“Brick Eagle, you have eaten of the fruit of the tree, and slept in her boughs.” Spider Monkey said, putting the crown made of clumsily woven branches over Brendon’s head.

It poked in places, and the sap itched furiously, but hey, a crown’s a crown.

“You are now one of our tribe.” Spider Monkey intoned, tapping Brendon on either shoulder with a massive monkey wrench that Jay used to clear aggressive fauna off the trunk of the tree.

“Wherever you go, carry the knowledge that you are family. That you are one of the boys of Hardwood.”

One of the kids in the back snickered, smudging his berry war-paint as he covered his mouth.

It took a monumental effort for Brendon not to join him, but if he laughed that was another round with the Itch-Switch.

“It will be my honor.” Brendon said his part. “I will bring word of our wood wherever I go, and let none fail to witness it’s magnificence.”

Spider Monkey’s lip trembled as he struggled to maintain a straight face.

“You must now recite the Oath of Wood.”

The Oath of wood was easy to remember because it rhymed, so Brendon got started.

“Wood is good.

Wood is life.

I’ve got wood,

And it’s rife,

With blessings aplenty, from logs to sticks,

Wood in the morning to wake you up,

Wood at night to keep you warm.

Wood walls, keep you safe from harm.

Sure as the sun rises in the east,

And politician palms are greased,

If you’ve got wood,

you’re in luck,

Because without your wood,

you couldn’t –“

A strange phenomena caught the attention of everyone present at Brendon’s farewell ceremony. Brendon had only just noticed it, after he realized that no one was paying attention to the Oath of Wood.

Nobody was laughing.

Why is my shadow falling that way?

It was a subconscious thing, a change so basic to a property so taken for granted that it took them much longer to realize it than they should’ve.

But they did.

A light rose in the west, opposing and overwhelming the faint pre-dawn light to the east. In the sky, a second sun had risen, giving off a brilliant white light that was painful to look at.

“Gentlemen…” Brendon said, rising to his feet and fishing his truck keys out of the ceremonial goblet, patting them dry with his pants. “I think I have to cut the farewell party short.”

“…You’re going toward that?” Jay asked, his jaw slack.

“A little north, but yeah, that basic direction.”

“That…doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

Brendon shrugged and picked his shirt off the grassy soil, shaking it out before slipping it back over his head.

“I don’t have any better ones,” Brendon admitted.

“Well…okay. Um…See you later?” Jay said.

“I’ll visit,” Brendon said, pulling the teen into a tight hug before turning and climbing back into his truck.

“Do you want your tools back?”

“Nah, you guys need them more than I do,” Brendon waved him off. “Adios, fellas.”

“…bye.”

Brendon closed the door and glanced in his rear view mirror as he drove the truck out of the protective field of the Triggered oak, watching the kids wave as he left.

A few of them were crying.

Brendon dried his eyes and swallowed a lump of sadness as he got back on the tracks and resumed his journey to Chicago.

Not long now.

****Paradox***

eeeeeee

An incessant whine rang in Perry’s ears.

Something caught in his throat, and he coughed out some ash.

The world was a sizzling blur of white, searing his eyes even through his tightly shut eyelids. He felt like a bacteria under the harsh light of a magnifying glass.

What just happened?

Perry coughed one more time and sat up as the last few seconds caught up with him, his eyes blinking the blindness out.

In his hand was his dad’s cell phone, miraculously undamaged.

He was in a shallow bowl made of glassed stone and earth, a quarter mile wide and still glowing pink-hot under the harsh light beating down on him from miles above. There was no sign of Gramma’s secret bunker, only a stunning view of the rocky mountains in every direction.

High above was a sphere of pure energy. An artificial sun making the grand mountain ranges around him flood the sky with clouds as their snow-covered peaks were boiled off.

Squinting against the glare that heated the land around him, Perry could make out flickers of movement through the clouds and oppressive light, as two immortals duked it out inside that artificial sun, the energy generated by their battle changing the very landscape.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I need to leave, Perry thought, pushing himself to his feet, hissing in pain at the extreme heat against his raw, blistered skin.

Professor Replica was buying him precious time, and they needed to capitalize on it. There was no telling if Professor Replica was going to win or not, but it would be much better to assume he could lose at any moment, at which point they could all turn to ash in a fraction of a second.

Perry scanned the fifth dimension and caught Chemestro and Australia Man, unharmed and watching the exchange with fascination.

Perry motioned to Chemestro, but the Catalyst was too focused on the battle to see him. Frustrated, Perry slapped the fifth dimension, making it and everything inside wobble like a jello mold.

Chemestro’s attention snapped to him.

‘Meet at my base’ Perry signed. ‘Bring teammate’

Chemestro nodded and grabbed Aussie Man, and the two of them twisted into nothingness, arriving somewhere else. Presumably Chicago.

Portal.EXE

Wasting no time, Perry stomped through into Chicago, dialing his dad.

“Yes?” Dad answered as the air shifted from burnt stone and steam to the refreshing air of the Great Lakes.

“I need you to stop hiding in my phone and do some paperwork for me to make something official.”

“Figured that one out, did ya?”

“I couldn’t see your soul, but Gramma was right, there was no way you could’ve gotten a signal in there. You’re in the phone.”

“It’s quantum-“

“Bullshit.” Perry said.

“Fair enough. You have a body for me? I have some backups but they’re…not great. I’m fairly confident you could whip up something better than I could on short notice and short supply.”

“That is what I do,” Perry mused. “Flesh and blood or android?”

“Surprise me.”

Gretchen’s Idyllic Manifestation.EXE

Perry leaned on the recipe for bio flesh he’d already designed for Eugene, simply changing the shape to conform to his father’s appearance.

A moment later, a fleshy pod dropped to the ground, with a cord sticking out of the front that Perry connected to the phone.

A moment later, Dad clawed his way out of the pod, gasping for air.

“Really, a pod? With slime?” He asked, wiping the slime off himself with a scowl.

“You’re welcome. If you have the sudden impulse to eat raw flesh and lay eggs…try to ignore it.”

Nobody needed thousands of Dads running rampant across the Earth.

Dad stopped wiping the slime off his naked body to peer at Perry, eyes narrowed. “What kind of body is this?”

“It’s a bio-weapon. Best I could do on short notice. You should have access to the full complement of unicorn magic, but there’s no time to practice.”

“Magic?” Dad groaned. “You know I’m a Tinker, right? Magic isn’t really my thing.”

“How’s it feel?” Perry asked, creating a set of hyperweave and connecting it to batteries buried deep under the ground, passing it to Dad.

“…” Dad stared at him in disbelief.

Perry stared back.

“You’ve been sitting on this one for a long time, huh?” Dad asked.

“Yep. I’d love to savor it, but we’re on an unknown time limit. Get dressed while I tell you the plan.”

Dad grumbled as he covered up. “Force me to use this hippie bullshit? I’m keeping this one in mind next time I-“

The artificial sun far to the west flashed brightly before it began to dwindle and sink below the horizon.

At this range, it had to have been in space… Perry thought as he began running.

Dad saw it too. He stopped grumbling and yanked on his gear at full speed.

***Solaris***

Tom Franklin gasped for breath, holding the nasty gash in his stomach closed. It sputtered and hissed, radiating nuclear power that would do more than give the casual observer a sunburn.

“Once again, John, you’re dead-set on ending the world. Replacing natural humans with abominations. Your schtick never changes does it?”

The teenage girl hiding the evil bastard chuckled, her body burned and mangled beyond resisting him any further.

“It’s Stacy now,” The girl said.

“Whatever you say, Professor.” Tom muttered, picking the android up by the neck for the coup de grace.

“You’re a m~~~, Tom, how do you not get that?” she asked.

Tom cocked his head to the side. She’d said something, but he couldn’t quite make it out. Looked like it started with an M.

Master?

Muck-up?

Apply context.

Tom’s thoughts went to mind control immediately.

‘a mind-slave?’ maybe?

A mimi---

The thought was cut off before it bloomed.

I’m so hungry.

Stay and eat.

Burn off any mind control.

After you eat.

Burn off any mind-control

AFTER YOU EAT

BURN!

EAT!

BURN!

When Tom turned his body to light, he had a…sort of pre-set body that he would phase into and out of. A recipe for a perfect him that he kept secret and protected in the deepest recesses of his mind. This Perfect Tom never failed to break out of any kind of control he might be experiencing, any kind of damage.

Solaris converted his body into light, searing away any kind of connection with the physical world and making reality itself pause around him as he changed into his perfect body.

He glanced at the teen girl suspended in midair, even as he withdrew his hand, hanging there for that timeless instant.

Why am I fighting Stacy? She was trying to help me with the Alzheimer’s just a month ago….or was it less? Why can’t I remember?

A sudden wave of loss crashed over Solaris as he stared at the frozen Professor, picking at scabbed over thoughts until a bloody tidal wave of buried pain flooded him.

May…she’s dead…

That was it then, the last family member gone. The last proof that Tom Franklin the human had ever walked the earth, and now it was just Solaris, the implacable demigod.

A fatigue unlike any he had experienced engulfed him.

And what had the Professor said just now?

Mimic?

Solaris was quick enough to put it together.

I’m a mimic? But not right now. Because my light-form is pre-canned, and the mimic hasn’t figured out how to make it’s own yet.

It took Solaris decades to figure out how to convert his entire body to light and maintain his sense of self.

A brain creating a brain made of light was no small feat. Trying to alter it to allow a mimic’s insidious programming would blow up immediately. Even with Solaris’s decades of experience. The mimic-him was aware of this, obliquely, and simply accepted the risk of Solaris discovering the truth…

Why?

Because…Solaris had given up.

I’m so tired. I’m just a copy of myself figuring out I’m already gone. Already lost.

How many times have I already ‘figured it out’ and given up?

There had always been a part of Solaris that would rage to the very last drop of blood against any and all challenges.

Even this nightmare scenario of being trapped inside these fleeting moments of lucidity where he couldn’t meaningfully interact with the world…he would’ve relished the challenge. Sabotaged his mimic self. Done everything in his power to save the world before handing it back to the Mimic.

But May was dead.

And he was so goddamn tired of losing everyone and everything.

How many times have I come to this same conclusion?

Fuck it. I’m already dead, May’s already dead. Franklin City’s gone.

Pass, Solaris thought, dropping out of lightspeed.

You’re a mimic.

The thought lingered in his mind for a moment, rapidly growing fuzzier and fuzzier, the way dreams slipped through the mind’s grasp as it took over…

What was I thinking about just now? Mind control? Solaris thought, squinting at Professor Replica who was tumbling to the ground from where someone had been holding her up.

Was it me?

I should burn the mind control away.

But I just did…didn’t I?

Professor Replica was crawling backwards in the shallow bowl of glassed mountain, wincing in pain as the glass fractured underneath her burned limbs.

Something inside him felt like it was unfinished.

Yes. I’m hungry.

Solaris took a step towards Professor Replica.

Couldn’t eat at light speed. That made the food go thermonuclear.

Solaris’s consciousness turned into a haze of pleasure, fading out as his body unpacked, feeling air touch parts of him that had been tucked away inside the façade up until now…

Until a portal appeared beside Professor Replica, a hand shooting out of it and snatching the young woman’s arm, hauling her through.

It took a fraction of a second for Solaris’s consciousness to return, but by then, Professor Replica was already gone.

The man who’d killed his wife was gone. Again.

Solaris bellowed to the sky, an inhuman echo returning to his ears from the rocky mountains.

He didn’t care.

I’ll kill that bastard. I’ll find him, and kill him, eat him and convert him…

Solaris cocked his head at the foreign thoughts intruding into his mind.

Right. The mimic’s frequency. I’m still on it. I’ll shut it off.

He made the adjustment, and just like that, the foreign thoughts faded, leaving Solaris with his own.

The mimics got him too, huh? Where would they have taken him?

It was a portal, so it was probably Marigold or Claudette.

No…Claudette is human. I confirmed it myself.

So…Marigold? Shouldn’t be. That old bitch is too cruel to let anyone or anything come close so killing her.

Wait. Claudette has that kid…eight years old, or so…no, he’s twenty four. Did he get mimicked?

Why is my memory so spotty?

Mind Control?

Better burn it out.