Fallout

[Jensen James]

It was hard to imagine the raging powers of The Gift as something of light and love. It was ferocious, violent even. To wield it in a way that restored hope and healing felt like a contradiction. As much should have been expected. Much of Jensen's life was one of contradictions.

With the exception of Ivan behind him, all the recipients of the Gift had been unaware they were being bestowed upon until after it was over. Even then, as Jensen always linked the Gift to prayer, it was God to whom the glory of their restoration was given. As it had been in the past, the Ascendancy was completely unaware. The flows of warmth permeated the body before him, and in his mind's eye, Jensen was made aware of the extent of his injuries. The mind was quiet though. Slowed to inactivity with the exception of the basic functions for life, breathing, digesting, fighting. Strength was waning in the Ascendancy, or perhaps it was the coma wilting his soul, but there was something foreign in the man's mind. As Jensen focused on it, he found a sort of glow, like a light that became more apparent as one's eyes adjusted to the environment. Yes, it was there, a light, faint but spreading. It permeated all of the Ascendancy, and Jensen had a moment to wonder whether it was the soul itself he viewed. He had never seen its like before. The Antichrist could not bear such a spirit. Then again, Lucifer was the Angel of Light, the most glorious of all the sons of God. If Jensen were to encounter Lucifer in all his glory, the angel could likely make him weep with awe. Nikolai's soul was not like that, or so Jensen believed. In the end, the man was a man, not an angel, not a god, and probably not the Antichrist. Or if he was, Jensen was soon to be his most rapt devotee.

With a measure of knowing the task at hand, Jensen tightened his grip on the Ascendancy's hand, and pulled the full strength of his power to his grasp. This was by far the most grievous of wounds the Gift had faced and he felt as though he blazed with the power to restore them. His lids slid open, parted to bare slits as he watched the flows form their patterns. It was like weaving four Persian rugs at once. All the elements came together, a beautiful, intricate masterpiece so complex as to make the great artisans of history drop their jaws at once. Mozart's symphonies were children's tunes in comparison. Michelangelo's brush strokes were but crayons in the hands of a toddler. Jensen felt his strength expand and a moment of surprise lit his mind with wonder as it did. The Gift was glorious, and Jensen wondered what it would be like to kneel before the Throne of God and bask in that powerful light. Surely such was the source of this Gift. How foolish he had once been to think it was from Gehenna.

He was barely aware of the effects on the Ascendancy or his changed condition, but he knew the moment it was complete. He drew a heavy breath many long minutes later. His shoulders sagged, his face sunk and pale. He released his grip on the Ascendancy's hand and looked to the man's face for signs of life.

"It is done."

[Ascendancy]

For some time, nothing appeared to be happening. Other than the creation of the monument, he really had little exposure to these channels of magic. He had no preconceived expectations, but he imagined something should be happening.

He kept the video raised when the door parted behind them. The Ascendancy's physician stepped quietly into the room and came up beside Viktor, confusion writ on his face.

"His vitals changed. What's going on?"


Viktor shook his head, frowning at the volume of the doctor's voice. The scene demanded a nearly religious sort of reverence. That morning, Nikolai ordered that he not be interrupted during the creation of the monument, and Viktor assumed Jensen needed similar concentration. Each feat were miracles in their own way.

"Watch."
Together, they maintained their vigil for long, tense minutes.

When the angry pink skin softened, Viktor's gaze widened, his jaw parting with shock. He hadn't believed this to really work, no matter what Ivan claimed. The bright pink faded to flesh, seeping away like dye washed from cloth. The sutures on his side pinched, closed and dissolved from the skin, flaked away like lint. There was little other outward evidence of healing, Nikolai was still asleep, still breathing on the ventilator, but the doctor rushed to the display wall. He swiped at graphs, studying the EKG, scrolling it back through time.

"It is done."

The doctor turned and looked at Jensen, then swung his face to Nikolai. He pulled a stethoscope from his neck, swung the drum to Nikolai's chest, waving at the others to stay quiet. His expression told Viktor what he needed to know.

A quiet sigh of relief was all of Viktor's reaction. He flipped the wallet to his messages screen, finding one about another nearby patient.

"She's awake."

"Find out what happened. I'll be there soon."

His instruction to the ZARS agent was to obtain the girl's story of events. Until Nikolai was awake, they would not stop investigating. The doctor interrupted the rest of his messages.

"His lung sounds are perfect. EKG shows normal rhythm. fMRI has restored functional connectivity in the brain. Even-"
he began to unwrap the bandages around his wrist, nodding when he found the skin free of the previous blisters. "It's a miracle. I don't understand,"
his gaze swung to Jensen.

Viktor stepped forward, "You saved the world, Mister James. We are in your debt. If you have the energy, there is another that needs your help. And doctor, it seems he no longer needs to be kept in a coma."


The doctor blinked and nodded in agreement. Soon, nurses were arriving to assist with extubation.

[Aria]

Her new roommate sent several messages at the last one received in turn he set the wallet down and looked up at her. "Tell me what happened - from the moment this all started."

Aria smiled. "I'm the only one awake. That is not a good sign if you are willing to trust me."


"Our Ascendancy trusted you enough to employ you. Did you turn against him after he let you go?"

"No. I enraged my own situation to save his life."


"Do tell then. I'll record it so you don't have to repeat yourself." And with that he set to recording their conversation.

Aria sipped at the water they'd finally brought her. She still felt the pain of a dry throat. He body ached in so many bad places and the bandages were covering the burns she expected she received. "As you know. I met with Ascendancy to decide what he wanted me to do because I was 100% certain my last life chip was going to be called in by the Atharim. His announcement and then his display of power cemented my decisions at that moment. I either died a traitor to the Atharim leading the Regus and my handler to him and allowing them to kill the Ascendancy. Or I live as a traitor for helping him. I obviously chose the later."


"It's not obvious."

Aria smiled. "It will be."


Aria detailed the plans she and the Ascendancy - rather the Ascendancy made. And then she continued after another sip of water. "That's where the problems started. The Ascendancy didn't know about the Atharim research the Regus had been doing to counter reborn gods. We came in with new weapons. There should be one of the new types in my things. I want my sword back by the way."


He nodded and waved for her to continue. "The Regus also brought along a friend - an Ijiraq. He summoned it before we entered the tunnels with our new weapons and it found Ascendancy first. An Ijiraq feeds off of the power of the gods. I've seen it happen twice and neither time was plesant for the victim. The first time I scared it away, the second I was in the company of two men who could weild the power of the gods, we learned that fire aggravated it, but did damage but freezing it was better, with it frozen I swung my sword through its neck and we watched it die. "


"And this is relevant?"

Aria gave him a look that said shut up but he just grinned back at her waving his hand to go on. Aria specifically took a slow drink of water to enhance the time between. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "After Ascendancy got free of the creature he blew the walls out allowing us to see what as going on inside, but not before the Regus and Borovsky had turned their weapons on through the walls. There was only one way I knew to kill the Ijiraq and I couldn't do it. With it being under orders to kill Ascendancy I didn't think just scaring it away would work. But the man with the Ascendancy proved to be another godling. I told him to freeze it. Thankfully he understood and did as I'd said and then killed the creature. By that time I was facing off with my own people. Betraying them to save Ascendancy's life. The regus turned on me and used the weapon. Thus all the burns. But it wasn't long before the Regus was pulled away from me by unseen hands. I barely understood what was going on but gun shots pulled me from my senses and I saw Borovosky firing into the Ascendancy. A second shot went off before I plunged my sword into his back and I felt his life drip from his veins."
Aria knew that the last sentence sounded like she enjoyed it. She did. She had enjoyed feeling Martin Borovsky's life drain away from him. It was better than any monster kill - this was a man - a man she despised and she had killed him. "The pain of my own injuries and those around me cause me to pass out. I woke up here."

[Ivan Sarkozy]

Ivan watched in fascination as the Padre began to weave, only barely hearing the order. Before, when it had had been him, he had been in too much pain and under too many pain killers to really pay any attention to what happened even IF he could have grab the power whenever he'd wanted.

But now, now...What he saw....it was like nothing he had ever seen. The amount of power was part of it. Not as much as the Ascendancy earlier today, of course. But far more than he could hold.

What was far more important though, far more amazing, was what he did with it. Numerous threads separated and wove together, created patterns that made the most intricate lace he had ever seen look like twine. No. Patterns of patterns, a maze-work of power, looping around in variations he could only gasp at.

And yet...and yet...looking at it, the way the threads pulsed as they formed larger weaves, the way they dropped in on the Ascendancy's body at different places, the way those places responded with some kind of....similarity or...whatever- he just couldn't think of the words, exactly- yet the way it all came together, the organs and veins and tissue and bone knitting together, in anything but a random way....Somehow, in a place beyond words, beyond his ability to explain it, it made sense.

Even as he fell into the maze, into a pattern that looked simple and yet when looked at up close was itself its own complex pattern that he zoomed in on and found more simplicity that was mere mask to even more complexity- even as he fell into that hole- behind and above and bellow it all, he could see the whole pattern. Could see the way it was somehow a reflection of the body it was working on. He could taste comprehension, not just of what he was seeing here, but how it fit into the larger whole.

For the first time in his life, Ivan felt something like awe, as if he were seeing the face of God. The flavor of something far grander than he could even comprehend.

It left him reeling. It was as if God had pulled back, for just a moment, the curtain of creation and let him see what happened behind. And then had looked at him and smiled and winked conspiratorially, as if to say "Did you see it?" And all Ivan could do was smile back and nod weakly, feeling a tear on his cheek, awe at what he had witnessed, as if he were being carried away, higher and higher...

...and then it is done. And the Padre <em>says it is done. And then, snap! He's back to reality, Gravity has kicked in and he's choking on it all, not able to hold onto the pieces he has. And determination builds in him, a fire in his chest, an engine roaring to life, a hungry place he didn't know he had until now, the spark fanned to life. And her refuses to let it go, refuses to lose this moment, this view of the mind of God.

Because it calls to him. It feeds him. And he knows in this moment that his life has changed. That this is what he was destined for. What exactly? What 'this'? He doesn't know. Only that there is....something. His purpose. His life. His destiny. And peaces washes over him along with....along with...what is that? He can barely sense it, barely recognize it. The babbling of a flowing river, quiet rush of breeze in the air, the hint of the smell of exotic yet comforting trees and the heat of the sun flashing through the leaves.... </em>

The moment was gone. And suddenly he was again in the hospital room and the Padre was being thanked. The Ascendancy was fully healed. Ivan could practically see a glow about him, as if he had been restored and filled with life. And there were tears on his cheeks and he realized that his face was split with a grin.

He looked at the Padre- no. At Jensen James- and said simply, for the man could never know what this day had done to him, how it had changed him, "Thank you. For everything."


He looked again at the Ascendancy who now merely slept peacefully and then at Viktor and smiled.

[Ascendancy]

Viktor was content to leave Nikolai in doctor's hands. They removed the breathing tube while he was still unconscious. Already his color was fuller. Life circulated under the skin again. He was free of the hot pink burns that looked like sunburns, damage that Viktor didn't understand could be inflicted in an assault. To investigate, he had already sent ZARS agents to investigate potential sources earlier that night. No update had been forwarded to him yet.

Free of the burns, his gaze studied the sleeping Ascendancy once more. He'd rarely seen the man sleep. The only opportunities were in mid-flight, and Nikolai was so deathly afraid of flying, he needed panic meds just to sit still, let alone sleep. Seeing him now was unsettling. But it wasn't sleep that Viktor watched. His gaze fell specifically to the scars on the man's forearm. Scars puckered down the skin. Rows of them like fingernails once clawed down chalkboard. He'd seen the edge of them a few times when Nikolai would roll up his sleeves at the end of a hard day. But never had he viewed their extent. Nikolai was painfully private about his past, and Viktor never asked. Better still that he not bring it up.

They showed Jensen out. One of the two agents remained while the doctors worked. The second followed them to the hall. Ivan was given the option to stay or go with them.

"The next man is Marcus Dubois, Sigma. He is through there."


He pointed down the hall some distance. For security reasons, the entire wing of the floor, and the one above and below, were vacated of patients while the Ascendancy was present. That included the two wounded found in his presence. "Someone will escort you, Jensen. I need to see to another matter."


He left the preacher behind to go to Aria's room. She was also isolated, but for other reasons. Along the way he sent an order that Jensen not be allowed to leave for the time being. He could be made as comfortable as possible. Given anything he wanted. But could. Not. Leave. No contact with the outside world. For the immediate future, he was going to exist in a vault. One where Viktor held the keys.

He entered Aria's room next, resolve firm, eyes flickering to the girl awake on the bed. He knew next to nothing about her other than rumor and intrigue. The ignorance frustrated him. But he was cool and professional, soft spoken even, as he entered and shut the door behind him.

"I'm Deputy-Consul Viktor Stepanovich. While the Ascendancy is unconscious I am effectively in charge of the CCD. And I have no idea who you are. Would you tell me your story. And I apologize if you have to repeat yourself. Please indulge me. I give you no benefit of the doubt, but it has not escaped my notice that you and Ascendancy share similar marks."


He pointed to her arm, bare with the hospital gown she wore. Richest hospital in the world and the gowns were still uncomfortable sheets.

[Aria]

Aria grimaced as she moved. Her roommate was quiet as they waited for whatever to happen next. Aria sat and contimplated those around her. She sat in mediation and aborbed the emotions around her. She still felt nothing but negative emotions. It was disconcerting but at least she felt something.

A man walked in who felt fustrated. He glanced at her arm as he spoke and Aria wasn't surprised he'd made the connection. Ascendancy was probably wearing a very similar outfit as she was. Hospital gowns were never very flattering.

Aria looked at the man in the room as she started to speak. "While not recorded it is beleived that the Ascendancy was once of my order. But obviously now he is not."


Aria sipped at the water and it slurrped at the bottom again. This talking about the events was proving to be thirsty work. Not to mention the pain she was in. But Aria had refused more pain meds she could tolerate the pain for now and being fuzzy headed was not something Aria enjoyed. It brought back dark memories - memories that were best left hidden particularly in present company.

Her voice was distant as she started regaling the tale again. This time she started at the very beginning. "I am Atharim. I was tasked with seeking out Ascendancy and killing him. The Regus needed someone expendible and I am that foder. He had been unable to kill him with prior agents and why waste another good man when he can send a monster to do his bidding."


Aria paused and sighed as she remembered her cup was empty. She continued again. "I researched Ascendancy and found little information to help me in that endeavor. However unlike my brethren I can feel the emotions of places and people long since gone. I decided to try a different theory and I went to Siberia to see what I could feel. There I found Ascendancy."


Aria smiled knowing that everything she was saying to this point could be used against her and she could be charged with killing Ascendancy if she stopped. But she continued on. "We spoke and because of what I am he took me to a facility deep below the ground and I stayed until Ascendancy released me to do a job for him. Since that moment I have been working for Ascendancy. When he made the annoucement I knew the Regus would call in my chip. He'd send me after the Ascendancy whether or not I was preparred or not. So instead I called Ascendancy first and he gave me a plan to take back to my brethren."


Aria continued with the whole plan again. She told the same story probably using the same words. It wasn't rehersed so much as something she'd been telling herself over and over again. The truth - the lies everything was taking up space and it was all keeping the darkness at bay - for now.

Aria continued to tell the same thing she'd told her handler. The same information about the Ijiraq. The same tale of meeting Dane and Giovanni and Jensen and Connor incidentally. She didn't tell them their names only the important events. Their secrets were not hers to share.

Aria finished her tale. "I woke up here and have been telling the story since then."

[Jensen James]

A grim, tired smile touched his features. Despite the fatigue, he felt whole. Behind the expression gleamed pride. There were Sundays at the pulpit he felt as though he chased this feeling. He always came close, basking in stage lights and swaying to the music. The greatest Sunday was nothing like this. In this moment, the world was right. The pattern was perfect. And he was doing what he was meant to do all along. To even consider doing anything else was absurd. He was the healer he always wanted to be. Visions of new flocks gathered around him. There were so many others like him in the world. In Moscow alone he'd met many. The good that could be done, the potential was overwhelming. They could truly serve mankind then. Without prejudice and judgment, they truly would serve all, equally. That was the new vision. Healing the Ascendancy was merely the catalyst to finding it.

He followed Viktor wrapped in hope. Only to be thrust back into the harshness of reality. A wall of armed men roamed the halls. Other were frozen sentinels. He sought out Ivan when Viktor departed, and began to seek the second man, Marcus.

He was found in a room laid out in similar fashion to the Ascendancy's. When Jensen entered, he paused to examine his injuries. Jaw tight, he swallowed a rise in his stomach. The man was badly burned and covered with bandages.

"What happened to him?"

[Ascendancy]

Atharim. The word was introduced to Viktor only days ago, and now it occupied so much of his thoughts. So he was right. The mark identified both Aria and Ascendancy as members, or former members. He didn't know who this Regus was, but he guessed some sort of elder if he had authority to order his own followers on suicide missions. Viktor had seen some of the attempts on Nikolai's life, they were folly if ever there was such a thing.

Ascendancy went to Siberia once in a while, usually to inspect CCD drilling operations. On occasion he went to oversee expansion drilling or data collecting on new reserve deposits. How she encountered him in such a remote place was a story in and of itself.

He was inclined to believe her, though. She knew too many details to not have experienced them for herself. The Facility, for one, was known to only very few outside of its operation. Viktor never even been inside.

He listened closely as she relayed the entire story. The plan was idiotic. If Nikolai wanted that Regus man dead, a sniper on a rooftop would have been far safer. But he knew The Ascendancy. He wanted to show what he could do. The Arch was along the same line of thought. Only perhaps rather than placate, awe, and subdue a nation, he would subdue the entire cult. What were his plans then? Did he want to rule the cult too? Surely infiltrating and dismantling them would be easier. Why allow them to exist at all?

But there was something Viktor couldn't grasp. He poured Aria a water and offered it to her. "You speak of gods, the power of the gods and an ijiraq. Are you saying he is a god after all? You can feel him. Is that what you feel?"


His gaze was penetrating even as he handed her the cup.

[Aria]

Aria inclined her head in thanks and sipped the water.

She smirked. "What I feel? When a man like Nikolai Brandon uses his gift he becomes nothing to my senses. "
Aria smiled. "But he is no more a god than you or I. The Atharim are as old as you can possibly come think. When we were founded we were a reminant of a reminant of a people who choose to fight these gods of old. These gods were men and women who lived terribly long lives, they had power to do things. Humanity worshiped them. Zeus, Athena, Odin, Thor, Set, Horus, you name a god from myths and legend and I can tell you the story of their deaths. Or as so the stories are told in the Atharim - because that is all they really are - tales told through the millennia. The Atharim fought the gods of old to save humanity. They remain today because the war of the gods between gods and then again between man had left overs - creations that needed killing. These monsters continued to prey upon mankind so the Atharim has made its life's work to kill them. Now that the gods are being reborn - the power of their ancestors returning to the world - we hunt them. I do not believe it is necessary - a man with a gift is not evil because of the gift, he is evil because of what he chooses to do with it. I have a friend born among my kinda - born and breed to be nothing but Atharim and he is a reborn god. He chooses to hunt monsters in the shadows because he knows he will die by Atharim hands if they find out. He may be egocentric and he may have a hero complex but he's a good man despite his failings. So Mr. Deputy-Consul Viktor Stepanovich, our ascendancy only believes he is god because the Atharim told him so. He is just a man with the potential to do good, or to do evil. I will not judge a man on things he has yet to do."



Edited by Aria, Oct 4 2016, 05:48 AM.

[Ascendancy]

In minutes, Viktor knew more about the Atharim cult than Nikolai ever told him. The man's obsession with privacy was going to get him killed someday. If he believed everything Aria was telling him, that is. It would need corroborated with Ascendancy himself once he woke. Or they would need to shut down this cult. He still didn't understand why Nikolai allowed them to exist all this time if he was aware of the danger they posed. Another question to ask when the man woke. For now, he focused on Aria. He wasn't going to tell her Nikolai's state, but he didn't overlook the fact that she hadn't inquired about him. Either she thought him dead, knew he was alive, could read minds, or didn't give a fuck. Some loyalty.

"Those gods in story were once really alive, and they channeled like Ascendancy did.


Something else that didn't escape his notice was Aria contradicting herself. She said Nikolai was no more a god than anyone else, but then described a friend as a god. The semantics didn't matter. But from Viktor's point of view, if gods existed, Ascendancy was as close to one as possible. Jensen too, perhaps. The man was a walking miracle.

"Alright. That's all I have for now. As you understand, I can't allow you to leave yet. It's too much of a security risk and while the evidence suggests your story is true, I have to be careful. I will make sure you're comfortable in the meantime waiting. Food, drink. Is there anyone out there you want to get a message to? I can make sure it happens. Though we will have to approve the message to ensure its security."


He shot the ZARS agent a harsh look.