A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

Chapter 306: My name is Bella… Bella Campbell.

My name... is not Skye Venti. Not really, it is the name I have been using for the last few years, the name I answer to when people ask about me. The name I use to register in all my paperwork...

But it isn't really my name, not the name I use when thinking to myself (Albeit, lately I have been thinking of myself as Skye Venti).

You see, I am one of those that 'Survived an encounter with [The Scrambler]', we aren't many, and even among those that manage to survive we... don't live long.

Some can't survive the trauma, a few turn batshit crazy and are thrown into the deepest dungeon our corpo overlords can find. And even among those that don't turn insane, not many manage to keep their awareness long.

The key to survive? The one they kept telling us to use?

Do not think too much about who you are.

It was, honestly, the worst advice someone ever gave me. I do not know if I managed to remain clear-headed because of this, or because of the advice the woman with warm eyes gave me.

Miriam Eversoul, the woman who stood by our side when we woke up, the woman that did all she could to help us... And the woman I couldn't stand, her eyes were filled of unyielding trust that we would get better.

Compared to the faces and eyes of the other scientists around who only saw us as either a waste of money and resources... or as an interesting case to research.

She was the one who gave me an advice different from any other.

'Remember who you are' she said. Something that was practically anathema to any other advice they had ever given me. But one I took with me as I left the facilities that they prepared for us.

One of the advantages of becoming a [Core User], no doubt, the first thing I did was to stretch this power as far and wide as I could, the sixth sense that came with it allowed me to perceive many things.

The people that was following me (No doubt to keep tabs on me), the vast city expanding around me, the wall that worked as a way to separate us from the wilds...

The many creatures flying above us... and even the cold bite of space above our heads, so many kilometers above us.

So much information... and yet my brain somehow filtered it and gave me enough to understand. While I was somewhat aware of what was happening around me, I could not focus on Everything all the time.

My mind still needed to process it and focus in what I wanted, so for my first step...

I willed myself to move to the other side of the city.

The first step I took was outside the research hospital, but the next step took me to the other side of the city, to an empty alleyway.

"That worked." Was all I could say as I continued walking as if nothing had happened, my feet took me to a park.

A park that I had never been according to the diaries and data the Saintsworths had on me, and yet, it was a park I knew. Everything was right there, where my memories said it was.

So the next thing was obviously to follow the path my memories dictated, walking the streets that I had been on a few years back. The stores were there, the same buildings... Somewhat different, painted in other colors, some houses were in different states of disrepair, but that could be explained because I hadn't been here in almost five years.

It was... understandable.

And yet.... What I found at the end of my path was, "Yes? How can I help you?" And old woman in the same house I had expected, but her eyes and attitude completely different to what I had expected.

"Grandma?" My voice trembled of course, this was the first familiar face after so much chaos.

"I think you have it wrong sweety." Grandma said with her usual smile, "I only have a daughter and she is too busy climbing mountains go give me granddaughters to spoil."

That was wrong of course. Mom had a sister and a brother, my auntie and uncle, and each had their own kids. I had five cousins total, grandma used to take care of each of us.

An almost instinctual pulse of energy was released from my body against my better instincts, but that was enough for me to know [Everything] inside the house.

And it was all wrong, pictures of Mom growing up... But no pictures of Dad or their wedding... nor us.

"Oh... Sorry about that, I think I got the wrong address." What followed that... I do not know.

But the next time I became aware of what was happening around me I was in the middle of some random plantation. How I got there or where I was? I do not know.

The following months are more or less the same, me jumping all over the states trying to find old family and friends to no avail.

No one knew me... Or well, they [knew] a version of me. But no one knew me for my actual name.

They knew the name of... other girl.

Not me, not Bella.

Never Bella.

Even after I said it for the tenth time, 'My name is Bella Campbell.'

My sister didn't exist, my brother didn't exist, my Mom didn't marry Dad...

Even if my hair was the same, even if my face was the same... my family... was not the same.

The next thing I did was not... good, but in my defense, that city was busted. Traveling back to Alberta was easy if you can teleport, and getting over national borders is easy if you can teleport to the altitude usually reserved for planes.

Getting oxygen was hard, but finding that I could open portals between places, getting it was easy enough, managing them so they would remain near me was harder, but eventually I got it right.

The issue now was that my home city was ravaged, no survivors, apparently it was hit by a supervillain, the one they spoke in whispers, [The Scrambler].

The few survivors had been picked up by some mega corporations and that was how they rescued me... the parents of... the girl everyone knew were either dead or having the same issues as me.

Before leaving, I did throw a few sizable rocks at the monsters that were ravaging this city, but no memories of the place returned to me. So that was that.

All I had now was a card that was given to me by the corporation that saved me (The Saintsworths Conglomerate), a few hundred bucks (That the for some weird ass reason were called A-Dollars) and that was that.

"Remember who you are..." Whispering the words of that scientist I decided to stick to who I was.

I couldn't be the girl they said I was, that was not me.

I couldn't be Bella Campbell, no one knew me by that name anymore.

So I picked up the name my sister gave me when we were little, the name of the Villain who fought against the heroine of justice.

Skye Venti.

A way to remember who I was.

With that done I just needed to find a way to use the abilities my sister had given that identity.

"How does one use wind... when your power is teleportation?" Was the issue I came across.

In the end I managed by being sneaky about it with portals. The next issue was earning a living, that one ended up being solved thanks to an aspect of life that was almost as ridiculous as the fact that the world was besieged by uber powerful wildlife with superpowers.

Villains and Heroes being a valid work career.

Being a Heroine was a no-go since I had destroyed some infrastructure in Alberta (Even if the city was abandoned, the mega corporations didn't take well to their assets being destroyed). And because I was a survivor of [The Scrambler].

No one wanted us near them if possible, apparently this man was known to hound victims who survived him. So that was that.

My next best option was being a villain, as my sister's character for me was. But even that had some requirements, and the possibility of bodily injury.

So I settled for the best second option, becoming a Minion, which wasn't that hard all things considered. Joining (Or finding an organization to join) was almost ridiculously easy.

Several organizations had job postings even, if you paid attention. In the end I picked up the one with the name closest to something that reminded me of home.

Hephaestus' Forge, under the Super Villain Vulcanus.

The entry interview was a joke, their requirements easily passed and from what I was able to peek during the process... They had some degree of protection against powers like mine, but during the interviews, most of those were lifted. Probably to allow us some degree of peace of mind.

The thing that bothered me was not that, but the other minions that auditioned.

Some were what you would expect, lowlife, thugs, outright cliches of criminals and monsters. No, the issue was not that.

But one of the minions that was auditioning, a little girl. A blonde little girl that could not be older than six years.

Rhapsody.

She also auditioned for the position of Minion, and when the issue of her age and power was addressed, she easily changed it to match what one would expect.

Apparently that was her power, shape shifting.

She moved across different ages, from five to twelve to nineteen. How she behaved changed accordingly, making me doubt what was her actual age, not that she ever answered.

The next couple of days were spent interacting with Rhapsody, Alexa, Alexandra... or Ale how she later came to refer to herself.

It was good times, it was fun times, to some degree Alexa reminded me of my sister, an innocent girl playing pretend, unlike my sister this one was not shy and was very outspoken in all her forms. Albeit she was even more innocent than what my sister had ever been when she was on her oldest form.

She rocked a very sexy body with one of the most innocent personalities that did not match said bombshell of a body.

But not Everything was or could be happiness, I should have known, the world was not that gentle. Disaster eventually hit. And just like how it had hit me before, it came in the form of an accident.

During one of the missions that was given to us, Rhapsody died.

That was what they told us, while I was working as overwatch she fought against a hostile [Core User] and died. Her body was taken away by her family (Apparently she had a brother) and that was that.

No funeral we could participate in, no revenge we could take since the one who killed her was already dead.

No closure.

Nothing.

Just a reminder of the fragility of life.

Or so I had thought, because not even a a couple weeks later we got confirmation that Alexa was fine!

She had been rescued...somehow.

Gabriel had seen her dead body, and he had said that there was something fishy about it, but the man was in a mission away from the base, so we couldn't even consult him, and like that we awaited the return of Rhapsody, of Alexa, of Ale... of our last member (Apparently part of her DID die, but that was way more complicated for me to really understand. How do you deal with EGO death?)

Her return was almost as impressive as it was dangerous, she crashed into the building at high speed in a drop pod (Who even uses something like this?)

The pod's integrity was at risk, so in a desperate attempt I had to reveal my actual power to my boss and everyone around, but that was okay. I was no longer willing to sacrifice the people I cared for just to keep the charade.

That was not who I was.

I was Bella Campbell.

I was Skye Venti.

I was Sylph.

And I would keep those I cared for safe.

Golem was surprised by this, but he was the only one, Vulcanus didn't seem to care about it, nor the other minions around.

And Alexa... or Ale as she said, did seem surprised, but glossed over it.

Our reunion was interrupted when the big boss asked for some confirmations from her, and even that was interrupted when a wave of very weird Mana flooded the building.

Nothing came out of that, fortunately, but it was still weird, and that wasn't even the weirdest thing. What came the next day was weirder than that.

Ale had asked about my memories, the place I remembered, everyone had asked about this at some point, either to find the 'flaws' on the delusions they thought [The Scrambler] planted on me. Or to try and convince me that they were fabrications.

But no, Ale had not asked because of that, but because she claimed she could show me something in an attempt for me to open a way there.

Her arm had flashed in white light when she spoke, a mechanical(Almost robotic-looking) armor covering her right arm, the palm slowly moving around as mechanical pieces moved and assembled themselves on her palm.

"This is what I mean," The blonde girl said as she stood up walking to the monitor on the desk. She placed her hand atop it and soon an image was projected on the device, "Can you open a portal, or teleport us there?"

"I can't only do so much with just a mental image," Was my answer as I tried to focus my power there.

"What about this then?" Ale said as some data started scrolling on the screen.

All kind of sensor readings, the Saintsworths had given me something like that too when trying to open the portal to the moon, that had... kind of worked.

"...Hmm...." So I focused the information into my power, I didn't get half of what I was reading, but my power did, and that was what mattered.

But it was to no avail.

"Not really working... Maybe if I could get an idea of how it looks or how it feels to be there it could work, but that is beyond what we can do without a mind core helping us." I said as the flare of power slowly calmed down.

Nothing we could do... Was what I thought, but Ale's eyes flashed with mischiev as her arm started to shift once more, the pieces changing and re ensambling themselves in new ways.

"If you could feel like you were there huh..." The blonde teenager said as she started moving my way, "How much do you trust me [Big Sister]?"

She asked it in the same way my sister used to ask when she was about to do something very, very stupid.