Chapter 37
Hasty's Helpers
(Misha Tulley)
If Misha had to describe her current state of being right now, it would have to be exhaustion. With her newfound abilities, she had experienced something she never thought previously possible.
Her mind, arguably her strongest weapon, honed and refined over countless cycles of death, rebirth, and refinement had finally met its limit. Or at least the limit that she found currently for herself.
She had managed to direct, operate, and control machines from miles away. Just the thought of this type of capacity had been something she could only dream of in the past. Yet, now she was able to do so freely.
Not only did she see it directly with her guiding of her grandfather and the pack members to safety. But she also managed to do it by enacting changes to Jerome’s house. Everything had been taxing, from continually increasing the force that their house’s sub-pump would use to forcefully push water into their pipes, to the way she made sure more than enough water was covering Jerome for his death, to just how much energy it took to eviscerate a Werewolf from the inside out. Everything had been taxing, but she had found her new limits in this body.
Better still, aside from a few people, most of whom were already on her side, she did not give much of her true abilities away. She even managed to hide the majority of her abilities away from her grandfather. While he had seen and witnessed a lot, Misha had always held down her full capabilities a little bit. At first she thought it was tactical intelligence. Part of her mind telling her that she needed to make it so the enemy didn’t truly know or understand her full capabilities. That was her initial mindset, but really the truth was that she was afraid. Afraid that her grandfather might instantly turn from being warm and accepting of her and her capabilities to frightened of her.
The fact that she had been able to not only recharge, but repair a vehicle’s engine from a phone, that was probably her greatest known achievement to date. It didn’t hurt that she knew the vehicle in question inside and out and had built in her own redundant systems to ensure that it could be awoken just like she had. Yet, it was nothing compared to what she could do.
One of the limits she found was that the energy linked to harvesting a body could not be transmitted through mediums. Though in this case, being able to harvest energy from a slain enemy was just partial curiosity at best. With the sudden arrival of the Bakshee signals, it was clear that her time of idly dwelling here and building up power was soon going to come to a close. That was why she started making her personal movements now.
In her mind her attack against Jerome was perfect, as she had a clear alibi according to the form of this world, as she wasn’t even in the same neighborhood, and she had simultaneously been on a call with her grandfather and teammates while the actual event began.
Also, added to the whole fact was that she managed to exact revenge for grandma, well partial revenge. In her mind she knew that there were five confirmed people involved in the murder of her grandmother. Five people who were either there and didn’t stop it from occurring, or worse encouraged the murder to happen.
It had been a long time since Misha had done anything based solely on impulses, yet in this particular case she couldn’t hold back.
Again, this whole thing, the need for revenge for a biological ancestor, these were all foreign concepts that were being slowly engrained into her mind. As if her organic code was able to re-write most of her Psycher training in a matter of years.
That was frightening in and of itself, as it meant that what took years and generations to build up could be slowly eroded if the vessel she chose. That her vessel was not perfect and devoid of the impulses that so much of her doctrine seemed to prohibit.
In her mind she had a list of people that were involved with the case.
Jerome Jacobs: Male Alpha
Alishia Silvers: Female Alpha
Rodger Lee: Actual Murderer
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While she had her leads as to who the other two passengers were, she couldn’t be certain of them, yet. There would be a time and place for their revenge as well, but it would take time.
In her mind things were going well. Misha was blending in. She had made her first contact with the enemy and had been accepted in her role as the second reaper. Logically, she knew her first true test would be when she made contact with ReaperTwo, an entity that seemed to be familiar, but the reason why was unknown to Misha at this time. Just the unmistakable fact that she had somehow met or seen this person in some meaningful way. The fact that she somehow knew of ReaperTwo, but not who ReaperTwo was meant that they were likely what this world would call a celebrity. Someone important to something, somewhere, but not directly important to Misha. At least not important to Misha currently.
Resting.
Misha found that after putting so much of herself into her act for personal revenge, she was tired. While what she had done was not the full extent of her powers or capabilities it was far more than she had done and shown in a while. This meant that her mind was clearly drained from her operations.
Yet, it had all been a success in that she now felt more capable than ever, as she had managed to use her abilities to traverse multiple mediums to achieve a desired effect. That effect was of course, the ability to direct change in a mechanical object dozens of miles away.
Whoom.
The electricity began to turn back on for the farmhouse and the surrounding areas. That had been the other taxing part of her whole operation, keeping the power grid offline while she made her move. She had the assistance of already having the main components for the world disabled thanks to what many are calculating as an intense solar flare. But the reason it had taken so much longer for power to get reconnected to Jackson West Virginia was not due to faulty wiring as some might believe. Rather it had been a test to prove Misha’s full capabilities to herself. That was the true reason why Misha now found herself so exhausted and ready to pass out from the mental strain she had been through over the past few hours.
While the power was slowly coming back online to many places, there were going to be a few issues that still needed to be addressed. Namely, what to do with all the vehicles that were now currently disabled in parking lots and highways across the world.
Speaking of which, Misha mentally tried to reach out to find out where her grandfather was. A quick search showed that he was at the far part of town and finally on his way back.
“You still there pumpkin?” Phil asked.
Hearing his voice, Misha could only smile slightly. “Yes.”
“Alright, well you sound tired. So long as you think this old pile of bolts will last me until I get home, I think I should let you sleep. Besides, it seems like the power is coming on here, so things should get better here shortly.” Phil said, speaking loud enough so that his voice could be heard by the phone that was automatically set to speaker.
“Okay.” Misha said, her voice filling with the fog of sleep and exhaustion. Misha had already closed her eyes, though her senses went far beyond the scope of just normal sight. Which was why, even in this nearly exhausted state she could almost feel the electrical currents coming to life around Phil, making his drive home that much safer, given the new sources of light.
What she missed, or rather what her senses that were already slowly cutting themselves off from the rest of the world were the various billboards and signs that came to life as Phil began to leave the city portion of the county and head towards the backroads that ultimately led to his home.
Had Misha been slightly more aware, she might not have missed the moment her grandfather passed by the almost iconic billboard of the famous singer endorsing a particular cola.
***
(ReaperTwo)
Shock.
The entity noted as ReaperTwo sat in her plush leather armchair, thinking. She had been given a task, to find one random girl in ten years. Then hopefully after their meeting she would be able to regain her title as the actual ReaperOne.
On the surface, such an act should be relatively easy, as by now everyone was well aware of ReaperTwo. She had after all sold out her concert tours within hours of announcing their opening. She had three diamond albums, and four others that went platinum. She was an international mogul and married to one of the most impressive athletes in the world, a three-time super bowl champion and winner of multiple MVPs. Of course, he would be the first to point out that most of his success came from being with the entity called ReaperTwo.
Unfortunately, he would never know exactly how true of a statement that was, as his entire meteoric rise to power had been at the forceful guidance of ReaperTwo. His increase in power, athleticism, and coordination were all due to ReaperTwo’s influence.
Now everything seemed to be challenged by the arrival of this new reaper, one that ReaperTwo was apparently supposed to work and coordinate with.
Taking a deep breath, ReaperTwo thought about her future and she would find this random girl. Then she paused, as she realized she was thinking this was backwards. Rather than trying to find a random girl from the world, why not let the girl come to her.
Knock, knock.
“Ms. Hasty, now that power is back up are you ready for your board meeting?” Ms. Delaney asked, this was ReaperTwo’s right hand woman and official task master.
“No,” ReaperTwo began, but then she had a moment to think about something else. “Actually, wait. Put out the fact that I will be looking for a personal assistant in each city that we go to. Make it known that we will go to each city, interview fans and from each city I will choose one helper to come on stage, get front row tickets for their friends and family, and be my personal helper.”
“Okay?” Ms. Delaney began, taking notes and continuing. “Anything else?”
With that, ReaperTwo thought deeper about the mental image she had of the girl. The red hair and green eyes made her fairly unique, but looking for people like that at each city would cause problems. No, for the moment she would want to keep with certain facts that were undeniable. “Yes, the helper should be between the ages of sixteen and twenty, and be willing to get water and enjoy a night of music.”
“Okay, Hasty’s Helpers it is.” Ms. Delaney said.
“Oh, that’s good, I like that.” ReaperTwo said excited about the name.
“That’s why you keep me around. All right, I will put this out, and is there anything else?”
“No, though I think I need to be alone for a bit. Please clear my schedule for the afternoon.”
“On it.”
Then just as quickly as she entered, Ms. Delaney left, leaving ReaperTwo to think about her future.
“The ball is now in your court. Let’s see if you show yourself ReaperOne.”
With that thought spoken out loud, ReaperTwo looked out at the bustling city below from her penthouse suite.
“Looks like it is about time to go back on tour again.” She said, as she let a smile come to her face, knowing that hosting a concert was the best way to meet and interact with the greatest demographics of workers, fighters, and rulers. “We will meet up ReaperOne, and when we do, I will take back my title.”