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The Good Life: Poking the Bear (ch. 77)
🕑 Added 2025-02-14 15:52:34 +0000 UTCThe completion of the fusion reactor opened doors for me. One almost literal door in particular. For a year now, we could only manage a trip though the Dias once every two months at most. Sometimes we skipped an opening just to preserve the power on the off chance that we needed it. My trips through it when we did open it were rather infrequent as well, in all honesty. I mostly just used it to pick out pieces of tech, get some updates from Taylor, maybe harvest some knowledge from specialists from Fallout’s Wasteland, but for the most part the world of Runeterra had my full attention.
Asami stopped accompanying me after the first trip. I suppose because she didn't want to leave the world unsupervised in case I cheated at our bet or something.
But, with the reactor online, we suddenly had a surge in power. The maximum of one trip every two months was shortened to one every month, if my math was right. And, given that we had been conserving power for emergencies, that meant we had the juice for an impromptu trip without anyone being the wiser. Perfect for me, because I had something that I wanted to do back in Fallout.
“So, things are shaping up nicely with Caitlyn?” I asked Cinder as we waited for the Dias to warm up. Cinder wore an easy smile, wearing her Enforcer uniform which now included a badge that marked her as a full-fledged officer of the law.
“She's putty in my hands,” Cinder assured me, and there was a vindictive note of satisfaction in her voice. “We're courting in secret, largely due to Caitlyn's reluctance to confess to her parents that she has no interest in men. However, her parents are fond of me given that I rescued their daughter.” I liked to give Cinder shit for failing to pull the wool over my eyes, but seeing her in action against someone else made it clear that she did in fact know what she was doing.
“It's something that has a time limit, however,” Cinder continued as the rings locked in place. “Caitlyn gave her parents a sanitized version of what happened, but they were already against her becoming an Enforcer. I suspect that soon they will be taking measures to either pull her out… or tie her down.”
I pursed my lips as the Dias opened a rift through time and space, revealing Cate. Asami's aid on this side of the portal, and a spy for me. Even without my Room, I could tell that she was alarmed by the unscheduled portal opening -- it was clear as day on her face. So, I reassured her with a sly smile. “Don't worry -- there's no emergency on our end. I set up a new reactor and decided to stop by.”
Cate swallowed thickly but nodded, making a visible effort to relax. My eyes narrowed ever so slightly, curious as to why it would have to be an effort if there was no actual emergency… but then I remembered that she was afraid of me, so my presence probably constituted an emergency to her. So, I looked to Cinder, “Tie her down how?”
“Unclear at the moment,” Cinder admitted as we stepped through the portal. The lab on the other side was emptier than it normally was without any of the people that were usually waiting for us. “It would be poor optics for them to pull her out of the police force, so they’ve taken to making sure she stays behind a desk by leaning on the Sheriff. It hasn't stopped her, of course, so it's only a time before they do something more drastic.”
Hm. “Keep me informed, but let the dominoes fall where they may,” I decided before I looked to Cate. She stiffened under my gaze, hers going to the floor. “I'll be swinging by the Institute, so give them a heads up. I want to see their progress with the serum,” I said and, almost immediately, the tension bled out of Cate.
That was weird. I'm not entirely sure why it was weird, but it did stand out to me. So, I gave a little poke. “And, while you're at it, hand over the blueprints for the latest version of the Dias.” I said, holding out a hand expectantly.
Cate's anxiety spiked through the roof and to the moon, her eyes snapping up to mine with a protest on her lips that died there. Cinder, on the other hand, was silently beaming. She understood what this meant.
Asami suddenly became a lot more expendable if I had the blueprints to the Dias. Taking them like this was my final gambit to provoke her into doing something.
“I don't- thats’s-” Cate started when she did find her voice, only for her protests to be jumbled and short lived.
“Cate,” I said, making her mouth close with a snap. “I wasn't asking.”
That did the trick and her head bobbed in a nod, “I… I'll get it for you by the time you're ready to return.” I paid close attention to her emotions, her reactions earning my undivided focus. It wasn't something that I could exactly hide from her either, I knew. She was undoubtedly reading my mind at this very moment, knowing that my suspicions were growing.
Yet, as much as she tried to hide it, I saw a flash of deception. She’d lied. And she knew that I caught her, so she forced the words out. “I- I can get them now,” and that felt more honest. “I will get them now.”
“Then why haven't you already done so?” Cinder pressed, partly suspicious but mostly because she wanted to see Cate squirm.
Cate stilled before she nodded, heading over to the terminal. “I already have a backdoor into Ms. Sato’s files here, but… as soon as I use it, she’ll know. About the backdoor… and me,” Cate said, and I supposed that could explain it, I decided.
I was under no delusions that Cate ever wanted to work for me. Between the two of us, Asami was far more her speed. After all, Cate had been preparing to become a ‘hero’ back in the Old World. So, I wouldn't be surprised if Cate had developed some fondness for Asami and didn't want to betray her. And have Asami know that she betrayed her.
Yet, betray her she did. I looked over her shoulder the entire time as Cate brought up various projects that Asami had on her terminal here. My eyes narrowed ever so slightly when I saw some of the dates. Cate went to click on the Dias files until I pressed a finger to the screen. “That one was updated three days ago,” I voiced.
“Likely by Asami's team,” Cate swiftly provided an answer for the unasked question. “She has too many projects to handle alone,” she said, and that felt like honesty to me. It also made sense for Asami to offload some work, in particular while she was in another world.
So, I shrugged my shoulders as I watched Cate download the files for the Dias before saving it to the holy grail of floppy disks. Cate passed it to me, and held my gaze. “Here you are, Heartless. The schematics for the Dias.” No deception there. She wasn't happy about giving them over, of finally being called on to betray Asami, but she did as she was told.
“Thanks,” I said before I did something I rarely ever did. She was acting weird and I didn't like it, and I also didn't want her to go running off to tattle to Asami. So, I shambled some oxygen molecules and replaced them with carbon. Instantly, Cate's head rolled to the side and she fell out of her chair unconscious. “Bind and gag her, would you?” I requested of Cinder as I tossed her the blueprints to the Dias.
“With pleasure,” Cinder replied, happy to be of service with this particular order.
Nodding to myself, I stepped away before activating the teleporter.
In a flash of light, I found myself standing inside of the Institute, startling Shaun so badly he half threw a cup of coffee into his face when he flinched at my arrival. Luckily, it was cold coffee. “Sup? Thought I'd stop by,” I said, curious about his reaction to me. But I saw about what I expected from him.
Some surprise, a little bit of annoyance as he wiped coffee from his beard, and more interestingly, some excitement. “This is an unexpected visit,” Shsun admitted, standing up, “But I suppose this just means that we don't need to wait to show you our progress with the serum! We've made great strides with it!”
That was good to hear. I had Singed already cooking me up a dose, so it would be good to compare them and take the better of the two.
“You've had a successful experiment?” I asked, using my Room to take the coffee out of his stained lab coat and shirt before he eagerly began to take us to where the expired entrance was housed.
Shaun gave me an eager smile, “We have. I'd like to show you the results of our efforts.” A short walk later, we arrived at a familiar menagerie of animals, but one cage in particular seemed to be taking center stage. Within it was a mouse that was running on a hamster wheel so fast that the spokes were a blur. A little MPH sign above the wheel read out how fast the little bugger was going.
6533 mph.
I let out a low whistle, “That's just shy of mach nine, right?”
“Exactly so,” Shaun agreed with a nod. “Shimmer acted almost exactly as we hoped that it would -- it prepared the body for an extensive transformation, which in turn allowed both the Forced Evolutionary Virus as well as Compound V to take greater effect. It took considerable fine tuning, but we have been able to make FEV synergize with Compound V when it comes to enhancing the physical body, curtailing FEV’s most obvious side effects. The results are nothing less than extraordinary.”
I'd say. That mouse was faster than A-Train and Sukuna put together. More interestingly, it could sustain the speed.
Honestly, it might be worth it to look away from fission tech and invest in hamster wheels. A couple hundred of these little guys could probably match the output of a fission reactor.
My Room fed me some interesting data as well. “They work together to enhance physical traits, which allows for more pronounced effects on physical powers. What's the spread? He's a speedy little guy, but strength? Durability?” I asked and to that, Shaun brought forth a monitor. A touch-screen TV.
Someone had moved up in the world.
To answer my question, some videos started playing -- one where they set the mouse on fire, only for it to continue running without a care. Not even singed. Then they started taking shots at it with the caliber steadily rising. Starting with pistols, then assault rifles, then shotguns, then a minigun, before capping the test off with a mini-nuke. The mouse barely seemed to register that it was getting hit.
“To borrow a scale rating from your home world,” Shaun said, pressing the screen to bring up another slide. The results spoke for themselves.
Durability: 15/10
Strength: 6/10
Sense: 3/10
Endurance: 5/10
Speed: 25/10
It was a very respectable spread of abilities, especially considering that Homelander had been the benchmark for most of them. And that made my heart ache a bit, knowing that I had taken yet another step further beyond my hero as the mouse in that cage was not only more durable than him by half, it was magnitudes faster. And that was a little sad, I felt.
“Additionally, we've discovered that the degradation of telomeres in subject V-17 have completely ceased. Further testing is required, but by all appearances… the subject has stopped aging.” Shaun informed, sounding like he was on cloud nine. I couldn't really blame him for that, even if Singed had already confirmed as much for me.
So far, the serums all seemed to be on par with each other. No, Shaun’s was perhaps a little better based on the data I was getting. More refined to eke out the most they could get from the serums.
“Excellent work, Shaun. Excellent work,” I praised him, a smile growing on my face. “Any downsides? Or is it ready?”
To that, Shaun wilted ever so slightly. Still happy with the results, but dissatisfied that it wasn't perfect. “I’m afraid not. Not yet, at least. Some subjects still display heightened aggression upon taking the serum. It's something we’re still trying to isolate without impacting the performance of the serum.” And that right there explained why Shaun’s serum was performing a little better than Singed’s.
Singed’s serum worked, but it wasn't perfect. Shaun wanted perfection. I could respect that.
“The serum is not yet ready to be used on a human but…” Shaun continued, starting to appear uncertain. “There is a matter that I wish to speak to you about. It concerns my… brother.”
Brother? Since when did Shuan have a bro- ooohhh. Right. Right…
I had totally forgotten that I had a kid. Damn. I'm sure not winning any Father of the Year awards. Maybe giving the kid a planet later could make up for all that parental neglect?
“So, it was a boy, huh?” I remarked, searching within myself as Shaun hesitantly reached into his coat to produce a picture. I didn't feel some sudden surge of parental affection as I took the photo and gazed at it, looking at my first born child with his mother. They were on a beach with my kid old enough now that he no longer looked like a wrinkled pink potato. So, he was probably a few months old now.
I had been curious -- I've heard that being a parent changed you. Like some emotional switch got flicked in your mind that could turn the biggest assholes on the face of the planet into doting fathers. My old man didn't get that switch flipped with me, and I don't think I would either. All I saw was a baby with black hair and blue eyes. Honestly, the most eye-catching thing in the photo was Nora because I'm pretty sure her tits had gotten bigger.
And… that made me a little sad, I think. The lack of parental love that is. The already giant tits getting bigger was amazing.
“He got a name?” I asked, still looking down at the photo. It was probably a good thing that I wasn't involved in his life. My dad beat the holy hell out of me for any reason he could think of, or for no reason at all -- I had no idea how to be a parent. I never got to see what actual good parenting looked like. Not to mention, I was very much a selfish egotistical asshole. I barely cared about the little sucker and even I wouldn't want someone like me influencing my kid.
Shaun paused, as if studying my reaction. “Alexander. Named for Alexander the Great. My mother thought it was… appropriate, given the circumstances.” Well, at least she hadn't named him after someone that I’d asked her not to out of spite. “They've conquered that world from Texas to Argentina, including Cuba and the Canary Islands. And given the… impression that you left behind, the primitives of that era are convinced that Alexander is a demigod.”
To that, I couldn't stop a laugh bubbling out of me. So, the name was pretty on point in that case. “And you want him to get a dose to make the story stick?”
Shaun nodded slowly, “I would give him Compound V as the current serum is too unstable to be used on humans as of now. In the future, once he is old enough and it is complete, I hoped to give him a modified version of the serum since there is no true obstacle in giving it to him later.” He was cautious of my reaction, half worried I'd go ‘there can only be one’ and toss the baby into the multiverse or something.
I was giving my kid a planet and super powers. That ought to make up for not being around, I figured as I nodded. “Sure. Give ‘em the good stuff.” Nora could probably raise him into a half decent person. Or turn him against me, I suppose. The whole ‘kid of a villain grows up to be a hero’ thing was a trope for a good reason. “Anything else?” I asked, handing the photo back. Shaun took it, putting it back into his lab coat.
“No, nothing that I think would be worth your attention. Curie continues to refine Joy, and Taylor has done an excellent job of securing the Commonwealth. There were some mutterings about the Capital Wasteland, but so far nothing has come from it, as far as I'm aware.” Meaning that things had been pretty dull here.
In that case, I think I was done here. Not gonna lie -- that kinda knocked the wind from my sails. “Give ‘em my regards. This was just a quick trip over on the down low, so keep it to yourself, yeah?” I said, making Shaun nod and it was as I was about to use the teleporter that I decided to ask a question. Mostly on impulse.
“By the way,” I started, glancing at Shaun over my shoulder, “Have you seen Asami recently?”
Shaun seemed a bit puzzled by the question, “I haven't, why?”
Hm.
“Have you seen Cate recently?” I tried instead, and this time Shaun offered a small nod.
“She's an intermediary between the Institute and Asami's handpicked team. I wouldn't say I see her regularly, but… every few months or so? May I ask why?” He asked, and I just hummed as an answer.
Then I spoke, a slow smile tugging at the corners of my lips.
“I wouldn't worry about it.”
…
Progress Day was a day of celebration. We came at pretty much the perfect time when we first arrived -- a little before it to take full advantage of the opportunity that it presented. I understood it a little better now that I had settled in a bit. Initially, I figured it was a giant scam holiday to drive sales, like Black Friday, just with inventions and scientists.
And I was absolutely on the mark there.
However, that wasn't all it was. Progress wasn't just the next new shiny thing that capitalist consumers could throw money at. It was also about reflection. Looking over your shoulder to see where you had been a year ago and how far you had come. And, maybe, how far you still had to go. That mentality was on full display this Progress Day.
There was no grand reveal like the Hexgate lined up, so the city decided to take a step back and bask in its own success. Like how Piltover became even more the center of world trade on Runeterra, bringing vast riches to the already rich city. The inventions put on display were hardly revolutionary, as most didn't even want to try to follow up an act like the Hexgate, so the displays and shows were far more reserved. Some incremental improvements, or launching a new product line, like the Mini-Handys, rather than some ambitious new tech that could upheave everything. Again.
The average people celebrated in the streets, getting drunk and checking out whatever fancy gizmo caught their eye. The rich, however? The movers and shakers of the city?
They were giving themselves a nice long pat on the back. Celebrating their foresight in spotting a good investment, getting in on the ground floor of it, and just raking in the cash as it paid out better than they could have hoped. It was one such party that I was invited to once again, a gathering of the uppermost echelons of the city. Before, it was because my inventions had caught the eye of Heimerdinger, but now my invitation was guaranteed simply because I had been on a winning streak since last year.
Vought was a household name now, meaning that my ass had a line of people waiting to kiss it.
“We've arrived, sir,” my driver informed and I realized I had been a little too lost in my thoughts. Looking out the window, I saw the entrance to the venu -- an opera house, complete with a ballroom. It was one of the more recent buildings that had been erected in the past year, either because the owner just had that much more money to throw around or because Piltover wanted a venue to show off that it was a cultured city. Honestly, it was probably a bit of both.
“Thanks,” I said, getting out of the locally invented and manufactured limo as my awareness expanded along with a Room. I was fashionably late to the party, as I found many presences already within the ballroom as an orchestra played quietly in the background. Straightening out my suit, I wore an easy smile as I entered the building. It would have been nice if Robin was here to go with me. Or Yoruichi. But going stag to a party was hardly the worst thing to do.
A pair of servants opened a gold engraved set of double doors, revealing the ballroom that almost seemed sparsely filled given its size. The orchestra played on a risen stage, cliques of people speaking to each other as they sipped overpriced imported wine, bragging about their profit margins and what have you. While it was fun to play as Stan Edgar, I had to admit, I just didn't have the undying love for the game that he did. Stan was a man that lived and died by his stock price, an ultranationalist akin to Silco, only his nation was a company.
So, I just felt amusement rather than smelled opportunity when I saw that my arrival was something of a stone tossed into a still pond. People turned to look at me, some subtly and others openly. There was a glimmer of greed in their eyes that almost looked like dollar signs, yet before any one of them could make a move, someone else did.
“Law! You're here,” Jayce greeted me warmly with an easy smile. “I thought we'd have to drag you out of your lab.”
“You're saying that like we didn't have to do that for you when you forgot your birthday,” I pointed out, and he just laughed, oblivious to the eyes on us. “Is the party worth staying for yet? Because there is still time to slip away,” I added, aware of the Councilors that were sprinkled out through the ballroom.
Mel was meeting with merchants, exchanging polite words with them and Councilor Salo. Things had been heating up between them -- that was the kind of corpo influence war that I had wanted to have with Asami. The trading of barbs, poaching assets, stealing credit for breakthroughs…
No such luck there. There were others that had my attention. Heimerdinger was chatting away with whoever would listen, and in this instance, that happened to be Caitlyn Kiramman. It was rare to see her not attached to her mother's hip at a party like this, but I actually didn't sense Cassandra Kiramman attending.
“Honestly… maybe,” Jayce admitted with a small shrug. “Viktor didn't feel like coming, so I made a deal with Mel that she'd cover for me if I decided to head back to the lab.” I'm not sure that he should have told me that, but Jayce wasn't the kind who would care about that kind of thing anyway.
“Not much we can do until the expedition returns,” I said, earning a sad nod from Jayce. Robin sent letters once a month, detailing what they’d found. I had vastly underestimated how much work went into exploring ruins because, at the rate they were going, it'd be another two or three months before they were able to reach the depths where the good stuff might be hiding.
“True. It makes all the questions about the next stage of Hextech that much more annoying,” Jayce said. And that was another little point of contention that had been slowly festering amongst the city’s upper-crust over the months since Sukuna revealed himself to Piltover. Sukuna had tapped into old fears about magic and made some second-guess Hextech.
The wind was blowing the way of the greedy, as of course it would, but there were enough that wanted to stop at the Hexgate to really slow things down. Meanwhile, the three of us were trying to create a device that could separate toxins and oxygen and push the clean air down to Zaun with what amounted to two words and a vowel.
“Well, look on the bright side -- depending on what the expedition finds, we could have answers next year.” That earned a wane smile from Jayce, hopeful but displeased by the roadblock. We were birds of a feather in that, I could admit. I didn't have much patience either.
But, it was what it was.
The two of us then joined the party officially, and naturally, we were like magnets for sycophants. Jayce more so than me, admittedly, but word had spread that I was working with him on the next phase of Hextech, and Vought could always use more investors. The hours started to tick by, people getting tipsy and then some getting drunk as they continued to celebrate.
The entire thing was honestly pretty tedious. It was the same general conversations over and over again about all the same topics. ‘Yes, Vought is doing well.’ ‘How are your profits?’ ‘Yes, I am very smart for creating an entirely new branch of technology.’ ‘Yes, it could be very impressive if the Council would actually let me build my reactor.’ ‘No, I don't give a shit about the fissure mining sector.’
A lot of it was performative, I had come to learn. To maintain ties and relationships, you were expected to approach and make conversation. You were expected to flatter, because insults sure wouldn't make you friends. The more interesting ones were those that poked and prodded to glean what information that they could -- ‘Are you a threat to my interests?’ ‘Are you working on something similar to a project I'm already backing?’ ‘Is there an interesting project that you're working on that you could give me a hint about so I can invest in it before anyone else?’
And, finally, the most interesting question of them all.
‘Where is your partner, Asami Sato?’
That was the only question I didn't have an answer to, as the hours went by and Asami went from fashionably late to outright tardy, before finally, after a few hours with no sign of her, I and everyone else was under the impression that she wouldn't be showing up at all.
Which made it somewhat surprising when I felt her step into my Room, arms locked with a man that I didn't know.
I was already looking at the doors before Asami stepped through them -- she looked good. Her dark hair was brushed to one side, falling over her shoulder like a curtain. She wore a wine red dress that was form fitting, a pedal necklace, and high heels. The guy on her arm, however, was much more interesting.
Aside from a few quirks, he looked like an average middle-aged Japanese businessman. Tall and on the lean side despite being pretty fit, his eyes were a pale yellow, which matched the yellow streaks that were in his hair.
All the more interestingly, I felt determination radiating from the two of them. Across the floor, both of them looked directly at me and our eyes met. I held Asami's gaze before I slowly cocked an eyebrow, fighting a smile that tugged at my lips.
The two of them marched forward like I just waved a red flag before a bull, heading straight towards me with a sense of purpose as they outright ignored a few people that made to get their attention. Including Councilor Salo.
“Asami,” I greeted her before my gaze flickered to the man. He looked down at me with a flat stare, only reaching up to adjust his glasses. “And… whoever you are. I’d say it’s nice to meet ya, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.” That got a small eye twitch from him.
“Law,” Asami greeted me in turn while everyone around us pretended like they weren’t watching. I could practically hear the gossip already circulating, not even bothering to wait until our backs were turned. “This is Mirai Sasaki, my date for the evening.” She introduced him and the man offered a hand for me to shake.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Trafalgar,” Mirai said, his tone decidedly flat.
I snorted, not taking the hand, “Nothing good by the sound of it.” Asami narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, and I felt a twitch of annoyance from her. That ran a little deeper than being irritated that I’d snub her date. He kept the hand offered for a moment before he let it fall back to his side, seemingly less bothered. “Well, it’s nice that you showed up. I was starting to think that you wouldn’t.”
“A project had an unexpected development,” Asami said, and that wasn’t even a lie. She met my gaze flatly, not quite glaring but not far off.
“Hmmm,” I hummed, feeling the tension starting to swell. Something that wasn’t unnoticed by the others. Mel in particular smelled blood in the water, and I could practically see her plotting. I, on the other hand… found myself curious. Very curious. “How about we step away for a moment? Maybe I can help,” I said, holding her gaze. Despite my tone, it very much wasn’t a request.
She didn’t answer for a long second, her gaze flickering to Mirai for but a moment before she squeezed his arm. Less a reassurance and more of a signal, I decided before she looked back to me. “Lets. I’ll just be a moment,” she said to her date before I inclined my head to a door. The people around us shuffled about, smelling drama, and pretended like they hadn’t been paying attention.
Asami followed along without resistance, heading down a hallway, and then a lift that brought us up to a balcony near the top of the building. She said nothing as we walked, closing the door behind us, and I turned my attention to the pretty solid view of Piltover. She stayed behind me, still silent, and that told me she wasn’t going to make the first move.
“So. How’d you hear about my little trip to Fallout?” I asked her directly, leaning against the balcony. Asami’s gaze narrowed into a glare, her lips curling into a sharp frown.
“Perhaps you aren’t as sneaky as you think you are,” she said curtly, and undercurrent of anger in her voice. She was pissed. And yet…
“No, I’m exactly as sneaky as I think I am,” I replied, tilting my head to the side. “I’m one shady bastard. What I’m thinking is that maybe you’re sneakier than I thought you were,” I said and her expression tightened ever so slightly. Her emotions, however, were laid bare. She couldn’t lie to me. And her emotions told me that I had struck a nerve.
A slow smile spread across my face as I looked at Asami with new eyes, “You sneaky bitch,” I said fondly. “Oh, you sneaky bitch. When did you build it?”
Just when I was out, she reeled me back in. Because I knew she knew exactly what I meant by that. It was impossible for her to misunderstand.
Yet, she just clenched her jaw, leaving me to keep poking at the nerve. “I’ve kept a close eye on the Dias. Just in case you did pull some shenanigans with it. So, I know that you didn’t use the Dias. So… that only leaves one explanation as far as I can see.” We had closed the door behind us, taking Cate with us for interrogation when she woke up. There was only one possible way that she could know what had transpired.
Asami had a second Dias.
She was silent, her gaze sharp, and I took that as the confirmation that it was. She just didn’t want to admit that I was right. I didn’t mind. In fact I was all smiles about it, “You baited me out. God damn, and I totally fell for it, huh? No wonder you weren’t doing shit in this world -- you were preparing everywhere else, huh?”
Cate had given it away. Or, rather, Shaun had. They had no reason to interact. To be more specific, Cate had no reason to interact with Shaun, and yet they had. Meaning that Cate had flipped on me -- that was brave of her. A lot braver than I thought she had in her. I didn’t even know how bad it was in the other worlds now.
Cate had mind-control powers, so there was no limit to the amount of damage she could do to the house of cards that we had built up together. Who was compromised? Shaun? Taylor? Nora? They’d have been subtle about it, I think. Make it all seem normal so when I met them, no memory tampering would stand out. “That explains why I caught you so off guard by building a fusion reactor on the down low. You were barely looking this way.”
That one hurt, I noticed as her lips started to pull back into an angry snarl. “Did you kill her?”
“Cate? Nah, seemed like a waste,” I replied, cocking my head to the side. “Felt like she’d be more useful as a hostage.”
“So, we’re at that point, are we?” Asami questioned and I just smiled away with a small shake of my head. Fuck me, she had really got me. She really did just pull the rug out underneath me -- a year of boredom, a year of her giving me nothing but slack, not reacting to anything that I did, to the connections that I made or any of the opportunities that I provided her.
I had known from the start that time was on her side. We both knew that I only had so much patience. Robin had warned me that Asami had been preparing for this fight since the very beginning but I had still underestimated her. That was completely on me.
“What do you even mean by that, Asami?” I asked her, holding up a hand that I shambled a knife into. Her jaw clenched, and a chuckle bubbled up from my throat. One thing was already clear to me as I brought the knife down with a slash, sending the cut at her head and parting it with ease. “You didn’t even bother to come in person.”
Asami’s head slid to the side, revealing the contents within. And there was no mistaking it as one half of her head fell to the ground in a spray of blood.
Synth components.
“What a trick,” I said, throwing my head back and laughing. She had done exactly what I had asked Shaun about when I first learned of Synths. She did what I did to my own Synths to increase the quality of their souls -- she transferred her memories over to a Synth of herself and had it act like her. All so I would be none the wiser when the real Asami was somewhere else. Somewhere plotting and preparing while I wasted my time looking here, in this world, for where she’d try to draw first blood.
I closed my eyes as my Haki warned me what was coming. Asami hadn't come unprepared. My visit to Fallout had caught her off guard, and maybe rushed this, but she had been preparing for this fight for two years now. The Synth’s body hitting the ground was the signal- the gunshot that was heard around the world that kicked everything off.
Behind me, I heard an explosion. The ground trembled beneath me as the building seemed to sway. I tightened my grip on the balcony, but it wasn’t to make sure I wouldn’t fall. It was to brace myself for pain.
There was no attack to dodge. There was nothing in my Room that even hinted where the attack was coming from or that was going to be an attack at all.
And yet spikes emerged from my chest and back in a spray of blood all the same. My heart was skewered, the same for my lungs and organs. Blood erupted from my mouth as I bent over, keeping myself standing only because of the balcony rail. Yet, even as blood flowed freely from my wounds, the smile wouldn’t leave my face.
At long last, I was getting exactly what I wanted.
Comments
Pizzaeater101
Is her date Sir Nighteye from My Hero Academia?
Eldar Zecore
Now that’s interesting! The new question is, has Asami been pulling together an A Team from across the multi-verse or developed a way to track Dimensionally displaced people like her?
