Continued Tales of a Visionary

Ruminations on a Crisis

Elijah lazily gazed at the clouds floating along as he rested on the picnic blanket. Lying on his chest was a somewhat twitchy Agent Chandra.

"What's bothering you, Chandra?"

She raised her head, her eyes watering. "It's the Director. He's about to head to Ka'an Dorado to confront this Lady Echidna. I'm worried for him."

"He seems like someone who can handle himself," Elijah said as he stroked his chin.

"This is different though. This Lady Echidna, she has immense powers of persuasion. She's been able to get virtually everybody to do her bidding. Nobody's been able to slow her down one bit."

"Could *you* stop it?"

Agent Chandra shook her head vigorously. "I asked the Director if there's a way to fight fire with fire, so to speak, but she's in a completely different class than me. My ability is mild, and even among the supes with mental abilities, it's at the low end of the scale. And nobody that is associated with us is believed to even rival her."

Elijah sat up. "How about resisting her? Strange Quark maybe?"

"Maybe,... but we don't know."

Taking her hands, Elijah looked intently into Chandra's eyes. "If there's anything I can do, well I'm still developing, but anything..."

"You selfless fool," smiled Chandra as she squeezed Elijah's hands, "but every single BADGE agent and affiliated hero has been instructed to not interfere. We have instructions including contingency plans for various situations. As for you..."

"More training?" he sighed.

"More training... but also more meditation. Finding out more about your past or future is still on BADGE's radar, and luckily for you, I remain in charge of that aspect.

With a nod, Elijah rose, then helped his companion to her feet. They walked slowly to the BADGE transport for the short ride back to New Amsterdam.

Chandra and a Director

(Not long before Director Nova confronts Lady Echidna)

Agent Chandra practically flopped into the seat opposite her superior officer, momentarily letting her guard down and emotions show. To her credit, she knew that Director Nova was in a relatively relaxed frame of mind. Not for the first time, she marvelled at how well he was able to maintain a stoic aura about him no matter the circumstance.

After giving a brief update on her mission, Chandra allowed Nova to respond.

"There are four possibilities, Chandra.

"It's not the past. I would have been there, been aware, or had some evidence of those happenings revealed in one form or another.

"If it's the future, then we would need to understand the scale of the threat... and in the event that the threat be a scenario where we would not be able to neutralize it, would then need to find out if casualties can be minimalized.

"If somehow it's visions of an alternative reality, then we'd need to find common markers, landmarks, combatants. Since we have not found a single connection after analyzing every aspect of the images, we will probably disregard this particular hypothesis.

"Finally, if it's a separate dimension or realm altogether, then we're again in a position of not having information. We reached out to all active leagues since we became aware of everything here, and not a single one responded to show any familiarity."

"We're eliminating 1 and 4, then," said Chandra.

Director Nova blinked. "Correct. It's most likely 2, with 3 being a remote possibility. However, we can't put a lot of resources - if any - into speculative research at this time. Farseers, or fortune tellers as they're sometimes called, get by far the largest degree of skepticism among those here with special abilities - morphon-induced or otherwise. We don't even employ anybody claiming to have precognitive skills at BADGE as it's such a difficult science to trust."

Reluctantly, we're going to have to shut the project down. Something does nibble at my mind on this, however we have larger and more pressing concerns at the moment. You'll have one further month to continue investigating, although I doubt anything new will be revealed. File your final report with myself or Agent Justin at that time.

Chandra nodded, then rose and left the room.

---

Chandra and Chase

(After Nova has fallen to Echidna's clutches)

Chandra sighed loudly.

Nova is gone, while Agent Justin had become so singularly focused on the Lady Echidna situation, he had no time for anything else on BADGE's radar, whether big or small. Chandra didn't resent Justin for it - the Director meant so much to everybody affiliated with BADGE that it was a bit of a wonder that they didn't go all out to rescue him.

She had begun to seriously consider reaching out to E.B. for advice when she nearly bumped into a dark-haired slender woman clad in an all-black uniform while swiping furiously across the electronic tablet she was carrying.

"Oh... sorry, Chase," Chandra said with a slight bow of her head.

Chase looked up from her device and smiled slightly. "Agent Chandra, haven't seen you in a while. You'll have to forgive me, I'm insanely busy studying -" she paused at seeing a look of sadness at her colleague.

Chandra opened her mouth then closed it quickly. She didn't want to appear frantic.

"Something's going on. Come, I can make time... tell me what's on your mind."

They walked towards the lunch room, Chandra giving what she hoped was a professional depiction of her experiences trying to understand Elijah's story. When they sat down, Chandra used Chase's tablet to access the report she wrote up. Chase skimmed through the sections, nodding throughout.

Chase sighed, but smiled at her colleague.

"You know, you're completely free to see Elijah on a purely social level."

"Um, what?" exclaimed Chandra.

"It may very well be a relief and a bit of a break of sorts... listen Chandra, I sometimes wish that I could be in a social situation with someone I cared for, without trying to analyze the effects on my colleagues or my current role. Right now, it's simply not possible."

Noticing the sadness in Chase's voice, Chandra nodded in understanding. There was no need to probe even slightly, her mind. The emotionally unguarded Chase was a bit of a surprise to see, but Chandra appreciated it. They clasped hands in understanding then parted ways.

---

Snow and bitter cold wasn't a situation that Elijah was experienced in by any stretch of the imagination, and he struggled to maintain his composure as his team descended into the New Meta City outskirts. His shivering arms and chattering teeth seemed a perfect representation of his feelings at the time.

"Let's go!" called out the BADGE officer assigned to marshall the combination of heroes from various leagues to the area where the dimensional rift had formed. With a shout, Elijah leapt forward and ran towards the fray.

It did not take long for Elijah to get the gauge of what these particular enemies were. Goblins and orcs, creatures he had read of as a teenager, swarmed around his group. Despite the missive to disable where possible without harming them, he knew that if they couldn't accomplish it within minutes, they'd have little choice but to use more dangerous methods. A club swing aimed at his head nearly made Elijah's concerns moot, but he was able to dodge the blow and deliver a heavy energy blast, sending the creature tumbling away.

He heard a stern, if not angry voice nearby. Turning his head, he saw in the distance the creature known to many as 'Midgard'... and seeing such a renown force only a few yards away yet larger than he imagined, made him stare in awe for a moment.

Midgard appeared to be in an argument with a satyr-looking person, who for his part seemed to have some ability to conjure vines from the icy ground, and Elijah inched a little closer, inadvertently.

The satyr thrust a bolt of magical energy at Midgard, and Elijah wondered if this skirmish was going to turn into a free-for-all melee.

A pair of tiny-yet-menacing goblins smacked Elijah in his knees, temporarily sending him to the ground. He turned to face his assailants, who quickly dashed off in the direction of other heroes. "They really got all kinds down here," he shrugged as he rose to his feet.

A portal opened and Midgard fell through, only to reappear a short distance away. Elijah looked on as another human-like creature appeared, sealing the portal. He didn't yet know this character, but could sense that he had amazing abilities of his own. Still perplexed by what was transpiring, Elijah nevertheless was forced to re-engage in the skirmish as larger orc-like creatures dashed towards him. Above, he saw a pair of wyverns target the giant Serpent.

These strange new worlds, literally right next door to us,... imagine that, he thought.

Beams of light flew over and around him and everybody else in the vicinity. He flinched, but felt no ill effect from the strange wave. The horde of goblins and orcs, however, stopped in their tracks and stood as if in a bewildered trance.

He turned, and saw the satyr, flanked by the portal-summoning person and a woman that appeared to look like Chase from BADGE. He began to slowly walk towards them, seeing if there was anything he could help with.

He was interrupted by a voice in his comms. It crackled, as if the connection was intermittent.

"Chandra?"

"Hey! You're on your feet, good. How are you handling -"

"I'm actually feeling great! Don't even feel the cold anymore."

"That's good news. I don't have any good news of my own to share though..."

Elijah stopped walking. "What is it?"

Chandra's voice betrayed her mood. "The study... is closed. We have no leads on any of the visions."

Elijah's mouth clenched.

"What this means though, is that you're fully free to pursue any path you want though. You can even apply to join BADGE in an official capacity - a taskforce, even... although the risks associated with it are quite high these days."

"I'm quite happy with my league," Elijah said pointedly. "Sorry, for being abrupt," he added quickly, feeling immediately sheepish.

"If your visions  return, maybe they'll guide your next steps. Your barbering career though, might be on permanent hiatus," she joked.

"Not your best effort, Chandra," replied Elijah.

"I know."

"As long as you aren't reassigned to the Orbital Arena permanently or anything like that, I'm okay," he smiled.

"Promise."

"Talk soon," Elijah said as he resumed surveying the landscape. The sky was clear and cloudless. It was bright, although there was practically zero warmth. He looked a little to his left and saw a human flying in the air. He wore a white-and-red outfit and flames trailed from his limbs. The man waved at everybody below.

Elijah stared.

Then, he blinked rapidly.

---

"What the -" said a BADGE agent as he saw one of the heroes start to spasm rapidly. He ran quickly, catching Elijah before he collapsed. He looked at Elijah, and saw a man with his pupils shrink to pinpricks before expanding to a silvery-white. They began to flash rapidly and a spiral-like shape briefly appeared in each pupil before they returned to normal size. The agent slowly lowered Elijah, allowing him to rest in his lap.

As the agent began to initiate a call for assistance, he didn't notice as a small, faint scar appeared just above Elijah's left eyelid. It was in the shape of a four-pointed star.

The feeling was uncomfortable, but it wasn't painful. Elijah saw fast-moving clouds of grey but nothing else - not a bird, plane, or even the ground. He wasn't quite sure of where he was, only that he felt somewhat disoriented. He tried to turn but everything was the same, seemingly floating along an endless current of grey clouds in an even greyer sky.

He wasn't dead, he was nearly certain of that. Ever since discovering his ability, he had done enough studies on other people with abilities to appreciate that there were others who reported feeling as though they were in another plane of reality, whether it was a mental sensation, or a physical move like teleportation. Elijah tried to close his eyes, but the grey seemed all-encompassing. He began to count, but couldn't make it to six before he lost track of the next number. Thoughts flickered and fluttered.

An aircraft scarcely larger than a large jeep tumbled towards ground, its small engine engulfed in flame. Behind is sped a fierce-looking demon, wings peeled back and amber eyes burning with rage. It shrieked as it was intercepted by a bolt of brilliant fire, shot out from the fists of a man wearing a white top and red trousers. The man immediately raced towards the now downed vessel, then proceeded to tear the roof off. A shorter woman leapt out and ran to a comparably safe location on what was clearly a battlefield.

As Elijah scoped his environment, he realized that it was no ordinary battlefield, but a complete and total warzone. Men, women, creatures, vehicular armaments and giants littered the area haphazardly. He found himself running in the direction of a young woman with a pixie-cut hairstyle, wearing a yellow bodysuit with blue trim, who was generating a large reddish energy shield to protect against a volley of explosive blasts. Without blinking, Elijah shot an energy wave of his own, and was surprised to see that it was a totally unfamiliar colour, shape and style. He thrust his other hand out, to the same effect. The enemy forces retreated, allowing the young woman to draw back her shield momentarily.

"Valina! The prince -" Elijah found himself shouting.

"He's alright!... for now!" the woman shouted back. "But we need to get the others away, he's surrounded on all sides..."

"I'm right behind you! Go!" he called out.

Valina motioned to the other man, the one with the fire-generating ability, and he immediately jumped forwards, trails of fire left in his wake. Valina quickly took flight, flanking the fire-wielding man.

Elijah ran, quicker than he thought he could ever run, but was trailing his allies by some distance. He looked left and right, observing the continuing carnage without pausing his dash. Eventually, he reached the others who were in the midst of a melee.

Valina had engaged a grotesque, extremely large creature. She fired energy beams which drove the creature backwards. It snarled and cursed in a strange language, before opening its mouth wide and emitting a white energy blast. Valina ducked quickly and rolled to her left.

Another large behemoth, slightly taller and stronger-looking, slashed with muscular yet jagged arms, at a young man who wore a navy blue battle suit. This man wielded a pair of short swords, and used both to deflect the brutal swing of the monster. It reared up as if to jump in the sword-wielder's face, then was struck by a barrage of fireballs. It stumbled backwards as the fire-wielding man charged in.

Elijah ran towards the centre of the melee, only to see a man wearing red armour and blue armoured trousers along with a blue cape, reeling under an onslaught of energy beams from a towering figure, its suit fully black and face enclosed by a black helm. Elijah sensed that this was the most evil force in all of existence.

The black-helmed figure turned and fixed his gaze on Elijah. The caped warrior dropped to a knee, trying to catch his breath.

It spoke slowly, sinisterly. "You... You and your warriors are done."

"We will never be done," Elijah said with pride.

"They call you the Visionary," it replied, "But after all these centuries, your end is here. Your vision ends here. Your cycle of renewal will fail today."

It charged, quicker than light. Elijah, transfixed by the words of his assailant, tried to raise an arm.

It was futile. His world went white, then he saw himself falling to ground. He saw sky overhead, but could not move a muscle.

Voices around him.

"Stop him now!"

"We will triumph!"

"Macaia, try and keep him alive!"

Elijah groaned.

He blinked. He saw a fire trail, bright as the sun, as the man in white and red soared above him. Elijah thought, I got us some time.

His vision darkened. He had felt pain, but it was receding.

---

Somewhere in Antarctica, a man, covered in warm blankets, was quickly hauled onto a gurney and taken to a BADGE shuttlecraft. His life signs were faint, but his pulse appeared to be picking back up. On the other end of his comms, a female voice was pleading for someone to talk to her.