Fractionation Pt 01 The Break In

This is the first official chapter in the combined story of my super hero world, The Aetherverse. Our respective protagonists were already introduced in their own stand alone adventures broken out below:

1. "Dear Maria, Count Me In," (Maria/Twister)

2. "Who You Are" (Sam/Psyion)

You may want to go back and read those if you haven't already for a better look at the characters. With that said, please enjoy:

The Break In

The cold, night air nipped at my cheeks. I kept adjusting my mask. It still felt like a costume to me. Ok, it was supposed to be a costume. But it felt like a Halloween costume, not like a badass super hero suit. I looked down at the purple leather jacket, emblazoned with a nested series of circles. They'd decided to call me Psyion because of my powers. At least it was better than "Subject Alpha Mu."

I glanced back over at my partner for this mission, the super hero Twister. She leaned over the rooftop's railing with binoculars in one hand and a cheeseburger in the other. The black leather bands of her jacket hugged her figure. I couldn't help but think she looked much more natural in her costume than I did in mine. Honestly she looked more than natural in it. I couldn't help but imagine bending her over the railing and... STOP. I cleared my throat. "So is this the kind of thing heroes do often? Just hang out on a rooftop for hours, watching a lab and waiting for someone to break in?"

She finished chewing and swallowed a bite of her burger. "Sorry new guy. It's not all punching bad guys. Sometimes it's more like fishing."

"Right, right. And is the burger part of it?"

She finished another bite. "I need the calories to fuel my stretching. If this Fractal guy shows, we'd better be ready for a fight.

"Right. Are we sure we want to fight him? His psychic powers are probably stronger than mine. Freya and Saphira just told us to slow them down until they could come back us up. Saphira's teleporting only works in the daylight. So that could take a bit."

"Sometimes you have to fight uphill. Besides we'll be fine." She tapped the binoculars on the silver circlet wrapped around her head. "You need more confidence."

I sighed. I hadn't exactly meant to sign up to be a super hero. I'd spent most of my life running away from danger and here I was running towards it. But if Fractal was after me anyway, I may as well try to get a jump on him. "Look I can't guarantee the silver will protect you. It works with my powers but we can't know for sure that his powers work the same way as mine."

Another bite. "And if they don't, I'll just take it off and you can protect my mind."

"That's a lot of faith to put in someone you just met days ago."

She set down her food and the binoculars. Then she walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Look new guy. Trusting people is hard, but being alone is harder. I used to feel like an outcast for my powers. I dreamed of finding other people like me, of working together with a team. I know it may be hard for you to accept, but you don't have to do everything on your own anymore." Then she turned back to the roof edge. "Now less yapping and more telepathic scanning of the lab."

Did she really mean that? I couldn't tell because she had the circlet on. But I decided to believe she did. I reached out my consciousness across the building. I could feel only the thoughts of a few minds within, likely all security staff. Their surface thoughts flowed into my mind. "Let's see. I'm pretty sure the gatekeeper is watching porn. One of the front security guards is daydreaming about his neighbor's wife. And... And" the image slammed into my mind, a young woman with crimson-red hair crying in a destroyed house. I could see claw marks ripped into the walls and floors. It was so vivid, almost like she was dreaming it right now. "And there's a young woman who's incredibly sad and maybe asleep?"

"What? Are you sure?" She put away the binoculars And discarded the finished wrapper of her meal.

"Yeah I'm sure."

"Ok. We're going in." Twister pressed a button on her ear piece. "This is Twister to Sanctum. Psyion found suspicious activity. We're heading to investigate."

Freya's voice crackled with static in response. "Roger that. Signal if you see any signs of Fractal and I'll dispatch to your location."

"Will do." Then she stretched an arm over to me and coiled it around my chest. She jumped off the roof, holding me as she did it. With an effortless grace, Twister stretched her hand out to a signal tower on the hospital roof. She swung both of us across the street. I looked down, terrified at the cars and streetlights below us, barely managing not to hurl.

She landed us on the Barton Labs roof. "7.2. Not used to the weight." She muttered under her breath. She made her way to the roof access door and started picking the lock.

"Are you sure we should be going in for this? We don't know if she has anything to do with Fractal. She could just work here or something." I asked.

"Call it a hunch. People like him love to pick on people weaker than them. Besides, even if she's not related it sounds like she needs help." With a soft click the lock gave way and the door swung open, revealing the dimly lit stairwell within. "Now which way?"

"You know I see sad people's minds all them time. Most of them need a therapist more than a superhero. It's coming from the basement." I replied.

"Yeah but can you honestly say this one didn't seem like she needed help?" Twister led the way down the winding, concrete stairs. The fluorescent lighting bathed the tiny space in an eerie glow.

I thought back to how crushingly alone the woman had felt in her mind. It reminded me of how I felt before I escaped from the foundation. "No you're right. She needs help."

As we emerged from the stairwell, the utilitarian, concrete walls gave way to intricate metal panels. Row upon row of glowing buttons and switches seemed to cover every surface of the basement. Straight ahead, a colossal blast door stood wide open. Two guards waited on either side of it. They leveled their assault rifles at us. "Hey you. You're not supposed to be here!"

I reached out to their minds, ready to knock them unconscious. But rather than the usual rambling fragments of thoughts I felt a calm, cold presence bearing down on their wills "Shit. Twister, it's him. He's here and he's controlling the guards."

I closed my eyes as the muzzles flared. The gunshots echoed through the metal chamber. I saw my earliest memory, crying alone in a padded room at the foundation. Then that darkness faded into the day I developed my powers and escaped. The sterile white hallways of the foundation gave way to filthy, New London streets where I could barely feed myself. I remembered the old art supplies I found in a dumpster and spending every waking second drawing and then painting and then selling my paintings on the street. Then the sunlight melted the dirty pavement and I remembered standing in the Sanctum's white marble chambers with Saphira and Freya and Twister as they picked out my costume. Everyone was smiling and laughing and... and... Wasn't dying supposed to hurt more than this?

I gingerly opened my eyes to see Twister's lithe silhouette standing in front of me. The two guards were sprawled out unconscious on the ground, bullet impacts ridded their body armor. She flashed a quick grin at me. "You ok back there new guy?"

"Uh I think Yes? But I mean how?"

She playfully pinched her cheek, stretched it out and then released it. The tan skin snapped back in place. "Did I forget to mention I'm bullet proof? Now let's get going. Do you hear that?"

I could hear a faint, metallic banging echoing down the corridor beyond. I activated my ear piece "Freya, he's here. We found him. Meet us in the basement."

"Co... You... H..." The response came back garbled.

"We must be too far underground. Who knows if she heard that. Saphira probably can't see us this far from natural light either. What do we do?" I asked.

"We stop him ourselves." Twister took off down the hallway. I paused for a moment and then chased after, barely keeping up.

The corridor yawned in front of us, occasional lights dotting its cavernous darkness. As we ran, the banging grew louder and louder. Finally it reached a crescendo and then stopped. "Come on. We have to hurry," she yelled over her shoulder.

The corridor terminated into a round chamber, once again covered in glowing control consoles and monitors. At the far end stood another vault door, like the one we'd found open before. Except this one was still closed and had a massive hole torn through its center.

Two figures emerged from the darkness of the vault. The first was a pale, young woman with long, crimson hair. She wore baggy black pants and a loose, black tank top. Spiked chains hung from her belt and shoulders and she wore a collar with a gemstone in the center around her neck. She eyed us both with a cold glare.

The second was a man in a dark trench coat. He walked slowly with a casual, unbothered air. His head was completely covered in a reflective helmet. A narrow, silver frame ran under the chin and up the sides of the helmet, wrapping around a faceted, reflective surface. The surface covered the entire face and wrapped up to the crown of the head, replacing a face with an endless series of fragmented reflections. It almost looked like a more angular version of that helmet from the daft punk guy.

I tried to read their surface thoughts. I felt the same overwhelming sadness from the girl with some other feeling underneath it but I couldn't see it under the image of her crying. But the masked man, I couldn't read anything from. Either that mask included silver or he had some other way to block me out.

"I must say I'm surprised to see you here." The helmet turned towards me as he said that. "Do you honestly think you can stop me?" His voice filtered through the helmet in a low, ominous growl.

"Why don't you come over here and find out Fractal?" Twister shot back confidently, stepping towards them.

He laughed, which filtered through his helmet like a distorted wail of static. "You challenging me is like a dog barking at the moon. I would love to stick around and crush your will completely. But I'm on a tight schedule today." He started to walk calmly back info the vault behind him.

Twister shot her fist out towards him in an elastic punch. But the redhead interposed herself and batted the blow aside.

"Look, just stand down. We're here for Fractal. We saw your feelings. Whatever he did to you we can help." Twister said with kind eyes.

"I don't need your help." The woman replied tersely.

"Malice take care of these two pests for me." Fractal commanded.

"Yes Master." Malice grunted in response. She moved to stand between us and her master as he walked away.

"Look just stop. I don't want to hurt you." Twister pleaded with the young woman.

"But I want to hurt you." Her blue eyes lit up with a harsh yellow light as her pupils narrowed to slits. The pale pink of her skin brightened to a deep crimson. Her scrawny frame thickened with muscle until she loomed over both of us. A pair of horns shot out from her forehead as her teeth turned to fangs. Her once loose clothing now fit snugly around her taught muscles. With incredible speed for such a hulking figure she slammed a fist into Twister's stomach. My teammate's body stretched under the impact before she shot across the chamber like a rubber band.

"Shit!" I rammed my consciousness against hers. The image of Malice crying in a destroyed house flooded my thoughts. But this time I saw flashes of her in this form rampaging through the house as her family cowered in fear. I sensed not just sadness but a deep, fiery anger. I tried to press past those thoughts and force my own will into her mind. "Go to Sleep" I pushed the words into her consciousness as hard as I could.

Malice stared down at me with those catlike yellow eyes for a moment, then swung her fist into the side of my head. I crumpled to the ground, the room spinning around me.

If I weren't an engineered human that might have killed me. Instead it left me with a pounding headache, seeing stars.

Twister bounced off the far wall and rebounded, spinning into a kick directed at Fractal's retreating form. But Malice cut in to block again. Twister flipped off her arm and landed beside me. Fractal disappeared into the darkness of the vault beyond.

"He's getting away! But she's a monster. I can't get past her. Can you work your magic on her?"

I sat up groggily. "I tried. But it didn't take. Her mind doesn't feel like the others under Fractal's control. But my command bounced right off. She has to be under some kind of influence."

Malice roared and charged us with her horns. Twister quickly grabbed me and leaped into the air. She anchored herself to a pipe in the ceiling and pulled us up to dodge. "Well we need some kind of plan. I don't know if I can take her in a fist fight, especially if I'm protecting you."

I stared down at her circling below us like a hungry shark. "It has to be another artifact If I can't affect her at all." I scanned her body, looking for signs of magical influence. I swept my eyes over her impressive physique. I had to admit the added muscle looked good on her, not that she wasn't cute before. Shame she was resisting my influence. She'd make a pretty hot sex slave. Though maybe with a different outfit, maybe some nice lingerie, maybe a... COLLAR! "It's the collar! The collar is controlling her!"

"How can you be sure?" She asked.

"Call it a hunch. Think you can get it off her if I can distract her?" I smiled.

She smiled back. "Claro."

"That's a yes right?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Good. I have an idea."

Twister started swigging me like a pendulum. Then she released, flinging me to the far side of the room. I did my best to roll as I landed, though the impact of the concrete floor still smarted. I couldn't help but think Twister would have given that landing a bad score. As soon as I stumbled to my feet she was on me.

The crimson silhouette bolted across the room, yellow eyes shining in the dim light. "Here goes nothing." I muttered under my breath. I brought my consciousness against hers with all the force I could muster. I saw the now familiar images in her mind. But this time instead of giving her a command I met her images with one of my own. I showed her my childhood, me crying alone in a padded room with two simple words "I understand."

The hulking figure of Malice came to a stop with her hands raised over her head ready to crush me. But she didn't crush me. She just stood there as if she didn't know what to do next. And that's all the opening Twister needed. She leapt onto Malice's back, tying her legs around the other woman's chest. Then she dug her fingers around the tight fabric of the collar. She stretched her arms back pulling against the metal clasp and the collar snapped. It came free, flying away from Malice's neck and skidding across the concrete floor.

Malice's eyes widened in shock. Suddenly her transformation reversed. The crimson hue drained from her pale skin and her frame shrank back down. The shocked expression on her face gave way to one of pure exhaustion. Her blue eyes drooped, struggling to stay awake before they finally rolled back in her head and closed. She toppled to the ground. Twister was barely able to to jump back and extend her arms to stop Malice from slamming into the ground as she passed out.

Twister smiled up at me. "Nice job... Psyion"

"Hey, you didn't call me new guy!"

"No time to celebrate yet. We still have to catch Fractal."

As if on cue the masked figure emerged from the vault, carrying a small steel box. He looked out at us, face hidden behind a kaleidoscope of reflections. "It is so hard to get to get good help these days. I had hoped she'd last longer than that."

Twister wasted no time. Her legs coiled beneath her as she shot across the chamber. She twisted in the air, angling to slam her heel into Fractal's mask. Fractal skidded back just in time to dodge, almost like he was floating across the ground.

He reached out a hand towards her and then paused. "Ah, I see he told you about the silver."

Twister smirked. "You're going to have to keep your thoughts to yourself."

"I wouldn't go that far." Then suddenly the silver circlet drifted up into the air before shattering into tiny pieces. "Did you not know I could do that?"

"Psyion!" Twister cried out.

I threw my consciousness into her mind. The fragments of her thoughts rushed past me. I learned her name was Maria. I saw images of her competing in a gymnastics contest. I felt she had an urge to ask out someone named Stephanie but didn't feel like she could. But I couldn't let myself get distracted by those images.

Fractal's control was infecting her like a virus, slowly warping one thought after another. I could see the fragmented shards of her mind dissolving into dizzying reflections of obedient submission. If I didn't stop it she'd be a helpless plaything. Totally obedient and submissive and STOP. I had to stop it. I focused all my energy on those corrupted thoughts, breaking them out of his control, like breaking a mirror in slow motion. But the thoughts I broke away drifted right back into the shimmering image of surrender. He was stronger than me. I could feel the pressure of his power bearing down on me like the weight of the ocean. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't beat him.

But Maria was fighting too with everything she had left. Even as her eyes were beginning to glaze over, All the loose shards of thought were reflecting images of her heroics. Burglars hanging from lampposts, smoldering wreckage of sinister machines, rescued hostages hugging her, all filled my mind. Of course that wouldn't be enough to stop someone as powerful as him. But it was enough to slow him down and that gave me an opening. I started breaking free more thoughts than he could claw back. My head spun from the strain but I could do it.

Maria's eyes snapped back into focus. She was still unsteady on her feet but that didn't stop her. Her fist fired forward in a punch that Fractal narrowly avoided.

"Impossible. No one had ever resisted me." He snarled, ducking and weaving with his telekinesis.

"Guess there's a first time for everything." She panted out. Maria was woozy. His influence was affecting her but her mind was still her own as long as I could hold out. She threw punch after kick but they were too slow. She couldn't land a hit.

"It matters not. Your will power will break eventually. I can already see you getting tired, your limbs growing heavy and sluggish," he said smugly.

"Don't listen to him." I yelled back. But I had to admit he had a point. If we kept on like this I'd end up passing out and it would be all over. Working together we'd achieved a stalemate but that could only last so long. If we went on like this he would win.

A narrow line of light appeared on the ceiling accompanied by a metallic, scraping sound. Then another line, followed by a third and fourth. We all stopped to look up at the strange sound. A second later, a chunk of the ceiling collapsed onto the ground in a cloud of dust and rubble. The settling dust revealed an athletic woman with braided hair, wearing leather armor and brandishing a glowing sword. Freya stood proudly, and turned to face Fractal. "You must be Fractal. Nice to finally put a name to a face. Even better to put a fist to a face!" She charged forward.

"Freya you came!" Twister sighed with relief.

As Freya closed on Fractal, he dropped the steel box and raised his other hand towards her. The swordswoman froze in her tracks. Her face took on a dazed expression that I was becoming all too familiar with. I split my focus between the two of them, bolstering Freya's resistance to the best of my ability. Like Twister, she was able to shrug off most of his influence. She almost appeared to be fighting drunk but she continued on. A thin trail of blood began to leak from my eye as the strain of resisting Fractal added up. The room spun in my vision but I stayed conscious.