—Several Hours Later—
‘This is boring as hell…’, I thought sifting through thousands of hours of recordings and photos, ‘I can understand now why Brainiac went from machine to biological, it is a boring life as a computer.’
While I spent an ungodly amount of time following Brainiac’s endeavors, Ciri and company tore the depot apart. Finding a total of twelve backup bodies and hundreds of miniaturized cities in cold storage, the group was in the middle of reporting back their finds to Oa and Earth and I had yet to sift through two percent of the data that was here.
“It is hard to believe that these snowglobe-sized spheres contain an entire city full of people.”, Ciri said cradling one in her hands, “I have never seen anything quite like this.”
“Yes, it is quite remarkable indeed.”, Kilowog agreed gingerly taking it from her and placing it back where it came from, “Please do not take them from their cases for the moment. It will take us time to undo the process and find them new worlds to reinhabit.”
“You cannot take them back to their homeworlds?”, Ciri inquired blissfully unaware of Brainiac’s cruelty.
Looking at one another, the Heroes did not want to be the ones to break the unfortunate truth to her. Unsure how she would feel, given that these people were the last of their races, it ultimately fell on me to tell her.
“Ciri, Brainiac gathers knowledge and a small number of cities in each world he visits. Once he has what he wants, he obliterates the planet leaving only a cloud of rock where the planet once stood.”, I informed her, “Those people have nothing left to return home to.”
“Oh…I see.”, she replied looking at the cities with newfound reverence, “Could we help find them new homes based on the information you are sifting through?”
“Absolutely, if Power Girl and Superman do not mind, we can leave that task up to Kelex.”, I suggested wanting to dump this tedious task on him.
“You can call me Kara, Cole.”, Power Girl insisted, “As for using Kelex, I do not think that will be a problem. If you can eject the Data Crystals, we can take them back and have Kelex analyze them.”
Going to do just that, I stopped myself as the system kicked over to the next batch of files. Seeing a familiar face appear on screen my blood boiled as I saw one of the three remaining deities I was hunting. Realizing Ciri had met the monster during her travels I put his image up on a floating screen and asked if she could remember meeting him.
“Oh yeah, I remember him!”, Ciri recalled, “His name is Kelvin, he is the Chief Deity of the world that photo was taken on. Wait a second, are you saying Eredin went there!? That world was already in shambles when I passed through, his colleagues were rebelling against him and causing chaos all over the world.”
“Ciri, his name is not Kelvin nor is he a Chief Deity. His real name is Cedric the God of Extinction.”, I informed her, “He is one of the Higher Beings responsible for killing members of my family, and helping destroy five universes. Do you remember where you met him?”
“I do not recall the name of the world, but I do remember a Demigoddess I crossed blades with. Her name was Rory the Reaper.”, Ciri replied rubbing her neck, “She nearly took my head off on more than one occasion. Now I understand why…”
Knowing who Rory was I immediately added a visit to that world to my itinerary. Ejecting the Data Crystals for Kara to take, we vacated the depot so the Lanterns could seal it up and haul it back to Oa. Telling Kara to send over any data Kelex retrieved from the Crystals, she promised to pass it along via Hal or John. With that, we headed to the Fortress of Solitude to have Kelex begin his work.
—Next Day, Yasaka’s Village—
After completing party preparations at the arcade, I went to Yasaka’s Village to pick up my guests. In addition to Yasaka and the five Devils, Gabriel and the Biblical God would be joining us for the festivities. It took several days of pestering from her, but Gabriel managed to wear her father down till he agreed to let her go. Of course, being the doting father he was, he had to come along to make sure everything went without a hitch.
‘Wish he would give me a bit more credit, I would not let my daughter’s friend go down the wrong path on my watch.’, I thought with a chuckle, ‘That said, I would not trust anyone with the safety and well being of my beloved children either.’
Stepping out into the village square, instead of the eight people I was expecting, there were over fifty people present. Seeing several individuals from all the Pantheons I was friendly with, there were also several other Devils and other Faction Elders in attendance as well. Confused as to how things blew out of proportion this much, Lilith walked over to me with an apologetic smile.
“I assume you had something to do with this?”, I inquired.
“Not me, those two.”, she replied pointing at Serafall and Runeas who were close behind her, “These two idiots blabbed about the party, and now everyone wanted to come.”
Pretending not to know what she was talking about, the two women made a poor attempt to whistle and feint ignorance. Letting out a sigh, I asked them if they had at least informed everyone that this was a birthday party for a young child.
“Of course we did!”, Serafall assured me, “Everyone knows that it is your daughter’s birthday party and that they need to be nice to her…or face your wrath.”
“You got that right.”, I chuckled with a smirk, “Alright everyone, please try to keep your antics to a minimum. There will be human children in attendance that can be easily killed if you are not careful. That said, please enjoy yourself at the party.
Opening a portal to the arcade, everyone shuffled through and began exploring the venue. Offering my arms to Yasaka and Lilith the two women graciously accepted my gesture and latched on to me.
“Do not forget us!”, Runeas shouted as she and Serafall jumped on my back, “Onward to fun and entertainment!!”
Letting out a chuckle, I motioned for Misla and Leviathan to follow us through the portal. Returning to the venue, Serafall began telling Runeas about all the games we had played last time. Falling off my back the two ran off toward the dancing game Serafall enjoyed the most.
“I apologize for their behavior.”, Lilith said with an embarrassed look.
“Do not worry about it, Lily will get a kick out of them.”, I stated with a smirk, “Anyways, can I get you ladies something to drink? There is water, tea, juice, soda, and alcohol…please do not let the kids drink any booze if you have some.”
“You might want to put a sign up for that…”, Leviathan remarked looking over at the men looking at the alcohol menu, “I guarantee that is the main reason they came here unfortunately.”
“As long as they do not cause trouble, I could care less. Today is all about my daughter.”, I replied.
As I was getting everyone situated, my in-laws and all Lily’s friends began to show up. Greeting everyone as they came in, I pointed out where gifts were to be placed and where refreshments were. Feeling my phone vibrate as the last guest walked in I answered it as it was Fuyumi calling me.
“We are ready to go now.”, she told me, “Everything ready over there?”
“Yep, as a heads up more people showed up than we anticipated.”, I chuckled, “A lot more…”
“That should be fine, was it more children from school? I know Eri has been inviting everyone that would listen to her trying to be a good big sister.”, Fuyumi informed me with pride.
“Haha…no so acquaintances of mine showed up to celebrate with us.”, I responded glancing over at the Divine Guests.
“Uh..okay?”, she said unsure about things now.
Opening a portal for them to use, my wives came through first with the infants followed by Ciri, Cis, and the rest of our children. Seeing all the arcade games, Lily came running through pulling her younger sister behind her. As she entered the space she stopped and looked around at everyone present with confusion.
“What is going on?”, Lily asked me as I knelt down next to her.
“I wanted to throw you a proper birthday party, one like you always wanted to have. This whole place has been reserved for your friends and you to have as much fun as you want.”, I told her with a smile, “Is that okay?”
Looking around the space at everyone who had come to celebrate with her, she was taken aback by how many people were. Seeing faces she knew and plenty that she did not, Lily began to cry all of a sudden. Thinking I had done something wrong, I asked her if there was something that she did not like here.
“Did I do something wrong?”, I questioned in a panic.
“No, it just…I never thought I would get to have all of this. I have a Daddy and Mommies that love me, a roof over my head, a comfy bed, and get to go to school with my friends. It was only a few weeks ago that we were eating garbage to live, now I have all of this.”, she cried diving into my arms, “Thank you for giving us the family we always wanted!!”
“It is a privilege to call you my daughter as well.”, I told her as I hugged her.
Giving her a few minutes to calm down, I suggested that we get to having some fun. Insisting that I play some games with her and her sister, she grabbed my right hand and led us into one of the many aisles of games.
—Several Hours Later—
‘This is boring as hell…’, I thought sifting through thousands of hours of recordings and photos, ‘I can understand now why Brainiac went from machine to biological, it is a boring life as a computer.’
While I spent an ungodly amount of time following Brainiac’s endeavors, Ciri and company tore the depot apart. Finding a total of twelve backup bodies and hundreds of miniaturized cities in cold storage, the group was in the middle of reporting back their finds to Oa and Earth and I had yet to sift through two percent of the data that was here.
“It is hard to believe that these snowglobe-sized spheres contain an entire city full of people.”, Ciri said cradling one in her hands, “I have never seen anything quite like this.”
“Yes, it is quite remarkable indeed.”, Kilowog agreed gingerly taking it from her and placing it back where it came from, “Please do not take them from their cases for the moment. It will take us time to undo the process and find them new worlds to reinhabit.”
“You cannot take them back to their homeworlds?”, Ciri inquired blissfully unaware of Brainiac’s cruelty.
Looking at one another, the Heroes did not want to be the ones to break the unfortunate truth to her. Unsure how she would feel, given that these people were the last of their races, it ultimately fell on me to tell her.
“Ciri, Brainiac gathers knowledge and a small number of cities in each world he visits. Once he has what he wants, he obliterates the planet leaving only a cloud of rock where the planet once stood.”, I informed her, “Those people have nothing left to return home to.”
“Oh…I see.”, she replied looking at the cities with newfound reverence, “Could we help find them new homes based on the information you are sifting through?”
“Absolutely, if Power Girl and Superman do not mind, we can leave that task up to Kelex.”, I suggested wanting to dump this tedious task on him.
“You can call me Kara, Cole.”, Power Girl insisted, “As for using Kelex, I do not think that will be a problem. If you can eject the Data Crystals, we can take them back and have Kelex analyze them.”
Going to do just that, I stopped myself as the system kicked over to the next batch of files. Seeing a familiar face appear on screen my blood boiled as I saw one of the three remaining deities I was hunting. Realizing Ciri had met the monster during her travels I put his image up on a floating screen and asked if she could remember meeting him.
“Oh yeah, I remember him!”, Ciri recalled, “His name is Kelvin, he is the Chief Deity of the world that photo was taken on. Wait a second, are you saying Eredin went there!? That world was already in shambles when I passed through, his colleagues were rebelling against him and causing chaos all over the world.”
“Ciri, his name is not Kelvin nor is he a Chief Deity. His real name is Cedric the God of Extinction.”, I informed her, “He is one of the Higher Beings responsible for killing members of my family, and helping destroy five universes. Do you remember where you met him?”
“I do not recall the name of the world, but I do remember a Demigoddess I crossed blades with. Her name was Rory the Reaper.”, Ciri replied rubbing her neck, “She nearly took my head off on more than one occasion. Now I understand why…”
Knowing who Rory was I immediately added a visit to that world to my itinerary. Ejecting the Data Crystals for Kara to take, we vacated the depot so the Lanterns could seal it up and haul it back to Oa. Telling Kara to send over any data Kelex retrieved from the Crystals, she promised to pass it along via Hal or John. With that, we headed to the Fortress of Solitude to have Kelex begin his work.
—Next Day, Yasaka’s Village—
After completing party preparations at the arcade, I went to Yasaka’s Village to pick up my guests. In addition to Yasaka and the five Devils, Gabriel and the Biblical God would be joining us for the festivities. It took several days of pestering from her, but Gabriel managed to wear her father down till he agreed to let her go. Of course, being the doting father he was, he had to come along to make sure everything went without a hitch.
‘Wish he would give me a bit more credit, I would not let my daughter’s friend go down the wrong path on my watch.’, I thought with a chuckle, ‘That said, I would not trust anyone with the safety and well being of my beloved children either.’
Stepping out into the village square, instead of the eight people I was expecting, there were over fifty people present. Seeing several individuals from all the Pantheons I was friendly with, there were also several other Devils and other Faction Elders in attendance as well. Confused as to how things blew out of proportion this much, Lilith walked over to me with an apologetic smile.
“I assume you had something to do with this?”, I inquired.
“Not me, those two.”, she replied pointing at Serafall and Runeas who were close behind her, “These two idiots blabbed about the party, and now everyone wanted to come.”
Pretending not to know what she was talking about, the two women made a poor attempt to whistle and feint ignorance. Letting out a sigh, I asked them if they had at least informed everyone that this was a birthday party for a young child.
“Of course we did!”, Serafall assured me, “Everyone knows that it is your daughter’s birthday party and that they need to be nice to her…or face your wrath.”
“You got that right.”, I chuckled with a smirk, “Alright everyone, please try to keep your antics to a minimum. There will be human children in attendance that can be easily killed if you are not careful. That said, please enjoy yourself at the party.
Opening a portal to the arcade, everyone shuffled through and began exploring the venue. Offering my arms to Yasaka and Lilith the two women graciously accepted my gesture and latched on to me.
“Do not forget us!”, Runeas shouted as she and Serafall jumped on my back, “Onward to fun and entertainment!!”
Letting out a chuckle, I motioned for Misla and Leviathan to follow us through the portal. Returning to the venue, Serafall began telling Runeas about all the games we had played last time. Falling off my back the two ran off toward the dancing game Serafall enjoyed the most.
“I apologize for their behavior.”, Lilith said with an embarrassed look.
“Do not worry about it, Lily will get a kick out of them.”, I stated with a smirk, “Anyways, can I get you ladies something to drink? There is water, tea, juice, soda, and alcohol…please do not let the kids drink any booze if you have some.”
“You might want to put a sign up for that…”, Leviathan remarked looking over at the men looking at the alcohol menu, “I guarantee that is the main reason they came here unfortunately.”
“As long as they do not cause trouble, I could care less. Today is all about my daughter.”, I replied.
As I was getting everyone situated, my in-laws and all Lily’s friends began to show up. Greeting everyone as they came in, I pointed out where gifts were to be placed and where refreshments were. Feeling my phone vibrate as the last guest walked in I answered it as it was Fuyumi calling me.
“We are ready to go now.”, she told me, “Everything ready over there?”
“Yep, as a heads up more people showed up than we anticipated.”, I chuckled, “A lot more…”
“That should be fine, was it more children from school? I know Eri has been inviting everyone that would listen to her trying to be a good big sister.”, Fuyumi informed me with pride.
“Haha…no so acquaintances of mine showed up to celebrate with us.”, I responded glancing over at the Divine Guests.
“Uh..okay?”, she said unsure about things now.
Opening a portal for them to use, my wives came through first with the infants followed by Ciri, Cis, and the rest of our children. Seeing all the arcade games, Lily came running through pulling her younger sister behind her. As she entered the space she stopped and looked around at everyone present with confusion.
“What is going on?”, Lily asked me as I knelt down next to her.
“I wanted to throw you a proper birthday party, one like you always wanted to have. This whole place has been reserved for your friends and you to have as much fun as you want.”, I told her with a smile, “Is that okay?”
Looking around the space at everyone who had come to celebrate with her, she was taken aback by how many people were. Seeing faces she knew and plenty that she did not, Lily began to cry all of a sudden. Thinking I had done something wrong, I asked her if there was something that she did not like here.
“Did I do something wrong?”, I questioned in a panic.
“No, it just…I never thought I would get to have all of this. I have a Daddy and Mommies that love me, a roof over my head, a comfy bed, and get to go to school with my friends. It was only a few weeks ago that we were eating garbage to live, now I have all of this.”, she cried diving into my arms, “Thank you for giving us the family we always wanted!!”
“It is a privilege to call you my daughter as well.”, I told her as I hugged her.
Giving her a few minutes to calm down, I suggested that we get to having some fun. Insisting that I play some games with her and her sister, she grabbed my right hand and led us into one of the many aisles of games.
