The commander of the United Technocracy strike force sat in the recently erected command structure, pondering his options. He let out a weary sigh. This operation had started so well. They'd all landed safely, and regrouped smoothly, not a single team lost to the Devils' harassment. Even when that abomination had arrived, it didn't phase him. It was an annoyance, to be sure, but a manageable one. A few force fields and it could be properly contained. Even their approach to the Devils' encampment had been smooth and easy! No traps, no defenses, just a slow march to get the cannons in range before they began their bombardment. It was as if the Devils had simply given up, letting them do whatever they wanted without any resistance! He'd been sure it was going to be the easiest victory of his career.
Then- then it happened. A few minor fluctuations in the cannons' force fields. Small, insignificant holes that closed as soon as they formed. Obviously the Devils were doing something, though he couldn't figure out what. It was too strange. What could they possibly do with a small, insignificant hole? The commander gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Insignificant indeed. He didn't know what they'd done, but the state of the cannons was evidence enough of its effectiveness. The first cannon was simply gone, and the rest were all damaged to varying degrees, only the last one still usable, far enough away for the damage to only be surface level. Even then, since they had no idea why the first cannon had exploded, they didn't know whether they could use the other five! The technicians were examining them all to find any defect, some inclination of why the first cannon had exploded, or if the others would explode, but so far they'd come up with nothing!
Even worse, the saboteurs had escaped and one of his lieutenants had defected, killing a dozen others in the process! Then, to add insult to injury, that damn smoke monster had eaten the bodies of the deceased! The Commander couldn't decide which was more upsetting: the disrespect for the dead or the loss of the suits and energy sources. Even worse, after seeing how easily the abomination had devoured everything, no one was eager to assault the ship, and he didn't blame them. If all it took was a small break in one's force field for that thing to get inside and eat you alive, who would want to risk that? He was absolutely certain it had something to do with the cannon exploding as well, but again, he couldn't figure out how.
Suddenly, multiple explosions rocked the camp! The Commander rushed outside to see the smoking ruins of the remaining cannons, soldiers yelling as they prepared for an attack. Several pings went off on his hud as soldiers began to fall, and suddenly the yells turned to screams as the soldiers began to panic!
"Retreat!" One of his lieutenants screamed over the comms.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! It's draining my shields! It's draining my- AIGGGH!" A voice was heard in the background, before there was another ping of a soldier going down.
"Fuck! Everyone run! I'll hold it off, just go!" The lieutenant screamed again.
"What's happening?!? Someone talk to me!" The Commander shouted.
"It's the creature, sir!" Someone reported. "It's- fuck, how is it doing that?!?"
"Doing what?!?" The Commander asked in frustration.
"It's- it's lightning, sir! A- giant ball of lightning!" The soldier responded in a disbelieving, panicked voice. "It's draining our shields faster than we can charge them!"
"I can hold out for a few more minutes!" The lieutenant exclaimed. "Get everyone behind the siege barriers! It won't be able to break through them!"
"Do it!" The Commander yelled. "Erect the siege barriers!" If that thing could break through their personal shields, even able to wear down a lieutenant… He shuddered. He might be the only person who could stand up to it. He froze for a second, before rushing towards where the lieutenant was holding off the creature. He was not going to lose another soldier! Not to that thing! Not if he could help it. He rushed past soldiers fleeing the other direction, congregating on the siege barriers as they were quickly erected, before arriving where the lieutenant had the abomination trapped in a force field bubble.
"Yo, chief!" Greg announced with a grin as the Commander arrived, having stopped with the lightning a bit ago. He could have kept going and killed this guy (girl, actually, but Greg didn't know that) or frozen this smoke and unfrozen some of the smoke he'd recently gained from the cannons exploding, before going after the more vulnerable soldiers, but he believed he'd made his point. He could get to them now. He was a danger. "So, about this whole 'killing the Devils' thing. Pretty sure it's not gonna happen, yeah? You got no cannons, I'm gonna keep eating your guys, and there's still an entire army dug in behind those walls. No win con for you here, right? So how about you just, you know, fuck off, so I don't have to keep killing you all. Not my shtick. Well, no, it is my shtick, but in my opinion, you guys don't really deserve to die, cause you actually have some valid points. If it weren't for the fact you're trying to kill my friends, we might even get along, you know? But the whole 'killing my friends' thing is a no-go for me, so if you're gonna insist, I'm just gonna have to keep eating." Greg sighed sadly. "But hey, that's life, right?"
The Commander froze. This… wasn't what he'd been expecting. He'd rushed here ready to fight, but now the thing wanted to talk?!? But… What was there to talk about? "The Devils need to die!" The Commander growled. "Even if this entire strike force is destroyed, it will be worth it if we can take down that damn shield and let this world be cleansed! We cannot allow the Devils' poison to continue to spread!"
Greg let out a weary sigh. "Yeah, okay, I get that, but you gotta give me something to work with here! Where's the third option? Where's the compromise?!? I mean, you have to know that in the end, mana is better for the universe, right? Just think of all the resources you've used to create this strike force! Three regions worth for the cannons, another region for every two hundred soldiers, however much it takes to power those vehicles… you'd half to strip mine half a planet to create all this! You know what the mages did? Shocked a planet with mana, waited for things to develop, then chucked the results at you, with some minor training. I mean fuck, on resource consumption alone, you guys are screwed. Even if you win, everything you've done will have driven the universe closer and closer to its inevitable end, and the only way to stop it is mana! Which you just destroyed!"
"So you would have us sit back and watch our friends and family turn into monsters instead?!?" The lieutenant spat back at him.
"Whoa, hey, I'm not saying that either." Greg protested, raising his hands. "I agree that the way the Republic is going about this is completely fucked. However, don't you think you guys might already have a solution?" Greg asked, tapping the force field containing him, having just realized something. "You guys can keep mana out with these, right?" The two soldiers hesitated before nodding. "So obviously there are options to contain mana, to isolate it from the population, right?" They nodded again. "Then all you have to worry about is transferring people from non-mages to mages! Some way that doesn't risk anyone becoming a monster, right? I mean, the current population is probably fucked, unless you want to volunteer to take the risk of becoming a monster, but kids adapt to mana better, right? If you started exposing them to it young, possibly even in the womb… though that would risk the mother. Hmm… maybe have mages act as surrogates? Though people will still want to raise their kids… As long as the kid isn't born as a mage, they should still be good to be raised with their parents, right?" Greg looked between the two soldiers, not getting a response back. "Eh, whatever. What I'm saying is that there are options! There have to be! I just think both sides need to take a step back and actually talk to each other. You're both fucking things up, and if you keep being stubborn, people are going to keep getting hurt."
The lieutenant hesitated for a moment, before glancing at the Commander. [He- has a point?] She tentatively offered in their own language.
The Commander scowled. [Even so, it doesn't matter! The Devils are spreading their poison without care! We cannot let them continue!]
"Well, those don't sound like words of agreement." Greg sighed. "Look, I don't expect you to make a decision now. Hell, I don't expect you to make a decision ever. I mean, you're essentially grunts, right? You don't have any decision making power, you're just here to get the job done. I get that. What I want you to do is realize you don't need to throw your lives away trying to stop something you can't actually do anything about! I mean, think about it. Look at your situation. You're already losing men and the mages have barely even done anything! You're not taking down this ship. So how about you head back to your camp and wait to see how all this turns out, eh? If the Technocracy wins, you guys can go home and they'll destroy this planet, which means you win without any more loss of life. Alternatively, if the Technocracy fails to take down all the shields, well… What you do after that is up to you. However, since the alternative is you all die, it still seems like the better choice to me."
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The Commander hesitated before letting out a frustrated sigh. Did he really have a choice?
*
"Good news! The Technocracy is leaving." Greg announced with a grin, dropping down next to Tessa, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"Careful!" Tessa warned him, clutching Ash closer as Greg's actions jostled her slightly, before pausing. "Wait, what? Why?!?"
"Turns out I can turn into a giant ball of lightning, which just drains their shields, after which… well, you know." Greg shrugged. "Once I made it clear the unkillable smoke monster could actually hurt them, it was just a matter of convincing them that throwing themselves into an unwinnable fight wouldn't do anything and they should just go home and wait for the war to end. They've already lost here, so why not wait and see? If the rest win, they can all go home. If not, well they weren't going to make a difference here anyway."
Tessa blinked. "So they're just waiting to see whether they die or we do?"
"Essentially?" Greg shrugged again. "I mean, it isn't like there's anything else to do here. They lose, we win. If they force the issue, then all they're going to do is get themselves killed. This way they at least have a chance, right?"
"I guess that makes sense…" Tessa muttered, before giving him a weird look. "Do you think this is a part of the whole 'things happen around you because you're unique' deal? Getting a force to just leave like that…"
Greg frowned. "I don't think so… I mean, it's just logic, right? Why would they insist on fighting a battle they couldn't win?"
"No, I understand, just… you convinced them of that after one conversation?!? I mean, they showed up this morning! It took you a day to go from being completely incapable of doing anything to cowing the entire force into submission! You do realize that's not normal, right?!?" Tessa explained.
"Well… I mean, figuring out I can turn into a giant ball of electric death was pretty big." Greg shrugged. "It's kind of a I can or can't kinda thing, you know? Once I realized it was a possibility, it was pretty simple."
Tessa sighed. "That's not- look, I get you figuring out some new way to use your ability. That's fine. I also get convincing the Technocracy that fighting any more is pointless. I even get Narita showing up! What I don't get is all of it happening in the same damn day! It just feels… contrived."
Greg paused, thinking back over the day. Everything had happened a bit suddenly… almost as if everyone was waiting for something to happen before acting. Was that normal or something enforced by the World? He… couldn't tell. "It seems natural for events to happen one after another…" He began. "I mean, one thing leads to another, right? We blew up the cannons, which attracted Narita's attention… or I already had her attention and it created an opportunity for her. It also showed me that I could create reactions with my smoke, so both of those events followed from that. And then, once I knew I could turn into a lightning death ball, well, it made sense to visit the people who were trying to kill us and see what I could do with that. And then, once the method proved effective, it was obvious the Technocracy didn't have much hope of victory, cause they can't kill me, a fact they're very much aware of, and now I can kill them. So it made sense to make such things clear to them and advise them to promptly fuck-"
"Watch your language around the baby!" Tessa snapped.
Greg froze. "Shit- damn- fu-" Greg covered his mouth with his hand, letting out a groan as Tessa glared at him. "Sorry…" He muttered sheepishly. "Uh, so, yeah, everything that happened pretty much followed from that first thing… it was a little fast, I guess, but I don't think it was World bendingly so. Maybe the conversation with the Technocracy went a little quick? My words having a bit more weight? But that's all I could see."
"I guess… ugh, this whole thing just has me questioning everything now." Tessa sighed. "Everything that happened around you, with the ferals, with the safe zone, with the girls… with- with us. Did- did we get together because we actually like each other, or because the World forced us together?" She asked, glancing at him nervously.
Greg paused, before frowning. "Well, do you like me?"
Tessa gave him a weird look, glancing down at Ash, then back at Greg. "Aren't we a little past that?"
"Well, no- I mean that's my point!" Greg exclaimed. "If we like- love each other, then who cares how it happened? I mean, the World may have brought us together, but it couldn't make us fall in love, right? Or even if it did, we still love each other… I'm okay with the World making me happy. I like being happy."
Tessa blinked at him, before smiling and shaking her head. "You're ridiculous in all the best ways." She muttered, cuddling closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. She then paused, frowning, wondering if she'd just gone along with his explanation because of how the World put emphasis on him. But… he wasn't wrong. If they were happy, why complain about it? She let out a sigh. This situation was really fucking with her head.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Greg asked, hugging her a bit tighter in return, turning a bit of his attention to Ash, smiling lightly as he reached out to brush her hair, or at least the fuzz it currently consisted of. She was a cute baby, no matter what Victor said.
"Go to bed?" Tessa offered. "It's been a long day."
"Well, sure, but I was more talking long-term." Greg chuckled. "I mean, with the Technocracy gone, what are we going to do? We still need to worry about the Republic, obviously, but they seem content to leave us alone for now. Which really just means we need to prepare for when they do take an interest in us… the question is how. Should I go find more ships? I mean, obviously I should, but we might need to figure out this core business first… I should talk to Narita about that more. Make sure I'm not sending out a fairy that will get me killed when it gets sniped by some random mage with a spell that will destroy a core. But after all that, what should I do once I find the other ships? Lurk around waiting? Help them fight the Technocracy? Tell them what the Republic did? All of the above?"
Tessa hesitated. "I think- I think we need to focus on what you can do for a moment."
Greg blinked. "But… I can do all that?" He replied in a confused tone.
Tessa rolled her eyes. "Not like that! I meant we should do more to actually study your ability! Figure out why you can do what you do, and maybe learn what else you can do in the process. So far you've just been doing things, chancing upon your new abilities in the process. You can't rely on luck-" She paused. "Okay, maybe you can rely on luck, but it isn't the best way to go about it! Dealing with the Republic is so far beyond us at that moment. We need every edge we can get and the only edge we really have is you. The rest of us are mages, who the Republic trained. They have billions, possibly even trillions of others like us. Any random force of theirs could probably wipe us out! Hell, a single arch-mage could probably do it on their own! Our only chance is that somehow you can do something that they can't stop, which will force them to leave us alone. Threatening to tell the other ships about what happened is a start, but… we need every chance we can get, not just the chances you've happened to luck into."
Greg nodded slowly. "I see your point… it's just, how are we supposed to actually study my smoke? It doesn't seem to follow any rules… There are just things I can do, and things I can't. Like 'freezing' my smoke! How could I possibly have figured that out except by chance?"
"That's fair, but you definitely could have figured out your lightning ball thing earlier, right?" Tessa retorted. "You knew you could turn your smoke into anything you've dissolved and you knew how lightning worked, you just didn't put the pieces together!"
"Well, I also didn't know that my smoke ignores entropy." Greg pointed out.
"Even so, you could always get more smoke!" Tessa protested. "You could have at least tried it earlier, and then you would have known how powerful it is!"
"True…" Greg muttered, frowning slightly. He had kind of just been ignoring his ability, hadn't he? Well, not ignoring it, but he wasn't exploring it in the way he should be. He figured out what he could do, found the simplest applications he could think of, and left it at that. Why did he do that? Sure, he'd found lightning, and lightning worked, but was it really the best application of his ability? Or was it just good enough? He thought back to Earth, when he'd run around as the scorpocroc. It wasn't necessarily his most powerful form, but it worked against pretty much everything, so he hadn't cared to explore any more. It was only after getting trapped in the transmutation chamber that he actually sat down and pieced together the strongest form he could make, not that it'd done him much good. He let out a small sigh, reminiscing of the times he could simply tear things apart. So simple. So fun. Not like this bullshit. "Okay, you're right. I do need to explore my ability more." He sighed. "But I should still do that other stuff too, right?"
Tessa rolled her eyes. "You should be doing everything you possibly can. You just need to figure out what that is."