Summoner Quest (Celestial Menagerie) Crossover - IC (2024)

You'll notice that this chapter is unusually short. You'll understand why when you reach the end. I hesitated but cutting it there was just too perfect.
It does mean that the Laurel isn't included but I'll put it in the next chapter.
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Legend guides me toward another room, not far from his office. It was set up as a basic conference room. A long table in the middle, chairs all around it, a projector on the ceiling, and a white screen on the wall opposite the door. The only things of note, apart from the other members of the Triumvirate already present, were a number of TV screens, flat or old cathodic ones, and also some polaroids.

Of course, the bulk of my attention was firmly focused on the aforementioned Parahumans, as impressive as ever in their full costume.

Eidolon greeted me with a smile while Alexandria only gave me a curt nod.

After a short exchange of greetings, Legend gestured toward the piles of electronics on the table.

"As requested, a selection of TVs and cameras have been prepared. It's your show."

"Thank you." I licked my lips considering how I should word this. "Hm… Yes, I've gained an ability that allows me to generate real-time images, as photos or as videos, of any specific being or location that I can conceptualize at the cost of destroying in short order the medium used to produce the image. Hence the devices I asked for."

"I see. A very potent Thinker power indeed. Any limitations? Distance? Knowledge of the target perhaps?" Alexandria's tone was clinical as she spoke.

"Distance not really, not on Earth anyway." I recalled Legend's question from earlier and amended my words. "Peering into pocket spaces or other Dimensions, like Earth Aleph may give less precise results or fail altogether, however. I haven't tried but it may only show the entrance of the pocket space or the equivalent location on our own planet for example."

They all nodded in unison at that.

"As for knowledge limitation, not really either. A name, even a Cape name, or just a description of the target should be enough. Only something extremely generic would prevent me from targeting it. In the case of Nilbog, I have his name and I memorized his whole file. It'll be plenty."

"Then proceed. Our Thinkers haven't been able to give us much so far." I noted that despite the fact we were on Legend's home turf, it was Alexandria who was giving orders.

I summoned

, the purple vines sprouting from my hands.

"Hn. I didn't expect that. I supposed that those vines are a conduit for this power?"

I blinked at Eidolon's exclamation. "You can see them?" I gesture with the vines in the air. I saw him track the movement with his eyes.

"Shouldn't I?"

I saw Legend and Alexandria exchange interrogative glances. "I can't see anything." Alexandria said. And Legend nodded in confirmation.

"Well, only people that have Projection-like power can normally see Hermit Purple."

"Strange, I don't have any power of the sort currently slotted in." He paused. "In fact, I don't think I ever used any." He looks thoughtful at that. I heard him muttering under his breath. "Not my style. But it could make for a nice change of pace."

"I'm sure you have one or two tucked away somewhere among your list of available powers and it's enough to count. Or maybe it's just your general Trumpiness."

"While that's all very interesting we're not here to discuss the intricacy of power interaction between you two." Alexandria's interruption was on point.

I nodded firmly. "You're right. I'll start with just a photo so we can have some context of Nilbog's situation. At least we'll know if he's still alive."

There was no objection to that so I proceeded. While focusing on the Biotinker I struck a camera with a classic Karate Chop, breaking it in half and ejecting a photo.

I grabbed it and put it on the table so we could all see it. What the photo showed was the image of a short pot bellied man with a receding hairline and sickly skin tone. The man was currently reclining on something vaguely resembling a dentist's chair. The photo appeared as if the non-existent camera that took it was stuck to the ceiling so it didn't reveal much of his surroundings. To his left, halfway out of the picture, we could see half of a metallic tray on a table with two syringes in it. The floor was covered in dirt brown tiles, the majority of which had cracks on them. This didn't help much in narrowing down his position.

The most worrying thing was the placenta-like sac hanging from his right hand. We couldn't determine what it contained from this angle.

Looking at this still image, we couldn't be sure but Nilbog didn't look to be in his right mind. Not unconscious but not there either. His eyes were halfway closed and his mouth was partially open, showing yellowed teeth. Incidentally, he didn't appear to be restrained or tied to the chair.

Collectively we took a step back from the table and exchanged looks.

Once again it was Alexandria who spoke first. "That confirms that he's alive. But that doesn't give us much to go on." She gave me a sharp look. "Can you give us more?"

"Of course."

I turned my attention toward one of the TV screens. It wasn't plugged in but it didn't matter. I deployed Hermit Purple, grabbing it with the vines and cracking the plastic casing. Focusing on Nilbog once again the screen flickered to life.

This time we had a much better angle to see around Nilbog. What I saw chilled me to the bones. I heard a muttered, My God, coming from Legend.

Behind Nilbog's chair was a row of glass cylinders filled with yellowish liquid and floating inside were various creatures. Worse, those shapes reminded me of some of my partners. A deformed

to the right looked to be in pain. A stretched

in the middle with a tortured expression on its face. Or a cancer-ridden

to the left.

An ugly mixture of rage, disgust, and sorrow surges through me. I had to suppress the bile rising in my guts.

But that wasn't the worst of it. No, as bad as this was, the worst part was the far too recognizable figures of a little blonde girl wearing a blood-splattered lab coat who was humming under her breath as she vivisected a humanoid figure on a table.

Bonesaw.

The Nines had Nilbog.

Wordcount: 1067
Excess words: 586
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And there we go. I'm sure most of you guessed it but maybe I managed to surprise a few people. The Nine. An unavoidable step when writing Worms fic.
To preempt a question, yes the Copyright power prevents the making of copies of CM creatures. But it doesn't stop anyone from making facsimiles.

For the roll, 130 (Banked) + 120 (Chapter) + 0 (Excess words) = 250 points.

[] Creature

[] Power

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