I walked out of the Seal Room back home with a “I’m back!” that probably wasn’t needed, but it never hurt. I strolled into the kitchen, and raised my eyebrows at Dealer kicked back there talking with a green-skinned Amazon with bright flaming red hair a head taller than she was.

Said emerald Amazon also dropped the Ward about her so I could Assay her, right on cue.

============

Serenity Thundra’D, Daughter of the Hulk, The Peacebringer

Powered (Gamma) Female Human/3, Titania Template; Gamma Mutate/10

Gamma Fist/15; Melee/10, Artificer/4; Scout/4, Warshaper/5, Tempest of Serenity/5

Strength: 20-> 31/63 [68/70] Height: 6’8

Dexterity: 15-> 23 Weight: 480 lbs

Constitution: 18-> 29 (49) [59] Hair: Red

Intelligence: 18-> 40 Eyes: Green

Wisdom: 12-> 24 Age: 25 (physical)

Charisma: 12-> 23

Notable Talents/Traits: Naturally Focused, Dauntless; Serene, Harmonious, Manhunter; Gamma-Powered; Slayer: Constructs (robots), Male Bipeds, Devolved Mutates (acquired); Sealed Identity; Master of Four Dragons (Sun, Moon, Crystal, Ocean);

Titania Template: Great Strength; Great Stamina; Great Vitality; Enhanced Invulnerability; Energy Resistance

Serene Gamma-Powered Strength Template: Emotional Weakness; Enlightened Might; Massive Power; Massive Stamina; Massive Vitality; Massive Invulnerability; Massive Energy Resistance; Regeneration and Fast Healing; Spirit Sight; Force Channeler

===========

“Oh, ho!” I extended a hand to her as she got to her feet with frankly astonishing grace for her size. A full two meters, as tall as Thundra, but having both that looming Aura of power from the Gamma-powered as well as a dispersive serenity that ameliorated a lot of the looming portion. “Felicia brought you back here, I see.” Her grip was even and calm.

“Well, given what a craphole most of my home time is, this is quite the treat,” Serenity admitted, sitting down as I did across from Dealer. I flicked up a hand, Clone rippled, and Dealer reached out to exchange Valences, which instantly caught me up on what they’d been talking about.

She didn’t hide her envy as she watched that. “The Gamma Template doesn’t allow spellcasting,” she sighed, hand on her chin. “The closest I can come is a Ki Pool. I can’t even do the Heartsong effectively.”

“Well, I believe if you get the Gamma Brain Template instead, you can pick up psionics,” I rolled my eyes at her. She smiled wryly, wrinkling her nose, and just shook her head. “I’m all caught up,” I waved at Dealer. “Keep going!”

“Well, it pretty much worked out as Mom planned it. They weren’t happy I was a natural birth, but at least they got to do the accelerated aging so I’d be ready to go in only a year or two, and they could program me to their heart’s content.” Her smile was hard.

Dealer and I both snickered. “And your Mom co-opted ALL of their brain-programming...”

“Yes, across every Vatborn, and even going into the livebirth training and the cyberware users. She suborned all the key monitors, rewrote the maintenance programs and subbed them in, and basically put a whole lot of you into the new generation, with any of sixteen different Trait variations to start.”

“You don’t seem to have the simmering anger of the normal Gamma crew?” I asked, interested.

“What the Matriarch Council feared most was me rampaging out of their control, because there literally was no one who could handle me if I did. So they inverted the normal rage mechanic that applied, and I get progressively weaker the more emotional I get. It even affects the Titania Template I inherited from Mom. I can go right down to my base human scores if I get too angry, and I lose pretty much all the Template Buffs if I do.”

“You are Naturally Focused, Serene, and Harmonious,” I muttered, squinting at her. “Have you EVER been out of control emotionally?”

“To their utter shock and dismay, no.” Serenity smiled thinly. “So, the Matriachs never got the opportunity to carrot and stick me, threatening me with my vulnerability if I grew angry with them. I just grew even calmer the more they pushed me and tried to rile me up. I think it terrified them even more.”

“So you were their pet living weapon, except you totally weren’t matching the programming you were supposed to have,” Dealer murmured. “Did they get suspicious?”

“Mother was taking control by then. They had suspicions of Thundra’s beliefs wavering, given her time-hopping beyond their ability to monitor her, but they had absolutely no idea someone as dangerous as Mother had come back, and they literally had no way to deal with her when she made her move. After all, most of the old knowledge was either lost or restricted and unusable, everything devolving to gene-mods fighting it out in personal combat.

“Mom Duplicated herself out inside Thundra-doubles, made a Clone, and accented that with a bunch of Sims. She took out the entire Matriarch Council in a wave of Possession first, retired them all soon after, and with the help of Simulacra basically took over the governing functions, the military, and the thrust of the whole war.”

I’d learn all the particulars when we linked up again. “End result?”

Her eyes flickered. “I was the spearhead. The men didn’t have a Template or gene-mod that could deal with me, nor could any of their weapons short of nukes even really slow me down. I broke all their positions and fortifications, drove them across the planet, and basically led the way as we wiped them out.”

She closed her eyes as she said that, her face hard. I just shook my head slightly. “None of them could be saved, eh...”

“No. Even the ones still Vatted already had the all-male gene-mods and brainwashing. There was no saving them. We had to dump them all. There wasn’t a single clean male genome we could find anywhere, and we really looked hard.”

“Ah!” I pointed at her, half-smiling. “You’re here to gather up some original genetic material!”

Despite herself, she couldn’t help returning the half-smile. “Mom is rather enthusiastic about this project, probably especially since she needs samples from both sides...”

“Did they ever crack the X-gene puzzle?” I asked. Finally figuring out whatever could key evolution in ALL humans was the grand prize of genetic research.

But Serenity shook her head. “No. They managed to figure out and replicate a couple dozen different sets of gene-mods which could be applied to humans with the right genetics, forming a bunch of basic Templates. Some could be applied more widely than others. Mom’s Titania Template, for example, literally fits one in a million women.

“In contrast, they tried to adapt the Gamma Template to others, and instead wound up with monsters they had to put down harshly at best, and radiation deaths at worst.

“The big one for the men was the Wrecker Template, which wasn’t much different than the Titania Template from a functional standpoint. Both sides stole from one another if they could, and so both sides had roughly the same Templates. The men had a working Firebrand Template the women did not, and the women had an Ice Maiden Template they didn’t.” She shrugged. “They didn’t have anything that could take me on except some Mentallo Templates, and naturally they weren’t expecting me to have a major focus on mental disciplines like I do.”

“Strange, that!” I held out a fist, and she smiled as we bopped. “Your Gamma Fist Class?” I asked archly.

“I can’t channel psionic or magical energy. The Gamma Template limits me to Force energy and the internal bolstering of it. The Serene warping of it even makes the biomorphing Hulk side of it unlikely.

“So, I adapted the Arcane Fist to it. I’m probably the most natural and intuitive wielder of pure Force energy alive.” Her eyes glittered with pride.

“Ah ha! All the Hulk power, without all the Hulkiness!” I pointed at her. “I see what you did there! Windfists and windblades instead of Shards, amiright?”

“Basically, yes. Although my finger thrust can look a lot like a Shard,” she nodded confirmation.

“How long was the war after you joined?” Dealer asked softly.

“Almost eight years, ten years after Mom came back.”

“You gained all those Levels in eight years from scratch? That’s impressive.” I considered the point. “Lots of superhuman combatants...”

“And power armor, advanced melee weapons, genetic monstrosities, the occasional alien invading force, and rebelling magical spirits and the like. Mom said I was a Peacebringer, and so everywhere I went, something was attracted to me that had to learn some peace.”

“Ohhh, you have an aggro flag...” I glanced at Dealer knowingly. “Your dad has one, too. He’s always stumbling into messes, it doesn’t matter where he goes. If he spends a night out in the middle of nowhere in the desert, it turns out to be the landing site for aliens, the binding location of an old demon, the focus of the Stars Are Wrong, a conjunction from the Nevernever for some fey monstrosity, the sleeping place of an ancient horror, the rendezvous point for spies or saboteurs, a random astral breach admitting nightmares into the world, a Ritual location for some dire magical Ceremony, a Microversial invasion point, a Moloid incursion from Subterranea, a secret scientific experimental lab gone wrong, or just plain bloody something.

“He’s totally famous for it now. The Tribes have whole lists of things he’s stumbled across and saved them from. Has bunches of Totem Warlocks traveling around with him just to run into whatever he blunders into.”

Serenity shook her head despite herself. “Mom coded my programming off the base you all share, so I know all about Aelryinth and the Power of Ten, and I’ve based everything I’ve learned off knowing all that. I don’t know how I would have adapted if I didn’t have all that to work with.

“It is still bloody weird knowing I was born into a superverse that others consider comic book mayhem, and having to live through everything I have. Ugh, just wait until you link up with Mom again.”

“Did she make Twenty?” I asked archly. “Ten years is a long time...”

“She said things about Karmic Ties and not being able to return here if she accumulated too much Karma, so she was spending it constantly on things.”

“Ohhhhh. She fused with Thundra...” Dealer murmured.

“And started an Allegiance. She fed all the Karma into the Allegiance,” I agreed. “That’s why things went so smoothly on the macro scale; she spent massive amounts of Karma to shift things in the right direction. By feeding it all back into the Allegiance, she solidified her Duplicates’ taking over everything if she left. I’m gathering there’s a leader-type Duplicate back home?”

Serenity looked amused. “Aunt Regina loves the governing and Allegiance stuff. Aunt Victoria handles Warlording and the army.”

“One of us is a Warlord?” I had to tilt my head at that. “Wow, I suppose...”

“There’s Sixteen different mental templates of you back there,” Serenity smiled, pointing at us. “Or rather, maybe of Aelryinth, as I understand he was the basis. There’s you, Aunt Dyna, you’re one of The Casters. Aunt Ursula would be one of The Clerics. Aunt Sun is The Noble. Mom is The Rogue. Aunt Kwannon is The Parent. I’m The Monk. Aunt Victoria is The General. Aunt Regina is The Leader. There’s also The Artist, The Builder, The Mentalist, The Researcher, The Detective, The Artificer, The Druid, and The Teacher.”

“Well!” My expression was a little lop-sided, discovering I myself was a Template, when I was the heart of all this. Then I remembered I was a sliver of a soul, too, so... yeah, I didn’t have the same motivations that Ael had... or rather, I had the same ones, but they were in different priorities. “Surprised there was no Heroic one, or something...”

“Mom said that might have been taken by someone called Traveler?” Serenity said, shrugging. “Likewise, no Adventurer or Explorer-types, at least as primary.”

“Wow.” I hadn’t thought about Traveler and that Sending from Aelryinth for a long time. I wasn’t even sure I could reach him from this Superverse... but, you know, I could Cast IX’s+1, and I could make a Pyramid and certainly TRY, couldn’t I?

“Oh, Mithar, now I’m feeling guilty I haven’t tried to get in contact with Aelryinth,” I muttered, putting my head in my hands.