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Ganymede was on edge. She was always on edge, of course, but there were times when she was able to hide it better, push it back and let it sink into her subconscious.

This was not one of those times.

It was bad enough that Kerberos and three other Senshi had been stuck in a strange place with so many of the Negaverse’s strongest, only for Kerberos himself to be used as a pawn by Jet of all people. (Ganymede’s hands curled into fists just thinking of it.) What Kerberos and the others had learned there was somehow even worse. The Earth could be in danger. Nevermind that it was always in danger. This was the world-ending kind, quicker than Metallia’s slow, decades-long conquest.

“If this is what he described, I don’t know of any others like it,” Ganymede said, joining Valhalla in his gaze toward the ceiling above them.

She remembered the first time she’d been here, watching the gradual spread of energy among the stars.

“I wonder why he was able to see it and not the rest of you,” she mulled the thought over. By the look on her face, one could assume she was far from pleased that Jet had been granted the privilege. “At least he can’t get here.”

That he might be reliant on them for information was only a meager consolation.

"It would make sense, then, why it chose certain people... Having General Kings there would make sure that their leaders had first hand knowledge of the situation." Ida said as she reached out for Kerberos's free hand, curling her fingers into his until their palms touched. "I wish they'd been a little more... discerning about who they took, though."

Hearing about how Kerberos had been ripped out of DC and whisked off to some unknown place had been scary... things like that happened, from time to time, of course. Destiny City was a focal point for strange magic, like something out of a late night TV show. But so much more real and infinitely more intense than any fiction she'd ever read or seen. And she didn't like that she hadn't been there too. Something could have happened to him, whatever he had said about what Jet had done, and she wouldn't have known until Murikabushi had returned. She wouldn't have been able to do anything, for him or anyone else, while she was rushing about the hospital at the tail end of a twelve hour shift, unaware of any of it.

"I don't like that one of them knows about the theatre, either." Ida added, turning her eyes away from Kerberos to the two others there. "They've already demonstrated terrible machines now that they've recruited the off-worlders... And since one of them got us into Negaspace, I don't like our chances that someone else won't be able to reach here, now that it's a point of interest. If they can reach here, who knows how much further they'll be able to reach."

It was hard to stop herself from continuing down that thought path. The Vanguard had the technology to transport themselves from wherever they'd come from to Earth... why wouldn't they be able to reach other places?

"So if this place is important, maybe we should put a watch on it. Find a couple of people who can rotate coming up here to check on it, make sure there isn't anything happening. If not just to make sure the Negaverse hasn't reached it, but also to see if there is something else here that's important."

The theatre had not been a place Ida had visited often by her own volition. She remembered being brought here, maybe once or twice, but it had been a long time ago. With everything going on, the cold, ruined room had held less appeal than the warm sunshine of her own asteroid when even her time to visit that had been limited.

Briefly, Ganymede took Valhalla’s hand, pressing the glowing, golden scar on her palm against the silver one across his. She squeezed, half desperate and half comforting, no more thrilled than he was by the idea that any of them might need the Negaverse’s help.

“If they didn’t find out about the Theatre from one of us, I’m sure they would’ve found out about it some other way. Eventually,” Ganymede said, not reassuring so much as matter-of-fact. In her experience, the Negaverse never remained ignorant of things for long. “Maybe by someone they’ve corrupted. Maybe from something in the ruins down in the Dark Kingdom. Maybe from a Velencian.

“Setting up a watch would probably be a good idea,” she agreed with Ida. “Put the word out. Have volunteers take shifts. Maybe have some of the Moon knights time their Wonder visits so they can keep an eye on things from the outside. After the Surrounding, I’ve always assumed it’ll only be a matter of time before the Negaverse finds their way out into space again.”

She gave Valhalla’s hand a final squeeze before releasing it, putting her hand along his back to gently nudge him toward the hall where the Code piece was waiting.

“Go on,” she said. “Might as well ask the Code if there’s been any more disturbances in the force.”

Meanwhile, Ganymede approached the console in the corner, motioning Kerberos and Ida closer.

“You’ve got the first hand experience on this, so you should do the honors,” she told Kerberos, trying for a smile. Given the situation, it sat a bit tense on her face.

The Negaverse might have found out about the Theatre some other way, but that way would not have painted a big, glowing target on it that shouted 'There is something important here!', Ida thought. That was her biggest concern, as far as the theatre went. It felt more likely that the Negaverse would try to take it, than work with them to share whatever was here that they all needed.

Ida had tried to work with the Negaverse in the past, when the Blight had been threatening Earth, and it had sort of worked... but that alliance had been an uneasy one that had not lasted past the destruction of that common enemy. The Negaverse could work with them, but she had no delusions that it would be their first choice, or that it wouldn't end up being dangerous for the White Moon along the way.

The eternal let her hand part from Kerberos' as he stepped forward to speak to the console. Ganymede was here to help him, so she drifted after Valhalla instead. Down the hall to the room with the podium, she felt a strange sort of nervousness in the back of her mind... like meeting a friend's parents for the first time, and hoping they'd like you. It felt silly in the face of... well, everything, but as a senshi, she has such little contact or experience with the magical force that gave knights their power. There were so many little pieces of it on her asteroid, the place she had sworn to protect...

What if it didn't like her, or didn't think she was good enough for all its little parts and the Knights that protected them?

That truly was a stupid thought though, and she pushed it down as she let Valhalla lead the way.

“Clarify,” the computer demanded, in a grating, mechanical tone. The screen flickered black but the computer itself still hummed quietly as power flowed through it.

“Electrical s-s-s-tor-m-s-s-s-s-s–”

Something popped behind the computer and it suddenly swelled to life. The voice made a strange zipping sound and then returned with full energy.

“--are frequent in the outer regions where unstable energy pockets misfire. Please chart travel paths accordingly to avoid structural damage.”

The screen flashed and scrolled through a long list of numbers, like the console was running statistics.

“Unidentified: Serpent. Unidentified: Monster. Specify.”


“Oh, well hello to you too, Valhalla. Yes, it’s nice to see you too, I’ve been well, thank you. And you?”

The Code sounded strained, and even its quip was half hearted and low. It was no dimmer than usual, no less active, but there was a sort of friction that collected as the light mist swirled.

“Don’t bother answering, I can tell already.” Valhalla was typically a courteous Knight, respectable and polite.

“I regret to inform that I do not have such concise answers. I can tell you that you have a problem on your hands. A big one. But I do not have eyes to see it. There are a great many issues manifesting simultaneously and I cannot monitor them all at once. I wish I could say I had confidence you could avoid this but I find the chances slimming rather quickly. Could what Kerberos saw be related to the issues I had? Yes. It could be. A creature that can destroy worlds would be an entity powerful enough to cause such issues. I would categorize that as a ‘greater thing’ by which to concern yourselves with.”

Kerberos exhaled. He hadn't expected much, but....well, his question hadn't exactly been formulated well, so perhaps that was on him.

"Alas. I guess it's not surprising that thousand year old tech remains glitchy as hell."

Still, he pulled up the pictures on his phone, in case the computer did have a way to interface with it and take the pictures. That....would be very, very helpful. He also held his phone over the console, like that might make something work. Magical Bluetooth, or something.

"Additionally, we recovered a magical artifact. A spike, about two feet long, dark metallic gray with a greenish tint. It has a long crossguard about a quarter of the way down, and is topped with a black orb that, under the right light, seems to have stars inside. Is that description familiar?"

He sort of wished Murikabushi was here to show it, but he'd been so exhausted--better to let him rest.

Valhalla smiled softly at the Code’s response. No, this wasn’t a happy occasion, but the familiarity was a nice reprieve to everything they could potentially be facing. Besides, he was fairly certain that no matter how he greeted the Code, it would quip back at him.

After having been unknowingly lost in Negaspace for a thousand years, this Cornerstone piece was allowed to respond however it wished, in Valhalla’s opinion.

He drew in a steadying breath as he listened to the Code’s response, although he took a moment to cringe at the sound of the computer not being as helpful with Ganymede and Kerberos.

Hopefully they could get things sorted out.

He also noticed the reaction Ida had, and he tilted his head curiously.

“Is this your first time meeting the Code? Sorry, I didn’t realize,” he smiled sympathetically. He didn’t mean to jump into things and leave her feeling stranded, if her wide eyes said anything.

“This is Princess Ida,” he introduced, gesturing to the Senshi as he spoke to the Code. “But since there are Knights with Wonders on Ida, I can only assume you knew already.”

Or maybe Valhalla was overestimating the Code’s innate ability to sense things like that. He hoped not. Nothing in the past had suggested that the Code didn’t have knowledge beyond all human comprehension.

He nodded in response to Ida’s questions, before elaborating.

“Kerberos and others, including those from the Negaverse, were spirited away to a place with murals depicting a serpent devouring a world, but then being trapped within six spikes, like lightning rods. One of the General Kings said he saw a white ceiling with a living star map. Kerberos determined it must be the Celestial Theatre. I know this wasn’t your original place of residence before the Fall, but can you think of any reason why it would be relevant? Did the Moon Kingdom have a hand in helping to seal the serpent away in the past?”

The knowledge that there were ‘a great many issues manifesting simultaneously’ was troubling, but he could only trust that the Code would tell them if they needed to focus their attention on one or another.