Violet Starlight/Home

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

What's Past Is...

Ouroboros. To most, this is a meaningless word. To some scholars, or those who love words, they view it as the fictional serpent eating its own tail. But to some of those with power, it is the haven of the Menders, those who seek to fix time and to stop the coming storm from overtaking everything.

Mender Gymos found within himself the courage to go up to Mender Silos. Of course, Mender Silos knew that Gymos was waiting. And could even tell what it is that Gymos would say to him, but he must let things take their course.

"Sir," Gymos said. Then a pause as Mender Silos looked towards him. His body posture changed, very slightly, and Gymos nodded. "Of course, sir. I took it upon myself to investigate those wild time fluctuations that occurred, centered in St. Martial of the Etoile Isles on Earth in May to June, 2008 Anno Domani."

Mender Silos is not the type of man to roll his eyes. If he was that type of man, he would have at this. Gymos was the type to be very specific. And so, Mender Silos waited a moment and then spoke, "And what did you find?"

"A woman with powers over gravity found a way to bypass the barriers placed in time travel, without using our crystals. The most serious fluctuation was when she apparently crunched a great mass of personal time inside a small amount of real time." Gymos was proud of this. Personal vs Real time was a new theory, one propagated mostly by Gymos. And for there seeming to be proof towards it, he took as a great victory.

"Ah," said Mender Silos, pausing for a stretched moment. He knew that this conversation could go on too long, so he decided to bring the coal to the fire as quickly as possible. "Angelica Bardoux is of no concern. She is but a minor event in the passing of this timeline."

"Of course sir," admitted Gymos, but he soldiered on. "I realize she has no such power any longer at the moment. But," and he paused for dramatic effect. Mender Silos waited patiently. "She has a duplicate. One who entered this dimension from another, who has the same power that she has, and more."

"I am quite aware of the one that goes by Violet Starlight," said Mender Silos. "Her time in this dimension, and therefore within our scope of interest, is drawing to a close however. So unless there is a third person running around?"

Gymos fidgeted. Cursing himself for that display of weakness, he said, "Uh, no sir. Well all those with gravity powers should be--"

"Watched. Of course, and they are. But most find it too difficult to mess with time the way Angelica Bardoux did. And even she could not find a way to mess with her personal past."

Mender Silos waited for Gymos to leave. Gymos took his time, but eventually withdrew. And so the Mender waited several minutes and walked towards the large crystal in the center of his headquarters. Placing his hands on it, Mender Silos concentrated. And unseen by all, a shield surrounding an entire dimension collapsed. Reflecting to himself, "She came closer than she knew. But her time is over. It is, after all, that time for her to be sent home. She played her part in my evolution."

Prologue

General Fort walked up to Lord Nemesis, his appointed meeting now taking place. "Sir, the latest dispatch from Portal Corporation have come in."

Lord Nemesis changed his body posture slightly. General Fort knew what this meant, and continued, "Yes sir. But there is a problem. We think Violet Starlight's armor may be running out of fuel."

Lord Nemesis nodded very slightly, "Of course. It was to last only a short while anyway. She had to pay well for thinking herself above me."

"Of course sir," said Fort. "Out of the three dozen dimensions she has explored, we have identified 14 that have resources that can be exploited with only minimal expenditures. Another 7 that can be exploited if we put a lot of work into it. And, 4 that could prove an annoyance to you."

"Yes. That is to be expected. I shall create situations to get those taken care of, as I took care of Nemesis Rex," said Lord Nemesis. "We shall send Violet Starlight on one last mission. I am sure Portal Corporation has another mission they could send that prattle on, yes?"

"Yes sir," said the obedient General. "It shall probably be her last. The suppression field you invented will probably last one more trip, one-way."

Lord Nemesis sat on his chair, his hand slightly moving across the arm, his left ring finger raised up a fraction of an inch. General Fort bowed and departed quickly. On the subject of Portals Angie flew over Steel Canyon, a look of joy on her face. She once was again without armor, even after that incident with Saturn Miss that ended up with Angie having several broken bones. But all moments of joy have to end, as her comm chirped.

"Violet Starlight!" She called out over her comm, "Whatcha need?"

"Yes, Angie. This is Doctor Tryplein at Portal Corporation. We have a new dimension that just popped up on our radar unexpectedly. We need you to go there and find out if we should be concerned over this."

"Doc! I'd like ta, ya know, spend some time with my girlfriend sometime. Yer totally werkin' me ta the bone here!" Angie was annoyed. She enjoyed the work but it was too consuming a job at times.

"I'm sorry, Angie. But the way this dimension appeared, it is too suspicious. Please head to our campus quickly."

"'Course." She sighed, "I'll be right there."

And she was right there, quickly flipping into the base of the All Star Teen Sentinels and using their teleporter to Peregrine Island. She landed in the center of the Portal Corporation Campus and walked into one of their buildings. Wincing as the pain began to build, heading quickly to where they stored her dimensional traveling armor. It happened everytime she was near a great tear in gravity, in time-space. And Portal houses several of them. The closer Angie gets, the more it pains her, until she's in her armor. She's not sure how it suppresses it, but Portal installed something.

Doctor Tryplein walked up to her after she had her armor on. "Portal Four is has been locked onto this dimension. Our preliminary data suggests it has a normal atmosphere and does not seem to have suffered any undue cataclysm. So all you'll have to worry about are the natives."

Angie nodded, the sleek helmet giving her an appearance of an ancient scuba diver. She really did not like how she looked wearing this...and the steam it gave off was just rotten icing on the burnt cake.

Without another word, she walked up to the portal. Silently saying a prayer that she'll return safe, she stepped through.

The problem of getting what you wish for

She immediately found herself surrounded by buildings. But it took her a minute to notice that, for she was rent with blinding pain. The steam that came out of her armor, stopped coming out and she could feel the large rent in the dimensional fabric. But then the pain quickly stopped, and with horror she saw that the portal had vanished.

What the-? What's goin' on here?! she thought to herself. She suppressed the panic. A three year veteran of being a hero has taught her how to stop the panic and to assess the situation. And she realized that she was on Talos Island. Looking a lot like the Talos Island of the dimension she was just on...but cleaner. Not a sign of a Freak, Warrior or Tsoo.

She flew over the Island quickly, noticing the lack of Warwalls in the distance. And at the same time she was noticed by them, she noticed the patrol of Heroes.

The flew ran over to her as she flew down to meet them. She spoke quickly, stopping them from their opening questions. "Hi! I'm, uhm, Violet Starlight. I just, like, got here an' stuff?"

One of the Heroes turned and looked at the others. He said something, but it was quietly said. Probably shared over their comm unit. The one in front of the others, probably the appointed spokesman of the group, spoke. "Violet Starlight, you say? You haven't been seen since the Warrior incursion."

Angie stared openly. It was, of course, not noticed due to the helmet over her head. "I'm...Home?"

"Could you come with us please, to Freedom Corps? If you're really you, you have quite a debriefing."

"Of...Of course."

Is getting what you once wanted

The debriefing lasted a while. She found she was written off as dead, one of many who died during that great fight against the Warriors spread over those two Isles.

She still couldn't believe she was home. And wished she wasn't. She knew she'd have to see him, her father. And...if she was right, she didn't want to do what she had to do. But all things can't be put off long. For the Freedom Corps officer quickly said once the debriefing was done, "Your father is here."

"Oh...Uhm.." She paused. Waiting, then a thought occurred to her. She was home, and there was no return portal home. Jen, Genie, Rose, Harley. All of them...gone. She stifled back some tears, gaining control of her emotions. But the thought of Rose made her say something. "Could you, do something for me? Uhm...Like, check on the status of a couple people?"

The Officer nodded, "Sure."

"Can you check on, uhm, Edward an' Annabelle Mayham? Uhm...If...Well, Just might, like, needta do somethin' fer 'em...as a favor ta a friend of mine."

"Sure. It could be a while. Would you like to go see your father now?"

"Uhm...yeah." Angie hesitated a moment, then stood up. She followed the officer out of the room and towards where her Father was waiting. Once she saw him, a smile lit up on her face, one she couldn't suppress despite her suspicion. But, her experience won through and as she rushed up towards him with a cry of "Daddy" and giving a strong hug, she sent a mental touch towards her father. Just a quick touch, meant to be brushed aside if her father had any psychic powers.

And he did. He looked at her quizzically, then they walked out towards his car. Once they were in, the questions began.

"Where were you?! Your mother and I were worried sick!"

"I'm...I'm sorry, daddy. I...I was like, pulled inta another dimension, an' it took this long ta come home." She didn't tell him that she recently stopped searching for home. That would only add to the heartache over all of this.

"Are you okay? You look...younger."

"Yeah. Uhm, accident with an evil company's, uhm, machine. Sorta made me like, lose some years an' stuff. I'm fine, really."

He took a deep breath and said, "Violet," and just that word tugged at her heart. His name for her since she was born. Why does she have to do this? He continued beyond just her nickname, "You didn't...make yourself younger to get boys did you? You've...done something extreme before."

"No!" she cried out. Knowing how fair a question that was, but how beyond all that she is now. "No. I..." The car kept driving. They were already in Founders Falls. "Daddy, why didn't ya tell me ya were, uhm...a telepath?"

The look on his face was one of pure panic, "That was you?" He asked. She nodded, no words able to come out of her mouth yet. "I...Before you ask, your mother does know. I didn't want questions, regarding some things, my Violet. I--"

She interrupted him then, "Where'd our money come from."

The car stopped, right on a bridge over one of the many canals of the Falls. "Violet..."

"Daddy, where I was...ya stole money from people...using yer powers. An' invested it. An'...I know ya got our money in investments but..like...where'd ya get it from?"

He knew one day he'd have to tell her. He took a deep breath, "I...did all this years ago. I stopped 16 years ago, Vio--"

She interrupted him. Not with words, but with an action. The car they were sitting in floated up in the air, starting to fly towards the nearest Police station. "I...I have ta arrest ya, daddy. I...I'm sorry." She turned her head, determined not to let her see her cry. Worried how she'll face her mother now, after the absence and doing this.

And she wants nothing more, at this moment, to be pulled back to that other Earth. The one she now finds herself thinking of home.