Chương 55: Of One's Own Accord

Annie looked at him askance.

"You killed yourself?!"

"I didn't mean to," Alexander said, feeling defensive for some reason.

"I think…" Talia and Augustus exchanged looks.

"At least we've confirmed that your story of being from an alternate reality is true," she said. Alexander turned to them.

"You didn't believe me?"

"We didn't think you were lying, but it was certainly hard to wrap our heads around the idea," Augustus said.

"Granted, it is much easier to believe now that medieval magic knights tried to kill us."

"Not to mention the resurrecting priests," Annie said, nodding sagely.

"Unbelievable," Alexander muttered.

"First my enemies believe I'm a terrorist, and now my friends think I'm a mental patient." He raised a hand to stop Annie's immediate response.

"Nope. I see how I ran into that one." She smirked at him. Then she frowned.

"Wait, doesn't that mean we all killed our alternate selves by becoming superheroes?" They exchanged looks.

"The news in my original world was reporting increased accidental deaths," Alexander said thoughtfully.

"I thought it was a hoax, but then I tripped over a tile and died." Augustus tugged at his moustache.

"At least it means we won't have to fight ourselves in one of these invasions." Annie nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, that'd suck. I'd totally end up killing myself, and then you'd all be, 'prove you're the real Annie!', and I wouldn't know what to say!" Talia laughed.

"Just tell us you want to go home and watch more psychic corgi." Annie perked up at that.

"Oh, yeah."

"You having a fourth power could have serious implications," Talia said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, but I have no idea how to use it," he said.

"Or what it's capable of. Technopathy just came to me, but the others took being in real danger to reveal themselves."

"It's a highly complex name," Talia began, "but it looks to be Latin. Machina meaning machine, or scheme. Ani on the other hand…" She looked amused.

"Well, if the System named it on your behalf, let's just say it might not like you." Alexander looked at her with confusion.

"Instead, if we assume it's a blend of two words, like brunch, then it might mean Anima Machina. Spirit Machine. Perhaps Spirit of the Machine."

"No…" Alexander whispered. He'd felt it the moment she translated it, stronger and with more certainty than he'd felt when he discovered Technopathy.

"It's Soul of the Machine."

"That would also work," Talia said, studying him.

"And if it feels right to you, it's most likely correct." Annie patted him on the back.

"You'll figure out how it works. Probably when you're close to dying next."

"Okay," Alexander said, ignoring her.

"This has been a lot. Let's relax and take a day or two to work on our own projects." He glanced down at Annie.

"Or to watch the holo. Then we go after the next target, assuming there are no more invasions or world-shaking revelations." They drifted from the armory, carrying new tension with them but softened by the exhaustion of the day, brief as the encounters had been. Augustus set about fixing a meal, conjuring order from the kitchen's chaos as only he could. Annie collapsed onto the couch and turned on the holo.

Talia disappeared to begin analyzing the hard drive and its secrets, her need to work on something winning over fatigue. To Alexander, these moments always felt like returning home. Even with everything that had happened, that had changed, their routines remained the same. He retrieved everything he needed from Augustus's Storage Closet, briefly interrupting the man's own routine, and made his way to the workshop. His first priority was fixing up his drones.

The crafted ones had suffered extensive damage, and even his favorite had a horizontal hairline fracture running across its face. He couldn't see it, but Metallokinesis could sense it. Then he'd turn his mind to figuring out how Soul of the Machine, or Animachina, worked. He had ideas about what it might be capable of. Obvious ones, perhaps, but he was excited to find out.

He always looked forward to time spent on projects in his workshop, even if there were so many other competing priorities, but a corner of his mind refused to be silent; there was simply too much to think about. Starship armor for his drones. A mysterious alien cube. The System, with its achievements, ascensions, Dreams, and the revelations about a multiverse full of beings that were being forced to fight each other. His fourth power, of course. The need for a plan to get Talia her third.

Ideas about how they might do the same for Augustus. Magic armor in storage. Revenge against Santiago Systems for himself, and justice for others like him. … The silent question about why he didn't feel guilty. He'd massacred dozens of people, invaders or not. And now he'd just learned that he'd killed his own alternate self, erasing his dreams, his hopes, all so that some dark corner of his own soul could pursue its ambition. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Alexander closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. Deep, slow breaths. In, and out. Opening them, he tuned out all but the work. Everything else could wait. For now. Augustus traveled to Astra Omnia the next day along with Annie, though for very different reasons. Annie planned to continue her efforts in carving her way to the top of the station's arena rankings, while he was on a different type of mission. He made his way to the holographic communications booth he'd purchased time for.

Here, a man of means could pay for privacy; encrypted traffic and anonymized routing across galactic networks, rather than Earth's highly spied on systems. It wasn't perfect, but it was far better than anything else he had access to. He keyed in a contact. Once, he'd have used the implant for such a thing, but thankfully, with it now gone, they'd learned that their data, including contacts and other functionality, had been preserved through the changes. Augustus still didn't like it.

The holo system pulsed, then filled out with a familiar figure seated at a table. Bernard Johnson was older now, grayer at the edges, but with the same easy grin. Augustus raised a hand in salute. Bernard barked a laugh and tossed him a lazy one back.

"At ease, Captain. You're retired. And when you left the service eight years ago, we were the same damn rank!" Augustus allowed himself a smile.

"And now I'm saluting a colonel. Congratulations on the promotions." Bernard waved it off.

"Bureaucracy and paper shuffling. You know how it is." His expression softened.

"How's the old bastard doing?"

"Frank's well," Augustus said, though the memory of recent events made him frown.

"He got himself into a bit of trouble. As did I." Another laugh.

"I heard! Me and the boys poured one out for you after word spread you'd gone full supervillain. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Wasn't really a choice. Frank found Spencer's cousin a few years back," Augustus said softly.

"Gave him a job to keep an eye on him." Bernard's eyes widened.

"No shit?"

"Yeah, somehow he survived the hunt for Spence. Not his parents, though," Augustus said.

"I didn't believe Frank when he told me, but he introduced us and, sure enough, kid's the spitting image of Spence at that age." Augustus shook his head.

"Anyway, long story short: he gets Redacted by Santiago Systems, escapes the prison during Skybreaker's attack, and runs to the only place he knows is safe. Frank figured it'd be okay, because he's kept the kid's employment off the record. Nothing to tie them together."

"Hah. Sounds like Frank's gone soft in his old age. I'm guessing that didn't end well?" Augustus chuckled.

"No. Frank's store gets torched, and he gets arrested for aiding and abetting a supervillain. Then the kid shows up at my bar with a dumb plan to get Frank released, except it's not half bad. Same face-first into danger for his friends attitude that Spencer had. Has. Has…"

"And the next thing you know, by-the-books Augustus is a supervillain with a genuine bounty on his head," Bernard said, tactfully changing the subject.

"Yeah. Wouldn't change it, though. We're doing the right thing, in a roundabout way."

"We had no doubts, brother," Bernard said, turning serious.

"Let's skip to how I can help."

"I'm looking for information." The colonel leaned back in the chair, fingers tapping the armrest.

"About recent events?" Augustus inclined his head.

"I can work with that, but I'll need something in return. Leadership out here is starved for intel, and GOLD's clamped down hard back on Earth. They're not sharing with us. We're not sharing with them. But if I've got new information, I can justify trading what I know in return."

"Fair enough," Augustus said.

"Though, what I can share, AEGIS will have already debriefed the Throne of Scales about."

"GOLD has its fist up AEGIS's ass on this," the colonel said.

"We don't have access to their reports either. If you've got firsthand accounts, that's worth something to me. Go." Augustus tucked his hands behind his back, standing at ease. Old habits.

"We were mid-op, engaged with hostiles."

"Throne of Scales?"

"Correct. Our leader…" Augustus paused. Alexander had told them later that he'd sensed something was wrong, which is why he'd called for the retreat earlier than expected. But it wasn't necessary to share that.

"Our leader called for a retreat. I portaled us out, but instead of where we expected to arrive, we ended up trapped just outside the facility." The colonel's eyes narrowed. He leaned forward, voice tight.

"Spatial interference?"

"It's the only explanation I can offer," Augustus said. Bernard gave a grim nod.

"That tracks. Continue." Augustus did. He explained the paralysis, the pain that had raked through every nerve, the rift that tore open, spilling knights on monstrous mounts into their world.

"They were strong, but easily subdued by our combined powers. The issue was their priests. They revived them from complete death. Destroyed hearts, broken necks, it didn't matter. They brought them back anyway." The colonel swore under his breath.

"After the survivors retreated, we worked together with the Throne of Scales to crack open the rift from our end. Saw what we assume is another world. Medieval castle courtyard with banners and unknown insignia, more knights and members of a priesthood. Their leaders looked like royalty. When they spotted us, a knight in black armor struck. He was strong enough to force us all back. I suspect he was at least on par with a peak Tier 2, possibly even an early Tier 3." Leaning back, Bernard closed his eyes and sighed.

"Some of our men had similar experiences," he said.

"There are mixed reports. But there is too much overlap to think anyone is crazy." Augustus's eyes widened.

"It happened outside of Earth, too?" Bernard nodded.

"We've had reports of attacks by dinosaurs and space wizards—" He gave Augustus a good-natured glare.

"—and even one guy who was some kind of warrior. He took out several Tier 2 operators before they overwhelmed him. Fought like he was in one of those old-school martial arts movies."

"Why isn't this intel being made public?" Augustus asked.

"I know from other contacts that there were attacks across the planet, and now you're telling me it happened off-world, too. There's no way to hide it."

"Sol system blackout," Bernard said.

"They're trying to slow the bleed and buy time for the bobbleheads to negotiate with our neighbors and friendlies in the Galactic Council, before it becomes common knowledge that Earth is ground zero for some sort of invasion from another fucking dimension. Or ten of them." Augustus sighed. It made sense. Humanity had suffered a lot of scrutiny after creating superhumans. Once it got out that things had taken a turn for the crazier, it was entirely possible they would be quarantined. Or worse.

"Did we know it was coming?" Augustus asked at last. Bernard frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Scuttlebutt is that we knew something was coming," he said after a few moments.

"Too many grounded flights. Troops repositioned, extra training drills. They even pulled back along major contested fronts in the hours leading up to it."

"Seems clear enough."

"I agree," Bernard said.

"Word is that they didn't know what was coming, though. Maybe they had warnings from those with Divination and Seer powers, but I doubt they had any clue what was really going to happen." Bernard laughed.

"Shit, we don't even know what it is now that it's arrived." Augustus didn't laugh.

"Thanks, Bernie. I appreciate you sharing what you know."

"You too, old friend," Bernard said with a smile.

"Be careful out there, alright? Especially with this supervillain thing you've gotten yourself into. Look out for yourself." Augustus returned the smile.

"Sua Sponte."

"Yeah." The colonel gave him a sharp nod.

"Of one's own accord. Some things don't change, no matter where we end up." They held each other's gaze a beat longer before the link cut, leaving Augustus alone in the booth with more questions than he had going into it.