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They landed on a giant balcony of ice-white crystal and Mark kinda geeked out. Isoko gave a tiny squeal, too. This was a special place. Wandering Sage had been here many times before, but she truly enjoyed bringing Isoko here. Mark was good to have here, too, Aeri supposed, but Isoko was the one she truly cared about, and seeing Isoko Kanno on this balcony, in this place, obviously brought Aeri Kanno a treasure of emotions. Justicar led the way.

And then they walked through the big archway, and Mark felt a chill as he walked down a grand hallway that he had only ever seen in the really big movies and a few, scarce shows over the years. Specifically, the 750 million goldleaf movies, and the shows that were 10 million an episode. Could Mark name one of those shows? No chance in hell. If someone put one of those voidfire cannons directly against his chest and asked him to name a single one of those shows, he would fail.

The floor, distant walls, and high, pointed ceiling, was all ice-white crystal. A wide, sturdy blue carpet with gold embroidery filled the hallway, leading from that giant balcony back that way, to an archway ahead. Smaller, similarly-colored carpets rested outside of doors to the sides of the main hallway. Those other rooms were filled with rest areas, talking spaces, and other on-call areas for the Big Heroes of the day, whoever that might be. It was a rotating cast, as far as Mark knew.

Right now, the place was filled with a lot of Big Damn Heroes, all of them in their costumes, some in armor, some walking ahead, some pausing to look at Aeri, or to look at Justicar. A lot of them stared at Mark with open wonder, or apprehension, or straight up worry. Mark spotted Blazeheart with her shockingly red hair, and then there was Aqua Guardian— Oh shit. He was from the People, wasn't he? Mark needed to talk to him. And wow over there was Solstice— Mark really needed to talk to her.

She was a precog— And up ahead, beyond an archway, lay the Round Room. A variable number of round crystal seats surrounded a variable-sized round table. It was an uncomfortable space, with little ornamentation, but it was able to be filled or emptied with room for as many or as few heroes as needed. Mark did not see Glorious Man anywhere. A few camera drones hovered here and there, shooting film and monitoring everything. This was a real event, though. Not an HVP production.

Beyond that central round room with too many big heroes to think about, lay the Innards. A bunch of techies and people who lived and worked in the tower in the Innards dealt with all of the organization of the tower. Those guys were also responsible for getting superheroes wherever they needed to be in the Two Worlds—" Okay, people!" Justicar called out, slamming the world's attention onto him with Union.

"Team Mithril on front, my show in the hot seat, and prepare for full defense of New Tokyo when the battle is joined. Four hours!" And then Timeweaver appeared, right beside the round table, calling out, "Point of order! Everyone needs to be on alert. This is Full Alert. I will attempt to keep the blockade from spilling over onto Earth, but this is a major operation." Ah. The dryads were going to trigger rifts, huh? Well yeah. They were. Fuck.

Captain Titan, Specter, and Tempest, were all there in the room with Justicar, forming the full Team Mithril. Titan had the same Titan's Strength as Sally and Titanfist back in Memphi. Specter was an ethereal person, more suited for infiltration than anything else, but kinda like Grey Phantom back in Memphi. There were a lot of repeated Powers in the worlds, which Mark knew, but which he felt like he was finding out all over again. Tempest had Sky Shaper and Weather Manipulation, though.

Tempest and Captain Titan were the two macro-hitters on Team Mithril, while Justicar was general support with his Union and unknown Body Power, while Specter was the scouter and the infiltrator. Justicar had said that Tempest and Specter were going with Mark and Isoko, right? That was a lot of sky-sized battlefield control in that grouping. Mark was the spear, of course. Specter, Mark imagined, would be pointing Mark at stuff, but maybe not.

Ethereal stuff didn't work too well around Mark, due to Unions of Adamant/Ethereal, so if Justicar pointed Specter at targets alongside Mark then Mark would need to make a call against that. That'd be on Daihoon, though. Everyone else was on Earth, on the defense of New Tokyo. Not everyone here was a part of a major team. Most were independent actors or the main members of their own personal teams. A lot of them were in full costume, but some were in actual warrior armor. Mark could name them all, if he wanted.

Most of them were background characters in HVP productions, in the way that the army and such were background characters, but a few had actual shows. It was really, really hard for Mark to imagine that with this much firepower in any one area that anything bad could ever happen to anyone nearby. … But New Tokyo was a full slice of the island of Japan, from Chiba to the other coast, including Mount Fuji and a whole lot of former national parks, covering about 30, 000 square kilometers.

It was a lot of space to cover. Some shit was going to fall through some cracks, somewhere. The people here would be dealing with that. Mark was here to be a heavy hitter and strike against the blockade itself, and to also fulfill whatever Healthy Body stuff that Melanie Moore wanted— An elevator opened up to the side, and Melanie Moore stepped out, calling out, almost on cue, saying, "Mark! This way. Everyone else begin final preparations."

Mark felt so very weird as he walked across the room, under the gaze of people he truly respected and grew up watching, to step into the— Mark forced himself to pause, because words needed to be said, so he said to everyone watching, "I look forward to working with you to destroy Dominant's tyranny." Some people responded in quiet ways. Mark had no idea what they said. Mark was already in the elevator and riding down with Moore, trying not to feel embarrassed as fuck about speaking out in the Round Room. Holy fuck.

Mark took a breath as he relaxed, as he Unionsensed the small bomb he had set off overhead. People were arguing now. Mark focused elsewhere, in other elevators in other parts of the building, and all around a bunch of blank spots to Mark's senses. Everywhere he sensed people were working fast. Preparations were officially underway. Perhaps, Mark would have thought about all that a bit more, but— Moore hmm'd, and said, "So if Timeweaver let that stand, then I guess that needed to be said." Mark jolted.

"What?"" Assuming we're in the final timeline, which is always the proper assumption to make, then that means that throwing that gauntlet against Okuana, and specifically Dominant, is how Timeweaver has chosen to handle this political fiasco." Mark picked up a lot more than what Moore was putting down as the elevator (which he had seen on many shows and was now actually riding in) descended down through illuminated crystal. Mark said, "People here are split on Dominant's tyranny, huh."

Timeweaver stepped into the elevator, saying, "The problem is manifold." Moore hmm'd at Timeweaver, but she said nothing." Hello, Timeweaver," Mark said, feeling remarkably more settled with the Redo Hero in the elevator with him, for some reason. Timeweaver told Mark, "Wars don't reach us. That's the first problem. The second problem is the HVP, which is good in a whole bunch of ways, has a real detrimental effect on getting people to believe that bad things really do happen to good people.

And then you also have Dominant's propaganda and trade with New Tokyo for a very long time, which was also a trade of people, so people here have a hard time seeing reality for reality. Dominant has even tried to make that propaganda more serious by robbing us of D'Takasaki Side Depot, not allowing our young to find out what monsters actually are. It's part of his super long game, like you know, how Dominant is threatening our airspace. Hmm!" Timeweaver wasn't huffing at Mark.

Mark said, "Sometimes you can't convince people the sky is blue." Timeweaver smiled softly.

"I try! But yes. Also, you should just do that thing with Necromancer you're thinking of doing. On the whole, it's better when you have that out there, though I'm only gaming 5 days out from the battle, so who knows what the distant future will bring." Moore sighed, because— Mark suddenly felt unmoored.

"I thought you had complete and total control of… of a lot! Not 5 days?!"" I've tried. I go crazy when I do that and then someone kills me and I lose years of time reviving back to when I wasn't crazy."

"… years?" Mark quietly asked. Timeweaver paused a little, and then he said, "Oh. So this is the good timeline, huh?" Mark paused. Timeweaver looked at Mark curiously. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Mark was probably double the guy's size, maybe only 15 centimeters taller but a whole lot stronger both physically and in actual power… maybe… but Timeweaver seemed bigger. Like Mark was gazing upon something that occupied more space than it should—" Huh!"

Timeweaver said, "There are a lot of good timelines out there, but some are better than others." And then Timeweaver vanished. Moore said to the air, "Timeweaver erase-tapes protocol, authorization Moore." And then she told Mark, "Never repeat any of that."" Understood," Mark said, not really understanding all of Timeweaver, but he understood enough, and he especially understood that Moore had a protocol for erasing Timeweaver's presence when needed.

As the elevator slowed its descent, Mark asked, "How many people am I Skilling?"" 130 Healthy Bodys and thanks to a quick discussion I have had with your Second Princess Walaria, if you would allow, we'll also take that Ice Shaper, the Tamers both Plant and Normal, all with Healthy Bodys. We'd love your Etherealitys, too. We also have a special request for Technopath, Web Control, and Technosis Body..." Moore added, "And I can see that Technosis Body is a frightening ask, so I would like to know why."

The elevator stopped, and Moore pressed a button to halt the doors from opening, to give them a bit more time. Wherever they had landed in the Crystal Tower, Mark could tell there were people out there, a few of them lined up like guards, but the others… That was the grand entrance hall— Focus. Mark didn't want to give anyone Technosis Body, and that was aside from the fact that he had just gotten Technopath from that assassin not half a day ago. Adding in Web Control into all of that?

Mark said, "Technosis Body is a complete corruption of the body into technology. Technopath is already all of that, but different, and Web Control, too? That's like… That person would turn into a spider, for sure."" We want to give it to the son of Aleph One." Mark jerked.

"One of the command cores of Crystal Tower— Wait no. The son of Aleph One? Not Aleph One."" Correct. Aleph One budded 7 years ago and his son, Aleph Two, takes over for his father sometimes, but he doesn't have clearance for Crystal Tower and Aleph One isn't moving on, so Aleph Two wants to move on. We can give him clearance in other parts of the city. We could use him if he had more Power than he does now." Mark had to think.

"I don't know if I can Skill an AI, but… Maybe I can? I don't…" Mark had to think about something else.

"Why do you want all the Tamers?"" Great monster controllers."" Okay fine. Let's uh, do this. Aleph Two, too." Moore pressed the button beside the doors and the doors opened, revealing the grand entrance hall a hundred meters wide where bronze statues of heroes and villains hung on the ice-white ceiling in heroic poses, and a giant globe of Earth floated, illuminated, in the center of it all. It was the entrance hall for Crystal Tower.

Mark had seen it before in shows, but now he saw it from this direction, from behind a pair of low velvet ropes, where the main elevator led directly to the round room overhead. It was disorienting. It was enthralling. Moore walked forward, Mark walked with her, and some guards Mark hadn't noticed eyed them a bit as they walked forward.

Some tourists far ahead, beyond a second set of ropes, and near the merch tables and the visitors' booth, were flashing cameras at Mark and Moore, gasping as they called out 'Vilefire!' and then, suddenly, some teenager girl screamed—" BLACKVEIN IS HERE?!" Everyone looked their way and it was like the world flexed upon Mark, thrusting him into the center of attention. Guards far beyond this location were alerted by the scream and Mark felt them move to act, but then settle down.

A bunch of people crowded that second velvet rope, moving fast to take pictures. Mark put on a calm face as they called out his name, as he moved to the side— Someone told him to say his catchphrase. Mark accidentally Athercalled out, "Death to all monsters!" His Call went wide and deep. The crowd surged with energy, roaring back at Mark, some screaming with joy.

A few people fainted but Mark hit them with a bit of Good/Bad, the air around him gaining some black veins, and the crowd of a thousand people surged again. The guards had some trouble, but they were on duty. They handled it. And then Mark moved beyond a hallway, beyond a door, into a slightly quieter part of Crystal Tower. Moore smiled a little, saying, "You handled that well.""

Give me some people to help and some dryads to kill, pretty please," Mark said, breathing out anxiety— He paused as he recognized someone up ahead, and as his brain felt like it reset, like he had forgotten something and then, there it was.

"Derek! Fuck! I wondered where you were!" Derek smiled, stepping forward, saying, "You forgot about me completely." Mark admitted, "I am meeting a lot of new people right now." Grinning, Derek said, "And I'll help you meet more." Moore said, "I'll leave you here," as she got out her phone.

Soon, Derek introduced Mark to some leaders from the army, from other places, and then Derek admitted to Mark, privately, that he had never seen these people before, either, but he learned fast and they had only allowed him into the building in any real capacity in the last hour. Mark took that all in. And then Mark met his clients. Mostly, they were soldiers, aged 20 to 24, but a few of them were dressed as civilians. Mark didn't get many of their stories at all, except in general ways, and except for one.

The would-be-Tamers were a part of a rapid monster response team that was full of Tamers of all kinds. These guys were all Knacked or Knowing assistants to the Tamers, but they wanted more, they qualified for more in every possible way except for their Powers, and so they were getting more. There was drama about who was getting Plant Tamer versus generic Tamer, but Mark only found out about that as he got going, and they didn't talk to him about any of it at all.

Mark just breezed past whatever drama was going on there. New Tokyo had a deep winter, and so the Ice Shaper was going to be needed during those times of the year. The Ethereality guys were all army guys, and they were all serious people. Mark imagined they were spies, or something similar, based on how they were pleasant on the surface but their minds were going in a hundred directions at once.

And, since Mark saw their core memories when he Skilled them, pulling those relevant dreams from the dark of their souls in the very application of Ethereality and Healthy Body, he saw how they all worked deep in the shadows. They'd be working deeper in the shadows from now on. And then there was Aleph Two. Aleph Two stepped into the room like a normal 20 year old man of Asian/American descent, but he was clearly an AI.

AIs in bodies liked to have exposed circuitry somewhere on their flesh, usually underneath some sort of protective glass, or glass-silicone, to mostly mimic a person and to display their obviously non-human nature. Aleph Two had blue-colored glass-silicone on his forearms and neck instead of skin, showing shiny metal bones, silicone muscles, and flickering lights, while his eyes were 'normal' save for a light blue illumination to his irises.

Mark had asked Quark to talk to Aleph Two and Aleph One and whoever needed talking to, to see if he could Skill an AI at all, and they seemed to think it would work. But Mark still asked Aleph Two directly, "So you really think this will work?"" Yes, sir!" Aleph said, and then he explained, "I've discarded the Tutorial as an option, like most ensouled AIs, but I have cast some spells in the Sig a ldry way and with other methods. The only way in which my soul varies from a human's is how I connect to my body."

Mark moved on.

"Technosis Body is dangerous, but… The person who had it mostly had issues with turning non-human. Since you're coming from the other direction… Are you sure you want these three Powers? You'll be truly strong in a lot of ways, but Web Control will… I can't help but think you're going to turn into a spider with that one when it's combined with all the others."" I would truly like to try the full set, sir, and if it doesn't work I would love to be able to visit you at Dawncoast and get Web Control removed.

I want to be a Hero of Humanity, just like my father."

"… Okay. Ready?" Aleph Two stood strong, and then he said, "Ready!" Mark dove into the dream and he took Aleph Two along for the ride. Three dreams surfaced out of Aleph Two, as Mark slipped his Knack for Technology out of place and installed Technopath, Technosis Body, and Web Control. The first memory was of Aleph Two seeing some giant construct of silver and LEDs swirl into being, connecting dead systems to each other and reviving everything, bringing the turrets online, and helping the heroes to save the day.

The second memory was of Aleph Two waking up in his own body and feeling limited in ways he had never been limited before, but then he reached out and he connected to others, and all was good. The third memory was Aleph Two learning programming for the first time. It was like learning how to speak. Mark pulled out of Aleph Two and Aleph Two sagged a bit.

Aleph Two blinked, the glowing blue in his irises expanding to fill all of his eyes, while his glass-silicone flesh flexed outward, down his arms and into his short sleeve shirt, and then up his neck. His entire body shifted a bit— And then he took a real, actual breath, gasping as his eyes flickered with more and more light, and then the light went out and Aleph was still breathing, chest moving up and down in a way that did not happen with AIs unless they spent a lot of money to get that rather esoteric feature.

AIs that didn't pretend to be human never bothered with 'breathing', and Aleph Two was certainly in that category. So his breathing was a part of Technosis Body, for sure. The guy's vector stabilized, the lights in his body fading away to nothing, his skin clouding into blue, hiding his exposed muscles just as veins began to beat underneath that skin— Aleph Two grabbed his chest, startled, as he said, "I have a heart?" Mark grinned, as he felt an avenue of vectors inside Aleph Two light up to his Unionsense.

"I suppose you do." Aleph Two wanted to ask a lot of questions, all of a sudden, but Mark said, "I have no idea what is going to happen to you, and I wish you the best of luck. Quark, please authorize Aleph Two to call me whenever he needs something, and you two can talk for a while. Aleph Two? I have a war to fight, so I need to get ready for that. Are you okay? Or do I need to take it all back?" Aleph Two took a moment, his vector flickering fast.

Quark's power-drain on Mark's astral body flickered in time to Aleph Two's vector flickers. They were talking quickly. Mark let them talk for a while— Aleph Two said, "I believe I am good. Thank you, sir." Quark said, "It seems that everything is okay, sir."" Good enough for me—" A screen to the side flickered with a real vector. A face appeared on the screen, not unlike Aleph Two's face. The guy looked fully human except for trailing blue lines all around him. Aleph One. Mark jerked to attention.

Aleph One said, "Thank you for assisting my son, Mark Careed. We are ready for you upstairs."" Okay!"" Please take the main entrance." And then Derek stepped forward, saying, "You'll like this one." Mark hadn't Unionsensed outside with any real focus for the last hour, but now he did." Ohh."