Chapter 8 Going to Last Stand

“I remember when we first set out. Overconfident of our powers, still unaware of wonders that were. Yet when I laid my eyes on the Falls, I saw that greater men and women have fallen before me, and I realised that I must follow.” - Paradigm, Leader of the Defenders of Dawn and Hero of the War Within.

“Tell me about your power while we walk Aiden.”

“Me?” he replied, pointing at himself.

“Yep,” Freddy said, “I know what Alexis and Jun do since they’ve been fully registered, what do you do though?”

Jun slowed down the slightest bit, dropping next to Aiden and Freddy.

“Fully registered… They did tell me something about waiting a month before they categorise my power,” he muttered.

“That’s so you have enough time to actually figure out what you do,” he replied, “in case you haven’t noticed, Manifested powers tend to have weird rules and limitations about them.”

“Shouldn’t they have made me go through another barrage of tests to figure it out?” Aiden replied. “What if I manifested something dangerous and levelled a block?”

Freddy shrugged, “It’s just a block, no one cares.” Then he turned his head, locking his eyes with Aiden and the rest of the group, “Not to mention, for Manifested powers, it is always better to have the user figure it out on their own terms.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow at that, shrugging before he replied, “Some kind of Spawner power, I have no idea on the limits yet but I can tell it’s something that’ll be very useful if I had some time to figure it out.”

“Spawner huh? Those are always annoying to deal with,” Freddy replied, “you think you can hold your own in a fight right now?”

He furrowed his brow as he thought over it, “Truthfully no, I have no combat experience, a power whose parameters I don’t fully understand, nor am willing to pay the costs of. At this moment I would be more a hindrance in a fight.”

Jun whistled, “That’saharshevaluationofyourself.”

He shrugged, “It’s the truth, and I would rather not harm people by blustering like an idiot.”

“It’s alright,” Freddy said as they neared a large open garage. “Just means I’ll have to look after you extra hard for the demonstration.”

“What do you mean by that-”

“Morning!” Freddy yelled out into the garage. Squinting inside, Aiden could make out the blurry forms of all kinds of contraptions, tools and other mechanical things he couldn’t name. There was a large, helicopter-like vehicle inside, which strangely didn’t have any rotors. But most importantly,

“It smells filthy in here,” he muttered. The musk of gas, grease and oil was a constant assault against his nose. Not to mention the fine layer of dust and mud that seemed to congregate in every nook and cranny… His hand itched to grab a mop, but he held himself back as Freddy entered a small office room nestled inside the large garage.

“You awake Isaac?” he yelled. Jun was already in the room and Alexis was following. Aiden hesitantly pinched his nose and went after them. Standing at the doorway, he realised it was actually a... relatively clean laboratory. Entering just in time to see Freddy yanking an arm out of a pile of scrap metal.

It came free, pulling a slightly dishevelled man coming with it. Long oily hair covering the entirety of his face and a dirty lab coat covered in industrial grease.

“Frederic?” the man muttered as if just waking, “What time is it?”

“11:43 AM, and before you ask, today is Wednesday the 20th of January. Your birthday passed two weeks ago and Francisco got with Emanual after they plotted the murder of Lucinda during the season finale.”

Shaking himself awake, Isaac glared at Freddy, “What the hell? I haven’t even gotten to season 7 yet!”

“That was actually season 9,” Freddy replied calmly. “You missed 3 seasons in your trance.”

Rubbing his head, Isaac muttered, “Has it already been a year and a half?”

“Your longest yet, anything to show for it?”

The bedraggled man kicked a pile of scrap metal, “Nothing. The Bleed’s been a bitch to deal with.”

“Well, I hope you’re up for some morning exercise. Kids, this is Isaac, he’s one of the resident geneline gadgeteers. Say hi.”

“HiI’mJun.”

“No need for introductions please,” Isaac said as he rubbed his head, “I won’t remember your names.”

“Um, I guess just hi then?”

“Greetings.”

“How’s the old bird?” Freddy asked, gesturing to the helicopter-like vehicle behind them. “Think you can get it started up?”

The man scoffed, “Of course I can, it’s my Focus. Where do we need to go? Actually, wait… Where did I leave the keys…”

As the gadgeteer began searching the wildly disorganised laboratory, Freddy turned around to address them. His face suddenly serious, “I’ve decided we’ll be having a field demonstration to best teach you all the practical applications of Meta Techniques.”

Aiden’s back slightly straightened, as did the others upon seeing the sudden grimness in the other man’s face.

“There’s a Gate near the town of Last Stand which I was just informed of. Currently determined to be a Gate to F-34. By the Earth, Wind and Fire classifications, its Risk, Disruption and Spread class has been determined to be Cnoc, Vento and Dark. You’ll be educated later on what exactly that means but for now just know it’s been tentatively classified as an E-Rank Gate.”

He saw Jun relax slightly at that, which immediately got Freddy’s glare. “Don’t relax just yet. With the exception of maybe Alexis, none of you are experienced or qualified enough to waltz around even an E-Rank threat. You’ll need to stick close to me and Isaac-”

“Ahah! Found it!” Isaac yelled as he pulled out a key.

“-During the duration of our mission,” Freddy continued on, entirely unfazed. “You’ll only need to acclimate yourself to the reality disruption a Gate causes and the effects to your Hume while under its influence. I assume you all know what your Status is?”

Alexis put her two index and thumbs into a rectangular frame, Aiden glanced at Oros who had crawled onto his elbow, while Jun put a hand to her mask.

“Good, now that I got the official warnings required of me… Don’t sweat this Gate too much. Stick near me and Isaac and you’ll be fine. But be prepared to defend yourself as best as you can. Any questions?”

Aiden raised a hand.

“Yes, Aiden?”

“Can Mr Isaac take a shower first?”

Freddy’s serious face cracked into a smile, then a chuckle, “Hehe, good one kid.”

“No but seriously, I can smell him from here.”

At everyone’s behest, but mostly Aiden's, Isaac did clean up a bit. Quickly using one of the lab safety showers and hand wash. While everyone waited outside, largely to the smell, a butterfly with crimson wings fluttered nearby. It slowly flew towards Aiden, as if homing onto him. Squinting, he saw it was burdened by a small white package. As it finally stopped and hovered around him, he raised an eyebrow. Holding out his hand, he let the butterfly drop the package on his hand.

Slowly it flew off. Addressed to Aiden Bu. Unwrapping the thing, he found a glasses case.

“Finally,” he breathed out. Opening it, he found a pair of simple, rectangular wireframe glasses which he quickly put on.

All the blurs in the distance became as clear as day. Now finally able to see further than his own hands.

“Oh, your glasses came,” Freddy stated as he walked out.

He nodded in response, before sighing, “I hope it doesn’t break as soon as I got it.”

“Hmm… about that, how does your Spawner power work exactly?”

He raised an eyebrow, pulling back his sleeve, he revealed the fork bracelet. “Oros?”

The snake obliged, slithering out of his sleeve and onto the fork, animating it as a snake once again. “I can make tattoo like things that can possess items and make them animate.”

He gestured at the other living tattoos on his arm, a collection of rabbits, beetles and other small critters. “I have difficulty making the same thing in succession, but I can reabsorb them back into me,” he said as Oros slid off the fork, returning to his skin.

“Curious…” Freddy replied, brow creased in thought, “If that’s the case, try focusing on your glasses, they may not need to be replaced if your power works by Possession or Imbuing.”

“Possession? Imbuing?”

Freddy waved him off, “I’ll explain on the way, I already have the other two on similar exercises.”

“What do you mean by focusing?” he asked.

“Me telling you how to do it may give you a habit you wouldn’t need. You’re a Manifested, so you need to figure it out yourself. Head in, Isaac just finished washing.”

Aiden watched with undisguised curiosity as the strange aircraft took off. Isaac fiddling with dozens of different buttons and levers that all served some unknown purpose.

The aircraft was thankfully clean if a bit dusty. It didn’t seem touched at all during the past few years.

“How does this work?” Jun asked, not seeing any discernable means of propulsion.

“So you can talk normally!” Alexis butted in.

Ignoring her, Isaac answered, “Hell if I know.”

“““Huh?””” three voices went.

“I’m a gadgeteer. I’m on autopilot when I make stuff. Even when I’m flying the damn thing I don’t know for sure what I’m doing. Just that it’ll probably work.”

“Probably?” Aiden asked with only the slightest bit of alarm.

Beside them, Freddy shrugged, “Get used to it. At least he’s not a contriver.”

“God I wish I was a contriver,” Isaac muttered, “I could be living large in a penthouse with tons of funding if I was one.”

“You’ll also be insane,” Freddy pointed out.

“Insane in a penthouse is not the same as insane in a spare college garage,” the gadgeteer muttered.

“What’sthedifferencebetweenagadgeteerandcontriver?” Jun asked. “They’reboth-”

“Slow down,” Freddy interrupted. “And don’t even get him started on that.”

“Sorrysir. Aren’t they both tech making Awakened?”

“Only gadgeteers make actual tech,” he replied. “It’s a thinker type power that grants you knowledge on how to create advanced technology. Contrivers only believe they’re making tech. The stuff they make don’t possess any actual sense and only work so long as the contriver is nearby and deluded. If they get too far away the contrivance just falls apart.”

“Then why would gadgeteers be less wanted?” Aiden asked. “If gadgeteers are making the genuine article then why would contrivers be more wanted?”

“Because contriver tech works inside a Gate,” Isaac replied with a sense of defeat. “The more complex a thing is, the more likely it is to fall apart. It’s why we don’t run into a Gate with machine guns and laser rifles. Contriver tech will work so long as the contriver believes it should work, so they delude themselves into thinking they found the way to get over Bleed mechanics. Then they’re able to produce actual weaponry that works inside a Gate.”

“Not to mention all the passive Bleed has just been accumulating over time. We not only need to remake our scientific textbooks every few decades, many gadgeteers are also left behind because their power worked only in a different time.”

“What about Daedalus?” Aiden asked, “Wasn’t he a gadgeteer? Some of his stuff still works.”

Isaac shook his head, “We’re not sure what he was. On one hand, his stuff has been through far too many Bleeds to just be gadgeteer tech, on the other hand, they’ve worked too consistently even after his death to be contrivances. Regardless of whether he was a gadgeteer or contriver, he had the weaknesses of neither classification. He’s the exception rather than the rule.”

“Don’t worry too much about ability classifications,” Freddy added. “They’re mostly there to make everything simpler for all the paperwork that needs to be done. Other than genelines, it’s always better to judge an ability on a case by case basis.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Aiden began, “What is a geneline and manifested? I know manifestations are referring to us but…”

“Genelinesarereferringtoinheritedpowers,” Jun said, “amanifestedmakesachildandtheyhave-”

“Please slow down,” Aiden politely asked.

“Sorry. So genelines are just referring to inherited powers. A manifested has a kid and they get a more general version of the power their ‘rents had.” Even speaking slower, Jun still sounded slightly fast-paced as she rushed through her explanation.

“Specifically the geneline has less weird rules and themes on them,” Freddy added. “Alexis’s blocks are always 4 cubes in a random configuration, but her kid might just summon one cube, or maybe not even cubes at all. And as we go down the generational ladder we might get a kid who only does matter summoning.”

“I’m a prime example,” Isaac threw in, “I’m a geneline gadgeteer. I think it was my great-great-great grandma that could specifically make tech relating to movement and that was it, but I don’t even have a theme, so I could make whatever I want.”

“That sounds way better than being manifested,” Aiden observed.

Freddy shrugged, “There are strengths and weaknesses to both, specifically manifested powers have higher-”

“We’re coming up on it now!” Isaac called out, “Look to your left, see that not all gadgeteering is doom and gloom.”

They turned to the left window, looking out, Aiden wasn’t sure what he was seeing. A crop of slightly greener trees in a massive concave- he paused as he saw the five other oblong marks of heavily indented earth.

Beneath them, was a massive indentation in the ground, so deep that some fully grown trees within barely scrapped the edge. The other five indentations, he realised weren’t shaped like oblongs at all.

They were claws.

They were flying above a massive footprint.

“Wait a second…” Aiden muttered, leafing through memories of past, major events in the area. “Is that…”

“It is,” Freddy answered.

As the aircraft continued to fly forward, they saw more and more of these massive footprints. Heading in the same direction they were. Before long they saw the other set.

Two pairs of massive footprints, almost boot like in their appearance.

The monstrous pair of footprints and the boot like ones soon led to one another. Clashing in a mess of shattered ground and flattened jungle. Deep gouges in the earth where one of them was thrown. Even now, Aiden could make out the signs of trees so pulverised they were little more than a patch of slightly discoloured earth.

Then they saw the spikes.

Protrusions of pure earth and stone shooting out of the ground. Raised with such length and number they could be mistaken as a city of stone at a distance.

It was here they saw the first piece.

A massive robotic arm, impaled on one of the many spikes, hanging above in the sky. Uncountable wires, gears and other mechanical mechanisms fell exposed from the stump. Almost like bones and torn ligaments ripped from the body it came from.

They came past it, coming uncomfortably close to the great construct. He noted with awe, that though the aircraft they were in was at least 10 metres in length. It didn’t even approach the size of even a single one of its fingers. The material had begun to degrade, specs of rust larger than Aiden himself dotted the arm, and he noted with alarm that the ring finger was hanging on by only a few metallic joints.

Then they finally came upon it.

The massive corpse of the beast. Laid there on the ground, so large it could be mistaken for a mountain. Its head gone, ripped from its body. Beside it lay the broken Gigantes unit. The massive mecha was missing its left arm, its head was pierced by a spike of earth and stone. Yet it was said, that even as its pilots perished, the Gigantes held firm its grasp on the Kaiju’s neck, ripping it off in its dying throes, finally killing the beast after hours of battle.

“Lest Dawn Fail,” he heard Freddy mutter like a prayer.

Upon the corpse of the kaiju, they saw people and vehicles. From their height, it reminded Aiden of finding a dead bird or other animal on the pavement. Where ants swarmed around the cadaver so they could harvest the dead creature for food. At this height, people looked more like insects. Tearing into a corpse for food to bring back to the colony. All so they could make another Gigantes. To fight another battle, to kill another kaiju, to make another Gigantes. To repeat this cycle for eternity or longer.

And in the shadow of the fallen Gigantes, was the beginnings of a town. The town of Last Stand. Similar to a mining town, it cropped up only so it could start harvesting the resources found beside it. It would take them years to fully harvest this corpse, maybe even decades, but it will be done eventually.

“We can’t fight something like that,” Alexis muttered, “that’s too big… too freaking big!”

“You won’t need to,” Freddy replied, patting her on the shoulder, “someone else does.”

Aiden nodded, “Is it a baker’s job to make laws? Or an accountant’s job to fix the plumbing? Humanity is all about dividing work to the people who can do it. Not throwing everything on one person to fix.”

Nodding, Freddy spoke, “We’re not the only people keeping dawn from failing. Whatever you do in the future, know that the sky isn’t held up by your shoulders alone.”

Isaac circled around the area one more time, letting them all take in the sights before finally, they landed in the town.