SESSION: 8.2 | MUSICAL COFFINS
SIMULATION NAME: DERRY_HILL_2
BRONX, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA, EARTH, MILKY WAY, LANIAKEA...
Joaquim could have sworn he felt a tug on his shoulder as he levitated in complete darkness.
After a handful of seconds, spawning data and code began dancing around him, and he glanced back to find afterimages of an influx gate, the Fornia Sphere nightclub's hall with a catwalk, and the Apeirosrail. Whoever was responsible for moving him here... was it to save him from Ember earlier?
Well, the who was not going to remain a mystery as Primetime and an undead centaur appeared, causing Joaquim to scream and ready his arms for battle. "Don't touch me!"
"I am not with one platoon anymore!" Primetime cried while surrendering herself with open palms. She stayed quiet until Joaquim loosened up his shoulders. "Just call me Monica. Please."
Monica and the net running centaur glanced at each other, her quivering lips were now trying to hold back laughter instead of nerves.
"... his name is Iggy. Make sure to keep calling him that."
Iggy turned away and crossed his arms.
"Based on what Iker, and I believe his name was Bastian, said... it should be obvious by now what I am going to ask," Joaquim said.
"Yes we do... dealing with powerful espers... there are no words to describe how annoying it is," Iggy said. "Swapping and limiting memories... fighting alongside allies that are constantly confused... them asking so many fucking questions."
"Right?" Monica asked.
"You were worse than a therapist when you first joined. Obviously you asked more about time loops than feelings," Iggy said, getting Monica to turn away too and kiss her teeth. Iggy then pointed to Joaquim. "He didn't start asking questions right away. I already know I am going to like this kid. Oh, and you finally learned how to kiss your teeth properly!"
"... I did it without thinking," Monica said with a dab of awe. "You're rubbing off on me friend."
With the banter in between them, Joaquim finally relaxed. He even let out a chuckle. "Sounds like you two have known each other for a long time."
They glanced at each other.
"We have heard each other's voices for a long time... well, actually... more like for many spacetimes... if that makes any sense," Monica said. "We only truly met recently."
Joaquim rubbed his chin. "It sounds to me that if this is the first time you two met physically... then things are playing out very differently."
Monica and Iggy stayed ominously silent, her face instantly going flat.
"Uhm," Monica managed to murmur, giving her head a quick shake. "Yes, you're right... and this is when you get the briefing about the temporal mission."
"What?" Joaquim asked. "Why was I not asked after I passed the test in Ember Tree City?"
Iggy pointed at him again. "It took him this long to ask something. The restraint! I found my new favorite."
Monica smiled at both of them. "Basically, 1 platoon travelled in time several times... no pun intended... to attack 2 platoon members WHILE they were being given this temporal mission. It seemed they had some kind of power to always know when the temporal mission was being given in the Ember Tree military base, and even in the simulation itself... meaning this mission had to be issued in other simulations. This is like some sort of extreme version of a spy mission."
"The memory swapping edition," Iggy added.
"I knew the corporate army was corrupt, but not so corrupt that even recruits would be involved in these secret missions," Joaquim said. "I was expecting to start doing blue and green missions... you know, like physical work that requires Kaya form, or saving cats from falling."
Iggy turned himself to the newly recruited supersoldier. "Well, in certain ways... you already have. Your consciousness is not experiencing time properly due to all the bizarre stuff that has been happening—"
"Wait," Joaquim interrupted. "Am I... back in my physical body?"
"Not yet," Monica explained. "It will spawn here. You can manifest in whatever way you like."
An even heavier silence fell on them as they floated among translucent assets loading. It seemed to be... some kind of abandoned subway station.
"You mean... do you really mean..."
Iggy and Monica glanced at each other once more, then stared at each other. "... yea."
Joaquim had to turn away from them. "Wait... if I change both my chromosomes and my body to a cis guy... would I still be considered trans? I only have memories of... having to be an Alkrezian girl."
Joaquim could not face them... he stared at the subway station spawning ahead of him instead.
"I..." Iggy murmured. "I don't think that's my question to answer."
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
"I just have to imagine it right?"
It was quiet again for a moment.
"Well, you don't have to. Your body will change exactly the way you feel... now that you found yourself."
As carbon chains and memories of Ameen's sermons were both loading, the subway station became blurry to Joaquim.
And the reason it became blurry was because his eyes were filled with tears.
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SESSION: 31.1 | KNOW THYSELF
While Iker fell from above James Baldwin's statue, he was surrounded by a pile of burning cars, Pager's fresh corpse, and smoldering buildings all around.
However...
Iker was substantially less wounded.
He was barely wounded actually.
Until he hit the concrete.
Hard.
It became apparent he was running short on influx as he scraped the side of his left leg, and it was not healing as fast as it would as a colonel. This time, even though he was fourteen-years-old, he had memories that stretched into his twenties.
Police drones were still audible.
"Hey."
Iker turned himself on the floor to find Fatima and Bastian giving him a hand, and Iker especially locked eyes with Fatima.
The reason was that she was terrible at playing stupid. There was chaos all around them and Bastian was quite frantic as blood from his scalp streamed all the way to his chin while Fatima was much calmer. And the way she stared back at him, she knew that he knew too. However, he trusted she had a good reason to be pretending to be as clueless as he and Bastian were. Except for when Iker would ask the next question.
"Hey Fatima," Iker said. "What do I need to know?"
Fatima smiled at him faintly. "Your healing abilities should be better than mine."
Iker analyzed Bastian, and it became obvious Bastian had yet to learn about his vinyl powers. The three of them were much closer to the first timeline. Even though respawning in session fifteen was Bastian's doing, Iker returning to this session was due to someone else's spacetime powers. Bastian only knew Kaya form this time and nothing more.
"You didn't answer my question."
Fatima gave him a fuller smile this time. "You're already doing what you need to do. Just follow your gut."
"What are you guys talking about?" Bastian asked.
Well, it seemed Iker had to play stupid too. He was so glad he was no longer in Bastian's current shoes at least, he at least appeared to have more memories than Bastian did. Why was Fatima keeping Bastian's time power memories in Spiderland's OS?
Apparently, Iker had to figure it out on his own.
"Nothing important," Iker replied, causing Fatima to turn away to suppress a snorty laugh.
"Ugh, not another temporal mission," Bastian murmured, glancing at Fatima that was pacing away. At least it was not his first time dealing with people knowing more than him.
Don't ever become an actress, Iker thought as he watched Fatima pretending to be coughing.
Something told Iker to wait, and that inner voice seemed to be correct as folded-into-cubes police robots already dropped around them, and they unfolded with handcuffs and guns prepared. Landing with them... it was the supersoldiers Cadet Rhodes and Cadet Hans.
Iker's mouth gaped. "Aren't... didn't... didn't they die?"
"You were such a pro with Kaya form that..." Bastian murmured. "You were able to take 'em out without killing them. How did you get better than me?"
"Is Pegasus dead?"
"No, you used talk-no-jutsu," Bastian said, making a silly flat face before he was about to make a reference. He made his palms flat while raising them to his chest. "You were like... we the same bruh."
"Uhm... maybe vomit a rainbow if I tried," Iker said. "But that's about it..."
Why did Iker have no memory of what Bastian said? Another mystery.
"Get on your knees now!" Cadet Hans yelled, causing Iker to notice the broken nose he apparently gave him.
"What moniker did he give him? Trickster?"
The trio got on their knees, and even though he was ruminating on the new cosmic mystery in front of him, Iker was going to trust his gut more this time. That was because he remembered briefly Uzi losing vis sense of reality when they faced Camilo four years in the future... or several sessions in the past depending on one's perspective.
This shit is confusing, Iker thought. But at the same time... things are slowly coming together.
Iker, this is the point where you get your untainted memories. This is the point in your worldline that keeps you human.
The memory of him recruiting Uzi also finished loading to his brain as all three of them got arrested.
Uzi, you can be yourself around us.
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FRAMEWORK: 0
SIMULATION: HOTHS
The boarded-up Bronx station was also part of a place named Isunova apparently.
That was what Iggy said.
When they stepped onto the tracks, they entered some kind of four-dimensional tunnel. Some afterimages Joaquim could catch before they faded resembled spinning tesseracts to Joaquim. A number changed in a hovering hologram that finished fading.
8.2
58
As a Joaquim that started male puberty and customized his body kept walking down the tunnel with the undead centaur and the ex-jaunter of 1 platoon, his supersoldier uniform was replaced with a net running suit. It was more classic, sleek, and custom fit rather than futuristic and radiant as it had to fit the occasion he was loading into. Indeed, he could hear a big band from the ballroom he was about to enter with flapper girls, Italian bootleggers, and descendants of the blues that were both bootleggers and musicians. Not only that, there were bootleggers and flappers that were falcon, jackal, hyena, bull, and cat people.
As steam dissipated from the sliding decopunk doors... Joaquim could smell diesel too.
This must have been another amalgamated simulation with all the virtual chaos.
"This is where we fight Ember," Iggy whispered. "We have to train you in Kaya form while on the job unfortunately. Monica and I will keep and eye on you. Once we beat her, we will be able to travel further on the fourth dimension to our destination."
Monica was having a ball blending in with the flappers, if anything she was the only one that was able to pull off wearing a pearl necklace. She gave Joaquim a thumbs up.
Wait.
"Did Iker and Bastian... did they play stupid when I got hit by that portal in Derry Hill?" Joaquim asked.
Now that Joaquim thought about it, the talking cats should have been way more afraid to be out of bounds of reality. The memory of a giant Ember riding on a slain Spiderland was still so vivid. Was he the only one among them to know about that outcome? Was he supposed to say anything about it?
Monica laughed. "Sounds like it."
On the topic of fear...
"Wait... how come people aren't scared of an undead centaur?" Joaquim asked.
Iggy stared forward with glowing lavender eyes as he cantered towards the big band and the dancing crowd.
"You two are the only ones that can see me."