Fate Smiled

  Cassandra struggled to stay awake as the sewer water carried her away from the beach and into the underground tunnel system that the Rebellion had constructed under Cancun - which was much like all the other underground tunnel systems that the organization had scattered around the world’s various large cities. If anything, the main thing keeping the rebel awake at that point were the splinters of wood were still embedded all over her body that made any and all positions she could possibly get into be extremely uncomfortable, as well as the fact that she was bleeding very profusely from her many wounds. She groaned softly as she slowly raised a hand towards her face, sinking her fingers into the wound on her cheek, wincing from the burning feeling while she felt around it to try and confirm just how bad it was. My left cheek has been completely split in half, all the way down to where my jaw meets my cheekbone. She realized, her eyes narrowing and beginning to glow slightly as she forced herself to go even faster, a snarl forming on her face. More importantly, though; what the hell was that pink energy?? I’m not stupid, that rocket barrage should have absolutely hit us way harder than how it actually happened. The answer was obvious to her, someone had to have interfered. But more surprisingly, they interfered in HER favor. She shook her head after thinking about it for far too long, pushing it to the back of her mind once her eyes finally focused on the end of her path and she finally stepped on solid ground, the water around her falling down with a splash and leaving her completely dry - other than the small amount of ocean water she currently had circulating around the gash in her cheek. She stumbled slightly, finding her footing after a couple of seconds, her eyes narrowing even further as she had to concentrate on not falling down. The stinging pain in the left side of her face was finally starting to become unbearable, the adrenaline coursing through her veins finally beginning to subside properly.

  The rebel took a deep breath as she approached the fake dead end in the tunnel, pressing her hand against a specific area of the wall and pushing against the concrete, causing a groaning sound as a circle around her hand was pushed into the wall. What a cliche way to hide a base of operations. Cassandra thought in slight amusement as the rest of the wall began to shift, turning 90 degrees slowly, giving her room to walk through before the wall began to automatically return to its resting position. She took another deep yet shaky breath, her eyes bloodshot from withstanding the pain of the wounds on her body yet her footsteps as sure as ever, not allowing herself to falter even a little. She was rather quickly swarmed by a group of three subordinates who began to worry over her, relieved to see that she was both alive and had completed her mission, yet clearly despairing over her obviously very grave wounds. Cassandra grit her teeth in annoyance, lifting her arm and causing a bubble of sewer water to quickly rush from between the tiny cracks of the fake wall and towards her, separating into three chunks along the way and striking all three of them at once, pinning them against the walls of the tunnel as she continued forward, unimpeded by their nagging. Number Five. What a curious little creature. She pondered, making her way to the far end of the structure, ignoring the many doors leading to other areas sprinkled around the long hallway-like tunnel. The rest of the complex was empty anyway, since they had evacuated everyone else but the three currently pinned to the wall due to the highly important meeting currently taking place. She’s dangerous. I should have killed her when I had the chance. Cassandra thought casually, the crystalline blue in her eyes becoming even more icy and intense as her eyelids began to twitch, the pain emanating from her wounds beginning to get to her head as her hand clenched. I had her right there. RIGHT THERE. Stupid fucking mission… She unclenched her hand and took a deep breath, shoving her murderous thoughts to the far back of her mind as she flung the correct door wide open, coming face to face with the two people waiting for her.

  Before her, in a round table, were sat both Falco and Gray. Their eyes immediately lit up as they dropped the cards they were using to play poker with and rushed to her side, yelling any number of things. Cassandra, though, could barely even hear a word they were saying. Her ears were ringing, the excruciating agony and lack of blood causing her to stumble forwards, already beginning to black out. “Both of you, shut up, will ya?” she murmured, the world turning dark as she finally lost her footing and began to collapse face-first towards the ground. Gray’s eyes widened and he quickly pressed the tips of his fingers together, causing the hydromancer to freeze on the spot in the middle of the air before she could hit the floor, even her hair becoming perfectly still instantly. Falco instinctively moved to catch her as well, but stopped himself once he saw that Gray had already done it. “Holy shit, what the hell did that thing do to you??” Falco muttered to the passed out Cassandra, pulling his phone out and dialing the emergency medical team that was awaiting orders outside of the structure, hidden away in an alley in the city above. Gray sighed, dropping his arms once he was certain he had properly stopped her, his eyes trailing over to the device she had been holding in her hand. Falco noticed it as well, both of their eyes widening while their pupils dilated, exchanging worried glances before they pretended to ignore it for now for the sake of getting Cassandra medical help. It actually happened. Falco thought in sheer disbelief, his mind wandering to the day that the mysterious masked man had told them that Maquineer would have a nuke with her when she landed in Mexico. He somehow knew. How?! Who the hell is that guy?! Meanwhile, Gray had quickly come to terms with the situation that had developed around them. I don’t know why you’re helping us, Kronos, but I at least understand that it's for the best that the rest don’t figure it out yet. That’s why you wear a mask, isn’t it? He sighed and slowly reached out for the device, pulling it out of Cassandra’s grasp and very gently hiding it away in his pocket before the two of them picked her up and carried her away from the room. I just wish you’d explain.

  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  And now everything is ready and set. I thought with a satisfied grunt, sinking into my couch as I pondered on whether I should or shouldn’t turn on the TV. The ‘Savior’ is nice and cozy, and the monsters have been getting all extra aggressive lately. Maquineer and Cassandra should have fought by now, meaning that the Rebellion should be aware of the existence of the sudden monster threat. Yep, everything is going according to script. I yawned softly and laid my head back, deciding not to turn on the TV or bother with social media. I already knew about everything either of those could tell me, including the silly diversion that the World State was cooking up to try and keep people ignorant about the problem. I wonder what my new servant’s up to, though. I continued to think, pouting slightly as I sighed and stood up, taking a short trip to the kitchen for water as I continued to ponder on it. After all, this timeline in particular had been rather fruitful so far!! From some unexpected reactions here and there and Alexander showing up to raid John, things were very much looking up. I was rather excited to see what else would change this time around, and was cautiously optimistic about my little charade with Love Love going well. And then my doorbell rang, my brow furrowing as I turned towards it slowly. Oh, she’s back? So fast?? I sent her to give that fight a good hard look to test her mettle, so she should have spent at least a while in the hospital getting her wounds fixed. I acted like my phone was being tampered with as an excuse to leave her up to her own devices and everything. I hope she wasn’t too disfigured by the explosion though, it would be a chore to buy her some prosthetics. I hummed a tune and approached the door, setting down my cup on the kitchen counter.

  I flung the door open, a grin on my face, my eyes landing on Jessica. “Welcome back!!” I called out, perhaps sounding a bit more excited than I would have liked, making a motion to pat her head before I hesitated at the last moment. My smirk disappeared, my face twisting into a frown as I slowly retracted my hand. My pet had her gaze averted, as if afraid to even look me in the eye, her eyes narrowed while she held her hands tightly together. She looked frail and fearful, like a child who had just done something wrong and was about to be punished by her parents. I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow, stepping out of the way to give her room to walk in, my tone of voice changing as well, “What’s with the look, Jessica?” I asked her casually as she tentatively stepped inside, her lips pursing. She finally spoke once she sat down on the couch she had used as a bed during her very first night here, her lips quivering while her voice sounded strained, as if on the verge of tears, “I-I umm… I think I made a mistake…” she muttered weakly, her neon pink eyes darting over to me before quickly looking away. I pondered on her words for a couple of seconds, taking a deep breath while scratching the back of my head before grabbing one of the dining room chairs and sitting down on it in front of her, crossing my arms, waiting for her to go on. I wasn’t quite sure about how I felt about her ‘making a mistake,’ since it could just as easily mean something very exciting as it could mean something very distasteful. Jessica bit her lower lip anxiously, her hands gripping her skirt tightly before she finally continued, still staring down at the floor, “Well, basically, Five was fighting with the rebel and she ended up launching a bunch of rockets from a ship and-” I interrupted her with a chuckle, shaking my head in disbelief as I stood up and promptly yawned, rolling my eyes. Jessica blinked a few times, her eyes leaving the floor and instead gliding up to my face while she frowned in confusion.

  I waved at her dismissively, pouring myself a second cup of water before I actually began to explain to her. “Bah, don’t worry about it. The explosion blowing up the beach wasn’t your fault, that’s what always happens. I know that it looked pretty bad, but believe it or not both of those crazy women are still alive. Just barely!! But they’re definitely still alive,” I hummed, opening the fridge while I downed my water, looking over the collection of beverages and turning to look at Jessica as if asking her what she wanted to drink. Her face was bright red to the point that it was comical, her eyes wide as tears began to gather at the edges of her face, my words clearly having the complete opposite effect I had intended. I blinked a couple of times, slowly closing the fridge as I began to approach her slowly, my eyes narrowing in renewed interest, indirectly ordering her to finish telling her story. “U-Umm…” she continued feverishly, her thumbs twiddling with each other, “When Five l-launched the rockets and it looked like they would hit really close to the beach… I-I got scared and I thought back to when you said- I mean I’m of course not saying it’s your fault I just mean- basically-” she was hyperventilating, starting to become incoherent. I placed my hands on her shoulders, making her tense up and make eye contact with me, the pitch black darkness within mine making her cringe on herself as she quickly closed her mouth. Once she had finally stopped talking, I slowly let go of her with a deep breath. “Jessica. Just tell me what happened,” I ordered her bluntly, my voice cold and unfeeling, making it clear to her that I didn't care about any context or excuses.

  Love Love blinked once, pursing her lips slightly before she finally made up her mind. What am I doing?! This man saved you from living the rest of your life as an underfed street rat, and this is how you repay him?! Get your head straight, Jessica!! Just tell him the truth!! “I used my power on the hydromancer rebel, empowering her water projectiles so that they impacted the rockets sooner,” she admitted in a defeated tone, her head hanging as she spoke just loud enough for me to hear, barely even a mutter. I raised an eyebrow, leaning on the armrests of the couch as I listened to her, waiting for her to continue, deep in thought as I pondered her words, my eyes narrowed still. Turns out it was just something minor, after all. Her terrified expression is quite amusing though~ But still, why’s she so nervous? Doesn’t she know that I can just wind the clock if she did anything I disliked? Let’s keep listening to see where this goes; I might not want to wind the clock at all if it’s good. Jessica took a shaky breath, her eyes darting over to watch my still emotionless expression for a split second before going right back to the ground, continuing her story, “A-And well, the explosion still hit us hard and I kinda blacked out for a little bit… By the time I woke up they were still fighting on the beach. For a moment it looked like Maquineer was about to die but then she, like, created a weird gun I had never seen before? She shot the rebel and it gave her a crazy gnarly wound… And then the hydromancer sort of gave up and escaped with the bomb by going underground.” There was a short pause after that last sentence, with Love Love biting her lower lips nervously as a bit of sweat ran down her face, her pupils shivering slightly as she continued to stare at the floor, as if waiting for my verdict. God, I feel like I’m being tried for murder and the punishment is the goddamn death sentence… She pondered in anxious amusement. I know he told me not to interfere but it really looked like I was going to die if I didn’t do something!! Dammit… Please don’t get rid of me!!

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Meanwhile, I was frozen from the sheer disbelief I was currently feeling from what she had just told me. I was no fool, I knew EXACTLY how Cassandras’ powers worked - and I was very keenly aware of her ability to soak gunpowder and use water shields to protect herself from anything of a low caliber. And yet she was apparently seriously wounded by a projectile attack from Five? She made the railgun. I realised, a grin slowly spreading across my face. Jessica blinked a few times, confused by the weird face I was making, and decided to look up at me out of curiosity. I didn’t pay attention to her, too lost within my own mind to care, even as her eyes widened and she shuffled away from me a little after looking at my eyes. She really made the railgun!! This soon?! On her own accord?! And not just that, but Cassandra escaped with the bomb instead of it being destroyed?! Fate was smiling down at me with the cockiest of smirks, I just knew it! It would be genuinely infuriating if I wasn’t so happy, truth be told. I had gone exactly to script as far as I was aware, and yet it was as if the universe itself was finally taking pity on my miserable existence and was giving me a ray of hope. “Jessica,” I suddenly spoke, finally my eyes re-focusing in the real world as I snapped around to stare directly at my lovely, beautiful, oh so useful darling critter with a trembling smirk. She looked at me in confusion mixed with hesitant hope, her eyes darting between both of my eyes as if unsure of how to focus on them, her eyes wide like those of a puppy. I reached out and grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt, pulling her towards me, “Jessica, you’ve made me a very, oh so VERY happy man today. What would you like?? I’ll treat you to whatever your heart could desire!!” And you deserve every last bit of it!! “Ah-??” Love Love stuttered in response, her eyes shaking and a nervous smile appearing on her lips while eyeing my hand and then my face, “W-Wha? I… I did good??”

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  Eight was utterly stunned, sitting at her desk while holding her forehead and staring down at the table. Five was standing before her, her posture picture perfect despite multiple places around her body showing exposed wires and mechanical parts, sparking violently from time to time, her lips pursed nervously. Empress took a deep breath and finally looked back up at the cyborg, “Fine. So that’s how it is, then?” she asked rhetorically, her enhanced mind allowing her to digest the information quickly instead of having an emotional outburst like most people would. Maquineer nodded quickly in a stark contrast to the rest of her robotically stiff body, “Yes. Should I kill myself now?” she asked curiously, her dark green eyes narrowing in on her boss without any malice. Empress chuckled and shook her head, already used to how her fellow hero operated, “No, that won’t be necessary. I already told you that those old oriental tales and myths aren’t conducive to modern society, Alice.” Maquineer pursed her lips and nodded, ashamed at her own incompetence, finally relaxing a bit once it was clear that Empress wasn’t going to eviscerate her for losing. “So, what now? Should I make another one?” Five asked, looking down at her hands and at the little circular holes in her palms frustratedly. I look awful! Alice lamented to herself, agonizing over how robotic she looked at the moment. Using my own body as ammunition sucks. I only have enough materials to keep my bare essentials running.

  Eight’s gaze darkened over as she pondered, the reality of the situation dawning on her as her fists clenched tightly, blood beginning to ooze from where her nails dug into her palm. She grunted and unclenched her fists, turning her hand over to look at the blood coming out of her hand before finally gazing up at her fellow Celestial, “First Seven and now you. It’s become obvious that the Rebellion somehow has intel on us that they didn’t have before. And the timing couldn’t be worse, either. We have to deal with both this and also the monsters… But first thing’s first. Lay low for now and I’ll keep the incident under wraps and we can make up whatever excuse for the explosion on the beach. Meanwhile; we tell the Celestials to not go near their houses or their local Association offices until we either find the bomb or, more likely, it is used.” Alice nodded and gave a military salute, turning around and walking out and into the halls of the Delhi headquarters. Empress watched her leave, looking down at the printed report that Maquineer had given her of the incident. It’s extremely detailed. Eight noticed, reading it slowly. Maybe a bit too detailed. Still, at least she’s honest… It’s a shame she didn’t get a good look at who the pink energy user was. Perhaps a new member of their top brass? I’ll ponder more on that later. Let’s focus on the good news, shall we, ‘Cassandra’?~

  Alice walked through the headquarters distastefully, dragging her feet as she walked while staring down at the floor in sheer shame. She had failed the World State, the Association, and most importantly Empress herself. What good is a robot who can’t even follow its orders correctly?? She wondered miserably. I mean, I know I’m not a robot. I’m a cyborg. But still I- I’m pretty much a robot. She shook her head to distract from those thoughts, making her way to the portal room. She hesitated as she was about to open the door, biting her lower lip, feeling like she had to do something to atone for her failure. During those moments of hesitation the door opened from the inside, making her meep in surprise as the door hit her on the nose, causing her to fall on her bum as out stepped Ten in his hero outfit along with his host of floating swords. He blinked a couple of times, his pearly white eyes making eye-contact with the damaged cyborg for a couple of seconds before he closed the door behind himself and extended a hand to her politely. She sighed and shook her head, embarrassed at having fallen down like that and took his hand, allowing him to hoist her up. He crossed his arms once she was on her feet, raising an eyebrow at her, “Sorry about that, I didn’t realise you were standing on the other side of the door,” he stated cleanly, apologising. Alice shook her head, waving away his worries with her damaged hand, the exposed electronics whirring painfully, “D-Don’t worry about it. It's just us Celestials who are allowed to use the portal rooms so it makes sense you wouldn’t expect there to be anyone on the other side…” He shook his head in disagreement, one of the six swords he had brought with him impaling the floor in front of Alice, “No, I must apologise properly. I can tell you fought hard, and you deserve the reverence of a soldier. Here, use this sword to repair yourself a little. That will be my penance for hitting you with the door,” he added, beginning to walk past his comrade while leaving that sword behind, the other five following after him, “Your penance for failure is the guilt you carry with you.”

  Maquineer’s eyes trailed after him as he walked past her without even turning to look back, her mind lingering on those final words. Eh? My penance? What is he talking about…? She shook her head and with a sigh decided to just accept the gift, the sword impaled on the floor disappearing in exchange for the larger holes in her body being patched up. Alice was well aware that giving up one of his swords was at worst a minor inconvenience for Ten, seeing as he could literally grab a chunk of steel and sharpen it into the shape of a blade with his powers in a matter of seconds - which is why she had no real qualms about accepting his “penance.” Still, what a strange person Crusader is… He could just say “sorry” and be done with it. She looked behind herself and at the vanishing silhouette of Ten as he rounded the corner, taking a turn towards the training grounds. Maquineer pursed her lips slightly, grabbing the handle of the door and prying it open a little, her eyes clouded in thought as she hesitated once more, thinking back to her fight with Cassandra now that her previous distraction was gone. I got completely washed. Almost literally too… She thought bitterly. I could just logically conclude that being on a beach simply gave me a disadvantage too big to ignore… And yet, that doesn’t feel right either… And then suddenly the door opened from the inside once more, making the cyborg meep and fall to the floor a second time, her face flushing bright red from the sheer embarrassment of it happening twice in a row. She quickly looked up into my soulless black eyes, her own widening in surprise. “Five?” I asked with an amused grin, leaning against the doorframe while keeping the door open, “I wasn’t expecting you to be here. And damn, you look awful! The hell happened to you, huh?” I looked her up and down, my face scrunching up in both curiosity and disgust.

  Maquineer pursed her lips, her eyebrows furrowing while her blush only deepened, shaking her head. “I-It’s nothing important. I’m going back home to get patched up and stuff, so don’t worry about it!” she quickly argued, giving me a nervous smile as she tried to walk past me and through the door. I stopped her by lifting a leg and placing it on the other side of the doorframe, creating a barrier between her and the portals. She blinked a couple of times and looked up at my face with a pout, “Kevin, could you please put your leg away…?” she asked politely. I tsk’d and pulled out my phone from my pocket, tossing it over to her and causing her to anxiously catch it mid-air, looking down at the screen on it and at the message Empress had sent to all Celestials mere seconds ago. I chuckled a bit as Alice's face turned pale and she quickly looked back up at me before I started talking again, “Come on, Five. I’m not naive. Empress gives us this urgent message about an explosive and you’re just now leaving her office looking all banged up?? You must have taken a hell of an ass beating.” She pursed her lips, quickly putting my phone back in my hand while refusing to look at me, her entire body trembling ever so slightly in sheer shame, her body trying desperately to produce tears yet failing to due to her being damaged. I sighed and put my leg away, instead placing a hand on top of her head and messing up her neat tidy hair. She blinked a couple of times in confusion, looking up at me as I smirked maliciously. I gave her a toothy grin before finally letting go of her head once her hair was all puffy, “You feel ashamed?? You feel like you wanna die?? You worthless cyborg?!” I mocked her, pushing my index finger into a small hole in her forehead, pushing her backwards slightly. She looked up at me with wide and fearful eyes, her lower lip trembling as she failed to answer me. Instead, I continued talking to her, my tone of voice softening, “Good. That means you’re feeling your failure like a human should. Losing sucks, doesn’t it? It sucks so so so bad. But nobody will ever forgive you if you just crawl into a ball and kill yourself, Alice, much less yourself,” I sneered at her, un-leaning against the wall to really truly tower over her as I crossed my arms, staring at her coldly, “If I were you, I’d refuse to repair myself until I’m certain it will never happen again. You can’t bear scars, so that might be the next best thing.”

  I then smiled softly and went back to leaning, giving her unrestricted access to the portal room while shrugging, “But that’s just my opinion. Honestly, though? I don’t care all that much. I just gave you this little speech because I’m bored. You can do whatever the hell you want with your feelings or your failures, I’m just here to rub salt in the wound~” I finished, giving her a brusque nod as if telling her to get lost, or perhaps as an acknowledgement. Maquineer’s eyes narrowed at how rude I was, her lips pursing as if she was about to retort or protest my words, her eyebrows furrowing as her cheeks faded in color slightly and she remained deep in thought for a few moments. Is this why Ten mentioned ‘penance’ earlier? He connected the dots too?! Oh god I’m so ashamed I could die!! Zero… he’s right. He’s wrong too!! But he’s right about some things. Maybe. He’s rude as hell though!! She sighed and walked past me, eyeing me up and down like I was some sort of criminal while making her way to the portal leading to Germany. “You should learn to be more polite, Kronos!! That is NO way to talk to anyone!! F-Fuck you!!” she proclaimed with a puffed out chest before very quickly running away as if I was about to go and chase her down to demand an apology. I raised an eyebrow and considered doing it just for fun, but in the end decided that it would just be a waste of time. I rolled my eyes and walked into the headquarters, closing the door behind me with a thud. Messing with her is fun, that crybaby. I thought with a smirk as I made my way to where the offices were. She really doesn’t deserve the words I give her, though, but it’s for the better if it pushes her to become stronger. It’s a shame that the people I’m going to meet aren't nearly as fun, though.