Agenda e12 : Adventure - Aberrant - Aeon Trinity

01/27/2013
Agenda
Episode Twelve
"The Plan Comes To An End"

Adventure - Aberrant - Aeon Trinity

As Aeon Trinity prepares for the upcoming onslaught of Aberrant forces with their Chromatic allies, the old pulp heroes of the Aeon Society for Gentlemen regroup at Erik Langley's condo building to fulfill one final act of heroism.  The Sleepwalker and the German wait in the condo unit of Erik Langley, as they wait for the arrival of the last long missing friend, Scarlet.

Outside, Scarlet stares at the building, uncertain if it would be safe to step into view and  no longer be forgotten by the world.  She sees a woman cross the street and make her way to the very same building.  A brief glimpse of her thoughts reveal that the woman is Autumn Lacierda Wu.  And she has come to bring a message.

Autumn calmly visits the two and tells them that she was sent by Divis Mal to deliver a message.  "The world will be saved from itself.  You have failed."  Autumn suddenly changes, and it is revealed her body has been covered with some form of tech that will allow her to explode.  The German simply walks to the nearest window, calmly knowing he will defy death once again.  The Sleepwalker launches himself out the window.  And Scarlet, in the elevator, realizes the explosion will reach her, and the aura of nanotech that allow her to have the appearance of a young woman interlocks into a protective cocoon.  Two city blocks are razed to the ground, and it is clear for the heroes concerned that this means war.

While trapped beneath the city, Scarlet speaks with the nanotech field, which is revealed to be the Machinatrix herself.  The two discuss the circumstances in their past that lead to their meeting, and how the death of Caestus Pax in his battle against Divis Mal was a defining moment for them both.  Scarlet held the dying boy in her hands as the nanotech fragments that composed Caestus Pax' fell asunder.  With Machinatrix dying of a heart attack from the stress of that moment, Scarlet telepathically shunts her consciousness into the tech, allowing her to live on as part of Scarlet, the way the nanotech was part of Shelby.  The rubble is finally pulled back, and the Sleepwalker reaches down to help them out.

As the two consider their next moves, the German walks into the scene to thank them for surviving.  And a helicopter begins to descend from above, with two old friends stepping down to say hello.  Richard Rayner smiles introduces everyone to a very old Maxwell Anderson Mercer.  "Whitley Styles was correct when he wrote the Babel Dossier.  He was right that you would all converge at this very place at the very moment in time."  As they all ride in Rayner's helicopter on a flight heading to the Rayner Industries building, Mercer shares how the time has come to use the Gravity Chamber to leap back to one specific moment in time:  They had identified three specific key points in the timeline when Michael Daemon Donighal may have psychologically made that twist leading to his becoming Divis Mal.  The three had to choose what moment in time they were to be sent back.

The first was the death of Crackshot.  An event which Scarlet has vague memories of when they were trapped at Manifest Destiny's Flying Fortress.

The second was with the death of Jennifer Slider Landers, which traumatized Divis Mal even further.

And the third was during her conversation with Autumn Lacierda Wu at Eden.

When asked why they think this is the best course of action, Mercer reminds them these are all information based on the Babel Dossier, which was written by Whitley Styles himself.  If there was anything Whitley was really good at, it was the fact he was one of the Assassins of the Thuggee.  So Mercer asked him to do something way back:  To write down plans on how to defeat each of them if ever such a time came to pass that they had to be stopped.  And clearly, these plans were the very plans written to assassinate Divis Mal.

The group very quickly decided to attempt the first option, and The Sleepwalker reminded them of Benjamin Dixon's theory that the Z-waves from the Hammersmith Experiment had, by this point in time, reached the far reaches of the galaxy.  "The waves could be the very thing that created all these alien threats out there."

As they make the final preparations for the leap into the past, Rayner receives a final visit from Mary Rose Mercer Song.    She admits to him she has come to kill him and he tells her he was expecting her, now that he understands.  All the Mary Roses were the multitudes of alternate time lines that were ending as one singular timeline slowly became the one and only possible thread.    The actions they were to undertake this very moment were to cause all the alternate timelines when Maxwell Mercer was a woman to cease to be.  Just as the many other manifestations of Maxwell through out history (such as the child Maxwell, the younger man, and the like) were the other manifestations bidding farewell.  She raises the gun to shoot Rayner, and tells him, "This is when you die.  For all the mes who have died thanks to you."  Rayner smiles and embraces the end with a smile.

The Gravity Chamber is activated, and the three walk towards the horizon point, ready to do what is necessary.  They emerge in the Flying Fortress, watching as the Scarlet and Maxwell Mercer of this timeline confront this timeline's Machinatrix and Manifest Destiny.  Scarlet recalls how Maxwell offers himself for Dr. Primoris and Crackshot to be freed, only to vanish suddenly at some point.  And how the Fortress eventually crashes and she finds refuge in the snowy alps of Switzerland.

Things, however, do not flow as smoothly in this version of the events.

As they step in to search for Dr. Primoris and Crackshot, hoping to get to her before Crackshot dies when Primoris' temper flares, the Machinatrix realizes she cannot handle going through the trauma she did before once again.  When Scarlet tries to ask what she means, the Machinatrix explains that the trauma she experiences this moment is actually what leads HER to kill Crackshot.  That incident is Manifest Destiny being revealed to actually be Benjamin Dixon, whose feelings for Crackshot have forced him to become a villain.

But as the heroes use their combined abilities to make their way to Dr. Primoris, they open the door to discover Dr. Primoris isn't the Primoris they wanted to save.  "Surely you realize I foresaw your trip here.  And it was only a matter of minutes for me to realize with my Aberrants who could traverse space, the same thin could be used to traverse time."

The battle raged on, with the German attempting to keep Divis Mal unsettled with taunts and insults.  Scarlet probing his mind for weaknesses, and the Sleepwalker transforming itself into knock out gas and staying within Mal's lungs in hopes of shutting him down.   However, Mal remains strong enough to resist all three, and it is only the chance moment of Crackshot bearing witness to Mal's violent tendencies and her cry for him to stop (Dramatic Editing care of the German's player), Mal might not have been stopped!

But that's the same moment the Doyen reveal their already there and act.  Being creatures of pure Psionic Energy, the Doyen infiltrate the heroes before they step through the Gravity Chamber.  They now bombarded the heroes with conflicting images of events, forcing them to question their own senses.  But thankfully, Candy aggravates Divis Mal enough for him to use his Quantum energies, and with enough antagonism, Mal's unleashes enough Quantum Energy to dissipate the Doyen.

Light flashes and time adjusts to the renewed timeline.

Candy awakens to find herself staring at a new world.    While most of it still resembles the Aeon Trinity era they've all grown accustomed to, there were certain elements that seem to be clearly changed.  Paris remains standing and the screens seem to be celebrating the friendships forged with the many alien races.  A world where Divis Mal AND Caestus Pax work alongside each other.

The Sleepwalker watches over the city, with many other contacts helping him maintain peace and order.  The night is no longer darker, with the Sleepwalker and his many Sandmen keeping watch.

And the German stares at a young man, who thanks him for showing him there's always something a person can do to make a difference.  The German smiles at his revived son, and walks away into the Sun set.

The Agenda is over.

*

And so ends the multi-chronicle event.
Here's to the next upcoming saga.