Chapter 35: Singularity (Patreon)

[A/N]: I went back and forth on if this chapter was confusing or not. I ended up creating a little diagram which I'll put at the end. Email readers may not be able to see it, fyi.

Enjoy!

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HeroWatch Entry

(last updated Year 51:02:13 01:27 local time)

Lance Gunnar <Gunmetal> — Presumed Dead

Summary

Lance Gunnar (chosen super moniker: Gunmetal) was an A-ranked Infuser known for covering his skin in a flexible metallic material. He is a part of the designated <Originals> that first accepted <the Call> in Year 0 (1982 in the pre-super era calendar). He is believed to have been born roughly around Year -30 (1952) though the exact date is unknown (needs citation).

He is best known as an advocate for legislature to codify laws restricting superpowered individuals and their power uses. He was the founder and President of the <Supers Against Vigilantes and Villains> and briefly ran for Senator of Kansas before canceling his campaign to pursue his Capstone Quest in Year 13.

Presumed dead.

Powerset

His early powerset is unknown, but after his Midmark Quest, the super known as Gunmetal was seen casting a metallic substance across his body. Rare video footage shows that his flexibility was not impacted by this metal and his strength and weight increased proportionally. A direct hit from <Gladiator> appeared to cause no lasting damage (needs citation).

+  Unknown (F to C)

<no data>

+  Infuser (C to A)

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Affiliation

Gunmetal was a Kansas native in the former <United States>. Very little is known about his life before his Midmark Quest and even less about his pre-super life. Around Year 7, he began advocating for more strict restrictions on super vigilantism and rampant power use.

In Year 9, he formed the <Supers Against Vigilantes and Villains> in response to the <New Orleans Massacre> that occurred due to a group of vigilantes fighting the supervillain <A-Bomb>. S.A.V.V. received overwhelming support from the non-powered community and dozens of supers pledged their commitment to the organization.

In Year 12, Gunmetal announced his intention to run for State Senator for Kansas and revealed his secret identity as Lance Gunnar. Polls placed him as the favorite before he suddenly withdrew and left for his Capstone Quest.

With his departure, S.A.V.V. fell out of the spotlight. With the beginning of the <Second American Civil War>, it was dissolved entirely in lieu of a more hands-on approach by the super community.

Personal Life

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Notable Exploits

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With the sudden departure of Dancer, the tension in the air hung thick. Silver’s aura seemed to stabilize as the Emperor turned to regard both him and Terry. On the opposite side of Silver, Whipvine and James flanked, filling up the space until Silver was covered on three sides. The other four revenants stayed back, clearly not interested in a physical confrontation, though War Crimes fingered the pistol at his hip.

Silver affected an unconcerned stance, turning to regard Whipvine, James, and the Emperor one at a time.

“What’s this?” he asked casually, the corner of one lip turned up in a knowing smile.

“What were you thinking, Gunny?” the Emperor demanded, his voice ominous through his bone mask.

Silver crossed his arms, eyeing Whipvine and James one more time before answering.

“Don’t know, felt like my timing was pretty damn spot on.” He nodded toward Terry, his smile faltering for the briefest second. “Tell me you didn’t feel it.”

Terry’s grandfather turned his flaming eyes toward him, his face unreadable through his mask.

“Of course I felt it. And I would have handled it myself—”

“You sure bout that?” Silver demanded, his voice iron. “Looks like you’d have bent over and taken it—”

James’ voice cut across the two of them, quiet but full of power.

“The timing,” he said simply. His eyes flicked toward Terry, then back to Silver. “It was perfect…too perfect.”

Silver fully turned to face James, and Terry could see his lips pursed in thought. They shared a look full of meaning, and Terry’s adrenaline-addled brain finally caught on to what his father was suggesting.

“It was a Quest!” he blurted out. The entire room swiveled toward him and he cringed. He expected to be rebuked for mentioning the taboo subject—by the other supers or his own System—but no rebuke came. Now that he thought about it, there was no Rule against figuring out other super’s Quests, only against the Quest bearer from discussing it.

“The question is: why?” James asked. “Why did you receive a Quest to intervene with Dancer for my son?” He frowned. “And why were you there when the draugr attacked?”

The Emperor cut across his son. “That line of questioning is dangerous.” His eyebrows raised, some hidden message passing between the two of them. James’ eyes widened for the briefest second before he nodded agreement. “The real question is: how do we survive making enemies with Dancer and the SPC?”

Terry replayed the last seconds of his grandfather’s confrontation with Dancer in his head. At the time, he had been in a state of shock, time distorted by the adrenaline and fear. But looking back, something didn’t add up.

“You let him go,” Terry muttered to himself. With a start, he realized everyone in the room was looking at him again. He eyed his father, his grandfather, and then, his other grandfather. “I’ve seen you move,” he said to the Emperor. “That was practically slow motion for you. You could have reaped him if you wanted to.”

“Of course,” the Emperor sniped, as if that were the dumbest observation in the world. “I didn’t want to kill Dancer, only send him running.”

Terry frowned. Normally, his grandfather’s tone would have been enough to shut him down. But his limbs still vibrated from the showdown with Dancer and he wouldn’t be dismissed so easily. “But why? If he’s so strong and you’re so worried about surviving this fallout, why let him leave?”

“I don’t have time to explain the intricacies of regional politics to a pup—”

“Oh, shut up,” James growled.

The Emperor cut his burning green eyes toward his son.

Terry’s father ignored the man. “He spared Dancer because there were witnesses. The entire SPC would have come down on us in retaliation—not to mention the Russians. They’d be circling North America like vultures if news got out about Dancer’s death. The SPC would be forced to crush us in a show of strength. We wouldn’t have lasted the week.”

Terry processed that new information, but couldn’t help but notice the dark look the Emperor cast toward James. Still, he risked a follow up question. “Won’t the SPC come for us anyway?”

“Dancer’s not all-powerful,” Whipvine ventured, “even among the organization he started. Rallying enough support to take us out without any real provocation is risky and probably doomed to fail.” He shook his head, sharing a look with James. “No, he’ll probably work from the shadows to undermine, as is his way.”

His words hung in the air, weighing down the room for a moment. Then, the Emperor moved, pulling his bone mask from his face, revealing a weary expression, heavy with the burden of rule. He turned to Silver.

“Where have you been?”

Silver sighed, his own weariness finally surfacing.

“Been on my Capstone—”

“For forty years?” the Emperor asked skeptically.

Silver regarded the Emperor for a moment, then nodded toward Whipvine and the four revenants standing out of the line of fire.

“Not in front of them.”

The Emperor regarded his revenants, then nodded toward the door.

“Attend outside.”

They left together with varying moods. War Crimes narrowed his eyes for the briefest moment, then shrugged, affecting a casual expression. The Iron Maiden left the fastest, clearly disinterested. The Professor gave Silver a curious glance before exiting, while Mesmer hesitated for a moment before following. Only Whipvine dared to protest.

“My Emperor, let me stay. You may have been friends once, but we don’t know his inten—”

“Leave us, Whip.”

The revenant’s scars danced as he directed a brief scowl toward Silver before leaving with a nod.

Only James, Terry, the Emperor, and Silver remained.

Silver nodded toward James.

“You trust him?”

“He’s my son.”

Silver’s eyebrows rose. “That’s not what I asked you.”

Terry waited for the Emperor to dismiss the question as ridiculous, confirm the relationship and trust between him and his son. But there was an undeniable hesitation that was impossible to misinterpret. He watched his father’s face harden, his lips pursed tight.

“I’ll step outside,” James said icily. “Come on, Terry.”

Silver held up a hand. “The boy stays. I’m not done with him.”

Terry felt a pang of anxiety at that, then fear as his father’s eyes darkened.

“You don’t make the demands here. That’s my son. You had your chance with your own kid and you abandoned her. He’s not your second chance.”

Terry’s eyes went wide and he felt his body react, a fresh wave of adrenaline spiking, his heart rate amped in anticipation of Silver’s retaliatory outburst.

To his surprise, the super bit his lip, then sighed. He turned toward James, who was practically vibrating with pent up aggression.

“You’re right.”

James faltered, his burning eyes widening for the briefest moment before narrowing.

Silver continued, nodding wearily. “I did abandon her. Justified it to myself by saying she was with trusted friends, that I’d be back in a year, maybe two.” He looked off, his eyes distant as he relived those memories.

“What happened?” Terry was surprised to hear his own voice break the silence, the eyes turning toward him making him squirm. But he squared his shoulders, kept his gaze steady, and regarded Silver with a curious but subdued expression.

“I was betrayed…” Silver glanced toward James, clear hesitation on his lips, then turned toward the Emperor. “So I went for the Omega.”

It was barely a whisper, almost too soft for Terry to catch. But his grandfather’s sharp intake of breath was the real shock.

Terry glanced between the men, not grasping the significance of that statement. Judging by his father’s narrowed eyes, he hadn’t either.

“You arrogant bastard,” his grandfather hissed.

Silver closed his eyes, a weight seeming to rest across his shoulders.

“Yes,” he whispered. His eyes snapped open, his voice rising. “Yes. I was arrogant.” His eyes hardened, silver magic dancing there. “But I got so damn close, T.” His voice trailed, going soft again. “So damn close…”

“How close?” his grandfather asked, a hint of hope in his tone.

Silver sighed. “I got two.”

“That’s not close, dammit!”

“What in the Underworld are you two talking about?” James barked, his tone full of heat.

Terry silently thanked his father for asking the same burning question that had been on his mind.

Silver gave the Emperor a questioning look, and the Emperor nodded for him to explain. He turned toward James and Terry.

“You’ll find out on your own if you get summoned for a Capstone, but I’ll give you the broad strokes.” He turned toward the Emperor. “Feel free to fill in anything I miss.” The Emperor nodded, waving for him to continue. “During our Capstone, we each get a series of Quests we need to finish to reach S-rank and return home, right? Everyone knows that. What you don’t know, is that we’re all offered an optional Quest.” His eyes swiveled between the two of them, an intensity there that seemed to bore into Terry. “Become the Omega.”

Terry and his father shared a confused look.

“Omega?” James asked. “What’s that?”

Before Silver could respond, there was something bothering Terry—something he couldn’t let go unsaid.

“Hold on, why can you talk about Quests?” He looked toward his father and grandfather. “Isn’t that against the Rules?”

James’ eyes narrowed, obviously just as confused.

“This Quest is the exception. It’s the only Quest all the S-rankers share.” Silver held up a hand. “I’ll get there.” He looked at James. “You asked what the Omega is. To answer your question, let me step back for a moment. Unless T-Bone’s completely flubbed your education, you should both be familiar with the seven Aspects—”

“Stop calling me T-Bone,” his grandfather growled, his face scrunched up in a scowl.

Silver looked at the man, regarding his scythe with pursed lips.

“Apologies, oh mighty Necroton.” He waved toward Terry and James. “Can I continue please?” The Emperor simply frowned, leaning against his scythe silently. Silver rolled his eyes, then turned back to them. “As I was saying, the Aspects. Seven nodes connecting the fourteen Classes, right? They’re not just classification systems, regardless of what you’ve heard. They’re core concepts, intrinsically linked to the Classes. But even more than that, they exist on a physical and metaphysical level.”

Terry felt like he was losing the thread. “I don’t get it. Material, Elemental, Presence, and so on…how can they exist on a physical and metaphysical level?”

“I mean that literally,” Silver answered. “Each Aspect has what we call a Singularity, a physical and metaphysical object that embodies that Aspect. These Singularities can be ingested and assimilated into our body and aura. The Quest to become the Omega is to assimilate the seven Singularities. Whoever accomplishes that…wins.”

Terry frowned. “Wins? Wins what?”

Silver chuckled. “This world, kid.”

Before he could even parse that statement, his father scoffed. “You can’t be serious.” He turned toward the Emperor. “He’s bullshitting us, right? Pulling out some magical MacGuffin crap to distract from the fact that we just antagonized the strongest S-ranker in the world.”

Terry pursed his lips in thought. He felt like his father was missing the bigger picture, too concerned with the here and now. Silver didn’t strike him as someone to dance around or deflect—if he said these Singularities were important, Terry believed him.

The more interesting question to Terry was: which Singularities had Silver assimilated.

“It’s real, James,” the Emperor said. “Dancer has at least one of them. Which is why none of us dared to oppose him.”

“Until Silver showed up,” Terry breathed, the pieces falling into place. He turned toward the Emperor. “You felt that he had strength to match Dancer and you picked your side.”

Silver snorted humorously. “One thing’s for sure, the battle lines have been drawn.” He turned to the Emperor. “And Disco—Dancer, whatever the fuck—s’got at least two. The Presence and Mental Singularities, if I had to guess. Though they didn’t feel fully digested—at least, maybe not the Mental.”

Terry’s mind churned over this new paradigm. He had barely been able to wrap his head around the alien System, the Rules, and his new powers. But this…

The Emperor nodded, his eyes drawn in anxiously. “Which Singularities did you acquire?”

“Physical, you probably guessed. The other one’s Material. Haven’t fully digested that one.”

So Silver has Physical—which has Duelist as primary, with Traveler, and Infuser Adjacencies. The Material Aspect which has Artificer as primary, with Catalyst, and Alterant Adjacencies. Dancer has Presence, which has Visionary as primary, with Hypnotist, and Distorter Adjacencies. He also has Mental, which has Savant as primary, and both Summoner and Hypnotist as Adjacencies. Leaving the Elemental, Spectral, and Metaphysical Aspects unaccounted for. And the only untouched Classes are Elementalist, Seer, and Amplifier.

“Dancer has overlap with the Hypnotist Class. His Singularities are actually adjacent. Does that mean anything?” Terry asked.

“He’s certainly more compatible with his Singularities than I am with Material.” He took on a thoughtful expression. “If I could connect mine by digesting the Elemental Singularity, I’d possess nearly half the wheel and improve my connectedness.” He turned toward the Emperor. “Any idea who has Elemental, Metaphysical, or Spectral?”

Terry’s grandfather pursed his lips, nodding hesitantly. “I suspect Qui Shen has Elemental. Sol’s power dropped noticeably after Qui Shen returned from his Capstone.”

Silver nodded as if that made perfect sense, but Terry and his father shared a confused look.

“Sorry, but why would Qui Shen returning with a Singularity affect Sol’s power?” Terry asked. He knew of Qui Shen, of course—he was a powerful S-ranked Elementalist who ruled over a large territory in Asia. He’d made a splash when he’d returned from his Capstone, conquering a large swath of land in a relatively short period of time. But information was scarce across the oceans and there weren’t many details on his powerset or how he’d managed the feat.

“They’re called Singularities,” Silver replied, “because they pull in the power of the Classes they govern. Given enough time, the S-ranks connected to a digested Singularity will be downranked back to As. The As and Bs will feel less of a pull, and the lower ranks will probably feel nothing at all.”

“Downranked!” James gasped, looking between the two men. “You can’t be serious?”

Silver nodded. “The S-ranked Duelists will have felt the drain since my return. The Infusers even more so, since Qui Shen has apparently been partially draining them already. As for the Travelers, they fall under the Physical and the Spectral.” He turned to the Emperor. “Any guesses on if the Spectral Singularity has been claimed?”

The Emperor shook his head. “Possibly, but if so, it hasn’t been digested. I’ve been feeling a pull for decades now, but couldn’t tell if it was Dancer or someone else.” He took on a thoughtful expression, his eyes narrowing. “There was a couple of days where I began to suspect the Spectral had been claimed. Terminus came back, made a show of his power. I thought the drain might have increased a touch, but then he went to the far side of the moon and we never heard from him again. The drain hasn’t increased since.”

Silver looked off for a moment, lost in thought. Then, “That’s a promising lead. But I’d rather acquire the Elemental Singularity first. How’s this Qui Shen’s relationship with Dancer?”

The Emperor scowled. “They have a non-aggression pact. Their Aspects are nowhere near each other, so they’ve never had cause to fight.”

“Hmm.” Silver stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I’ll start with the Terminus lead and see where that goes. Any word on the Metaphysical Singularity?”

“None.”

Silver nodded. “Okay then. But before I do that.” He turned to look at Terry, a twinkle in his eye. “I’d like to catch up on missed time with my grandson, have some alone time—” He spared a quick glance toward James, who had narrowed his eyes. “—if that’s okay with his father, that is.”

Terry turned to his dad, trying not to let his desperation show on his face. But in his head, he was repeating the words over and over again.

Please, please, please, please!

Not only was he an incredible supers’ geek who had the chance to spend more time with an enigmatic S-ranker—maybe even higher than S-ranker, if that was a thing—but this was also his grandfather. The sole remaining tie to his mother other than the magical white roses she’d left behind. But magical or not, roses held nothing to the flesh and blood of family.

Still, he didn’t want to put his father in an awkward position—healing their relationship was more important—so he did his best to keep his face neutral as his father deliberated.

After a few anxious moments, James spoke. “You may be Penelope’s father, but I don’t know you.” He turned to the Emperor. “You trust him with Terry?”

Terry turned to study his grandfather’s face, wondering how the man would respond.

The Emperor pursed his lips in thought. “Don’t know, forty years can change a man.” Terry’s stomach dropped. “How bout it, Gunny? You intend to hurt or otherwise poison our grandson against his family?”

Silver snorted, his tone sarcastic. “I promise not to tell him any stories about your youth, how bout that?” The Emperor’s eyes narrowed and Silver held up his hands, turning to encompass both James and the Emperor. “Hey, I just wanna get to know the kid s’all. I swear on my love for Penelope I’d never do anything to harm her child.” He turned to the Emperor, his face serious. “Despite all my faults, never doubt that.”

Terry swiveled back and forth, trying to anticipate what his father and grandfather would say. James was clearly biting his inner cheek, the anxiety hard to miss. The Emperor was stoic, but his eyes burned as they locked onto Silver with an intensity that reminded Terry of when he’d faced off with Dancer minutes earlier.

“He’s an idiot,” the Emperor finally said to James, “but I believe him. There’s probably no one better equipped and capable of protecting Terry than the three of us in this room.”

James didn’t seem convinced, his eyes tracking between Silver and his father indecisively. Terry couldn’t contain himself anymore, the words practically bursting from his chest.

“Please, dad!” It sounded so childish, so immature, coming from his mouth. But he couldn’t help it; he wanted to get to know his mother’s father.

James studied Terry’s face, possibly looking for some reason to refuse or deflect. Terry just held his gaze, willing the man to feel his earnestness, his raw desire. After a tense few moments, his father sighed. Terry sensed the acceptance in that sigh, but forcibly kept himself from celebrating. A moment later, James nodded and stepped close to Silver. His eyes were nearly engulfed in magical green fire.

“If anything happens to him, I’ll stop at nothing to see you dead before my feet.” His voice was low, laced with heat. “Is that clear?”

For once, Silver didn’t smile disarmingly or crack a joke. Instead, he set his lips and gave a short nod.

“I’ll protect him with my life.”

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[A/N]: Please forgive my terrible skills! Feel free to ask questions if this is still confusing!