Titans of Ages Current

Part 10: Act 1: March on Buenos Aires

"Ah! The leviathan joins us? How splendid!"
The fuck.... Is happening? I'm... Bound to a machine.
"Take a good look at your surroundings Levy, understand your situation."
I comply only because I was already scoping my position. The room was solid white, or maybe that was the glare. A ring of incredibly bright lights surrounded me, ruining my vision. The fact that a glass dome surrounded me didn't help at all.
"Derkeszher.... You piece of shit. I'm going to.."
"Turn into the leviathan and kill me? Fat chance. I extracted the leviathans soul from you while you were in your coma. It's right here." He lifts up his hand to reveal a small green gem. The result of the soul catcher on a diety sin.
"Damn you! How could you? Why not take my soul instead? Why take the only thing that made my life worth living... The only thing I have to remember what I lost? Were you afraid that I could destroy you and this entire building and stop you? What's up with those markings on your face?" It's so bizarre.... There are hundreds of inked Roman numerals on his face and neck... Looking down I see that he only wheres a dress-like garment. They are all over him. I can read them... It looks like.
"A combination?"
"The fuck? How did you know what I was thinking?"
"Because my dear... Jazz's energy is in the maelstrom, I just happened to compress it."
"What do they mean? The marks."
He laughs horrifically, "fool! This is why I chose you leviathan. This is why I named you... My child. You think the leviathan alone could bring you to this? It was I! I made you what you are!"
This doesn't make any sense. Made me what I am? What am I? Those numbers, this place, my mission?
"Maybe your friend, Bell, shouldn't have pulled the strings. She tried to play the game and lost. And now you will both die because of it."
What? What did Bell do?
"Maybe.... You should ask her."
Zher leaves the room, and the lights dim. I can see clearly now.
We are in a single room. All the walls are glass, including the one that separates me from Bell. Bell...
She's wired into a machine, with metal clamps on her limbs. But what are they doing to-
Clink
Something comes loose as I fall to the floor. The impact left almost no pain, as I could hardly feel anything in the first place. I try to budge my body, but I can't.
I scream, scream like I've never screamed before at Bell's unconscious body.
"Damnit! For once in your life, help me! The one time I needed you and your like this? What the fuck did you do?" I can feel my arm as I pull myself forward. I can't get up, but the motion is helping me regain my senses.
I pull closer to the glass, as if I could manage to break it if I made it there. The reality was, it's thirty meters from the machine I was hooked to from the glass. And... Another thirty from the glass to Bell.
So I screamed, "Bell! I asked you what the fuck is going on? What is this?"
The voice that came back stunned me. "I DON'T FUCKING KNOW OKAY?! DO YOU HEAR ME? FOR ONE IN MY LIVE I HAVEN'T THE DAMNEDEST IDEA WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON LEVY!"
I can't.... Believe it. All the time I knew her, she had never been wrong or admitted that she might have been.
"But he said you knew, Bell! What did you do?"
For the first time in her life, tears flowed from her. She was once proud of her progress, now she is ashamed of her existence.
"It was the soul conduits, Levy! I knew what they were capable of... So I shrouded ourselves in energy to prevent whatever Etrius was planning."
"What do you mean planning? Etrius is to blame?"
Bell continues sobbing as an electronic snap resonates. "Of course, but not entirely. You see, Bell used to work for me. I gave her a special assignment: to create a machine that could allow a cluster of energy to be transferred to another mass or space in the world with the use of conduction, convection, or radiation. That's how the conduits were made."
What? So who's to blame? Bell, Etrius, or Zher? I look up to Bell who is flailing in rage to escape. "I promise, I don't know that he was going to do this I swear."
"Yet you knew how it worked?"
"Indeed, interesting how a comrade can seem like another entity right? The thing is, it moves energy. So when the soul leaves the body it had to enter another. So... It's quite simple, we merely placed your soul In your own body and kept the other."
"Wait that means..."
"Yes, as a result of cloning, we were able to make exact copies of your bodies. We used the copies to harbor each of your souls in so we could collect the energy and study the power wherever you left them. The tricky part was acquiring the clone bodies. You see, performing the test on the originals could have been very volatile and a risk to our research. So we took the high road. The bodies that you reach had were the clone bodies. We had planted your real bodies in the exact locations of your objectives. But then Bell broke the system. She teleported you and herself am the way here. Unfortunately that feeble attempt at dampening my plan backfired. A side effect of traveling that far is comatosis. And that's you're here."
"Your lying! That's impossible! How could these be our clone bodies? I don't remember-"
"Of course you don't. None of you do. Believe it or not, all seven of you walked through the doors and did the procedure. We used genetic manipulation and chemicals to eradicate any memory of the events."
"We could have came here by any means... And Etrius choose this. Does that mean?"
I look up to Bell... Her tears seemed no less filled with sorrow. However they were outmatched by the look of defeat in her eyes. She nods her head slowly and shamefully. Her energy is gone. She can't form that plasma aura around herself. She is powerless... Exposed.. And most of all... Humiliated.
"Etrius is a traitor! So do you work for him?"
"HAHAHAHA! THAT'S FUNNY! The only thing more hysterical is the truth! HE WORKS FOR ME!"
"No no! He can't! He sent us here to sabotage your work! And to steal the soul catcher!"
"I never said he liked me... And to be honest.. He doesn't know haha!"
And if you want the soul catcher so badly. Bell's hooked up to it now... But I think you'll be more interested why. I don't need her soul. In fact, I didn't need her, so I destroyed her body. The genes she carries have no use to my research. So now I'm pulling her energy, all of it... Limitless power! And it's all being used to power the barrier that stands between us and your friend."
My head! Shit... Clones? Soul implants? What the fuck is going on here?
"Ah yes.... Yes your friends.... You may want to look out the window every now and then. The shows about to start."
I turn over to see what he means.... Hundreds of thousands... If not millions of beings surround the city's perimeter.
Completely unaware of what lies inside.