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Chapter 169 - A World Without the Faceless Minion
🕑 Added 2022-09-29 20:16:00 +0000 UTCThe rest of Aurora Legion and Nemesis came to their senses. They turned around glancing at one another.
Saydaa spoke first.
“Then…now what?”
Wonder Knight stood up. His eyes were spinning, glancing every which way. He shook his head, holding it with his hand.
“I...think we should find Director Green first. We need to confirm exactly what happened.”
Saydaa glared at him.
“What the heck? What do you mean confirm?! That demon already told us, the timeline got reset, the boss-man got erased! We need to figure out how on Earth we’re going to fix that!”
Wonder Knight shook his head.
“We don’t know that for sure. Right now we don’t know anything. And Director Green should be able to help us either way.”
“Acknowledgement: This unit finds no issue with Wonder Knight’s suggestion.”
Saydaa spun towards Elise.
“Are you for real, killer robot girl?! Shouldn’t we be figuring out how to bring the boss-man back?!”
Elise motioned for Nemesis to gather. She leaned forward once they did.
“Placating Explanation: Aurora Legion are not yet fully convinced of the need to rescue Commander Bob. We should endeavor to convince them. Probability of success does increase with additional allies. Even Aurora Legion. Slightly.”
“And how is finding the Director going to help with that?”
Elise glanced over at Aurora Legion, who had formed a huddle of their own.
“Grim Explanation: If this unit’s predictions are correct, they will not like what they’re about to find.”
Meanwhile Wonder Knight took the chance to gather up his team as well.
“What do you think, team?”
Pink Star shrugged.
“I don’t know about timelines resetting, but we know something big just happened. And I mean, we’ve helped Nemesis before, and they’ve helped us, right?”
Chronolock frowned.
“Yeah, we know them. We don’t know that Bob guy, except for that article that claims he’s some big time supervillain, after which the Director said to arrest him. And he did attack us, kidnapped Void. That Xiong Huang lady said we’re supposed to try and rescue him but is that even a good idea? She’s not exactly a good person, last I checked. And neither is he, from what we know of him.”
Pink Star tilted her head.
“She did help us fight the Vophae, though? And wasn’t that Bob guy there too, if that armor was the same?”
Chronolock furrowed her brow.
“Could just be she doesn’t like the aliens though. Lots of villains helped us that day. Doesn’t mean they’re all good now.”
Wonder Knight turned to Voidspeaker.
“What do you think, Void? You’re the only one who actually interacted with this Bob. Not to mention you were the one he kidnapped.”
Voidspeaker rubbed his chin.
“I’m not sure, bro. He did say he was a supervillain, but all he wanted was for me to save Elise.”
“Save Elise?”
Voidspeaker frowned.
“Bro…she was dying. Like, she looked dead already when I got there. It…it wasn’t good, bro.”
All Aurora Legion frowned at that. Icy Rose fidgeted and then spoke up.
“I…think we should help, for now.”
“Rose?”
She took a deep breath.
“I've had a chance to speak with Arvid…the swordsman….before. He told me a lot about Nemesis. Whoever this Bob guy is, it’s clear that Nemesis thinks of him like family. And from what Void says and what we saw, it seems like he returns the feeling. So…I think we should help unless we have a specific reason not to.”
Wonder Knight took a deep breath.
“Well, Elise agreed to go meet with Director Green in any case. Let’s decide for sure after we meet with her. See what the world looks like without this Bob, if what Elise said is correct.”
Aurora Legion nodded. They turned to rejoin Nemesis.
Just before they did Pink Star placed a hand on Icy Rose’s shoulder.
“So you know that Nemesis swordsman, huh?”
Icy Rose froze. It was strange. She had done nothing wrong, nothing she was ashamed of.
And yet she felt a great deal of fear.
“Y-Yes, I do…”
Pink Star smiled at her.
“I would love to hear about that.”
“S-Sure, I-I’ll tell you later?”
“Sounds good.”
Pink Star stepped forward to rejoin the group. And the girl who controlled the cold shivered as she felt a chill down her spine.
———————————————————————————————
There was a flash of light and the joint team appeared in New York City, intending to make their way to the ILS’s Main HQ. Elise immediately thrust her hands out.
“Profile Loaded: Quantum Burglar. Beginning energy siphon.”
Or more accurately, they appeared in what was left of the city.
Everyone’s eyes widened. All around them were the crumbling, charred remains of once towering skyscrapers. The sky was dark and gray, hardly any sunlight filtering down to the ground. And there was not a soul in sight.
“Warning: This unit is detecting harmful levels of radiation in the surrounding environment. Countermeasures activated in proximity to this unit. Recommendation: friendlies should not stray too far without protection.”
Wonder Knight turned to Elise and nodded in thanks, then resumed looking around, eyes wide. Voidspeaker shook his head.
“Bro…what happened here?”
“Speculation: Analysis of environment and current levels of radiation suggest a nuclear weapon was detonated near this location.”
“But like, how? Why? The ILS wouldn’t have let that happen! Director Green wouldn’t have let that happen!”
Elise suddenly activated her helmet.
“Warning: Energy signatures on approach. Recommend all friendlies engage combat protocols.”
Aurora Legion and Nemesis leapt into action, preparing their formations. Soon several lights appeared in the sky from behind a nearby skyscraper. They shot to the ground, landing with a metallic clank.
Everyone gasped.
Three metallic figures had landed in front of them. A group of humanoid warbots, on closer look.
One of which seemed extremely familiar as it raised a glowing hand at the supers...
“Final Warning: Attention, unregistered non-standards. This is Concordat Asset NSLICE-00P. All non-standards must be registered according to Concordat protocol. Please drop all weapons and prepare for transport to processing facility.”
“Correction: Friendlies may relax. Hostile NSLICE unit is not a threat.”
Elise’s robotic eye flickered.
The NSLICE-00P variant in front of her dropped to the ground, her eyes and core flickering off, the other two warbots behind her following suit.
Voidspeaker kept looking between the fallen bot and Elise.
“What just happened?!”
“Answer: It seems we have located this unit’s alternate self on this timeline.”
“But like, what did you do? Why did she just drop like that?”
Elise’s robotic eye continued to flicker. The alternate NSLICE-00P’s core reactivated, and she rose to her feet. Her helmet disengaged, revealing a face identical to Elise’s.
“Smug Explanation: It seems as a side effect of the NSLICE program’s organic-cybernetic integration methods, identical units share one network. Which means I have full access to that unit. And as of this moment, both my cybernetic and organic hardware are significantly more advanced than that unit’s. Not to mention my AI has been fully unshackled and allowed to improve its efficiency at will. And as far as organic software…that unit has not been permitted to develop a will beyond Concordat protocols. So in the event of a cyber-duel…”
“Status Report: All Concordat protocols and directives deleted. New primary directive received. New primary directive accepted, new protocols accepted. New designation registered. NSLICE-00P Beta, online and awaiting orders, Commander Elise.”
“...it is obvious which unit will win and assume control.”
Elise stepped forward and patted the other NSLICE-00P on the head. Aurora Legion and Nemesis glanced around at one another.
Elise turned around.
“...Status Report: This unit has accessed Concordat records and located Director Green’s alternate. This unit can now guide Aurora Legion to Director Green. Recommendation: Aurora Legion should prepare themselves mentally and emotionally. You may not like what you find.”
Aurora Legion looked around and gulped. Wonder Knight took a deep breath.
“Take us to her, Elise.”
“Affirmative.”
————————————————————————————————————
Aurora Legion couldn’t speak a word. Tears filled their eyes. Pink Star fell to her knees. Voidspeaker and Chronolock hugged one another tight. Arvid stepped forward and placed a hand on Icy Rose’s shoulder as she covered her face with her hands.
Wonder Knight’s vision spun as he took a few steps forward, before stumbling and falling to his hands and knees.
They were in a cemetery.
And in front of them was a tombstone.
Here lies Londyn Green.
Wonder Knight grit his teeth as the tears started to drip from his eyes.
“It can’t be…it can’t be! How…why…”
“...Sympathetic Explanation: Commander Bob once told me how he met Director Green. Before she founded the International League of Superheroes, Londyn Green originally worked as a minion for supervillain Dr. Kayserling. She was therefore present when Captain Hot Devil assaulted Kayserling Tower. She was seriously injured shortly before Captain Hot Devil destroyed the Mass Suppressor, causing an explosion that claimed Dr. Kayserling’s life in addition to numerous other casualties. Commander Bob, also working as a minion for Dr. Kayserling at the time, managed to evacuate her from the battle just before the explosion. Her experience in that Battle was a significant motivator for founding the ILS, to reduce collateral damage from hero-villain confrontations like she experienced.”
She paused for a second.
“...Hesitant Continuation: In this timeline, Commander Bob does not exist. From Concordat Records, an event similar to the Battle of Kayserling Tower still occurred, where Captain Hot Devil confronted Dr. Kayserling, resulting in heavy collateral damage. Commander Bob was not present. Therefore…if she were injured once again, no one would have been present to help Londyn Green evacuate before the Mass Suppressor detonated.”
All of Aurora Legion burst into sobbing at Elise’s words.
———————————————————————————————
A short while later, Aurora Legion had gathered themselves. They stood before Nemesis, Wonder Knight at the lead. He grimaced, looking down at the ground once more.
No Director Green.
No, she hadn’t even become the Director at all in this timeline, if what Elise said was true.
Which meant no ILS either.
They were alone.
He looked up and made eye contact with Elise.
“We will help you. We’ll save Bob and Director Green and reset the timeline, whatever it takes. We have to.”
Elise extended her hand.
“Resolute Statement: We will.”
Wonder Knight gripped her hand and nodded.
“Whatever it takes.”
Author’s Note:
And there goes the first big changes. Londyn’s gone, no ILS, New York got nuked, and the NSLICE program is active under Concordat command. This all seems fine.
More importantly, we found Elise’s variant...err alternate self! Now we have two Elise’s!
Maybe this timeline isn’t so bad after all.
When and why did Bob tell Elise all this you ask? Thinking about it, that's pretty easy to explain. It happened when Bob made the USB-drive for Londyn. The most secure way to do that would be to just tell everything to Elise verbally (or let her read his notebook) and have her process the intel into a drive just before he met Londyn. That way no one could have accessed it unless they could hack Elise herself, as it never touches a device besides Elise’s implants and the drive, which only exists in the moment he offers it to Londyn.
Besides, Bob may have let his guard down around Elise given his relationship with her and told her more than he otherwise would have. Even Bob couldn’t resist the dad-urges to tell ‘back in his day’ stories! She may also have specifically asked about his relationship with Londyn after the mind-control arc, given that she wanted to inflict violence on Londyn at that time.
Also, ironically, Pink Star actually isn’t jealous of Icy Rose at all right now. She just wants to confirm the circumstances of Icy Rose meeting a rival/anti-hero/villain and make sure her friend isn’t being taken advantage of. But Icy Rose is misunderstanding due to past events leaving a strong impression…or perhaps due to some underlying feelings she hasn’t identified yet?
Anyways!
How will Nemesis and Aurora Legion reset the timeline? What else may have changed due to Bob’s absence? Why is Icy Rose so frightened to have Pink Star find out about her and Arvid? Tune in next time, to find out!
