"Finally back..." I sighed as I flopped on to one of the couches littering our little meeting room in the Lounge.
(I need a nap...) I thought while yawning.
"Glad to see you back Carmen." Iris said as she walked in followed by Gringus and a few others.
"Indeed, it is good to see you again my friend." The walking brain and nervous system said with a slight bow of greeting
Everyone was here apparently, even Lucius who had surprisingly finished his expedition before me, despite the fact that I had set out before him. Anyway, I was more than happy to just unwind after all that bullshit while talking to everyone. Iris even gave me a smoothie out of nowhere, something that while appreciated was somewhat hard to actually drink even with a straw, considering my xenomorph anatomy that made sense honestly.
"So?" Anna hummed as she popped up next to me.
"What?" I asked as I glanced over at her somewhat confused.
"Tell us how your first expedition went." I said only for Brain, who was sitting across from me, to nod his head in agreement.
"Brain brain brain!" (☆o☆)
"Yes little one, tell us of your conquest." Basil laughed with a toothy grin that would look rather intimidating for anyone who didn't know his personality.
"Didn't Lucius also go on an expedition? Did you all pester him when he first got back as well?" I asked with a blank stare. "Also, how the hell did you get back before me?"
"I went to a universe that was a TV show from my old world, it was called Locked On, my main objective was rather simple, all I had to do was stop the main character from winning a tournament."
"Lucky bastard, I had to destroy a fucking city." I hissed, causing him to chuckle.
"Yeah, the others told me about that."
"Back to the topic at hand, spill." Anna purred trying to get us back on track.
"Brain brain!" (*ᵕᴗᵕ)⁾⁾
"I...I would also like to h-hear about your travels." Sapphire mumbled, the bioluminescent scales across her body shimmering slightly.
"Fine fine..." I sighed.
And so I told them the sort various of my six month long story of my not so wholesome adventures. I did leave out some parts of course, mainly parts that I had told them over our calls, however that wasn't all. I tried to brush past the whole me murdering thousands of people thing, mostly because I really didn't want to talk about it.
"AHAHAHAHAHAH!" Basil grinned as he nodded his head enthusiastically. "Very good, very good! You did well for your first real expedition."
"Indeed, most newcomers find it hard starting off but it seems you're already getting the hang of it." ED72 hummed mechanically causing the humanoid dinosaur next to him to laugh once again.
"Well said my friend!"
(Aren't they taking this a little too lightly...) I thought, however I quickly realised that mass murder probably wasn't anything new to them.
"Harden your heart." Yennora, who had suddenly appeared behind me, said with a soothing voice as she lent against the back of the couch.
"Huh?"
"You were thinking about all those who died, right? Those who were killed because of your actions." She hummed without any judgement in her voice.
I hesitated for a second before sighing outwardly. "Yeah...yeah I was..."
"That's just how it is sometimes, you can't let it consume you." She sighed, patting my head. "I'm not telling you to become an unfeeling monster, however feeling regret or guilt over such things will only lead to hesitation in the future, and hesitation leads only to death."
"A-are you okay?" Sapphire asked, sounding concerned.
"Mentally or physically?" I joked while trying to hide how uncomfortable I currently was.
"We can stop talking about it if you want." Iris muttered, her gaseous form shifting slightly.
"Our apologies for bringing up such a grim subject." Gringus added.
(It's...it's nice that they care...) I thought to myself.
The person to speak next definitely wasn't who I was expecting though. "You can always go see a therapist if you need it." Malice mused from across the room.
Shockingly their voice was actually female from what I could tell, her voice was also rather odd to say the least, it was nothing like what I was expecting. Instead of coming out like a female version of darth vader her voice was ethereal and seemed to have a permanent echo to it. Additionally every word she spoke was also accompanied by a strange crackling noise, one that kind of reminded me of the sound that a radiation geiger made.
Despite all of this though, her voice while interesting wasn't what I was currently focused on. In fact even the creepy way she seemed to stare at me from time to time wasn't what had gotten my attention.
"There are therapists for Alternatives?" Iris asked, echoing my surprise.
Malice didn't elaborate, instead it was Anna who spoke up to explain. "Yep, they're fellow Alternatives that make a living helping others get over all their mental baggage.
"Of course some of them are assholes, however there are plenty of good ones out there I guess." Decker added with a hiss of annoyance.
(I don't really want to spill all of my emotional crap to some random person I don't even know but...but maybe it would help somewhat...)
"I'll...I'll think about it." I said after a second of thought, however from the looks on Sapphire's and Iris's faces I wasn't the only one who was considering this.
"By the way, you should probably start stocking up on fragments." Yennora said after a few moments of silence.
"For what?"
"For our field trip!" Anna purred loudly as her tail swished back and forth.
(I think I remember someone mentioning something like that a bit back.) I mused internally.
"Brain brain brain, brain brain." ( ╹ -╹)?
"Like this rotting heathen said, what exactly does this all entail?" Gringus asked, his many eyes blinking curiously.
"Well, I had some personal business that needed to be dealt with in a certain outpost." ED72 spoke up, his arms crossed in front of him. "I was perfectly fine going on my own, a least until Anna suggested we make it a kind of field trip for you all."
"Outpost? What exactly are they anyway? I get that they're somewhat like the Nexus in a sense but there has to be something else to them right." I asked while rubbing the top of my head thoughtfully.
"Similarly to how the Nexus Colosseum is owned by Chranic, each outpost is also controlled and managed by a powerful Alternative." Yennora explained
"Outposts themselves serve many different purposes and functions, however their main use is that of a..." ED72 tried to say.
"They're like territory markers." Decker interrupted, sounding as blunt as ever, though that didn't stop Basil from nodding in agreement.
The robot Mentor just shook his head at the two. "I suppose that's one way of putting it." He said before continuing to explain.
To break it down, it turns out that every multiverse has an outpost, they are used for a variety of things but their main purpose is to serve as a kind of capture point, like something similar to those in a first person shooter. Outposts will change and warp depending on which Concept has ownership over them, for Chaos they look like smaller and less confusing versions of the Nexus in a sense.
Additionally scattered through each multiverse, hidden within key universes are several "locks" so to speak. These locks prevent invaders from attacking the outpost in question directly, so until the locks are destroyed getting to the outpost is nearly impossible through normal means. There are ways around this mind you, however if you wanted to launch a full scale invasion with a massive army backing you up this was the best way of doing it apparently.
"How would anyone even find the locks to begin with? Aren't multiverses filled with a near infinite amount of universes?" Iris asked with a puzzled expression.
"W-wouldn't it take forever to find them all?" Sapphire also spoke up.
"There are several ways to track them down, however it is still not exactly something easy to pull off." Yennora mused in response to their questions. "This is why when invasions like this happen it usually devolves into a full blown war across hundreds of universes with billions of champions from both sides taking part, and that is not even counting the followers of those champions in question."
"Brain?" (O_o)
"Yes, billions little one, sometimes even more depending on how things escalate." Basil smirked as he reminisced about past events with a battle hungry look in his eyes.
"And I'm guessing we have to do something similar to retake territory?" Lucius asked, causing Anna to chime in.
"Pretty much, however if Death conquers a multiverse there usually isn't anything left to retake."
(I guess that makes sense.) I thought to myself.
"So this outpost, do you know anyone there?" Someone asked while my attention was momentarily elsewhere.
"Yeah, we do actually." The feline of the group purred followed by an explanation from ED72.
"The main ones are the owner of the outpost itself, who we probably won't run into, as well as the head of the Breeders Guild in that area."
"Breeders Guild?" I spoke up again with a puzzled look, not sure if I should be disturbed or not.
"Fucking lunatics..." Decker growled under his breath.
"The big guy really doesn't like them." Anna giggled in amusement.
"The Breeders Guild is, well, simply put it is one of several large and relatively well known organizations that exist within Alternative society." Yennora sighed before continuing her exploration.
"They are a group of individuals that specify in the capturing, hybridizing and selling of various non-sentient and sentient creatures from across the omniverse." She let us absorb that information before continuing. "They also have a strange fascination with transporting creatures from one universe to another, just to see what will happen."
"They're like a group of mad scientists that are obsessed with crossover events in comics and movies." Decker added, interrupting Yennora, though she didn't seem all that bothered by it.
"They are also the ones that are usually responsible for "transmigration events" so to speak. Basically they take random people, creatures or objects, give them special powers and abilities, before then tossing them into another universe for both their own entertainment as well as to satisfy their morbid curiosity."
"Huh..." Honestly, I was definitely interested in the part about them selling various creatures. "I might want to check that out at some point." I muttered under my breath causing Decker to groan.
"When...when are we going by the way?" Sapphire asked, causing Yennora to once again answer.
"In about a week or so, give or take anyway."