"Boy are you in for a treat!" Chloe led her girlfriend in front of her hidden army. There, filling the space of a football field was an array of blood red skeletons. Because Ruby wasn’t familiar with warhammer 40K, she did not know the name of each unit, but she could tell she was standing in front of a terrifying force. The ones in front were simple skeletons in armor, wielding magical swords, spears, and shields. Behind several rows of them were larger skeletons, easily three times the size of a man. They each had an extra pair of arms, and had either a greatshield and a halberd or a sword in each of their four hands. Further back were even more monstrous abominations, which looked like large animals divorced from anything resembling a man. There were also “Gothizard Harvesters” like the one that was used as a bodyguard at the meeting. Further behind them were rows of trebuchets, but made out of bone and with legs instead of wheels. It definitely looked like an army that an eldritch horror could conjure. "Tada! What do you think? I can answer any questions you might have."

Armies were not really Ruby’s scene. These were things she usually avoided as a Djinn. Wishes people made under those circumstances didn’t tend to turn out well. At least she didn’t really have to worry about those compulsions anymore. As she surveyed the sheer number of creatures, it certainly felt intimidating. She would whistle. ”Wow. These are from your patron, I assume?” It wasn’t really that hard to identify, but she didn’t know all that much about Chloe’s other patron.

"Sort of." She tapped her fingers together. "Without getting too into the weeds, I was supplied with some undead mages that specialize in creating things like this. They’ve been building this little army for a few weeks now, but I added a few of my own touches." A grin crossed Chloe’s face when she thought about the gothizard devastators they had made. The bony abominations that were made from the “penny papers” before all of the Mint research was destroyed. And then there was another surprise, but no point in popping the lid off of that yet.

Not far away, Harmony was standing aside running the numbers and assessing all the units in preparation. She would turn to the two as they approached. ”Ah, good to see you Chloe. I was just making sure your army was in order.”

"I figured as much." Chloe didn’t fully trust Harmony yet. She understood that Harmony was very much for Mint and against the Queen, but she was also a potential competitor in the future. Though something like this couldn’t be fully hidden from the Mint, so she had reluctantly told her about it. Some of Chloe’s other minions were also present, which was the only reason she trusted Harmony wasn’t going to try and turn this to her advantage. She hadn’t told Harmony about the Gothizard Devastators or her surprise. At the very least, she wouldn’t be able to figure out exactly what they were. That was the most important thing. "Any word from the other factions? Is the Tin Princess ready to roll yet?"

Pausing for a moment, Harmony would check up on what systems had some insight to the meeting. ”Not completely sure. I believe she is in another meeting I am not present for. I expect more action to come once that’s finished.” After a couple seconds she shrugged and gave a awkward smile. ”Penrose isn’t the most organized group I imagine.”

"Understatement of the year…" Chloe rolled her eyes. "So! How closely have you been observing my minions? Probably close enough to know they aren’t exactly your average magical girl fodder, right?"

”To a degree. I can’t say I understand a lot about magical creatures like these. It’s like... book smarts. You know a lot of information, but it’s very different in practice.” She would try and explain. Having a load of data dumped into her head didn’t automatically mean she had command of it all. The AI wasn’t really built for that purpose.

"Well! I was just about to explain what this is to Ruby, so you can listen in." She turned away from the AI to look at her girlfriend. ”I don’t think it’s a secret to say that a lot of magical girls have died in Penrose. Sometimes the overcity area, but you know, it’s just… something that kind of happens a lot. Especially if we include the rave." She turned to her armies. ”Nagash works in souls. So many souls. Each of his creations are made by fusing the strongest parts of various souls to bone, and then animating them to be obedient servants. Normally, they would not be terribly powerful. I mean, compared to a magical girl, that is. Even if they are made up of several human souls, souls do have their limits." A smile crossed her face. ”Which is why all of these guys are made from magical and monster girl souls! I hunted everywhere for resurrecting magical girl souls,though the bulk of them came from the rave." Harmony likely knew that the whole fiasco was Chloe’s doing. Ruby hopefully didn’t. Regardless of what was offered, it had always been Chloe’s goal to get her hands on a large sum of monster girl souls and a few ascendancy souls for this very purpose. The cycle of reincarnation would likely cause her creations to break down after a decade or so, but they should be able to do some fighting in this upcoming battle without any issue. "It’s almost poetic, isn’t it? The dead returning to defend Penrose one last time…"

Listening intently, the details didn’t seem to bother the holographic girl all that much. Hard to say exactly why that was, but not having any connection to the magical girls in question probably went a long way. ”Impressive. I don’t imagine that is an easy task.” With more details, she could better identify the essence of souls with her Spirit magic.

Ruby herself had not ever seen anything like these creatures before. Though she could not say she was surprised. Magical girls were magic after all and that power can be used in many different ways. But to Chloe’s observation. ”It does have a poetic note to it.” It still a bit awkward given that Chloe was likely involved with some of these creations. Most were probably unrelated though. ”So what is the plan for them? Will they be with whatever the others are planning, or will they be in another offensive?”

Chloe wrapped her arm around both girls and pulled them into a huddle. "Well, things have been dragging a bit, haven’t they?" She grinned like a shark. "These guys were always going to be a distraction, but if everyone is still twiddling their thumbs then maybe I have to be the point of the spear.”

”Ooh, that sounds fun. What did you have in mind?” To Harmony this sounded like an interesting challenge. Already her mind began to reach out and craft scenarios of how best to move each piece. Not that combat was exactly her strongest area, but enough overlapped that it wasn’t that hard to imagine what could be done.

"I’m just going to start the attack myself!”

Harmony noded along. ”Mhm. And that would divert some of the Queen of Heart’s forces away from where the others will be going.”

Chloe grinned. "Possibly all of it, if the other teams keep stalling.”

Ruby was a little less enthusiastic on the matter, though it would probably take a while longer than she was thinking to attack. ”Shouldn’t we wait until their meeting is done at least? That way we aren’t left without backup or for them to have the chance to start whatever it is they have in mind.”

"Time isn’t on our side, queenie knows as much.” Chloe wrapped her arm around Ruby. "If there’s something that big group huddle we were all in taught me, it was that nothing happens around here until a fight starts. Maybe the meeting pans out, maybe it doesn’t. I don’t see how kicking the hornet’s nest could hurt. Maybe putting wonderland under siege will give our allies room at the negotiation table. Mary likes to work alone, and I’m sure she can adapt to whatever we do.” She winked.

”Okay. Do you need me to do anything specific?” Harmony would look over to Chloe. ”Oh, would you like me to try and predict our success?”

Chloe swung her eyes off of her waifu and onto the digital monster girl. "I think I have everything covered, but sure, calculate our success. I’m curious.”

With a nod, Harmony would direct her processing and magic to foresee the possible outcome of their assault. Her visage would flash and blink as traces of light zip up and down her body. Her eyes would glow bright as she zoned out. ”I see your forces are able to prevent the flanking by Wonderland’s armored forces and capture the army base.” A moment later, she would return to normal and gasp out loud. Recoiling, Harmony would and grasp at Chloe and move in close. ”Y-you should not attack alone.” She would whisper in a hushed, but urgent tone.

"Why is that?” Chloe continued to grin.

Chloe clearly didn’t know what Harmony has seen in her vision. ”I saw your head in front of a castle surrounded by the bones of Nagash’s troops.”

"Really now? My head in front of a castle? And it wasn’t attached?” Chloe held her chin when she looked over the army. "That’s awfully specific. I thought for sure you’d give me a probability. But if I’m doomed to fail, I suppose I shouldn’t lead the army.” She placed a hand on her hip. "I’ll just have to hope that the hekatos are up to leading the army.” She pointed at a necropolis stalker "Sakura! Lead the charge! Do what you were born to do!” The giant skeleton moved to the front of the army. "It’s not like we have much of a choice at this point. The queen is all seeing, so we are forced to attack sooner rather than later.”

”Usually it is data. I think the events are close enough that they are clearer.” She sighs. ”I’m glad it was though. I don’t want to see you killed.”

It was a shame that Chloe hadn’t gotten to know Harmony earlier on. Maybe if she had, she would have been able to involve her more deeply in her machinations. Initially, Chloe was pissed when she realized Harmony was going around acting like her own free agent, but it was starting to seem like that was just a quirk of her being a monster girl rather than some deep seated desire to run everything some day. She wrapped her arm around the girl’s waist and pulled her close. Chloe was shoulder to shoulder with both girls. "With any luck, the others will get here soon.”

Sakura pointed one of its four swords towards wonderland, and the entire army started to move. Extremely disciplined, all possessing the exact same ability and moving as one cohesive unit. Humans could not move with such unison, and even the more monstrous of the ossiarch moved with machine-like precision. Even though each of those creatures had a soul, not one of them was acting with anything more but single minded devotion. Fanatics in everything but name.

"Could you tell Penny that the siege has started? My army got spotted.”

It seemed like it was time to get moving.

‘We’re ready,’ Miko declared, nodding with determination that the twins would be ready to move out once more. If the earrings were for everyone and trusted, then the two could pretty easily use some reinforcement magic to get the earrings in place, even if they needed to stick holes in their ears for it. Well, Miko would need to, anyway, Ronin could just change her ears to have holes in them.

‘Anytime!’ Ronin declared. Though there was one more thing that was on her mind. She walked up to MDP, Miko looking after her questioning. ‘Hey, how were you able to remember everything from your recent adventures?’ she asked, just curious.

__________________


It seemed that it was decided.

‘Then let us make haste. An army will join us in Wonderland. The Queen is about to learn the consequences of treating one's peons unfairly,’ she told, and she gestured for the portal that she opened, that she was about to be joined going through.

If it was Mariette’s job to bring them to Wonderland, she would focus her powers to open portals to the locations that had been decided upon. If not, then she didn’t need to.

‘Good luck, I’ll be right there,’ she said briefly. Then, she would open another portal, through which Penny and Janet were to join her. Those that were through it would have been warned to prepare their forces, albeit not been privy on the exact details of the plan, yet. That was about to be rectified, Mariette was just so cautious she didn’t want any one of them to know before the time was at hand, just in case the Queen undermined any of them before today.

With that, it was time to get to work.

On the far side of the universe from the Milky Way’s local group, one can find a particularly imposing galaxy cluster. The extraordinarily expansive domain of the Grand Trans-Galactic Vaastatorian Imperium, its thirteen thousand galaxies are encompassed within and linked together by an ultra structure of nearly unimaginable size. The myriad star systems of each galaxy are encapsulated by Dyson spheres, each linked together by techno tendrils spanning light years, the stars themselves surrounded by shimmering Dyson swarms and spinning gyro dynes drawing staggering amounts of power even as they hold their imprisoned stars in a state of perpetual entropic equilibrium via chronological manipulations far too complex to comprehend. Yet, this is but a mere microcosm of the processes being enacted upon the galaxies in which they reside. Indeed, the great spirals have themselves been enclosed in massive spheres of biomechanical matter and linked together in an intricate web of mega worlds stretching out into the infinite cosmos beyond.

An unequivocal Type III civilization, on the cusp of attaining Type IV status, the Grand Trans-Galactic Vaastatorian Imperium stands utterly unopposed in its corner of the universe, the surrounding civilizations left to either flee before its inexorable expansion or wait to be inevitably subsumed into its titanic totality. And at the heart of this all-encompassing array, this mind-numbing network of nodes, resides the grand and glorious capital, the prime node, the hyper hub, the central crux core, Vaastator itself. This planet-sized eldritch horror is the genesis point of the Grand Trans-Galactic Vaastatorian Imperium, its heart, brain, and soul, the galaxy cluster-spanning ultra structure serving as nothing more than an extension of its own incomprehensible being. Thus, if one wished to destroy such a stupendously powerful civilization/entity, this is where they would strike.

So it was, that an eldritch biomechanical technomantic vessel of an unfathomable level of super-scientific advancement materialized in the midst of this ostensibly inviolable sanctum, bypassing all its metaphysical, multilayered defenses with effortless ease. Of course, such a violation could not be tolerated, and the presence of this unwelcome intruder was immediately responded to. Over a hundred million warships of the most frighteningly formidable types surged forth from a plethora of portals to engage the mysterious foe who dared to threaten their supergalactic sovereign. And they were not alone. Joining the myriad million-meter long ultranoughts, meganoughts, and hypernoughts were billions of dark matter mecha-mystic demigods, each mountain-sized titan ten times more powerful than any Earth-born magical, and then elevated by eldritch energies to pinnacles of physical, psionic, and preternatural power even further beyond.

Yet, as the full, cataclysmic might of the Invincible Champion Legion and Eternally Triumphant Armada converged upon the abhorrent invader, as destructive power of such unfathomable potency that it could rip whole galaxies asunder fell upon the source of their ire, a horrifying realization began to dawn on the dauntless defenders. The explosive might of two hundred Big Bangs, the hyperspacial, megaspacial, infraspacial, negaspacial, ultraspacial, and gigaspacial energies, the dark matter, negamatter, antimatter, and omnimatter polymorphic projectiles, had all achieved absolutely zero effect whatsoever. Not only was their foe utterly undamaged by their apocalyptic assault, it was utterly untouched as well. Indeed, if one word could be used to describe their barrage of biphasic blink cannons, dark energy ray emitters, singularity super guns, cosmic string projectors, tachyon lances, ghost particle beams, ultra challenger grade variable spectrum reality disintegrators, and megamystic annihilation spells, that word would be “laughable”.

“Nyahahahaha! Is that really the best you’ve got?!” Doctor Nykannis, Queen of the Mad Scientists cackled as she watched the pitiful assault on her flagship from the ARGO’s command throne, the arc of panoramic holodisplays an entirely unnecessary aesthetic choice in light of her full-spectrum neural link with the ARGO’s transcendent, soultech AI. “Is this actually your full power?!” she inquired with a mocking sneer. “This isn’t even an annoyance! I heard you were supposed to be one of the strongest things in the universe, but this is just pathetic! I gotta be honest, I expected a bit more of a challenge from a civilization capable of building an energy collection array around an entire galaxy supercluster, but seeing as how I built one around this entire multiverse, I guess that was just wishful thinking,” she added with an annoyed sigh as she stroked the wiggling tendrils of the multicolored eldritch blob sitting in her lap. “Turns out, you’re nowhere near my level. Here, let me show you what real power looks like…”

Although a great deal smaller than her previous, planet-sized Ramina-class flagship, the ARGO was far, far stronger, a fact Nykannis was only too happy to demonstrate. Opening like the petals of some eldritch, biomechanical flower, the APEX-grade omninought unleashed a mind-bending barrage of two trillion metaphasic multidimensional monopole missiles and five billion Dark Energy Hyperetheric Homing Lasers to “soften-up” the myriad warships and mecha-mystic demigods’ defenses, each polymorphic probability manipulating, chrono-correcting projectile and beam hitting their assigned target with one hundred percent accuracy, despite any and all attempts at evasion or the plethora of point defense systems they possessed. After this, the full brunt of the destructive power they had hurled upon this horrific embodiment of eldritch biotechnomagimechanical mastery, and completely absorbed by its fractal harmonic polycosmic convergence clusters, was now disgorged back at them in a devastating deluge of pure obliteration. It was perhaps at this point that the precious few survivors of that cosmic holocaust began to fully grasp just how stupendous the gulf separating their own abilities from that of their frightening foe truly was, that they faced nothing less than a numinomorphic Star Bastion taken to the very apogee of advancement. An instant after that, and they would find themselves utterly erased from existence, their very creation canceled out by the starkly inconceivable energies of axionic annihilators, hyper-quantum omni-aetheric chrono-catalytic excision lances, tetra-tachyonic tesseract turbo bores, cross-continuua polychronal numinoscopic nullifier rays, and several dozen other reality editors too incomprehensible to describe.

Yet, even this display of near-omnipotence was not enough to dissuade resistance. From out of a newly opened string of portals poured forth still more ultra-advanced biomechanical warships and eldritchly empowered cosmic titans. However, Nykannis chose to send a swarm of numinospheric omnifighters composed of naked singularities and sentient cosmic string to deal with these latest annoyances. After all, she had a far more important target to focus on…

While the APEX-grade autonomous attack craft laid waste to the new arrivals with phantasmal polymorphic paraphasic psionic pulse conductor coils and cross-continua coalescence cannons, the ARGO moved into position to attack Vaastator itself. Even now, the eldritch sovereign’s psionic screams of rage were reverberating on several trans-aetheric spectrums, but the Monarch of Mad Science simply tuned them out. “How pitiful,” she remarked to her pet as the creature watched the unfolding slaughter with wide eyes atop trembling stalks. “They had to have known this was gonna happen sooner or later. I mean, even if I didn’t pay them a visit, it was only a matter of time before Laat came knocking. There’s no way he’d pass up a prize this big! I’m just glad I was able to get here first! Now, let’s see just how tough you are…”

In less than a second, the results of several dozen spy rays, finder beams, and various other data accumulators filled the mind of the Mad Scientist Supreme, causing an amused smirk to spread across her face.

“Huh, looks like you’ve actually got a fairly impressive array of polyphasic, hyperharmonic, omnidimensional protection systems set up,” Nykannis noted, while kneading her eldritch pet’s tentacle-covered form. “But I think I have just the instruments for this particular operation.”

At that, a pair of enormous crackling portals tore open on either side of the eldritch orb, before vomiting forth two planet-sized Nth-space omniphasic numinoform nega-reality spheres, which smashed into either side of Vaastator at several billion times the speed of light, like a pair of giant ball bearings. These cataclysmic impacts were more than enough to comprehensively shatter every last layer of the eldritch entity’s defenses, leaving its cosmically horrific core utterly exposed to the ARGO’s final killing blow.

“First we crack the shell,” Nykannis explained to her polymorphic pet with a wickedly gleeful grin. “Then we crack the nut inside…”

Glowing and crackling with pent up power of the most starkly inconceivable kind, the ARGO disgorged a devastating deluge of neo-omega hyper-zithronic omnidimensional veilbreaker beams. This staggeringly stupendous bombardment was immediately followed up by an expulsion of the very crystalized quintessence of destruction, an utterly irresistible force of comprehensively complete ontological unmaking, second only to the unfathomable energies of the Storyslayer itself (And Vaastator, while certainly impressive, was not even remotely close to being a worthy target of those energies).

“Nyahahahaha!” Nykannis cackled as the eldritch spheroid burst apart under the full fury of the pinnacle of poly-plenumic power. “This is where the real fun begins!” she told her pet as the strange creature’s eyes widened atop their shuddering stalks. “Since Vaasty here was linked into every node in this biomechanical, transgalactic array, making him pop like a zit’ll cause a chain reaction that’ll tear the whole thing apart! So, let’s move to a suitable location to watch it happen!”

With but a thought, the ARGO teleported itself far beyond the boundaries of the Grand Trans-Galactic Vaastatorian Imperium, and waited. It wouldn’t have to wait long. Within seconds, strings of dazzling detonations blossomed across the gargantuan, galaxy cluster-encompassing giga structure’s shuddering surface as hundreds of its component galaxies were violently rent asunder.

“Now, I know what you’re probably thinking,” the Monarch of Mad Science told her enraptured pet. “How the hell can we watch this process happen so fast if it’s just moving at light speed? Wouldn’t it still take several millennia just to see even one of these galaxies tear itself to shreds? Well, you’d be right! That’s why I encapsulated the whole damn thing in a time dilation field! Nyahahahaha! Now we can watch the Grand Trans-Galactic Vaastatorian Imperium’s cataclysmic collapse in under thirty seconds!”

Sure enough, after that half a minute of apocalyptic fury had elapsed, every last trace of the Grand Trans-Galactic Vaastatorian Imperium had been utterly erased from existence.

“Nyahahaha! That went even better than I’d thought it would!” Nykannis declared approvingly. “Then again, I probably shouldn’t have expected very much from Vaasty and his goons. After all, they’ve got even less protagonist power than fucking Celia, and when was the last time she was relevant? Anyway, the nine unified galaxies really owe me big for helping them out like this. It’s a shame they don’t have anything to give me that I actually want. _{I mean, there’s already a giant crystalline statue of me in front of their Academy of Super-Scientific Supremacy.} But that’s okay,” she added as she stroked her pet’s squirming technicolor tendrils. “I just happen to know someone who does…”




The next instant, the ARGO was once again floating in the familiar yellowy-green nebulosity that filled the space above the biomechanical, technomantic towers of The Lab. Teleporting down to the surface, Nykannis arrived just in time to see a pair of guests enter through a portal.

“Well, well, well… Look who’s back from her adventures!” the Monarch of Mad Science greeted, giving her visitors a broad grin, while unceremoniously dumping her pet into a crackling portal of her own creation. “And it seems you’ve made a new friend, too…”

“Yeah,” Kate replied with a slightly awkward chuckle. “This is Oracle Morowa,” she added, gesturing to her companion. “But I’m pretty sure you already knew that. Morowa, this is my old pal, Nykannis.”

“Doctor Nykannis,” the mad scientist corrected with a raised finger.

Morrowa’s eyes darted around the strange space, but didn’t settle on anything. Her grip on Kate’s hand tightened as she surveyed every incomprehensible techno bobble she saw. ”Ah…” Her eyes settled on the tiny doctor, who was about her hight, albeit far younger in appearance. ”Yes, Kate’s told me a bit about you.” After a sharp inhale, she added ”Doctor.”

“I’ll bet she did!” Nykannis replied, her maniacal grin growing even broader. “After all, my incomparable super scientific genius is a pretty amazing conversation topic! Even so,” she added, adjusting her glowing goggles. “Seeing my awesomeness first hand is a trillion times better than just hearing about it!”

“Speakin’ of,” Kate interjected. “I was hopin’ you could help Morowa with a bit of a lifespan extension. Y’know, as part of my payment for gettin’ all these photos for ya?” she added, holding up her camera.

“I was referring to giving her a tour of The Lab, but I suppose that works, too,” Nykannis conceded. “In fact, we can do both! Although I’ve got a feeling she’d prefer it if you were the one serving as her tour guide…” the Monarch of Mad Science added with a sly smirk. “So,” she continued, turning to Morowa. “You just want a few extra centuries, or full immortality?”

”Wah?” She stepped backwards, cautiously. Her eyes darted between Kate and Nykannis. ”Centuries? Immortality? Did I ever say I wanted to live longer?” She pinched the bridge of her nose. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke up again. ”I mean, of course I’d love to live longer. B-but would there be any drawbacks? Am I going to be a zombie or turned into some kind of…” She waved her hand around herself. ”...Anything around here?”

“Are you saying you don’t like my creations’ aesthetics?” Nykannis inquired with a raised eyebrow. “Well, whatever,” she added with a dismissive shrug. “You wouldn’t need to look any different from how you do now, unless you wanted to.”

“And, uh, Wisdom told me about how you wished you had more time to spend with me,” Kate added with a sheepish smile. “So I kinda thought you’d be happy if we could make that happen.”

The moth woman pursed her lips. ”Right.” She raised her finger and, after looking between the two, eventually settled on Nykannis to address first. ”I’m just not use to receiving things without there being strings attached. Your creations look… Interesting, but-” She held her chin. ”Maybe I should take that tour with Kate first, and then I’ll get back to you, okay?”

“Wow. I really wasn’t expecting you to be so nervous,” Nykannis remarked with an annoyed frown. “But I understand where you’re coming from. As it happens, I owe Kate here quite a few favors in return for completing her recent assignment _{even if she did remove one of my favorite sources of amusement in the process}, and this is one of them. Anyway, you can go on your little tour now, but I’ll need that camera before ya head out,” the mad scientist added, holding out her hand.

“Sure,” Kate replied, relinquishing her camera into the demented doctor’s care. “And you can take these, too,” the photographer added, producing a pair of cards.

“So, ya lost your little pets, huh?” Nykannis asked with a smirk.

“Yeah,” Kate muttered. “Wisdom turned ‘em into playing cards for that stupid game of hers, but I’m confident an unparalleled super genius like you can get ‘em back to normal in no time,” she added with a grin.

“I’ll get ‘em back to normal and then some,” the Monarch of Mad Science replied with a wink. “You know me, I always take things to the next level! Nyahahahaha! And that goes for your little life extension, too,” she added, turning to address Morowa. “As a bonus, I’ll give ya an interdimensional link to your home reality plenum. That way, you can still use your divination abilities in other universes! Whatdaya think of that?!”

”It certainly sounds good, yes.” She took Kate’s hand again. ”But I think we can continue this conversation once I’ve seen the rest of your lab. This is all very new to me, and quite different than the ponds and trees I’m used to.”

“By the time you’re done, I’m sure you’ll see how much of an improvement it is, and how incredibly amazing I am! Nyahahahaha!” Nykannis replied with a peal of maniacal laughter. “Have fun, you two!” she added, before stepping through a rectangular portal of glowing, yellowy-green energy, which promptly closed behind her.

---

Given their location, it was unlikely that any amount of distance would put Morrowa and Kate in a place where Nykannis couldn’t hear and observe them, if she so decided. But the moth woman did seem to relax as she got further away from the small scientist.

”It’s been so long since I’ve been able to just experience life without knowing what the future holds. I apologize if I do not seem as confident as I did when you met me. It’s just a lot to take in, being here.” Her eyes moved to a tube filled with techno tentacles submerged in a clear fluid, its purpose unclear to her. ”Did Wisdom tell you why I wanted to be with you?”

“Uh, yeah,” Kate confirmed hesitantly, the first hints of a blush beginning to color her cheeks. “She did. Soooo, I, uh, guess this place is kinda overwhelming, huh?” the photographer asked in a half-hearted attempt to change the subject. “Even with as often as I come here, I still can’t help but be impressed by all the stuff she’s got goin’ on,” she added with a chuckle. “There’s nothin’ to worry about, though,” she hastened to reassure her companion. “As long as you’re a guest, this place is perfectly safe. Even if we get lost, there’re plenty of guides to help us out, and Nykannis’ll always know where we are.”

”Yes, I can see why you speak so highly of her.” She wasn’t looking at the lab though, only Kate. ”What I don’t see is why you want to extend my life. I don’t think you’ve thought that far ahead. Yes, having a longer life would let me spend a great deal more time with you, but for what?” She leaned on a railing. ”Kate, you… maybe you don’t know, but the days feel much longer for me than most. I feel like I’ve known you my whole life, and in many ways I have. It must be strange to know so little about me yet hear me talk like this. But Kate, even if we have an eternity to spend together, do you think you could ever feel anything like what I’m feeling for you now?”

Kate bit her lip. “I… I don’t know…” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. “I mean, despite having been alive for so long, I’ve never really done the whole ‘romance thing’ before. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give it a shot!” she hastened to add. “I think you’re really cool, Morowa, and I’d really like to keep hangin’ out with ya. I just thought… maybe you’d like that, too. Y’know, to be able to spend more time together, even if it’s only as friends.”

”Is it that hard to see things my way?” Morowa looked to the rest of the lab, and finally pointed at a giant glowing orb. ”Do you know why a moth will fly into a flame?” She moved her hand in front of the light source, and it became apparent how bright it was. Her face looked green, except for where the shadow of her hand was cast on her face. ”There are a lot of theories, but they all revolve around confusion. Moths did not evolve in a way that allows them to properly deal with artificial lights or man made fire. They don’t know how to deal with it, and it destroys them.” She looked back at Kate. ”I imagine I could have lived a relatively normal life if I never learned of your existence. Perhaps the idea of living a hundred years longer or even forever would have excited me. But now that I know you exist, you are all I want.” Her lips twitched into a smile. ”Of course I want to spend more time with you, even if it’s just as a friend. But keeping that up for years? Or centuries? I don’t think you realize how painful an experience that would be.”

Kate swallowed. “Well, uh, I’ve been around for a few centuries already, and I haven’t gotten bored yet,” she replied with an awkward chuckle. “But I guess that’s because I get to travel to so many interesting places and meet so many cool people,” she added, giving Morowa a genuine smile. “And I suppose if I ever did get tired of living so long I could always have Nykannis make it so that I started to age normally, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

”I’m not surprised you feel that way.” Morowa turned to some techno organic structure covered in lenses. She didn’t know what she was looking at, but didn’t seem bothered by it. ”But I have, essentially, lived the majority of your life and even parts of a few others. I wouldn’t be an oracle if I didn’t. I cannot say the wonders you experience bring me quite the same joy.” After a moment, she looked back at Kate. ”But I will try, as will you, correct?”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” Kate reassured her. “I mean, I just wanna do whatever makes you happy, Morowa, especially after everything I’ve put you through…”

”I can’t ask for more than that.”

The rest of the “tour” proceeded rather uneventfully, with Kate showing Morowa the aspects of the labyrinthian, continent-spanning laboratory she thought the moth woman would find at least somewhat appealing, such as the botanical bio-dome clusters with their jungles of genetically modified, hyper-enhanced ambulatory carnivorous plants and precognitive perceptive projector panoplies. Soon enough, they were ready to return to Nykannis, who greeted the pair with a maniacal grin.

“What did ya think?!” the mad scientist asked Morowa. “Pretty amazing, right?!”

“Uh, I think Morowa’s used to more rustic and natural settings,” Kate explained before the moth girl could.

“Yeah, most Oroses seem to be that way,” Nykannis noted with an annoyed scowl. Morowa only shrugged her shoulders.

“So, what have you been up to lately?” the photographer inquired in an effort to change the somewhat awkward subject.

“Well, I deployed the various nanoscopic reality shunt projectors that should keep the Wonderlanders from setting foot in everyone’s favorite shithole,” Nykannis began. “Then I tested out a few new weapons, mocked the younger version of everyone’s favorite failure and the other residents of everyone’s second favorite shithole with Jen, did a few dissections, gave the aforementioned failure an urgently needed pep talk, and took my new flagship out for a test drive, although I think I need to find a more suitable opponent for it than the last pitiful specimens I used it on…” she added. “Anyways, that was all before you dropped by. While you’ve been showing your new pal around, I finished analyzing the data you collected on all the various Oroses you’ve encountered, and I got to wondering, what if I created my own Oros? Y’know, find a suitable candidate in some backwater reality plenum before Aigorost can lay claim to them and empower them myself? So that’s just what I did! It took a bit of searching, but I eventually found a universe that Aigorost hadn’t sunk his edgy, perverted-as-fuck tendrils into yet. After that, I needed to find the inhabitant of said universe who he’d select to be his champion if he actually did have knowledge of it. That would’ve just taken a few simple tests, a process even further expedited by all the information you provided on precisely what makes an Oros an Oros. But where’s the fun in that?! So instead, I gathered the most likely candidates by offering to host ‘magical girl tryouts’ in which I put the motley collection of hopefuls through a series of absolutely hilarious ‘tests’. Of course, I’d already figured who the winning candidate would be after the initial screening process, but it was still highly amusing to watch things play out.”

“Yeah, that sounds like you,” Kate replied with a chuckle, while shaking her head.
“So, who was the lucky winner?”

“This young lady,” Nykannis revealed, manifesting a holodisplay showing the lady in question. “Meet Isra Mahmud, codename: Osiris.”

“What, no Oros title?” Kate inquired.

“Sadly, no,” Nykannis replied with a tired sigh. “I mean, Osiris kinda implies it, but really, if I’d have to call her anything, it’d be Oros the Failure.”

“Uh, why’s that?”

“Because, as Wisdom so eloquently put it, the thing that really makes an Oros an Oros is disappointment, the fact that none of them get what they want, and Isra has everything her heart desires. There’s no unattainable goal that’s forever out of her reach, and while she’s succeeded in carrying out every task I’ve assigned her, the simple fact that she’s completely content with her life means that all the time and work I put into her was nearly a total waste. Still, even if she’s not a real Oros as I’ve chosen to define them, she has at least some use,” the Monarch of Mad Science added. “I’ve been having her gather these things called Heart Crystals, which are basically her universe’s version of Cosmic Ominversal Infusion Numinospheric Synthesizers. As power sources, they’re not exactly novel, but I figure if she gathers, say, fifty of them and uses them on herself, she might reach the level of an actual Oros. Even if she doesn’t, I think I’ve come up with a suitable use for her after her current task is complete…”

“How’s she doing with that?”

“She’s been at it for about a month, and she’s already collected twenty-four crystals, so it shouldn’t be too much longer. Time moves much faster in that universe compared to this one,” the mad scientist explained. “So I’m confident she’ll have gotten all fifty before the Penrose Pack even sets foot in Wonderland. Speaking of, it looks like she just finished getting number twenty-five.”

In a flash, the holodisplay shifted to the conclusion of a battle against a bizarre barbed wire rock hippo. As they watched, the monster crumbled into dust and Osiris claimed its glowing Heart Crystal.

“Nice work, Osiris,” Nykannis commended her creation after opening an audio link. “I hope my lack of instruction wasn’t too disconcerting for you,” she added with a smirk. “I’ve been a little occupied chatting with some guests.” Although she could have easily split her consciousness in order to attend to both parties simultaneously, she honestly didn’t much care about keeping a close eye on the activities of what was essentially nothing more than a failed experiment. “Before you return to your bath, I’d like you to stop by The Lab for a moment. There’s something important I want to discuss with you, and I’d prefer to do so in person.”

The scantly-clad cyborg didn’t look back at her master, nor did she nod or even give a verbal affirmation that she had heard the request. She sprinted away from the ruins of the monster, and her bladed tail yanked a crystal out of the rubble as she fled. After turning a corner, she flicked her tail and seemed to cut the air right in front of the spectators in the lab. The cut opened up, and the holographic became physical as Osiris hopped off of the holo table and landed on the ground.



Osiris didn’t acknowledge Kate or Morowa. She dropped the crystal into her hand before kneeling in front of Nykannis. She extended her arm and held the crystal out for the wise doctor. ”I believe that makes twenty-eight.”

Morowa’s eyes shifted from the newly arrived to Kate.

“It seems your lack of higher education left you with an inability to count,” Nykannis snarked as she took the offered crystal. “This is only the twenty-fifth. Unless you procured some without telling me,” she added.

Her eyes rolled upward, as if trying to peer inside her own head. ”I don’t think I’ve hidden any of them from you.” She withdrew her hand. ”Maybe it was only twenty five...” After scratching her chin a bit, she suddenly had a eureka moment. ”Now that I think about it, I may be getting the price for that dress I was looking at mixed up with the number of crystals I had collected.”

“Probably…” Nykannis deadpanned. “Anyways, this is my old pal, Kate, and her new pal, Morowa,” she informed Isra, while gesturing to the photographer and oracle. “They’re the guests I mentioned.”

“Sup?” Kate said, while holding up a peace sign.

Isra’s eyes lazily drifted from Kate to Morowa. The two looked at each other for a few seconds before her eyes drifted back onto Kate. She gave the photographer a wave before returning her attention to her boss. ”Did you need me to do something with them?”

“With one of them, at least, in a manner of speaking,” Nykannis replied. “Tell me, Osiris, have you ever been disappointed before? Have you ever looked forward to the culmination of a project you’d put so very much work into, only to have it ultimately turn to ash before your fucking eyes?”

”I’ve been disappointed a few times.” She nodded. ”When we were in Rome a few weeks ago I got a new dress tailor made, but the fabric didn’t match my hand bag.” She hung her head. ”I still think about it…”

“I’ll bet you do,” Nykannis snarked. “Well, my recent cause for disappointment was on a significantly higher level. See, a certain someone wanted to try their hand at challenging the biggest local big shot, and I thought it would be interesting to see if he could actually succeed in doing that if sufficiently enhanced,” the mad scientist explained. “However, after some associates and I spent valuable time giving him every possible upgrade and advantage, he just noped out of life like a total fucking pussy! Therefore, in order to not be deprived of the fight I was so very much looking forward to, I needed to enact a contingency plan. You see, if anyone else is going to stand a chance against this particular tinker toy with delusions of grandeur, it’s an individual known as Oros. Thus, I had Kate here collect copies of enough Oros iterations from across the multiverse to form a team that will descend upon said afore mentioned tinker toy at an opportune moment and attempt to kick her shit in! Now, I have no idea if they’ll actually succeed, but I do know that their chances will vastly improve if they have someone to lead them into battle, which, incidentally, is where you come in,” the Monarch of Mad Science revealed, pointing a boney finger at Osiris. “Unfortunately, at your current power level, you’d be utterly unfit for such a role, which is the primary reason why I’ve been having you collect all those Heart Crystals. Once you have all fifty, I want you to use them to empower yourself enough to reach a state worthy of assuming such an important position. Before you get back to that, though, I’d like you to familiarize yourself with the capabilities of your team. I’ve just beamed the full data package on them into your brain, but since you’ve been so used to working alone up till now, I think it's a good idea for you to participate in a few training exercises with some simulations of them. You can use testing chamber epsilon,” she instructed, gesturing to a just opened portal. “It should be rather familiar to you,” the Mad Scientist Supreme added with a smirk. “So, any questions?”

”Not really.” She sighed. ”I’ll get on it.” On her way through the portal, she mumbled something about the bathwater probably being cold as the portal closed behind her.

Once Morrowa was sure Osiris was gone, she addressed Nykannis. ”So you intend to use all this to give her a failure she can grow from?”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly be opposed to seeing her actually succeed,” the Monarch of Mad Science replied. “But yeah, this is sort of a win-win situation as far as I’m concerned. Still, having her fail against Penny isn’t exactly going to do much to help her become an authentic Oros,” she added. “Since I don’t really see her giving too much of a crap either way. Then again, she did seem kinda annoyed about having her bath ruined, so maybe I just need to inflict disappointment on her in small stages…” the mad scientist mused, tapping a finger against her chin in thoughtful contemplation. “Anyway, speaking of disappointments, what about you?” she asked Morowa. “Have you finally come around to accepting my generous offer to fix your biggest one?”

”Something like that.” Morrowa reached for Kate’s hand, but then stopped herself.

“What’s the matter?” Nykannis inquired. “Still feeling nervous? I told you, it’ll be completely painless! Or are you afraid you’ll stop being an authentic Oros once you finally get to have that unattainable thing you’ve been longing for?”

”More that because I’m an Oros I do not think it’s possible to give me what I want. I’m sure you are familiar with attempts to extend the life of octopus, Doctor?”

“Indeed I am,” Nykannis confirmed with a nod. “And I’m not surprised you know about them, too, considering how powerful your oracular abilities can be,” she added. “But to address your point, those particular attempts were made by people who were, for all practical purposes, cavemen smashing rocks together. My capabilities are considerably more advanced,” the mad scientist explained with a grin. “Plus, it’s something of a hobby of mine to do things everyone else considers to be impossible.”

”That’s fine.” The moth girl groaned. ”But you can’t fault me for being a little nervous, right? I already said I’m fine with it, so we can start when you are ready.”

“Well, I could go all out and make this a big flashy spectacle like I usually do,” Nykannis began. “But I get the feeling you’re not into that kinda thing, so we can just keep it simple,” she added, snapping a finger. “There. It’s all finished,” the mad scientist declared. “Feel any different?”

”No, but I am aware of what you did.” She blinked. ”You’re one of a kind, doctor.”

“Don’t ever forget it,” Nykannis instructed with a smirk. “I mean, I could pack all the stuff you saw here into a space the size of a grain of sand, but I like the aesthetics of having it look so imposing,” the Monarch of Mad Science added. “Anyway, what are you two gonna do now? You saw all the places Kate’s ever been to and all the people she’s ever met, right?” She asked Morowa. “Are there any in particular you wished you could visit?”

”Kate has seen so much, I’ve probably forgotten more than I can remember. However, I’m sure we can go on our own adventures.” She turned to Kate. ”Do you have any business trips lined up?”

“Well, before she commissioned me for the whole ‘Oros thing’, Nykannis wanted me to photograph some creatures called Caustic Bovines,” Kate explained. “So I guess I’ll be doin’ that next.”

“You guessed right,” Nykannis confirmed with a smirk. “They really are fascinating creatures,” the mad scientist continued. “From what I understand, they seem to essentially be the equivalent of multiversal antibodies, acting to keep non-native visitors out of reality plenums that meet certain, as yet unknown, criteria.”

”Sounds like something Kate would have encountered several times over already.” Morowa smiled. ”But it doesn’t matter to me. Caustic bovines, based chickens, I’m sure it will be a fun adventure.”

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Nykannis agreed, her grin broadening. “But you make a very good point,” she commended the moth woman. “You would think that with all the traveling Kate has done, she’d have run into at least one Caustic Bovine by now. As it happens, I’ve done even more omniversal traveling than Kate has, and I’ve never encountered one, either,” she continued. “At least not firsthand. It would seem that they only seek to prohibit passage to and from universes with specific plenumic signatures, signatures like the one possessed by Esper World, for instance.”

“So let me guess, you want me to go there and act as bait for these things, right?” Kate asked with a wry smirk.

“Close, but not quite,” Nykannis replied with a raised finger. “As it happens, the length of time an outsider spends there also appears to be a factor. For example, your old pal Parr stopped by for a short visit that apparently went unnoticed by the Bovines, or at least unreacted to. On the other hand, a certain bespectacled chatterbox who you’ve already had the pleasure of meeting two different iterations of has been staying there for several weeks, although I have it on good authority that she’ll be strongly encouraged to return home in the near future. Anyways,” she continued. “While I’m sure she’d probably leave before the Bovines take offense to her presence, I figure having both of you there along with her will greatly expedite the chance of them taking action, at which point you can take a snapshot of them for me to study.”

”How do you know if they exist?” Morowa asked.

“Via secondhand experience,” Nykannis replied. “I’ve heard about them from various sources, most of whom I consider to be at least somewhat trustworthy. In particular, Jennifer, the False Witch of Time, told me that a certain smug bitch was being chased by them when she paid her a visit. Incidentally, said smug bitch was able to employ one of my inventions to utterly eradicate them,” the mad scientist added with a gleeful smirk. “It’ll be very interesting to see if your two pets will be similarly effective,” she told Kate as she tossed the photographer’s restored whistle back to her.

Morowa opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. ”I guess that’s worth checking out then.” She looked to Kate. ”I think I’ve taken in as much ambience from this place as I care to at the moment. It sounds like we’ll be back before long. Was there anything else you wanted to do here?”

“Not really,” Kate replied with a shrug. “Wanna get a bite to eat and relax a bit, before starting our first adventure together?” she inquired.

”We could do that.” Morowa strode with Kate towards an open portal. ”Did you have any place in mind? In the waking wood there’s a traveling treehouse that I’ve always wanted to eat at, but never had a reason to stop by.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kate replied with a grin. “There was a pretty cool treehouse restaurant in Fae Creek that I went to a few times with my roommates, although you probably already know all about that,” she added with a chuckle.

“Have fun, you two,” Nykannis told the departing pair. Once they’d left, she settled onto her hovering command throne and activated a holodisplay. “Now, let’s see how Osiris is doing…”

From what the display revealed, the Egyptian-themed technomantic magical girl seemed to be leading the various simulated Oros iterations in a fairly competent manner, although they didn’t appear to have made even a single dent in the simulated Queen of Penrose. But that wasn’t really a problem. After all, there was plenty of time for further strengthening and refinement. Even as the training simulation continued to run its course, the Monarch of Mad Science brought up another display, which presented a detailed, multilayered schematic of the CAPRICORN. If any craft in this reality plenum was going to provide a suitable challenge for the ARGO, Bionic Bonnie’s ship would almost certainly be the one to do so. Next to it, she activated a third display, depicitng the results of a full data scan on one of the lagomorphic cyborg's grief seeds, an item that promised to be an interesting topic of study, to say the least.

Extending a tentacular, multi-lensed optic-stalk from the side of her glowing goggles, Nykannis employed it to keep watch over the initial trio of displays, while she turned the majority of her attention to her just-activated panoramic interdimensional viewer. One of her finder beams had recently located a suitably amusing replacement for the now safely-home Parrthineas E Doxxon the First, and as she watched a shuddering package on a seemingly innocuous toy store shelf burst open, she looked forward to seeing how his antics compared to those of the chrono-manipulating canine…