic, she could sense more. She actually understood how the magic worked in this New World, how to grab hold of it. She knew it was thanks to the Element of Magic this was possible at all – even with all her magical training the nuanced nature of the New World would have baffled her for days – but she didn’t care. She had some magic again. She focused… and lifted the stick in her telekinesis. It took about a hundred times more effort than it should have, but that was progress. “Of course! Of course! When we traveled the multiverse, we were naturally able to transform our magic to use whatever type of arcane energy was in the universe at the time! But that doesn’t have to be the case here! We don’t just automatically know how to use magic according to the rules of this world because our rules don’t exist anymore!” She laughed. “It’s just a matter of relearning everything! Difficult, but it should be possi-” She noticed Corona was staring at her and she shut up quickly. “…Hi.” “Hey,” Corona said, awkwardly twiddling with her thumbs. “That’s… great. Can…” “I won’t be able to teach you quickly. Maybe with time. I… I had the Element of Magic to help me.” “Ah…” Corona looked back at the sky. “I’ve found something.” “Hmm?” “The way the planets move across the sky,” she said, pointing up. “I’ve been watching them closely. There’s… There’s a pattern. They seem to meander randomly, but they’re placed on fixed spheres. Spheres within spheres within spheres…” She pointed toward a horizon. “There’s a center to this pattern. A place around which everything orbits.” “…Interesting. How does that help us?” “Somewhere to go,” Corona said, looking down. “…A goal.” “How are we going to get off this planet?” “You’re figuring out magic. …Shouldn’t be too hard, right?” “Too hard? It’ll be very hard! And…” She caught herself. She fell silent; looking around at the grassy land they had found themselves in. A feeling of not belonging here washed over her. A goal… “…All right. You’re right. The center… That’d be something to go for, at least. Something. And if it is the center, everyone else would probably try to head there as well. It’s… It’s a quest.” She forced a smile. “Something to strive for.” Corona nodded, no smile coming to her face. “Thank you.” Eve felt her body tense up and blood rush into her face – but she bit it back. “Don’t mention it.” She forced herself to breathe steady. “First we need to figure out exactly how the cosmology and astronomy of this world works, beyond the spherical orbits…” ~~~ Slowly but surely, Burgerbelle’s mind came to terms with the new body it was in. She stood up and stretched her legs, still baffled at how anyone could move without instantly-updating frames. She had to move her arm through all the points between where it started and its final position, not just make it appear wherever she wanted. She smacked her lips – talking came naturally but it still felt bizarre. She also had small pains in her legs – probably from sitting under the metal awkwardly for so long. She needed to stretch to feel right. Her eyes felt dry. Oh, I probably need to blink. That was going to take a while to learn. She held out her fingers and examined them closely. There was more detail on them than ever before. Still as white as ever, but she could see nails, wrinkles in the knuckles, and fingerprint swirls. She ran another hand through her hair to feel the endless strands. It felt good. She smiled. Then she had a thought. Maybe… She reached into her hair and tried to pull something out. All she managed to do was yank on her hair and drive pain into her scalp. “Ow!” Thrackerzod looked up from the wreckage she was clearing. “What is it?” “I just tried to pull a trumpet out of nowhere…” Burgerbelle rubbed her head. “Didn’t work.” “Magic’s limited,” Thrackerzod explained. “I don’t know exactly how or why, but it is.” Burgerbelle took a look around. She didn’t see Mattie – had she gone somewhere? – but she did see a couple other Sweeties. There was the black Sweetie, Onyx, and the angel, Servitude. Onyx was still out cold, but Servitude was up and about helping Thrackerzod root through the wreckage despite a broken wing. She managed to pull a standard-looking Sweetie out and set her beside Onyx. “She’s not doing good,” Servitude said, holding a hand to her neck. “Weak pulse.” “When Mattie’s done with the medical unit, we can get her in there,” Thrackerzod said. “There’s a little problem with that,” Mattie said, descending down the stairs. Behind her was a white woman with black eyes in a simple hospital gown. The ribbony tendrils on her back had been tied up into a large, manageable bow just below her shoulders. The woman seemed lost, confused, and a bit bewildered. “Nettle here got put right in. It healed virtually everything and was working on the scrapes, and then it up and loses power!” Servitude blinked. “…The medical unit powers itself from ambient magic. That clearly exists since the lights are on…” “Maybe the AI screwed it up,” Thrackerzod observed. “They weren’t working a minute ago.” “It still works, it’s just out of power,” Mattie reminded her. “…Or it thinks it is. I’ll be honest, I don’t have the least idea how technology works.” Burgerbelle walked up to one of the wall consoles and pressed a button. A million error messages popped up. “…Geez…” “Yeah, the AI is having serious difficulty,” Servitude explained. “It’s just barely got communications and medical equipment working. From what little I’ve been able to get from the reports, it’s having to fight its own programming codes to work in this environment. We aren’t anywhere close to full capacity.” Burgerbelle pushed a few more buttons, trying to get out of all the errors on the screen. “What is working?” She had to back out a few times since she wasn’t that accurate with her fingers just yet. Mattie shrugged. “Ain’t got a clue. We’re gonna have to do something for the Sweetie here though…” “I can take her to a hospital,” Servitude said. “A few blocks down – their unit shouldn’t be out of power. …Maybe. I’m not sure.” “Do that,” Thrackerzod said. Servitude nodded, hoisting the Sweetie over her shoulder – wincing at the pain in her wing. “Good to see you up and about, Nettle.” Nettle looked to her with an inscrutable expression. “…Sure.” “Just try to survive. We’ll get through this.” Servitude headed for the door. She didn’t get far – Engineetie, the Sweetie Belle engineer, kicked the door open, a comically oversized wrench in her hooves. “We’ve got a big problem and need to evacuate the city stat.” Everyone turned to Mattie – including Thrackerzod. She let out a sigh and began muttering under her breath. “Buggers putting me in charge… Aight! Engineetie, what’s the problem?” “One of the main reactor cores was unable to shut itself off when the collapse occurred. The mundane inhibition system had a mechanical failure, and the backups stopped working about… five minutes ago when they ran out of magic to drain.” “Ran out of magic?” Servitude asked. “Yes. Ran out of magic. The New World apparently has a finite amount of magic at any given location! If you keep draining it, it drops to zero and everything stops working! And that made one of our reactors fail. It’s currently undergoing meltdown and is starting to turn the core of Celestia City into an irradiated wasteland!” Mattie blinked. “…How long do we have?” “Before Celestia City melts? Days. Before the radiation gets out of the central compartments and starts killing people? It’s already started affecting the central areas. Something could explode at any minute!” “The AI needs to tell everyone about this!” Thrackerzod announced. “Why isn’t it ordering an evacuation.” “I don’t think it believed me,” Engineetie explained. “I didn’t have any ‘authority’ and it thought I was panicking. Maybe I was panicking? But you all can do something, order an evacuation, right?” Thrackerzod bit her lip. “Maybe. But how do we…” “I’ve got it here,” Burgerbelle said, pointing at her screen. “Error messages removed. …You should be able to communicate with your credentials.” Thrackerzod ran to the console and quickly realized she didn’t have fingers for typing. “Servitude!” Servitude put the injured Sweetie down gently and ran to the console. She typed up a quick message, complete with Thrackerzod’s security code, and sent it. A second later the AI’s voice rang out through the whole city. “Citizens, the order has been given to abandon Celestia City. Please proceed in a calm, orderly fashion to any escape pods or vessels with access to the outside. Some systems within these devices are currently not functioning, but priority has been given to their repair. Help anyone you can off the City.” And then seconds later came a second message. “A nearby habitable planet has been identified as a safe haven. All ships with operational communications within the City have been equipped with a route. For those without such operation, the world is currently located above the Pillar of Light in district 7-Z.” “That’s our cue to get out of here,” Mattie said. “What about all the others?” Servitude asked. “Do you want to risk vaporization?” Engineetie retorted. “We can’t fix the reactor without magic and we don’t have any! We just don’t know how long we have!” “Not enough,” Mattie said. “Do we know if Swip made it?” “She did,” Servitude said. “But she’s not going to be able to teleport us out…” “Close enough,” Thrackerzod said. “Everyone, docking basement.” Thrackerzod picked up Onyx while Engineetie took the injured one. The League ran down the stairs to one of the deeper basements, where they housed their personal crafts. The largest of these was an dolphin-shaped off-white ship with a single protruding fin from the top. The edges of the ship were lined with pastel pink and purple colors. The docking ramp was already down, inviting all of them inside the main cargo hold. There was currently nothing stored there, making the area decidedly empty aside from the chairs that lined the walls. “Strap in!” Mattie ordered, climbing into a chair. Everyone scrambled into a seat and the unconscious Sweeties were strapped in. “Swip, can you launch?” A screen in the ceiling buzzed to life, displaying a virtual-reality version of Sweetie Belle with soft brown skin. “I think so. Shields and FTL aren’t working, but the thrusters are operational.” “Then launch!” “Aye-aye!” Swip saluted – then cut her virtual-reality feed so she could focus on driving. Her engines activated and she launched forward, into one of Celestia City’s many ship-tubes. There was a loud thunk that shook the entire cabin, making everyone very glad they were strapped in. “Sorry!” Swip said. “I don’t have any dampeners – we’ll have to accelerate slower than usual!” “It’s fine, just get us away,” Thrackerzod said. She glanced to the injured Sweetie with concern. She probably wasn’t going to make it. On the other side of the room, Burgerbelle turned to Nettle. “Heh. This… sure is something, isn’t it? All the… sensation.” Nettle nodded slowly, her eyes darting around as she tried to take everything in. A deeply dissatisfied frown appeared on her features. “I… I created a powerful body. This isn’t powerful. This is weak.” “At least you created yours,” Burgerbelle commented. “I don’t even know what this one’s deal is...” “I don’t understand why you feel t-” There was another tremor. “Uh oh,” Swip said. “Uh, don’t panic, but I think something behind us just exploded.” “You think?” Engineetie blurted. “Okay, fine, I know. And there’s fire coming right for us…” Swip had to accelerate faster, so she fired her boosters again. Without inertial dampeners, the full G forces of such an acceleration were felt by everyone in the cabin. Servitude let out the largest scream of pain as her broken wing was forced into an unnatural position. They were able to outrun the explosion. Swip’s engines pulsed with fire and threw them out of Celestia City’s ship-tunnels and into open space. They sailed past the outer skyscrapers of the city as the ground beneath them exploded. They were able to see a couple other ships flying in front and alongside them, all escaping the pull of Celestia City. “Yes!” Engineetie called. “We li-woah.” Everyone was suddenly overcome by a feeling of weightlessness. “Celestia City’s gravity just… vanished!” Swip announced. “I have no idea why but now we’re hurtling a little too fast…” “Can you correct?” “Yeah, but not everyone can. An- Oh, Celestia…” The screen switched to show an image of Celestia City. Most of it was still intact, but three separate locations were now raging balls of fire. Eventually, those fires would grow as the reactor heated the city more and more, reducing the world into molten slag. “…That’s depressing…” Mattie commented. Thrackerzod hung her head, wordlessly. Mattie coughed. “Swip, start coordinating with the other ships and uh… get us all to that planet. So we can… plan.” “Sure-thing! Attention, this is Swip of the League of Sweetie Belles. We need to work together to ensure everyone without the correct functionality can make it to the surface of the planet. We’ll have to work in a zero gravity environment, so I’ll need the help of any functional navigation intelligences to – hold on. Incoming!” “Incoming!?” Burgerbelle blurted. “It’s red, mostly intangible, and it – taking evasive actions!” Swip shut off her speech unit and devoted all her resources to facing off against whatever the incoming thing was. All the screens went dark and the lights turned off. There was a bright flash… …and then the flash dissipated. The lights flickered back on and Swip’s screens flickered back to life. “…What was that!?” Servitude demanded. “I… I don’t know,” Swip admitted. “It… I couldn’t get good readings without all my sensors, it hit us, there was a lot of light… and now we’re somewhere else. I… I don’t see any of the other ships or Celestia City anywhere.” There was silence in the room for a few moments. Servitude checked the injured Sweetie’s pulse. “…She’s dead.” Burgerbelle winced, trying not to burst into tears. “…What do we do now?” Swip asked. “I… I don’t know,” Thrackerzod said, voice wavering. Mattie gulped and shook her head. “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to find out where we are. We’re going to find out what happened. We’re going to find whatever’s left of Celestia City and Merodi Universalis. We’re not going to let some ‘red thing’ destroy us.” She stamped her hoof on the ground. “We’re going to find everyone and strap them down so they can’t get lost again!” Burgerbelle, despite herself, let out a snort. “Strap them down?” “Well, yeah. It’s called a metaphor. Not as good as a montage, but I’m going with what I have.” She forced a smirk. “We’re going to build it all back up, balls to whoever says otherwise. Just because the New World is working against us, doesn’t mean we won’t keep doing what we want to spite them!” She took out one of her whips in her hoof and cracked it in the air. “We don’t give a smarmy quip about what the world says our fate is, we make the damn thing ourselves!” She turned around for dramatic effect. “Swip, don’t stop looking for signs of Merodi Universalis or other ships. We’re going to find them.” “Aye-aye, uh… captain?” “Oh, crikey, no, no, that won’t do. I could be… a Mistress.” “…We’ll need to change that title.” “Mmmm, no I don’t think so.” ~~~ Aslan had told Valentine that Pinkie’s Party had appeared outside the church shortly after the collapse. The ambassador hadn’t really believed it until they walked in. Pinkie, Jotaro, Vriska, Pidge… and Flutterfree. Even without Nova, they still looked like a unit. Like they belonged together. When they walked into the church, everyone inside fell silent. There were only about forty members of the church left after the dusting, but the silence was still menacing. They were looking at Pinkie with judging faces. They knew exactly who she was and what side she fought for. They knew she was part of the reason so many of them were gone. “Brothers and sisters, I know this is difficult,” Aslan said before any of them could do anything. “They have done things that resulted in the deaths of many. But we are not to hate. Our church never took a stance in the war. We didn’t fight for either side. Remember why we are still standing, who willed us here.” “Are you saying He wanted my entire family to die!?” a man shouted from the crowd. “Arin…” Aslan shook his head. “Arin, it is all a part of His plan, even the atrocities and the evil. I can assure you that He finds the death abhorrent and evil, and that He does not take any pleasure from what has happened. He feels the death of every one of us as we would the death of one of our children. But know this; they are with Him now, looking down on us in this New World. They have been taken to the Kingdom, and left the future of the Church to us.” There was silence in the crowd. “We need to figure out how we are going to move forward – the church’s food reserves will last us years, but we’ll need to think about more than just food. How are we going to live here? Do we build? Do we find a place to move? What is the lay of the land? These are the questions we must ask. I understand – we all want to, need to, grieve the unimaginable losses. But this New World comes with new challenges and dangers. We must not allow ourselves to be overtaken by them.” There were murmurs of agreement from the small crowd. “Thank you. Annalisa, I’ll need you to take me on a tour of the food stores and supplies. What do we have?” Annalisa nodded. “Right this way.” Aslan smiled warmly. As he walked away, he turned to Rev and whispered something to her that Valentine didn’t catch. Her pupils dilated in surprise and she nodded reluctantly in response. Valentine made it to Pinkie’s Party before Rev. “So… you won.” Pinkie pointed her blindfold at him. “…Yep. Going to try to make us feel bad about it?” Valentine shook his head, looking into the distance. “Aslan was right…” Pinkie nodded, not feeling the need for him to clarify. “…I… I want to ask how it’s been going, but the question seems cruel.” “The USM has fallen, I have no idea where any of my friends are, and I just watched dozens of people vanish into dust. I… am far too calm for what’s just happened. I consider it a gift.” Flutterfree smiled at him. “I… I’m glad to hear that.” Valentine looked down at her. “Are you glad to have your friends back?” Flutterfree looked at her team. There were tears in her eyes, but her smile widened. “Y-yes. Yes I am.” Vriska put a hand to the bridge of her nose. “Didn’t we just finish the big sappy cry-hug?” “The sappy cry hug never ends,” Pinkie declared. “Yare yare daze…” Jotaro muttered. Pidge let out a nervous laugh. “We’re a bunch of freaks… Already laughing and…” She noticed several members of the church staring at her laugh with murderous eyes. “…Geez…” Flutterfree looked at the crowd, and was hurt to see most of them looking at her with judging eyes. How could you associate with them, Flutterfree? “Hypocrites, hypocrites everywhere,” Pinkie said, pulling Flutterfree close. “It’s okay, you have us. Also, not everyone hates you! Look at Valentine, Rev, Aslan, that Nate guy over there, and… Rina. To some extent.” “I hate everything,” Rina commented from the doorway. “Riveting,” Vriska deadpanned. “It’s just… You think when the cards were down they’d follow what they were taught,” Flutterfree said. “They’ve lived and breathed grace for so long…” “They’re still people,” Rev said. “You’re only able to work past it because you know Pinkie and the others personally. That’s… almost always how it works. It’s a rare person who’s strong enough to just accept enemies.” She sighed. “I’m sorry to tell you, but you can’t stay here. You wouldn’t be safe. The tragedy is too fresh in their minds. Yes, that does include you, Flutterfree.” Flutterfree smiled warmly at Rev. “I know. But you know we weren’t planning on staying anyway.” She glanced back at her team with a smile. “We’re going to complete the job.” Rev nodded. “…I should probably leave as well. Aslan left it to me to decide, but I can tell they already trust me less simply for talking to you like this. I’ll defend my actions, and because I think it’s defensible they will likely grow to hate me.” She glanced over her back, at Aslan. “He came at the perfect time to give the church new leadership.” Flutterfree looked at the lion, suspicious. “He came at just the perfect time… on purpose?” “Or God could have led him here because that’s what needed to happen.” “Or it’s the Tower.” “Or…” “Shhhhh,” Pinkie said, putting her hooves on Rev and Flutterfree’s mouths. “We don’t need to be disagreeing about this. It doesn’t really matter if Aslan intended to usurp Rev or not, what matters is what’s happening. We have to go, and Rev thinks she probably should go. That’s what’s important here.” Flutterfree and Rev flushed. “…Thanks, Pinkie,” Flutterfree said. Pinkie gave her a playful smirk. “Hey, even with the flat mane, I still gotcha.” “So, are you coming or not?” Vriska asked Rev. Rev glanced back at the church. “…I am. It is about time for a change.” She turned to Valentine. “What about you?” “What are we doing, exactly?” Valentine asked. “Well, w-” “Hey, look, visitors!” Rina shouted, pointing out the church doors. They looked out to see two familiar figures striding toward them – Tornado and Froppy of the USM. Froppy saw Valentine and lost all sense of professionalism. She hopped through the doors and wrapped her arms around him. She said nothing besides “ribbit.” For once in his life Valentine didn’t reject an embrace. He was no longer the Ambassador of the USM – he was just a man. He had no problem showing some emotional weakness. Tornado, on the other hand, strode in with a bored expression. “Sup,” she said, looking at Pinkie. “…Hey,” Pinkie said, slightly nervous. “I’m not going to kill you. Can’t, anyway, telekinesis is gone.” “Same as everyone else,” Pidge said, adjusting her glasses. “So, what’s going on here?” Tornado asked. “Discussing who’s staying and who’s going,” Vriska answered. “Oh, going to do what?” “Finish the destruction of the Tower,” Jotaro said. Tornado blinked. “…What?” Flutterfree looked at Tornado. “…The collapse happened, but… something’s wrong. The Tower still exists. The New World is still subject to a cruel, cruel story. But Pinkie says the Tower has a crack… Which means it’s weakened. We need to complete the job to make sure all these deaths weren’t in vain.” “Huh. …I can get behind that,” Tornado admitted. “…How exactly are we going to do that?” “No idea, it’s something we’ll figure out when we get there,” Pinkie responded. “But since we’re not welcome here, it’s something we decided to do. As a group.” Tornado shrugged. “Sure. Might as well, I guess.” Valentine looked at Pinkie – and then at the church. “…I’m going to turn you down. My time for adventures and importance is over. I’m staying here.” Froppy looked up at Valentine. “…I’m staying as well, then.” Pinkie went through a little checklist in her head. “So, the five of us, Rev, Tornado, and…” She looked expectantly at Rina. Rina looked from her to Flutterfree to Rev. “Screw it, fine, I’ll come with you. The two best people in this place are leaving, I might as well go with the flow, y’know?” “Poetry?” Jotaro said with a raised eyebrow. “Shut up,” Rina muttered. “So, when do we leave?” “After we have lunch and store up on supplies,” Pinkie said. “I’m sure you can get us some supplies, Rev?” “Since I’m leaving as well? Easily, I don’t have to worry about a fallout.” “Remember, pills, we’ll need extra,” Rina said. “I won’t forget that.” Rev looked over her shoulder, taking in the hall of her church. She smiled. “…I’m going to miss this place.” “We might be able to come back, some day,” Flutterfree said. “If the Lord wills…” ~~~ “Just stop breathing, all of you,” Flagg ordered. Roxy, GM, Rohan, Monika, and myself all kept breathing. “…What?” “Magic’s gone, Randy,” Roxy said with a smirk. “You’re just a normal guy like us now.” Flagg wasted no time. He turned around and jumped for Black Thirteen – but I was faster than him. I swooped in, rolled, and grabbed the artifact within my wings. “Twilence!” Monika shouted in rage. “There was no way letting him have it was a good idea!” I said, holding the black sphere in my hoof and pointing it at Flagg like a weapon. “Don’t move.” “Magic’s gone,” Flagg said with a smirk. “What could you possibly do with Black Thirteen? Drive me mad? That time had come and gone, purple Prophet.” “Actually, looking into Black Thirteen, guess what I see? Magic’s not really gone, and there’s actually a really simple solution on how to start using it again. Realize that you have to relearn everything.” I smirked. “Luckily I’m tapped into the artifact that knows everything. So…” I trapped his arms and legs in magical handcuffs. “Why are you capturing him? Kill him!” Roxy shouted. “He still has his respawn,” I responded. “He’ll just appear at the Tower like usual. So long as the Tower exists, he will, in one form or another.” I glared at him, rooting through the knowledge contained in Black Thirteen. “But that’s no longer guaranteed. The Tower is damaged. The self-defense protocol has been deactivated. It can be destroyed and you will never be able to respawn again. The greatest evil the multiverse has ever known will perish with ka.” Flagg smirked. “Granted, I have no idea if what you say is true or not. But why would that matter? Perhaps a true death would be an interesting experience for me after such a long existence. Maybe you can even empathize with that.” “Right, forgot your sanity was g-” I raised a shield to stop Roxy from trying to kick me in the head. “Really!?” “You still want to destroy the Tower,” Roxy muttered. “Suddenly the War doesn’t seem so ‘over’.” “Through Black Thirteen I have full access to virtually all the abilities I had previously,” I told her. “I’ve already healed my rib. You wouldn’t be able to do anything.” Roxy ground her teeth. “I can fucking try.” “Or… not?” GM suggested. “Why the fuck not!?” GM recoiled and took a few seconds to collect himself. “W-well, I, uh, in my original plan the Tower was going to fade away from the New World. There wouldn’t be any consequences beyond what the collapse had already done…” “What if we don’t want to end ka!?” Monika blurted. “I happen to like it!” Rohan nodded in agreement. Roxy sighed and put a hand on GM’s shoulder. “Look… I can see why you think that. I can also see that you struggled with the question, and that’s why you wrote a story about it. Maybe you changed your mind – or maybe you’re wrong.” GM blinked. “…Y-yeah.” “I’m not sure about ka myself. I… I think it doesn’t really matter if it exists or not, in the long run. But I’m not going to switch sides.” She turned to Twilence. “We’re not destroying the Tower.” I shook my head. “I’ll do it myself then.” Roxy put her hand around Flagg’s neck. “Ah ah ah, I’ll kill him and then he’ll get to the T-” I used my magic to pull Roxy’s hand off Flagg’s neck. I sighed. “I can see you’re going to be a problem.” I imprisoned Roxy, Rohan, and Monika in cuffs similar to Flagg’s. “I can also see that if I let you go, I’ll regret it later.” I tapped the Eye of Rhyme – glad my visions were slowly returning to me with access to Black Thirteen. I could see so much… I frowned. “It’s already corrupting me. How wonderful…” “Black Thirteen tends to do that,” Flagg said, grinning. “Let me hold on to it for you.” “Nope,” I said. “You’ll get your powers back and then we’d all be dead. I… I have to hold onto it. But I need a safeguard…” I looked at GM. “You.” “Uh… I don’t like the sound of that…” I used my magic and the power of Black Thirteen to create a single red pen. “Keep this with you at all times. I’ve enchanted it so that I will have to mess with a complex series of locks to do anything to it. If you click the button, it will force me into unconsciousness. Use it if you think I’ve been corrupted too much by Black Thirteen.” My eyes softened. “I’m sorry to burden you with this, but you’re the only one I can trust right now.” GM gulped. “O-okay…” I turned to the other four imprisoned people. My gaze softened – and I removed the imprisonments on all of them except Flagg. “…I don’t want to imprison you. But I need to keep an eye on you all.” “So we are your prisoners,” Roxy pointed out. “Yes, unfortunately. You are. But you’ll be free to walk around and say anything you want. Or even try to change my mind.” I smiled at her. “I respect all of you for your devotion to your cause. I just don’t agree with it.” I tapped the Eye or Rhyme. “This is a curse that must be lifted from everyone. And I won’t rest until that goal is met or made impossible.” “And how do you plan to do that?” “Go to the Tower.” I said, looking up to the sky. “There is a world in the center of this universe… Nucleon. It is where the Tower stands, damaged. That is where we are going. It’ll be…” “The worst road trip ever,” Flagg commented. “…Probably,” I admitted. ~~~ Roland of Gilead was the last one to leave the Dark Tower, entering Can’-Ka No Rey, the field of roses. It looked the same to him as it did when he had entered it so long ago. The roses were too red, their leaves too bright and their edges too sharp. More real than anything else he had ever seen. These roses had not changed in all of the multiverse’s existence. The sky, however, was a mess. It was the color of twilight, but brimming with many many moons of all sorts of shapes and sizes. No, not, moons, planets. Planets moving around other planets in nested patterns… Patterns that extended as far out as he could see. Through the cracks between the planets he could see some stars, some things that clearly weren’t planets or stars, and occasional holes. He was no astronomer, he did not care much for the motions of the celestial bodies beyond their use in navigation, but he was still overcome with a sense of awe. “Isn’t it something, gunslinger?” Renee asked. “A New World, unlike anything you experienced on All-World or Keystone Earth. Or the Weaver’s Door. You saw hints, but you never saw.” Roland looked at her with a stern expression. “Of course, nothing fazes the great gunslinger.” Renee chuckled. “I mean, he took a talking horse in stride,” Jenny pointed out. Nanoha took her eyes off the sky. “Almost all the planets in all the worlds… Placed together in such as way as to not destroy themselves. How… How would the Flowers manage such a thing? That’s such a complexity beyond even them!” Renee shrugged. “Curious, isn’t it? What happened was something nobody could have done, but yet it happened. Curiouser and curiouser.” “I’m getting really sick of you and your games,” Jenny muttered. “The path of the hypocrite is a dangerous one,” Renee said with a malevolent chuckle. Aradia sighed. “So, we’re outside. The world has managed to fuse together without everyone dying. But ka still exists. Our fate is still controlled by the Tower.” Renee rolled her eye. “Look behind you, up, then down again.” They all turned around to examine the Dark Tower, following its dark, eerie structure far, far into the sky. It seemed to go on forever – but, at the same time, it clearly had to end. For it went straight up, and straight above them was a planet closer than all the others. A small blue-green orb in the sky. “…An Earth?” Jenny said, cocking her head. “That’s an Earth, right? Continents don’t look right but that’s the only planet that would mean anything.” “Yes… It’s an Earth…” Nanoha said, eyes wide. “Is it… The Earth? The First Earth?” “Ding ding ding!” Renee declared. “The White Devil has asked the million dollar question! Yes of course it is. The Earth, forced to reveal itself when there are no more subdimensions for the Dark Tower to hide it in.” She smirked. “There is currently no ka on that world.” “…What!?” Everyone save Roland said at once. Renee smirked. “Ahem. Sai, analysis of Earth Prime?” The AI in Roland’s pocket beeped. Instead of her usual chipper, coy vocalizations, a monotone came out. “Analyzing… Indeterminate. All scans are reflected. Visual appearance of Earth Prime is projected by an outside source. Information cannot pass out of the barrier according to initial scans.” Jenny blinked. “Sai, how are your scans working that well? Nanoha can barely talk to Raising Heart!” Sai beeped again. “Unknown. A change occurred in my systems at the time of collapse that is not yet fully understood.” “What did you do to her?” Nanoha demanded. Renee shrugged. “She did it to herself. Removed all the ‘added nonsense’ that was causing her grief near the Source. Whatever part of her was becoming a full person was removed. As a pure machine it’s much easier to relearn everything.” She sneered. “After all, what is personhood worth, really?” “If you ask that question you clearly do not understand,” Roland said. “You say that now.” “Back up,” Jenny said, waving a hand. “What do you mean ‘relearn’?” “Oh, this.” Renee lit her horn and plucked a rose out of the garden with her magic. “Learning to use this world’s magic, and all.” Everyone took a few steps back. Roland drew his gun again. “How are you doing that?” Nanoha demanded. Renee smirked. “All the powerless little monkeys, terrified.” Jenny chuckled at this, opening her mouth to prepare a quip. “Oh, I’m sorry, were you going to point out that Aradia was technically an insect?” Renee asked. “Really, you should have gone with the fact that you’re actually apes, not monkeys, since you don’t have tails. Really Jenny, step up your retort game a little.” Jenny charged her. Renee grabbed Jenny in her telekinesis and threw her into the roses, creating several scrapes. They healed instantly but the blood spray was still there. “Wha…?” “Ambient magics must still work,” Nanoha deduced. “All of you rely too much on magic,” Roland said, still holding his gun to Renee. Renee raised an eyebrow. “That gun of yours was forged from the sword of Arthur Eld, you know. There’s magic in that metal, dear. But you are right, you could make do with a mundane gun. You depend on ka. You are the warrior of ka. Without it, you would be nothing. If you were to go to that planet up there you wouldn’t last a week.” Roland doubted this, but said nothing. Renee chuckled. “As usual, it appears we’ve gotten off track. We were supposed to look down after we saw the Earth. Please, let us finish the tour for your slow, slow brains.” They did, looking up to Earth Prime, and back down to the base of the Tower. They saw it – the Crack. An imperfection in the bricks of the Dark Tower, set just to the left of the main entrance. It glowed a soft white and sparkled like dust. The energy looked almost exactly like what happened when Alushy and the others had been dusted. Everyone stared at it in disbelief. “Is it… destroying itself?” Jenny asked. “Do I really have to answer that, dears?” She did not. It was clear. The Tower’s time was limited. “But wait, there’s more!” Renee announced shocking all of them. “I’ve got with me here a very special guest from a time most of you will have forgotten! With the release of Roland and the deactivation of the Tower’s self-defense protocol, another blast from the past has decided to grace us with his presence! Everyone put a hand together for… the CRIMSON KING!” A being rose from the roses, draped in an immense red cloak that hid all of his facial features. His two hands were so wrinkled and frail they looked like bones. Despite being unable to see his face, they all felt like his eyes were boring into their skulls – from both the front and back. There was no side that was hidden from the beast of a man. He had to stoop down so his head would be level with Roland. He breathed, the chill like nails grinding against their skin. “Gunslinger...” ~~~ “I’m going to say this now,” O’Neill said, laying his hands on the table. “The war is over. The Collapse was initiated and now there are no more nations left to sign peace treaties. There are no more battles to fight for the multiverse. So we are done with that. We are a single military unit again, so if you have any ideas in your heads, get them out of your asses and shape up. None of us know what is going on, and we are going to goddamn work together to figure it out. Do I make myself clear?” Everyone in the room nodded. After her nod, Minna stood up. “I want everyone to know that Overhead-General O’Neill is the commanding officer for this military unit and the head of this meeting. We must follow the chain of command.” She sat back down. “Good, now that that’s over with…” O’Neill paused a moment and looked around the room. There were forty of them in the room, mixed from the Austraeoh and Starjammer crews. Tensions were clearly high – but they were soldiers. They would listen to their commanders. They’d fought in the war long enough to prove their loyalty. “Lapis Vee, care to explain what we’ve found so far?” The only Gem among the two crews nodded. “Yessir.” She pressed a button on a remote, activating the meeting room’s main projector. “So, to put it simply, the Collapse happened, but not as anyone intended it to. There is one single universe, but it’s nothing close to the mundane mixture anyone was expecting.” “What is it, then?” a Starjammer stallion asked. The image on the screen changed to a map of the new universe, showing lots of planets. “It’s… this. There are two kinds of ‘planets’ we have observed. The first are conglomeration worlds composed of several dozen or more planets or planes of existence fused together. They are extremely large but still have normal gravity, which, as far as we can tell, is an average of whatever gravities were used to create them. We’ve only sent a few probes, we don’t have enough data points to say for sure.” She changed the slide to zoom in on an area of the map with a lot of circles next to each other. “The other type of ‘planet’ is more conventional… usually. Apparently virtually every planet, star, or other large object from any universe was pulled into this one, including ‘planets’ created from looping plane universes, bizarre planes of reality, etcetera. Around every conglomeration planet is one or more spherical ‘orbitals’ packed so densely with these planets that you could fly from one to another.” “Which gravity should crush,” an Asgard pointed out. Lapis Vee nodded. “Yep. Which brings us to the first big revelation about this universe – a few miles above a planet’s arbitrary ‘surface’ – the exact definition is currently fuzzy – gravity just drops to zero. No planet has any gravitational influence on any other. There’s some other force keeping them locked into their spherical orbitals, shifting around the center ‘conglomeration’ world of their system with a pattern our computers have not managed to identify. Each planet is somehow kept from running into any others while only a small amount of space is left between any one. As far as we can tell, it’s not magic either, it’s just a brute-force rule of this universe. The only thing in standard physics it mimics is the spherical orbitals of an electron around an atomic nucleus.” “A quantum reality?” a human scientist asked. Lapis Vee shrugged. “Sort of? They don’t seem to move from their orbitals, but there’s also not a large uncertainty with where they are at any given time. Honestly, something for people to think about when we’ve stabilized ourselves. Regardless, each one of these conglomeration worlds forms a system with all its orbitals. These systems in turn can start forming orbitals around each other, creating a metasystem. And the metasystem can form with other metasystems… you get the picture.” “Well it is right there on the screen,” O’Neill observed. Lapis Vee rolled her eyes. “There’s a bit more. Within a system, all planets, including the conglomeration, share an atmosphere. You could go outside the Austraeoh and breathe in oxygen right now.” “…What?” Minna said, blinking. “You heard me. There’s air out there. It has that strange ‘invisibility’ effect a lot of universes have that allows people to breathe in space but still see for extreme distances. We’re still trying to determine which of the many mechanisms to accomplish this the universe uses. Regardless, the collective atmosphere is the reason our ships have been sluggish and not moving properly. We’re dealing with air resistance. Our computers were just too broken to figure that out.” O’Neill tapped his fingers on the table. “Anything else about our crazy universe?” “A couple things. In between systems, the magic aether of this universe is significantly stronger. It’s so strong there it creates a ‘normalization’ effect that tries to keep everything within it consistent. You could launch yourself through it with nothing but some oxygen and make it out the other side.” “So, basically, spaceships aren’t needed?” the robot asked. “They’re more convenient?” Lapis Vee suggested. “It’s not like it’s hard to fly through the gaps between planets, there are usually only a few miles wide. It’s FTL that’s the problem.” O’Neill raised an eyebrow. “No FTL works in this universe. None at all. We’re lucky everything is so closely packed together – otherwise we’d take years to get from system to system. As of now we could probably get to a million worlds in a couple hours at our ten-c thrusters.” “Say goodbye to time shenanigans,” a scientist commented. Lapis Vee switched to the next slide, showing a large-scale rendition of the universe. “As you can see here, we’ve started mapping the arrangements of planets and their relative locations. From this, we have determined something – the universe has a central planet somewhere outside our current field of view, blocked by the dense sea of planets. But based on these observations, it’s close enough that we could probably get to it in two weeks, assuming we didn’t make any stops.” “Sounds like a goal to make our way toward,” O’Neill said. “Clandestine, prepare routes to the center.” “Yessir.” Lapis Vee continued. “We’ve also figured out a bit more about the magic of this world. It still exists, and is actually very powerful, but there are a few issues. For one, the multiverse doesn’t exist, so our natural knowledge of ‘how to cast spells’ doesn’t translate. We’re going to have to learn everything again. Artifacts and ambient magic like my gemstone’s projection still work. However, there’s a finite amount of magic in any given location. While it does replenish over time, heavy use of it temporarily drains the area and makes it mundane. This is why our computers are having such trouble accessing magical components and processors. With all the damage we’ve received we simply aren’t able to cope with things suddenly shutting off unexpectedly. I’m lucky my gemstone isn’t too much of a drain on the aether.” “How do we learn?” Minna asked. Lapis Vee shrugged. “I… I don’t know? I hear some of the unicorns can get magic sparks from their horns, but I haven’t been able to summon my weapon and I haven’t seen a spell cast by anything that isn’t a pre-enchanted machine since we arrived. The spectral rod coding isn’t even working. The first person who figures it out will have to tell everyone else or we’ll just have to wait until we can get a full blown research project on the artifacts that are working. Not all the spells are apparently viable in the new universe’s physics.” “Anyone who can use magic, work on doing the simplest of spells,” O’Neill ordered. “Try everything that isn’t, say, ritual sacrifice or something equally questionable. We’ll be moving to the center where others will likely be headed the moment they figure this out. We will pick up everyone we can along the way to create a communication network, find out who’s survived and from what worlds and where. And above all, we’re not starting another war. Have I driven that point home enough? No. More. War.” Everyone nodded vigorously. O’Neill smiled. “Lapis Vee, continue compiling more information. Everyone else, dismissed.” ~~~ Lightning’s little ship had been a Void-built craft at one point in its life. It had the signature curved exterior, power crystals, and almost fantastical aura. Outside were several add-ons slapped onto the hull that mitigated this aura somewhat, but made the ship significantly more menacing in appearance. It was also red. “Stole this from my home after I joined the Collection,” she had told them. “Me and the Crimson Blitz have been through a lot. I never take her into combat, but she’s never far from me either. Just one whistle and she’s there. It was more than a little lucky that she ended up close enough to me.” They were currently flying through the dense aether-space between different systems, the flashing form of Lord English’s sarcophagus a distant point on the main viewscreen. The interior of the ship was much smoother and natural than the exterior, though the holographic display wasn’t working so Lightning had to use the physical consoles. Sherlock was rather proud that he now had a much better idea of what all the buttons in the ship might do. He could identify weapon systems, thrusters, and database access easily. “How times have changed…” “Hmm?” Strange muttered. “Oh, nothing, just some nostalgia.” He rubbed his hands together and walked toward the main viewscreen, examining the dot that was Lord English. “He can likely sense us, so either he doesn’t care or isn’t looking. The former seems more likely, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was arrogant enough to never check his blind spots.” “Do we know where he’s headed yet?” Strange asked. “The center,” Sherlock and Lightning said at the same time. Lightning turned to him, baffled. Then she remembered who he was and her bafflement vanished. “How’d you deduce that?” “The mathematical patterns of the planets around us are visible to the naked eye,” Sherlock said, pointing out the window. “We can see over there a cluster in a triple-orbital structure. The overall curvature of the planet wall suggests an even higher meta-orbital, one that we are going into. Directly in to, in fact. And I’d even venture to guess the pattern is rather pleasing to the eye.” A ‘nearby’ system made of star conglomerations made sure it was. The light reflected off a swirling orb of planets, each one in the closest system made of a different color of crystal. The light from the stars were creating numerous rainbow effects across space, a few of the colors landing on other planets in distant systems, giving them something no doubt awe-inspiring. “Anything else you’ve deduced that might be helpful?” Lightning asked, raising her eyebrow. “The nature of magic. English had trouble activating his powers, but after a bit of effort he was able to use them as before. Maybe he can just alter reality, but if he could do that he would be going a lot faster. So I say that magic is around and is still accessible to anyone – he just figured it out first. You and Strange will still have access to those fancy spells of yours.” “And how would we access those?” Strange asked. Sherlock smirked. “Not a clue. English just looked like he focused, but no small part of him is ka-based. Who knows what that can turn a small amount of effort into? No, you’ll probably have to do something else. And do hurry up with it; we don’t have an eternity to stop him. He will get to the center soon and by then I doubt we’ll be able to do much of anything in the way of actually stopping him. So chop chop, the fate of the universe depends on you unlocking your magic potential!” They stared at him. “No pressure.” The screen behind him lit up in a flash of vibrant light. Sherlock whirled around quickly. “What in the…” “He just destroyed a planet,” Strange observed, grimacing. “It wasn’t even in his way.” “Of course he’d destroy whatever he wanted to along the way, he’s Lord English,” Lightning muttered, putting a hand to her forehead. “Our job just got more complicated. We’ve got to try to protect the people on the way to the center…” “Is there any chance we can loop in front of him?” Sherlock asked. Lightning nodded. “If we want to keep a safe distance it’ll take a few days, but it can be done.” She pressed a few buttons. “We won’t be able to do anything during that time, though.” “…Motivation…” Sherlock mused. “What a monster.” “…The aspect of motivation or English?” Strange asked. “Does it matter which?” ~~~ “AND TO SUMMARIZE!” Starbeat shouted in Caliborn’s face. “THE WORLDS ARE SMASHED INTO ONE, MAGIC IS BORKED, AND WE SHOULD PROBABLY FORM A GROUP TO TAKE ON THE NEW WORLD!” Caliborn looked at her with a blank expression. “So you’re saying everything’s fucked.” “That’s it, I can’t do this, I can’t talk to him,” Starbeat muttered, pacing around Caliborn’s messy messy room. “Impossible!” “Let me try,” Trixie said, clearing her throat. “Ahem. You, snotling. Yes I’m fucking talking to you, listen up!” “SNOTLING?” Caliborn shouted. “I’ll have you kn-” Trixie shoved a hoof over his mouth. “Shut it, I don’t have any time for your immature, maniacal antics, and even if I did, I don’t give a shit. So listen here. You are the first person we’ve seen on our little trek across that piss-colored road, so you’re stuck with us. This also means we’re stuck with you. It’s just as hellish for us. Luckily, we ‘bitches’, as you’re so fond of calling us, aren’t a bunch of short-sighted self-important assholes! We came here extending the olive branch, and while you’ve decided that’s worth about as much to you as a toothpick we’re still here, talking to you, trying to explain the simplest of concepts to that walnut of a brain of yours! So yes, as you put it, everything’s fucked. But it’s fucked in a very particular way that doesn’t get solved by shooting everything you see!” Caliborn blinked slowly. “You’re quite the feisty bi-” Trixie put a hoof to his neck and pushed him into a wall. “Test me much more and we see how feisty I can be.” Caliborn realized she had positioned herself to where he couldn’t use his gun to shoot her. He didn’t have enough power to force her off of him, and he really didn’t want to have the first test of his immortality come from the hoof of a fucking bitch. “Fuck you,” he said. “Glad we’ve come to an understanding,” Trixie said with a smirk, releasing him. She dusted off her hoof and turned back to the others. Gamzee and Starbeat were staring at her slackjawed. “What? I deal with people like him all the time.” She rolled her eyes. “Duuude, that was motherfuckin’ crazy!” Gamzee laughed. “He had to shoot me down several times before we got to the bond we have now.” “Yes, I see, god-tier, living troll…” Starbeat blinked. “…Wait, wasn’t that just Aradia and…” She paused, saying the next name with distaste. “Vriska?” Gamzee chuckled. “The authenticity of my god-tier self is a bit motherfuckin’ uncertain, see.” “Ah, so Homestuck.” “Homestuck.” “You mean Homosuck!” Caliborn declared. Starbeat stared at him. “No. No I most definitely do not.” “It’s the latest i-” “I said no and I mean no.” Caliborn pointed the golden gun to her neck. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, bitch.” Trixie pressed a hoof to his neck. “Does the snotling want another date with the wall? That can be arranged.” “Wow, we all hate each other,” Gamzee observed. “Sweet.” Starbeat twitched. “Why did it have to be trolls…?” She shook her head. “Nevermind, let’s get out of here.” “Yes! Lets!” Caliborn said, grinning maniacally. “This New World shall be mine!” “Ours,” Trixie corrected. “MINE!” Caliborn insisted. “OURS!” “MINE!” “MINE!” “Ha, I win!” “No, I said it, that means it’s mine,” Trixie asserted. “That’s fucking stupid.” “Ever heard about hypocrisy? Wait, who am I kidding, you’re well acquainted with the subject.” “I’m well acquainted in every subject! I’m the Lord of Time!” “I haven’t seen you do any Time Shenanigans!” Starbeat ignored their continued arguments and turned to Gamzee. “…Is this normal?” “Usually it’s just online,” Gamzee admitted. “I can’t last this long against him. It’s good for him.” “…Sure.” “We should probably go outside and wait for them.” So they did. Soon Starbeat and Gamzee were sitting on a bench, looking out across the yellow brick road. “I think I figured out who you are,” Starbeat said, looking up at him. “Gamzee Makara… Bard of Rage… You’re the one who killed everyone.” “Aw, man, I don’t do that no more,” Gamzee said shaking his head. “Purple blood does things to your head if you let it. The Rage is real.” Starbeat nodded. “I won’t hold it against you. She did, and right now that’s good enough reason to trust you.” “Oh, did you find Terezi?” “I mean, I know who she is. …But no, it wasn’t her. I don’t want to talk about it.” “Ay, I won’t pry. I’ll just motherfuckin’ listen if you need it.” He stretched his arms out. “The world will be ours.” Starbeat shook her head. “The world’s so much of a mess, nobody can have it.” “Then we could change that,” Gamzee said, smile widening much larger than it should have. “The world’s our motherfuckin’ oyster…” A slight purple aura flashed in Starbeat’s eye. “Yeah… Yeah it is.” She stood up tall. “We can make this world what we want. It doesn’t matter who made it – it doesn’t have to be the end!” She smirked. “And the other side… They know what they did. They know what they did.” Gamzee put a hand on Starbeat’s shoulder. “Good to hear that.” It was at this point Trixie and Caliborn came rolling out the front door, both bruised and battered, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Caliborn hefted his gun. “There’s a mountain over there with a dragon statue in it. That’s where we’re going.” He started walking. Trixie grunted. “This guy… His level of stupidity is just…” She shook her head. “Absolutely ridiculous?” Starbeat offered. “Yeah. Definitely.” “He could still be useful. A force of angry, stupid rage. You’ve shown he can be corralled and directed. That would go a long way for this New World.” Trixie blinked. “What do you mean?” “She means we’re gonna motherfuckin’ change the world,” Gamzee said with a chuckle. “I mean, assumin’ Cal doesn’t get us horribly lost.” “Then our plans are doomed. Doomed I say!” Trixie echoed. Then she sighed. “…We need to look for capture device storage areas as well.” “Hm? Why?” “One of them has Discord in it.” Starbeat smiled warmly at her. “…Ka will lead you to him again, one way or another.” She tapped her goggles. “I’m almost certain of it.” “Thanks.” “ARE YOU SHITHEADS COMING OR NOT!?” Caliborn shouted back. “WE’LL COME WHEN WE’RE GOOD AND READY!” Trixie responded. “I’M NOT WAITING FOR YOU FUCKS!” “WE’RE NOT LEAVING UNTIL WE WANT TO!” Caliborn let out an angry inhuman screech and continued his march. “…I am going to get so sick of this before it’s over,” Starbeat muttered.