Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

"Yeah." She rubbed her neck. "What I wouldn't wish for a pizza."

"Heh," James said, and he started walking around in the small room. "So, you moonlight as an exotic dancer?" he asked.

I started climbing back down and after making it back inside began talking to urthus."think i might have gotten it to work but one of neighbors asked what i was doing so i told them there was something scurrying around on our roof,which isn't entirely a lie since i did find a rodent up there"

"yeah." Alexis realized she still was in barely anything, and Seryna handed over some clothes. Changing quickly, Alexis rubbed her head. "On Valkyrious, those who are brave enough to show off their bodies are well respected. Not everyone has the courage to reveal themselves; by nature we are modest in most dress, though I wear a bit less as my runemarks need to be accessible directly, or else I can't summon my chaos weapons."

"Still.......a stripper? Hate to tell ya but here on Earth strippers aren't viewed with that much respect. Call us prudes," James said, looking away as she got dressed. Whats this chaos stuff?

Valkyrie technology and science is highly advanced, Gestalt explained. Most of the abilities granted by their technology, is linked to what my creators dubbed M-energy. Somewhat unstable when not focused, but capable of interesting effects.

"I found out. But whatever." She sat down. "Anything else?"

"Well uh.......I guess I'm not a prisoner here. So can I leave, or is Seryna going to shoot me?" James asked.

"She won't." Libra promised. "I might kiss you for saving me, but nothing lethal."

"Hah," James laughed, but then stopped as he saw the expression. "Uh, wait you're kidding right?" In addition to the obvious of being nervous......he couldn't trust them with his face yet.

"Not really."
"She's a hug and kiss girl. Cheeks mostly. But if you did save her, you could be lucky." Seryna shrugged.

"Whoa whoa whoa," James stammered out. "Look I'm flattered but no need to take it that far. Hell I don't even need a reward, just doing my......job?" It's not like he was being paid anyway. "Look point is, I'm not doing this for the hugs and kisses. Thrillride and adrenaline rush, maybe."

"...wow you're defensive." Seryna said. "Like you're afraid we're gonna think you do this for payment. Geez."

"I'm not defensive, I'm underage!" James snapped.

"So brag you got a stripper to kiss you on the cheek!" Libra said.
Seryna finay yanked her back. "She's in a weird state once that medicine begins wearing off. Just run."

human you not looking good, I've put all the darkness in this area into fixing you, 6 holes, 5 from those bloody anti-metal man and one from that pipe you crashed into, this could take a few hours.


just fix me up so I can walk. finally awake I see but only mental, alright i'll fix you up to walk able and reconnect one of your artillery back to your heart, remove the bullets and patch the holes while duplicating all the lost blood, human this will be a while.


alright just fix it fast as you can, we don't want anyone walking in on us, I'll give you control of my bodie for now okey. good i'll defend us with your bodie, you know, no human has ever let me willingly control them, why do you put so much trust in me.


"because, your all I got" Marcus said before blacking out again. 6 years, no host has controlled me for this long and he also trust me, hmm I should consider changing some things about my plans.


Hey dark you know that robot guy, Rev I think it was. Send the serpent to him and ask him for help. why do you think he would help us. because, I trust him, he got that lady out and did everything in his power to do it. You are the most stupid human I've ever met but alright. You know you love me

"Will do," James said, and he left the sisters in the building, leaving to head for Chris and the gym. Truth be told, he should have been looking for the Shadow guy.....but he had a feeling they'd be okay. though he didn't like the idea of leaving a potential killer alone.

It was risky parting half of his soul to look for the robotic human put he did it anyway, giving his pet snake the power to leave Marcus's body and the ability to talk but instead he took it over leaving the healing factor with Marcus, he traveled out of the subway and stuck to the dark corners if he stayed in the dark he was almost invisible but in light he was as clear as day. He tracked what remained of the mans aura to a building where he began to climb, it was a little hard but he would have to use the buildings windows and signs to get up. I swear if this turns into a goose chase i'm going to kill Marcus

It was at this moment Nicholas realized absolutely nothing. He was sitting in a chair within his apartment. Drinking water and contemplating the flow of the universe. He was still thinking about the universe and its flow, when he realized nothing, because it was all still flowing. He alread knew of several background patterns but he didn't realize anything new, so he realized nothing. Within his mind he envisioned the swirls of stardust within the vacuum of space. The great space, large emptiness filled with planets and radiation and black holes. There was an ebb and flow to it all though. Everything continued to move away from the center, the beginning of things. In theory, it was a big bang, in practice, it was unknown.

From planets of greens and blues, to ones with multi-colored hues. From desolate planets of silicates and metal, to lively planets with life and water. Aqua Vitae. Perhaps ancient civilizations had contact with these other living things from other planets, other galaxies, other solar systems. Which would make a whole lot of people angry and upset because their religion was just slapped in the face. Which would be an interesting thing to observe, many people would become quite upset and without a doubt their would be some serious depression and serious questioning going around. That would be an interesting paper to write, "The effect of discovering non-earth lifeforms on religion". It would be interesting to see how catholics or jews or muslims react, even more interesting if they found out that humans were made by aliens or that their "god" was an alien and he came here to meet them. That would be opening a whole can of worms.

Not even mentioning the politics with the introduction to non-terran lifeforms. Aliens in the government! They would probably issue some sort of law where you have to be born on earth to be in the government. There could be a new civil rights movement for aliens. Not to mention surge in bio-medical research. Panacea would benefit from that. Nexus will too, if they get their hands on any alien technology. That could very well cause wars between countries "fighting over alien technology like dogs fighting over a bone". Another interesting development with humans. Fighting each other like siblings fighting for attention. Brotherly competition.

That's not even to mention the other universes. What if people discovered their were multiverses? Or multiple multiverses? Possibly parallels? This whole planet would go crazy. They'd be forced to accept a new reality. Some people would probably just go insane. Some would probably be willfully ignorant. Which is funny, because it would be incredibly unlikely that they'd ever go to these other universes. Only a few people are chosen after some length of time, and there are countless universes that people can be chosen from, the likelihood of someone being chosen from the same same universe is practically null. In fact, it probably is null.

And Let's not forget the cats. Those silly domesticated animals whose DNA has remained relatively unchanged since before their domestication. Very few animals on this planet can claim that their DNA has undergone no evolutionary changes or very little. Explains why they're so independent and can still survive on their own. That's why cats are better than dogs, dog DNA has changed quite a bit since their domestication, so much so that there are hundreds of breeds of dogs and only 20 or so of cats. Seriously cats, their purrrrfect. Not to mention they have the most adorable squeaky voices as kittens.

Nicholas realized he was digressing from his original thoughts. He shrugged to himself, and went to his bed to sleep.

Remember that he and Chris were meeting for their usual sparring session, James headed over for Spartan Gym. He had to stop and change of course, hiding behind an alley dumpster for the nanites to seep back under his skin. Walking around the corner and down the street, he walked into the local gym and saw Chris at the other end of the interior, going toe-to-toe with a punching bag. There was a mirror there behind it, so she saw him walk in and turned to say hi.....and then stopped when she saw his clothes. "Jesus James, what happened to your clothes?"

"My clothes what are you talki--oh," he said, looking down and seeing the holes in his clothing. The armor-piercing bullets Hercules had used went right through him, but had been stopped on the other end by the chest-plate of nanites. It had protected Alexis, but did little to save his clothes, and his shirt and shorts were dotted with them. He then realized that his backpack, which he had never taken off, must have received the same damage, and he closed his eyes and said "Uh...well, funny story about that Chris. See I was on my way back from Jake's and I cut through some bushes and.....well some of the branches caught my clothes and tore them up a bit." She didn't seem convinced even as he walked away and headed for the changing rooms. Sitting on a bench, he unzipped his backpack and saw to his dismay that not only were his gym clothes equally riddled with holes, but his damn tablet was shot to hell.

Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful..... he thought, changing out of one set of bullet-hole clothes for another set of bullet hole clothes. When he walked out wearing his gym clothes, both pocked with holes Chris could only ask "And your gym clothes too?" He glowered at her, moving to the mat. She followed, but was on a roll. "James, do your clothes feel saint like? Is there a golden aura of light around them?" Giving her an odd look, he asked "What?" Grinning, Chris said "Earth to James, your clothes are holey." His expression was blank, and it was the only warning she got before he punched the air in front of her nose, and she whipped her head back as she mimed being punched. It was just something they did, and she started laughing.

Making it up the building he saw nothing was here. God bloody dammit. he continued to track what was left of the scent into a alley where the aura stayed a bit before moving on-wards towards a building. I swear if a human try's to squish me i'll rip its foot off. was all he thought while moving though the light towards where the metal man left his scent. I am going to kill someone if he isn't in that bloody building.   

As soon as they were done laughing, the two of them started sparring, trading punches and kicks as the minutes ticked by. James was showing improvement but like always.... "Damn James, this is no time to be laying down!" Chris said, looking down at James as he lay on his back, head slightly spinning as he had just been flipped over and landed on the mat. "Geez Chris, where are you hiding the muscle?" he groaned, getting up on shaky legs. She chuckled, cracking her neck as she said "Nothing to hide, you've just got nothing on me."

getting closer to the building, he realized that the light had strained his eyes making him almost blind only smelling where to go. he made it to the building where he smelt sweat, lots and lots of it, he tried going though what he thought was the door but only made a loud thud as he hit a window. Arr, he has got to be here Marcus reckons that being around people helps him and that he can be of some use to this robot man, but honestly, hes going to try and kill me and then i'm gonna go back and say that it didn't work out and that will be the end. dark thought to him self as he found the door and forced it open making his way to the room where the scent was

Right as James and Chris got back into their sparring, there was a shout from the front of the gym, something about a snake. Chris looked around to see what it was and indeed there most certainly was a snake moving through the doors of the gym. "Holy shit!" she screamed. One of the people in the gym simply reacted on instinct, and took one of the weights and threw it at the snake, missing it by inches.

All dark could hear was a loud thud right next to him and he kept his cool for once, the human is close I can't see but I smell him. He moved towards where he smelt the human only to hear some yelling in his ears, getting annoyed he moved a little faster running into a object again backing out he moved to the left but ran into the same item. Bloody hell I hate not being able to see. he thought to himself before moving more to the left and heading towards the aura, he knew he was close, before running into another object, and now my head hurts, god dam light

James could only nod in agreement, as this wasn't something normally seen. The snake, as black as a starless night, kept getting closer until Chris left from his side.....only to grab a twenty pound dumbbell, both ends the size of small plates, rush back over and slam the flat side like a hammer straight onto the snakes head. "I fucking hate snakes," she said.

The attack was surprising and he felt every bit of the pain that entered his bodie"Fuck, that hurt" he uncontrollably yelled at the attacker before dashing away running into another object "Fuck," was all he could say as his vision was starting to get better "Revenant or what ever you are, where are you" he said as he turned back to the aura looking for a way past the angry and scared one

"It fucking talks!" Chris shrieked, pushing back against James. "James grab your stuff, let's get outta here," she said, and James was only too happy to nod as he dashed back for the lockers. But he had a feeling he knew who that snake belonged to.....and couldn't help but chortle as it was more or less getting its ass handed to itself by Chris. And a bunch of other scared and angry gym attendees....

James, the angry aura was talking to the one he wanted, he was in a darker place now and he saw where they where heading, only his back was visible, "Wait human," he called out dashing after them past all the angry and frightened people avoiding grabs and thrown objects and into the room they were in, Go get him he said, it could be easy he thinks, was all dark thought about as he chased after the human, if I get hurt I will kill marcus

"Leave me alone," James shouted as the snake followed him, and the manager followed the snake, this time holding a bar for the freaking barbell, minus the weights. Slamming one end down behind the snake's head, they said "Grab your stuff and run kid, I just called the police." Nodding, James grabbed his backpack out of the locker and ran past the manager, thinking to himself Gee of all the times to try and follow me.....great plan Shadow. And with that, he ran.

I knew this was a bad idea but no the human wanted help, all he wants is a bloody friend that could help him though this, he's seen more death then he likes and now hes starting to like it. "Hey human mind getting the fuck off me and Revenant mind checking the subway cameras for me, shadow is bad and he likes human company"  was all he croaked out as he pushed the bar off him and run though a window smashing the glass, he started to crawl towards where he left Marcus  

The snake had left, but James still wasn't staying, waiting by the front door as Chris jogged over to him with her backpack in hand. She hadn't changed, still wearing her own athletic shorts and shirt, showing off some leg. Whatever modesty she had though went out the window when that snake appeared, and they both immediately left. Gestalt.....look, I don't like this but check the subway cameras, if there are any, in the area by the club where we met Shadow. For all we know, he may be hiding down there, and better we find him before he finds us again and blows our cover.

Understood, doing so now. Hmm......he did indeed go down into an old subway terminal, but there's no camera's down there, we only found the street view. It's abandoned, and all we can find are old maps and blueprints.

Damn....well we'll look for him later, for now.....I just want a fucking break, and a chance to sit down.... James thought. Then Chris spoke up and said "So James.....wanna tell me how you really got those holes in your clothes? And your backpack?"

Making his way back he passed though the street and made it to the entrance where he saw a camera, he looked at it and then looked back at the tunnel. He moved though the tunnel leaving a dark substance behide and finally made it back to Marcus whose body was still limp. he reconnected his soul and the snake with him and saw that the healing wasn't in full effect like he hoped and he needed to fix that fast. So Marcus, I met the human who I think is named James and well I guess he was in his civilian life because he was in a place full of heavy arse things and sweaty people.

I'm guessing he didn't comply. I don't know I left a trail of darkness which will only be seen by nocturnal vision. Night vision? Yes night vision, look I'm gonna heal you up so that you can talk, hey if he sees the dry blood which there is alot then maybe he won't need the night vision. well I'm gonna sleep until then. you've been awake the entire time.. oh you fell asleep well, good luck good night

"I thought I did," James said quickly. "Just.....ran into a bush." Chris gave him a pointed look as they walked down the street, nearing the neighborhood where she lived. "Yeah I don't buy that James, I honestly do not. Mainly because there's not a scratch on you. No torn skin at all. And for the branches to have poked through your backpack, they'd had to have been what, metal? That should have done damage to you." He looked at her, stunned as she continued to walk, leaving him behind. She stopped to turn around, and said "James....I'm not some dumb female character in a movie who buys the bullshit you spew. I'm your friend. So can you trust me enough to tell me what's going on?"

Dammit.....but she was right, and of all people, he did owe her the truth. "Not here," he said. "When we get home.....I'll tell you the truth." So she waited until they got home, walking through the front door and closing it behind them. Setting his bag down, James said "Alright Gestalt......let's show her." And without pause, the nanites seeped out from the pores of James' skin, through his clothes and over his arms and face, over everything he wore. Chris stood there, stunned as her jaw fell open. It lasted all of a few seconds yet for James it felt like a lifetime, as the suit finally finished forming and the faceless mask stared at Chris. Gestalt, peel back the layer around my face......she should be able to see my face.

Doing so, the nanites smoothed back to expose James' face, and he stared into Chris' eyes. "So uh.....what do you think?" She was silent for a few seconds......and then her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted right there on the spot. Oh.....terrific.

"well i think i got whatever was causing it to stop but i think we should move now instead of next month"I said as i climbed back in the window

Lauren's parents had left the hospital, sitting up she picked up her phone and decided to call James back after listening to his voice message.
The phone rang for a while, shaking her head she gave up and removed the phone from her ear so that she could end the call.

Before he had a chance to even try and wake up Chris, his phone rang from within. It was
Lauren, and he wanted to answer but it wasn't like he could with Chris knocked out. So he let it ring while he scooped up his friend and carried her up to her room, laying her on her bed and deciding to talk to her when she woke up.

Then he called Lauren back, hoping she'd answer.

Lauren had put her phone down when it rang again. She reached over and picked it up, seeing the call was from James. She let it ring a few moments longer before answering. "Hello" Lauren said simply, not sure really what she wanted to say.

"Hey Lauren," James said. He had to think for a moment, trying to work out what he wanted to say. Well, he knew what he wanted to say, but he had to think of how to say it. "Guess you got my message?" was all he could say really.

"Yes" Came the reply, she shuffled on the bed, positioning herself so that she was more comfortable. "So... How are things?" Lauren had been in communication with her band they where all good, still a bit shocked over what had happened but since Lauren was more or less fine now, they'd calmed down.

"Good, things are good," James said. "I was more curious about you though, was hoping you were recovering okay." And hoping we were still on good terms, he thought.

"That's good to hear". Lauren answered quietly, not wanting to speak too loudly in case she disturb other patients, in different rooms to her own. "I'm am fine... Well as fine as you can be after being in a car crash I think it might be better to walk places" She chuckled wearily. "No more taxis just old fashion walking..."

"Good, good......listen, Lauren I wanted to talk to you. Face to face. When we were all last out, I said something about explaining something to you. I think its time I make good on what i said."

Lauren was silent for sometime before speaking one more. "Listen James... It depends on when I am let out of hospital and even then I will be busy catching up on work, band practice for the concert and stuff" If there was time then they might be able to meet up, might.
Times where busy round about now.

"Yeah......yeah I hear ya there Lauren," James said. "I've got some things on my end as well. But hopefully we can talk. If you want, I can always come over and see you again." He doubted she'd accept, but it was worth a shot. He noted that it was odd having this conversation, while Chris was passed out on the bed.

"Maybe" She responded. "If there is time". The conversation was rather awkward, Lauren contemplated making some excuse to end it yet chose against such an action. At least for a while longer anyway, the conversation might become less awkward in time, even if she doubted that it would.

There was silence then over the line, and James could all but feel the level of awkwardness. He wonderd over how to end it, but came up short beyond saying "So guess this means your concert will be cut short, eh?" He did his best to inject as much humor into the words as possible.

"No actually the show will go on and I will be there" Lauren responded swiftly. She was determined to make it to the concert, her friends where going she wasn't about to have it all cancelled because of her own poor luck.

"Good to hear," James said just as quickly. "Think your fans would throw a riot.....plus Chris and Amy would be part of it, and that's not a sight the worlds ready for." He walked down the stairs, already changed out of his Revenant mode and back to his hole ridden clothes, and plopped down on the sofa. "How much longer do you think you're going to be in the hospital?" he asked.

"Yeah... Probably it is bad for publicity and relations with the fans if you cancel a concert even for the greatest of reasons" Lauren replied sounding tired over the phone. "A few days possibly, maybe less I am not sure to be honest with you"

He could tell she was faking the sound of being tired. After all, he used that sound plenty of times with Kat, but he wasn't going to confront Lauren over it. It wasn't worth it, and besides she probably didn't want to talk anymore. "So yeah uh.....when you next get some free time, I'd love a chance to talk Lauren."