Published at 28th of March 2026 7:57 am

Chapter 17 StarGaze Dynamics Pt III (Rorschach Pov) [TRIGGER WARNING]

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(Rorschach POV)

The ability that Nobody gave me is powerful and fits me like my favorite pair of Jimmy Choos. I'm sure it's a complete coincidence, there's no way Nobody knows about my childhood. He likely only thought of the synergies between the two Ruler abilities. My father, Harrison Leighton, insisted that every one of his offspring should be well versed in no less than fifty different ways to put an opponent into checkmate. He believed that chess acumen somehow translates into business shrewdness. He's an insufferable dickhead, and the chess thing was just one of the many obligations he said were expected of an heir to the Leighton name. The only positive quality that came out of it was the ability to recognize and understand what each piece is worth. From the necessary sacrifice of one of your pawns to bait your opponent, to the utilization of a rook to take space and threaten check, but above all, the power and value of the queen.

It's the most versatile piece, the one that can make or break a strategy. And thanks to the combination of both powers, I am able to control any of the pieces as if I had spawned them from ink. Its easy to control one of my ink creations because I shaped them, gave them form and purpose. They feel malleable, their movements are fluid and weightless. The new summons do not feel like that at all; theyre heavy, firm, solid like a mountain or a concrete slab. It reminds me of when I was learning to drive stick. I was clumsily fumbling around at first, but once I understood what I was doing, everything came together perfectly. Just like being in the field, I will get better with time.

From the bug I have on the ceiling, I see Tuesday running into the room and then immediately start attacking the security forces. I stay behind the corner just like Isaiah said, but piloting my summoned queen and hovering in the air with the regal aura I deserve means I dont have to act carefully or worry for my own safety. I fly through the air, shooting down the hallway toward the room where Tuesday is battling the guards, and Isaiah is bleeding out. A pair of arms sprout from three of the guards' backs, covering their eyes with their hands. The three men flail a bit and then scream in unison as Tuesday releases the mens heads, with all of their eyes missing and blood dribbling out of the empty sockets. Jesus Christ.

I point my scepter at one of the men about to gun her down and yank my arm to my left, telekinetically whipping the man into the rail gun. The operator tries to salvage the weapon, but one of the supports is bent, and it falls over. Now that the biggest threat to my summon is gone, I can start helping Tuesday with more. I blink in front of her to block a hail of gunfire aimed at her. The bullets don't go through my queen; they bounce off, but not before causing cracks to form. My arm even gets a chunk blown out of it; thankfully, neither my summons nor my creations feels pain. Black ribbons drip down my body from the lightly pulsing cracks. A stream of ink similar to a running faucet pours out of the injured portion of my arm. Another one of the combination abilities Ive discovered.

The guards continue to fire at me, releasing more ink from my injuries. They have no idea theyre only making me stronger. Tuesday creates a mouth on each of them; none of them notices her doing it. She dives behind one of the men she blinded, and to my surprise, they dont try to shoot through him. I watch her toss a bloody butchers knife up into the air. The group of guards guns track the knife as it goes up, but they switch back to their coworker that Tuesday is holding hostage. They dont see it. I pick a man up and smash him into a group of them like a bowling ball. Every one that I can defeat is one I can prevent Tuesday from maiming or murdering. I doubt these fuckers appreciate it either. A rocket is launched at me, and Im not trying to test whether the queen can take an explosion of that magnitude. The projectile freezes mid-air as I use my telekinesis to send the explosive colliding with the minigun that the security forces set up. They havent used it yet, but itd be stupid not to destroy that. The two men wielding it dodge out of the way, but the blast sends them careening away. Neither man lands on his feet, and the sounds they make when they hit the ground dont bode well for them. Be happy you fought me and not the crazy bitch.

Combining the ones Isaiah murdered and I handled, only leaves Tuesday with ten left to defeat. And three of them are blind. For all the experience and military adjacent backgrounds the guards have, they arent very observant. They noticed the blade go into the air, but havent questioned why it hasnt come back down yet. Above on the ceiling is a pair of eyes and a single girls arm. In its grasp is the butchers knife, and as the standoff stretches on, she waits patiently. With my sight, I finally understand her plan; the dissonant pieces actually fit together in a way I couldnt see. Id give you credit if you werent such a psychotic little freak.

Now that I know she has this in hand, I blink through the wall of flesh to check on Isaiah. Hes pale, sweat dripping off him. His torso is entirely smoke, and it appears as if that isnt a choice. Holy shit, he does not look good. I levitate him off the ground, waiting for Tuesdays plan to come to fruition. All at once, the mouths scream, and even though theyre all highly trained, they arent expecting it. In the brief moment where they pause, she strikes. She jabs a kitchen knife under the man shes holdings armor, swiping the dagger to the right. He gasps in pain as his side is split open, blood spilling out. The blinded bleeding man starts shooting his rifle as she aims him at his comrades. Hes yelling that hes not in control of his body, but his cries fall on dead ears as he guns down five of his comrades. She shoves him away, and the butchers blade descends like a literal Sword of Damocles, plunging halfway into a mans face.

She sprints at the last four like an Olympic runner, then slides across the ground using all my spilled ink. Shes moving so quickly that she goes between a mans legs, hooking her hand on his ankle to turn to the right. The kitchen knife, still covered in blood, gets lodged in the side of his knee as she jumps off the ground at another guard. Pulling her bandana down while knocking his helmet off his face in one fluid motion. Please dont. She leans in, chomping down on his nose and ripping and tugging like a dog with a steak. With a roar of pain, he manages to throw her off him, but the damage is done. The majority of his nose is gone, blood splurting out of the hole. Two men wounded, both clutching injuries she inflicted on them.

The two survivors are quick to switch to sidearms. A closed hand grows out of her hand, opening like a flower bud. The opened hand has three times as many fingers as it should. Then it multiplies, each finger sprouting a new hand and so on, until a massive mycelium-like network of phallanges and palms blooms to encompass the men. They fire shot after shot, but Tuesday just laughs as more flesh grows in its place. What the actual fuck is wrong with her? I cant see the two men anymore; theyre buried in her finger cocoon. I start running, rounding the corner and heading to meet up with the two of them. The moment I enter the room, Tuesday smiles at me, her teeth red as she chews on the nose. She pulls her bandana back into position, but the message is clear. She will kill me and then eat me. And not necessarily in that order.

I involuntarily shiver as a wave of fear settles on me, cradling me like a new Hermes coat. The display has completely dashed the high I was riding from finally feeling powerful. That bitch is a monster. The fact that she listens to Nobody is truly astounding. Howd you do it, Eryk? If she was tying to scare me, she succeeded. The sooner I can get away from her and thoroughly shower the disgusting feeling off of myself, the better Ill be.

So, where we going next? Tuesday asked.

Our journey to get to the center of StarGaze Dynamics is an uninteresting one. Im not sure if whoever is in charge has determined it isnt worth it to send bodies into the meat grinder that Tuesday has shown herself to be, or if they have some other idea in mind. I was able to use all the ink that queen bled to create a couple of different creatures. A horde of hummingbirds flutter around us, zipping into every lab to look for valuables, and a pitch-black anaconda follows me closely. We get to a giant metal hanger door with Atlus Initiative painted onto it. Off to the side is a console fitted with multiple biometric scanners. Tuesday whistles at the elaborate measures before rifling through her bag to pull out an eyeball and a severed hand.

Who wouldve thought security would be so tight here? What are they keeping aliens here? She asked, gasping. Do you think thats it? God, I want to meet an alien. And not the kind that makes phone calls and rides bikes, no, I want the one that burns holes in crop fields and puts probes inside people they abduct. Do you think they use machines because they dont have dicks? It would probably be rude to ask. They might even have two dicks.

Please, just open the fucking door, I responded.

You are an awful conversational partner, you know that? Youre snippy and rude. When we start doing peer reviews, this is gonna come up, dont you worry, she said.

Open the goddamn door, Isaiah groaned.

Okay, god. Forgot I was an indentured servant working for such a cruel master and mistress. Oh, master, we shouldnt. The mistress has been too good to me, Tuesday said, caressing herself.

Despite her disturbing one-woman play, shes working on getting the door open. The eye scanner and palm print go through no problem, but then it asks for a verbal password.

Hey, slight problem. I didnt consider this earlier, but Im pretty confident that my powers dont work on machines. They dont have senses for me hijack. Im not actually mimicking a persons voice, Im making you think that I am. Whoopsy, Tuesday said.

We tried to sneak in, but that didnt work. We tried to hack the security measures, and that didnt work either. I didnt want to show off any other summons during this, especially since were currently on camera. But Im not going to risk the plan failing or willingly endanger Miles safety, just because I wanted to keep things hidden. Holding my palm out again, four black liquid vortexes form on the floor. It takes a second, but four pawns slowly climb out of the inky depths. Theyre not as big as the queen, not even close in size to me, but that makes sense. Pawns exist to be sacrificed. The four small guys run at the metal door, and I move Isaiah out of harm's way. But I dont say anything to Tuesday, and when the four of them explode, she is blown back onto her ass and covered in ink. It didnt hurt her seriously; at worst, it rattled her head a little bit. Maybe itll fix her. It isnt a smart decision to make, especially after she threatened me, but I refuse to be cowed by that worthless fuck. Scared, but not helpless. Ink is everywhere from the explosion, dripping down from the ceiling, running down the walls, and all over the remaining part of the door.

Holy shit, that was awesome. That was a good one, Tuesday said happily.

Yeah. Well, the doors open. Do you have the doctors robot? I asked.

Of course, Tuesday answered, pulling out a black sphere with a red line down the front of it. She wipes the blood and ink off it with her sleeve. Kais drone looks like an evil eye. I cant be sure if it was an intentional choice, but knowing his love of flair and pomp, it was. She shakes it a couple of times, peering into the eye. Dear Magic 8 Ball, will Jimmy Smuckers ask me to go with the formal?

No, youll die alone, Kais voice said, coming out of the drone.

That isnt one of the possible responses, Tuesday countered.

Shut up, the drone replied. It flies out of Tuesdays hands and heads through the hole I blew open. Follow along now, children. Also, what is it about you people that makes you get hurt so often? I swear not a single job goes off without one of you getting gravely injured.

I send my hummingbirds in after him, then my queen. Isaiah floats alongside me, and my anaconda slithers after us. Tuesday is the last one in, complaining that we left her behind. Kais drone is talking, continuing to berate our ineffectiveness. Hes only got balls when hes safe several states away. The lights turn on all at once, and Im hit with awe at the spectacle before me.

Hey, doc. Yours is looking pretty small in comparison, I mocked. Lemme guess, more of a grower than a shower?

Hes not the only one who can be bitchy.

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