[REND] B2. 3.2 - The Importance of a Corkboard

“Hi there, Erind.” Everett, or Emcee if we were on a mission, sat straight on the beanbag and saluted me. His strong Mediterranean features broke into a friendly smile.

I mentally rolled my eyes when I noticed his tight-fitting dark clothes. Trying to impress Deen with his muscles as usual? Did he manage to get bonus points by showing off during the docks mission? His natural olive-toned skin made me think about getting a tan at the beach. If I had stayed in Hawaii, I wouldn’t be as pale as a ghost.

“Ohayo!” Reo, codename Oberon, stood up with his arms wide open. He wasn’t wearing his usual leather attire, choosing to don a loose jersey shirt of a team I wasn’t familiar with, revealing his rather skinny arms compared to Everett's. Instead of Reo’s signature ponytail, a bandana tied as a headscarf held back his long black hair.

“What’s that for?” Everett asked, pulling Reo’s left arm down.

“I missed Erind so much. It’s just a hug—Ow!” Reo rubbed the side of his head. Myra had thrown a wooden figurine at him. “You should be careful of Deen’s stuff. Bound to be expensive.” He picked up the figurine and tossed it back to Myra. “Why’d you catapult that bird thing at me?”

“Because you’re being a creep,” Myra, also known as Merge, snapped. Her blue hair color looked brighter and even more metallic. She got her bangs trimmed, and her normally shoulder-length hair was an inch shorter. Did she go to the salon this weekend?

It was interesting how our regeneration didn’t work on hair and nails. Was it because they were dead cells? Must be a clue on how it really worked.

Myra appeared a bit under the weather, with heavy bags under her eyes and pale lips. We’d regenerate physical illnesses, so this could be caused by something psychological. Deen looked awful during her annoying depressive moments this weekend. If I were to guess, Myra was worried about her missing sister. We’d probably talk about Kelsey during the meeting later.

“How am I creepy?” Reo plopped himself back on the bouncy beanbag. “I’m the most gentlemanly guy ever in the entire universe!”

“Yeah, right. And Santa Claus is an Adumbrae.” Myra nodded at me as a greeting.

“Saying that, you seem to imply that Santa is real, but not an Adumbrae?” Reo grinned as he needled Myra. “Are you keeping a secret from the whole world about Santa’s existence?”

“Good evening, Erind,” said Johann in a deep voice before Myra and Reo could further their banter. He was tall, the tallest among us, had a permanently stoic face, and was a bit lanky but also had broad shoulders.

Johann went by the codename of ‘Ride’ and was in charge of driving the group around during missions since he was the only one without powers. Dario mentioned something about Johann not being compatible with an artificial Core. I recalled that Johann worked at the police station in the Adumbrae investigation unit. He wasn’t a cop. Some sort of lab technician, I think? Johann was the eyes and ears of the group with the police.

“Yow, Reo,” said Everett. “Isn’t ‘Ohayo’ good morning in Japanese? Good evening is something else.”

“I don’t really care, man,” replied Reo. “I always tell you I know shit about Japanese even though I’m half. You do remember an Adumbrae ate my dad when I was two, so no one could’ve taught me?”

“Ah, sorry,” Everett said. “Yeah, yeah. That’s right…”

Silence fell over the group.

“Take a seat, Erind,” Deen said, pointing at the chair. She broke the awkwardness with her presence as she commanded the spotlight to be shone on her. “I heated some cookies over at the bar. We have some chips too, if you want. Sorry that I couldn’t prepare anything better. I didn’t have the time.”

“Cookies and chips? Looks like we’re having a slumber party.” I internally smirked, remembering that Deen’s parents never allowed her to attend any slumber parties as a kid. “I have my sugar quota filled for today.”

“So, Erind,” Reo said, turning back to face me. “What’s the big agenda, huh? We’re going all covert, secretive shit, so this must be a big problem.”

“It is, yes,” I said. “Let’s wait for Dario before I explain what it is.”

“Yeah, it’d be annoying to repeat your story,” Myra said, looking at her phone. “Dario has already passed through the gate. He should be here soon.”

“Whoa, look at the TV,” Johann said as he pressed the remote to increase the volume.

The XYTV news anchor said, “The third Kreggan Class has all but confirmed the existence of a Purple Bloom on Madagascar. Though this doesn’t come as any surprise—experts of the Free Will Initiative have long suspected this, deploying underwater drones to look for the Purple Bloom. Unfortunately, the Purple Bloom remains elusive, even to the Corebrings.”

Reo whistled. “I sure am fucking grateful I don’t live on Madagascar. Is that place far from us?”

“Quite far,” Deen said. “It’s a large island off the southeastern coast of South Africa.”

“You should’ve paid attention in class, Reo,” Myra said.

“What’re you talking about?” Reo said. “Why the hell would Madagascar ever be discussed in school?”

“Ah, you got a point there. I actually didn’t even know where Madagascar is before Deen mentioned it.”

The anchor continued, “However, field correspondent Henry Leedy is here to give us good news. Henry? What’s the word on the prototype weapon developed by GIRA?”

A male reporter appeared on screen wearing a bulletproof vest over his attire and a helmet with a camouflage pattern on his head. He appeared to be in a military camp.

“Yes, Caitlyn, good news indeed,” he said. “A spokesperson from the UN forces deployed here confirmed that the Kreggan Titan, designated as XV-03, was successfully restrained by the GIRA.”

The screen switched to a video of a gigantic Adumbrae. It had the form of a four-armed, six-legged centaur with skeletal wings and stood as tall as the Statue of Liberty, judging by the building near it. A huge spear had skewered its body, piercing down its right shoulder and exiting its left flank. Two of its excessively long, treelike arms were trying to remove the spear while the other hands swatted at the drones and helicopters peppering it with gunfire and missiles. It had the face of a human baby with the sprawling antlers of a deer, bawling, crying out in pain.

“Holy fuck!” Myra exclaimed.

“There’s nothing holy about that,” Johann said in monotone.

“Serves it right, fucking Adumbrae coming to our world,” Reo said. “And don’t get offended on behalf of Kelsey, Myra.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” she replied.

“Good. There’s a huge difference between Kelsey and that thing. I’m not talking about the size. That Titan isn’t a human that turned into an Adumbrae but a product of the Purple Bloom factory, with all that reality-warping shit.”

Will I turn into a Purple Bloom someday? I sure hoped not because I couldn’t bear the thought of being connected to the brains of hundreds of other people. Talk about a lack of personal space. Plus, I’d lose my whole body. Just going to be a brain along with other brains in a huge pile. I may not like my height very much, but I super loved my body because it is mine.

I wondered what the goal of Spooky Erind was. Most Adumbrae aimed to be a Purple Bloom so they could bring more of their buddies over to this world.

To do what? Destroy the world was the usual answer, but that didn’t really make sense. That was a cartoonish motivation. Surely the Adumbrae had some much more complex reason for coming to this dimension.

Spooky Erind, if you’re listening, don’t turn me into a Purple Bloom! I promised myself that I’d do anything to stop that from happening.  

We were transfixed at the TV, watching the Titan writhe and howl like a thousand wolves. Very unsettling to watch the baby's head cry out in pain. The footage would turn grainy for a few seconds at a time before focusing again.

“Taking the form of a baby’s head,” said Reo, his voice dripping in disgust. “Is it to gain sympathy? Tricking humanity is all they do.”

“It’s not using any powers,” I said. “That pole thing. It must be anchoring it to reality.”

“But they’re not doing much to it other than that,” Reo said. There was no trace of his usual comedic side. I wondered if I could use his sad backstory against him someday. “It’s still pretty tough even if it can’t fuck with reality. How are they going to get rid of that giant, solidified scum?”

“Nuke it?” Everett guessed.

“And irradiate Madagascar,” Myra said. “Eh, I guess it’ll be fine. It’s not like the people who used to live there can return that easily.”

“The radiation particles will go to mainland Africa, though,” Deen said.

“We have clear footage of the Kreggan this time, Henry,” said the anchorwoman. “I take it that this is the effect of the new weapon made by GIRA? This weapon touted as humanity’s next step in the fight against the Adumbrae?”

“You got that right, Caitlyn,” replied the reporter. He was back on screen. “This Kreggan, XV-03, was hit by an Eloyce Reality Wedge—that long object that stabbed through its body. I repeat, it’s a weapon called an Eloyce Reality Wedge. According to experts we have interviewed, this Wedge counteracts the reality-rending abilities of Adumbrae.”

Damn… It was so difficult to be an Adumbrae nowadays with all these fancy weapons. The boomer generation of Adumbrae had it much easier. The stronger Adumbrae only had Corebrings to fear. This also reminded me of the discussion about force during International Law class.

“That’s amazing news, Henry,” the anchorwoman said. “We should celebrate that humanity finally has an answer to the strongest Adumbrae. What are the next steps to be taken by the UN forces after hitting the Titan with this Wedge?”

“Caitlyn, this video was actually taken about an hour ago. After that, the US military bombarded XV-03 with kinetic missiles from a military satellite called Longinus. Initial reports are that the Kreggan is dead. You hear that right, Caitlyn and all our viewers. This is the first time in history that human weaponry has brought down a reality-rending Adumbrae!”

All of us gasped.

I wasn’t easily surprised; I usually faked my reactions if the situation called for it. But this did surprise me. Something like this wasn’t on my bingo card, and I wasn’t even playing bingo.

Flashing text about the breaking news scrolled at the bottom of the screen. Caitlyn, along with another anchor at the studio, gushed at the development. They interviewed experts about the implications of the new US-made weapon in outer space.

“I guess I can say ‘holy fuck’ again,” Myra said. “This is huge.”

“They’re going to put Corebrings out of work,” said Johann.

Our group was silent for a while.

“Why aren’t you guys celebrating?” asked Reo. “Our tax dollars are actually put to good use! Missiles from outer space!”

“Because we’re not sure how the Corebrings would react, genius,” Myra said.

Reo turned around to face us with a frown. “Huh, what do you mean? Isn’t this a good thing?”

“The Wedge and the space missiles can also be used against Corebrings,” I said. “The Hive will be wary about those, especially with our government not being that friendly with them.”

“Oh…” Reo shrugged. “I’m sure it’s no biggie. That’s some conspiracy theory shit. Uh, anyway, what’s up with the missile’s name? Longinus? I can make some jokes about that.”  

“It’s the name of the Roman soldier who stabbed the side of Jesus Christ with a spear,” Deen said.

“Wow, you know some stuff,” Reo said.

“People know stuff, Reo,” Myra said.

“Why did they name it Longinus?” Everett wondered. “I know Longinus is a saint, but I’m hardly religious. Spear of Longinus… I’m not into religious symbolism, but are they saying they could kill gods with those missiles? They consider the Adumbrae as gods?”

“More like the Adumbrae are demons,” I said, “and the Corebrings are gods. Really iffy that they call that orbital satellite whatever as Longinus.”

Again, everyone descended to awkward silence, only to be broken by the sound of the doorbell. “That must be Dario,” Deen said.

It was indeed Dario, the leader of the hero wannabe group and premier asshole of the city.

“I brought some burgers,” Dario said, holding up a paper bag that was dripping grease and had the logo of a fast-food joint. Was this his attempt at being likable? It came off as awkward with his super serious face. “And a liter of Zestice. You’re all good with soft drinks? On second thought, a liter won’t be enough for all of us. I should’ve bought two bottles.”

Dario was blonde, although more on the platinum side compared to Deen’s golden hair. Even though he was simply carrying food to the bar, his intense expression made it seem like a military operation with the lives of innocents at stake. Or maybe he was just perpetually constipated, with a stick up his ass.   

“Oh, thanks for the food, man,” Reo said, pouncing on the burgers. “I’m starving!”

“You told Deen that you already ate when she offered you food,” Everett pointed out. “Were you lying?”

“I was trying to be cool,” Reo said in between bites.

Dario clapped once to get our attention. “Apologies for my tardiness.”

Only assholes use the word ‘tardiness’, I thought as I approached the bar. After too much sugar for the day, I wanted salt and grease.

“I was in contact with the Professor regarding the 2Ms’ movements,” Dario continued. “This is fresh intel. Let us get this out of the way before dealing with Erind’s problem.”

“It’s not my problem,” I muttered, unwrapping a burger.

“You’ll all be pleased to know,” Dario said, “That the 2Ms have cleared out their base at the docks. They have also left the Eve club, turning it into a normal bar. Several other establishments that we know are under the control of the 2Ms have apparently shut down over the weekend. After suffering a severe loss of their forces during the docks mission, the 2Ms seem to be abandoning La Esperanza.”

(Author's Notes: We have refresher descriptions of the hero wannabes since this is technically the start of Book 2. It's also been some time since they were last described, probably way back when we first met them.

And we have movement in the Madagascar plot thread, plus developments of human weaponry.  We didn't go anywhere with the Madagascar plot thread in the Prior Cycle, even though I had plans for it. It's a much bigger stakes situation, so it got pushed back to oblivion to make way for more local conflict. But let's see how I'll use my ideas from way back now. We're preparing the bigger stage.

As always, thank you so much for your support!)