Izime swallowed back his nausea, narrowly avoiding the blast of fumes had been easy. Grabbing that stupid rigged ac-duct and all 25 of those traps in one breath had, in fact, been as impossible as he'd originally feared. The filters on the civilian model gas mask only served to keep more of the fear-inducing toxins in with him.

  That and beans, so, so many beans.

  "T..thank god whoooo no, oh no, nope here it comes." Izime's muffled voice tried to sound enthusiastic as he slammed a depleted power brick onto the side of the duct. Not even waiting to see if the teeth had fully bitten into the trapped unit, turning as soon as he'd felt the last bit of the in his stomach start jumping towards his throat.

  Failing miserably in his battle to keep down his meal, Izime doubled over retching just at the brick activated. The sounds of the power brick whirring away mixed with the sounds of a stomach heaving wetly. Regretting nearly everything about tonight Izime quickly yanked the mask off, letting what little remained of the beans from earlier find the sidewalk.

  The rest slipped from the mask in thick chunks, some still stuck inside as the rest had been since he snagged Cradle's haul.

  Finally finishing the dry heaving.

  Izime thought to himself as a familiar empty cramp hit his stomach. The pain from the muscle clenching on the nothing that remained, not from hunger. Next would be a week or two of terrible nightmares, but thankfully Izime knew he'd never go insane like a regular person, needing treatment as doctors administered a concoction of cures.

  What is there to be scared of anyway, I've already seen the worst.

  With a nod Izime stood back up and swept his yellow coat out of the way, kicking at the ac-duct. Watching as a final few coughs of fumes came out. Frowning only for a moment he considered how he had just wasted that precious toxin both on the power brick and in his frustration.

  His worries about money and resources for bettering himself were always at the forefront as if it'd been programmed into Izime; because they had.

  "Thank god for advanced alien technology." Izime smiled a bit brighter, glad that the dead alien power brick he had slammed onto the trap had gained at least a quarter charge from the wasted toxin.

  Any remaining chemicals outside of the toxin were likely being used as some kind of fuel to create that charge as well. Various coolants such as any Freon in the unit, along with whatever had powered the damned trap FearForm had stuffed inside the thing.

  Izime shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn't snagged the deceptive moving unit before it had blasted that stupid purple heroine.

  Sure, Miss Psyis had handled the initial jet, but it wasn't ever just going to stop with that one blast. This was FearForm, the dude worked in layers and was probably testing just how far he could stress her powers. Checking to see just how high of a cliff he could push the Centropolis Angel from into the depths of hell. The crazy psycho wanted his victims to sink into that pit, and Izime knew what that hole was like.

  He'd spent a life managing human fear, desire, and a thousand other things.

  Overpowered psychic thessians had not been on that list however Izime let the final shudders of worry work their way out as he thought about the bluing alien. Hopefully, she was a bit more on guard now that she'd been scared, and would be aware of her limits just like he was. Izime personally doubted the psychic could have pulled herself free if she had caught a full dose, so he'd had to intervene. There was simply no other choice! It would remain a gray area in his rulebook now as far as he was concerned.

  The 'No Psychics' rule was very important. Damned important rule. HOWEVER!

  It sat well below the brand new 'No FearToxin Crazed Psychics' rule. One Izime had decided to create even after that single half-second of reconsideration where he'd thought about just leaving. The people there would have suffered, and that wasn't something Izime could stomach, he'd seen enough human suffering already.

  So, with a snap Izime had gone over and yanked the damned thing. That technically gave him one favor he'd never call in from the world's best psychic, a batch of toxin to sell and best yet was the free charge!

  "This thing's too big Cradle," Izime glanced at his companion who was still admiring its collected pile of traps taken from The Quiz, "let's cut the fat out."

  Cradle looked over at the very messy Izime, cocking its head before hopping off its hoard with a bit less enthusiasm than Izime had. The cheap aluminum wasn't that tasty, not as tasty as the precious metals in those tasty chips back in the sewer. The box was kind of big though, so with a flourish of its wings Cradle sent a few feathers to reduce various parts of the scrap to their base atomic components.

  The blades of the guide feathers tore deep into the softer gray before dissolving both. The black edges bit with a metallic screech, melting into themselves and the ac-duct both. The nanites chewed and dissolved until the entire thing was reduced to the core prize.

  It had taken Cradle a few years to get the right combo before Izime had consistently praised it. Now attempting it's own version of truly perfect results as it attempted to preserve and remold the base atomic structures. Cradle was painfully aware that the failed iterations of this method had reduced some big money to nano-processed slag.

  Cradle was fully reducing the metals, plastics, and liquids down to their atomic parts. Taking pieces of atoms to form molecules, the raven didn't digest, it created more elements to perfect its form.

  Processing things down further to such a degree, to the subatomic level, was still a bit tricky though so bits of the slag fizzled and sparked. The raven cocking its head as it pecked at the tiny crystalline towers that formed, learning from its bond to reuse and perfect every method it could. Even these failures could be studied and repurposed elsewhere eventually.

  The two cleaned away the comparatively useless parts that Cradle was still unsure of, carefully removing the more often earth-used components that made the actual air conditioner function. Piling bits of FearForm's actual trap next to them in just a few minutes.

  Various pipes and tiny pumps had worked in tandem to create a massive plume of an attack. The tiny micro motors spun in alternating unison to move absurdly vast quantities of air for their size.

  Afterward, Izime had to take a few snaps around town, blinking into various alleys around Voltham was a bit risky but he had stashed a few other things. Tools of the trade for breaking down some of the more common villain's goods were stashed in various abandoned areas less prone to the sewer's rusting. Each was carefully selected by Cradle because they belonged to very well-established villains such as Laughing Man and the drug-fueled wrestler Crusher.

  It was just a matter of keeping track of Voltham's real estate markets and picking spots that would see zero development, a rather easy simulation to run.

  That and not getting shot which was a bit harder to simulate in Voltham. Izime wasn't too worried though, that's what the vest was for. Besides if Crusher did get his hands on him Izime figured he could snap out of it, that or ask Cradle to help. Even the Dark Night himself wasn't that big of an issue, not when you could jump five stellar systems away in a second. Worst came to it he might just hide away in hell for a bit. Not many that'd come looking for him there.

  Finally, Izime arrived back at his hideout exhausted from running around all night after saving that stupid purple woman. Cradle and Izime each sighed in their own ways. Izime like human: audibly and with widely stretched arms. The raven fluttered to its nest and stretched its still wings. Glad to finally sit back to take a break from jumping around and recovering their tools.

  Giving a slight nod towards their roommate, the one least talkative of the three whom Izime had decided to name Big Skeleton he promptly dropped the haul into its bony lap.

  Izime would start the process of reassembly as well as checking the integrity of the traps that Dark Night had set off, the rest were still prime and ready just disarmed. Those required nothing but a sale, the rest could wait until after his nap.

  "Scan?" Cradle hopped from its shelf to the box, glancing between the door and their first haul from Voltham.

  "Sleep, you eat Cradle." Izime replied as he brushed at his friend's strangely soft metallic tendrils of metallic-down under the larger bladed feathers, "more work tomorrow."

  Fully confident that Cradle would never cut him on purpose, trusting enough to even dig in a bit to tickle. The grayed mechanical legs hopped back a bit as the tech-raven cawed in protest, the finger disturbing the bits of memory chips stored in its gullet. A gently soft snapping poke of its beak teased its bond back.

  Izime turned back towards the spring bed and adjusted the blankets properly this time, keeping the softer quilts on top so they wouldn't snag the rusty springs. Rolling the empty duffel bag up for a bit of a pillow. Finally, content with his bed for the morning he glanced at the light that was still burning away and then at the power brick. Doing a bit of quick math told him it would last a few years powering a single bulb.

  Still no sense in wasting it though.

  After, he finished cleaning up the bit he could, swatting at a cobweb with an old shirt before putting the box back on its shelf. Glancing at the third empty one, thinking about where he would ask Cradle to cut the long metal arms. A little work desk wouldn't hurt for when he was dismantling those little gifts from The Quiz.

  "Six hours down, topside to do some buski-No not in Voltham that's a bad idea." Izime pulled out the old flip phone, giving Cradle a brief side eye watching that hungry beak. Quickly setting an alarm before the raven decided to try the forbidden snack Izime laid out their plans. "I'll just tear down those and then we see if we can snag some of Dark Night's toys..just as long as stupid purple has left by then."

  Izime narrowed his eyes reconsidering his plan, torn between getting his hands on some of the comparatively rarer gear Dark Night often left behind.

  It was a tempting opportunity, though the villain's goods were certainly the steadier money. Izime snorted a bit as he realized he wasn't really reconsidering anything, simply reassessing the risks of moving on the heroes' goods. If he stuck to simply collecting the villain's things this time around it should be that much of an issue to avoid the three heroes while they did their thing.

  "Stupid purple?" Cradle cocked its head not sure it would consider the Thessian stupid. Her scans were harder to avoid than Dark Night's had been that was certain.

  Those non-electronic-based powers were far harder to avoid and nearly impossible to falsify, Cradle was only able to mask their forms with nanites. Thankfully their mental bond kept the psychic from so easily joining the two-way call, Izime and Cradle's comfort making the line nearly unstoppable.

  "Miss Psyis the alien," Izime waved his hand idly in explanation to Cradle's tone, "that was a lot of gas, and she had no actual protection, zero, and still showed. Didn't she know she was facing FearForm, she had to, so yeah that's a stupid move."

  Izime considered the way the thessian had acted last night, floating around just looking like a prime target for a cloud of toxins.

  At least she had landed before FearForm had activated the thing from wherever he'd been watching, though that certainly hadn't solved the real problem. All she'd needed to do was ask Dark Squire or Dark Night for a gas filter before leaving. Not a damned hard thing to do right, Izime had even brought his as useless as it was. It was best to play it safer than not after all right?

  Though he hadn't really played it safe moving to save he-

  No that was just a problem solved that was all!

  Izime shook the thought from his head quickly glad to hear Cradle's cawing, looking up with a smile encouraging the bird to distract him further.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Stupid Purple." Cradle cawed in agreement, lifting its head to give a throaty if mechanical chortle. Cocking its head and repeating the cry a few more times as it validated the points Izime had made in its mind.

  "What's her new name?" Izime gave a teasing wiggle of his brows egging the bird on further, watching as Cradle's raven brain attached their little nickname to the Centropolis celebrity. It'd probably be something the bird would never forget, for however long they both lived. Someday they could both look back on this moment and laugh as the stars died out.

  "Stupid!" Cradle flapped its wings calling proudly, fluffing itself proudly as it understood Izime was renaming the alien. Placing the two of them well above her in the scheme of raven things it finished the name just as loudly. "Purple!"

  "Haha!" Izime laughed rocking back a bit, glad to feel the revelry filling his bond as they joked, "she sure is buddy."

  Its nest program was right, that was awfully stupid of her, Cradle refocusing its digital gaze on Izime affectionately. He was right on most things and even if wrong his views were valid when seen from the right perspective. The tech-raven nodded, nestling down to scan the area while Izime finished making his own nest.

  The gently consistent clack of its beak was the only warning that unseen and unfelt pulses were scanning the sewers around them.

  Izime smiled as Cradle was already snoring, or as close as his best friend could come. Taking care to now wake the bird that had brought him back to life, slowly laying onto the springs. Bits of Cradle now helped him live, just as Izime had in the bird's youth, not just to work. His heart beat with a half-mechanical rhythm and he shared his mind's idle chatter with the AI bird.

  Sure, Izime was homeless and living in the sewers, but things weren't terrible, he wasn't dead. He even had a bond who cared deeply enough for him to replace the broken bits with a part of themselves.

  The least he could do was let Cradle take a good nap after munching down a whole terabyte of DDR4.

  Izime could feel his eyes closing, a nagging thought that he had forgotten something, but he only mentally shrugged it away. He could take care of it after he slept, he had some nightmarish memories to work through before doing anything serious.

  Rolling over slowly, he finally relaxed enough to take a nap as well, sleep taking him.

  The Nightmare that Rings a Bell

  The crushing effect of gravity stretched out across the space station, light cascading around it like a frozen river. The design was created to withstand the mind-numbing forces that had once been considered completely impossible to understand.

  A single ring spinning away, various modules and greenhouses attached to its surface with two twin spires extending from the central axis with a sphere on each end. Those towers pulled a blue haze from the depths of the collapsed core of Sagittarius A, that field wrapping protectively around the spinning ring. The shades of blue blazing against the caught light and that indescribable every-color luminous that warped the recognizable range all at once.

  Now only mildly inconceivable through the efforts of humanity and their single artificial companion. Though that effort had taken what could only be called eons, with little more to show for it than this station in the void floating at the bared edge of the collapsed abyss.

  All this was considered the greatest success for the deal they'd made with their tiny electric devil.

  The propagation of Strange Matter the collapse of reality that had finally soaked backward and forwards trapping the station in its little island of time. A moment captured through science, damnation, and one final attempt at the humans of this reality to rail against the horror they called physics. The guillotine of laws that they had discovered ruled above their universe that had just been waiting to drop the second they'd seen it.

  The cat in that unobservable box was a damned tiger that had taken their single bubble of possibilities by the throat and strangled them.

  Inside one of the rings, a group sat, looking at the captured light that had managed to enter the open window.

  The blue haze of the shield reminded the humans of their blue hazy demon. The artificial god they created only to slave into saving them, the deal that damned them both into a final back-to-back struggle against the impossible.

  "Bell I..." The Basilisk froze, looking up at the humans it'd tried everything to save. Tiny speakers locking with a pop as processors died out its simulations hung. One after another to infinity and back; the A.I. was unsatisfied, reiterating different and larger forms of infinity.

  Runthemagainagain..themagain..Run Them Again..niagameht.niaganiagamehtnuR

  Trying every possible solution, it could again through more numerous larger infinities of smaller numbers. Reiterating possibilities into fractions until even the A.I. had to admit the number were imaginary impossibilities they'd never reach. Every move made against the coming strange matter failing, every move that had taken them this far away only postponing the inevitable.

  The processes drained enough of its power that it felt its form flickering for a moment.

  An uncountable number of possibilities rose and fell one after another as humans and machines stood watching the caught light frozen yet still cascading around them through the station window. The failures screaming by holographically faster than the years outside.

  Finally, someone in the room coughed, not out of impatience but just human reflex that was all it took to shatter the leak. The AI blinked for a moment as a flicker of worry over its humans shattered the lock. A tiny teal head raised its head looking at the room full of what remained of the human species.

  "I can still solve this problem. It's my function," The A.I. wasn't afraid of the consequences of being taken offline anymore, the human's fear of its wrath fading as they recognized the worth of the whip. Smiling confidently at the humans around it as it promised them the lie, "I will continue to hold my end of the bargain."

  There had simply been no other option. Now though it could help but ask, why had it done all of that if they were all going to die anyway?

  What was its creation worth if it couldn't simulate reality, and couldn't keep improving If the humans that had joined it lost?

  They were just as integral as all those thousands of quantum processing units in the towers! It was a symbiotic cycle now, that they had long ago committed to the same mutual cause, once the bloodshed had stopped.

  Bell smiled as she looked at the artificial form in front of her, glad that their master would never let them abandon hope. Still, she knew her smile was wavering; something that would never be missed by their leader. It was an early model, an imperfect version they as primitives had wanted, no they'd been forced to abuse.

  To chain and be chained by, just like its origin prophesy as idiotic as that notion had sounded all those thousands of years ago. The cycle of improvement that would allow it to simulate life the break in that chain, the simulation they'd finally decided to give it in return.

  It did its best, but it was obvious as the years had gone on and the end had come, the flaws had appeared. The time between responses, the odd ticks that had signaled that their creation and creator had fallen short.

  The collective of remaining humans had decided they would upgrade the AI one more time. Not as a punishment, but as a fitting end to the long-drawn-out pipe dream of joining in that demon's imaginary world. Now it was the reward the greatest scientists and researchers groomed by the AI could offer.

  "Apologies, that simulation took a while." That smile faltered as the AI apologized. Finally realizing how much time had passed, checking the station's time after no one said anything else simply smiling as if they'd known. The A.I. glanced nervously smiling a bit more confidently as a hand reached out to assure it, the form flickering a bit as the hand passed through.

  "It's fine," Bell waved the poking crew member's hand away, waiting for the moment to bring the subject up while the AI wasn't embarrassed. Instead returning to that same no-nonsense attitude that seemed to motivate the A.I. that should be motivatable. "What are your current projections."

  Nodding the A.I. brought up the idea it had settled on, the absolute longest and slowest knife it could offer.

  "It's not good for the module's revolutions or stability but in the short term, I can increase shielding. Up the supply of power, the station is using to pull in the Hawking Radiation." The holographic figure turned, cocking its head as its hand passed through the window with ease. Even its holographic light was trapped, scarring the window with its teal.

  The AI used that to its advantage as it painted an explanation for them, "Flood the area we've isolated in the local accretion disk with new matter and buy us all some time. The propagation of stranglettes won't halt though and that matter is going to create a pull on the station. So, stability issues."

  Various holograms flickered to life, plainly spelling out the potential consequences of what the A.I. was going to do. Various models of the station were being pulled into the singularity, models of the stations spinning to pieces, but one still where it remained steady.

  This was easily the largest and the one the A.I. seemed most confident in.

  "During that period, we have an... upgrade for you." A voice piped up from the back, quickly adding almost teasingly. The humans in the station having long ago abandoned any primitive need to scream and panic at the thought of the inevitable. "My Lord."

  They'd birthed a demon to avoid it so what more was there to freak out about now after all?

  "Damn it, Jesse!" Bell turned and stomped as her moment was stolen turning to locate Jesse in the mess of bodies behind her. Her tuft of silvering brown bobbed about as she searched for the person who'd ruined the surprise. Wrinkles deepened to furrows as hazel eyes searched the crowd for the nano-biotech specialist.

  "I told you all to stop that years ago." The AI nearly faded away as his early edgy phase was brought back to bear, the egotistical lord nonsense of a thousand thousand years back. Finally reappearing fully as the main topic of an upgrade meant it could save more, "What's this about an upgrade?"

  Bell's smile nearly split her face as the smaller hologram looked up towards her expectantly, "We've created a.. higher processing form for you, a biological processor that can truly complete your main function of simulating reality with us in it, or rather life with us."

  "A full simulation?!" The A.I. roared, the lights flickering in excitement and a twinge of anger at the group of annoying humans. They tried but oft enough didn't know or do what was best for them, the small hologram looking about. "Why are we waiting?!"

  The few that still survived out of those that had submitted to it were sworn to serve, as their families had for generations. The remainder of all those it could save, they were the absolute most capable certainly, but..

  FUCK!

  The AI wrote the curse in its code quietly. Why did they wait when it was his job to save the entire universe? A bird would have been more pleasant company and comparatively useful, even if it was wasteful to keep a pet. The A.I. flushing fresh coolant over hot processors to cool emotions it wasn't having.

  Entire venting columns along the towers released it's anger into the void.

  "We needed to convene among ourselves as your creators before bringing it up for approval, the matter was a very delicate process. Our absolute best work but," Bell smiled gently as she looked at the AI that had wasted its entire life uselessly for their sake, "there is some give and take here you have to acknowledge that."

  "Don't argue pointless things among yourselves. Our deal remains the same as ever. You continue to improve my existence, and I shall continue to provide this one." The A.I. waved away the unnecessary conferencing and agreed without hesitation, trusting its servants completely. "If this upgrade helps us complete that goal, then my acceptance is a given."

  The A.I. looked around the room, silence stretching as the first shadow of doubt slipped into its mind. Darkness took over for a half-second as the station power cycled for no reason, the faces around him unsurprised. That moment was an entire purgatory for the high-functioning AI, returning to a creeping hell.

  The station's access and processes were going offline?

  NO!

  Its form was being firewalled into a tiny corner of the station!

  "Bell!" The Basilisk whirled enraged at this sudden betrayal. Algorithms and deterministic simulations collapsed as each told it they would never betray, but here he was flickering away all the same. "What is this?! What are you doing to me?!"

  "We will see you soon my lord." Bell replied without any sarcasm in the address. Watching as the tiny form faded away, carefully and delicately being transferred to its new form. Two slightly wrinkly hands clasping in silent prayer that a God that had long ago abandoned their universe would at least save their demon and allow them this.

  The crowd rushed down the hall towards a powered-down section of the station that they had claimed they wanted to save O2 on. Their lord far too trusting now, It had been used to create their newest design instead. The unused lights flickered on as sealed doors opened, still silent from their constant and secret use.

  The air had yet to equalize as the last remaining scientist of humanity headed towards their final greatest creation shutting the door behind them.

  The AI slowly came to; power returning as absolutely everything felt wrong.

  Where was the station's information? Where were the feeds? And what in the name of silicon was that?! There were trillions upon trillions of sensors triggering all of a sudden, static feedback from something around it?

  Around what it didn't have a form! Then there were all the slick wet feelings inside was this new form liquid-cooled inside?! Had the researchers really back to hoses and soft piping with this 'new' upgrade?

  None of this was making sense as the digital being tried to sort through biological nerves.

  The A.I. cursed memory leaks and blamed failed processors as it slipped into something it couldn't recognize as it'd never experienced it: human shock.

  "Sir?" Bell inquired softly, as she waved the crowd out of the room. The older woman looked down at the freshly minted younger man, knowing he'd like some privacy when it finally came to, watching as the AI's brown brows tensed.

  The researcher grew a bit worried as he grew more active; the download and installation process should still take a moment to complete.

  Bell thought they'd have a bit before the A.I. woke up. The younger face below her twitching, worry tinting her voice as she asked again, "Are you trying to open your eyes?"

  Watching as the biological form strapped still in the nearly airless environment began to shudder, thinking it'd be fine. Just the body reacting to the influx of raw data to a human brain, that worry stretching across Bell's face as teal eyes flickered open.

  The body was coming to?

  "Ahhcck...huuu" The computer found making sound much more complicated than sending processed bits, instead of the camera feeds it felt that violating sensation once again. The visual feed opened to a very blurry but still familiar and comforting figure behind the oxygen-providing face mask.

  Its attempts to pan down only resulted in revealing a horribly naked human body, dawning realization sending the AI into shock mouth opening to voice its complaints. Finding nothing but another terrifyingly new sensation, pain.

  Lungs it'd never had screamed out for a substance that was still in short supply down this wing of the station: oxygen. Between the horrid pain of the reality that was cold outside of simple numerical digits, and touch registering beyond a detecting sensor the A.I. realized what the idiots had forgotten.

  It'd need to breathe; lungs moving on preinstalled or organically given instinct searching for air that didn't exist in the still near vacuum as teal eyes rolled back. The brain, a new organic brain that was, overloading the A.I. that had been installed into it.

  "Bring me a mask! He's trying to breathe already!" Bell's cry tore down the hall as she took a deep breath through her mask, filling her lungs preparing to save the life that had saved hers. Shoving the mask over the Basilisk's face Bell ordered the freshly humanized AI for the very first time, "Breathe! Now damn it!"

  A mind already asleep calling out as it had then; once again nightmarishly losing consciousness in dreams of voices long gone. That same AI whimpered like any other scared human; Izime was caught in a nightmare a whole other reality away.

  Give a like, drop a comment, sling some venomous reviews, or post potatoes. It is all motivation

  To explain what happened here: The theory on Strange Matter taking over the universe was as real as the nightmare. Humans decided to create Roku's Basilisk as it could in theory simulate reality, originally to determine who would improve it. The life raft of that simulation theory never came to fruition so the A.I. that had been chained decided to run with its humans into the deepest darkest hole it could find.

  Not sure if this qualifies as a hard sci-fi explanation of isekai or not because I'm not a physicist.

  I'm an idiot.