Path to the Apocalypse

“Mom, you invited Daniel?!?” Beth asked incredulously as she looked over the guest list for her and Chris's engagement party.

“I had to!” Abigail replied. “We invited Samuel and Javier, so we couldn't not invite Belinda, and we can't just tell her not to bring her own son! Besides, as much as you've become… estranged over the past few years, he is one of your oldest friends.”

Beth groaned. “Mom, you were supposed to keep this small.”

“It is small!” Abigail retorted. “Barely a hundred people!”

“I was thinking more like thirty.” Beth grumbled. “I barely even know half these people!”

“Well they know you.” Abigail countered. “And they would be very disappointed if they weren't invited to your engagement party.”

Beth eyed her suspiciously for a moment. “Fine, but if this turns into some kind of political farce, you're not getting anywhere near my wedding!”

“Does this mean I need to wear a suit?” Chris asked.

“Well-” Abigail began.

“No.” Beth cut her off with a glare. “This is not a political event, so there's no need to force everyone to dress up for it.”

Abigail clicked her tongue. “I'll need to adjust the invitations.”

“Mooom.” Beth groaned.

The two of them continued to argue over the details of the party, Abigail pushing for something more formal while Beth kept insisting on keeping things casual. Chris mostly stayed out of it, him and his minions focusing on helping set up. They were having the party at Beth's parents house, so they had to convert their patio into a dance floor, set up tables and chairs for everyone, and put up all the decorations. They also found some time to tell the squad about Chris's new form and his origins, which- didn't get the reaction they expected.

“Called it.” Zack nodded in satisfaction.

“Damn it, I thought I had it with secret government experiment.” Nadia grumbled, handing Zack a twenty.

“I still don't think this explains everything.” Carmen muttered.

“Sure, but it's still not just a random coincidence, so pay up.” Zack retorted, holding out his hand.

“He could still be the reincarnation of some kind of ancient power.” Derek commented as he handed Zack a twenty as well. “The two aren't mutually exclusive.”

“Wait, you guys were betting on his origins?” Beth asked incredulously. “Why didn't you let me in on it!?!”

Nadia rolled her eyes. “Because you and Chris tell each other everything, which would have given you an unfair advantage.”

“We had already figured out one of my parents was a slime.” Chris agreed. “What was the bet anyway?”

“What's up with Chris.” Derek explained. “It was pretty clear there was something going on with you, we just couldn't tell what. Carmen bet it was just a coincidence, Nadia bet you were a secret government experiment, I bet you were the reincarnation of an ancient power, and Zack bet you were the spawn of some sort of secret lineage.”

“You know, technically he's the spawn of two secret lineages, so I think I should get double.” Zack grinned.

“Don't push it.” Carmen growled.

“I'm not sure the people of two nations larger than the City can be called ‘secret’.” Chris pointed out.

Zack paused. “They were secret to us?”

“Just take your money and shut up.” Derek snorted, glancing at Chris. “How'd you find out about this anyway?”

“They figured it out in the game, and since we already knew about the slime thing and slimes are just baby doppelgangers, it wasn't too hard to believe, and then my new form kind of cinched it.” Chris explained. They weren't telling the squad about Jo and Salvador, not because they didn't trust them, but because it seemed wrong to give away other people's secrets like that, and they didn't need to know.

“Can we see your new form?” Carmen asked curiously.

“Are you sure? It is psychic.” Chris reminded her.

Carmen rolled her eyes. “Chris, you're the last person I'd be worried about reading my thoughts. I'm not sure you know what secrets are, let alone why you should be interested in them.”

“Hey, I have plenty of secrets.” Chris retorted.

Carmen frowned. “You do, but your secrets are ‘if people learn about this someone could get hurt’ not ‘if people learn about this, I would be embarrassed’. I suppose I meant you don't know what embarrassment is.”

“Ah, yeah, that one's a bit trickier for me.” Chris nodded in agreement. “Though mostly I just don't get why someone would do something they'd be embarrassed about… maybe if you didn't fully think things through, I guess? I don't know, it just seems like every ‘embarrassing’ story I've heard is either a series of incredibly avoidable events or just someone doing what they enjoy and getting laughed at, which is honestly more cruel than embarrassing in my opinion.”

“And this is why I don't care if you read my thoughts.” Carmen rolled her eyes. Derek nodded in agreement, though Zack and Nadia looked a bit more hesitant before they followed suit.

“Well, if you say so.” Chris shrugged, transforming for them. “Not much to see though. Just the ears and the horns.”

“More than enough to make things obvious, though.” Nadia muttered as she studied him. “At least for anyone who knows about the elves and the doppelgangers.”

“Exactly, which is why we're going to do our best to avoid using this form.” Beth agreed as Chris returned to normal. “We don't need to paint the target on Chris's back any bigger than it already is.”

“Or our own.” Zack grimaced. “We already barely leave Chris's space as it is because that fucking shooter!”

Carmen sighed. “And now even without the shooter we have to worry about getting kidnapped and used against Chris somehow.”

“I can't wait until we all move to Earth.” Derek agreed.

“You guys do know you can hang out on Earth now right?” Beth pointed out. “No one's stopping you.”

The three of them paused, sharing a few looks. “To the bar?” Zack suggested.

“To the bar!” Derek grinned.

“Someplace with dancing.” Carmen insisted.

“You guys want to come with?” Derek asked, glancing at Chris, Beth, and Nadia.

“Maybe next time.” Beth shook her head. “We still have a party to put together.”

“I'm good.” Nadia also turned them down.

“Suit yourselves.” Derek shrugged. “Let's go!” He announced, jumping to his feet to lead the others out, Chris opening a portal to Earth for them. Unfortunately, they'd all forgotten the drinking age in the US was twenty-one… and they didn't have ID's.

*

“Beth, congratulations!” Katerina exclaimed as she arrived, giving Beth a polite hug before turning to Chris. “And Chris! I knew I sensed a connection between the two of you back then!”

Chris frowned slightly, not remembering who this woman was. “Back when?”

Katerina's smile stiffened slightly as Beth struggled not to laugh, before letting out a slight chuckle. “Ah, you probably wouldn't remember, would you? We had a brief interaction at the Debut Ball, but I imagine you had… other things on your mind at the time.” She glanced at Beth with a cheeky smirk.

It was Beth's turn to give her a stiff smile as she moved on, mingling with the rest of the guests. “Ugh, why did Mom have to invite her.” Beth grumbled.

“Probably the same reason she invited half the other people.” Chris shrugged. “Because it would have been inconvenient politically to not invite her.” Even with Beth cutting down the guest list as much as possible, they only had about twenty people they actually wanted there, namely the squad, Penny, Thad, Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. Veach, Jo, Salvador, Beth's parents, a few of David's military buddies, and Beth's cousins. Everyone else was just there because of politics.

Beth sighed. “I know, it just sucks that we can't just have a party without politics getting involved.”

“Yeah, but we're going to need these connections soon, so it'd probably be a bad time to offend everyone.” Chris commented.

Beth glared at him. “Stop using logic while I'm trying to vent!”

Chris paused. “I'm not sure I can?”

“Of course you can't.” Beth grumbled, struggling to suppress a smile, then freezing as she saw the next guests walk in. “The Monteros are here.” She groaned.

Belinda searched the crowd of guests until she spotted them, immediately making her way towards them dragging a bitter looking Daniel along with her while an older man followed. “Beth, Chris, congratulations.” She nodded at them curtly, before nudging Daniel.

“Yeah, congratulations.” Daniel mumbled, not even looking at them. Belinda nudged him harder, giving him a sharp look. “I mean, congratulations! I'm so happy for you two!” Daniel looked up, giving them a difficult smile.

Belinda nodded in satisfaction, turning back to them. “Beth, you remember my father, Marco?”

“Of course, it's good to see you again.” Beth gave him a polite smile. Marco was in charge of managing the Monteros military contracts, so he was almost a required presence whenever any of the Generals hosted an event. He was more focused on David, so she'd never interacted much with him, but it was inevitable that they'd become familiar with each other.

“It's wonderful to see how much you've grown, and I've been hearing great things about this fiancé of yours!” Marco smiled back, turning to Chris. “I hear you have quite the ability.”

“I don't have an ability.” Chris corrected. “It's a mutation that doesn't rely on ability energy to function, though it does use it to grow.” Chris smiled. “I didn't even discover it until I died in the Trial.”

Marco blinked. “No ability? That's-” He cut off, eyes widening as Chris's smile widened slightly. He coughed. “How interesting! Well, it was good to meet you, but we should leave you to your other guests, hm?” He quickly pushed Belinda and Daniel along, getting weird looks from both them and Beth.

Chris watched him go for a moment with a thoughtful expression. “That- may have been a mistake.”

“Huh?” Beth frowned at him. “What- just happened?”

“Oh, I just met my grandfather.” Chris explained in a dismissive tone. “I don't think he realized it until I poked him a little… probably should have just left him ignorant.”

“You- what- what?!?” Beth stammered, looking between him and Marco. “That was-”

“Yup.” Chris nodded. “The man who abandoned me after my parents death. Or something like that. Speaking of…” He waved as Jo arrived at the same time as the Richardsons, the Veaches, Penny, and Thad, who'd all come together.

Beth glared at him. “This conversation is not over.” She growled, turning to smile as Jo and Mrs. Richardson arrived simultaneously.

“Con-” Jo began.

“Chri-” Mrs. Richardson began as well, both of them cutting off as they noticed the other talking. “Sorry, please go ahead.” Mrs. Richardson ceded. She would probably take more time with Chris, so it'd be rude to make Jo wait.

“No, no, please, you go.” Jo insisted, thinking the same, not wanting to give up a chance to interact with her son, even if only casually.

“How about this? Jo, this is Mrs. Richardson, the owner of the Richardson Orphanage. Mrs. Richardson, this is Jo, one of the City's top ability researchers.” Beth interjected.

“It's nice to meet you.” Mrs. Richardson smiled, shaking Jo's hand. “But please, call me Mary.” She glanced at Chris and Beth. “The both of you should too. You're adults now.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you as well.” Jo smiled back. “Can I assume you're the one we have to thank for raising such an impressive young man?”

Mary shook her head. “As much as I would love to take credit, all I can say is that I showed him the right direction. Chris is the one who developed himself into the man he is today.” She shot him a proud smile, before turning back to Jo. “How do you know Chris?”

“The City has made studying his capabilities a priority, and as one of the top ability researchers, I was the one they called.” Jo explained. “I've been getting to know him over the past few weeks and I've been very impressed.” She shot Chris a proud smile of her own, before turning it to Beth. “But I'm more familiar with Beth. My job requires me to maintain a close relationship with the Generals, so I've watched her become an impressive young woman in her own right.”

“I'm so happy you found each other!” Mary exclaimed, pulling Chris and Beth into a hug, Jo watching with a hint of envy, wishing she could do the same.

The rest of Mrs. Richardsons’ group finally made their way over, pushing Jo off to the side as they all gave Chris and Beth their congratulations. She watched them sadly for a moment, though she made sure to keep a polite smile on her face, until she couldn't take it anymore and turned to go, only to pause as Penny approached her nervously. “E-excuse me, but are you Jo Vuntula?”

“That's me!” Jo replied, forcing a cheerful tone into her voice.

Penny practically squealed. “I'm your biggest fan! I've read all your papers! I'm doing a project based on your cyclic energy theory! I'm growing beans in areas with higher and lower concentrations of ambient energy, and then using my friend Thad's ability to show that the beans grown in higher concentration areas increase his potential energy more than the ones in lower concentration areas! His ability lets him convert food into potential energy in just a few minutes, so he's the perfect test subject!”

Jo blinked. Her cyclic energy theory was based on the elves' use of high energy plants to balance out the energy from ability cores to create potions with special effects. Since the energy from potions acted like potential energy, she'd theorized that the food people consumed wasn't converted into potential energy itself, but instead that ambient energy was absorbed into plants and animals as they developed and when people ate, that energy was converted into potential energy. The theory hadn't gained much traction in the City though, since high energy plants simply didn't exist and there were too many factors involved in replenishing potential energy for any study to be conclusive. Unless, of course, a little scientist lucked into the perfect test subject. “I would be very interested in the results of your study. Would you mind if I gave you my email, so you could send me the results?”

Penny nodded vigorously, not trusting herself to respond. Jo Vuntula wanted to see the results of her experiment! She felt like she was about to faint from sheer joy! Jo handed her a business card after writing her personal email on the back and Penny had to resist the urge to squeal again as she rushed over to Thad. “I just got Jo Vuntula's personal email!”

Thad blinked. “Who?”

Penny scowled at him. “She's the one who developed the theory we're testing!”

“Oh… cool?” Thad offered hesitantly.

“She's the smartest person in the entire City!” Penny growled. Thad just looked at her blankly. “Ugh, you suck.”

“Hey, I'm the whole reason you can even do that experiment!” Thad protested.

“So you should at least know the person who developed the theory!” Penny retorted.

“All I have to do is eat beans! Why do I need to know anything?!?” Thad countered.

Penny huffed. “I'm going to go find Derek.” She walked off, stopping to glare at Thad as he followed her.

“What? I want to see him too.” He shrugged.

Meanwhile, Chris and Beth had to say goodbye to the Richardsons and the Veaches as more guests arrived to say congratulations. Thankfully the party was still relatively small, so it didn't take much longer before they were finally free to join the party themselves, quickly making their way over to the corner where most of their friends and family were congregating while the political side continued to mingle. “Mom is definitely not in charge of the guest list for our wedding.” Beth grumbled as they made their way over.

“What are we going to do for that?” Chris wondered. “I'm torn between rushing to get it out of the way and waiting until after… things are settled.”

Beth frowned, then let out a sigh. “I think we have to wait until after. If we do it before, we're going to have to deal with something like this again, and there's no way to rush that.”

“Hm, fair.” Chris agreed. “Though it's getting harder to be patient.”

“Yeah… but we both know we don't want to deal with that while we're dealing with this. It's better to let things… settle.” Beth grimaced, frustrated at her own words.

“I know. Still though.” Chris sighed as they got to their friends.

“Hey, you're finally done!” Derek greeted them. “Man am I glad I don't have to deal with politics.”

“Are you sure about that?” Beth smirked. “I've seen the looks you and my cousin Chelsea have been sharing, and if you think my family has it bad with politics, you don't want to know what goes on with her Family.”

Derek froze, glancing at the cute girl he'd been trading looks with for a while and gulping. “Is there anyone here I wouldn't end up in a political mess for dating?”

“You're already sitting next to them.” Beth snickered.

Derek looked between Carmen, Nadia, and Penny. “Shit. Ow!” He yelped as Penny pinched him. “What was that for!?!”

“Language.” She sniffed, looking away and crossing her arms.

“You know, some of these girls might be worth getting into politics.” Zack muttered as he looked around.

Nadia rolled her eyes. “Based on what? All you've done is look at them!”

“Hey, I said might!” Zack protested. “Obviously if they're massive bitches, I'm not going to be into them, but it's just a fact that pretty girls get more leeway in the baggage department. The more attractive you are, the more people will put up with to keep you around. It's like… science or something.”

“Except beauty fades, and the baggage doesn't.” Nadia retorted.

“I don't know about you, but I'm friends with this guy named Chris who can keep people looking like they're in their twenties forever.” Zack countered.

“Still, after a hundred years of looking at the same face, how special is it going to be?” Thad commented. “People get used to everything, eventually, so if you're relying on something ‘special’ to maintain your relationship, it isn't going to last.”

“And you get bored with a meal before you're even done eating it.” Carmen snorted.

Zack clicked his tongue. “Damn it, all I was trying to say is that they're hot!”

“Well then find better qualities to admire.” Nadia huffed.

“Alright, enough arguing!” Carmen hopped to her feet. “There's music, there's a dance floor, and my feet are getting itchy. Who wants to dance with me?”

“Chris and I will join you, but you're going to need to get your own partner.” Beth replied, latching on to Chris's arm.

“I'm down to dance.” Derek shrugged.

“Me too!” Penny quickly agreed, shooting a look at Thad.

“I guess I can dance.” Thad muttered.

“Great! I'll dance with you then. Dancing with Derek would be weird.” Carmen smirked, giving Penny a quick wink as she grabbed Thad and pulled him onto the dance floor.

Penny flushed slightly as she grabbed Derek's arm. “Come on, you're dancing with me then.”

Zack glanced at Nadia as the others left. “So… Do you want to dance?”

“Why don't you go ask one of the ‘hot’ girls?” Nadia retorted.

Zack groaned. “Come on, I'm trying to be nice here! You don't have to punish me for it!”

Nadia froze. “I- I'm sorry, you right, I just- sorry, yeah, let's dance.” She agreed, the two of them awkwardly joining the others on the dance floor.

The rest of the night passed like that, Chris, Beth, and their friends ignoring the political side while they enjoyed the party, dancing, eating, playing games, and generally having a good time. At least until Salvador arrived, looking panicked. “Jo! Chris! We have to go!” He cried as he stumbled into the party.

“What- Salvador! Are you okay?!?” Jo exclaimed, rushing over to him, Chris not far behind her, along with Beth and the rest of the squad.

“We don't have time!” Salvador growled, rushing up to Chris. “Open a portal, get us out of here! Take everyone you can!”

Chris frowned but did as he said, opening a portal. “Everyone, go!” No one moved. “Now!” The squad rushed through the portal, along with anyone who knew Chris, more than aware that if Chris was shouting, things were bad. Chris turned back to Salvador. “What's going on?”

“They found out about Earth.” Salvador explained in a tense tone. “I don't know how, but they did. They're mobilizing everyone in the City to get you! To hold you however they can until they come! And they're sending cultivators!”