Chapter 57 With You

“But let it not be forgotten that Law came to us in a moment of need. That it too is an enemy of one of the Five Threats. Only together can we stand against the corrupted Concept that calls itself Democracy.” - The notes of High Justice Deaf

Lu dreamt of ocean waves.

His toes dug into the soft and sandy beach, watching the night sky covered in stars roll by.

“Yo,” Bu waved at Lu.

“Been a while huh,” Lu waved back.

“It has been,” Bu sat down beside him. “You’ve changed a lot since last time.”

Lu shrugged, “Not at all.”

Bu looked surprised, and the sands moved. They formed shapes, and tattoos covered them to show memories past.

It showed him standing still, a passive observer as a man lost a foot and an army of fly like creatures escaped a Gate. A bystander to a world where other people did the work.

“Oh, you meant like that,” Lu moved his hand. “I haven’t changed, I just did something incredibly stupid.”

The sands moved and the tattoos changed, the old Mrs Jemina as she mowed down zombies in a final hurrah against the dying, the unnamed policeman who died to buy Aiden a bit of time, and most recently, a girl, who couldn’t have been older than Bu was, catching the bomb and throwing it away to save the crowd.

And then there was Jun, sitting by the table with him, looking expectantly as he tried their first attempt at cooking.

“I realised there were people worth saving,” Lu said with a smirk. “It’s a very stupid thing to do, I don’t recommend it for anyone else.”

Bu chuckled as he slapped Lu on the back, “Well, good for you.”

|

Ranpo winced as the t-rex roared.

“You couldn’t have added an ‘obey’ keyword or something,” Ranpo muttered. “Had to just make it super strong. I’ll just keep touching it, I can control tattoos, that always works.”

His fairly decent mimicry of Aiden’s voice ended as he dodged a wide tail swipe. Glass shattered behind him as a concrete building dented from the force. He swooped the head of the t-rex, drawing its ire as he flew out of reach. He cawed to the surrounding crows, getting Jun’s and Josh’s location before sending them off. They’ve been in the Gate for too long, and even he thought there were limits.

Ranpo flew towards the fight’s direction, just slow enough for the t-rex to stomp implacably after him. Before frowning as he saw a figure step in front of them.

Jun had communicated Aiden’s changes, but seeing it in person gave him pause. He had become a lot shorter, and stood with his head bowed.

He flew faster, “Aiden! You’re good?”

As he neared him, he heard Aiden chuckling.

“Hehehehehe… Good? I’m better than good.” He threw up his arms, his face carved with a wide maniacal grin, “I am GOD!”

“Ok?”

Aiden blitzed past Ranpo. Sidestepping a massive bite from the t-rex before grabbing its cheek with a tentacle. The dinosaur tossed its head with Aiden on it, but he pulled the tentacle close and threw himself on the beast’s head. The t-rex froze, before reorientating itself as Aiden established control.

“Onward my minions!”

Ranpo raised an eyebrow as he continued his path. “First off if you’re going to call me that, I should at least be upgraded to sidekick, and secondly, what? Did you hit your head or something?”

The t-rex roared, shaking Ranpo somewhat. It seemed to glare at its passenger. An impressive feat given the position of its eyes and Aiden.

Aiden stroked it, carefully avoiding its bullet wounds, “Feisty one, but don’t worry. We’ll get our due, we will. Mehehehehe…. Muahahahaha!”

Ranpo saw Aiden descend into maniacal laughter, which the t-rex joined in with a deep rumbling. He decided it was a problem for a future him, and continued flying pretending nothing was happening.

They eventually stopped cackling, and Ranpo was in the midst of deciding if that was more concerning when he spotted the fleeing cowl.

He cawed, and Aiden stopped on the intercept path. He pulled out a cleaver Wren had made for him, then with a thought, “Axis, tool.”

Nothing manifested.

The t-rex glanced quizzically at him,

“Shut up, I’m not having performance issues.” He tried again. “Umbrella.”

Nothing, not even a spark of his ability activating. He ended up covering the blade with shark teeth when the painted man skidded to a stop before them. Aiden grinned at him, “Remember us?”

His clothing warped, Aiden manifested half the skin of the honey badger, then through his bilateral symmetry trick, mirrored the other half and repaired it in his memory. He repeated this process until his loose hoodie was covered.

Then he covered his shirt and jeans in his usual armour set up. His clothing turned rigid in places, though he sacrificed some spots for maneuverability, finally his actual skin was covered in muscle fibre. In a moment of inspiration, Aiden had amalgamated defense and physical boosts in one. “Colorful, Stack.”

Josh picked up Jun, tossing him. The painted man dodged Jun’s fist before a tail swipe slammed him into the building.

“Josh!” Aiden tossed him a baseball bat covered in scales.

“Couldn’t you have gotten me a sword or mace?”

“No! You can’t be cooler than mine!” Aiden leapt off the t-rex, and all four rushed the painted man.

Aiden reached him as he pulled himself out of the crater. His blade smashed into the back of his neck, knocking his face into Josh’s bat. Aiden struck his back again, and the two ping ponged him, smashing them into each others hits before a trash can blocked Aiden’s blow. Jun arrived at that moment, fist smashing into his face. Aiden slashed his opened mouth only to hear a clang as the painted man put on a metallic mask. Tentacles grappled the cowl and Josh smashed the back of his head.

Blades shot out, severing the rope, but all were heavily dented from their blows, flying in wild and easily dodged directions. Nevertheless, it forced both Aiden and Josh back for a moment. A rocket launcher began emerging from his hand before the t-rex stomped him into the ground. An explosion went off which knocked the t-rex back a step.

But not Jun, as he hammered the man while he was down. Grunts of pain sounded out as Jun landed blow after blow before a literal train car slammed into his face. Jun was knocked to the ground as the train car fell on him. Spitting out blood, the painted man threw another train car at the t-rex while expelling the rest underneath, throwing him into the air on the improvised pillar.

Aiden leapt onto train, sprinting up the vertical surface with Giant Octopus Suction Cups on his shoes. He jumped to other side as a fridge flew past him. A rifle began firing at him, but Aiden moved to the side faster than the painted man could adjust. Circling the train as the bullets followed a breath too slow.

He reached the top, and the cowl tried to knock him off with a street sign. Aiden caught the pole before leaping onto it. Tattoos shot down the length of the pole, reaching the painted man’s hand and slamming them shut before he could toss the sign.

Aiden drop kicked him, knocking him off the pillar and into the t-rex’s waiting maw.

The painted man threw a road roller onto the t-rex, landing hard onto the ground. He rose with a wince, glancing at the hand still clutching the stop sign, he expelled a layer of trash to get Aiden’s tattoos off and free his hand.

Jun’s fist hit the back of his waist, knocking him into Josh’s bat. Which in turn knocked him back into Jun’s fist. Not allowing himself to be trapped again, the painted man threw a couch at Jun, blocking the blow as he rushed Tuba with a claymore.

Josh met blade with bat. But the sword was a feint as a bullet fired itself from the man’s shoulder and dented his helmet tuba. Josh was knocked down and the painted man fled past him. Finally freed of the encirclement.

The chewed up remains of a road roller slammed down inches beside him as he turned to see Aiden leap off the train. Manifesting a shield from Wren’s paper, he covered it with numerous defensive tattoos before the t-rex’s tail swipe slammed into it, launching him through the air. He rolled to break his momentum when he landed, and his armour absorbed the rest. Spinning past the painted man before he stabbed the asphalt with a claw, drawing a long line until he stopped fully and stood up.

Once again blocking the painted man’s escape.

“Can we talk about this?” the painted man asked.

“My dog needs a new chew toy,” Aiden grinned, and then vomited on the floor. Blood flecked his puke. “Ah shit my insides. That move was a lot cooler in my head.”

“You only get regeneration idiot!” Jun yelled as he ran to catch up to them with the t-rex. Josh was already halfway there.

“Rule of cool demands sacrifice!” Aiden yelled back, gurgling as he vomited again.

The painted man’s eyes hardened with desperation as he rushed the keeling Aiden. His honey badger hoodie softened a flying hammer, giving him time to react and vault over the car that followed. His shield blocked a flying saw and the painted man was on him. Nightcore slowed time to half, Aiden wasn’t able to dial it any further, meaning he only got the most basic benefits of Jun’s ability.

Twice as fast however, was plenty fast. Aiden’s shield slapped away a hot poker, a knife glanced off his hoodie, and his blade dug into the man’s abdomen. The painted man countered by elbow and knee slamming his overextended arm.

His hoodie sleeves ate the blow, and he drew back the blade and slammed it into his chin, knocking him back.

Josh arrived at that moment, bat slamming into the painted man’s ear.

He screamed, and both of them were thrown back from the sheer mass of expelled trash. They saw the painted man rushing into an office building, his skin was clear as he had expelled all his tattoos in a desperate gamble to escape. Aiden moved to chase, before suddenly stopping in his tracks.

Wren was yelling into the comms.

“Don’t go into any buildings!”

Aiden saw in slow motion as the painted man entered the lobby. His skin started bubbling before he exploded, spraying gore everywhere.

“Don’t enter buildings! Stay in an open area! Any enclosed space is dangerous!” Wren repeatedly yelled into the comms.

“Well that’s going to haunt my nightmares,” Aiden said as Josh skidded to a stop beside him.

Josh tapped his earpiece, “Wren, what happened?”

“The Bleed effect! I figured it out! Stay out of enclosed spaces, if you are already in an enclosed space then whatever you do don’t exit!”

“Calm down,” Josh said, “explain it slowly.”

Jun stopped beside them, looking at the… well, it was in too many pieces to be considered a body anymore.

“Air pressure,” Wren whispered. “The Gate’s Bleed effect alters air pressure so that within an enclosed space, the air pressure drops drastically, and the difference is increasing as time goes on. You’re in a Jebel or Tectonic Gate.”

Josh paled, “Oh I see. It’s altering the external environment around us to be lethal, it doesn’t matter how much Hume we have left if the air around us is the one being altered.”

Aiden chuckled, “Byford Dolphin has nothing on this.”

“He just died,” Jun shivered.

Aiden shrugged, “Meh, we’re all hurtling towards death anyways. Anyone up for dinner?”

Jun looked at him, then at the flesh strewn across the lobby. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

|

Darius looked over the menu, “Exploded duck? Aiden can you read this? I don’t think they translate it right.”

“Ughhhhh.”

“Aiden?”

“Ughhhhhh,” Aiden continued moaning as he laid on the restaurant sofa. “My life is a series of constant suffering and struggle lit up briefly by moments of intense action that only make me momentarily feel alive.”

Darius glanced beside him. “Jun?”

“Oh you think just because I’m asian I can read qin?” he crossed his arms, “And I’m not eating something called ‘exploded duck’ anyways.”

“I’m more so wondering about…” Darius gestured in the general direction of Aiden.

“You turned him into an angsty teen cuz,” Luther finished for him. “And not even the fun kind.”

“There might be some… personality quirks that become more pronounced due to my masks,” he admitted. “It’s what happens with me.”

“This world is fucked. Anyone who thinks about for more than two seconds will realise the Gates will inevitably cause complete dimensional collapse. Or the literally infinite Hells drown us in bodies first, or maybe those brainwashing insane cultists across the sea, or maybe the asshole in the sea itself.”

Ranpo poked Aiden like he was some kind of zoo exhibit as Wren looked worriedly over him. “Should we uhh…” she hesitantly began.

Josh grasped the Nightcore earring, and tried to pull it off a limp Aiden to no success.

“Yeah figures,” Jun stepped beside them, then with a light tug, removed Nightcore. “No one but I can remove the masks.”

His body turned back to normal. Aiden blinked blankly at them, before slowly curling up into a ball.

Luther poked the Aiden ball, “Jun you said that would fix him.”

“I did not say that,” he retorted.

Aiden rocked back and forth, “I am so embarrassed I could die.”

“I am god huh?” Ranpo teased. “You do a very good maniacal villain laugh, have you considered changing careers?”

Aiden silently screamed.

“Can you read this for me?” Darius showed him the menu.

Aiden took a quick glance, “It’s just peking duck.”

“Aiden speak qin with the cashier,” Luther thumbed the front desk. “Get them to hook us up with the good stuff.”

“Luther the cashier is an eight year old girl who is literally still doing her math homework, the cook in the back isn’t even a chef he’s just some guy’s ninth uncle who only speaks qanto.”

As if to prove him right, a loud swear echoed from the kitchen.

“Isn’t that the authentic experience?” he asked.

“Ughh,” Aiden extended his hand, “Gimme the menu.”

“No meat for me,” Jun said, “I’ve decided to go the way of Wren’s ancestor and turn vegan.”

“No peanuts for me!” Josh added.

Darius gestured at the fridge, “Remember soft drinks.”