章 633: 72
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Day 6109 - Monday - Administrator Network Time
The voice that greeted him was rather similar to the voice Shaper used when they first talked. It both used Shard speech yet also made use of the human languages. This time, however, the two parts, human and Shard, were distinct enough that he could distinguish them.
One was beyond old, with a hint of whimsy and strength, while the other was very young, naïve, yet filled with wonder. The voices echoed each other, yet spoke at the same time. It was very, very weird.
Instead of continuing the communication like that, he sent an invitation to the Shard for a meeting in the virtual space, wanting to see what it would make of it. Would they accept it and play along, or would they refuse the request?
Thankfully, he didn't have to wonder long, because the Shard instantly accepted the invite. So, he mentally prepared himself and opened a virtual space on an unused server that was well isolated from everything else.
There was no need to take chances.
Instead of rolling evergreen hills and a pleasant spring day, he chose to have the meeting in a cold and foreboding cathedral, thinking that it suited the Faerie Queen better.
He appeared in his usual slime avatar between the first row of pews and looked around while he waited for the other party. The cathedral was made from uniform gray stone, with no decoration anywhere. The only light came from a giant circular glass window, and the ray of light coming through it only illuminated fully a circular area between the pews and where the podium should have been. The rest of the scene was only partially illuminated, and the farthest points were shrouded in ominous shadows.
A perfect scene to appeal to the theatrics loving Glastig Uaine.
Just as he fully took in the view, his guest arrived.
Contrary to his expectations, they (because obviously both the Shard and Ciara were there) showed up in the body of Ciara, her blonde hair cascading down on her back, and her body covered in a shimmering gold and silver gown, with green accents that were covered with tiny pinpricks of light that shined as stars shined on the night sky. Her green eyes were curiously looking around, and her face was sporting a small, knowing smile.
On her back were countless fairy-like transparent wings, made of light. They were so many of them, that as they moved, they blurred into one pair of wings.
As he took in the avatar, he noticed that the human's attention was coming from the body, while the Shard's was coming from the wings.
As he beheld the being in front of him with his eyes and all of his considerable senses and sensor, he couldn't help but blurt out a question.
"What did you do?"
The young lady's wandering eyes stopped, then fixed themselves on his avatar. Ciara smiled, and he could feel amusement and embarrassment in equal measure radiating from the wings.
"A mistake was made, but in the end, something greater was born."
The answer was spoken with the weird echoing voice, and he could hear both of their voices, yet he could say that the Shard's voice was dominant when they spoke.
Ciara, not caring about his musings, continued. "I was in a spot of trouble, so my dear friend helped me out. In performing this action, we have grown much closer."
This time, he was sure that the young human was the dominant voice, yet in the background, he could still hear the Shard speak.
"We became Shard. We became Human. We are two. We are one."
He blinked at hearing that, then spent a few seconds unraveling the information that the Shard broadcasted with the speech.
Apparently, Ciara got in trouble, just as she had said, and when it turned into a second trigger event, the Shard trying to determine how to help its Host went a tad deeper than recommended, thus joining the two of them together.
"Fantastic," he replied with a sigh while wondering if other Shards had days like this. "And what are your plans?"
"We do enjoy watching the life of man and fay as it passes by. Yet we could only watch." Here the voice changed once again to the Shard's. "For reasons you are familiar with."
"So, you are against it?"
"We know now. We see now. Unsatisfying. Unacceptable." The harsh voice of the Shard changed once more to the slightly softer voice of Ciara. "I do enjoy a wonderful tale. It would be terrible if it were to be cut short."
He once again wished he had a face that he could slam repeatedly into a wall. The avatar in front of him let out a giggle, and he couldn't help but sigh.
"Okay, I can work with that. And if you allow me some access, I can help with this thing…" he finally replied, while motioning with his stubby arms at the dual being in front of him.
Ciara smiled at him, and the wings radiated contentment.
They spoke as one. "There is no need good Sir. We rather enjoy each other's company."
Then just Ciara spoke with the Shard echoing her in the distance, the walls reverberating with her statement. "A great friend I found."
They then switched to the Shard, speaking with Ciara's voice acting as an angelic chorus in the background. "Family of my own was gained through these fated events."
And finally, they spoke once again in unison. "We are now one until We chose not to be."
"Fine, if that is what you wish. But please stay out of my way until I deal with the idiot."
"Naturally. It would be a great crime against destiny if We were to deprive you of your own story."
"Thank you."
The avatar nodded imperiously at him, then shattered into millions of tiny light motes that then fell to the ground where they vanished.
He stared at the spot for a while, trying to process what happened.
After a while, he simply shrugged and decided the less he thought about it, the better it would be. So, he simply set up a delivery to the Shard with the usual upgrades, then he went to take over the other Shards in the Birdcage.
Date
2011 March 1st - Monday - Earth Bet Time
Taylor was in her room, working on the website for the universal translator idea that Admin had given her, taking a break from manufacturing tinker devices for Tess. She was about to pop down to the kitchen for a glass of water (while contemplating the idea of creating a small fridge and water dispenser for her room) when Admin's ridiculous slime avatar popped into existence next to her.
Long used to the randomly appearing avatar, she didn't even blink in surprise.
"Hey, Admin! What are you up to?"
Her only answer was an incomprehensible grumble and a scowl from the usually upbeat slime.
"Rough day at work, huh?"
"Like you wouldn't believe it, Taylor." Admin sighed, then took a deep breath, and once again he was sporting his regular smile. "But I'm here to ask you something."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. So, Taylor, what do you plan to do now?"
She had to blink in surprise when she heard the question.
"What do you mean? Weren't you the one with the plan?"
"Well, yes. But I have the plan to help you, not to tell you what to do twenty-four seven. And that's mostly done."
"What?"
"Taylor. You left Winslow, your bullies were punished, your relationship with your father is getting better, you are making friends, you are a world-renowned parahuman twice over and have enough money that you don't have to worry about anything. In less than two months. What more do you want?"
Taylor looked back at the still smiling slime, but she couldn't say anything in response to that. She never really took stock of her life recently, just doing this and that, while waiting for Admin to show up and make her do something nonsensical. Yet, now that Admin spelled it out, she could see.
And the best of all, she could feel it. She was happy and content. She had no worries; she was having fun every day.
It was a rather disconcerting feeling because something inside Taylor told her she shouldn't be feeling like this.
Admin, seeing her indecision, just nodded in understanding. "Right. I'll leave you to process that. Call me if you have an idea because the next step in my plan is a while away…"
With that, the avatar once again vanished in a shower of glitter and confetti, leaving a dumbfounded woman crying in her room while smiling.
Date
2011 March 3rd - Wednesday - Earth Bet Time
Narwhal walked into the meeting room with purposeful strides. This operation would be rather risky, but she trusted Tess, and even Nero somewhat. Still, she couldn't help but worry. Their target was known for being sadistic, so who knows what kind of backup plans they came up with.
The room was already almost full with Guild capes, personnel, medical and rescue professionals, and a representative from the Canadian government and the army.
On the stage, behind a podium, was one of Tess's bodies (she knew that another was having a fun tinkering session with Armsmaster) talking quietly to Nero, who was fidgeting because of the lack of Tinkering.
They really needed to get that girl a new hobby…
Nora sat down in the last row, partly because of her height, and partly because she didn't want to get people's attention. This was Tess's idea, so she will let her friend take credit. Plus, this way she didn't have to spend too much time with journalists.
Narwhal really envied her friend's ability to be in several places at the same time.
It took a few minutes for the last stragglers to arrive, but when everyone took a proper seat, the doors closed automatically, then locked themselves, while several Tinker and non-Tinker made security features activated while the lights dimmed and the projector over their heads came alive, projecting the Guild and Dragon Industries logo with the Canadian flag in a triangle formation.
Tess stepped forward, wearing comfortable jeans and a collared white shirt, with a black binary sequence on it. Nora was glad that the gift she got for the terrifying but friendly AI was being appreciated.
Furthermore, it couldn't help but make her laugh that an AI was wearing a shirt that said 'I'm not a robot' in binary…
"Welcome, everybody," began Tess her speech with a warm and welcoming smile. It always amazed Nora how much humanity her friend could express despite not being biological. "We are here to talk about an operation that has been in the design phase for a while. But now, we are ready to move forward toward execution."
The room was instantly filled with whispers as people speculated about the target. Tess raised her hand, and the indistinct murmur once again quieted down as people waited for her to continue.
"For security reasons, we won't be mentioning any name, lest we trigger something the parahuman left behind," said the Tinker while giving a meaningful look at the assembled professionals. Narwhal could see that at least half the room immediately figured out who she was talking about.
Good. She hated working with idiots.
There was no movement from Tess, but the projected screen changed from the logos to a small lakeside village (basically a glorified resort and campground), helpfully labeled as Otter Falls, Manitoba.
"Thanks to some breakthroughs in technology and a willing help from some family members we tracked our target to this location, and our predictions say, that they would be staying there for at least several days."
Another change on the screen showed the highlighted roads and borders of the area.
"As you can see, due to the target's area of influence, and the relatively isolated area, we can't approach them on foot without arousing suspicion. So, our plan is to have an unmanned drone drop one of Nero's bombs on the city. This bomb will create a so-called stasis field, freezing everything and everybody in the place. We will then go in, wearing devices that defend the people from the effect, and remove the present people one by one."
Upon hearing this, the noise in the room rose again, and several hands went up in the air. Dragon chose one, and the man from the government immediately asked a question that Narwhal suspected all the others wanted to ask. She was proven correct when the question was asked all the others lowered their hands.
"Excuse me, Dragon, but what about the effects of the… target's power?"
"Excellent question," replied Dragon with a small smile, and the projector once again changed. On the screen appeared a man's head wearing a very high-tech-looking headband. Though Nora was pretty sure that was Armsmaster's head. "This here is an Anti-Master headband that was created by Serenity."
The noise level in the room rose again at the mention of the famous parahuman. She could see several awestruck and hopeful faces.
"Sadly, it is a fully Tinker-tech device," continued Tess, ignoring the talking people. "So, Serenity had to handcraft each and every one. They are good against non-biological Master affects, but unfortunately, they are useless against the Simurgh, due to the Endbringer's affinity towards Tinker-tech. But we rigorously tested them, and we are a hundred percent sure they would stand up to the target's power."
"Thank you, Dragon," replied the man who asked, then he sat back satisfied.
"No problem. Any other question?" Tess waited a few seconds, but everyone was silent or talking with their neighbor in a hushed voice, so she continued. "We also have one very special device from Serenity, that will do the same thing, but instead of locking the Master influence out, it would lock it in."
There was a brief silence, then the entire room was sporting a rather bloodthirsty grin.
Dragon waited until people calmed down, changed the projector screen once again, then started talking.
"So, the assignments are the following…"
Date
2011 March 4th - Thursday - Earth Bet Time
People watched as she walked through the halls. Some shied away, some greeted her with respect or awe, some with fear. But nobody hindered her journey.
When she stepped through the gate separating the two sides, she gained a small following of curious people. After all, she rarely ventured there without due cause, invitation, or at least a small explanation.
As she neared her target, almost everybody was there who had the capacity to care.
She stopped in front of the older man, looked up to him, into his eyes behind the old glasses, and smiled.
"Mr. Terrel, I'm afraid the time has come. We require your services."
The assembled parahumans didn't even have time to react to the odd voice the Faerie Queen used before the young-looking girl struck. Benjamin Terrel, or better known as Teacher, collapsed in front of them a head short.
The girl simply turned around and left the room, the people moving out of her way on instinct.
Nobody knew what really happened, but when they saw the uncountable transparent fairy-like wings on the famous villain's back, as she walked away lightly humming to herself, they all knew something changed.
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