Chapter 60: Reconnection

-Renji POV-

“Sooo…”

“Don’t fucking say it.”

“My apologies, all seeing one, I know I shouldn’t distract you from your labyrinthine plots,” Renji teased, enjoying the slight twitch it provoked.

He and Alexander were once again walking the streets of Jinzhou, a bizarre mirror of events not so long ago – on the day they had left the city. The sights were familiar, yet tinged with a feeling that was all too familiar.

Renji’s slight smirk fell of his face.

“Leaving them to their own devices is probably no longer in the cards, at this point.”

Alexander growled slightly in frustration, yet not a sign of it showed upon his face. His creator was the picture of grace, calmly walking through the streets armed with a serene smile and comforting words.

“Give me some credit, Renji. Even I can tell that.”

The words were uttered quietly enough that the crowd could not hear them. Indeed, Renji could spot the worrisome truth on the face of each and every person lining the pavement.

Beneath their happy façade was an undercurrent of unease, and as they looked upon Alexander – the one many worshipped as a god, Yà lì shān dà – Renji could see the desperate hope.

For the teleportation array to have activated it would have meant Jinzhou had been facing an existential threat, one that even the Paragons couldn’t overcome.

The signs of that great threat, whatever it was, were present if you knew where to look. While this impromptu parade had been organised in one of the undamaged sections of the city, Renji could still faintly smell the scent of smoke and burning metal.

And in the distance, barely visible between the ascending skyscrapers, he could see wounds etched into the city, cuts that seemed impossibly precise.

Renji’s hands itched for his sword, but he held the impulse at bay. He couldn’t hold that familiar comfort here, in front of these people – so uncertain of their own safety.

“I know it must be difficult to see, demoralising even.” The cheers of the crowd echoed across the streets, yet still seemed to be smothered by the silence that suddenly stood between the two at those words.

“But even if they only got a few weeks of peace, it still meant the world to these people.”

Alexander chuckled darkly. “You believe me to be sad? No. I’m furious.”

Renji turned in surprise, gazing upon a face that seemed carved from stone.

“This world gave them just enough peace to give them hope, allow them the slightest degree of healing, before snatching it away. That’s just…it’s…”

Alexander’s form shuddered imperceptibly, his plastic smile still spread across his face even as his teeth clenched hard enough to turn coal to diamond.

“It’s disgusting. Sickening.”

Renji blinked, before nodding. It would appear the depressive mood did not form as he had anticipated. That was good, Alexander had a habit of getting wrapped up in his own head too much at times, and then not enough at others.

“Yes, it is, but until we know who did it we can’t make any moves. Taizong will inform us, and then we can make plans.”

Alexander’s expression flattened momentarily, before the mask slipped back on.

“Oh,” he hissed. “I have a sneaking suspicion as to who did it.”

-Alexander POV-

“Greetings my lord! It’s a pleasure to once again host your august form!” Taizong’s honey rich voice called out the moment we stepped into the meeting space – a town hall I had modelled after memories of one from my previous life.

“Cut the pleasantries Taizong. What happened here?”

The smile on Taizong’s face slipped away, revealing a haggard expression as he slumped back into his seat. I didn’t react to it, I knew my creation well enough to understand he could be faking.

“It’s…a lot,” he said, beginning to prime the computer before him – no doubt bringing up the files of the incident in question.

“I suppose I should begin shortly after you left. About an hour afterwards a group of American Parahumans managed to infiltrate the city.”

“Oh for fu-“

I cut myself off, huffing. I had missed an infiltration by an hour?! A successful one at that? What the shit, Earth Bet?!

“Continue.”

Taizong nods, barely skipping a beat. “They were captured fairly easily, they even parachuted down on top of us.” Taizong snorted, contempt barely concealed.

Wow, that…that was pretty sad. Who the hell decided that that was a good idea?

“They were placed in prison and treated well enough. They were given food and water three times a day, allowed to roam a designated area. They were moved every few days for security reasons, but without their powers it was fairly easy to keep them contained.”

I place a hand to my chin in thought. Everything seemed logical enough, precautions had been taken without negatively affecting the prisoners too much. So what had caused this?

I absently notice a woman beside Taizong looking somewhat upset. I was more than a little sympathetic, the shame that came with insufficient preparation was one that I had become bitterly familiar with.

“Everything was going smoothly,” Taizong stated, before a frown settled over his features. “Until today that is.”

He swiped left, the hologram interface wheeling around to show us a haunting picture. A monster standing high amidst the wreckage, their stature enormous compared to the squat buildings that surrounded it. I ran a few calculations in my head, the creature’s height coming in at around thirty meters tall.

As if the height wasn’t enough, the being’s physical appearance made a trickle of unease run through me – primordial instincts warning me of danger. It was lithe, almost stick thin, with broadswords for fingers and a predatory stance.

“We have named this being Thanatos,” he shared. The Greek God of Death? Fitting for such a ghoulish being.

“However it used to be the parahuman known as Shuffle,” Taizong said.

My head snapped up, eyes no longer fixed upon the image but on Taizong himself.

“This transformation was preceded by an anomalous source of light originating from a spot in the city that had no cameras on it,” Taizong continued, glancing up to find me looking him dead in the eye.

“Cauldron,” I bit out, but for once my anger was not focused on that incompetent group of wastrels.

Because, without a broken Shard Network, there was only one possible way for the creation of what was clearly a Titan to take place.

I wasn’t sure whether it was ignorance or malice but…

Taizong, what have you done?

The leader of the city cocked his head, intrigued. “Cauldron? Who is that? A group?”

My eyes narrowed. “Continue.”

He blinked. “My lord, if you know who-“

“Continue.” My single command left no room for negotiations, and now everyone in the room was looking between the two of us – sensing the shift in atmosphere.

“Ah-yes, well…” Taizong coughed. “Following this light, and Shuffle’s transformation, there was a massive rupture in space in another section of the city, thankfully one that was unoccupied but the timing is too close to be coincidental.”

I furrowed my brow. A spatial rupture? That could mean many different things, though one that was so close to a Titan…

“Show me!” The command rang through the room and Taizong, sensing the seriousness of my tone, hurried to oblige.

Soon enough, the image before me changed.

I had no blood, yet somehow I could feel it draining away from my face as I stumbled back. One of my hands braced against the back wall prevented me from falling over, but it was a near thing. All the while my eyes never left the hologram before me.

The depiction before me was simple enough, almost innocuous if you didn’t catch the small hints that something was utterly, horribly, wrong.

It was a sea of black, held between two districts. Across the border of the black oblivion was extruding crystals that seemed to burrow into the surrounding area. Whether through air, buildings or the very earth below they cut through them all with the same ease.

I knew what this was, how could I not? Yet I didn’t understand how it could be here!

For, right in front of my eyes was nothing less than a portal to Shardspace.

I wobbled, my legs shaking slightly as I tried to compose myself amid my terror, the implications sinking in.

“Is it here?”

“N-no, my lady,” the woman besides Taizong says, clearly nervous – her eyes darting across the room and looking very uncomfortable. “It’s likely still in China.”

I nodded. Good, that was…good. I focused on slowing my breathing, glad that the threat wasn’t so imminent.

I swallowed and looked up.

“Keep going.” I could feel the eyes on me, and god knows what sort of impression I was giving off – but I had to know what I was dealing with quickly!

“Well?!”

Taizong’s fingers tapped across the screen of light without a word, his expression taut.

“Thanatos first engaged with Lu Bu, and then with Jing Ke. They lured him to the outer wall, which allowed our draconic friend to ambush and drag him away from the city.”

Then Taizong paused, looking almost remorseful.

“Unfortunately during this Thanatos managed to destroy the barrier protecting Jinzhou.”

I grimaced, one bit of bad news after another, huh?

“And how was it able to do that?”

“It was a highly capable manipulator of space, we surmise that is how it was able to interact with, and destroy, the barrier. Likely an upgrade from Shuffle’s ability to teleport.”

Great, so there’s a Titan out there who can play with space like play dough. Fantastic, just great.

I quietly note down the fact that Shuffle was a Mover, adding it to my pile of suspicions regarding the cause of this incident. One of them, at least.

I let out a deep sigh, weariness evident.

“Which is when you decided to use the teleport?”

“Which is when we decided to use the teleport,” he nodded, before hesitating. “Although, there were complications with the device.”

Of course there were, why wouldn't there be?! My focus began to narrow, there was too much information to sort through in such a short amount of time. I needed to focus on what I had already learned.

“Is anyone dead?”

“well, no.”

“Is anyone injured?”

“None beyond our ability to heal.” Taizong admitted.

“is this matter in anyway urgent?”

Taizong paused. “Well, considering we’re out…no.”

Out? Out of where?

No-don’t get distracted.

“Then you’ll have to brief me on that later, but for now…” I breathed in deeply, trying to contain the growing anger.

“Taizong. Is there anything you want to tell me regarding-“ I quickly connected with the city’s V.I. to run a query “-Mary?”

Taizong’s face twisted in confusion.

“Who?”

I breathed in deeply through my nose, closing my eyes and counting to five. I could feel Renji tugging on one of my arms, but I didn’t look down.

“You would know her as shuffle,” I say, opening my eyes again.

“Ah. Her,” he looks briefly annoyed. “Not particularly, why?”

I purse my lips, fire building in my chest.

“What happened in Jinzhou was a phenomena known as a broken trigger, and Mary is now something called a Titan. Usually not something possible under…current circumstances,” I say, deliberately vague. I could see Taizong’s interest, the same disgusting curiosity you’d give a particularly interesting object.

‘Fuck, why hadn’t I seen this before?’

“It’s likely,” I continued through gritted teeth, “that the barrier inadvertently created the conditions for one aspect of what would be needed.”

“That seems like quite the oversight,” the machine man frowned. “Perhaps you should have-“

“Do not!” I growl out.

Taizong stops in place, and the woman next to him pales. A small part of me wants to stop at that, seeing the terror in her expression, but the larger, angrier, part of me pushed forwards.

“It’s only an oversight when you don’t consider the fact that I didn’t expect a Parahuman to be repeatedly exposed to their deepest trauma over and over again! Because that’s what it would have taken!” The words almost hurl themselves from my throat, the venom I spoke them with was thick and paralysing.

The woman by his side paled, looking accusingly at her superior. Taizong, for his part, merely appeared quizzical.

“I’ve never subjected her to torture,” Taizong protested, looking faintly affronted.

“No? Then where did those triggers come from?”

“I’ve already informed you of their conditions, they were never harmed!”

I twitched. “I-“ I hissed, messaging my temples. “Trigger events come from suffering, all kinds of suffering. It needn’t be physical, it can be psychological. Look!”

I flipped a few electrons, manipulating the device in his hands and revealing security footage from Mary’s cell. Mary was huddled in the corner, gently rocking back and forth. Her face was covered, yet I could still see the faint signs that she had been weeping.

“Well?” I gestured towards the footage, searching Taizong’s face for any semblance of understanding.

I did not find it.

If anything he appeared annoyed, a small glare directed at Mary’s image.

“So you’re saying she was that weak? All this has made me wonder how she managed to make it this far in life.”

I locked up, face becoming blank as I look at my creation.

Just ten minutes ago I had entered this room to find Taizong barking orders, directing people to begin preparations for a colder climate. He had designated children and the few elderly Jinzhou possessed as priorities in this.

Even before that I had seen the change in Jinzhou’s streets, the quiet evidence of life lived well. Shops selling children’s toys, cafes with tired -but proud- owners, parks that had been well trod and more.

Taizong clearly had empathy, so why was he not getting it!

“Taizong. Her suffering is not something to wave off.” There was something dangerous in my tone now, an edge that hadn’t been present before.

The woman -and I really needed to learn her name- who had been looking at Taizong in faint horror cast a glance at me and shivered slightly at whatever it was she saw.

He chuckled. Chuckled! He leaned back into his seat with an indulgent smile.

“My creator, I understand your benevolence but those people simply aren’t worth your kindness. Did they not do something to you in Hyderabad? I can’t see any other reason as to why you would kill so many. I would have thought you would understand the need to be firm in this subject.”

Renji’s tugging was more urgent now, yet all I could hear was a low roar of blood racing through my ears at what this motherfucker had said.

The mention of Hyderabad, the idea that we would ever be aligned in this opinion, the idea he might be right. It was too much, a line had been crossed.

I turned my head.

“Excuse me, miss?” My voice was clipped, violence barely restrained. “Would you mind moving over here for a second?”

The woman nodded shakily, abruptly jerking to the side and out of the way.

My gaze returned to Taizong.

He lifted an eyebrow. “What exactly are you-“

My fist met his face with a sickening crunch.

His head tilted back, his body rag dolling away and cratering the wall behind him. The room shook, and I could faintly hear the sound of panicked shouts from an adjacent room.

I pulled my fist back, shaking it more out of habit than actual pain, before stepping forward.

AN: Go off Alexander! Alexander and Renji return to Jinzhou and don’t like what they find. Alexander, upon hearing what happened, quickly puts the pieces together using his out of context knowledge. Naturally, he’s not too pleased with Mary’s treatment as he finds it both callous and counter-productive. Also Taizong pressed a few of his buttons.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed and please leave a comment!