The Chimera cells spread throughout the city, an army of clones seeking out and saving those that were left.
They also had another purpose.
Cell C-1-2AB-3rd, originally sent to ensure the survival of Chimera’s friend Glow, was searching for traces of the being Margaret, who had her primary body sent to the sun.
Now, she was on clean up duty, making sure the villain no longer had any traces she could use to come back.
Along the way, she had been able to save many different people, Heroes mostly, but there were some civilians.
Still, her primary objective was Margaret.
So far, there has been nothing of note, yet…
Chimera cell C-1-2AB-3rd felt a pain in her chest.
“W-What… was…”
A moment later, the pain spread, and her body broke into particles, with only a little residue on the ground where she once was.
…
Chimera twitched, feeling another of her clones dissipate.
Shit, it’s too soon!
Copymera was walking ahead of her as she led them both to the teleporter, so she didn’t notice Chimera as she clenched her chest in pain.
Chimera took a moment to try and patch up the chain, holding it together with her will.
She could feel it stabilize, but it was clear.
The chain that was her would break soon.
I still have something I need to do…
Chimera pushed ahead, Copy moving next to her as she stared off in confusion.
“What the hells the rush? It’s just over here?”
“I don’t have time.”
“Time?! What do you even mean?”
“Just find the teleporter.”
Copy tried to stop her, but Chimera pushed past her as she tried searching for the only means of stopping the satellite.
After a few minutes of searching, Copymera yelled over to her as they pulled out a pod that was surprisingly still intact, despite having a building flattened around it.
The biggest concern was the control pad, which seemed to have been damaged by an electrical device.
“Can you fix it?”
Copy crossed her arms, “sure I can, if you tell me why you need it.”
“It’s to stop the satellite.”
“So? Margaret’s dead, Monica’s dead and so is Pox, there’s no one left to use it.”
“We don’t know that for sure, she could have another clone up there. Hell, she could have a fail safe to launch another strike if she doesn’t check it! We have to be sure.”
Copy shook her head, “what is wrong with you Chimera?”
Chimera shook herself, the chain holding together but the bonds were starting to weaken.
“Copy, I need to get up there… please.”
Copymera stared at her, “not until you tell me why.”
Chimera stared at her clone sister for a long moment, contemplating whether she should.
Then she remembered the face Copy made when she found out Mimicera and Clonemera were gone.
“I’ll tell you when I get back, I promise.”
Copy shook her head, but nodded after a bit.
“You better.”
I’m so sorry… Copy.
They got to work, connecting the wires and powering it up with the electricity generator that they both had.
The teleporter hummed to life as the last of the calibrations it needed spun, coordinating to the satellite.
Chimera made her way to the pod, pressing herself up against the interior as she spun to look at Copy one last time.
“Beginning sequence… Hey, Chimera?”
Chimera turned to her as the pod started up.
“When you get back… well,”
Copy, uncharacteristically, seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Its okay Copy.”
Copy shook her head, “I’m not going to be Copymera, it… sounds too much like the others. I want to be Pym. So, when you get back, could you-”
“Sure Pym.”
Copy, or rather Pym, smiled widely.
“I still want an explanation when you get back.”
Chimera’s heart clenched.
“Of course.”
Pym smiled as she pushed the button, the light around Chimera wiggling like a snake coiling around her.
Until she finally felt a rush of air hit her, and found herself floating from the pod.
Chimera pushed herself gently off the pod, now free floating across the deck of a rather small room.
If cramped was a way to describe this place, claustrophobic would be the word Chimera had to describe it.
She moved easily enough considering her new size, yet she couldn't imagine Aden or Sarah fitting into any of these crawl spaces and doors.
Chimera tendril bounced from space to space, checking and double checking all the gadgetry around her, tapping into the system with her technopathy.
The satellite came to life in her mind, speaking to her in the voice of a distracted explorer.
“Yes, what do you need? I’m recharging the station’s solar cells right now and I need to chart my next path for a geopositioned orbit. In other words, I’m very busy right now.”
Chimera explained what she was looking for, stating that she believed that the person who built and used her likely had a pod for a clone aboard.
“If you are worried about that thing, don’t be. It died the moment the energy cells were used to fire the solar cannon. It’s nothing but a husk with no driver right now.”
Chimera sighed in relief, “So there’s nothing to worry about from Margaret, or Monica.”
The satellite spoke to her in an exact kind of voice, as if she was a professor teaching a brat for making the wrong assumption, “the cannon is still charging, and is set to fire once it does. It was the last failsafe my creator made in case of her death, and the code was sent once it was confirmed.”
The satellite almost seemed to be sad at the news, “there’s nothing I can do to stop the cannon, as the code has been inserted, and I have been locked out. I do feel sorry for the meat bags below.”
Chimera panicked, “we have to stop it! Isn’t there something you can do?”
The satellite pondered, “there’s one way, but…”
“But what?! Spit it out please!”
The satellite, despite being unable to do so, seemed to shake her head in exasperation at Chimera’s insistence.
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“The cells to the solar cannon are going to fire, but if we were far enough away, the cannon wouldn’t be effective enough to damage the people below. However,”
Silence followed for a few minutes before the satellite spoke again.
“We would be lost, adrift, and with no way to return.
Chimera felt the pain in her chest heave for a moment, causing her to go into a coughing fit that ended with a bit of pinkish blood coming from her lips.
“That’s fine…”
“You would most likely die from exposure, and there is no way to protect this vessel from micro-meteors or any object that happens to be in our path. The vacuum would certainly kill you.”
Chimera turned to stare out the one window on the vessel, a small thing but just enough to see her home below.
The blue green marble spun, clouds grew and receded, and the moon was just out of sight.
I… wish I could have seen Lark… or spoken to Sarah and Aden… and Meghan…
“Can you send a message from this station, satellite?”
“Of course, it was how my mistress sent data packets. I can send it to any station below.”
“There's a ranger station outside of the New Terra city limits, used as a home for a friend of mine. Please send it there, if you could.”
“...human creature, are you…”
“Yes?”
“...Nothing…but…I wish to hear your thoughts as well.”
Chimera agreed, speaking to a camera as she conveyed the last thoughts she had for the people that mattered most to her.
She cried through a lot of it, but in the end, she felt like they would understand what she was doing.
She hoped Lark found someone special.
She hoped Sarah would be free to be herself.
She hoped that Aden and Aura would have a great life…
And She prayed that Pym would forgive her selfishness.
Chimera turned to the satellite, one last hope in her mind.
“Can I use the teleporter once we're safely away?”
The satellite seemed to sense her desperation, but offered no good news.
“The distance… would be too great, and there wouldn’t be enough power as the cells are being used for the cannon. I… apologize Chimera.”
“It’s okay… my power would have likely killed me anyway. It’s better this way.”
“This power? Is it unstable?”
Chimera choked as she spoke, “I made it to be powerful, but all that DNA was from different people and creatures. It was never meant to hold together like I made it to be. I likely had days to live, but I could have survived if I…”
If I got new DNA from others.
If she devoured people.
Not just their fat, or excess cells, their entire bodies.
Chimera didn’t want to be a monster, ever since she became sapient.
She wanted to be like the heroes in Sarah’s memories.
Like the ideals she remembered seeing as Sarah walked to work.
Heroes didn’t eat people to keep themselves alive.
They saved people, they saved cities.
They save the world.
Chimera felt a flare of pain as the cracks in the chain started to spread. Slowly, but surely, they would break, and she with them.
That much power, that much energy.
Chimera worried about what would happen once it did finally shatter.
Better here… than down there.
Chimera asked the computer in the satellite to plot the course. The energy from the cannon was readying to fire, but the retro-rockets for the satellite started to fire as they pushed away from the orbit of Asta.
With the rockets firing, the cannon’s discharge pushed them further and further away from Asta.
“Chimera, the message has been sent in full.”
“Thank you, I know what I am asking for-”
“It doesn't matter. I was built to be a weapon, but… I always wished to see the stars around me instead. This is… oddly comforting.”
“...”
Chimera smiled softly, never taking her eyes off of Asta as the satellite brought them further and further away, the cannon shooting them across the astral sky. She leaned her head against the window, watching Asta become a dot in the distance.
Goodbye… everyone.
…
Chimera’s last effort to save New Terra from the solar cannon proved effective, as the laser bathed the city in a few moments of intense heat, only to slowly fade and give a bit of warmth before finally dissipating.
The people, brought back to life by the fading power of Chimera’s cells, all questioned what just happened to their fair city, and the cause of such destruction.
No one could give them straight answers until Ms. Magicka returned, surrounded by heroes and sidekicks of every kind.
She would explain to them the mad designs of Dr. Pox, his daughter Monica, and the ‘tragic’ deaths of the other Death children, who were lost to the destruction of the underground laboratory.
None knew of Margaret Bockman, the insane mastermind behind the entire plot, and none would, for it was too connected to the powers the human heroes enjoyed.
Better to let it be dead and buried.
And it was, for no trace of Margaret remained, only the bonded cells inside the humans that had been cured by Chimera’s first aid.
The Hero’s League once again saved the day, and everything was right in the world of Asta.
At least, officially.
A group of individuals, both fugitive and hero alike, retreated to a cabin lodge located on the outskirts of the city.
They were left by Sarah, who was doing her best to keep it together while she processed everything that had happened to her.
And to Chimera.
They arrived to the worry of Meghan’s Father, who wrapped his daughter in a bear hug that made her metal joints creak.
Lark was beside herself with worry as she searched for Chimera, not finding even a trace of the girl.
At least, until Mark gave them the message.
“It came in about an hour before you guys arrived, but I didn’t want to spook Lark here until you all got back. It came from a satellite judging from the information, so I can only assume it was from Chimera.”
He wrangled with some wires as he put together an old television that had rabbit ears on it and an old disk reader.
Meghan sighed, “Dad, that stuff is ancient, why do you still keep it around?”
Her father smiled, “because I can ‘stream’ without the government checking on how many times I rewatched my favorite movies.”
The daughter of the park ranger groaned as he finally set up the disk reader, playing the message.
It flickered to life as an image of a young girl in a red dress appeared, her body floating aboard a small room with a tiny window behind her.
“H-Hey guys? Umm, well…” the girl was so worried about something that it made Sarah shake her head.
“She needs to calm down.”
As if on command, Chimera took a deep breath, breathing out as she tried to brace herself.
“I’m good, it’s okay…”
Chimera turned back to the camera.
“I… want to say a lot, but time is of the essence, so… I’ll say what I want to.”
She smiled brightly, “Sarah, you gave me life, you gave me thoughts and feelings, and you helped me when I struggled to know what I was. Thank you, mom.”
The words came out of nowhere, and everyone took a moment to stare at Sarah’s reaction.
The abject horror on her face spelled it out.
“No…”
Chimera moved on, “Meghan, you are… my best friend. You helped me come into myself. I learned about the world, and about myself through your eyes. Thank you, for forgiving yourself and… for watching my back. You were the best sidekick ever.”
Meghan barked out a laugh, “IF anything, you were the sidekick, you little shit.”
The laughs turned to coughs, and even a bit of light sobbing.
Chimera continued, “Aden… turns out you’re my uncle more than my brother… but I wouldn’t trade you for all the things in the world. You were the first person I saved, and you were a great brother. Thank you… for…”
Chimera was starting to cry as she spoke, and it started to infect the others.
“F-For, loving me… a-and… being… there.”
Aden clenched his jaw as his eyes got misty.
“Damnit… I knew… I knew after we didn’t see her.”
Lark, unsurprisingly, was shocked at what she was seeing and turned to the group.
“What happened to Chimera? Why’s she talking like…?”
The unspoken words floated in the air.
Like she’s not coming back?
“Pym.”
Pym stood in front of the others as she stared at Chimera, the trembling rage in her eyes masking the unbelievable pain she felt.
“I’m dying… Pym.”
The group gasped, and Lark yelled out a ‘No’ as she moved closer to the screen.
“I combined the DNA of all the heroes I… took from. It was unstable… volatile… but it worked. I sent Margaret to the sun and healed the others. I knew… that my time was limited. I… couldn’t tell you… I’m so sorry.”
“Bullshit!”
Pym smashed a tendril into the floor.
“You selfish piece of shit! You knew… you knew and you didn’t tell me!”
Pym tried to throw her arms around, but Sarah grabbed hold of her in a tight hug.
“It’s alright, Pym.”
“No! That bitch! That… coward… AUGHHHHHHH!”
Pym thrashed weakly as she tried to escape, but her heart wasn’t into it, and Sarah could tell she was experiencing another loss.
After all, she couldn’t feel Chimera, Clonemera, or Mimicera either.
“Lark… I had to do it… I couldn’t let Margaret win. The world she was trying to build… would have changed everyone. I had to stop her… I had to.”
Chimera held a hand over her chest, and through the screen, Lark and the others could see a crack made of yellow-gold appear across her neckline.
“I know it wasn’t long… but forget me. Move on and find someone who will make you happy… you deserve-”
Chimera cried out, the crack flaring for a few moments before receding.
“Chimera!”
The girl on the other end of the screen braced herself against a desk, breathing heavily as she turned back.
“I never once regretted our time together. All of you… you were the reason I did this. I had to save you… I wanted to.”
Chimera smiled, despite the pained look on her face.
“Goodbye… everyone.”
“Chimera, the message has been sent.”
“Thank you… I know I’m asking a lot-”
The video cut off from there, leaving the rest of the group in stunned silence.
…