A flash of light decorated the sky as a force slammed into the shields from the inside, cascading until it broke through and spread out throughout the city.
It was such a minute thing, just a small ripple in the windows and water…
Up until it wasn’t.
People who had been taking cover suddenly fell to the ground, like a puppet with their strings cut.
Heroes started screaming and holding their heads, a massive amount of pain affecting each and everyone of them.
Save a few, a very small few.
Glow watched all of this happen as she made her way back from the docks where she had just got done investigating a site that might have had Chimera’s involvement.
Unlike most Heroes, she wanted to set a good example by working with the law enforcement.
However, that came with the caveat that it was often slower, and more methodical work.
Still, it gave her evidence, and the thing she needed to bargain for Chimera’s leniency in her upcoming trial.
Any point in her favor, despite her origins, would help her.
As long as she didn’t kill Pox and whoever this mastermind was that she was-
It was as she was having that thought that the city erupted.
It was not in any grand way at first, but once the vibrations reached a peak, Glow found herself in the middle of everything turning upside down.
Her instincts kicked in right away, doing her best to help those she could while safeguarding the civilians who had been affected by the blast.
Still, it only took a few drops to realize that most, if not all, the civilians were dead on arrival.
And to make matters even worse, Heroes were fighting each other in the streets, their faces twisted in horrendous glee.
Some were fighting back against those who were mad, but they were so few that it hardly mattered.
Glow had just got done fighting off two teen heroes who were from another squad, her own squad missing and not responding.
“This, what is even happening?!”
The stress of knowing her friend was a bio-weapon, the stress of the many dead, and even the heroes fighting…
It was all starting to wear Glow down as she put the two unconscious heroes next to five others, all sharing the same lunacy that seemed to spread amongst the heroes.
“Whatever it is, as long as I can help, things will get better.”
She tried to pep herself up, as there was no one to help guide the effort. Ms. Magica and Captain Asta were nowhere to be found, Elastiman was already unconscious, one of the first to turn mad and start attacking others.
She tried to look at the positives.
“We still got power, and the medical facilities were unaffected by the blast. We can help these people as long as we-”
The power flickered, and finally dropped after a few moments, causing the city to be bathed in an orange glow as the twilight hours became the only light left in the city.
“T-The emergency generators will turn on any moment!”
Sadly, they did not.
Glow turned on her power, feeling the light particles spread as she lit up the approaching night with her gift.
“I’ll be the light then.”
That however only seemed to attract more mad Heroes, causing her to have to fight mob after mob of deranged powered individuals.
“I…”
After thirty minutes of constant fighting, Glow had finally had enough.
“Enough!”
She blasted an older superhero in the face with her light beam, scorching him and causing him to scream.
“Back the Hell Off!”
Another beam, another scorched hero.
Soon, she was doing it to everyone that came up to her with those crazy eyes.
And after a bit, she started to feel…
Excited.
“This… feels great!”
Part of her soon realized that this might have been why the other heroes ended up the way they were now, at each others throats.
Another part wanted to see if she could melt someone’s face off.
She decided not to listen to the latter voice.
“This… It's bad, right? I shouldn’t want to… kill everyone.”
Insane laughter was echoing from within her head, and a person in her mind seemed to want to push her towards murdering all the humans.
Glow knew right then that someone was launching a mind control assault on the populace.
She also realized that the person she just melted was a bitch and probably totally deserved it.
Well the person was a villain, but… she killed them, didn’t that make her a villain?
She had to stop herself!
“Help! I… can’t control my thoughts! Anyone! Please!”
She looked up to see a small girl with a laced dress, tendrils of phantasmal light glowing off of her as she floated down the street.
The face however, was very familiar to Glow, who had always loved the idea of little sisters.
“C-Chimera?!”
The girl nodded, and after a moment, a tendril jabbed into Glow’s ear, launching itself straight into her meat brain.
Words… were noticeably becoming hard to thinky.
“Madness brought on by increased serotonin levels, affected purely by the Teras’emon serum, dubbed the ‘Correction’. Anaylzing…”
Chimera was doing a big think, Glowy should wait and see if she can take out the murder thoughts.
Yup that was the smarty thing to do.
“Attached to her higher brain functions, mom, you are such a bitch.”
“Brain, hurty…”
“Oh, sorry. Wait a moment Glow, I'll have you back to normal soon.”
Glow felt the tendril move around, and soon, coherency and cognitive alacrity returned to her, more profound and intrinsically connected than ever!
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Crap, I did it too well… ah well, being extra smart isn’t a bad thing.”
“Chimera, I must say that you have truly helped me, and I will always be in your debt for it. Thank you, my friend!”
Chimera gritted her teeth, “nope, fixing this right now!”
The tendril adjusted, and Glow felt her mind return to normal, though she did quite miss the extra brain power.
“Woah…”
“Good, back down to somewhat idiot levels. Moving on.”
“W-Wait! Chimera, I need to talk to you!”
The little girl turned to her, confusion on her face, “I’m not Chimera.”
Glow backed away, “wait, then what are you?”
“Chimera Cell C-1-2AB-3rd sector, I’m working on purging the Teras’emon influence, dubbed the ‘Correction’.”
The cell? Pointed up into the sky, as she floated on by, ignoring further comments from Glow as she spoke.
“The Prime Chimera is above if you wish to speak to her.”
Glow took a moment to glance upward, only to see a similar version to the one that was before her floating over the city.
Cursing herself for not having a fly power, Glow moved towards the starport district as she used her gift to help her speed up.
…
Copymera was enjoying herself.
Mostly due to the strange feeling of being disconnected from her primary host body.
It happened after Meghan went off to find the others, leaving Copy to look around for survivors of the Iguana attack.
She may have pilfered a few gadgets from unassuming stores to help her create a few devices to do such work, but it was all for a good cause.
Or at least she told herself that.
Just as she was finishing up with her search, an ear splitting pulse flattened a score of buildings, and even took out the power after a few minutes.
During that time, Copy was completely cut off from both Sarah, Chimera, and by extension, all the others.
Yet, she didn’t feel lonely, or even afraid.
Instead, she felt free, like she finally had her own room and didn’t have to share it with her siblings.
True, most of the city was flattened by whatever that burst was, but Copy made it a point to bring all of her survivors to a place that was open, like the park area before the Hero’s League.
It likely saved many lives, as the buildings around the blast were pushed backwards, causing a domino effect for some of the closer structures in the pharmaceutical district.
Copy didn’t let it bother her though, she was doing important work in helping these meat bags.
Especially when some of the heroes started to try and attack the few alive citizens.
Copy got to try out a brain drain ray that she cobbled together with a microwave and a cold fusion battery.
The results melted some of the brains, until she figured out that the setting was too high.
Still, a little regenerative stem-cell bath fixed them right up, even if they lost their most recent memories.
Probably for the best, she figured.
Now she was going around town to stop other would-be crazy heroes, testing out various gadgets she made (stole) from the ruins of New Terra.
After running into five separate situations, Copy made her way back to the park area to check on the survivors.
Regenerative tissue needed to be applied to most of them, since whatever that blast was broke their DNA of all things.
Replacing and reconstitution only took five minutes.
Still, she wondered why she hadn’t been affected by the burst of sound and the vibrations shortly after?
It brings up many disturbing thoughts, but I still feel my mind is my own, so no though manipulation as far as I can tell. Even Chimera and Sarah no longer speak through my mind, so it couldn’t be their involvement.
She pondered some more, until she noticed a little girl bathed in golden light and wispy tentacles float towards her.
“Greetings Copymera.”
Copy nodded, brushing off the strange sight as she continued to ponder, “yes, sure. What do you need? I’m busy at the moment.”
The floating child tilted its head, “Copy, it’s me.”
Copy took a moment to stare at the sight, “what, a hallucination? Sorry but I don’t know any floating children.”
The child actually had the wherewithal to groan and put a hand on her face.
That caused Copymera to blink.
“For a child, you sound exasperated. Do you need a cookie or something?”
The child stomped her foot in mid-air, which did not have the results she likely was going for, only making her look like she was kicking the air.
It did make Copy smile at the sight.
“No! Damn this body. It’s me, Chimera!”
Copy chuckled, “child, I know Chimera, I fought with Chimera, Chimera is a sister to me. You are no Chimera.”
The child insisted however, “no, I went through a transformation to graft all my powers together and make a new body to stop my evil mom! It's all true!”
Copymera couldn’t help but burst into laughter, “no way! There’s no way! You are too much for a child!”
“I’m serious!”
Copy stopped, “as am I. Chimera would know how to interact with me, and we share… shared a connection. I know she wouldn’t choose a child’s form willingly.”
To Copymera’s surprise, the girl had the means to look embarrassed.
“The form I took was the only way to keep it stable… alright? I couldn’t go adult or the DNA chain would have collapsed.”
Copymera finally stopped chuckling, “Tell me something only she and I would know. I might believe you then.”
“You threw yourself into Mr. Flesh’s mouth and blew him up from the inside.”
Copy froze.
“...anyone could have told you that.”
“You were there with me, Sarah, Mimi, and Clone! We all fought him together with my girlfriend Lark nearby!”
Copy shook her head, “no, there’s no way. Clone and Mimicera would have said something… wait.”
Copy stopped and stared at the child, “where are they, my clone sisters?”
Chimera, or the being that pretended to be her, shifted to a somber tone as she spoke.
“I-In order to create it… we needed to combine all the power we had. It was the only way to stop Margaret from hurting Sarah and the others.”
“Chimera wouldn’t have sacrificed us to do so. We…”
The Chimera in front of Copy looked at the ground, unable to meet her eyes.
“It was the only way. They… are gone now.”
Copy stomped the ground with her foot, a ripple of cracks spreading around the point of impact.
“You can’t be serious!”
Chimera stared at her with tears in her eyes.
“Copy, I need you hel-”
“DO NOT Say a word. Chimera would never have abandoned us. She would never have us sacrifice ourselves for…”
The Chimera before her shouted back, “I didn’t ask them too, they did it themselves!”
Copy almost pulled out her mind pacifier (melter) and blasted the child, only holding back as the words left her mouth.
“We needed the power to stop her, to save everyone. Meghan, Aden and Sarah were going to die if we didn’t! You, Sarah, and I are all that is left.”
The Chimera before her stared at her, tears in her eyes, but with unwavering determination held within.
“We did what we had to, to save the city, and the people we care about.”
Copy fell to the ground, “no… not them…”
Copy felt her own tears start to flow as the child wrapped her in a hug.
At first she tried to push the child away, but eventually, Copy grabbed hold of the child, weeping for the loss of her family and the tragedy that befell their sacrifice.
…
Chimera floated above, experiencing everything that her cell’s did as she spread herself out to find and resurrect the fallen.
Despite her empathy, which she had made sure to retain, she found it hard to care about the tears that she saw in many eyes.
Through her clones, she was able to see all the others, and the massive amount of dead and mad heroes were all just things that needed to be fixed after all.
Parts to return to a whole.
The tragedy of the sonic scream took many of the New Terrans lives, and the heroes madness brought on by Margaret’s final card made chaos spread and the few civilians who lived fear heroes as well.
The cells she sent out helped to ease the burden, comforting and healing as they could.
Chimera pondered how the rest of the problem should be addressed, since the city itself was ruined.
Ultimately, that could come later.
For now, she had to decide how to deal with the remaining places that had resistance.
More cells came to life, spreading out to deal with fights, and heal those who could be saved.
Chimera stared at the sky as she noticed the last thing that she needed to take care of.
The satellite that hung over New Terra would always be a threat so long as it remained, and Chimera wanted to be sure that no one could use it for evil means.
Which was why she sought out Copy, as she could likely remake the teleporter that Monica used to access it.
With Meghan still healing, there was no one else to ask, and as such she needed to hurry and deal with the threat once and for all.
She felt the wave of sadness from her cell as she held her now detached clone.
It will be alright, I will make it right. I am a Hero, and Heroes save the day.
She got confirmation that Copy was on her way, and Chimera floated toward the ruin that contained the teleporter.
Pain shot through her body as she felt the chain struggle to maintain itself.
Just a little longer, I just need to hold a little bit more…