Leviathan Fugue: Satanic Reunion

[Tegan]

Eva Kriz glided along with the others quiet inside the house of her black dress with matching wide brimmed hat, for keeping off sun. Her sunglasses like round windows shutter her expression, only their reflections danced across the glass darkly. She was not talking to these people because she did not wish to be here. She wished to be back in Tokyo, finishing interview her graphic novel Neurotypical. She would send Gustav text later, rant her anger, jackal remains of career.

While others bicker to appear cool, Eva went over Elsinger's broadcast words again, sure she understood their meaning. Her English wasn't best, but her eerie didn't disappear with her translation.
This is the foreshadows. When their fates are reveiled but are too busy with establishing their precious little egos to know. This scene is a saddening bore, because she's wrote it ten times or more. What bunch of fucking children.

Eva did not understand it but she understand enough to know that this place was not paradise or haven. NAGA summons its monsters to do their Leviathan Dance.
"Dáma Teal." Eva swooped upon the woman before she interferes with arguing children who appear like brother and sister. "Where are Skala and Cizek? I will see them now." She did not care about NAGA, Elsinger, or Teal woman. Eva wants her Serpents.

 

[Asmodeus]

Boa was still in his rock pose: back arched, arms cruciform, eyes shut as if receiving some cosmic, unheard elation.

In his mind the crowd was roaring, the million-fold masses of Wembley Stadium, the heaving tides of Glastonbury, the oceans of Woodstock, UsTube and FaceDream.

And as one they howled his name through webpage and nightclub.

He joined them... his voice becoming operatic, like a choir singing.... a choir that was drunk on communion wine.

"THE OOOOOOONLY STRAAAAANGLED PUSSSY, IS THE OOOONE BETWEEN YOURRRR LEGS, HELEN!!! IT AAAAAINT SEEEN AIR OR DAYLIIIIIGHT, FOR FOUR-SCOOOOORE AND SEEEEEVEN YEEEEEEARS!"

He brought his hands together in prayer and went even higher, his voice resounding from the chamber walls.

"IN NOMINE PATRI... ET FILI.... ET FRIGGUS BITCHIUS."

Then he exhaled while waving his arms, a sound like an audience cheering.

It was glorious.

"What's taking them so long? Do you think the elevator's broken down?"

In the next room, at the end of the corridor where Boa was invoking Nordic fury, Director Elsinger ignored the question.

"The cells are re-animating."

He leant over a long, metal bench where the mid-level Serpents of the Leviathan Children had been placed after removal from the cargo crates. Each was lain in a coma, as good as dead flesh, and had shown zero readings until this very moment.

"So that's a synaptic field of roughly fifty feet," an operator muttered before typing data into the master computer.

"I want it at one hundred." Elsinger's half-lidded eyes glanced once to Setsuko. "Do what you have to."

On the table, Boa's cat creature swished its tail slightly and opened one reptilian eye to peer at him. Second by second, as their masters drew closer, the Serpents were regaining motor function. Elsinger took a drag of his cigarette.

"We'll need compartments built into the Primaries. They'll assume a scouting role."

Setsuko folded her arms and watched her superior survey the bench. "They won't like their secondaries being used in that way."

"Children like very little."

It was all the Director would say on that subject.

 

[Hecatoncheires]

Of course he doesn't stop with his first verse.

I mean, why would he? When have the males of this species ever been good at reading the signs and knowing when to maybe cut their shit out? Boa certainly doesn't seem capable of this. Perhaps it's time I imparted some wisdom unto him.

Forcefully.

Coming to a halt in the corridor, I stare at Boa without expression for a moment. Then a small chuckle escapes my lips, a small sound echoing through the silence that now hangs around us. The next second I've snapped my fist up and punched the obnxious cockney would-be-rocker in the face. Years of assing around with engines and frames and other various projects have lent me a deceptively good right hook; I might not look like much, but that's the fun about having a wiry strength.

People don't see it coming.

As Boa reels from the blow, I grab him and slam him against the side of the corridor, hammering more blows into his chest.

A bit of an overreaction, I hear you suggest?

Fuck you. This guy's been in need of a proper beatdown for years, I'd wager, and I'm only too happy to oblige.

 

[Asmodeus]

She fought like a man.

He fought like a girl.

"YOU FAKKIN BITCH!"

Grabbing Helen's hair, Boa yanked her away then slapped at her head as they stumbled. Together, the white haired duo spun down the hallway, trading slaps, before colliding with Jack. And the three of them fell against the double doors at the corridor's end. Doctor Teal, who had been following and trying to separate the pair, was just close enough to have her ID badge within range of the scanner and, with slapstick conspiracy, the doors parted on cue.

Boa, Helen and Jack tumbled through into the control room and slid to a heap at Setsuko's feet.

And over by the bench, Director Elsinger turned mid-cigarette-drag and peered at the Leviathan Children, while behind him the secondary Serpents raised their heads.

"Er... we're here!" was all Doctor Teal said as she arrived with the others and stepped over Boa's prone form.

 

[Akuma]

He stepped over the rambunctious duo and made his way to meet the rest of the crew, He mad his way over and gave anyone who was accepting a handshake at the time a handshake. He didnt say anything at all but all he did was go and find a seat to sit in, Once he found one he sat down and moved some hair out of his eyes looking with his red eyes at everyone still. Kuro was becoming more awkward each second new people entered the room, he slowly was trying to keep track of everyone but the constant noise of hollering and fighting and also the sounds of loud machines at work messed with his train of thought

He laughed and shook his head as he watched how Boa fought the more masculine girl, the tables had turned in gender's. He was slapping and grabbing hair while she was pounding him in with fist's oh and this person had been caught in this random rolling of bodies. Poor fellow it must not be fun being stuck under there, He watched more intrigued than anything at the moment. He was taking in her fighting style's which would probably follow under the way she uses her mech, and the same for the way boa might fight. Being a bit of a mix martial arts user helped him out with his mech but that wasn't the situation now his only question now is " so why are we here and id like to see my mech "

 

[Hounds]

Mamoru's patience was wearing thin it was back and forth with these two like five years olds fighting on the playground, he was about to smack both of them across the head until they started rolling down the hallway. It was only when the doors opened that his attention shifted to the man smoking a cigarette, Mamoru recognized he was the director of NAGA. He looked back down at the other Boa and Helen "Are you two done yet or should we give you two some more time." Not even an hour in and he'd already come across two wacko's, he made a mental note to keep his distance from both whenever possible while they were here. The other seemed alright maybe he could get along with them but these two...they were like unruly barbarians.

 

[Hecatoncheires]

He's pulling my hair. He's actually pulling my hair. Jesus fuck, he's actually pulling my fucking hair.

So on top of dressing like a girl, he fights like one too. Good to know.

We stagger down the hallway, him pulling and slapping and me landing as many blows as I can in between the shouting and snarling. The poor bastard with the German accent gets embroiled in the fray, pulled down as all three of us go tumbling towards the doorway at the end of the hallway in a confused heap of limbs and traded blows. Doctor Teal's kind enough to get the doors open in time for us all to go falling through them.

Right into the sight of the man I can only presume to be kind of in charge round here. Call it a guess, but he has that "I'm in fucking charge" look folks like him tend to possess.

In situations like these, I've found you really only have a few options. You can either get all embarrassed and apologetic about the whole thing, as so ably demonstrated by Doctor Teal as she comes mincing through the door. This results in you not only making a fool of yourself, but looking like a pussy whilst doing it. The second option is to act completely natural, as though there's nothing odd about entering the room embroiled in a fist-fight with Axl Rose meets Jimmy Savile.

I go for the second option.

Of the three of us, I'm the first to manage to haul myself back to my feet. Breathing heavily and brushing pink-dyed locks out of my face, I nod briefly to the boss-fellow.
"S'up." Keep it short and asinine; the guy probably already thinks I'm a moron, and I see no reason to try and convince him otherwise. I reach down towards the guy we managed to pull into our little fight with the apparent intention to help him up: whilst I'm back down, though, I manage to get in one final quick sucker punch to Boa's left kidney.

What? I'm not that fucking proud that I won't hit an asshole when he's down.

Grabbing the second guy by the arm I help to pull him back to his feet. "Sorry about that, Hans," I say by way of apology, "Just teaching our dear friend down there some manners." Behind us the rest of the Leviathan Children are beginning to make their way inside, and of course one of them hasn't quite learned the lesson I was trying to impart unto Boa about keeping their mouths shut, some lank-haired, tattooed douchebag asking the pair of us if we're done. I turn on him with a snarl. "Bite me, asshole. No-one asked for your fucking opinion."

Look at me. I'm making friends already. Hector will be so proud.

 

[Davion]

The momentary numbness from singing was abruptly ended when the back of Helen, bent over and wailing blindly at Boa, slammed into him and sent all three fumbling through the door of, what turned out to be, the director's room. Clutching onto both of them in an attempt to stay balanced, he found himself tangled on the floor, Boas leech-like body writhing like it needed blood. A swift jab to the kidney saw to those needs, courtesy of Helen. One hand on the ground, Jack rolled the great white annoyance off of him with his other arm, accepting the hand offered to him with an appreciative smile.

"Kackbratze." Jack tossed at the body on the floor. "The name is Jack, there's no hiding the german." he offers at the misnomer "Hans". With barely a second word, the others arrive and add insult to injury. With a sigh, he waits it out, feeling slightly aggravated that his prediction of the group had somehow been an optimistic assumption.

The small scuffle lost its priority when the assembled Secondaries came into view, Jack taking a step towards his. "Grievsplate.. and the others?" The unorganized, clawing mess of the teens contrasted extremely with the puppet-on-a-string alignment of their creations; Jack began to feel that the personalities assembled were too disparate from the structure of NAGA. Unknown to him, this would all fall to the doctor.

 

[DotCom]

Watching the two kids tussles, Dr. Charlotte Teal had two thoughts. The first was, quite plainly, "Over-under, Charlie: t-minus two weeks to fucking."

The second, however, was a little more somber: "Charlie, you may be in the wrong line of work." Times like these, Charlie Teal was reminded that she did not like children, and she did not like helping them. She simply found them fascinating. No one but a teenager would outright tackle a person they'd just met in the middle of an unfamiliar and literall foreign environment. No one but a teenager, and maybe the beta male in a pride of lions. It was clear this girl was trying to prove herself as much. The boy she fought, however, gave no such thoughts to appearance, and Charlie followed wordlessly, completely forgetting the other children as she watched these two with a naked fascination.

It was several minutes before she realized she ought to step in. She was not their mother, but if she brought them in bleeding, questions would be asked, and she couldn't afford to be fired this early in the game.

"So, guys, maybe...act like real people?" she suggested. Said suggestion fell on deaf ears. She tried another approach. "You guys better stop, or you'll go straight to bed with no nutritional supplements!"

Nothing. Not that she'd really expected an answer. They'd begun unprovoked, and she figured they'd stop much the same way. Until then, there were notes to be taken.

Or they could end up in the office at the end of the hall.

Fuck. Well, this was awkward.

Charlie blinked. "We're...here," she presented lamely. "I'm so glad we got past that physical team-building stage!"

---

Daisy, for her part, had followed bored as the two white-haired kids fought. Whatever you had to do to get attention, she figured. At least the one who maybe had a penis had stopped screaming. That, it seemed, was not the end of the drama, however. Two two had taken a third with them, and Dr. Teal seemed to be able to do nothing but stare. Some other kid, who, quite frankly, shared Daisy's sentiments over the whole fight, was shot down by the girl, and all of this before anyone in the room said a word.

Daisy stepped around the whole crowd, uninterested in whatever was going on there.

"Question," she said plainly. "Are we filming The Real World: Leviathan here? Because I did not sign any press releases."

 

[Asmodeus]

[Excerpt from Die Entrüstung Anderen, a thesis by Doctor Robert Elsinger]

... the relationship between Leviathan and Serpent has been described, by my peers, as equivocal to phantom limb syndrome - the sense that something is there when it is not. This is the traditional analogy used in studies of the Leviathan Generation. It is, however, a self-evident fallacy. For what is there is very, very real, and not merely an echo of what was lost. For my own part the more appropriate analogy is proprioception. Just as you know where your hand is when your eyes are closed, so a Leviathan knows their Serpent. It is an extension of their self.

In positing this, however, we should be wary to avoid the conclusions of the Fournier Report, which holds that such ego-stretching is inseparable from schizophrenia and assorted personality disorders. I do not believe a state of dysfunction exists in Leviathan Children. Rather, it is something on the plateau of Asperger savantism. We see a semblance in the studies of autistic children - those who believe their heads will float from their shoulders; those who forget where their hand ends and another's body begins; those who think the air they're breathing is a part of them and should not be touched by others.

From an early age the frontal cortex adapts in order to socialize itself, to tell the brain what is appropriate and where one's identity (physically) ends. With Autistic Children this process is skipped. With Leviathan Children... it is being reversed.

Lusion, the first creature Boa created, was one third tiger, one third ram and one third lizard. He made it this way to reflect the several icons of rock culture his father had raised him on. So it was with a sleek pounce over Director Elsinger's shoulders that Lusion cleared the bench and bounded towards the scene of the scuffle.

The Serpent charged directly between Helen and Boa and slammed its head into a filing cabinet, putting a dent in it before reeling. Then it backtracked and sat on its haunches next to Boa, who was busy clutching his kidney.

"Aaagh! Me kidney!"

Then it swished its head back and forth and slashed the air with its horns.

Few Leviathan Children could make their Serpents behave like real animals. And when someone was punched in the kidney their Serpent became more undead than biological - an animated revenant acting solely upon the unconscious impulses of the Leviathan. To expect much else from a collection of psychically-charged skin cells was presumptuous in the least. Charge, sit and swish your horns was about all the Secondary could manage given the situation.

But if the fight continued, the guard-cat would at least be part of the equation.

"I think I broke something. I got internal bleeding. Get me a fakkin doctor!"

Lusion ran around the prone Boa in a tight and swift circle, then sat on its haunches again. It made a noise somewhere between a panther-growl and the rustling of insect wings.

"Get me a lawyer too! I'm suing the bitch!"

Meanwhile, Doctor Elsinger glanced once at the shambles then went back to studying the remaining Secondaries on the bench. Cigarette smoke drifted before his half-lidded eyes and he waited, patiently, for Setsuko to correct this situation.

It was her job, after all.

 

[Tegan]

There was a sound from above, a quiet sound, but it was enough to catch their attention. It was someone clearing their throat. As one their eyes rose above Elsinger, to the upper control deck, where she stood. She was at once old and young in her smart suit. "Good evening to you all. I am Takahashi Setsuko, Chief of N.A.G.A's internal affairs and your direct superior for the duration of your stay." Her manner and way of speaking did not so much command authority, as embody it. To her it was akin to breathing or thinking or sleep.

"From this point on, there will be no physical violence against one another. As of this moment, this headquarters will be your home, your haven and every person in this room is part of your team, your family." Setsuko assessed each of the teens, as they wearily assessed her. A ragtag bunch of spoiled children, at first blush, but they were best of the Leviathans and N.A.G.A's primaries in this project. Still, they were far from honed. She would turn them over to Hector tomorrow for their first round of combat training, they would need it – especially Bolan. Setsuko had never seen such a sorry display of self-defense in her life.

"N.A.G.A has been the sole benefactor of your way of life, allowing you to pursue your livelihoods, dreams and whims; to build your Serpents, and now we are asking you to repay us in kind." The children could not be forced to do this against their will, however; if they did not cooperate with N.A.G.A, their funding would be cut. They would be cast from their paradise.

Setsuko tried to explain the next part as simply as possible.

"Effective immediately, you will begin your training. You and your Serpents will be sent on regular missions into another dimension Your primary objective will be to navigate through a rift space we have named the Nexus and into the worlds beyond."

Behind her, the massive screen switched on, replaying the few minutes of usable footage gathered by the drones over the past few weeks. It was all fire and static and a brief glimpse of a massive skeletal hand.
"I cannot promise your safety. The universe is not a friendly place. There are creatures on the other side beyond our comprehension and they will kill you if given the chance." It was near madness, asking such young people to risk their very lives in alien frontiers, with only the cryptic words of the Witch to guide them. "My job is to provide for you every resource necessary to prevent that scenario. And I am very good at my job." It was all Setsuko could promise them. She would use every resource available to N.A.G.A and beyond to give them a fighting chance. And they would hate her for it. But, in order to stay happy, they would need someone to resent, to rebel against.

The Chief's thoughts shifted to the flustered Charlotte Teal. In reality, they were the same age, but there was a gulf between them. Teal was still a child herself, powerful and gifted and totally unaware of how to wield it. She would grow with them, learn to trust them as they would learn to trust her. That is, if she did her job.

"You are the only ones who can do this, you are the next phase in the evolution of humankind. Help N.A.G.A to bring humanity to its greatest heights."

 

[DotCom]

Charlie's sigh at Takahashi's appearance/pronouncement was half relief half irritation. Her 'partner in crime' so to speak was in fact very good at her job, a fact she was fond of reminding Charlie, even if not purposefully. She was very good at making Charlie feel very young, which Charlie knew she deserved, but she was trying. Also, kids were literally fighting in the hallways! Why would you just burst in, all thunderclouds and sad faces and say things like, "Hey, guys, you might die. Sorry."

Charlie considered herself a much gentler person. But then she wasn't even half as good at her job as Setsuko was at hers.

Dang.

---

Daisy had watched the fight, ominous introductions, and general chaos around her with an air of practiced disinterest. She was concerned she was starting to like the white-haired people, at least in the early of their honeymoon relationship. The girl because she was smart, and fast, and sharp, and funny. The boy because he was not.

But he was the first one to get his serpent, and as soon as the strange creature was out of the bag, Daisy found herself in a near state of panic looking for hers. She could feel her bones humming with emergent desperation, and for the first time, spoke without sarcasm or irony.

"Will you hurt them?" Her young face betrayed no emotion but anger and a sort of intense gravitas, almost dangerous rage. Her body had gone still, rigid, save for her right hand, which shook visibly. "You've taken them already, and whatever you want us for is clearly not friendly. Will we have any say in what is done with them, or are they your tools? Are we your tools?"

 

[Hecatoncheires]

"Gotcha. Nice to meet you, Jack," I reply to the heavily-accented Leviathan boy, "I'm Helen. Sorry again." Next to us on the floor is Boa, writhing around and screeching like a cockney Howler Monkey about how he wants a lawyer and how he's going to sue me. The urge to laugh my ass off rises again; he might lack style, he might lack talent or charisma, but he knows how to get litigious like all the best rockstars. There's hope for him yet.

He's not getting a hand up, however.

"Addendum to that lovely little jingle of yours, Boa," I say in a mockingly cheerful voice as I stare down at him, "the only pussy round these parts is you." Then the fun drops out of my voice, replaced with my best Hector-inspired growl, "And you will indeed be getting fucking strangled if you ever talk or scream about me like that again. Now put your goddamn tampon on and stop rolling around crying. Honestly, I'm embarrassed for you right now."

Having firmly cemented my hold on the title of 'Queen Bitch', I step out of Boa's reach in time for a new face to present herself before the group. Figuring out Doctor Teal wasn't too hard; some young, simpering, in-over-her-head graduate type who thinks she can kill her problems with kindness. This one, however, is a whole different kettle of fish. I can't tell if she's 20 or 40 in that suit of hers, and she's got one of those authoritative, crisp voices that immediately sets my teeth on edge.

And she also introduces herself as Takahashi Setsuko, my "direct superior" for the duration of my stay.

Lady, I've only just met you and I can tell we are going to have problems.

Miss Setsuko (I'm assuming the 'miss', because who the fuck would be batshit crazy enough to marry that?) begins to rattle off more drivel; some shit about how we're not allowed to hurt each other because we're "family" (we're gonna bring brave and pioneering new meanings to the term 'dysfunctional' if that's the case), and how we're going to be beginning training immediately (gods know some of us need it).

Then suddenly it all takes a turn for a bad sci-fi novel.

The last of her words wash over me, not quite registering in my head. Well, they do, but are immediately dismissed by my 'that's total bullshit' detector. Because there's no way some icy bitch standing atop a raised platform would come out with a sentence like that. Right? As she finishes and the little one with pigtails demonstrates more than a little bit of backbone by demanding to know about the welfare of her serpents, I decide to make my inquiries.

"Sorry, Setsuko wasn't it? Am I officially jet-lagged to hell, or did you actually just say the words 'navigate through a rift space we have named the Nexus' without a trace of irony?"

I mean, there's no way she just said that, right?

...Right?

 

[Akuma]

He was still sat in his spot where he had made his entrance and sat down at the bench, He looked up at Setsuko and listened closely until he heard the death sentence and the whole " You are the only ones who can do this" Sentence. He looked up and said " So when did N.A.G.A decide to start ripping through space? " He chuckled a bit as he stood up from the bench, and walked back over towards the rest of the group. His red eyes flicked passed Boa and followed passed Helen and to the girl who seemed to question about her serpents, He then looked up at Setsuko again.

" How stable is this rift? " He looked at her intently because he wasn't going through a portal to another world which might collapse on itself at any given time without knowing what its current state it is in.

But why would it be in bad shape? i mean havent they gone through it themselves already, Stupid question. He said to himself in his mind sliding his hands into his pockets and shuffling around some random loose change to calm himself and be ready for this apparent giant fucking hand training. He looked at the screen with wide eyes and his mind began to make up all sorts of creatures that could be holding up a giant fucking hand, it most likely was a giant skeleton beast but maybe it was just a giant hand.

But there is alot of fire " How hot is it in this Nexus place? " He said while staring at the video still, since he wasn't sure how much heat his Serpent could resist he wanted to make sure he wasn't going to die on the first day here.

 

[Asmodeus]

On the gantry above, Setsuko was silent.

The noise that followed was instead from across the room, beyond the bench where the Secondaries lay. It was a sound of rustling paper, crisp like blades on bone. Director Elsinger stood between two tables and stretched out arms in perpendicular, cruciform pose, to arrange respective rows of documents. It was this he had busied himself with as Setsuko spoke and now his work was complete. Each sheet of paper was perfectly aligned, with a ballpoint pen lain atop. Straightening, the NAGA director dragged deeply on his cigarette and kept his back to the children.

"The left table has severance forms. NAGA will cease its corporate power of attorney. Your accounts will be closed; your estates reclaimed. And you will be given a ride to the nearest population center to commence an ordinary life."

The man seemed to stare at beyond the giant monitor screens at the rear of the chamber. Perhaps he even peered beyond the wall. The half-lidded gaze suggested only the faintest engagement with the events around him. In time they would learn his manner. They would learn that he had no time for questions... nor even questioners. They would learn that Robert Elsinger was a man already half-departed from this world.

"The right table has release forms. You and your serpents will become formal assets of the NAGA corporation and committed to the first xeno-planetary mission of humankind."

He dropped the cigarette, crushed it beneath his heel, then departed via the far door, jacket slung across his shoulder.

"You're all a bundle o' laughs, ain't yer?"

Boa sat against the dented side-cabinet, one leg bent with his wrist hanging over it, as if he had chosen to sit here all along. With one eye blackened he seemed doubly enraged by the situation. His Serpent, Lusion, had curled beside him and rested its head now on the boy's foot.

"Wot you all asking questions for?" he muttered without meeting the others' eyes. "You all knew this was coming. Thought you'd be able to piss around in your ivory towers for the rest o' yer lives? 'Course we're their tools. And 'course that Nexus bollox ain't gonna be stable. They're chucking us into something they don't understand. It's wot scientists do."

A few punches had turned him from rockstar into emolord.

His moping was interrupted, however, by that voice from above. Setsuko's manner was as present and urgent as Elsinger's was distant. "To answer your question, Mister Nakamura..." She looked down at Mamoru. "...the Nexus is a multi-phasal meta-continuum. Extreme temperatures, variant atmospheres, proto-matter and liquid terrain. Imagine String Theory governed by Chaos Theory. The Nexus is every possibility not yet manifest."

"AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO?!" Boa yelled beyond Helen's shoulder, carrying his resentment of her onwards and up towards another target.

"We expect you, Mister Aames, to realise the potential of your Serpents." Setsuko's hand danced swiftly to a keypad on the gantry railing. There was a pneumatic hiss and then a clunk, and the children felt a noticeable shift in the room's air pressure. Machinery cycled into life and the ground trembled.

"Fuck!" Boa scrambled to his feet as the wall behind him shuddered. The metal surface and its opposite parted via micro-seams and commenced a folding descent. And it was then that the Leviathan Children realised that they were, themselves, on a platform suspended in a larger chamber. The briefing room was but another gantry within a larger cavern of the mountain.

And fifty feet below, stretching like a surreal city block, a dozen giant vats held the things that weighed most heavily on their minds. The giants that had overshadowed them for the span of their formative years. Suspended in a preservative bath, the Primary Serpents slumbered and twitched only slightly in the proximity of their masters.

Each vat was encircled by twenty or so technicians. Calibrations and testing had begun.

It was now just a question of whether the children would be a part of it.

The forms on the two tables waited.

 

[DotCom]

We expect you, Mr. Aames, to realize the potential of your serpents.

Daisy had to laugh at that. It was hard and bitter, but it was a laugh. No one had ever called Daisy precocious. She was too flighty for that. But there was no denying she was unlike most children her age. Undeniably, a good part of that was having been born a part of the Leviathan Generation, which, in turned, granted her a life of necessary silver spoons and caviar (which she hated -- the caviar, not the lifestyle. The lifestyle was...something else). But a good portion of that had also been the sort of social training required of her by being a Leviathan. There was something that came with the ability to craft living creatures of your own flesh. Some said it was akin to inherent tyranny. Others said it was closer to maternal warmth.

Daisy had experienced neither of these, though she was massively protective of her creations. No, what her birthright granted her was more of a keen independence that sometimes boarded on delusions of grandeur -- in particular, invincibility. She was not fearless by any stretch of the imagination. But she was blunt and open and unflinching in a way only someone who had the power to create life could be.

She'd been five years old when she'd cycled through all the classic Bond movies. She was not a lonely child, but the Leviathan lifestyle did not grant much opportunity to, say, visit public playgrounds. She'd had only Mico then, and considered him her very best friend. She'd been chasing him when she'd heard one of the house staff make a Bond reference. The others had laughed, and five-year-old Daisy had resigned herself to finding out what in the hell was so damn funny.

Those hours of old movies swam back to her now as she stood in a room full of haughty children and patronizing adults -- and Dr. Teal.

We expect you, Mr. Aames...to die.

Daisy was the first one to the table on the right. She did not hesitate.

A normal life didn't scare her. Losing her serpents did. And Daisy did not scare easily.

She finished the form and looked around the room before realizing the man who wanted her creations had left. Without a second thought, she went quickly to the door, flung it open, and shouted down the hall.

"I know this won't affect you," she said blithely, "but it'll make me better. So, fuck you, dude. Give me my serpents."

 

[Akuma]

He didn't waste time getting the paper signed either, why would anyone come all the way out here to just get thrown out. Well maybe some people would but not him and plus he gets to go to a new world and test out his serpents...you have to admit...its just bad-ass. He stepped back to were everyone was originally and sighed running his hand through his hair so it would stay out his face but he lost focus when he heard Daisy screaming down the hall at Elsinger. He shook his head and crossed his arms

" So this is training...correct? " He wasn't sure if they were diving right in or if this was a test to see how well this band of people could do, in my mind i dont think were going to get along to well...maybe a few people but others are going to split from the group or there is going to be sides. Shaking his head he kept thinking about it, But then he wondered what they were doing with his serpent i wonder if they put in new weapons he thought to himself. Maybe he got rockets or something...but he did prefer his scythe anyways.

 

[Hounds]

Mamoru didn't bother wasting time deciding if he chose to leave then he'd be homeless, something he never wanted to experience being used by the government was bad enough but being left out on the streets was just something he didn't want to deal with. Besides a "normal" life was just too boring, he'd spent his entire life trying to be normal but it never really made him happy. Sure he lived a life of luxury that most people spend their entire lives trying to obtain but it was dull. Once you're at the top everything just seems so pointless, it's more like going through the motions than actually living; there's no drive to do anything when everything's already taken care of. Mamoru looked down at the release form he'd just signed and wondered just what exactly would be waiting for him and the others once they stepped through that portal.

 

[Asmodeus]

EPISODE THREE​

Poised to Strike

​

Twenty years later

"AHURRGH KUUHR RUUHR KOOOHFF RUURGHR HUURGH.... ACKURH!"

Helen spat a glob of brown, viscous phlegm on the floral wallpaper before taking another cigarette drag. The ash dropped in the tray - the tray balanced precariously on her swollen abdomen. Her seventh baby was going to be a large one. "So anyway," she continued in her scratchy, gravel voice, "I took Elsinger behind the magma chamber and we got down to it, you know? And let me tell ya, it was the best Swiss Cheese I ever had in my mouth." More phlegm trickled down her chin as she chortled.

"Ooh pleaze, yoo beetch! Ze man was practically eating me up, ya!" Jack dabbed his brow with a frilly, swastika-embroidered handkerchief while leaning by the fireplace. He was a picture of gaudy living, in purple waistcoat, mascara and powdered-grey hair. His face was scarred and wrinkled as he pouted. "Ooh, ich still remember zat day in zee volcano, when he stoode zere wiv his smouldering eyes. Yoo cud tell by zee vay he was walking, ya! Dere's no fooling zis queen, honey." He waved his limp wrist dismissively at the pregnant woman.

On the chair opposite Helen a balding, overweight Mamoru lifted an electrolarynx and held it to the gaping, rancid stoma wound on his neck. His voice came out in creepy electronic monotone. "Mmmm boy, I wiiiiish youuu twoooo would stop dragging up the paaaaast."

Jack flapped his other wrist, "Ooh stow it, Herr Vader. At leest vee cahn still swallow semen, ya!" He giggled shrilly while Helen gave a rasping chuckle that sent the ash tray tipping from her belly.

Meanwhile, by the window, Eva huddled on another armchair, which had been turned to face the garden. The grey-haired hag had her head underneath the curtains and was obsessively keeping watch. "We've been here too long! They can smell the coffee! It's like crack to these people. Is the roof satellite-proof? People always forget. Yes, they always forget to satellite-roof the proofs."

A horde of malnourished cats brushed and yowled around her as he babbled.

"I made some peppermint brownies." A frail, trembling stick of man with a comb-over shuffled from the kitchen and into the lounge with a tray of baked treats. Orochi kept his eyes on the ground as usual, and winced a little when he saw Eva by the window. His agoraphobia and social anxiety was as crippling as ever. "I would have had fudge sauce.... but Mother didn't visit yesterday on account of her rickets. Umm.. sorry..." He laid the plate down between Helen and Mamoru.

"Mmmm they loook delicious Oroooochi, thaaank you..."

"Oh, you boys are so funny, aren't they, Mister Samlington?" On a rocking chair in the corner, Daisy sat with her truth puppet - a shrunken horse-head on a stick that she carried with her wherever she went. She looked to it as she asked her question, then put on a funny voice. The truth puppet said the things she couldn't. "Yeah, funny like a pair of cunts!"

There was silence in the lounge. Orochi gave a nervous cough.

"So anyvay, Frauline," said Jack as he turned to Helen with a hand on his heart. "Ven is yorr little bundle of joy due?"

"Fuck if I know," Helen answered with a belch of smoke. She let out a fart as she retrieved the ashtray and placed it back on her belly. "I had me one of them electro-magnesium abortions last Christmas. Fucked me right up. Still shit from me vagina, ya know? Anyway, the doctor said the next kid might be a retard, so I might wanna have a claw hammer with me in the delivery room."

"That's where they get you," Eva cut in while cradling two of the cats to her breasts. "They wait till you pass out, then swap the babies for pig mutants. Ever wonder what's in the Coca-Cola? They ran out of corn syrup in 2034." One of the cats clawed at her chest. Eva sighed and began unbuttoning her blouse.

"Oh, I forgot the napkins." Orochi stood paralyzed by the coffee table, sweating profusely.

"That's okay, Orochi. Don't worry about it." Daisy smiled then brought the horse-puppet in front of her face. "Yeah, why don't you just take a shit in our mouths, you little cock-munching faggot!"
"Oh, Mister Samlington. You are awful!"

Orochi looked down.

Mamoru adjusted his speech device. The throat cancer still gave him trouble. Everyone warned about this 15 years ago, when he got stoned and decided to eat the Serpents. "Mmmm, sooo dooo you guuys ever regreeeet quitting the Leviathan Project?"

Eva let out a little gasp and giggled while slapping the cat half-buried in her blouse. "Not so hard, darling!"

"Nah, fuck it." Helen lit up another cigarette. "Best thing we ever did was walk out of that place. Remember that pair o' lesbians - Satsuma and Teabag? They would've had our sphincters tighter than an Aston Martin."

"Mmmm, I thiiink it waaaas Satsuko and Tealeaf."

"I put anthrax on their tampons!" The horse puppet confessed from the corner.

"Enough, yoo gais!" Jack minced to the center of the room and knelt by the coffee table. "Frau Helen is right, ya. Vee all turned out much better viv out zee NAGA Initiative. Now, let us pute zis silly talk aside. Vee are here to remember our dear friend. Ten years today, he took his last heroin hit, and vee all lost our fuhrer and our muse." He choked back tears. "He died soo young, and sooo sehxy! But vee vill always love him! Auf wiedersehen, Boa."

"Boa!"

"Boa!"

"Mmmm, Boa!"

"Boa! ACKARRGH HUUURGH AAAUGRH!"

"Boa, the cunt!"

Jack stroked the skull-emblazoned urn that rested on the table.

"BOA!"​

"AAAAGH!"

Boa jolted awake and smacked his head on the cockpit roof.


The others would never know of his dream. And they would only see his Primary Serpent twitch slightly as its pilot awoke.

Stood beside them in the massive training hangar, Erebus was a beast of silver-sheen skin and black carapace. It waited in line with the other Serpents and their pilots were cradled in specially constructed cockpits of bone and membrane. They had been made to remove their clothes, to boost the neural link.

The only artificial thing they wore were the earpieces, through which Setsuko's voice instructed them.

"WAKE UP BOA! NOW, THE REST OF YOU - I WANT TO SEE BASIC COORDINATION. GET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HANGAR, AT WHATEVER PACE YOU CAN MANAGE. I'VE PUT SOME OBSTACLES IN YOUR WAY. I WANT FLUID MOVEMENTS. BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS AND YOUR APPENDAGES. AND FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T RUN INTO EACH OTHER."

"Why did Helen have a cockney accent?"

"WHAT WAS THAT? WHO'S TALKING?"

"Er, nothing. Sorry."

 

[DotCom]

Charlie gave Setsuko a sidelong glance. The two women were the same age and polar opposites. Setsuko was very good at her job -- not that Charlie wasn't. She just hadn't figured out what her job was yet. Right now, it sort of felt like playing character foil to Takahashi. In a totally-not-at-all-breaking-the-third-wall sort of way.

"Just...um...do your best, guys!" she encouraged as brightly as she could, knowing full well she was drawing Setsuko's ire. Which was kind of funny. She was so serious all the time, it was hard not to wanna push her around. But she had work to do. Totally professional work that she was totally going to get started on right now. Totally.

"And...y'know...once you get here, you can have candy! Or something. 'Nutritional supplements'...but with more sugar. Non-nutritional supple--" Setsuko was staring ice daggers at her. Charlie beamed and shut up.

On the other side of the cavernous space, Daisy waited patiently inside Bella. She felt conspicuous, but not threatened. She knew she was the youngest, and probably the most inexperienced pilot, so it didn't particularly bother her that her Primary was the smallest by nearly 50 feet at least. She figured if they came across any life-threatening missions that depending on squeezing into tight airshafts or something, she'd be the one laughing.

Or, you know, dying. Whichever came first.

Bella hummed underneath her, vibrating with excited energy. That was the other best-thing-ever about her Levia-Griffon: Bella was fast. Maybe not quite so gawky or aerodynamic as the flying pencil-bat Accent Girl piloted, but she was compact and quick. Like a bullet. Her wings were practically crafted to kick wind resistance's ass.

"Um..." she called out to no one in particular. "Are we waiting for, like, a checked flag or something?" There was no answer. "No?" Still nothing. Daisy sighed. There had better be candy at the end of this thing, or someone was going for a ride they would not enjoy.

"Bella," she purred, and the Griffon purred back. "Go."

With a streak of silver, Daisy's Primary leapt forth as if swallowing the sky.