Word count 14,630
A few months after the rescue of Ashley Graham:
"Right then, let's get going, we've all got a lot of work to do so let's get this meeting underway. First, I'm pleased to announce that the Arab countries are proving more and more willing to work with us." declared Lucy, sitting at the head of the meeting table in the HQ of Insight Corp.
Aeon snorted at the news. "No surprises there, having fusion technology does exactly as we promised them: turning large desert territories viable for farming, to say nothing of the fact that getting drinkable water is essentially child's play with fusion-powered tech. Sure, fossil fuels are falling to a record low cost nowadays, but they have alternatives for their economy, and they'd be fools not to take them."
"Even so, it is still good news. Not only will the price of foodstuff continue to drop around the world, but it means that our influence is growing even further across the world." calmly replied Lucy, and Aeon nodded.
"Fair enough. We're still far from replacing the entire worlds economy with a fusion-based one, that'll take decades, but we are making good progress considering it's been around a year since we revealed that we had "discovered" economically-viable fusion."
"Indeed. Though the various deals we made across the world certainly helped."
"As does having the backing of the US President." Aeon said with a smirk.
Lucy chuckled. "True."
Aeon glanced at Oedon. "Sherry is hanging out with Ashley again, right?"
Oedon smiled. "Correct. They have gotten along quickly, which is good to see."
"Yeah. Though I hope that President Graham doesn't fully discover how prone to getting into… interesting situations Sherry is, or he might not be as happy with us as he currently is."
"You say that, but you certainly found what happened on Sherry's 18th birthday thoroughly entertaining." pointed out Lucy with a smirk.
Aeon sniffed with exaggerated pride. "Ending up with no less than 12 different naked women of 12 different species in her bed by the morning after, following a day involving fighting off a dark cult, an evil corporation, and starting off an interstellar rebellion against an evil empire all the while spectacularly drunk after winning a drinking contest with the prince of another interstellar empire? How do you expect me to not be proud of that?"
"And your true self had nothing to do with that?" deadpanned Lucy.
Aeon waved her off with a smirk. "Nope! All her, though admittedly he… or rather I… was thoroughly entertained. Though it does speak of her growing powers, that Destiny bent to her like that in order to give her a day she would never forget." he mused.
"Indeed. A pity they were all women though, if a man would have been involved I might have gotten grand-babies out of it. I doubt that she was in any state to think of birth control by the end of the day…" Oedon sighed sadly at the missed opportunity.
Aeon patted her shoulder with a grin. "There there, Sherry is a bit young for that anyway. And you'll have all the time in the world and then some for those, considering that she's immortal and all."
"He's right. Still though, 12 partners at the same time? Even you haven't managed that yet, Aeon." teased Lucy with a smirk.
The man shrugged.
"Well, no, but to be fair I never really tried either. I've focused on stable relationships rather than one night stand, if you haven't noticed. Still, way to go, Sherry!" he cheered.
Oedon nodded. "Indeed. Though maybe I should ask if she's practiced the spells I taught her for sex, after all none of the women ended up pregnant so obviously Sherry didn't use any of the tentacle ones… Or maybe she did, but actually remembered the birth control part despite being drunk?"
She pouted. "Maybe I shouldn't have taught her that part…"
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll get your wish eventually… I mean, 12 people at the same time! If she hadn't remembered the birth control, she'd be buried in babies by now!" Aeon laughed at the thought.
Oedon grinned. "I see nothing wrong with that."
Lucy rolled her eyes at them. "Sherry's sexual and drunken escapades aside, can we get back on track? We still have a meeting to go through."
"Right, right. How's the weapon deals going? I heard that India asked for more?" asked Aeon, deciding to focus back on the meeting.
Lucy nodded. "Correct, a pretty large number of everything we could send. They're very satisfied with our products so far, after all." she said with a smirk.
"And the same with the USA. They're really trying to give as many laser guns and more to their soldiers as they can." pointed out Oedon.
"It's no surprise, we get along well with the US president, and both Ashley and Leon back us up on the matter. President Graham would be a fool not to listen to the man who saved his daughter and said daughter."
"Also, the constant political battles in the US about B.O.W's and organizations fighting them continues to rage." said Lucy.
Aeon rolled his eyes. "No surprises there. The fact that Ashley was taken by a B.O.W's using cult and Blackwatch was nowhere to be found during the whole mess make them lose a lot of good will with the current political block in the White House, and the FBC of Lansdale has been pushing hard in response to get more funding and power. They are even marginally successful, despite President Graham actually prefering to use Leon first, ISIS second nowadays to handle B.O.W's on the loose."
His expression hardened. "Of course, we know how much of a menace the man truly is. His Veltro plan is going to be happening soon, correct?"
Lucy turned grim. "Correct. The attack on Terragrigia will happen soon, in a month, two at most."
She smiled darkly. "'Of course, that isn't going to happen here. We've tracked down the location of the ships that Veltro are in. We've held back on actually attacking for now, time for Lansdale to dig his grave deeper, but soon enough I'll give you the green light for the beginning of the strike on the organisation. Though of course, dealing with Veltro is just part 1 of the plan. Our real targets are any and all evidence of Lansdale's crimes."
Aeon nodded. "It'll be nice to remove the FBC from the list of enemies to worry about. Blackwatch is bad enough, we don't need two government-sanctioned organisations fighting against us."
"That, and I'd rather not see Terragrigia burn. Especially when we're the ones owning the place in this timeline." dryly said Lucy.
Aeon's black eyes turned cold as the void of spaces. "That too. There's a lot of people living and working there, all of them trusting us in the fact that Terragriagia can give them a bright future. I'd hate to disappoint."
"To be fair, considering the secret defences on the island, the planes that would release the virus will be shot down long before they can reach the island." pointed out Oedon.
Aeon nodded at her. "True, but the virus might still spread in the sea after the planes crashes, and that could make things… complicated. To say nothing of the Hunter-type B.O.W's that Veltro plans on releasing. Better to strike them all first."
"Fair enough. You're still sure about bringing in agents from the BSAA? We could deal with this ourselves." said Oedon.
Aeon shrugged. "Jill and Chris are part of the group, if only as experts borrowed from ISIS, and they are good people. Dealing with a possible biological threat from a terrorist group like Veltro is a good way to deepen our links with them. And they are the ones to deal with Lansdale in the original timeline, they might as well be present here too."
"And none of their agents are traitors… yet." said Lucy.
"Hopefully, they won't ever be." Aeon replied darkly, thinking about Tricells and the growing influence of that troublesome company.
"If they do eventually turns traitors-"
"Then I'll make sure they're caught." finished Aeon firmly. "Chris and Jill are friends with these people, if they betray their trust, it's not them the traitors will have to worry about, it's me."
Lucy gave him a look.
"Please don't turn them to ash or insane, gibbering wrecks, the first would make it hard for them to attend trial and the second is the same as the first and would make people wonder how you caused them to snap." she deadpanned.
"It's fine if it's just a limb or three turned to ash, right?" Aeon replied with a cheerful grin.
Lucy gave him a flat look, not even bothering to give that an answer.
"Either way, one of the problems with taking out the FBC will be the aftermath. The US government is still trying to fully regain the trust of the public after the revelations back in '98, and something like that is going to make things complicated for the US politically speaking." Aeon pointed out.
Lucy hummed. "Well, considering the general chaos in Spain from dealing with the cult and its influence in the country, to say nothing of the rather cold Spain-U.S relations afterwards, maybe it'll do some good for the US to be reminded once again that corruption isn't just in other countries. Though I expect that the E.U isn't going to be happy at knowing that a leader of an US organization almost caused the destruction, or at least a biological attack, on Terragrigia. They are rather proud of the city, and we are getting a lot of financial support from them for building it and proving it a viable project, and you know that several European countries are seriously thinking of asking us to help for mega-projects of their own. I expect US-EU relations to be colder for a while after we bust Lansdale's plans."
"Also, there are the space development plans we have that quite a few countries are very interested in." pointed out Oedon.
Aeon chuckled. ""Very interested in'' is an understatement. With fusion readily available, colonizing space is much easier, and I know that quite a few politicians are thinking of doing a "Colonization 2: Colonize harder, Space Edition" during their lifetime. Not that surprising of course, the scientists' data on the amounts of resources available in the star system now available through much cheaper space travel is nothing to scoff at, and everyone wants to lay claim to space before everyone else does. It's basically free real estate everywhere!" he joked.
"It won't happen anytime soon, though." replied Oedon.
"Not for decades, certainly, but they are nonetheless eager to get started. With fusion tech, space exploration is no longer simply for science, but actual national strategic concerns, and that makes things very different in the political scene. One has to simply look at how much space is being talked about nowadays to see that humanity's leaders are thinking of preparing the population for the decades to come." said Lucy.
Aeon glanced at the outside of the windows, a contemplative expression on his face.
"It still feels strange, you know." he said softly. "We essentially kickstarted space exploration by ourselves, but even knowing it's out of national interest, to see so many countries eager to spend billions, if not more, for the sake of travelling the stars… Well, I can't help but be proud of how much we've pushed human civilization."
Oedon gave him a knowing look.
"You're looking forward to seeing Humanity spread across the cosmos, aren't you?"
He smiled. "It'll take decades more… But we are getting there, slowly but surely. It's just… protecting humanity from monsters is all well and good, but helping it prosper like this feels arguably even more important, right? We aren't just protecting humanity. We're truly helping it climb towards greatness, one step at a time… And it feels good to see that."
"Yeah, well, we're going to have to protect humanity from itself first. We can get back to the space habitats projects later-" Lucy nodded at Oedon "-for now, let's get into details about Veltro, and the attack on their ships."
Aeon's dark eyes, which previously almost flashed with the lights of distant stars as he looked at the sky above, suddenly turned cold and as empty as the void of space once more.
"Agreed. Before bringing greatness to all, we must remove the rot that would bring only destruction and bestial idiocy in the world."
He leaned forward, face carved from stone.
"Here's what I have in plan…"
A few weeks later…
"So, you wanted BSAA agents here, with us ready for battle. Now that we are, care to tell us what's going on here? And why did we have to be so secretive about it? I mean, we still don't know what's going on." questioned Director Clive O'Brian of the BSAA.
"Yeah, why the cloak and dagger? I mean, I know that ISIS is pretty secretive, but still." wondered Jessica Sherawat.
I looked around. Jill, Chris, Claire and Rebecca were here, each of them already well aware of what was going on.
Those who didn't know were the BSAA agents: O'Brian, Sherawat, Parker Luciani and Cadet Raymond Vester.
I looked back at O'Brian, expression calm but firm.
"To put it bluntly? Today, we're going to go stop one of the greatest acts of bio-terrorism in human history before it can happen, while also getting our hands on incriminating evidences that will prove that the FBC is involved in supporting and supplying the bio-terrorists in question." I bluntly replied.
There was a long moment of silence, before the BSAA agents naturally reacted in shock.
"What the hell?!"
"Seriously?!"
"You've got to be joking!"
Only O'Brian kept his cool, blinking once before raising a hand asking for silence.
"You've got proof? And who is the one in the FBC working with the terrorists?"
"The terrorists are a group known as Veltro. Do you know them?"
O'Brian frowned. "Italian nationalists who oppose the existence of Terragrigia. Known to be more of a cult because of the charisma of their leader."
He paused, before his expression turned grim. "They're going to attack Terragrigia?"
I nodded.
"Correct. With the help of a new virus known as the T-Abyss, which works on aquatic creatures, and a lot of Hunter-Type B.O.W's provided… by General Lansdale of the FBC, in an attempt to create a calamity from which the FBC can secure a lot more funds and power to act."
O'Brian's jaw clenched, a hard look on his face, while the BSAA agents behind him muttered furiously to themselves at the revelation.
"What evidence do you have?"
"Nothing good enough to prove it in court… but take a look at this."
I waved at a nearby laptop, and he quickly began looking through the files on it.
After a few minutes, Parker spoke up, glancing from me to O'Brian.
"Sir? What does it look like?"
O'Brian stayed silent, looking through a few more files, before sighing deeply and closing his eyes.
"It looks like I'm going to have to help in the arrest of one of my oldest friends, Parker. That's what it looks like."
He glanced at me, though his words were for the benefits of his people.
"We've got maps of where Lansdale was seen discreetly travelling in regions in Italy where Vestro was suspected to be located at the times, a whole lot of money disappearing into accounts suspected belonging to Vestro, weapons and more being bought but not being given to the FBC… and notes of a secret project meant to study a new mutagenic virus discovered in the oceans which was decided to be studied for military purposes if what those documents are anything to go by. And more besides."
He looked back at the laptop, expression grim. "Nothing good enough to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lansdale is implicated in the planning of a bio-terrorist attack… but more than enough to warrant great suspicion."
"Well, shit. Orders, sir?" said Parker after a moment of silence as the BSAA group digested the news.
O'Brian looked at me.
"That's him you should be asking that, since it seems we're going along for the ride."
I nodded, then glanced at Rebecca.
"Right, first thing first, Rebecca, if you would explain to them what we know of the T-Abyss virus? Then we'll go from there."
Rebecca nodded, and soon began to explain the details of the T-Abyss virus, and why the risk of it spreading across the oceans was something to be avoided at all cost.
Thankfully, it would take a pretty humongous dose of the virus to truly mutate much of the seas of Earth, but then again that wasn't needed. Just a fraction of the oceans being infected would be an ecological nightmare with far-reaching consequences, enough to threaten countless lives.
Needless to say, it didn't take a genius to see why a virus that could mutate a whale into a monster capable of sinking the most advanced military warships on Earth was a bad thing to the world if it happened to be released in the oceans in any heavy dosage.
Once Rebecca was done explaining how fucked the Earth would be in the worst case scenario of the virus spreading across all the oceans of Earth, leaving only grim-faced people to stare at her by the end, I got their attention by loudly clapping my hands, and then waving towards the images of three different boats that would be our targets in this operation.
"Alright listen up, we've got three targets: The Queen Zenobia, the Queen Semiramis, and the Queen Dido. We're going to hit all three at the same time, with our goals being to eliminate the threat posed by Veltro, whether by killing or apprehending all of its members, alongside the objectives of seizing the labs in which the virus is kept, and obviously gathering as much evidence as we can of Veltro's plans and the fact they are being secretly backed by Lansdale. Expect the man in question to try and stop us, most likely by activating whatever means of disposing of Vestro he had planned. We suspect he has set things up so that he could release the virus across all three ships remotely."
Jessica scowled. "So he was planning to kill his supposed ally with the same weapon he was planning on using to kill countless innocents with… He's one stone-cold smug bastard, that's for sure."
"He probably considered it poetic justice or something." I replied with a snort, before shaking my head.
"Either way, you'll all have sealed suits in case he plans to use the virus as gas throughout the ship. Or some other manner of deadly gases, for that matter."
"And what if he had put bombs on those boats instead?" questioned Parker.
"As far as we can tell, he didn't. We suspect that his plan to get rid of the ship is to use the satellite which is providing power to Terragrigia as a weapon. If he focused the power of it, he could essentially melt the ships into slag with that. That's how he planned to cover up any evidence of his involvement in terragrigia while cleansing the entire place, as it so happens."
"I presume that you've taken steps to ensure he can't make use of it?" said O'Brian.
I nodded. "Correct. He technically might be able to use it in the event that Terragrigia is lost, but he can't do so officially without that same kind of extreme circumstances. It's not an American satellite after all, he has to play by the international rules. And if he decides to not do so… We've taken steps to ensure no illegal attempt at seizing control of the satellite can succeed."
"Good." firmly replied O'Brian, before looking back at the other BSAA agents. "Under the circumstances, I am thereby approving the support of the BSAA to this mission, under much the same goals as ISIS. Stop Veltro, seize the virus or destroy it, and find any proof that Lansdale has indeed turned into a monster. If the FBC is indeed a threat to the world, rather than a shield to protect it, it must be taken down before it's too late to prevent a tragedy."
"You aren't coming with us, sir?" questioned Parker.
O'Brian grimaced. "I'll stay in contact, but someone needs to stand ready to arrest Lansdale if he really is guilty. All things considered, it might as well be me."
He glanced my way. "Unless you have another idea in mind?"
I shook my head. "It's fine. You are better placed to do the arrest anyway, as a UN-backed group, rather than a group like ISIS instead. And I suppose that you have personal stakes in this, as well."
O'Brian nodded, a hint of gratefulness on his face. "Thanks. You're right, Lansdale's my friend, if he's gone crazy like that then I want to be the one to confront him about it."
"You really think he could have done that, sir?" asked Parker.
O'Brian stayed silent for a long moment.
"Maybe." he finally said with a deep sigh. "We both believe that the threat posed by B.O.W's isn't taken seriously enough by some countries. We both believe that more should be done for the sake of protecting the world… But Lansdale had always been more willing to get his hands dirty to get results. It isn't always a bad thing, but if this is all true… I'm afraid he became the very monster he was meant to fight against out of fear."
O'Brian shook his head, before glancing around the room at everyone present.
Then he looked back at me.
"Get this done, Aeon. I'm trusting your intel and suspicions, so don't let me down. And take care of my people, alright? I have heard many good things about you and ISIS, I really hope that they weren't exaggerated."
I smile calmly back at him. "I believe that our soon to be success in preventing one of the greatest tragedies of the 21th century will speak more than any words I may say on the matter, Director O'Brian. Still, don't worry: we'll get your people back home in one piece."
"I certainly hope so. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some phone calls to make…"
I nodded, before glancing at the BSAA agents and grinning at them. "So, are all of you ready to do your best pirate impression by taking over three ships in the middle of the sea?"
Rebecca promptly facepalmed.
"Ready for this, Rebecca?"
I smiled as she glanced at me with amusement.
"After that whole mess in Spain, taking over a boat full of bio-terrorists and possibly a whole lot more B.O.W's sounds like a nice walk in the park in comparison." she snarked.
I snorted. "Well, hopefully there'll be a lot less parasites involved this time."
She shuddered. "Yeah, that'd be nice. Studying the T-virus and the like is bad enough, but parasites like those found in Spain? It's somehow even more disturbing!"
I hummed in agreement, glancing around at the helicopter we were in.
We had enough of those to be able to send all of ISIS anywhere in the world if need be, though admittedly our greatest force projection was in Europe and America, North America especially.
Thankfully we were headed for the coasts of Italy, so there were no problems.
The only ones in this helicopter were ISIS people, so I could talk freely, without worrying about the BSAA agents hearing things they were better off not knowing.
Like for example…
"And what about the Redlight and Blacklight viruses?"
She swallowed with a grimace.
I could see a few nearby ISIS soldiers shifting at my words, those two words usually being synonymous with "Shit's about to go down." whenever they were used in simulations.
So far however, they remained only that, in the simulations, but I was aware that there was a betting pool going on about when, exactly, Pandora's box would crack open and ISIS will be sent straight into hell.
"Well, all I will say on the matter is that I'm so very, very happy we have plasma guns and bombs nowadays rather than mere bullets." she bluntly replied, face grim. "And that I'm a Huntress, with all the craziness involved in that."
I nodded. "Yeah, there's a reason that ISIS is getting more tanks and military airpower these last few years. You never know when we might need them."
Rebecca gave me a long look.
"And when exactly do you think we're going to need them?"
I fell silent, thinking about it.
And thinking if I should answer.
I could see several ISIS soldiers turning their heads towards me, badly hiding how much they were listening in on the conversation.
After a moment, I finally replied, looking into the skyline outside the helicopter.
"Hopefully, not for a few more years."
Rebecca nodded slowly. I couldn't see her eyes, hidden as they were beneath the armour we were both wearing, but I could tell that while a part of her was reassured by my words…
"And when we do need them? How bad will it be?"
… It wasn't completely.
Hidden by my own armour, my right eye began glowing, while my left turned unnaturally black as void…
Manhattan burned under the screams of thousands upon thousands, the roars of countless inhuman throats echoing in the air…
Buildings and streets covered in red organic materials, monsters bursting open from pods to charge at lines of grim-faced soldiers shooting lasers, plasma and more upon this existential threat to humanity, the sounds of explosions and the roars of artillery and tanks ravaging the lands echoing as the music of war upon a monstrous battlefield where men and beasts clash for supremacy…
Hunters fight in dazzling display of speed, agility, skills and brutality against monsters without mercy or pity, wounds taken and given closing in seconds as inhuman constitution fought against inhuman constitution, spells of magic and cosmic might unleashed in great release of power as the heavens trembled under the heat of the inferno unleashed, the booming echoes of lightnings reducing legions of monsters to charred meat, and more…
Gigantic abominations of corrupted flesh and bones bursted from the ground, immediately set upon by tanks and helicopters and more as the air trembled from the inhuman growls of beasts capable of reducing entire villages to nothing but graveyards by themselves if left unchecked…
And above it all, a hood-covered shadow of a man watched with inhuman pale eyes upon the destruction wrought upon the lands, seeking retribution for crimes done to him and his by cold-hearted soldiers without mercy…
I shook my head, banishing the visions of a future yet to come.
Instead, I gave Rebecca a calm, if mirthless smile.
"All in good time, Rebecca. Worry about the now, rather than what the future may hold. Besides, do you really think that no matter what it may hold, I'll let things get too bad?"
She stared at me for a few seconds before smiling wryly.
"That bad, huh?"
I huffed at her.
She rolled her green eyes back at me.
"Don't give me that, if things were easily handled you'd be saying so, but instead you are trying to evade the question. We've known each other for 6 years Aeon, I know you by now."
I glared at her, before sighing.
"Sometimes, things get worse before they get better. But they will get better, Rebecca, I promise you that much."
She smiled. Or at least, I "felt" her smile. With the armour in the way, I was reading her body language and emotion more than anything. "Alright. I trust you. Just, don't hesitate to ask us for help if what you see coming takes its toll on you, yeah? You don't have to try and handle things by yourself, you know." she said softly.
I chuckled. "And ISIS, Insight Corp. as a whole, and the Hunters don't prove I'm capable of sharing the weight of things?"
She huffed at me. "You know what I mean! You're hiding things. I know you always do, it's kinda normal considering…" she waved at me, silently saying "with what you are", "but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do." She finished gently.
I mused over this for a few seconds. Should I reveal the events of the Manhattan outbreak? We couldn't really do anything about it, unfortunately. We simply didn't have the political power to end Blackwatch, and that meant that the research into Blacklight will continue.
And simply going there to destroy everything… I could do it, but Blackwatch would not take kindly to all of their research and samples being gone, and they would lash out.
I sighed. If I wanted to destroy Redlight, crush any desire to keep studying Blacklight, and finally remove Blackwatch from the world, the outbreak needed to happen.
And that meant that many thousands, more even, would die for the sake of a better world.
The irony of going to stop a man from setting up an attack to wake the world up from the dangers of B.O.W's and make the world safer while I, myself, was essentially planning to use a future outbreak to more or less do the same really wasn't lost on me.
Yes, I wasn't the one studying Blacklight and Redlight, nor was I helping to bring about that outbreak, but even so…
Ah, the problems of knowing too much. You know exactly how to make the world a better place, you just so happen to know the cost of it…
The sacrifices required.
The lives lost.
As always, the question returned: Why not act? Be the god I was, and prevent so much pain and death by preventing people from causing evil? It would be so easy to take over this world… So easy to create an utopia without fear, pain, and pointless deaths…
The only ones who would know are Oedon and Lucy, and the first would side with me, and the second could be convinced as well.
I looked back at the city on fire, the screaming, shrieking forms of corrupted children charging soldiers with bestial bloodlust, the growls of mutated abominations created from several infected humans fusing in one horrific monster, a multitude of limbs moving from the still living fusion of horrific infected life, even the bloated forms of pregnant women infected by the Redlight virus-
"Aeon?"
I glanced down at Rebecca, feeling the concern in her voice, the love in her heart, the affection born from her own free will she held for me clear to my senses…
I sighed deeply.
"It's nothing." I softly replied, a small sad smile on my face. "Just… I'm considering the benefits and consequences of my choices so far, I suppose you could say."
"And the result is?" she asked.
I thought about it, turning the question in my head.
I glanced back down at her.
… Was it wrong to be happy, to sleep soundly at night in the arms of my lovers, even when my decision to not help as much as I could resulted in so much pain and suffering? So many tragedies I could have avoided by using my powers without limits?
I glanced upwards. We were going to strike at night, and the sky above was full of stars.
By the cosmos, I hoped my plan for an Eldritch Empire would work without issues. Non-intervention beyond what I could do in this mortal form was tiring, when I knew I could do so much more to make things better for all.
I felt a sudden measure of tension filling me, and my expression hardened as my True Self informed me of where we were.
"We're getting close to our targets. Everybody make one last check of your gear, and then we're going in hot."
I ignored the still staring Rebecca.
When one was caught between granting a Dream of Paradise to all, and the desire for Humanity to create its own Paradise with its own effort, balancing the two was not so easy.
Perhaps a Godly incarnation of me would have been more capable of it, more easily able to consider things in the grand scheme of things. More easily able to ignore the individual suffering of people.
I was only human, however. I was only Aeon, the Good Hunter.
And I was meant to be proactive with threats to the innocents, not reactive.
I took my plasma guns in hands, banishing my concerns about what the right thing to do was in the back of my mind.
There were beasts to slay. Cruel humans to kill. An evil plan to crush.
Everything else could wait.
For tonight at least, I could lose myself in what I did best.
Tonight, the Good Hunter joins the Hunt.
Rebecca tightened her hold on her Alloy Cannon, the latest version of a shotgun that ISIS had in their armoury.
If need be, she also had an axe currently resting on her back, but considering how powerful the Alloy Cannon was, there was little that truly risked to survive a few shots of it well enough that she need to resort to smashing her axe in the head of whatever monster awaited in the depths of the ship they were about to board.
ISIS didn't expect quite as much resistance from this ship as it expected it from the Queen Dido, since the latter was where the leader of Veltro was, but the fact that they were keeping the T-Abyss virus on the ship they were headed towards was why she was needed here… and why Aeon had decided to come along, just to better ensure nothing would go wrong while securing the virus.
No, the ones who needed to be worried were Jill and Chris, who were going straight for Veltro's leader, and the troops headed for the last ship, which apparently held the vast majority of the Hunter-type B.O.W's the terrorists had been given in preparation for the attack on Terragrigia.
Not that Rebecca was actually worried about those two. They were Hunters, they would be fine no matter what.
She was a bit more concerned for the ISIS troops led by Lieutenant Rose having to deal with the numerous Hunter-Type B.O.W's, but all things considered, those kinds of B.O.W's were far from the worst that they could be facing.
At least it wasn't Redlight B.O.W's.
She held back a shudder at the thought of fighting hundreds, potentially thousands of those in the tight corridors of a boat. It'd be a nightmare to fight against, and honestly she'd be much happier if they could just blow such a ship up sky high.
Hopefully that'll never happen, but considering the way that ISIS has been growing for the last few years…
Well, Jill had told her that there was a surprising build up of ISIS troops and military bases around New York for the last few years. Not quite enough to actually ask Aeon what was up with the strange fixation with New York that ISIS appeared to have gained, but then again it wasn't really that hard to understand the reason why:
This was where studies into Redlight and Blacklight were happening.
Between the outbreak at Raccoon City, and more recently the kidnapping of Ashley Graham, the US government was unwilling to spend money into B.O.W. research, a decision that Insight Corp. backed. Deals were made with the US President: as long as no research into B.O.W's happened, ISIS would supply more military hardware to the US than to other countries where no such agreements were in place.
Of course, for Blackwatch that just meant that their studies into Redlight and Blacklight were fully given to Gentek instead. That way, it wasn't "government sponsored", it was just a corporation doing corporate things.
And if it just so happened to potentially benefit the USA, well, that was just good patriotism at work!
Technically, following the events of Raccoon City, new laws were set up which meant that a number of things that Gentek was doing were illegal… But good luck trying to prove it.
All that to say, ISIS's newfound growing interest and military build up wasn't surprising… if one considered the possibility of a New York outbreak.
Rebecca… honestly tried very hard to not think about it. Such an outbreak would be horrifying, making even that of Raccoon City mild and gentle in comparison.
And if that outbreak spread beyond New York…
Well. Rebecca, like many others in ISIS had seen estimates of the spread of an uncontrolled Redlight outbreak across the world.
It was, in one word, chilling.
She glanced at Aeon, green eyes showing her concerns for the man she loved behind her armour's visor.
Every Hunter was in armour for this one, as a result of the concerns that Lansdale may have a gas dispersion system in the ships, allowing him to spread any number of viruses or deadly gases in general at any moment throughout the ships with only a press of a button.
Hunters weren't completely immune to poisons, depending on how powerful that poison might be. True, things like the T-virus didn't work, apparently because of conceptual side-effects (those viruses turned you into something inhuman and bestial in nature, and the Blood of Aeon viciously rejected such things), but ironically, poisons meant to simply kill weren't as well-fought against.
Well, so to speak. As Aeon pointed out, it would have to be one hell of a poison to overcome Old Blood natural healing.
But why take the risk when wearing armour removed it entirely?
Also, there was always the risk that the ships would sink as a result of the battles to come or Lansdale doing something, so in that case not having to worry about drowning was good, since the armour would work just as well underwater.
Either way, even with the armour in the way she could see that Aeon had closed himself off from her. The way he stood, she could practically feel the way he was ready to move, fight, kill.
She held back a sigh. She'd have liked to talk to him more about whatever it was that weighed on him, but they didn't have the time for that anymore.
So instead, she took a deep breath, readied herself for the fight ahead-
"We're here! Go go go go!"
And with that shout, the operation was a go.
Aeon was first to hit the ground running, jumping off the helicopter and starting to blast away at whatever Veltro soldiers were around to stare in shock at the sudden arrival of helicopters full of soldiers.
New stealth technology had ensured that they weren't noticed until they were all essentially right on top of their target, but once visual confirmation of their approach had begun trickling in… Well, it was kinda hard to not notice a bunch of helicopters coming right at you when you're in the middle of the sea.
At least they were doing this at night, so that helped.
Rebecca was second to hit the ground, blasting a Veltro soldier with her shotgun and coldly looking at his broken corpse falling down the ground in a shower of blood as much of his upper half almost disintegrated from the power of the shot.
She heard other ISIS soldiers hit the ground behind her, lasers and plasma beginning to fly in greater numbers as sporadic return fire from lasgun-wielding Veltro soldiers tried to fight back.
What few shots hit an ISIS soldier was handled by their armour, but the Veltro soldiers couldn't claim the same and the dying screams of their troops began to grow in numbers.
Rebecca didn't care. Maybe once she would have, but it has been 6 years since she first met Aeon. 6 years of knowing better than most people in the world just how fragile their world was.
Just how many monsters lived in it.
These people were a cancer on humanity, striking where no one could stop them and killing countless innocents just to make a point.
Well, not on her watch.
She charged forward, killing two more Veltro soldiers in quick succession, though it was nothing compared to the storm of death that Aeon was unleashing as he made his way deeper into the ship.
Rebecca's role in the battle was always at the risk of changing, considering that she was both a Huntress and a medic with a mastery of healing magic.
Overall, as long as no one got hurt she was free to charge in and cause as much death and destruction as she could, since after all she didn't need to worry about getting wounded or dying as a Huntress.
If someone needed healing beyond what medi-gel could handle however, then she was to fall back and provide whatever healing she could give.
For now however, the surprise attack was working. The Queen Zenobia was big, and even with the alert that they were under attack, it would take time for the scattered enemy soldiers to gather anything resembling a proper resistance.
Aeon and Rebecca didn't care about that however. Their job was to get to the labs holding the T-Abyss virus, and they had to get to it as soon as they could to quickly neutralize the threat.
Rebecca turned around a corner, pausing for a second at the sight of at least a dozen Veltro goons lying dead on the ground from what had to be Aeon's plasma guns, before continuing on, the sounds of footsteps and battle behind her making it clear that at least a squad of ISIS soldiers were following her to the labs.
As she ran throughout the corridors of the richly decorated ship, she could hear updates from her radio.
"Bridge is secured! I repeat, the bridge is secured!"
"This is Delta team! We're making good progress towards the engines! No B.O.W's sighted yet!"
"Heavy fighting on the third floor! We're pushing through, but we're going to be held back a bit!"
"This is Gamma! B.O.W.'s spotted! I repeat, B.O.W's spotted on the second floor!"
"This is Alpha-1." cut the calm voice of Aeon through the comms. "ETA to labs: 5 minutes. Not much resistance so far, but it's growing. No B.O.W's sighted yet. Charlie Team, supports Gamma against B.O.W. assault. Foxtrot, hold position for now, keep the decks clear."
A flurry of acknowledgement followed, while Rebecca kept running after Aeon, killing any Veltro soldiers she encountered along the way. ISIS weren't interested in prisoners, only evidence of Veltro's planned crimes, so that made things much easier.
"This is Alpha-1. Found the labs. Had to blow up sealed doors to enter. Some resistance encountered in the labs, active hostiles eliminated, one scientist captured."
Rebecca sped up even more, quickly coming up to the blown-open doors of the labs and coming to a stop as she beheld the lab in which the T-Abyss virus was in.
In the center of it was a red column holding the virus in liquid form, and Rebecca instinctively swallowed at the sight, because even what was present of the virus was more likely enough to contaminate a good chunk of the oceans of Earth if it was fully released.
And above that were a number of screens… which were currently showing the Director of the FBC, Morgan Lansdale himself, frowning down at Aeon.
"Well done, ISIS. I must admit, I didn't expect you to be able to quite so thoroughly derail my plans."
"Morgan Lansdale…" she said softly, coming to a stop by the side of Aeon, glaring up at the image of the man.
"I had suspicions that ISIS was going to be one of the biggest threats to my plans, but even I didn't quite expect you to make your move so soon. A grievous mistake, it appears."
"So you admit it. You were planning to attack Terragrigia!" she exclaimed.
"Your leader already called me out on it, so I have no reason to hide the truth. Besides, I still have ways to remedy my mistakes. You are all stowaways on the Queen Zenovia… and her sister-ships. I hope that you don't mind me watching you die."
And with that, several B.O.W's began dropping from the air conduits, and the comms channel began to be flooded with messages.
"T-Abyss virus detected across the ship! The whole place is beginning to be flooded by the stuff!"
"This is Delta Team! The Veltro soldiers are mutating everywhere! No estimate as to when the engines are secured!"
"Third floor is being flooded with B.O.W's and mutating Veltro soldiers! We've fallen back and are setting up kill zones, but we might have to fall back further!"
"This is Gamma! B.O.W's are rushing at us as far as we can see into the corridors, but we're holding thanks to Charlie team! Not sure how long we can keep that up!"
Rebecca saw Aeon casually execute the unconscious scientist when he began convulsing from the virus in the air beginning to mutate him, before he turned towards her.
"Go deeper into the labs, you'll find what you need to neutralize the virus inside this." he pointed at the red-colored column.
"And you?"
"I'll hold the line." he said firmly.
And then he moved, firing at several B.O.W's rushing into the room from the air ducts and the broken open entry door, and Rebecca rushed deeper into the labs.
If the world didn't want a good chunk of its oceans becoming full of mutated monsters, she needed to neutralise the virus in the lab, and the quicker she did it the better for the world.
"Alright. You're ready?"
Jill glanced between the BSAA agents present, who nodded grimly back at her.
Their group had made a beeline for the throne room that the leader of Veltro had made for himself on this ship, cutting down any Veltro soldier who had tried to stand in their way without mercy.
Considering the group was led by Jill and Chris, two Hunters, it really wasn't hard to slaughter their way through all resistance.
Sure, they couldn't show off too much in the presence of the BSAA agents, but even just their inhuman reflexes alone made the battle against what were essentially regular humans a breeze.
To say nothing of the equipment they had as ISIS soldiers.
So now here they were, ready to storm in the room where the leader of Veltro was.
The doors opened, and they rushed in… before pausing at the lack of shots sent their way.
From the look of things, Veltro's leader was more interested in talking than fighting… for now.
"ISIS… Tell me, how did you find out about our ships? About our plans? I refuse to believe that El Veltro has any traitor to our cause. I know each and every man and woman who joined our cause. There are no traitors!" Jack Norman, leader of El Veltro, said coldly from atop his throne.
Jill sneered at him. "Lansdale got cold feet and sold you out." she lied through her teeth, wondering if Norman will be stupid enough to take the bait.
Norman's face twisted, even as the dozen Veltro soldiers guarding him tensed.
"Why? You have to be lying. If it was after the attack then maybe, but-"
"He knew we were about to find everything out ourselves, so his plans would have never worked. So instead he came to us and… made us a deal. That's all you need to know."
Norman glared at her. "And Lansdale will face no justice for this? Do you really think that I can believe-"
"We've got enough blackmail to effectively control the FBC through its founder and director, why wouldn't we make use of that power for ourselves?" declared Chris, playing along with her.
Norman paused, before sneering. "Right, of course. Lansdale got to be the hero who actually found out about the attack on Terragrigia, and you get the victory of actually taking us down. And we, El Veltro, are the only losers in this situation! Well, not on my watch! I have recordings of all the meetings I had with Lansdale, and I'll make sure the whole world will know the truth! As for you, ISIS," he spat, "You can start my revenge by dying-"
Jill and Chris both tensed as they heard a sound of gases spreading through the air, Norman suddenly pausing before flinching hard.
"The… The virus… damn you, Lansdale!" he growled, body beginning to convulse-
Jill shot him in the head, killing him instantly, and the whole room devolved into utter chaos as El Veltro soldiers tried to avenge their leader while the ISIS soldiers and BSAA agents began killing off the fanatical inner circle of Jack Norman.
Once the room was cleared, Chris wasted no time trying to contact the other team aboard the ship, while Jill went to try and get the recording Norman mentioned having from his body.
"To all teams, this is-"
And then the comms echoed with the tense status reports from ISIS soldiers noting that the majority of the Veltro soldiers were beginning to mutate, and that waves after waves of B.O.W's began trying to swarm their position.
"Ah, shit." Chris cursed, though he nodded at Jill when she held up the data chip they were here for.
Parker Luciani knew it: shit had hit the fan.
Big time.
The way that Chris Redfield was barking orders on the radio was a pretty big proof of that.
"So, how bad is it?"
Chris grunted darkly.
"Well, we've got what has to be hundreds of B.O.W's swarming across all three ships, and I just got a report from Aeon, who got it from ISIS Command, that a bunch of fighter jets are being scrambled from military bases that we suspected Lansdale to have influence in, and are currently headed straight for us."
"Ah." he said intelligently. "We're fucked, basically?"
Chris gave him a look.
"No, that's just Tuesday for ISIS's standards."
Parker's partner Jessica blinked.
"Wait, we're on a ship filled with hundreds of B.O.W's, we've got planes coming here to blow us all up, and that's just normal for you people?"
He shrugged. "Pretty much."
Parker tried to consider that.
Then decided that he'd rather not.
He'd stay sane longer that way.
"So what's the plan?"
"Well, Jill is already downloading the files proving the crimes of Lansdale back to O'Brian, so he won't be much of a problem for a while. As for the planes coming our way?"
He chuckled.
"It really is unfortunate for them that ISIS brought equipment here specifically in case something like this would happen, right?"
They all stiffened as the shrieks of a great number of B.O.W's echoed in the air, and Chris grinned. "So, with that being said, our only remaining problems are the hundreds of B.O.W's on this ship! Ready to go hunting, soldier?"
The look on Parker's face made Chris laugh, while Jill began to mutter to herself that Aeon was obviously a bad influence on Chris…
"Foxtrot, how are the incoming bogeys looking?"
The team leader of Foxtrot looked at the sinking wreckage of the planes which were meant to blow them all up skyhigh, currently sinking deeper into the ocean's waters.
"Sinking hard and deep in their own mediocrity, sir!" he said cheerfully.
He patted the anti-air missile launchers they brought for this mission.
"Once again, sufficiently big guns at the right times and places won the day!"
Alpha-one, a.k.a "The Boss" chuckled at his words, before turning serious.
"Copy that, Foxtrot. Keep the upper decks and our LZ clear from incoming B.O.W's, will you?"
Foxtrot's team leader looked behind him, seeing the rest of his team cooking wave after wave of the ugly grey-skinned bastards with glee.
Apparently, the aquatic-based virus they currently were fighting really didn't like heat.
Also, these grey bastards were incredibly slow in comparison to Hunter-Type B.O.W's, so it made things even easier for them since they could just focus on the Hunters and deal with the others at their convenience.
Foxtrot's team leader saw all of that, nodded to himself once in satisfaction at the good work being done by his boys and girls, and then smiled.
"Already on it, Boss. That LZ will be so clear that you and your girlfriends can get a nice tan by the time you get back! Won't have even a single damn B.O.W. interrupting your day, sir!"
"Well, maybe we can make it a day for us all after this all over. You think that you and the rest of ISIS can use a few pleasure cruises to cut the stress of the job down sometimes?"
Foxtrot's team leader smiled widely.
"That sounds like a glorious idea to me, sir!"
The Boss chuckled. "Somehow, I knew you'd say that. Alright, keep at it, I've got more incoming on my end of things. Also, I probably should check on Lieutenant Rose…"
The radio cut off, and Foxtrot's leader hummed thoughtfully, looking at the carnage unleashed by his team on the stupid B.O.W's who just kept trying to make it through the doors into the decks.
Needless to say, against a team of ISIS soldiers all armed with Plasma rifles, it wasn't working great for them.
Foxtrot's leader shrugged, took off his helmet and then took a cigar from one of his pockets, lit up one end of it by firing his las-pistol, and then took a deep breath of it.
He then exhaled with a deep sigh full of satisfaction, and then nodded.
Right, the only things left to do in this mission was fend off hundreds of B.O.W's from swarming the decks of the ship.
Easy enough.
Still, he walked towards the rest of his team, weapon in hands and cigar between his teeth.
He couldn't just let his team of daredevils do all the work, they'd get foolish ideas in their heads if they did! The last time they even challenged him in a simulation to do better than them in a kill count competition!
Ah, their sweet curses and screams of despair when he utterly crushed their delusions of grandeur had been satisfying, and he had been (secretly of course, he had a reputation to maintain!) proud of how hard they had trained afterward to try and kick his ass next time (hah!), but it was still better not to let them get a big head in the first place!
Time to remind them why he was the guy in charge!
"C'mon you incompetent grasshoppers! What kind of worthless overlapping field of fire is that?! Jefferson, get behind that barrel over there, it'll give you a better angle! Williams, just because a plasma rifle shot can melt the upper half of a B.O.W's doesn't mean that you can't aim properly! My damn grandma could do better! And-"
"The means of dispersion?"
"The cruise ship is armed with a UAV. That is your delivery system."
"Very well. Now show me the goods."
*A mallet full of containers holding some kind of red liquid is shown.*
"Bona fide T-Abyss. No vaccine, not yet."
"Yes, of course. A little bit of this could turn a city inside-out."
"I think we're done. I'll be on my way."
"Who would've thought, yes? That the lowly terrorists would receive a helping hand… from the venerable Commissioner of the FBC."
The video froze, allowing everybody in the headquarters of the FBC to see the fully revealed form of their director, walking out of a meeting with the leader of El Veltro.
Clive O'Brian of the BSAA didn't even blink, he'd already seen the video, and so he just continued on his way to his old friend's office.
When he entered it, followed by two soldiers to escort their soon-to-be arrested man, he found Lansdale staring grimly at the screen still frozen showing the meeting between him and the terrorist leader, though his old friend turned to look at him when he opened the door of his office.
For a moment, both men stared at each other, before Clive sighed.
"As you can see, it's not likely that you'll wriggle out of this one, Morgan."
"I seem to have underestimated both the BSAA and ISIS. And perhaps you as well."
"The BSAA got all the data we needed about the T-Abyss from Insight Corp, and they gave us this-" he took out a red cylinder from a pocket, presenting it at Lansdale. "- as well. Sorry to say, but Insight Corp. knew about the people you bought in Terragrigia, and deliberately held back from arresting them until they were given these things. Once you did though… Well. At least it'll add to the growing pile of evidence against you, Morgan."
"Director O'Brian, surely you understand our dilemma? Without the Terragrigia panic, the ignorant masses will be unaware of the threat that lies before them."
Clive shook his head sadly. "Yes, you may in fact be correct. But, still-"
"No one has the right to detain me. The world requires my guidance. It is all for the greater Good!" Morgan exclaimed, scowling at him.
"You're only fooling yourself!" Clive shouted back. "As you like to say, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here." But I'm not Dante, and you're not Vergilius."
Clive took a deep breath, before exhaling.
"Morgan Lansdale. You are hereby relieved of your position as FBC Commissioner. And I'm placing you under arrest on suspicion of conspiring with Veltro on the planning and potential execution of a biological attack on Terragrigia, with the goal of its utter annihilation."
"With all due respect, Director O'Brian, the BSAA is making a huge mistake."
The two soldiers began escorting Morgan out of his former office, and Clive crossed his arms.
"I don't think so, old friend." he looked at the still frozen image on the screen. "I think you're the one who made a huge mistake… and now you'll have to pay the price for it." he said sadly, grieving for his friendship and for the soul of a man that Clive truly believed was good and just, once.
"So it's done, then?"
"It is." confirmed Rebecca. "The virus is neutralized, and the oceans of Earth are safe."
At her side, Aeon nodded, looking thoughtfully at the dozens of remains from B.O.W's corpses he and a team of ISIS soldiers had killed while Rebecca was working.
"I got confirmation that O'Brian had arrested Lansdale. The media is already going crazy at the sight of the Director of the BSAA escorting the Director of the FBC in handcuffs, and speculations are abound about what's going on."
"I can't imagine they're going to calm down once the truth is out."
Aeon snorted. "The one thing the media loves more than heroes are heroes who fall from grace. It gets views, you understand." he said sarcastically.
"And following the chaos after Raccoon City, and all the revelation of corruption, having the director of the FBC be revealed as trying to bring about the greatest bio-terrorist attack in human history is certainly going to rock the American public… and the European public too, considering that Terragriagia is an European's project, if one created thanks to Insight Corp." mused Rebecca.
Aeon sighed. "Honestly, at this point the politics of the USA are still trying to recover from that mess back in '98, this is going to be like adding more fuel and fire to an already raging inferno."
"And there's still the matter of Blackwatch and Gentek."
He grunted. "Don't remind me."
"Well, at least we still took out another evil mastermind threatening the world? And a terrorist group, as well."
"Oh, ISIS and Insight Corp. are doing great, no doubt about it. People like winners, and we're winning. It's the US that is having problems. This latest mess is going to drive yet another wedge between the US-Europe relationship, make no mistake."
He sighed. "Well, it's still better than if the attack happened, I suppose. And if nothing else, it'll put more pressure on the UN to hunt down potential bio-terrorists, which is always good."
"And hey, at least this time no evil corporations were involved!" she said cheerfully.
Aeon laughed. "I know! What a miracle! I doubt it'll last, but hey at least it's a change from the usual."
He shook his head. "Well, in any case I need to go deal with the countless things a victory brings, including the paperwork, so I'll get going. Keep a watch on this place, yeah?"
"You got it."
"Breaking News: The Director of the FBC, Morgan Lansdale, has been seen being arrested by the Director of the BSAA, Clive O'Brian! What has driven these two men, known as childhood friends, to such an outcome? What dark secrets has the BSAA uncovered? Stay with us to learn more about-"
"-Such an attack could have easily led to the death of dozens of thousands of people, the vast majority of them civilians, if it had been successful. If not for the skills of ISIS in discovering and then foiling the plot aimed to destroy Terragrigia, the world would have witnessed the worst bio-terrorist attack in all of human history-"
"-The American President has announced that the FBC agents who were proven innocent of any involvement with their former director will be joining the BSAA-"
"The UN has announced that the BSAA, in light of their help in taking down the former FBC director Morgan Lansdale, will see their funding greatly increased, and their authority to act across the world reinforced-"
"Insight Corporation continues to be seen as the most trustworthy company in the world, recent surveys reveal, and the CEO of said corporation, Lucy Miller, has given a speech thanking the people of their continued trust-"
"-An announcement has been made that several European countries are in talks with ISIS' leadership in order to receive training for the creation of dedicated Special Task Forces meant to fight against the rising threat of Bio-Terrorism-"
"A Bioterrorism attack has happened in India this week, though it was swiftly contained thanks to the combined work of India's military and a small number of ISIS soldiers, including their leader, who were in the country at the time to discuss possible military cooperation against that very same threat. It was discovered by one Claire Redfield, working for an NGO named TerraSave, that the person responsible was a man named Frederic Downing, the head of the WP Corporation's R&D department who was trying to prove the viability of bio-weapons to General Miguel Grande of the Republic of Bajirib, with whom the company had entered secret talks with in order to sell samples of the T-Virus responsible for the outbreak at Raccoon City back in 1998. The consequences of this attack are yet to be fully seen, but India's leadership has already released a statement thanking ISIS for their help in swiftly containing the outbreak and has promised that a closer relationship between their nation and Insight Corp. as a whole would begin-"
Summer Rose in ISIS, records of a lost Huntress in the multiverse, Part 2. (Non-canon.)
"So, are you ready?"
Summer tightened her hold on Iron Thorn, her halberd/Sniper rifle, biting her lips as she stared at Aeon, standing a few feet from her with a relaxed stance, a sword in his right hand, staring back at her calmly, while on the side a number of people were watching the upcoming spar.
Lucy and Oedon were there of course, but there were also others present.
Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chamber and Leon S. Kennedy were all with them in the Hunter's Dream, brought here to meet and greet the new Huntress, and see her first spar with Aeon now that she was bound to the Dream herself and given the Old Blood.
Summer could feel the power flowing through her veins now, and she certainly wasn't going to forget the vision of what was apparently Aeon's true form that she had seen during the Blood transfusion.
She felt… strong. Powerful, in a way that even years as a Huntress couldn't match.
It said a great deal about the situation that she fully expected the man before her to kick her ass with ease anyway.
"Let's do this." she firmly replied, resigning herself to the outcome she fully expected from fighting against the literal mortal incarnation of a God.
Maybe it was her recent defeat at Salem's hands that had shaken her confidence in her own skills, but even without it she still didn't think she'd win against a literal god… Or close to it.
Aeon smiled. "Alright. Come at me, then."
She gave him a look, but she didn't think he was looking down on her, if anything he looked… eager to get started.
She began quickly, pointing the end of her halberd at him and firing a Fire Dust round. Somehow, Aeon, Oedon and Lucy had managed to take her small remaining supply of Dust she still had on her when she arrived, and casually created a stunning amount of it seemingly out of thin air, of every kind imaginable, with Aeon idly commenting that "All we needed was a single sample to copy, then change the conceptual nature of the newly created Dust as required."
It boggled Summer's mind to see them essentially create Dust out of thin air with such ease, but if nothing else it really hammered the whole "we are gods" statement to her.
Though it hardly seemed to matter right now, as Aeon casually batted the Dust round mid-air with the side of his blade, smirking slightly at her as it harmlessly went off in the ground of the hill they were on.
Summer's eyes narrowed, and she decided to charge in, halberd raised high as she went for a thrusting attack.
Aeon casually parried the thrust of her weapon, before immediately trying to skewer her on the tip of his sword, Summer falling back a step and trying to slash him across the chest, though the man fell to the ground and used his new position to try and kick her in the chest, easily getting back on his feet a second later when she barely dodged the kick.
She frowned, and used her semblance to turn into white rose petals, trying to attack his back, though once again he ducked under her attack with ease.
She tried to learn from the last counter-attack and avoided his sword's swing, sent her way mid-dodge, and she fired a shot straight towards his feet.
The man somehow twirled in the air, sword flashing with growing speed as Summer suddenly had to use her halberd to fend off a vicious series of strike each targeting one of her organs, before her silver eyes narrowed in complete focus-
And she jumped on his sword at his next thrust, her body half-turning in rose petals as she used her semblance to more quickly find herself above him, using the thin line of metal as a platform to jump higher.
She fired her weapon downward, and for the first time in this battle she saw Aeon turn to smoke and get out of the way, Summer having to once again fend off deadly swings of his sword targeting her vitals with deadly precision.
She had been warned, but it was still something else to experience for herself the way Aeon truly went for the kill with every attack, trusting in both her Aura and her newly gained Old Blood to protect her life if the swing hit.
And worst comes to worst, well she would just come back if she died.
Not that she was particularly eager to test that, and for a few seconds his sword met her halberd in a truly vicious cycle of attacks and counter-attacks.
You could learn a lot about someone from their fighting style, and Aeon's was the most perfect mix of sheer, awe-inspiring skill mixed with savagery she had ever seen.
A fact made all the more clear when he began to use his entire body in the fight, flawlessly incorporating punches and kicks along with the swings of his sword, and Summer was suddenly grateful for all the experience she had fighting Taiyang because that was the only reason his incredible hand-to-hand skills didn't win him the fight right then and there.
Still, she was far from done, so she began to fight even harder, trying to use both the blade of her halberd and the gun part of it to get a hit on Aeon, while repeatedly using her semblance to try and get faster than him.
A part of her couldn't help but enjoy just how much stronger and faster she was now with the Old Blood in her, but even with that…
Aeon was still a much better Hunter than her.
And one with a lot more tricks than her, as he apparently agreed to get serious as well, his sword suddenly glowing a bright blue… and then the real fight began.
Summer had wondered about his lack of ranged weapon, well she needed to wonder no longer as Aeon began sending blue arcs of energy at her with almost every swing, and his left hand began casting spells after spells towards her.
Her own Dust supply helped fight back against the elemental storm of spells thrown her way, but it was also a very finite resource… while apparently Aeon's magic was not, or not enough to matter in this fight, as the longer the fight went on the more, and she had no better word to describe it, magical bullshit was thrown her way!
Lightning storms followed waves of fire, blades of wind whistled through the air…
And then he decided to go from "serious" to "showing off."
"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, as Aeon began teleporting, and creating clones, and opening portals to either travel through or send spells at a variety of angles…
Summer Rose took one look at the sheer magnitude of magical nonsense being unleashed, and promptly came to two conclusions:
Salem was much less crazy when it came to magic!
She really, really hoped that she could learn this herself!
Gotta go all out! She thought, and she unleashed her silver eyes against Aeon.
He had told her that they most likely would be affected by the Old Blood in her, and he was proven correct when the field they were fighting in suddenly was filled with brilliant white light which fought to crush all magic besides her own in the area, and also tried to burn Aeon to a crisp.
Not that the man seemed to care about any of that. He laughed, startled but delighted…
And then the next second Summer had to move when the ground turned to lava, the air echoed with dozens of lightning strikes upon the ground, and the winds turned violent enough to actually affect even her speed.
When Summer finally broke through all of that, panting and feeling her Aura almost broken, she looked up-
And then blanched when she saw Aeon flying, his left palm pointed down at the ground.
Summer didn't even have the time to blink before gravity rose and she faceplanted into the ground hard enough to instantly turn her body into a bloody puddle of gore and smashed bones inside of a bloody crater.
Summer Rose blinked.
Blinked again.
Then she shuddered
"... Okay, two things: First, OW! And secondly: I want to learn that!"
She paused, before blinking a third time.
"Son of a bitch, I didn't even hit himonce!"
"There, there, I know your pain." Claire Redfield patted her shoulder with an amused smile, while Summer drowned her sorrow over getting her ass kicked by devouring her way through a plate of cookies that Aeon had apparently made for her beforehand.
Admittedly, it was rather hard to keep feeling bad about herself with such divine tasting treats, but that didn't mean that Summer wasn't trying her hardest anyway!
Who knows, Aeon might give her more if she pouted hard enough!
"Not even one hit!" she grumbled in between cookies, still smarting over that fact. "I'm supposed to be one of the best Huntresses of Remnant! Even Salem praised my skills! And now, even with the Old Blood, I still just… got my ass kicked so hard I didn't even land a single hit!"
She aggressively bit into her next cookie, trying hard not to moan at the divine taste of it, and even mostly succeeded!
Or so she'll tell herself, stubbornly ignoring the mostly amused, and if she wasn't wrong, slightly aroused looks given to her by the red-hair woman trying to comfort her.
"To be fair, we're no better than you, you know." Claire's brother said, looking both impressed and disturbed by the way the plate of cookies was swiftly becoming smaller and smaller. "The last time one of us got a hit on him, it took all of us working together." he declared, waving at himself, Claire, Rebecca and Jill.
Summer paused, before looking at him. "Seriously?"
"You forgot to mention he was fighting with just one hand, no magic, and on a timer of 3 minutes to take us all out at the time." Deadpanned Rebecca. "And he won in the end, might I add."
"Barely." replied Jill.
Rebecca sighed deeply.
"Mostly because he passed the first minute hitting us with the flat of his blade and telling us all the ways we were going about it wrong."
"And the second minute singing the Soviet National Anthem at the top of his lungs… to see if we would be more capable of hitting him through echolocation than by using our eyes, he said." said a despondent Chris.
"He wasn't even attacking at all during the second minute!" Rebecca exclaimed, slumping in her seat in depression.
Summer looked at the group, who was looking like the picture perfect expression of depression right now.
"Well…" she paused. "Wait, did I last longer than you guys on my own?"
The group glanced at each other.
"Shit, she's right."
"Uggghhhh." Rebecca's head hit the table while she groaned in misery.
"Well, let's look on the bright side! She's still a newbie in the group, so Aeon will probably train her from the ground up!" Jill said cheerfully.
Summer frowned. "But I'm already an experienced Huntress-"
She paused as the entire group looked at her in pity.
"What?"
Claire began patting her shoulder again.
"You poor, sweet summer child…" she paused. "No pun intended." she said with a blush.
Rebecca sent her a sympathetic look.
"Don't worry, we've got reserves of ice cream and such after your training starts properly."
Summer looked at them with incomprehension.
Chris took pity on her and explained. "Well, see, Aeon wants to make it clear that his training is important, and that nothing less than perfect is acceptable when you're training to fight for your life, so… he's going to make you fight something that will destroy you. Utterly."
Jill smiled wryly while Summer blinked at Chris. "Oh, maybe he won't throw you into that simulation immediately, but Aeon believes that knowing how to lose is as important as knowing how to win, so he likes to send us against impossible odds sometimes just to make us remember that yes, the universe can be cruel and victory isn't always possible. He usually likes to give the example of having to stay behind to cover a retreat of civilians as a scenario where you can get overwhelmed by enemy forces and yet can't afford to retreat yourself."
"It's more or less the same logic he uses to explain why you aren't a true Hunter of the Dream until you've died in a fight at least once. Hunters of the Dream aren't meant to worry about themselves, they are meant to become unstoppable killing machines, ones that will fear nothing, not even death." said Rebecca, before the woman sighed. "There are a lot of issues from having warriors who don't fear death thrown into battle, but a lot of advantages as well."
"In other words, we've all become a little crazy in the head, but since it's useful craziness, Aeon doesn't care." Claire deadpanned.
Summer considered that. No fear of death would certainly be useful against Grimm… but as Rebecca had said, the other consequences of it probably made people… a little strange.
She wasn't sure how to feel about her own death, for that matter. Aeon had turned her body into a bloody pulp pretty much instantly, so it was a pretty quick death all things considered, but even so…
She took another cookie. She would think about all of this later, for now she had divine cookies to eat!
Summer stared at Summer, who stared back at Summer.
They tilted their heads.
Blinked.
""You have silver/pale blue eyes."" They declared.
They paused.
""This is very weird."" They commented.
There was a second pause.
""Do you like cookies?""
Both Summer looked at each other, then glanced at the visibly amused Aeon taking in the scene.
""His cookies are the best.""
They glanced back at each other.
"I have a halberd/Rifle weapon named Iron Thorn."
One of the Summer slumped in relief. "I've got a Sword/Shotgun weapon by that name!"
The other Summer sighed in relief as well.
"So there are differences between us, besides the eye colour!"
""That is good!""
They paused.
Aeon began cackling.
They both pouted.
""You're lucky your cookies are so good!""
Rebecca, who was watching with the other hunters from the doorway of the room where this meeting was taking place, continued to mutter furiously to herself about all the tests she could do with dimensional twins.
Claire nodded, licking her lips.
"Twins." she whispered with a wide smirk.
Rebecca froze, blushing… but her green eyes gained a glint to them.
"Twins." she muttered approvingly.
The two women glanced at each other, and then shook hands with a smirk.
Chris glanced at those two with a bewildered look, not having heard their words but clearly seeing something was going on.
Jill patted him on the shoulder with an amused look on her face, while a little on the side Lucy was looking at the two Summer Roses with a slight smirk.
Oedon, at least outwardly, was the textbook definition of poker face.
Inwardly, however, nobody who knew her well would be surprised by the mental images of children with black and red hair currently being cheerfully thought of.
As for the two Summers…
Well they had already started conspiring in thinking up pranks and how to get more cookies from Aeon now that there were two of them to feed.
After all, neither had any intention of getting less cookies than the other, so either they would team up for a greater number of cookies…
Or there could only be one Summer Rose to exist on this world to get cookies from Aeon!
They shook hands, both of them drooling slightly at the thought of those divine treats.
For glorious cookies!
Summer flopped into the seat in front of Aeon, a dead look on her face.
"So, how was the simulation?" he said calmly, taking a sip of his tea.
Summer kept staring blankly forward, a thousand-yard stare on her face.
A slight smirk spread on Aeon's lips.
"Pretty fun, I take it?"
Summer twitched.
"Fun?" she croaked. "That was… that was…"
She shuddered.
"I miss the Grimm." she whispered in a horrified voice. "Gods, I miss the Grimm!"
"Come now, surely you are used to death and destruction?" the man in front of her calmly said.
"Death and destruction, yes! But having to fight those things was just…"
She swallowed.
Aeon's look softened.
"The children?" he said gently.
Summer gave a tight nod.
He sighed, reclining in his seat with a sad, understanding look in his eyes.
"It's never easy, is it, to see innocence be destroyed, good turn to evil, and the helpless be forced to become monsters against their will."
He gave her a sympathetic look.
"I understand your horror, Summer, but the viruses don't discriminate against anyone. Young and old, men and women, kind or cruel, the viruses we fight turn everybody alike into bloodthirsty monsters. For every monster we kill, an innocent has already been lost. That is the sad truth of this war."
Summer let out a shuddering breath. "I know. I know, that we can't save everyone. That evil can exist, and can, in fact, win."
She looked away, thinking of her fight against Salem.
"I just…"
"Thought that you'd seen the worst of it already?" he said gently. "Or that, in a world where gods live, such horrors would not exist?"
She winced at his words.
Aeon's eyes were kind.
"You know why I don't act more." he said softly.
"I know. I didn't necessarily disagree either." she replied.
"But that was before you saw an example of what can, and sometimes are, unleashed upon this world, wasn't it? Before you saw the horrors of it all with your own eyes, and wondered what kind of benevolent gods would let this happen."
His words were not phrased as a question, but a statement.
And Summer grimaced at the blunt truth being spoken.
He smiled sadly. "Trust me, no one is harder on me on the matter than myself. It's a careful balance, to push humanity forward without doing too much. One even I can't help but wonder day after day if I'm succeeding at upholding, or if my desire to see humanity thrive without too much personal intervention is actually holding me back from doing all that I should do."
"And how do you know you are succeeding?" she asked.
He smiled.
"I surround myself with the best people I can find in order to make sure that, when I have doubts on the path to walk, I can simply ask them for advice. I have my secrets, Summer, but what's the point of recruiting the best people I can get on my side if I don't even trust their opinions on how to win against our common foe?"
Summer fell silent at that, once again thinking of the differences and similarities between Aeon and Ozpin.
She respected Ozpin greatly, she wouldn't have worked for him as she did if she didn't, but she always had the suspicion that he was hiding a lot more than he was willing to reveal.
Something that was proven when Salem taunted her with the knowledge that she was actually immortal, and not merely biologically speaking.
Cursed by the Brother Gods to never die… There was no victory to be found in strength against Salem.
She still believed that Salem could be defeated, if not killed, and had told Salem as such, but she certainly had a great many questions to ask Ozpin if… when she was back in Remnant.
Of course, now she had not one, but three gods on her side, so Salem could, in fact, be killed…
Eventually.
Point is though, that Aeon was surprisingly honest about his intentions and plans. He had given her a thorough briefing on the different threats to Earth, but also had told her of his plans for going to meet the Eldritch Pantheon of Gods at the centre of Reality itself.
Which was… something that she was going to think more about later, but the point was that Aeon hadn't even tried to hide the fact he wanted her to help him when that time came, and had bluntly told her that, for all his and his companions' powers, he genuinely wasn't sure if he could protect her in the event of a full-on divine war.
Nor, at the difference of Ozpin, had hidden the fact that he didn't think it possible for him to kill his possible arch-nemesis, the creator-deity of all things.
It was quite the admission, and she definitely appreciated his honesty about the fact that an Eldritch Divine War was going to be a hell beyond anything she could ever imagine.
And that was precisely why he wanted people like her, people willing to look at a greater evil in the eye and fight to the death if need be.
She wasn't sure if she wanted to get involved in such a war, but at least Aeon made it clear he didn't intend on going to meet the Eldritch Court for decades at least so there was quite a bit of time for her to make up her mind.
Of course, a part of her couldn't help but point out that he also was, in fact, admitting to hiding things… But, well, he was a god.
There were no doubt a lot of things he was aware of that she couldn't even imagine existing.
Either way… "Does that include me?" she said with a grin.
He gave her a long look… and then smiled gently.
"Perhaps one day, Summer. For now, we're still getting to know each other. But… I'd like that, yes." he said softly and earnestly.
Summer blinked, but smiled back. He wasn't wrong, it wasn't that long since they had first met each other, and she knew that she didn't fully trust him yet as a result.
"Then I look forward to that day." she replied just as earnestly. "For now…" she leaned forward. "You owe me cookies!" she pointed dramatically.
He blinked. "I do?" he declared, looking amused.
She nodded firmly. "Yes. There were a lot of horrors in that simulation that you created, and don't get me started about…" she shuddered.
Aeon raised an eyebrow.
She gave him a flat look. "I had a giant insect dumping its eggs down my throat." she bluntly declared.
He blinked.
She looked him in the eye.
"I had to vomit them out before they ate my insides." she said slowly, voice deadly.
Aeon nodded. "Right, those. It actually happened to Jill, did you know? Ever since, I make sure to have those B.O.W's and their ilk showing up in simulation from time to time, to make sure everyone knows what to do if it happens again."
Summer's mouth dropped open. "Wait, seriously?! I thought I was being pranked or something!"
Aeon looked at her with confusion. "Why would we prank people with something like that? No, that kind of B.O.W. really does exist."
Summer opened her mouth. Closed it.
Well, shit. And here she thought that the regular bloodthirsty B.O.W's were bad enough-
"No, we use amorous tentacle monsters for the pranks."
Summer stared at him.
Aeon calmly stared back, not even twitching slightly at her look.
Summer twitched first. "Cookies. Now. Then I'm going to try and forget this no good, horrible, terrible day."
Aeon waved his right hand, a plate full of warm cookies appearing that Summer immediately snatched up.
Then she got up, and tried very hard to not look like she was fleeing this entire conversation.
Aeon watched her leave for a moment… and then began laughing loudly, creating a picture of Summer's face when he told her of the tentacle monster with magic.
"It's going to be hilarious when I actually include a tentacle monster in a simulation with her in it." he mused with a wide, mischievous smirk.