Agents of the Multiverse

The lab was quieter than it had been when he had left it. The insistent beeping of the alarm system built into his cowl, and the partially melted containment unit still resting on one of the lab tables told him exactly why. Batman prowled silently around the table, examining the scene with a grim sort of patience. It didn’t look good. His gloved fingers passed through what looked to be a trail of ash leading from the unit– which was no longer producing the signature hum the other still functioning ones were. The specimen, or ex-specimen in this case, had not only worked its way through the plexiglass sealing it in, but it seemed it had done so in a way that had specifically targeted the internal wiring to the power supply.

Batman followed the trail with his gaze, the cold white eyes of his mask narrowing as he did so. The animal, infected with Corruption as it had been, had been fairly docile upon capture, almost comatose. So what had activated it a week into acquisition? Had it simply been playing possum? Did the Corruption somehow increase intelligence too? Or was there an outside force controlling it, reaching its shriveled synapses even all the way within the depths of the Omphalos and all its shielding?

The potential ramifications of such a possibility were not comforting. The specimen had to be caught. *Yesterday.* Batman could see that the trail stopped at one of the room’s metal walls. There, at the base, a blackened hole was burned through. He couldn’t tell how deep it went, but he could make some guesses to where it escaped out to.

He stepped away again. Batman’s lips tightened into a thin line, and he raised a hand to the knife-like shape of one of his cowl’s ears, depressing a small button there. He would need an extra set of hands for this one.

Wherever Aluel was, Omphalos or beyond, her gauntlet chimed once– the alert button built into the console indicating that she had a new comm message. It was Batman’s voice, low and urgent that growled through the gauntlet’s speakers upon answering.

“Agent Deng, I need you in my office. Now.”

A small map made of light accompanied it, springing in shimmering detail from a hidden projector in the interface once the message had been activated. It showed Aluel exactly where to go to find said office– a place deep in the bowels of the Omphalos where few were ever allowed. It seemed tonight that she would be among the first.

It was the tail end of dinner hours at the Omphalos. Aluel had long since finished her chicken wrap, only lingering at the table to read her databook by the side of a mint iced tea. Few of her supplies ever left her side, least of all her Key Gauntlet. She was aware of the importance it pertained to operations at the Omphalos, so she was going to use all of her supplies diligently. While the big picture was her special focus, she picked up little details with efficiency in no small part thanks to the tools she'd acquired, both from the Exorcists' Guild and the Agency.

Thus, when her gauntlet chimed, she picked up the message to answer swiftly, "I'm on my way."

Aluel's dedication to her roles as both an Exorcist and an Agent weren't excessive. Still, it might have been easy for others to misinterpret her straight-laced attention to her duties as workaholism, though she tried to balance her life out. Sometimes those situations felt rare in these new worlds. Least of all, she brand new to her duties as an agent and she had yet to know what the stern but honest Batman thought of her. In a way, he was like Gyeon, except Gyeon's statements were phrased in a way that was biting and intended to cut, like the freezing cold. Batman's comments were more foreboding to her, like he was making promises of change. She just had to live up to them. Even still, she wasn't sure which she preferred.

Finding her thoughts unimportant for the time being, she had since gathered her things and abandoned her drink to head down the less-used hall to where the map showed her. His office. . . She wasn't sure if many had the same privilege that she had. Too bad that it wasn't much of a privilege as it was a necessity right now. Taking note of the instructions, she followed through until she was on the inside of the laboratory.

She spared but a brief few glimpses around, not necessarily hiding her mild interest, but it faded away from her eyes in a flash to see the melted-through containment chamber. She could make a few guesses hat this was about, all of which made her heart sink.

"What do you need me to do?" Her question came, intent on getting to work. However, she didn't want to jump in headfirst without any idea of what exactly transpired.

Batman hadn't gotten much of a chance to interact with Aluel yet. The week had been busy. The AotM had yet to manage to capture one of the Corrupted alive until this current furry menace, and up until it had escaped, the rat had taken up much of Batman's time and attention. He hadn't intended to shirk on his duties to the new agents. There had simply been more pressing matters to attend to.

Still, those issues did not make for a viable excuse to slack on his trainee's development. Ensuring that new agents were well prepared for the trials that lay ahead of them was a vital part of ensuring the AotM's victory against the forces that had claimed their homes. It also upped the survival rate for teams as a whole. One weak link could risk the whole chain. Lose enough chains, and the whole structure came crashing down.

But they were all stretched thin these days, Batman included. What was done had been done. He'd have to make up for his recent absence by training Aluel on the fly in order to make up for lost time.

When she arrived at his door, Batman was crouched by the wall, or more specifically, the hole the rat had made in the wall. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he swabbed the inside of the ragged opening in the metal and plaster with a cotton swab. There was a small, plastic evidence pouch held in Batman's other hand, and he quickly deposited the swab within the bag before standing to face his trainee.

"Grab the bag," Batman answered, his tone clipped. "The one near the door."

He stepped over to join Aluel, continuing to catch her up on the situation as he busied himself with his own gear.

"The specimen is a large rat, Rattus norvegicus, specifically. It's been infected with the Corruption. I thought the extra security I had provided for the containment unit it was being held in was more than adequate. Evidently, I was incorrect."

Batman paused in his work to look over at Aluel, taking her in. The woman's large eyes and girlish hairstyle made her look younger than her years, and almost doll-like. The eye patch ruined the illusion somewhat, but mostly it served to make her look somewhat mournful. He noted the scar that bisected the skin behind it, and wondered briefly what had caused the injury.

Not that her appearance meant much to him. Batman had learned very early in his career the dangers of judging an individual on appearances alone, and though there was a certain air of innocence to the woman's physical appearance, there was also a steeliness to those blue-violet eyes that couldn't be missed, and a no-nonsense sort of attitude to the way she spoke that Batman appreciated.

Batman returned his attention to what he had been doing. He picked up a cellphone sized device from a nearby lab table, offering it to Aluel with one dark gauntleted hand. A soft green light pulsed on the device's screen, slowly moving across it.

"Fortunately," Batman said grimly, "I had the foresight to chip the animal while it was still dormant. Let's hope it holds."

He nodded to the small gear bag at Aluel's feet. While she had the device, Batman could track the rat himself through the heads up display in his cowl. Once they hunted it down, however, they would need to attempt to recapture it-- or otherwise destroy the animal... if either could be done at this point. The gear for that was in the bag.

The first containment unit had managed to hold the creature at least temporarily... They'd have to work with a similar unit for now. The Corrupted Shades, rats included, didn't respond to pain, and they were resistant to other means of subduing them as a result, but Batman had discovered through a bit of trial and error that a combination of electricity and a cocktail of tranquilizers could overwhelm whatever mockeries of nervous systems that they had left.

... At least temporarily.

There were a pair of specialized stun sticks in the bag for just that purpose. He could only hope that the Corrupted weren't capable of evolving at this point. The fact that the rat had outwitted its containment unit didn't bode well for them so far.

"Take that and let's get going," Batman said. "It's gone down into the maintenance tunnels. I hope you're not afraid of heights."

Aluel's eye didn't linger on Batman for very long, but it wasn't because he was hard to look at, imposing as he was. Her focus went straight to that bag he mentioned, having seen it as she was coming in. His body language wasn't very expressive, but she could find her way around soon enough. Her fingers, long and callused, which became more obvious with how fragile-looking they were, curled around the strap of the bag. Despite this, they were sturdy, heaving up the bag without issue. Frills, makeup, and pudginess lied about the presence of a meek character, of whom was not Aluel.

It was possible Batman's appearance was also a facade. There's no way 'Batman' was his birth name, unless his parents were particularly spiteful - or maybe it was? She wasn't even sure if he was human. There were plenty of demi-humans and half-humans and pseudo-humans here to confuddle what being human actually meant. There could also be men who were bats. She may or may not ever know.

A dark screen with green light came into her view after she adjusted the bag on her arm. She took it without delay, noticing that it felt like a chunky smartphone. She watched the green dot in motion on the map as Batman spoke. If only you could chip ghost vessels, she wondered, suddenly pensive. If only they wouldn't have destroyed it in their aversion to technology. It'd make things so much easier. As the thought passed, her brows furrowed.

Her greatsword was hilariously oversized to deal with exterminating something the size of a rat, even if it proved to be a greater challenge than your average rodent. Ghosts loved to inhabit tiny vessels, but they also upped their protection around them thus. Besides, Batman seemed more well-equipped for this kind of situation.

Upon hearing the Corrupted rodent's current route, she gave the screen of the tracker another hard glance. Was it looking for an exit discreetly? Did it have the intelligence to know it had to be discreet? It was ominous to think of what the creature would do when cornered, but cornering it was likely their only option.

She gave a single nod to indicate she was prepared to move forward on this task, following after Batman. It was something he trusted Aluel enough to put into her hands. She wasn't about to fumble that and risk people's safety in turn.

"I will be fine," she stated, though she was almost certain he didn't need the reassurance. People were facing very many phobias on the front line of the battle against the Corruption. She couldn't afford to be sacrificed to hers. Luckily, they did not include heights.

Then, a question crossed her mind, making her squint. She knew this wasn't a good time for conversation, save for if it pertained to the task at hand. It'd be prudent to ask, she believed.

"Where did this specimen come from?"

"We captured it on one of the infected worlds," Batman answered, striding out the door. He closed the lab door behind them, and its security locks clicked into place with a solid series of thunks. "It was just beginning to turn and was still fairly docile. I doubt we'll get that lucky a second time. I'd prefer to recapture it rather than kill it, but do what you have to."

The dark clad hero brought them down another series of hallways, these smaller and very obviously less used. Unlike the rest of the Omphalos, where there was at least the occasional bench or trash can lining even the emptiest hallways, there was nothing in this one, and the hall ended in what seemed to be a dead end.

"There are maintenance hatches all over this sub-level," Batman was explaining as he approached what looked like a blank wall. "I'd prefer you keep that fact to yourself now that you know it. The tunnels go deep. We're less worried about sabotage and more about people getting lost. Too much curiosity in the wrong places can be dangerous."

With one gloved hand flatted against a slight depression on the wall, Batman pushed. It gave with a hiss and slid back, revealing a long, dark catwalk ahead of them. From where they stood the thrum and chug of electronics and other essential systems was a dull roar, and peering over the rail of the catwalk downwards revealed a long dark that extended far past what the eye could see, accentuated with pipes and wires and the distant, silver flash of other, lower maintenance walkways.

"Typically Shades are docile if you don't disturb them," Batman said, stepping out onto the pathway. Despite his looming frame, the man's footsteps were uncannily quiet against even the metal walkway. The vigilante moved like a ghost. "Without an Awakened or one of the Heralds to direct them, you can usually move around them without being noticed. We've never tried separating them from the greater hivemind before though, and this one is acting erratically. Be prepared for anything."

Out of practicality rather than a morbid sense of mercy, Aluel didn't want to kill this Shade. It was too open-ended to know if they could be restored. The fact that it was a rat and those were usually slaughtered without a second thought didn't change this. It could be a metaphorical gateway to understanding the Corruption all the better.

Aluel followed after Batman like a duckling, not even pausing as the tunnel closed off behind them. This was simultaneously similar and completely different from tracking down a ghost. While many beings of the Corruption appear dauntingly aggressive, there were also creatures that took more of a passive role. Unlike ghosts, none of them seemed even a little bit interested in an alliance or even friendship. But again, much like the Dark Arts, she had the Key Gauntlet to allow her to detect Corruption, as with ectoplasm.

As Batman explained the tunnels, she leveled her gaze upon whatever horizon was unveiled on the other side, if she could see that far ahead.

"That's fair, I'm not keen on the idea of having to fish people out of the tunnels," she commented. It was apparent this was more of a statement of concern rather than annoyance.

Stepping down the catwalk, Aluel briefly adjusted her grip on the bag. It had more weights than one to her, though she figured she possessed the confidence to carry them. A less confident thought crossed her mind, making her brows furrow and the rough-edged gash under her eyepatch crease slightly.

"Do you think this one could have Awakened?"

Her question was soft but straightforward. Would it have the intelligence to do that? She'd never dealt with the Corruption firsthand before, being a trainee Agent still, but she'd done her studying. Just the thought of the encounter made her check her Key Gauntlet, doing so sporadically. Interacting with an Awakened Shade so soon was a bit dismaying, to say the least. It would have happened eventually, she supposed. Was there ever a way to be ready for this?

"Unlikely," Batman said. He began following the walkway downward, heading towards the distant blip blinking on the map displayed in his HUD. "We've never encountered an Awakened in an animal before. Of course, there's a first time for everything."

Batman lifted his fingers and pressed a hidden button on the side of his cowl near the dark points of its ears. A flashlight beam split the gloom. It was more for Aluel's sake than his own-- Batman had night vision built into the cowl. It didn't seem that Agent Deng shared any such capabilities, however, and tripping in a place like this could be deadly in its own right, with or without a possessed, super powered rat loose. There were maintenance lights present, glowing a dim red in the darkness, but there were long stretches of shadows too, and the darkness was thick enough that it all but ate up even that light.

"How you settling in?" Though Batman's voice was as cool as ever, the question was a surprisingly friendly one. It was less that he was trying to establish a social relationship though and more that he was-- attempting at least-- to do his job. He was, technically, Aluel's mentor, and he hadn't exactly had the chance to check in on her since her arrival. There was a reason Batman didn't usually pick up that particular role. He was a busy man, and there were only so many hours in the day. They were painfully mismatched between mentors and new arrival numbers though, so Bruce had stepped up.

"It seems like you've had some previous training," he observed. He lead them around the corner and down another flight of stairs. "Military?"

Aluel figured at much. She had never seen any record of an Awakened animal before, but she couldn't be sure that it was simply something she didn't have access to. Besides, in this universe - this multiverse - there were many things that could be considered infohazards. That's what the Exorcists' Guild would consider them anyway.

Not that they held any jurisdiction anymore, as CIRCE would like it or not.

Upon Batman's question, she frowned. She didn't like unveiling her true thoughts to people, especially those she didn't know very well. The concept of being honest in this situation felt like pulling off a bandage, but she might as well do it quickly.

"Home was already war-torn," she stated calmly, but with regret apparent in her voice. Her brows knitted in the dark behind Batman. "Reality was ripping at the seams as it was. I suppose a situation like that with the Corruption was bound to happen."

She took a few moments to let that stew before she actually answered the question.

"Do not misunderstand." She was doubtful Batman would in the first place. "I am grateful for the help we are granted. I just wish we didn't have to be the only ones left."

And perhaps that it felt a little less inevitable.

She felt pensive suddenly. There was some layer of irony that the Exorcists, so dearly despised for separating the real and unreal, would be the ones to survive. Perhaps that was why they did in the first place. Or perhaps CIRCE bestowed upon them a mercy when they passed through as a keeper of the alternate realms. Her motives were mysterious, even to the very end. Could she have been the one to welcome the Corruption? Somehow, Aluel doubted she was that malicious. She wouldn't destroy what she wanted to rule.

Thick-soled boots padding against the metal as they walked, Aluel observed her Gauntlet. Her visual attention wasn't pulled away at Batman's comment, but it still felt a bit complicated in nature to her. She squinted, contemplating her answer. The Dark Arts had given her a little liberty in seeing in the dark, which was all the better for what sight she had left in her remaining left eye. Still, Batman's light that he provided would prove helpful, as well as being much easier to utilize than the Arts.

"No," she said simply. "I believe the nature of our position is unique to our world. I was selected by the Celestials - entities created by a race from Netherspace - to take my role and be trained as an Exorcist by our team leader. We dealt with trans-dimensional entities all the time, though it was usually in secret. A specific governmental body of our world does not like the Exorcists' Guild for both social and political reasons. Thus, we hid our identities when on the job with our magic. Getting around was easy for the same reason."

Aluel recalled that the Dreamers despised calling it 'magic,' not due to it being any conceptually different than what humans considered magic, but because humans did not see it as 'real.' It was their wish to be seen as people, despite their status as hailing from another dimension. Perhaps it was too much for most humans to believe in the first place. It was enough for her, at least.

"We are an offshoot of the Priests' Guild, which was founded to be sort of like a military, but not as rigidly structured."

She didn't sound uncertain; it was definite that the Priests' Guild was made to serve CIRCE as some sort of paramilitary, enraptured by the human nature of spirituality that CIRCE was. It was perhaps a good thing that she found something that she could unite people under, where it was a concept that frequently divided them. Aluel would give her that much.

Finding it unwise or perhaps just fruitless to dig into Batman's training, she instead opted to ask;

"Where is the signal headed now?"

She could see the blip on her radar just fine, even in this darkness. However, she thought to ask someone who had more expertise in the dungeon that was the service tunnels for directions.