The board meeting, the real one, is being held below in the Super Secret Base. That name just can't be allowed to continue. Everyone else is inside, waiting for me and Vivienne to arrive. She wanted answers as soon as I called her, but I did convince her to wait so I wouldn't have to retell the same story multiple times. Seeing her after getting another emotion did make me feel something, but it wasn't love. It was sadness. Is the love I got, only for a single love? Or will I be able to love Vivienne as a friend eventually? Getting back to where we were is important to me.

"Before we join the others, I wanted to ask you about something," I said.

"Yeah? What's up, Nobody?" V asked.

"Do you have any plans this Saturday?"

"Nah, why? Is there something you need me to do? Are we going on a classic V and Nobody adventure?" Vivienne asked, grinning.

"I don't need you to do anything, well, I do, but we'll discuss it at the meeting. Aubrey is hosting a Friendsgiving, and I wanted to know if you'd like to go? Having a friendly face there will go a long way toward making it more bearable," I said.

"Nobody, boss, thank you. That sounds like a blast and gives me a chance to put Violet in her place. I can't believe she cheated at fucking air hockey. I'd be happy to go as your plus one, dude."

Each honest emotion she shares is fresh cut to the scabbed wound of what our friendship was.

"Oh, V, you aren't my plus one. You're my friend, and Aubrey specifically asked me to invite you as well. I know we haven't had a lot of time to hang out besides training, but are you still seeing that Indian girl who hates me?"

Vivienne blushes furiously, pursing her lips and looking down at the elevator floor. One of Vivienne's most appealing traits is how much of a foil she is to me. Her emotions are an open book; she's honorable, and what you see is what you get. In contrast, I am a falsehood wrapped in a lie inside a facade. People like her have a quality that I emulate, but it is a pale imitation of the real thing. Violet is the same way; it's a gravitas that surrounds the two women, drawing others in like moths to flame.

"Yes, I am, but she doesn't hate you," Vivienne protested.

"The way to anyone's heart is through their stomach; don't worry, I'm not planning on disemboweling Anika. I'm cooking for the Friendsgiving, and you should invite her as your date. Once she tastes my cooking, she will finally give me a chance," I said.

"Two things. One, are you out here making jokes? What have you done with Nobody? And two, I'll definitely bring her. I didn't know you liked to chef it up in the kitchen; I can't cook for shit," Vivienne admitted.

The door opens to the Super Secret Base. Seriously, the first thing on the agenda is changing that name. I don't respond to V's continued questioning about what I've done with the real Nobody as we walk onto the domed center of the SSB, where the Latin Nihil, Nusquam, Nullus is etched into the stone. On the way over, Vivienne mentioned that there was something new to show me that Kai had finished up in the last couple of days.

"Where are we going? Whose area has the conference room in it?" I asked. Please don't tell me they put it in my area.

"Please try to have fun with this and not be a killjoy," she said, glaring at me with her arms crossed. She suddenly opens them wide, tilting her chin up and then shouts out. "NIHIL! NUSQUAM! NULLUS!"

The basalt ground shakes beneath our feet. A circular outline lights up as the platform rotates clockwise while lowering. A voice-activated hidden elevator is a cartoonishly evil thing out of Cape and Cowl media. A team of Cowls renovating an abandoned warehouse into a company building with an underground secret base that has a hidden, even more underground meeting chamber. This is the kind of thing that gets a Cowl labeled a Villain. Our destination must be only a hundred or so feet down, because the ride down is smooth and much faster than I thought it would be. The platform stops, and in front of us, there's a tunnel carved into the rock with a lit-up walkway.

Every time I think this group has stopped surprising me with bullshit, they go and do something like this. Why are we doing things like this? Am I not giving them enough to do? Vivienne's mouth is open in excitement, like she's bringing a friend to a surprise party. I walk past her, and she follows me, grinning like an idiot, looking back and forth between me and the hallway. My projected face shows nothing; I will not be entertaining these kinds of developments. Vivienne falls behind me, back hunched and arms dangling in disappointment at my lack of reaction. She grumbles about me not being any fun.

The steel doors open, sinking into the walls with a hiss and a burst of steam. I know for a fact that that was an unnecessary flourish. Inside is even worse. A round dark room with walls painted in a black so dark it's light-absorbing and an arching cathedral ceiling stretching hundreds of feet up. The floor is made of a glass-like material, but obviously much stronger, to make the ground below it seem impossibly far away. My helmet's night vision is making a lot of these efforts pointless. At the center is a seven-pointed star-shaped table of white marble with the points extending far away from the table. Seven solid black chairs, each with a back that extends twenty feet up, are placed in the dips between the points. The only source of light in the room comes from seven focused spotlights in the ceiling that illuminate each chair. I can tell where I'm meant to sit immediately, and the open seat to my right is obviously V's. The two of us take our places, and I sigh loud enough for my helmet to pick up on it, the current preset being the combination of the six other Momentus members.

"Whaddaya think?" Vivienne asked.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"What do I think? What do I think of what?" I asked, unclenching my jaw.

"I think Vivienne's asking about our sick ass new conference room," Tuesday added helpfully.

"Is this an elaborate and extremely expensive prank? Because it looks like you all used my absence to work on making this place into a fucking haunted house. I already couldn't believe you all named it the 'Super Secret Base', but this is a new level for all of you. I mean, Kai, the hiss and steam from the door? Are we criminals or carnies?" I asked.

They need to be reeled in, or shit like this becomes commonplace. Kai has the decency to look slightly ashamed, but Tuesday's happier than a dog with its head out the window on the highway. Her outstretched tongue only reinforces the mental image.

"¿Por qué no los dos?" She asked in a perfect Spanish accent.

"I thought it fit the theme we were going for," Kai answered, tilting his head slightly away from what he assumed would be a screaming tirade.

"Rorschach, why did you approve of this exorbitant spending?" I questioned.

"I like it. It feels moody, gothic, and old school Vamp-Chic in a way," She answered shamelessly.

"Nobody, you know I've got your back on everything, but since this place isn't meant to be seen by anyone other than the seven of us, I didn't see any harm in it. Bigger fish to fry and all that," Isaiah added.

"Et tu, Brute?" I asked, turning to the man I thought was my most loyal, staunchest supporter.

My objections are mostly to keep them in line, not due to any real opposition on my end. Truthfully, I don't really care. If this makes them more productive, then they can keep the room as is.

"Did you just make another joke?" Vivienne asked incredulously.

"Another?" Tuesday said, rotating her head like an owl's.

"Yes. He made a joke on the way down here, and I was worried Technologica might've replaced him with some kind of robot clone," Vivienne remarked.

"A Robo-Nobody. A Robody? A Norobody. You guys can skip my turn, I gotta workshop this. There's a good bit here," Tuesday responded.

"Sir, what happened with Technologica?" Miles asked, finally speaking.

He does look less nervous around everybody. But he's naturally not a loud personality, so he isn't the type to try to interject.

"As most of you are aware, about two weeks ago, I was abducted by her again. She sent her lap dog, Special Agent Waters, to grab me inside my home and bring me to her space station," I started to say.

"Question, Sir. Spunky reporter Tuesday, reporting for the Quinstin Bagette, I mean, Gazette. Forgive me, I'm shy," Tuesday interrupted, using her powers to sound like John F. Kennedy. "Where was I? Yes, um, could you please ask her if I could have a tour? I think it would be a wonderful experience for me to see the ever-expanding void of space. It might even offer a perspective change that might help cure me of what ails me."

"I thought you were workshopping the robot name?" Isaiah asked, clearly encouraging her.

"Of course, I finished that. I'm thinking TechnoRoboNobody," she answered, still using the 35th president's voice.

"Boooooooo. Boooooo, that sucked," Isaiah jeered.

"Ignoring her antics, the question isn't a bad one. Could you bring one of us? She knows all about us, so what would be the harm?" Vivienne chimed in.

"I wouldn't do that because there's no telling what she would do to you. She needs me for my power, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't shunt anyone of you out the airlock. Moving on, when I got there, I was introduced to three Neuvohumans who work for her the way Waters does. I was informed I'd be going on a field mission with them. They went by numbers, not names, and didn't seem to have had any contact with each other outside of missions. They were Nine, the team lead, a Southeastern Asian woman who I believe was a Cowl. Then there was Eleven, an elderly Hispanic woman who seemed to be more of a retiree than an active Cape or Cowl. And the final member was Forty-Four, a man with a pituitary gland disorder that made him look ten years old. The mission I was being sent on was to check on a town in Northern Canada, where reports of shadowy creatures taking over a town had arisen. I will spare you all the monotony of going over everything that happened on the mission, but the reports were correct, and furthermore, every single resident of the town was dead," I said.

"These shadowy creatures, are we talking zombies or demons?" Tuesday asked.

"Neither. Both? They looked closer to demons, but they reproduced similar to zombies. There was an ill-timed blizzard happening at the same time that made it more difficult. Nine, Eleven, and the Neuvohuman culprit all died there. Only Forty-four and I survived," I paused. "Kai, how secure were your anti-Technologica efforts in the construction of all of this? I know about the Faraday cage walls and the dead zones for data uploads, but how certain are you that she can't access this place?"

None of them makes any jokes or remarks at my question. Even Tuesday has the awareness to sense the serious nature of my question. Kai stops leaning on his hand lazily, sitting back straight in his chair. His eyes are closed, forehead scrunched as he gives it some thought. If he doesn't seem confident, then I can't risk telling them about Emma, Nine, or the information about the Umbral Lord. Technologica has been keeping her cards close to the chest, but I need to be more cautious.

"If you're looking for a percentage, I'd say Ninety-Seven, Ninety-Eight percent. I don't want it to seem like I'm not confident in my precautions, but when dealing with someone of her reputation, it'd be idiotic to tell you it's impenetrable. What I will say is that there's no way she infects our systems without me knowing. That's why I haven't been storing any of our data in servers; I have actual physical drives. Also, each area runs on its own power and Ethernet; the SSB and this room and the lab, and the factory upstairs are all separated. You can't use one to get at the others. If she wants to know what we're doing here, she's going to trigger a bunch of alarms," Kai answered.

Alright. Time to put my money where my mouth is. If I think Kai's smarter, then I have to trust him.

"I know you wouldn't skimp out on anything involving her. The truth is, I gained two powers during the mission, and one of them is for you, Rorschach. Your power set is versatile, but if you're ever in a situation where you have to defend yourself, you need something else. You and I will sit down after this so I can tell you about it. The most important thing I gained while on the mission is the name of a person whom Technologica fears. Or is at the very least wary of. I have a last name and what the Neuvohuman's moniker was. I need all of you to discreetly look into whoever this is," I said.

"What's the name?" Rorschach asked.

"They called him the Umbral lord. His last name is Alvarez, and he may be the key to destroying Technologica," I answered.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.