Now, Earth
“You’re grounded. Indefinitely.”
Tessa didn’t argue with her father. This was expected and she was ready for it. She meekly nodded her head. She was genuine in her contrition. Despite all of the mitigating circumstances it all came down to one thing. Veronica had gotten hurt. Full stop. Nothing else mattered.
The scolding had lasted a good half hour, which was fine. Everything her parents had said was objectively true. So, it had been easy to stand there and take it without feeling too bad. It was when her mother had started crying that it got emotional for her.
“Sorry. It won’t happen again.”
Tessa meant it and from the look on her father’s face, he accepted her sincerity.
“Yes, because you’re never going to go out fighting again!”
Her mother had dried her eyes. She glared at Tessa with the displeasure of a billion mothers.
Tessa bowed her head. She bit back a reply. Her mother was caught up in the moment. There was no way that was going to happen. They couldn’t keep her grounded forever, like her father had said. They needed her out there to kill monsters and they definitely needed her against the weird fish cult people.
“You do understand what you did wrong?”
Her father’s voice was calm, but she could tell that he was struggling to keep his inner turmoil from showing. She could feel it in the tingling sensation around her arms. Her power detected the magnetic fields that her father generated acting up. An unconscious reaction to his emotions. This struck Tessa with the severity of the situation more than anything else. Her father was always calm, solid like a granite slab.
“Yeah. I should’ve taken Veronica back as soon as I discovered her,” Tessa said.
Her mother’s sharp intake of breath was a hint that Tessa had said the wrong thing. She silently cursed herself. She’d momentarily forgot to take her mother’s sensibilities into account. A rookie mistake. From the look on her mother’s face it was too late to fix it.
“You shouldn’t have been out there in the first place! We didn’t give you permission to be outside of the inner patrol boundaries! Unlike those idiot boys, you are still a minor!”
Tessa shrank back from her furious mother. She had never seen her mother this mad before. It was almost like being struck in the face.
Her father must’ve noticed it. He placed a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Megan. I think she understands that now.”
“I’m going to check on Veronica.”
Her mother stomped up the stairs.
“You do understand why we’re mad, right?”
“Yeah.”
“This isn’t a game. As much as we want to keep you safe, we know that we can’t just lock you up. This world simply won’t allow it.” Her father ran a hand through his graying hair. “It’s infuriating. You know what I worried about before this all started? Boys, paying for college and a few other things. The normal things every father with girls has to worry about. Now it’s monsters and a fish cult…” he shook his head.
“I’m sorry, dad. I know I messed up, but I meant it when I said I’ll do better.”
“I know you will, I trust you. You’re smart. I’m just worried that your powers have made you reckless. You’re not invincible. Neither is your sister.”
Tessa nodded. What else could she say or do?
“Right, so, you and Veronica are both grounded. No patrols, nothing fun. You’re going to go to training, help with any manual labor the community needs, then back home. And I’m going to have your training kick up a couple of notches on the intensity scale. I know you and I’m pretty sure that you won’t see training as punishment. I’m warning you now that will change.”
“I understand,” Tessa said.
“Good. Go to your room and write down everything you can remember about the cultists and the fishman.”
Tessa’s eyes widened.
“You had a firsthand view. Get it written down while it’s still fresh. Strengths, weaknesses. Sights, smells, sounds. Anything that might be useful.”
“We’re going to fight them?”
“You’re grounded, indefinitely, remember?”
“Um, yeah,” Tessa nodded, unconvincingly.
“I trust your impressions. Now go to your room.”
Tessa headed upstairs with a lightness to her steps that didn’t belong in someone that had been sentenced to an eternal grounding.
Remy let out a long breath. He had no idea that his daughters had been in a life or death fight. The events of the night had been much too close to disaster. Now, what could he do to make sure something like that never happened again?
By the time his wife had come back downstairs, Remy was no closer to a workable solution, he had managed to get his inner turmoil under control. He hadn’t noticed that he was unconsciously emitting magnetic fields. They had been subtle, but he didn’t like the idea that he hadn’t been in complete control of his powers.
“How is she?”
Megan scowled. She didn’t reply as she took a glass from the cupboard and poured a generous finger of whisky. She downed it in one gulp.
Remy took in her grimace. “Um… are you okay?”
“No, no I’m not. I don’t know why you and your brothers like drinking this stuff.” Megan poured another finger.
“Should I be concerned? You said that Veronica’s arm was going to be fine.”
“It’s fine. She was cut to the bone, which was alright. No fractures or chipping. I used my magic to speed up the healing process. I’m confident that there won’t be any scarring.” Megan took a smaller sip this time. Her face made it plain that she still didn’t find it palatable. “Our baby didn’t like that,” she sighed.
“Huh? She wanted a scar?” Remy felt like banging his head on the table.
“She said it was a mark of fighting for justice or some nonsense. What’s happening to our daughters?”
Remy embraced his wife as she started to sob.
“They’re adapting to a different world. A crappy world.”
“Maybe it was a mistake to let them do… this,” Megan snapped.
“No, we weren’t wrong about that. They need to be strong. Otherwise they’re just victims. Of the monsters. Of bad people. And maybe other worse things.” Remy spoke in a gentle voice.
“So, what? They live under the threat of constant injury and death? They’re supposed to play, go to summer camp, prom, college. Then when they’re secure in good careers, give us grandbabies.”
“There’s nothing that says that those things aren’t still possible, just maybe different from how we had them. Remember Cal’s messages. There are other worlds out there. If we can’t make ours safe for Tessa and Veronica, then maybe we can go to a different one. Statistically speaking there have to be safe worlds out there.”
“How can you think that? That Threnosh world isn’t any different from here. They have monsters and spawn points too. And that angel-thing that came from the next world up. You saw the video. It still gives me nightmares thinking of an entire world with those things.”
Remy couldn’t refute his wife’s words. He too had nightmares about that monster. Something told him that Cal hadn’t been entirely honest about the fight. There was a haunted look to his brother’s eyes in the video messages. The good cheer in Cal’s voice sounded forced.
“Three worlds out of who knows how many,” Remy said.
“And now we’re dealing with some kind of cult and fish people,” Megan said. “For a moment I was letting myself think that things were getting— not back to normal, but closer to something like it… the idea that things were getting safer.”
The doorbell rang.
“Hey,” Nila said. “I didn’t come with them.” She pointed at the men and women from the Watch.
“We need Meg—”
Remy held up a finger. “Hang on.” He ushered Nila inside and closed the door on the rest.
“Morons,” Nila said.
Remy shrugged. “With things quieting down they’re thinking that they don’t need me as much. The colonel said as much when he gave me a last chance to get with the program.”
Nila shook her head. “Yeah, been getting the same kind of talk recently. I’m not upset about it to be honest. I’ve been thinking it might be time to go south. Most of my family is down there anyways.”
“What’s keeping you from going?”
“Got a few relatives in San Francisco. I was thinking that there might’ve been a chance to find out if they were okay, but with recent developments… also I’m not sure if I can get down there by myself.”
“Wyverns, drakes and worse according to Eron,” Remy nodded.
“Plus skindancers or walkers,” Nila grimaced. “I do not want to run into one of those.”
“That encounter was over five years ago.”
“Exactly, plenty of time for more of those to show up and get even stronger. That’s not even mentioning getting through the Cajon Pass and L.A. I think it’s doable for me on my own. Just risky and I’ll have to get violent, which I’d rather not.”
“Well, maybe we can all go as a family,” Remy said. “This might not be the place for us.”
“Thanks for watching the kids.” Megan wiped her eyes and got up from the table to embrace Nila.
“No problem. I came as soon as I could. After I heard what happened… I’m going to run those idiot boys into the ground,” Nila said.
“Thanks. I appreciate that,” Megan said. “I’m thinking if you could maybe do the same to the girls.”
“No, I think I’ll take care of that,” Remy said. “I’ve got the time now that I’m on the outs with the city council. And I think it’ll really drive home the message that they screwed up if I’m the one going crazy drill sergeant on them.”
Megan and Nila looked dubious.
“I’ve never once heard you raise your voice. Even when Tessa sent that car into the side of a building trying to kill a gremlin,” Nila said.
“You’re too calm,” Megan agreed.
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“Exactly. That’s why it’s better. A cold, calm fury,” Remy said. “They expect yelling. My way will drive home our disappointment in their actions.”
“I guess we should go then,” Megan looked at Remy.
“Thanks again, Nila,” Remy said.
“Maybe you can yell at them a little,” Megan said.
“Yeah, I’ve got that covered. You’re not the only ones disappointed,” Nila said.
“This is the last thing I want to do. They’ve got other qualified people to do the autopsies,” Megan complained. “I should be with my kids.”
“You’ve got the biology background and the right kind of magic to spot anything that they might miss. Plus with something this important we can’t afford to miss anything,” Remy said.
Megan and Remy exited their house to a group of armed and armored people staring at them.
“Sorry, Remy, but you aren’t authorized to—”
“Okay… no,” Megan held up a finger to interrupt the man. “I’m concerned about my safety. I’m not going anywhere near those bodies without my husband.”
“We’ve got four squads on site. You’ll be safe.”
“Those people were mutated somehow and were strong enough to cut my daughter’s arm to the bone,” Megan snapped. “Her skin has more tensile strength than kevlar, her muscles are several times denser than normal. Even with enhanced strength, you take a whack at her and you couldn’t do more than give her a shallow cut. I am not taking any chances with magic bullshit. I have two daughters to go home to after I’m done.”
“I understand, but we have our orders.”
“I don’t care.” Megan turned to go back into the house.
Remy shrugged as the man gave him an almost plaintive look.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
Remy patted the man on the shoulder. “You can tell the colonel and Officer Lawrence that I didn’t give you a choice.”
“Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Hey?”
“What?”
“Your kids okay?”
“They’ll be fine.”
“Oh good… cause I heard they were pretty badass tonight. If this is leading to something big, we’re going to need them.”
Remy groaned internally. That wasn’t the right thing to say. He was much too polite to tear into the unfortunate guy.
Megan, however, was not.
Remy felt a little bad for the young guy. Just a bit. Though not enough to stop his wife.
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The autopsy had been delayed by some ten minutes while they scrambled to find the metal chains that Remy had requested. He bore the annoyed glances and glares from the doctor and her team with ease. He wanted the corpse attached to metal that he could manipulate in case it magically came back to life.
“I hate how I can’t rule that out as a possibility,” Remy muttered.
“What, hon?”
Megan stood behind him. Adroitly keeping him in between her and the corpse.
Remy didn’t take his eyes off the corpse. “Nothing,” he said lightly. He levitated several small metal chunks of various shapes and sizes above his upturned palm. He consciously molded the orbiting pieces on the solar system.
“Are these good enough?”
One of the Watch came into the room with an armful of manacles.
“Perfect.” Remy pulled on his magnetic power to levitate the manacles over to the corpse and affixed one each to the wrists and ankles. “Thanks.”
“Satisfied? Can we start now?” The doctor’s voice was a deep and disgruntled grumble.
Remy nodded to the doctor.
“Alright, I’m missing sleep for this and my back is going to kill me in the morning, so enough wasting time. I’m going to conduct the autopsy and you’re going to stay out of my way. Are you going to be able to do your magic crap?”
There was the slightest narrowing of Megan’s brows. “That’ll work for me.” She gave the doctor a tight-lipped smile.
The doctor glanced at Remy.
“Just do your thing. If it starts moving, run behind those guys.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder toward the armed men and women arrayed in a semi-circle around the autopsy room’s perimeter. “I’ll take care of the rest.”
As the doctor went to work. Remy realized that although he had seen death in more forms than he had cared to. This was the first time that he was getting a look and smell at a dead body under good lighting. He resolved to focus on the manacles around its ankles and wrists. Watching them like a hawk, meant that he wasn’t seeing what was going on as the doctor sawed into the body cavity. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do anything about the squelching sounds or the smell.
“Are you okay?” Megan whispered.
Remy gave a curt nod. He didn’t trust himself to open his mouth.
“I need to get closer to use my spell. You’ve got it locked down in case it moves, right?”
Remy nodded again.
Megan made her way closer and stopped a few feet outside of the doctor’s space.
Remy watched closely as Megan raised her hands toward the body. He barely caught her whispering a few words. One Spell that let her somehow see deeper into the body, as if she was looking at it through a microscope and another that let her detect traces of magical energy.
Maybe thirty seconds had passed when Megan sucked in a deep breath. She huffed and puffed as if she had just sprinted across a field.
“Ahem.” The doctor cleared his throat. “I hope you’re about to share some important insight with us.”
“I’ve seen enough. There is no magic in his body. At least not currently. There was at one point though. A strong, violent surge on top of something smaller, changes done over a longer period of time,” Megan said. She turned and walked by Remy. “I’m going to go outside and sit down.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just need to rest a bit.”
“I have to stay here and keep an eye on things.”
“I don’t think he’s a threat anymore.”
“I trust you, but I don’t think they’d like it if I bailed early,” Remy sighed.
“I know. Just wanted to let you know that you can relax.” Megan headed for the door.
“Shout if you need me.”
Megan waved.
“Alright, doctor. Let’s get this thing going, so we can all get out of here before the sun comes up.”
“That’s my line.” The doctor glared.
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Gene stabbed the shovel into the compacted soil. He had to stomp on the step to get it to sink down enough. He flung the clump of dirt to the side. More forcefully than was strictly necessary and a waste of energy, but he needed to get it far enough to scatter around Johnny’s feet.
“Hey! Watch it, fuckface!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be standing around!” Gene snapped. “We’re supposed to be digging.”
“You’re working half as hard as the rest of us,” Olo said.
“Bruh, I don’t have enhanced strength and stamina like you,” Johnny said.
Gene noted that Johnny still hadn’t moved from his position, lazily leaning his weight on his shovel.
Olo grunted, which was a sign that even he was losing his legendary patience.
“Neither do Gene and me,” Bastien said.
“Get digging,” Gene raised his hand toward Johnny’s shovel, “or I’m going to magic missile your shovel and you’ll have to explain to Officer Lawrence why you ruined it.”
Johnny narrowed his eyes. “She’ll know it was you.”
“Not if the three of us swear that you burned it to get out of doing the work,” Gene said.
Olo and Bastien exchanged a look. Then deliberately turned to Johnny and nodded.
“Dicks,” Johnny said. However, he grabbed his shovel and went to work. “Why are we digging a hole in the middle of a field anyways?”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s punishment for what we did last night,” Olo said.
“That’s just it. I’m pretty sure there is no actual purpose,” Bastien said.
“Jokes on them.” Johnny cackled. “I’ll probably end up with Lesser Enhanced Strength and Stamina from this.”
“Why do you think that? Lifting weights hasn’t given us those passives yet,” Bastien said. “Plus digging this hole is more a stamina challenge than a strength challenge.”
“No,” Gene stopped. “He’s partially right. Maybe it’s something like we chose to lift weights and it’s in a controlled, safe activity. This punishment is more of a challenge to overcome.”
Johnny tapped his temple.
“So, we don’t see exercise and training as challenges? I’m pretty sure I do,” Bastien said.
“Maybe we don’t, at least subconsciously. Or those physical-based passives are buried deeper in the three of us, unlike Olo, who must’ve had them closer to the surface,” Gene said.
“Olo’s always been a big ox of a dork,” Johnny said. “Plus he always played fighters and tanks. Strength and stamina… boom!”
“If you actually bought some of your tutorials then you’d know more about how our classes work,” Olo said.
“Nah man. It’s just bullshit that you can’t tell us what you found in yours,” Johnny said.
Olo opened his mouth and spoke. The other three got none of what he said. Whether they heard his attempt to explain and couldn’t comprehend or if they didn’t hear anything, it ultimately didn’t matter. The restrictions on sharing class-specific tutorial knowledge were functional.
“Good to know that the spires are still being assholes,” Johnny said.
“This is why I keep harping on expanding our mindsets,” Gene said.
“Or you can purchase your tutorials,” Olo grumbled.
“Universal Points are precious. We don’t get enough to waste. I think it’s smarter to save as much as we can for when the ten-year tutorial phase ends. I’m betting a lot more things will be unlocked,” Gene said. “We’ve got a good idea on how this works. The actions we take in overcoming true challenges and our own subconscious outlook on it determines some of the Skills we unlock and develop. The ones we can buy, along with basic Spells are straightforward enough.”
“That’s why you’ve been sword-crazy lately? You trying to dual-class? I thought you were just crushing on Hanna.”
Gene rolled his eyes at Johnny.
“No need to be shy. She’s pretty hot. In that warrior woman kind of way,” Johnny said.
“She’s like ten years older than us,” Bastien added.
“Please don’t talk about Miss Gozen like that,” Olo warned.
Gene agreed with the latter. The community’s sword and general melee weapon lead instructor wasn’t gentle. If word of this particular line of conversation somehow got back to her then they were in for more of a bruising than they already got.
“Yeah, I’m trying to unlock something like spellsword or mageblade,” Gene said. “I’ve already got the basic Quick Cut and Quick Thrust Skills, so I think I’m headed in the right direction. You should think about branching out.”
“No way, bro. I’m not going to dilute my potential. Specialization is the route to the best abilities,” Johnny said.
“I agree, but even a rogue can use enhanced stamina. You’ll definitely be able to hold your breath longer,” Olo said.
“Do I though? I’ve got it up to almost three minutes just with daily practice.”
“Except you have to cut that in half if you do anything more than just standing in one place,” Gene said. “Olo’s right on this one. We all need to try to get passive enhancements to our physicals.”
“What if we only have a limited number of slots for our spells and skills?” Bastien said.
Johnny pointed a finger at him. “I’d like to note that he’s the smartest one here.”
“There might be a re-spec option,” Olo shrugged.
“That’s reasonable,” Bastien said. “Fits the game-like rules we’re dealing with.”
“Yeah, but at a cost,” Johnny said.
“Just have to worry about it when we have confirmation,” Gene said.
“Why a sword?”
“What?” Gene turned to Olo.
“Miss Gozen said that in a one-on-one with parity in skill levels a sword user is at a disadvantage against a spear user or even a staff user. In practice if I didn’t have Lesser Enhanced Strength I’d have trouble blocking or parrying a staff strike with a sword.”
“Factually correct. However, I’m going to be wielding magic at the same time. I’ll be shooting magic missiles and fireballs. I’m also aiming for some kind of haste or mage armor type spells to complement my swordplay,” Gene said.
“Miss Gozen said we shouldn’t overly rely on Skills versus skills,” Olo said.
“Also, Gene’s secretly hoping to get a Witcher class. Isn’t that right? Toss a coin…” Johnny sang.
Bastien took it up a second later. Even Olo eventually joined in.
“Douchebags!” Gene grinned.
He got back to digging the hole that they would no doubt have to refill once their taskmaster deemed it big enough. It was ridiculous, but Gene embraced the idea wholeheartedly. He approached the punishment as a challenge, a true struggle. He really wanted at least Lesser Enhanced Stamina from his efforts.
“Are you ladies singing!” Rebekah Court, Soldier: Infantry and legit hardass barked as she strode over. “Bad enough I’ve got to babysit you dumbasses, now I’ve got to listen to you butchering that song. No talking. More digging.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Gene, Olo and Bastien chorused.
“How big a hole are we digging exactly?”
The three groaned at Johnny’s inability to read the scene.
“As big as I say!” Rebekah snapped. “And I’m thinking that it needs to be a couple of feet deeper and five yards wider!”
There was a sadistic tone to her bellowing. Gene figured she was probably channeling her old drill sergeants or maybe she relished the opportunity to dish out the same kind of punishment she once had to take.
Gene had to stifle a smile. This was exactly what he needed. Digging the hole was now a real struggle between good and evil. He would prevail and reap the rewards no matter the cost of sore muscles and possible heat stroke.