POV Rio
Waiting. It turns out that sitting in a box for a month is really boring. That's not to imply I've been inactive. I used the time to make some magic cores. Do plenty of calculations on possible coordinates to other worlds based on my experience. I also wanted to test to see if the mirror would be a usable method of transportation. Technically, they could transport me from one universe to another, so it's not impossible that they could do something similar, but within the same Universe. I also tried to see if I could use the Molecular Relay, but it seemed the Alliance had predicted such a method.
'I guess that makes sense since they use the tech themselves.'
Besides that, I have been monitoring what the Alliance was doing near me. They filled the entire quarry with cement, then added gravel on top. There were many devices they installed to observe me. Reverse engineering the sensors with the Hoshigan was... quite an experience. From what I could tell, they were magic, heat, seismic, and sound sensors. Which led me to create a basic machine that could replicate my heat signature and any sounds they could hear. Magic was trickier to fool, but a magic core could do that. I had also narrowed what form I would use to escape. Either a Martian Manhunter, Ampfibian, Kitty Pryde, or, as a last resort, a Necrofriggian.
'I really don't want to give birth.'
I experimented with Martian Manhunter first, as they had a plethora of impressive abilities. Even if I didn't get intangibility, his psychic abilities could give me a massive boon. Finding all the locations of the enemy would be easy, and I could easily scan the entire planet for minds. The first try, I got Super Breath. Not very helpful. The second try, I got shapeshifting which was neat to play with but otherwise useless. The third try did... Something? I have no idea what ability it gave me.
2 Weeks Later...
I massively underestimated my luck. It took two weeks to get a usable superpower from the Martian Manhunter, that wasn't what I needed, but was usable. It's telepathy. I... I kind of regret getting Telepathy. Getting it under control was a mess. I could hear the deepest inner thoughts of everyone on the planet. The overload of information was brutal, and my mind had to literally stop working to process the deluge of useless information. And the screams... The screams of fear and terror from all the suffering people of Earth. It made me sick.
'How the hell does J'onn J'onzz deal with this? If humanity wasn't on the verge of extinction, I would literally fry my brain trying to use this power.'
I wasn't exaggerating when I said that. I was able to connect to around half a million minds, and that nearly sent me into a coma. Multiply that by 100, and I would just straight up die. Likely from a brain aneurysm. When I finally got Telepathy under control, I had already used up over half the time I had this form for. So I got to work quickly, cataloguing every single member of the Alliance. Where they are, their numbers, bases, loyalties. Or at least I tried. I found that I couldn't locate several people. Which I found odd. For instance, the Grand Admiral was nowhere to be found. The same for Colonel Winter. It took some time and cross-referencing, but I was able to figure out what was going on.
'Psychic Shielding. Smart.'
It seemed that they had made the shielding to deal with Psykers. Mass-production, however, was too difficult, so they used it solely for their most important personnel. Leaders, scientists, officials, etc. I could probably breach the shielding if I tried hard enough, but my control wasn't the best, so I chose to focus on another avenue of work. You see, Martian Manhunter was a ridiculously powerful person. Strong enough that even Superman was scared to fight him. I only had his psychic powers, but that was more than enough.
'Okay, take a deep breath and go for it.'
I gave my undivided focus on adding a mental command to every Alliance member I could. I honestly wasn't too sure how effective it would be. It could honestly fail completely. But even if it did, they couldn't possibly tie it back to me or the Minutemen. All I had to add was a little snippet about avenging Vault 13, and they would be chasing ghosts of their past. If this failed, that is.
I had the powers, but nowhere near the needed skill level to pull this off perfectly, but I managed to do well enough before the time ended. With literal seconds left in this form, I sent the mental command.
POV Lt Sergei
I was working on the usual guard duty when I heard my communicator send a message. I put my finger to my ear.
"The time has come... Execute Order 66," says a commanding voice.
My eyes glaze over, and I reply automatically.
"It will be done, my lord," I reply.
My fellow guard gets the same order and nods at me. We open the door to the Grand Admiral's office and approach her.
"Hmm, is something wrong, Lieutenants?" The Grand Admiral asks.
We don't answer and lift our rifles to shoot at her, but before we can pull the trigger, she has already jumped over the table and kicked Davis' rifle. I fire at her, but all my shots miss, and she uses Davis as a body shield, causing me to have to hold my fire. She slashes Davis' throat and tosses his dead body at me, and before I can move his body, I hear a crack, and my vision goes blank.
POV Theodora
I calm my breathing and lock the door before preparing for any additional attackers. I had no idea what caused my own guards to turn against me, but I needed to find out and soon. If this were a rebellion, then I needed to find out who was responsible and eliminate them. I use my communicator to contact Colonel Winter, but I get no response. I then hear a distant explosion. I don't wait and walk to my terminal, where I input the needed security codes for an emergency activation of all robotic units to protect the Alliance. They would treat anyone in the Vault as enemy combatants and eliminate them.
'Colonel Winter is on his own for now.'
POV Rio
After removing the Martian form, I had the worst migraine I had ever felt. It was bad enough that I was rolling around on the ground in utter torment. I was decently tempted to just kill myself to end the pain, but I didn't give in. It turned out that the form had more than just pain as a side effect. I was given a Crippled Brain status effect, making it impossible to cast magic or use any abilities. I also had massively reduced HP.
I honestly have no idea how much time passed in that pain-filled blur, but it felt like years. I do know that the area I was in was a mess. I wasn't, as I still looked fresh as a daisy. My body must have gone into shock as it was having a field day on the ground. On the bright side, my bodily waste doesn't smell bad. Unfortunately, it's still really gross. I also can't clean it up with magic, and I refuse to put it into my inventory.
On the bright side, I have suppressed the memories of the pain. But I really don't want to use telepathy again. Even if I know the side effects would be far less, especially if I don't go and try to influence around 10k people with a mental command based on Order 66. Now, some may ask why I did that. Because I can. And I thought it would be amusing. Was it worth the pain? NO ABSOLUTELY NOT! I don't regret my decision, but I would literally never try that again. In fact, I am starting to dislike this ability. It's really good. When it works. But even when it works, it seems to have severe consequences that I really don't like. The number of good results I got from the skill can be counted on one hand. The number of bad or useless results is far more.
'Well, even if it was terrible, I should have at least reduced the Alliance's numbers. No idea by how much. Maybe if I am lucky, they will wipe themselves out. Probably not.'
I didn't know where everything was, as I knew they had some things that I couldn't locate. Specifically, a Nuclear Submarine. With a Nuclear Missile. I know they have it because I saw some soldiers' memories relating to the capture of the Nucleus near Far Harbor. As well as the extermination of the Children of Atom living there. They were there to capture Deacon. My guess was that either the entire crew was shielded or robots replaced them. Besides that, I knew where most of their bases were. The Grand Admiral was in an underwater Vault. The rest of their members lived on a series of connected ocean platforms.
[Image Here] (Basically Mother Base from MGSV)
They also had an outpost in New Kowloon. Another was my prison. Then, lastly, they have one in the wilderness, a ways south of DC. It was where they interrogated the Ghosts. In terms of members, I estimated around 10k~ give or take a few hundred. The real reason I didn't think they could destroy themselves was the estimated 4-6k robots that the Alliance has. Getting accurate numbers was basically a toss-up. Those who would know were shielded, and I didn't care enough to focus on it. If it really came down to it, I could sick Giffany on them.
'No, that seems like a worse idea. Then I have a free Giffany to deal with.'
Regardless of the efficacy of my attempt, they would be fairly crippled, making it that much easier for our revenge. They made a very, very, very poor choice in threatening my friends, and I will destroy everything they built for that folly. I will only spare those who surrender and can be proven to be willing to change. Everyone else will be dealt with permanently.
'Though there are a few other things I might want to look into.'
I wasn't sure what was happening in the West as I was too focused on the Alliance, but the amount of fear and despair coming from that direction was odd. Then, when I wanted to look deeper into it, the entire area shut off like a lightbulb. When I tried to look over there again, it was a void in my senses, which is highly unusual. To be able to hide from J'onn J'onzz's levels of telepathy requires either specific infrastructure or some abnormal powers. My bet was magic, and if it was magic, then it was likely where the Lich was hiding.
Which made me realize I need to deal with the Alliance as soon as I can, so I can get back into the Mirror. If the Lich is causing death and destruction in the West, I am not sure how long the West will last. And when he is done, he will come to deal with us. And I still don't have a way to deal with him. But I had to just hope I got lucky with the perfect world.
'Maybe the Compass can help.'
I hadn't tried using it to help make the coordinates, as that usually includes massive equations that need very precise calculations. And checking each number in a sequence would take a really long time. And I can't even be sure it would work.
'But I guess I have gathered a few numbers, so it wouldn't hurt to go all in.'
But while I did that, I would continue to try to get the Intangibility ability.
'Huh, am I forgetting something?'
I felt like I should have done something, but I couldn't remember what it was.
POV Cait
"So if we use the Turbo Laser at 42% power, we should be able to breach the cell they designed for Rio. While also likely not killing Rio more than once," Curie says while showing a graph that I nod like I understand it.
"I see," I say while I pretend to understand what she is saying.
POV Rio
"OH SHOOT! I should have told everyone I was okay!" I say aloud.
'Eh, I'm sure it will be fine.'
I leave the problem for future me to figure out. And I take the compass that I have basically never used out of my inventory.