09-26-2023, 12:22 AM
Previously, in Crucible of Chaos (24 Sept 2023)...
Riley Nelson jolted awake, sweat pouring down her face. She remembered what had happened and panic rose inside her as she attempted to jump to her feet only to fall back onto the bed as pain shot through her limbs.
“You’re not in the RR, it’s okay, this isn’t Kerlile,” a familiar voice soothed her, its cadence encouraging her breathing to become more regular.
“Renee?” Riley asked, blinking up at her friend from training. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s Veronica now. You were about to be taken back to Kerlile when you got rescued, like I did from my time in Hell. By Zichitla’s cult,” Veronica Penners informed her.
“Um…” Riley said, still uncertain.
“Stay lying down, you’ve got a head injury. They patched you up, but you should still rest. Not like you’ve got much of a choice; unless you agree to join the cult yourself. This might not be the RR, but we’re prisoners here too.”
Riley looked around, seeing another plain twin bed like her own, and a door without a handle on the inside. There were no windows in the room, which was artificially lit. The walls were plain concrete, with no indication of a particular architectural style. Veronica was sitting on the other bed, wearing a plain grey t-shirt and leggings. Riley was now wearing the same thing, she noted. There were no other signs in the cell of where they were.
“Right, so Zichitla rescued us from Kerlile only to lock us up herself?” Riley asked.
“She’s trying to recruit all of us. If we don’t agree to join her, we get locked up until we do, or until she establishes whatever post-apocalyptic paradise she’s aiming for. If you ask me, I think she’s insane and that we’re safer waiting it out than involving ourselves at all.”
“What about Nelichē and Tlālzixiuhxa?”
“I don’t know about the latter, but Nelichē is still in the infirmary; she had some kind of abnormal reaction to their knockout drugs. She’ll be fine, and they’ll let us see her. Zichitla’s trying to recruit us by being nice, relatively speaking,” Veronica shrugged.
“Shit, Veronica,” Riley exhaled. “How are you still sane? After the RR? And this?”
“All the best torturers moved to Xiomera,” Veronica shrugged. “It was hell, yes, but no more so than our training was. Zichitla’s not wrong that our whole lives have been one horrible thing after another, but she’s wrong that the solution is destroying the world.”
“Wait, she actually wants to destroy the world!?” Riley blinked.
“And build a new one from its ashes. Proper comic book supervillain stuff,” chuckled Veronica grimly. “Not sure on the specifics, cause I keep telling her to piss off when she asks me to join her.”
“Where exactly are we?” Riley asked.
“Haven’t the foggiest,” Veronica shrugged. “Deep underground. This whole place is completely artificially lit and climate controlled, not a sign of where we are. And for all I know their routine doesn’t match the actual time zone. Not that we have a reference point to use that, anyway. We were all brought here unconscious. Only those who swear loyalty to Zichitla get to know where we are. She makes them perform some kind of blood oath.”
“So, we’re captives of an insane wannabe supervillain? Great, just great.”
“Better than the RR.”
“Lowest bar in the entire universe,” pointed out Riley. “Do you know what happened to Stella and the others the Council sent to take me prisoner? Before Zichitla’s people swooped in and - I guess - saved the day?”
“They took them too,” Veronica said. “She wants to recruit all of ‘Aurorakind’, according to her. Doesn’t care if we were Robinson or Pierre, if we obeyed the recall order or not, if we tried to defect to another country or what. All of us. Each and every one.”
“Well,” Riley remarked. “That can’t be good.”
Riley Nelson jolted awake, sweat pouring down her face. She remembered what had happened and panic rose inside her as she attempted to jump to her feet only to fall back onto the bed as pain shot through her limbs.
“You’re not in the RR, it’s okay, this isn’t Kerlile,” a familiar voice soothed her, its cadence encouraging her breathing to become more regular.
“Renee?” Riley asked, blinking up at her friend from training. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s Veronica now. You were about to be taken back to Kerlile when you got rescued, like I did from my time in Hell. By Zichitla’s cult,” Veronica Penners informed her.
“Um…” Riley said, still uncertain.
“Stay lying down, you’ve got a head injury. They patched you up, but you should still rest. Not like you’ve got much of a choice; unless you agree to join the cult yourself. This might not be the RR, but we’re prisoners here too.”
Riley looked around, seeing another plain twin bed like her own, and a door without a handle on the inside. There were no windows in the room, which was artificially lit. The walls were plain concrete, with no indication of a particular architectural style. Veronica was sitting on the other bed, wearing a plain grey t-shirt and leggings. Riley was now wearing the same thing, she noted. There were no other signs in the cell of where they were.
“Right, so Zichitla rescued us from Kerlile only to lock us up herself?” Riley asked.
“She’s trying to recruit all of us. If we don’t agree to join her, we get locked up until we do, or until she establishes whatever post-apocalyptic paradise she’s aiming for. If you ask me, I think she’s insane and that we’re safer waiting it out than involving ourselves at all.”
“What about Nelichē and Tlālzixiuhxa?”
“I don’t know about the latter, but Nelichē is still in the infirmary; she had some kind of abnormal reaction to their knockout drugs. She’ll be fine, and they’ll let us see her. Zichitla’s trying to recruit us by being nice, relatively speaking,” Veronica shrugged.
“Shit, Veronica,” Riley exhaled. “How are you still sane? After the RR? And this?”
“All the best torturers moved to Xiomera,” Veronica shrugged. “It was hell, yes, but no more so than our training was. Zichitla’s not wrong that our whole lives have been one horrible thing after another, but she’s wrong that the solution is destroying the world.”
“Wait, she actually wants to destroy the world!?” Riley blinked.
“And build a new one from its ashes. Proper comic book supervillain stuff,” chuckled Veronica grimly. “Not sure on the specifics, cause I keep telling her to piss off when she asks me to join her.”
“Where exactly are we?” Riley asked.
“Haven’t the foggiest,” Veronica shrugged. “Deep underground. This whole place is completely artificially lit and climate controlled, not a sign of where we are. And for all I know their routine doesn’t match the actual time zone. Not that we have a reference point to use that, anyway. We were all brought here unconscious. Only those who swear loyalty to Zichitla get to know where we are. She makes them perform some kind of blood oath.”
“So, we’re captives of an insane wannabe supervillain? Great, just great.”
“Better than the RR.”
“Lowest bar in the entire universe,” pointed out Riley. “Do you know what happened to Stella and the others the Council sent to take me prisoner? Before Zichitla’s people swooped in and - I guess - saved the day?”
“They took them too,” Veronica said. “She wants to recruit all of ‘Aurorakind’, according to her. Doesn’t care if we were Robinson or Pierre, if we obeyed the recall order or not, if we tried to defect to another country or what. All of us. Each and every one.”
“Well,” Riley remarked. “That can’t be good.”
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