Chapter 22 – Your Albatross is my Canary

 

Becca arrived back in Echostar, the Xi girl disguised carefully once more. She headed to her dorm, locked herself in her room and took off the bracelet for a moment. The gem-like sheen of her arm was an adjustment she wasn’t used to, but it did make her look a bit more glamorous than she’d always thought she was. She’d still go with the casual look of course, just to be on the safe side. Re-activating the bracelet on her arm, she laid her back in bed and thought about how her life had winded out of control. Her life? She was a wand previously, and now she’d transformed herself into a façade of the girl she was supposed to protect. Borrowing Thatti’s image, consorting with gems, trying to keep the late Thatti’s brother and best friend safe in some offhand way. The girl looked at her desk, two golden shards in a small jar. She tumbled them out onto her hands and held them up. Her skin was cold, she hadn’t eaten, hadn’t showered, hadn’t slept. She looked tired. And she wanted to know who to smash to end all her troubles and stop whatever headache of catastrophe kept spiraling out of control. The strange golden shards held promise, she tried to remember where she’d seen something like them. They crackled with a spark or two between her fingertips, but she couldn’t see what was truly behind the glimmer of the strange stones.

Becca called the last exchange she had with White Nebula before leaving the spectacular court. “Was the big cahoochie lying when she said you have a way to bring Thatti back?” She asked. The Nebula had scoffed, checking her nails. “You’ll need Headhunter if we’re to come onto this show main stage. I might have a way to forge it back, but it’ll take some time. I’m working on it. In the meanwhile I’ll need something for you..”

The last words she’d left for Hyde were corresponding. “You wanna makeup for your shady track record? You and your ugly gem friends go out and get me the remains of my wand back, Nathan had them last so you’ll need to nab them from him.” He nodded to her. “You can count on me, I’ll get it. Promise.”

Those conversations had lingered in her mind ever since. And it had only gotten worse with the idea of her newfound powers. They were nothing to scoff at and neither was Becca herself, but the loneliness from the new weapon reminded her of moments she’d laugh and joke with Thatti.

Night Harbinger. The sinister wand in her hand now held no voice or warmth, only a cold and unforgiving artifact of riddling depth. How could the life of the girl she pretended to be brought back when her own life was such a mess? A knocking at the door distracted her from her thoughts. “Yo Thatti?” She snatched the bracelet back on and clicked it into place,

Thatti’s

simple, kind voice and sweetness returning as her own. The girl picked up a plastic replica of Headhunter, Petal had taken the time to craft and paint it personally. She opened the door.

Jel clawed at her, with big rubbery cat-gloves and a cat eared headband, painted whiskers on her face and a scar of fur. “Nyya Thatti-kitty! Happy Catastrophe day!” She yelled, throwing streamers of yarn over her. Veronica waved behind her. “Sup Thatts.”

‘Thatti’ blinked. “What?” She turned her head.

“It’s.. Catastrophe day! You know, the Set holiday?” Jel squealed.

 

“A celebration of all misfortune and misery coming down upon one’s enemies?”

 

Thatti rolled her eyes. “Oh. Yeah, sure I guess.” She didn’t know anything about Set culture. The fact that the body she inhabited was half Set never even really crossed her mind.

Jelena and Veronica looked at each other, then back. “Look Thatts..” Jel put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, trying to console her. “I know things got, a little weird back at the Con.

What with Caleb on that big trip in Orchid you mentioned, and that whole fight you guys had.“ Veronica nodded.

“Don’t worry about it, we’re going to make it up to you with a day of relaxation, fun and mischief! You’re still welcome in my band if you wanna get back with us.” She beamed a smile. She pulled out a series of tickets. “My supervisor at my internship had a whole beach vacation, but couldn’t go because of some Hololive-incident nonsense. Since I was his favorite intern, he gave me a dozen slots for the cruise and resort! You should come with us, fun in the sun?” Veronica said smiling.

“You want me to... go to the beach?” Thatti asked, disgruntled.

 

Jelena put a hand on her shoulder. “We can’t force you to come, but you still haven’t been there yet, Thatti! It’ll be fun, come join the band!”

“I didn’t know you had a band.” Thatti replied. If she was being honest with herself, Becca didn’t know anything about Jelena or Vero, they were Thatti’s friends, not hers. She was just the wand, wearing her wielder’s skin, what was she supposed to say to these two?

“It’s just a manner of speech.” Jel made fake plane-crash noises over Thatti’s head, followed by loud plain crashing sound effects, going on too dramatically until Veronica elbowed her.

“Yeah, she means to say we miss you. You’ve been super aloof ever since you and Caleb’s big fight. You didn’t deserve that, I don’t know if his little trip has to do with his beef or if you two were fighting again, but we don’t want some dumb boy to sour your mood all the time or get in the way of our friendship.” Vero added. Thatti-Becca rolled her eyes, feeling awkward and embarrassed for the first time since her transformation. “I’m sorry. I got stuck in a bad situation.. I cannot talk right now. I’ll see you around.” She closed the door on them both, slowly making her way back to her bed. She closed her eyes. The door knocked again. “Seriously?” She sulked and got up to head back to the door and yelled as she opened up.

“I told you, I cannot TALK RIGHT NOW JEL-“ On the other end stood two woman she didn’t recognize. One tall and with dyed pink hair, sharp ears and a sleek red-black robe, the other shorter with red fur and in a latex jumpsuit with solid shoulderpads. It took her a few moments of recognition to feel she’d heard of this girl.

 

“Are you Thatti Nezura?” Sandra said. “Yes?” Becca swallowed.

“The late, Thatti Nezura?” Ameisa asked, her glare hardened on Thatti’s face. “This isn’t

Thatti you’re speaking to. Not entirely. You’re an imposter.” The other woman stepped up, a device on her sleeve scanning the girl. “Gem camouflage, nice.” Veronica and Jel stood 25 meet away watching behind redlight tape, numerous guards and associates of the Xistress.

“Oh.” Thatti seemed unimpressed. “You’re her, that, bigshot Elderdragon or whatever. Well excuse me, your eminence.” She rolled her eyes. “But I need my sleep.” She tried to turn back around, grabbed her arm and yanked her out, her grip surprisingly strong.

“Nono. You come with me.”

She dragged the girl outside into the hall of the dorms, yanking Thatti’s arms behind her back. “Stop! Thatti!” Jelena cried out. She tried to stop, running past guards to them.

Where are you taking her?!”

“Shut up.” Ameisa scowled at her, her grip never leaving Thatti.

“W-wait, they’re my, entourage! My holy consorts. You wouldn’t take the Domina’s daughter without her secret guards when their mother assigned it, would you?” Thatti yelled. Ameisa looked at Sandra for deference, who groaned. “Fine, take them too. I want to get this done before dinner.” The same bodyguards stood aside and the two teens ran after Thatti.

Soon they were brought to a gigantic ship on the dorm terrace, tendrils out the back and a sleek design around its carefully grown carapace, the vessel looking like a titanic flea coated in armor.

A tall man walked up to them, looking like an Xi with his bald head and glowing purple skin. “Hello! My name is Caelan Fathom. Thank you for joining my ship!” He greeted the trio onboard, Sandra and Ameisa following after. “As always, it’s an honor my Xistress.” She said as Sandy walked up the retractable ramp. When the group was inside, the ship rapidly ascended out of the atmosphere.

“We’re on a spaceship?” She asked. Caelan sat down, waving at some consoles. Ameisa cleared her throat. “Why don’t you your friends wait on the bridge, we’ll be heading to Orchid shortly. But first we need a word with you.” Ameisa said to Thatti, eyeing her with suspicion.

Sandra walked away towards the ship’s intel studio. “Tsk, fine.” Thatti soon followed after, being guided by the tall Elderdragon behind her, hands never leaving her backside as she her heels clacked forward with brushing brisk pace. “If you two need any refreshments, the staff onboard are quite accommodating.” Caelan said to Jel and Vera.

Inside the intel studio, numerous servers crunched away data from all across the galaxy, dozens of screens along the walls showing media reports and new observations of the recent incidents. Thatti looked up. “What is all this?” She asked. Ameisa strolled behind her. “They’re calling it the Hololive Enigma. It’s been happening all over Xi for the past several months.” The smiling faces of bright haired idols appeared continually over select instances of Xi Galanet media, aswell as star ports, bank displays, military communication channels, business calls and numerous instances, often occupied with glitching and technological malfunctions. “It started out what most believed to be a LAMER prank, a widespread memetic activity of unparalleled digital graffiti. But overtime it went from infecting merely social media to interfering with a wide variety of industry, military and government electronics, and we believe it’s only just begun. And now, it seems like you’re a part of it as

well.” Ameisa insisted, casting her judging glare at the Orchid girl. “Uh, what? I don’t know anything about that!”

 

“WHIZZZZZ, COMING THRU!” ”A figure in a wheelchair slid over to them, her lavender pigtails swishing about.

“But you SHOUUUULD!” The pigtailed girl said, pulling up her goggles. “Hi there, Entrapta for ya! You must be the Domina’s daughter, Thatti! I’ve never met a religious cultist heir before, how FASCINATING! Your mom is that frightening tyrant isn’t she? Why don’t you tell me all about your primitive superstitions over some pineapple tea!” Entrapta said, inspecting her from head to toe as if she were under her microscope.

“This, isn’t actually Thatti.” Ameisa told her.

 

“Oh? But it’s her same genetic signature. Unless..” She reached into a digital floating screen and opened more screens, navigating through unless scores of data. “Beep boop, hmm.. oh my.” Her eyes widened. “Meta-psychic transference over a transpositional anomaly of the most peculiar kind! It appears we have a case of...hmm...displaced corporeal matrices! Her consciousness, or perhaps her energy signature, is clearly inhabiting Thatti's physical form underneath, while Thatti's kernel is reciprocally displaced. The mechanisms are unclear however, some sort of interdimensional artifact flux, perhaps? Or a temporal phase shift localized within their neural signature’s bio-energetic fields?”

Becca rubbed her shoulders, uncomfortable as Entrapta began squeezing her cheeks. “Can you stop! I’m not Thatti okay okay. I just, kinda got stuck in her.”

Sandra hopped on Ameisa’s shoulders. “But you look like Thatti, and you’ve got her body so as far as we’re concerned, you’re our only lead and the girl we came to see.”

“How does that make any sense?!?” Becca yelled.

 

Ameisa and Sandra looked at each other, then the former went over to a monitor and navigated through Racquel’s footage. “You appeared approximately 7 months ago in Xi, with your mother signing the necessary paperwork, legal transportation permits and arrangements with the school, at exactly the same time the Hololive Enigma began. The time-table matches.”

Becca crossed her arms together. “So? What does that prove?”

 

“Aswell as..” Ameisa changed the screen to a concert, featuring her fighting White Nebula, Emira in her disguise seen in the distance. “were at an Astrobeats concert approximately 4 months and 13 days back. Are you aware that Emira or stagename Echo-Kai Starling has been vocal about her opposition to Holo Idols and their impact on the entertainment industry, with even her talent agency embroiled in multiple lawsuits and legal minutia over several Hololive corporations?” Entraptra spun around in her chair while Ameisa interrogated her. “Like I know about any of that shit.” Becca yelled.

“And what about your visitation with Black Diamond yesterday, can you confirm that?” Ameisa’s fingers typed away on a floating ethereal keyboard so quickly that data seemed to be flowing in a neverending stream.

“I don’t have to answer shit!” Becca picked up a chair and threw it through Ameisa’s holographic screen. She and Entraptra were speechless. Sandra picked up an energy displistick, the energy rosy pink from end to end. “You two take a break, I wring some answers out of our little crying baby here.” She told the two. Her supercharged stick came down, Becca blocking it with her left arm, leaving a metallic CLANG. She gripped her arm, black electricity forming into spikes and solidifying into jagged crystalline thorns. The girl punched Sandra in the nose, making her nose bleed and breaking equipment, shards created from the impact of her trail.

Slowly Ameisa and Entrapta snuck out, making their way back to the hanger where Caelan was showcasing to Veronica and Jel an assortment of large, beetle-like tanks, marvels of Auto- Biostoid Parasectomy Synthidermis.

“This living armor, is forged from the flesh of the Sanguine Parasect, a fierce and noble species, I assure you.” Caelan explained. “We grow them in specialty bio-repositories and program into their neural-sync all the protocols for the High Fleet’s tactical maneuvers. As part of Xi’s war-machines they’re a juggernaut of organic engineering!“

 

“They’re pretty grody.” Vero said, looking away from a model of the Parasect in all its glory. “They seem like they’d be hard to get along with, you know.”

Jelena said. “I assure you they’re docile, and when you get to know them they’re very, very loving.” Caelan added, making some notes on his scanner.

Veronica sighed. “They’re cool, sure.”

“Now how about you two, are you going to be joining us on our trip to Orchid?” Caelan asked. Vero and Jel looked at each other.

“Orchid?!” Jelena put her finger along her lips. “Brbrbrbrbp.”

 

Veronica looked at the gigantic A-BPS artillery. “Thatti said Caleb is still hanging out in Orchid. If we stay in Orchid maybe we can go find him. So..” She put one hand on the beetle’s backside, its wings slowly opening up revealing the cockpit underneath. “Hold that thought.”

"You girl, wait! My sensors are picking up unusual fluctuations!" Entrapta might shout, just as tendrils of the A-BPS would start slithering around Veronica, drawn to her energy signature. "The exoskeleton is reacting to your presence! Fascinating… perhaps it's detecting a bioenergetic anomaly… stand still, this might be just what we need!"

She'd wave frantically at Ameisa. "Data! I need more data! Scan Veronica's readings, compare them against the A-BPS baseline! Look for neural spike patterns, any sign of synaptic cross- talk!" She shouted. Jelena was just as interested as to how the parasect was reacting to Vero's energy, seeing something in it. What WAS in Vero that had a Sanguine Parasect act? It didn't seem like an abnormal response, she'd seen A-BPS's being as welcoming as small dogs to their riders before, Llavalites weren’t unaccustomed to this sort of

thing. The tank’s exoskeleton reared itself up, the parasect's body turning around and glowing. The tendrils on the ground crawled towards the girl, who turned around. "Vero, I don't know what's going on but you might want to back away.” Jel advised. “Uh..” Veronica watched as the tendrils wrapped around her feet and whipped her up the air, then slung her all over. “EEEEEEEEEWEEEEEEE!” She screeched. The tendrils yanked her closer and closer towards the cockpit, eventually slamming her face into the slimy inner console system made up of various organelles and squishy parts something wrapping over her face, entering her ears and finally throbbing into her mouth. She squirmed in place, the parasect tendrils wrapping around her arm, making sure she doesn't bolt.

“Vero!?” Jel shouted.

Ameisa scratched her head. “Well that’s a shame.”

 

Entrapta grinned as she looked over her console. “There’s an energy flux on my readings! A psychic leap! It seems the Parasect’s neural matrix is registering a quantum coherence with Veronica’s neural matrix! She’s synched with it!”

The wings closed up, trapping Vero inside. Her head was swimming with strange sensations, light too blurry and yet too bright at the same time. The tank’s synapses were overloading her mind with a warmth she never knew was possible. When she opened her eyes again they weren’t intaking her own vision, she saw Jel and Entrapta in front of her, her body feeling strange and heavy. Lumbering movements slowly slugged the tank around, Veronica getting used to the disconnect between what she physically knew herself to be and the armed bug she now inhabited. Inside, the A-BPS’s hoses and cables began connecting into her crotch and bottom anal hole, she squealed as these pieces infiltrated her body and plugged in deep with slick residue and long cords. Ohhhhh shit, that feels… HNNNNNGGggggod what have I got my self into? She asked, gasping with pleasure.

 

 

“I don’t know what’s going on.” Becca yelled at Sandra, nose still bleeding. Sandy got up, she flung Becca around with her light telekinesis, making her back up against the wall. Becca shot more black crystal spears forward from her arm, Sandra easily dodging them now. “You want to know why I’m not Thatti? It’s because I’m not!” “I know that, but we need some answers out of you.” She said, kicking Becca down the ground, her energy stick slamming into her shoulder.

“Why, what’s so important that you want me so badly?” “You’re part of the Hololive Enigma, and the Enigma.. has been what’s fucking up my Ximperium!” She grabbed the girl’s head and slammed her into a screen, cracking it. “You know what the Enigma’s been doing?” She asked. “Dunno.” Becca panted. “The enigma’s been causing all these problems, all over Xi!” She slammed her into the ground. “My Xi’s economy, my military! Advertisements, businesses, hospitals! My friggin candy factories are coming up short! Everything is getting disrupted!” Becca groaned. “I’m sorry but I’m not doing anything, you know this body is from Orchid right? What’s your Xi got to do with me?”

“You tell ME ‘Thatti’ or whoever you are! Are you a saboteur from the Domina? A hired goon from Caldera, some singularity created by XIMAS?” She placed her head under a digital

scanner, the light rapidly going up and down her body. “No, no and double no! Fuck off!” Becca tried to get out of Sandra’s chokehold as the device scanned her.

“Set biomaterial detected. Take maximum precaution, X-tier security protocols engaged.”

Sandra’s eyes went wide twitching. “Uh..” Thatti swallowed. Her glare was filled with a rage few had ever seen before. Outside the room, the ship around them suddenly began violently shaking, doors shattering open and crashing shut with loud bangs, her screaming could faintly be heard in the halls before it faded to be a dim echo.

Ameisa and Entrapta watched Jel ride atop the Raoverse-Lite Sanguine Parasect, Veronica inside piloting it with perfecy synchronicity. She felt as if she were this giant armored bug. In her body and mind, she was the bug. Her instincts and its were one, its weight carried her everywhere with a bulk that protected her like an iron womb. She felt like she were this tank itself, how Veronica was now this tank’s neural matrix. “Yee hah gal!” Jel shouted on it, “I’d ask Caelan to stop this but his synthidermis are fried, and Sandra seems to be having some sort of meltdown here. Her hands rested on the parasect’s mandibles, which occasionally retracted to reveal its weaponized artillery plasma-cannon underneath. Caelan waved at the two scientists in confusion. “I’m terribly sorry for what’s happening but do not worry, we’ll soon have things back to normal.”

Entrapta, however, practically vibrated with excitement. "This is unbelievable!" she exclaimed, "A new test subject perfectly fused with an A-BPS neural network! The cross- species synaptic resonance...the cereberal entanglement..." Her holographic pad filled with calculations and hypotheses, her ethical compass completely overshadowed by the scientific potential of this explosive event. With Jelena screaming a mix of terror and adrenaline-fueled laughter sitting atop her monstrous new form, Veronica barreled through hallways, smashing walls and equipment with terrifying ease. “YES! GO VERO, UNLEASH CHAOS! TEAR IT ALL DOWN, WHAHAHAH!” The sensation of letting the tank’s instincts overtake her for Veronica were oddly exhilarating.

Back in the labroom, Becca had been beaten soundly and laid tied up by child’s jumprope. She recounted everything over these last few months to Sandra. “So the Echostar court has been overrun by a group of powerful spacefaring gems who infiltrated the school. They end up fended off by you, an Ex-wand that used to be a runner that’s been dead for over several centuries, and now the Domina’s daughter is dead and your friend’s a sissy slave at your mom’s place.” Ameisa summarized, her brow giving a look of incredulity.

Becca nodded slowly, the icepack slipping off off her head. Sandra picked it back up and taped it on tighter over her scalp. “I’ve told you, everything I know..” She panted, her mind reeling. “There’s still a little more. We also found this after searching your room…” She revealed two golden shards in a small jar. “Hey, give those back-“

“No tricks.” Sandra grumbled. “These jewels contain an unusual power hey grant the holder…” Sandra picked up the jar. “An unusual form of psychic energy, an energy that I’m not exactly sure how to characterize.” She said. Sandy held the shards up to the light. “But I will say this-“ She looked down, her eyes widening. “There’s a connection between these jewels and the Hololive Enigma. We’ve been tracking these energy signatures and getting readings all over the galaxy, universe and beyond. Xi, Orchid, AU, Bedlam but especially Xi.”

“What kind of connection?!” Becca yelled.

“Whatever energy source these jewels use, it would be a strong hypothesis to say the Hololive Enigma uses the same power as them. Aswell as, whatever the other anomaly readings are.” She explained, her eyes staring ahead at the shards. “And the more the Hololive Enigma spreads, the more this strange energy reading spreads. The two are undoubtably one and the same.”

Becca had a dark, sunken look on her face. “Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “So some shiny rocks you found are causing dumb reality shows to freeze up and your bugships to fail, so what? That’s not my idea of a prank. I have nothing to do with that, let me go.”

“Shut up.” Ameisa said. “Now I know why we needed to bring you back with us. I need more data, I need more information. We can figure this all out together, I promise.” “No!” Becca cried out. “No, no way, I’m done, I’m not in this anymore.” She said, her body twitching, eyes shut as she pulled at her restraints. “I want to go back to my friends! Get me off this ship you psycho-“

“You’re not going anywhere.” Sandra said, her eyes flickering like electricity.

 

Ameisa’s voice spoke up over the intercoms. “Xistress, we received a comm alert. You’re going to want to hear this one.” Sandra spoke into her wrist-device and looked up. “Cannot it wait?! I’m interrogating the suspect!”

“No. We’re done with her. This message is, from Orchid.” Her voice responded. Sandy looked at the screen. “Directly from the Domina’s clergy office.”

Cipher Red, Hummingbird has been declared.