Within the Apple 16E

*****

“Prank war.”

Armsmaster’s voice was so flat as to have descended into the second dimension, something that Xander found utterly fascinating.

“Better to call it that than what bystanders would likely call it,” Xander responded, attempting… and failing… to match the two-dimensional tone. “Wednesday and her brother used to play a game when they were growing up. It was called, is there a God?... He once confidently informed me, no, there isn’t.”

The more than slightly incredulous looks on their faces amused Xander to the point of chuckling, and he waved off their disbelief.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” he said. “Her father will try to keep her back, at least until they know which horror has setup shop here anyway.”

“Understandable,” Legend said with a shake of his head. “Few parents would want their children thrown into this level of risk.”

Xander laughed at him.

“That wouldn’t be his concern,” Xander assured the blue and silver clad Hero, “He’d be more worried about her breaking the locals before the horror could manage it. You’re the locals, just so you know.”

Piggot rubbed her temples, masking a groan.

“She sounds like a Villain,” Armsmaster said stoically.

Xander shrugged, waggling his hand in front of him, “You wouldn’t be the first to call her and her clan something similar. They’re… neither hero nor villain, they refuse any and all titles of that nature. Most people, you can fit in a box, some people are harder to categorize…”

“And this clan are from the latter group, I presume?” Legend asked.

“No, they blew the box to smithereens and defied anyone to try and build it around them again,” Xander said grimly. “Have you ever imagined… being free?”

“This is a free country, young man,” Piggot started, only for Xander to cut her off.

“No it’s not. Freedom is harsh, it doesn’t come with any protections,” He told her coldly. “Freedom of speech protects your freedom, by taking the freedom to act against you for speaking away from someone else. The same holds true for any freedom gifted by law and man. The price of your freedom is alwayssomeone else’s freedom. For the Clan, that’s not how they live. They live… free. The speak, act, and live as they choose… and accept that others can do the same, and deal with conflicts in the old way of handling things. There’s none of this civilized bullshit when they’re around.”

He sighed, “It’s hard to explain, honestly, but they live in a somehow controlled anarchy. It shouldn’t work, it wouldn’t work for anyone else, but somehow they make it work. But when it comes into contact with normal society… well, things get… tense.”

Xander shook his head again, “We don’t need to worry about them just yet, thankfully, and it’s unlikely that you’ll have to deal with the Clan as a whole anyway. Unless this horror you have here is a lot more interesting than I think it is, they won’t be curious enough to swing by.”

Legend looked disturbed by what he’d been told, but set it aside for the moment as Armsmaster spoke up.

“What do you know about this… horror?” The Tinker asked, his tone flat and not conveying much of his own thoughts on the conversation.

“not much yet,” Xander admitted. “I know you had at least two…”

“had?” Piggot leaned in sharply while Legend sat up a little straighter.

“Had.” Xander confirmed. “One is dead. Not sure how that happened, just that a local managed to off the sucker.”

“A local?” Armsmaster asked sharply, “A local, by that you mean a human?”

Xander just nodded.

“If a human managed to kill one of the horrors, as you call them,” The Tinker went on, “Then we know they can be killed, and that means the Endbringers…”

Xander held up a hand, “Anything can be killed, as long as it can be said to be alive… and a few things that can’t, could be offed too, now that I think about it. But don’t get too excited. I don’t know the circumstance, nor the method. Just that it happened. That leaves us with at least one left, however, and possibly a third or… maybe more.”

Legend looked concerned, “More?”

“You guys have some weird stuff going on,” Xander said, “Superheroes and Villains aren’t exactly uncommon, but your powers showing up seems to coincide with the arrival of the horrors from what I found out. That normally wouldn’t be all that odd, since when a threat like this moves in, the local pantheons normally will start empowering champions to prepare for the war to dislodge the threat…”

“Why am I sensing a but here?” Piggot demanded.

“But, I can’t find any sign of the local pantheons,” Xander admitted. “And that’s… concerning. Usually there would be at least someone tasked with checking in on a visitor like myself, particularly one who has been tossing around power and who actively tried to contact them.”

He didn’t add that he’d checked with Myx, asking the Imp to facilitate contact as well to no avail.

“While I haven’t been able to check the entire branch, obviously,” Xander continued dryly, “there’s no sign of the Pantheons anywhere that I have checked. Which means either they’re deep in hiding, or they were offedessentially simultaneously when the horrors showed up. Frankly, both options are bad.”

Armsmaster grunted, “Third option. They never existed.”

“Armsmaster,” Legend chided warningly, but Xander just waved him off.

“No, they existed. That much I can find evidence of,” He sighed. “Besides, every universe has pantheons. They’re the first line of defense against exactly this sort of situation.”

“Gods,” Armsmaster snorted derisively. “I do not believe in such things.”

“Gods, powerful beings who gains power from worship,” Xander shrugged, “really, we’re just back into Clarke’s turf at this point. It’s all just semantics past a certain point, and whether they’re Gods or not is largely just a point of philosophy that has no practical value.”

“That… is certainly one way to look at things,” Legend admitted.

Xander just waved one hand casually, “What makes a God? I mean, really, define God.”

“The creator of… everything?” Legend offered uncertainly.

“The One Above All,” Xander nodded, “To use one of His titles. But no, that’s not a God. Arguable, that is God, but not a God, if you get the difference. There’s some complicated history there, but suffice to say that Allah, Jehovah, Elohim, El Roi… and countless other names gathered over eternity, isn’t a God. Gods exist within the universe, the One Above All created the multiverse… You can prove and disprove the existence of Gods, they are part of nature, the creator isn’t. He, she, it… exists beyond our frame of reference. The creator cannot be proven, disproven, or defined.”

“Convenient,” Armsmaster snorted.

Xander smiled, “Depends on what side of the argument you’re on, I suppose. In a real way, it renders the creator… irrelevant, which I suspect was His intent, or a tiny part of it. In this case, though, we’re speaking the Pantheons. They’re… Gods, but not God, again, if you get the difference. The Pantheons gain power from worship, which is the key thing that separates them from Parahumans or other Meta types.”

“Jesus Christ,” Piggot snarled, suddenly understanding his implication, “you’re implying the existence of creatures that, what, have no upper limit to their power. As long as they can get more worshippers they can get stronger?”

“Exactly,” Xander confirmed. “Their power can wane, even vanish, but they’d still be decently powerful parahumans by your standards. Brutes with some other abilities depending on their domain, but nothing world breaking. With their cults fully built, however? Well, they’re tasked with defending universesfor a reason.”

He sighed, frowning, “Most universes don’t need them for long, and maintaining cults is tiresome work so they generally allow them to wane until needed. By rights, we should be seeing signs of the cults of Old Gods popping up all over the place right now as they gather strength to fight off the horror…”

“The only major cults I know of are the Fallen,” Legend offered. “worshipping the Endbringers.”

Xander snorted, rolling his eyes, “Those things aren’t Gods, not if the angel bitch is representative at least. I can’t quite guarantee that they aren’t gathering power from their followers, though.”

The three in the room with him shifted uncomfortably at that thought.

“I may need to advise Eidolon to increase efforts to take the Cults down,” Legend said after a moment, “just to be safe.”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Xander offered. “Anyone worshipping those things are just asking to be coopted to some other nefarious type anyway. It’s generally a bad idea to worship anyone, to be frank. The God doesn’t need it, and the gods who do… well, they can be capricious sons of bitches at the best of times.”

“I’ll bring it up with him,” Legend said firmly, “though I would like some confirmation. You said that you found evidence of the local… Pantheons?”

Xander nodded slowly, “Yes… and it’s concerning.”

*****