The Rest Is Memory Crossover (2024)

My voice was a wordless song, mesmerizing and ethereal.

I turned around, or thought I did. Physical directions have never really mattered to me. Only life and what is not life. And look! There was life coming close to me right now, while bits of non-life are touching me. I shifted away from the non-life slightly.

I had … limbs, now? How curious. A being of life touched me slightly. I was gladdened at the soft feel, and extended a bit of myself to it. I pushed through the link and started steadying the life. It's so fragile, a little self-sustaining bag of energy, always at the mercy of greater cosmic forces tearing it apart. I will protect it, while I am here.

I felt restricted, small as I am. Little bits of me left, and I delighted in their burgeoning symphony. They orbited around me, in mathematically perfect circles, and I cherished their cries. They echoed back, telling me more of what they see. All the non-life surrounding me with their stories, neat and square, mirror and sand, cloth and metal. Then life standing amidst them, beautiful and serene. I almost recognize the shape that life took. Almost. Almost.

Wait.

I gasped. I was Meera again.

"Ma?"

She stood there, staring at me, eyes wide.

"What's wrong? Ma?"

She looked scattered. I didn't like it. Ma is supposed to be the rock in the ocean, stoic and immovable. I felt an instinctive distaste for this wondrous new form I had taken, more so than even Riki.

Ma took a deep breath and then, in the blink of an eye, she was back.

"This one is named Io the Wisp, you said? Powerful, indeed. A pari, from myth." She smiled, plans within plans shifting beyond her eyes. "Powerful, and usable. We have a path forward.

"Go ahead with your plans, darling. Enjoy the day with Svetlana. We shall convene tonight, at the Ivanovas. I have strategies to consider."

I left. Ma was in her scheming mood and I knew from experience that she won't suffer me fooling around.

As I walked out, I thought I could still feel all the electronics around me, singing their unreal songs.

X--------------------X​

Jose was waiting outside the ruined arcade. He held out a fist, I rolled my eyes and pulled him into a hug.

"You set up a course?"

"Nah I was just admiring this ruined post-modern deco and analysing how it highlights the post-Scion downfall of American mall culture. 'Course I set up a f*cking course ya f*cking meerkat."

I laughed. Jose tended towards melancholy, and if he's this pissed already then it promised to be a good day.

"Lana's late again." I said, theatrically loud.

"I am not. A witch arrives precisely when she's meant to."

"That reference doesn't work at all dork, considering you were already here and hiding."

Svetlana pouted. Which was very unfair, I thought, considering her pout is so criminally gorgeous that literally everyone falls over to give her what she wants. My little joke does not warrant bringing out the heavy weaponry.

I headed in, joshing with my friends, kicking at rocks and scraps. The sun was out, the air was lightly chilly, the inside of the abandoned mall pleasantly musky.

I was alive and happy, surrounded by people I love, and I knew this is how I wanted the rest of my life to go. No, I will make certain it does.

X--------------------X​

Svetlana was being uncharacteristically polite and not laughing as I lay flat on my back, having wiped for the sixth time in a row. Jose had no such compunction and was snickering mercilessly, holding on to the high-speed camera. Without my newly developed fast bodily recovery, I was certain my ass would require replacement by this point.

"Alright that's it. I'm declaring that all these safety pads are holding me back. I going to have to do a power-up sequence to get over this hump."

I stood, took off my jacket and stretched, conscious of both Svetlana and Jose suddenly stopping and staring. I winced a bit, my physique had undergone a fairly radical improvement since yesterday, and they've seen enough of my body to notice the irregularity. I pulled my hair back into a bun, thought about taking off my earrings and decided not to. I liked how they contrasted against my skin, especially as I ran at speed across walls. Besides, Svetlana bought them for me as a joke, and it remains extremely funny that me refusing to ever take them off makes her so mad.

I sprinted back to the start that Jose had marked out – a broken down escalator with the stairs rusting and dangerous, but the plastic of the rails polished and gleaming.

I breathed deep, channelled the spirit of Sébastien Foucan, and ran.

Heavy steps over the rails, angling up. Lightly dancing across the exposed scaffolding for a theatre that'll never open. Fast, across the concourse paths. Into the stairwell. Tic-tac between the walls, conserving momentum, up three stories in a flash. On the roof, now. The sounds of Svetlana running to catch up. Coming up – an incomplete partition, no floor. Accelerating fast. Start diagonal. Shoes gripping the cement. One foot on the cinderblocks, pushing off forward and upward. Defying gravity. Across in a flash, Jose looking at me from directly below. The last wall now. Long strides, kicking straight up, a perfect passe muraille. Over the cliff and beyond. A smooth slope all the way down to the ruined fountain. Small steps now, keeping momentum. Gripping the pole, swinging down.

And over.

Breathe.

Svetlana whooping like a banshee, her face flushed, hair so blonde it's almost white surrounding her head like a halo. She's beautiful. Jose running in, belting out a grito that would've made a seasoned Mariachi proud. The camera swung from his hand. I raised a fist, no air left in my lung to laugh.

I'll be young forever, I thought.

X--------------------X​

"Hey Jose~" I sang, hideously off-beat, to the tune of Hey Jude, while Jose skipped over some debris, carrying snacks.

I was sitting down on the tarmac, leaning against some unidentifiable plastic barriers that was supposed to be a maze for kids. I enthusiastically started devouring Jose's mom's tacos. Svetlana was juggling the aluminium foil wrappers that she had squished into small, shiny, metallic balls. Jose brought out a bag full of Jarritos, and I immediately grabbed for my favourite Tamarind flavour. The other two huffed simultaneously. Heathens, I thought, missing out on the best tastes.

Satiated, my eyes fell on a couple of perfectly sword shaped sticks near the gutter. I lit up.

"Lana! Up! Up! En garde!" I brandished my weapon.

Svetlana rolled her eyes at my antics and leapt up, tossing the balls onto Jose's head. She kicked at the other stick, making it fly up at the perfect angle and height. She snatched at it with that easy dexterity I've always envied. "Pret," she said, her back straight, her sword pointing diagonally up.

"Allez!" Jose spoke out loud from his place on the ground, camera once again ready.

I took a step forward and then, in a flash, it was over. Svetlana crossed the few feet between us in a blinding bit of footwork. She angled her sword down and up in a jerk that blurred her hand, sending my sword flying. Before I could move my hand, her point was at my throat. Her smile was steel. "Touché."

"Gods you're so f*cking cool when you get like that."

Svetlana sighed and dropped her stick, a pleased blush on her cheeks. Jose stopped recording.

"So, Jose, any updates on the docu? Feel like we've given you enough footage."

"You know I can keep camming you two forever and still not have the perfect throughline. Being a perfectionist is hard."

"Bro that's not what camming means. You're going to cause a scandal. Look at this pure and angelic face, you want to expose her to the dark web?" I grabbed Svetlana's chin and wiggled it. She bore my insanity patiently.

"You know, your ma called dad today? She wanted a line on local importers of cheap tinkertech lenses. What's up with that?"

And just like that, my mood plummeted. "Brockton Bay happened man. Not gonna talk about it anymore, you know how it is."

He looked at me for a long moment. "Sure, okay, I get that."

"Hey Jose?" Svetlana's tone was considering. "What do you know about Genna's new boytoy? You dropped her off, right?"

"Stefan? Eh," Jose said, sounding dismissive. "Rich pretty boy. Blonde, handsome, perfectly gentlemanly. Looked at me like I was the help, condescending but polite."

"Hmm. Do you know his family?"

"You realize their type don't mix with us? Some bigshot at Medhall. Schulz, I think. The mom's name was Sabine."

Svetlana turned and looked at me. I clenched my fist. Little remnants of Riki's instincts churning.

"I think," I growled out, "we need to have a chat with Genna."

X--------------------X​

Two hours later, Genna was single again. And I had a lot of information for ma.

X--------------------X​

I floated in the dark.

It had taken me a while to find the abandoned grain storage-depot ma had texted me after I briefed her about Genna's paramour. I was on the far outskirts of the Bay, almost halfway to Newbury, before I found it. I had no means of fast locomotion other than Riki, so it's a good thing I could run pretty much indefinitely now.

The depot was unguarded, surrounded by decrepit chain-link fence whose only offensive capability was tetanus from rusted hooks. The doors were tightly sealed though, with a faded official-looking stamp. I did two full circles before realizing I wasn't getting in normally. I couldn't Wisp my way in either, since the whole point of the excursion was to learn how to control it. Besides, ma had made it very clear that Wisp doesn't exist, and hence cannot be seen, no matter how empty the area seemed.

I ended up putting my parkour skills to good use. Climbing up a sketchy looking pipe, trusting my life to a dubious feeling parapet as I skipped across it, and doing a small wall run to get onto the roof of the cylindrical building. The top felt shabby, and a couple of kicks knocked off enough tiles for me to swing in.

I was surprised to find working ventilation, since there wasn't any power. Probably some of those older wind-powered vents were scattered around. The building was cacophonous as I made my way down the rafters, my headlamp spotting surprisingly few cobwebs. Too cold, I supposed. Then, finally, I was in the centre of the vast space. With my lamp off, only a small beam of light crisscrossed the ceiling from where I broke in. I smiled, and shifted.

Io saw the world very differently, I noticed now that I had at least some of my mind active. In fact, sight wasn't even the right word. Light was energy, and all energy was the same to Io. It existed on a scale much more fundamental, only on the charges that binds all of existence together. How such a force, one that is seemingly older than the beginning of time itself, can have consciousness was not a question I wanted to ask. It would be impolite.

I spread myself out again, little spirits dancing out around me. Through them, I could see, not just feel. And I saw everything. The dust on the ground, pipes underground carrying runoff and electricity, the ants in their vast dirt castles, the rats hiding from my light.

But most of all, I saw myself.

Ma hadn't actually told me what I looked like other than just calling me pari, a fairy, she was too flabbergasted for many details. Now that I can see my manifestation, I understood. I was a being of glorious, glowing light. The divine feminine, an angel. I wanted to weep at my own beauty.

I stopped. Swore to myself to never mention that particular thought to Svetlana.

Best of all, I was unrecognizable. There was no trace of my actual face, and as fond of it as I was, nobody was going to identify me that way. I floated upwards. Gravity wasn't a force I cared for, and I didn't need to build momentum to move. I dashed around the depot with a laugh, molecules of air brushing against me, instantly accelerating to high speed. I had to stop before I phased out of the depot altogether, metal no barrier to me if I wasn't cautious.

For my other abilities, I knew I could heal. I reached out a hand and a beam of glowing magnetism stretched out to touch a rat, which squeaked in terror, before I sent calming strength down the link. I supercharged the rat. All its ailments healed, no longer starving. I knew it could fight better now. Its attacks, if it had any other than claws, more devastating. It was shielded too, from the winter air, from enemies, physical or immaterial. I let it go, its little mind forever changed by a touch of the divine.

There was something else. Just as all energy was the same to me, all space was too. I could … feel ma, somewhere to the east of me. Svetlana, south-east. I could just choose to go to them, at any time, taking the ascended rat with me. Though I'd have to return back, after, but the rat didn't.

Hmm, I could be the world's prettiest personal teleporter.

Ma is going to be thrilled.

X--------------------X​

I was nervous. A gathering like this, called by my mother, with neither my father nor my sisters present? It felt like a storm is coming, all of it centered on me, and I didn't know if I could navigate it safely.

Svetlana took my hand, gently, and pressed her lips to it. I relaxed. This is not combat, this is just parkour again, but with words and relationships. I can get through it with Svetlana by your side.

"Welcome Brigitte, welcome Gilles, thank you for coming by on short notice." Ma was smiling. The Renauds were old friends, just as long as the Ivanovas and the Haldars. I had some vague idea that they did import/export, particularly from the Aquitaine region. Since the oceans were no longer safe, their worth had only gone up with demand.

Gilles was a silver fox, middle-aged and hot, in that undefinable way that some Frenchmen were hot. Brigitte had been a nanny for me and Svetlana, and it was good to see her again. They were a childless couple and used that excuse to spoil us both rotten, despite ma's complaints.

"Isha my love you look radiant as ever. Have you been aging down, darling? Finally using your old contacts to cheat at life?" Brigitte was all smiles, hugging ma tightly, while Gilles kissed her cheek.

Before she could reply, Uncle Aleksandr and Auntie Alina came in with snacks and vodka.

"I am sorry, but the Haldars could not make it today. Sunil is aware of what we are here to discuss and will contribute in the future after we have made decisions. Jiten, as you all know, is still in Detroit, but he will support me in whatever I ask today.

"With that, please enjoy what dear Alina has prepared for us, speak with the children, drink. Our talks this evening will be heavy, and we must get what delights we can until then."

X--------------------X​

"We have been attacked. Our home, desecrated. My daughter, my life and blood, assaulted. Tonight, we must decide what we intend to do about this. Before I open the floor, my proposal: war." Mother's eyes were flinty. Her gait stiff. She was angry, angrier than I had ever seen.

"Empire, yes?" Gilles' voice had an accent still, after all these decade of being in the US. I suspected it was put on.

Ma nodded.

"What resources do we have here in the Bay? This place is almost abandoned, and if your homes weren't here, we would've moved on long ago. No offense, Isha darling." Brigitte said sharply, tilting her head at ma.

"That is quite fair. We have companies in Boston, but most of our current operations are in the west, in Syracuse or Rochester. Gilles?" Ma turned to look at him.

"We still bring in stockpiles through Buffalo, and that's just down the road from Monroe County and Rochester. But sweetie, material has never really been our problem, has it. No, the question is, can you still bring in your people from the old country? Or has that door been closed permanently, after the mess in Philadelphia."

Ma grimaced, that expression strange to see on her face. I was confused, who were her people? The other Hazras, the in-laws, all the Haldars and Shahs – they weren't the sort you bring to fight nazis.

"Maybe," ma continued, "I will have to make compromises, offer incentives. Depends on how we approach this. Indiscriminate bloodshed, despite its appeal, will lead to questions.

"However, we do not need warriors, or assassins. We need defenses, people who would obscure us from Government and Enemy thinkers, we need intelligence. Those people are, generally, easier to get in here."

"You wish to fight the Empire without warriors? A PR campaign?" Uncle Aleksandr was frowning.

"No, because we already have our weapon. Meera, if you please." She turned her head towards me. I swallowed.

Svetlana gasped, her hands tightening painfully around mine. I looked at her, and her eyes widened in understanding. She teared up.

I got up, stood in the middle of the gathering, and shifted.

X--------------------X​

"We cannot target their homes and families Isha, this breaks all the rules." Aunt Alina's voice was firm. She was the only one who hadn't drunk a drop of alcohol. Even I had sneaked a couple of sips.

"They already have, Alina. The only path here is to escalate. These people, they are entrenched in the population. They do not need to carry swastikas and tiki torches to prove themselves. Money, and influence does it for them."

"And how do you suggest tackling them dear Isha? Your old methods won't work here." Brigitte was calm.

"Why not?" Ma retorted. "We are waging what amounts to a guerilla insurgency, against another, entrenched opposition army. I have done this. I have won this."

I was stunned. What?

"This isn't Dhofar Isha. This isn't even Naxalbari. The Yanks aren't going to stand by and watch you commit atrocities. They will consider you a greater enemy than the nazis, because you're trying to upset the status quo." Gilles said, straight and to the point.

I was still reeling from the revelations about ma being, what, some kind of guerilla fighter?

"The PRT have never dealt with a homegrown insurgency. That is not how they operate. We have to watch for the FBI and, maybe, homeland security. But they are known quantities in our business, we know how to divert their attention."

"But they have dealt with powerful cape gangs. And what are you going to do when, following retaliation from the Empire, Legend comes to town? Or Eidolon?"

"Eidolon doing counter-insurgency? You much be joking Gilles."

"No Isha I'm deadly serious. You don't get to my position without considering the triumvirate dropping by on my business at any time."

I gulped. "How many times has that happened Gilly?"

His smile had no humor in it. "Once was enough."

Ma stood up and paced. "If we are not going to follow the shortest path, then we must get others to do it for us."

Uncle Aleksandr had the weight of experience in his voice. "Proxy warfare? That is nasty Isha, you know that better than us. The proxies always break their chains, and their goals won't be ours. There's already one hidden group hiring merc companies in this town. More would –"

"We do not need mercenaries Aleksi." Ma's eyes gleamed. "We have the protectorate."

Everyone paused.

Brigitte started laughing. "Oh Isha you really are a such a delight. Of course. We have us a cape. A brilliant, useful cape. And if the Empire targets her? Well now Eidolon shields us."

"You will not use my Mimi as bait." Svetlana spoke up for the first time in a while. Her voice was unyielding. I took her hand and squeezed it. She looked at me, full of fury.

"It's alright Lana, if I don't stand for my family, then who even am I, in the end."

"You are my family too!"

"I know honey. Always and forever."

I looked at ma. "I will do this. Besides, I will be safer in the Wards than you are now Lana, dancing along with their colorful little circus troop."

"A word of caution." Auntie Alina said softly. "The PRT might not know counter-insurgency, but they are intimately familiar with capes infiltrating them for cross purposes. Better than anyone in the world. We must be careful."

Auntie Alina turned to look at me straight in the eye. "I will train you, sweet Meera. You will need to pass their questions, their psychological profiles. They will lie to you, try to catch you in verbal traps. I will show you how to steel your mind. How to walk parallel paths. How to survive in the shadows, and smile at your enemies."

I nodded. She looked sad, like I was losing something important. Svetlana still hadn't let me go, the calluses on her fingers rubbing my wrists.

"Svetlana," mother commanded, "Can you please get back to Genna? She will need to contact her erstwhile Empire boyfriend again."

Both of us looked at her, confused. "What? Why?"

All the adults in the room smiled as one.

"Let me teach you something, sweetlings," ma explained, "of how to run a False-Flag operation."

The character of Isha (ma/mother) was heavily inspired by Mia Hurst, the protagonist (maybe??) of Wildbow's latest serial, Claw.

Coming up next, an interlude.