Chapter Text
With their stomachs finally full after the absolute nightmare they'd just survived, the group settled in to formulate a solid plan to destroy the facility's dimensional power plant.
They had dragged the cheap plastic tables in the breakroom together, creating one large, makeshift war room under the harsh fluorescent lights.
"Okay," Mark started, leaning forward and resting his hands on the table. "Oliver mentioned a power plant that's actively feeding off energy siphoned from different universes." He looked around the circle. Oliver was seated right next to him, directly across from Claire. Mark shifted his gaze to the former employee. "Claire, you know this facility better than anyone here since you worked here. Where is it?"
Claire nodded slowly, her expression grim. "I do. It's just outside. Once you open the door of the lab, you'll see a cliff that drops down into a massive cavern below. There are a total of five buildings in this facility, with this laboratory being at the far end. There are three buildings just like this one, and two massive structures that interconnect—one being the main headquarters, and the other being the power plant." She took a deep breath. "Stepping out of this building, you need to take a left. The path is... rough. The foundation of the facility is stable, yes, but it was built directly onto the uneven, jagged terrain of this part of Greenland. It is incredibly dangerous to navigate on foot in the snow."
The rest of the table leaned in closer, hanging on her every word.
"When we came to work here, Doctor Barclay provided different vehicles he had extracted from various fictional worlds," Claire continued, her voice echoing slightly in the quiet room. "Mostly hovercrafts, to give us easy, safe access between the buildings. But when I came back today, I noticed all those machines were completely missing, leaving me to walk the entire way on foot... which was not fun,"
Mark folded his arms, "I assume there are a lot of hidden ridges and rocks buried under the snow?"
"Exactly," Claire nodded. "That's why walking is so dangerous."
August blinked, looking between the group. "Well, who's volunteering to go turn the thing off then?"
Jasper tilted his head, shooting a deadpan look at Claire. "Obviously her," he said bluntly. "Pretty self-explanatory, isn't it? She worked here, she knows the layout, she should know how to shut it down."
Claire sighed heavily, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I don't." She shrugged. "I had high-level clearance for almost the entire facility... everything except the power plant. It always confused me as to why I could go anywhere but the 'generator' room of all things, but after finding out what that plant is actually doing, it all made sense."
August ran a hand exhausted down his face. "Well, I guess she can't go. At least, definitely not alone." He looked across the table, his eyes landing squarely on Oliver and Venti. "You two have weapons. And Mark does too. Though, I still don't really understand how Oliver is casually wielding a blocky sword from Minecraft with a magical Vision from Genshin Impact... but whatever. Maybe you guys can just go over there and blow the power plant up?"
Claire's eyes went wide, and she frantically waved her hands at August. "No, no, no! That is a terrible idea! I don't know exactly what will happen if you attack the reactor, but basic instinct tells me that if you detonate a reactor actively drawing live energy from multiple dimensions... it will not end well for any of us."
August winced. "Okay, fair. You have a point."
"And either way," Mark interjected. "Even if Claire hadn't made that very valid point, I'd still be staying right here in case. I'm going to let Venti and Oliver go alone. I've seen them in action; they can handle themselves out there. Someone needs to stay behind to protect the rest of you in case things go south."
Jasper frowned, looking at Mark. "But isn't Doctor Barclay dead?"
"It wasn't him I was worried about," Mark replied. He glanced back at Claire. "Are you absolutely sure there aren't any other people working here with you today?"
"As I said, there used to be," Claire murmured. "But there hasn't been a soul around in the weeks leading up to today. I mean, it was never a crowded workplace, but I used to see at least one or two people walking by."
"Huh," Mark said softly. "Well, I'm staying here as a precaution regardless."
"Fine by me," Claire agreed.
"Also," Mark started again, "the other laboratory rooms. You said there are two other places exactly like the one they woke up in. Are there other test subjects trapped inside them? I did a quick perimeter check when I first arrived, but I didn't venture off into the depths of the snow to fully explore the surroundings, because judging by what I saw from my spot it was going to be a full day thing and I had other matters I needed to attend too,"
August leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Yeah, if there are other extraction labs, obviously there are other people, right?"
Venti winced, his heart aching at the thought. "That's horrible! We have to go help them as soon as possible!"
Claire quickly shook her head, her expression completely solemn. "Those buildings are completely down. And by down, I mean they are dead." She looked down at the plastic table, her voice dropping to a whisper. "If you don't believe me, you're free to break the doors down and check. Not that it matters to me anymore—Barclay is dead. But the people who used to be in those labs... they've been gone for a long time. Barclay killed most of them ages ago and permanently shut labs down. The lab we are currently sitting in is the only one left functioning."
Venti gritted his teeth. He really, really hated Doctor Barclay. The bard desperately wanted to loudly declare how thrilled he was that the tyrant was dead, but he bit his tongue, acutely aware that August—the man's son—was sitting right across from him.
"Who else was working here?" Mark asked, steering the conversation. "You mentioned something about them being extracted from the Fictional Universe?"
Claire nodded. "Yes. He pulled them out using the black hole tech built into those terrible chairs. Strangely enough, all of his workers were... mortal. Well, as mortal as you and me. I heard a few of them got injured on the job and actually passed away. One of them even got a severe case of food poisoning and died."
Mark blinked, genuinely perplexed. "That's... Odd. If he had the power to extract anything he wanted from any fictional realm to guard this place, why not pull terrifying, invincible monsters? Why fragile humans?"
"I don't know," Claire said. "He never explained his reasoning, and it never made sense to me either. But they definitely had powers of some sort. They also wore these strange masks. I have no idea who or what they actually were. They looked human beneath their clothes, but they never took the masks off."
Oliver frowned. "That is strange... he had the power to extract anything, and he just brought over humans with a couple of basic powers?"
Venti nodded in agreement. "Strange indeed. The doctor himself was wearing some weird purple armor when we fought," the bard recalled, shaking his head. "Typically, a tyrant that deranged wouldn't stop at mortal guards when hunting for absolute power."
"Maybe he just wanted all the real power for himself," August grunted, his jaw tight. "There are a lot of secrets my dad kept from me. Finding out he was secretly a selfish megalomaniac isn't exactly a shock."
"Maybe he wanted all the power for himself," August grunted, his teeth gritting. "There's a lot of secrets dad has kept from me. Him being secretly selfish is nothing,"
"Okay!" Venti suddenly stood up, clapping his hands together. "Well, if we have the layout figured out, Oliver and I will be more than happy to head out there."
Claire looked at Venti in alarm. "Wait, hold on, we have to think this through! Look at what you're both wearing!"She gestured wildly at Venti's thin corset and shorts, and Oliver's casual clothes. "Neither of you is dressed for this weather. It is freezing out there!" She turned to Oliver. "I don't know much about what your partner can withstand, but you're from California. You are definitely not used to this kind of cold."
"I don't think anyone is used to this," Arnold spoke up quietly from the end of the table. "It's practically Antarctica out there."
"Not exactly," Claire corrected. "The South Pole can drop to negative sixty degrees. Greenland wishes it was that low right now."
Venti just smiled brightly, completely unbothered by the geographical statistics he didn't understand. "Well, it doesn't matter! I can withstand anything!"
"But..." August frowned, looking at Venti. "What about Oliver? Claire, you came in here with a heavy coat. Can't you give him one?"
"I don't think it would fit him. And besides, Barclay and I were the only ones who ever wore winter coats. All of his masked coworkers just wore light uniforms," Claire explained, staring blankly at the wall as she recalled the bizarre sight. "I always wondered if they were freezing, but they never seemed to care."
Venti waved a dismissive hand at Claire. "It will be totally fine, Claire! Watch!" The bard snapped his fingers. Instantly, a warm, glowing current of green Anemo energy wrapped itself around Oliver, swirling gently around his body like an invisible, heated blanket.
Oliver gasped softly, looking down in awe as the soothing, magical wind completely enveloped him.
"Now," Venti beamed proudly. "This little wind of mine will perfectly repel the harsh cold! He'll be perfectly toasty!"
The mortals at the table just stared in stunned, blinking silence as the bard casually did his magic.
"Well... I guess that's settled, then," Claire muttered. "Though, are you absolutely sure that... is going to work?"
"Hey!" Venti pouted, crossing his arms indignantly. "Don't question the bard's magic! I know exactly what I'm doing!"
Oliver snorted, quickly slapping a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter.
Venti spun to face him, a playful, warning smile on his lips. "Hey! Don't you dare laugh at me, mister!"
August sighed deeply, rubbing his temples. "It's literally like I'm stuck inside a Genshin Impact dialog cutscene."
That completely broke Oliver, and he burst into loud, echoing laughter before desperately trying to quiet himself down. August was completely right. Ever since this entire nightmare started, "reality" had been thrown completely out the window. Their lives were just one massive, chaotic fictional crossover now.
~~~~~~
"Please, be safe out there," Claire said earnestly as she stood by the heavy exit door.
"Don't worry, we'll be totally fine!" Venti reassured her, rocking back on his heels. "Now, uh... who has the passcode for the door? Can't exactly leave without opening it."
"Oh, right," Claire quickly tapped the metal panel. "It's 8149. That's the same code you'll need to enter to get back inside."
"And take this," Mark stepped forward, holding out a bulky two-way radio. "I snagged it from where Barcley turned into the Heartless in the other room. It belonged to him, so it should already be securely connected to Claire's frequency."
Claire nodded. "Yes, so if anything goes wrong, just radio in."
Venti nodded, confidently punching the four digits into the keypad. The heavy locking mechanism clunked loudly, and the thick metal door swung open, instantly letting in a howling, violent blast of freezing Greenland air.
"Don't worry about us!" Venti smiled over his shoulder as Oliver secured the radio in his pocket.
The rest of the group had gathered in the hallway to see them off. As the arctic wind whipped into the corridor, they all violently flinched.
"Ugh, man, that is brutal," August grunted, wrapping his arms around himself.
"Ehe! We'll be off then! See you soon!" Venti beamed brightly, completely unaffected by the sub-zero chill. "Off to destroy a multidimensional power plant!" The bard grabbed Oliver's hand and practically yanked him out into the blinding white storm. The heavy metal door slammed shut securely behind them.
Oliver glanced back over his shoulder. Through the small, glass window of the door, he could see August mouthing the words, Please be safe.
Oliver gave him a firm nod. I'll try, he promised silently.
"Come on, Ollie!" Venti's voice called out over the howling wind. "Let's go find that building!"
Oliver spun around. Venti was already a few yards ahead, standing brightly against the swirling white snow. Oliver stepped forward, marveling at the sensation. The raging blizzard was screaming around him, but inside Venti's glowing Anemo bubble, the air was as perfectly temperate as a spring afternoon in Mondstadt. "I... wow. I actually feel incredibly comfortable with your wind around me."
"I told you!" Venti cheered, his braids whipping in the breeze. "My wind is powerful! Now, stay close to me. Remember what Claire said about the hidden rocks and the cliff!" Venti pointed down toward a steep, jagged drop-off completely obscured by snowdrifts. "See? One wrong step, and you're tumbling into the cavern."
Oliver immediately closed the distance, ensuring he stayed far away from the cliff's edge, walking practically shoulder-to-shoulder with his boyfriend. As they carefully trudged through the thick powder, Oliver's curiosity got the better of him.
"Okay, Venti..." Oliver started, his boots crunching loudly. "I have to ask you something."
"Hmm?" The bard hummed happily, glancing over.
"Are you seriously not cold?" Oliver asked, staring at Venti's exposed legs and arms.
"Babe, no!" Venti giggled musically. "Besides, I used to travel up into Dragonspine all the time back home whenever I needed a break from the city. I'm totally used to freezing temperatures!"
"Right, right, Dragonspine," Oliver nodded. "Okay, So... so uh, but the other thing...
"Yeah~?"
"Your clothes," Oliver pointed at Venti's pristine green, white, and gold bard clothes. "Weren't they completely shredded? When we finally escaped Silent Hill, your outfit was covered in cuts and tears..." Oliver furrowed his brow, completely baffled by the flawless fabric now adorning the Archon. "Now it's perfectly fixed, like it just came off the rack. Do you secretly have, like, magical sewing powers?"
Venti threw his head back and burst into bright, echoing laughter. "Pffft! Hahaha! Nohoho! I definitely don't, Ollie! I just used my realm!" he declared, as if that explained literally everything.
"Your realm?"
"Yes! I store all my weapons in there, remember? I told you this already. Oh! And my clothes too!" Venti explained cheerfully. "I actually own over a hundred exact copies of this exact bard outfit. Just in case one gets severely damaged! My clothes aren't invincible like I am, you know! Ehe! They get torn up all the time, and since I always lack the Mora to pay a tailor to carefully patch them up, it's honestly just cheaper to buy them in bulk!"
Oliver slowly nodded, absorbing the absolute absurdity of the logic. But he couldn't resist taking a playful jab at his boyfriend. "Lack of Mora, huh? I wonder if that's because all your money goes straight to dandelion wine?"
Venti snorted violently, reaching over to playfully shove Oliver's shoulder. "Bahaha! Nooooo, definitely not! Ehehehee!" Venti quickly looked away, a guilty, incredibly cheeky smile spreading across his face. "Well! Like I said! Tailors are simply too expensive! Bulk buying is just smart economics!"
Oliver giggled, shaking his head. "Nice save~"
"Oh, shush~," Venti teased back.
As they walked, a sudden thought crossed Oliver's mind, making him snicker quietly. "You know, you keeping a hundred identical outfits in a closet or whatever is literally exactly like that scene from the Bee Movie."
Oliver giggled, then did a terrible impression. "'Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow... Ooh, black and yellow! Let's shake it up a little!'" Oliver laughed loudly. "And then he just picks the exact same outfit anyway! You and your bard clothes are exactly like Barry."
Oliver looked over, fully expecting a laugh, only to find the most profoundly confused expression he had ever seen on the Archon's face.
Oliver blinked. Right. Of course he would not understand.
"What in the world were you just talking about?" Venti asked, his tone perfectly balancing utter confusion and amusement.
"Uhhh," Oliver rubbed the back of his neck. "It's... it's a movie from my world."
Venti pondered this for a second. "Ohhhh! I get it! The films you mentioned before!" He looked down at the snow, his brow knitting together in deep thought, before looking back up at Oliver. "Wait. A film about a bee... trying on human clothing?"
Oliver groaned playfully. "No, no, no! Well, yes, but no! It was just a comedic bit in an animated movie." Then, he looked away, mumbling, "Technically the entire movie was a comedy,"
Venti blinked, still entirely lost. "I... I have never seen a film or play about an insect before."
"It was an animation," Oliver tried to clarify, immediately realizing his mistake.
"Animation?"
"Y-Yeah! There are lots of different types! Hand-drawn, 3D computer graphics! It's like—" Oliver stopped dead in his tracks when he realized Venti's confused expression was only deepening. He sighed fondly. "Okay, you know what? I'm just going to have to show it to you someday."
Venti giggled, his bright smile returning. "Yeah, that would be very helpful!" He folded his arms comfortably against the wind. "But we definitely need to get out of here first."
"I feel like we've been walking forever," Oliver grumbled, squinting through the falling snow.
"Hey, don't be so impatient!" Venti chided lightly. "It's only been a few minutes! And look on the bright side, the snow is relatively easy to walk through! Yes, there are hidden rocks, but honestly? It's nowhere near as treacherous as navigating Dragonspine. Trust me on that."
Oliver sighed, knowing Venti was right. "I know, but... ugh, it's just weird how spaced out these buildings are. Whoever worked here definitely got their cardio in before they reached the next building, geez..."
Venti laughed, a clear, ringing sound over the howling wind. "Hahaha! Well, it was good for their mortal bodies! Especially in a freezing place like this, you really need to get that blood pumping!"
Again, Venti made a valid point. But Oliver couldn't help the dark thought creeping in. Was that really the reason? Doctor Barclay wasn't exactly the type to care about his employees' cardiovascular health. Murderous, multidimensional tyrants rarely enforced corporate wellness programs.
Pushing the dark thoughts away, Oliver looked down at the thick, powdery snow crunching beneath his shoes. "You know... I've actually always wanted to see real snow."
Venti smiled brightly, skipping ahead a few paces. He spun around gracefully and began walking backward, just to keep his eyes on Oliver. "Well, there is a first time for everything!"
Oliver looked at Venti, his heart swelling slightly. "My family never really traveled outside of California. I mean, I've seen snow from a distance. In the winter, you can see it capping the mountains... but I've never actually been in it like this."
Venti's gaze softened affectionately. "I'm really glad you're at least getting to enjoy it, even under these circumstances!" The bard offered a sweet wink before spinning back around to lead the way.
Oliver stopped walking.
He stared at the pristine white powder at his feet. There was something he had always wanted to do if he ever saw real snow. But it required a few things: Snow. A friend. Or... a boyfriend.
Oliver knelt down, plunging his hands into the freezing powder—grateful for the Anemo shield keeping his fingers warm—and scooped up a hefty pile. He quickly packed it together, rolling it between his palms until he had a perfectly dense, spherical snowball.
He looked up. Venti was still casually walking ahead, completely oblivious, his back turned.
A wicked smirk crossed Oliver's face. "Hey, babe?"
"Yeah?" Venti asked, not bothering to turn around.
Oliver didn't say a word. He pulled his arm back and launched the snowball with surprising accuracy. It nailed Venti dead center in the back, exploding into a massive puff of white powder against his green cape.
Venti froze perfectly still.
Slowly, dramatically, the bard turned around. His face was a completely blank, unreadable slate. But the stoic facade lasted exactly two seconds before a mischievous, competitive smirk cracked across his features.
Oliver snorted. "Bahahah! Hehe, got you~"
"Oh, yeah~?" Venti purred, his eyes flashing with playful danger. "Oh, it is on~!"
The bard gave a sharp wink. In a blur of divine, Archon-level speed, Venti dropped to a crouch. Before Oliver could even blink, the bard had perfectly crafted over five snowballs.
Oliver's jaw dropped in sheer, playful terror. "Ah?!" he shrieked. "Hey! How did you do that so fast?!" he laughed, taking a frantic step back.
Venti snorted, his eyes sparkling. "Better run~!"
Instead of throwing them, Venti tossed all five snowballs straight up into the air. With a swift flick of his wrist, a burst of Anemo magic caught them, launching the snowballs forward like a literal scattergun.
There was no escape.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"AHH?!" Oliver screamed with laughter as he was pelted point-blank in the chest and face. "Oh nooo, I've been snowball shotgunned!" He sputtered, wiping the cold powder off his cheeks and glaring playfully at his giggling boyfriend. "You are going to pay for that! That was entirely unfair!"
"There is absolutely no such thing as playing fair in a snowball fight!" Venti cheered, sticking his tongue out triumphantly.
"Oh, yeah?" Oliver laughed, pitching his voice into a cartoonish, exaggerated villain tone that immediately sent Venti into a fit of giggles. "Watch this!"
Oliver thrust his hand to his side. In a brilliant flash of blue light and swirling frost, his heavy diamond sword materialized in his grip.
Venti gasped, his hands flying to his cheeks. "Uh-oh!"
Oliver giggled wildly. Gripping the hilt tightly, he swung the massive, frosty blade in a low, sweeping arc just inches above the ground. The Cryo-infused swing caught the top layer of the snowdrift, kicking up a massive, blinding tidal wave of powdery white snow that crashed directly over the bard.
Venti yelped, completely buried in the sudden avalanche. He flopped backward into the snowbank, coughing and laughing hysterically as he sat up, brushing the thick powder out of his blue braids.
"Hahahahaha, okay!!!" Venti wheezed. "That was incredibly mean! But... I guess I totally deserved that one!"
Oliver couldn't stop laughing. He quickly let his the sword vanish and jogged over, offering a hand to haul his snow-covered boyfriend back to his feet. Once their breathless laughter finally died down into soft, affectionate smiles, they turned back toward the howling horizon, hand-in-hand, ready to find the power plant.
~~~~~
It took a while before they found anything, but once they did, the building was impossible to miss. A massive, metallic structure cut sharply through the harsh white of the snow. Layers upon layers of varying sections stacked high, each part tapering off and getting smaller the higher it went. A giant tube sat at the very top, stretching upward until it ended in a large sphere.
"Woah," Venti blinked, staring up at the monolithic tower. "You'd only see a place like this in Nod-Krai."
Oliver didn't even bother asking. He knew that was just another detail from an update released far beyond the time he was originally from, though he did vaguely remember Venti mentioning it once before.
"How do we get inside?" Venti mused, crossing his arms. "Remember, the keycard Claire gave us only opens the main doors. The real question is—is this the main headquarters, or the power grid building?"
Oliver leaned forward, squinting up at the towering beam crowning the facility. "I dunno, that definitely gives off power plant vibes to me." They approached the entrance. It was identical to the heavy metal sliding doors back at the lab, save for the complete and eerie absence of windows.
"Venti, let me see the keycard," Oliver requested, spotting the reader mounted on the wall.
The bard handed over Claire's worn card. Oliver slid it through the slot.
Error
-You are not authorized-
"Hmmm. Just as I expected," Oliver sighed, folding his arms. "So this is the power plant." He passed the card back.
"Think I can blow it down with my wind?" Venti offered cheerfully.
"Well—" Oliver shrugged. "There's nothing else for us to do, and we have to get inside. At least, I don't think you blasting the door off will cause any damage to the power plant itself."
"Trust me, I can pinpoint my wind to do exactly the amount of damage I want." Venti summoned his bow, the weapon materializing in his grip with a familiar glow. "Stand back, please."
Oliver stepped aside. Venti drew back the bowstring and released a concentrated Anemo arrow directly at the heavy steel. The impact was instantaneous. A localized, violent gale ripped the door cleanly off its hinges, sending it crashing to the floor inside.
Oliver gasped. "Woah... that... that was fast."
Venti flashed a proud, bright smile. "Getting used to denting iron and metal. Plenty of practice with the Ruin Guards back home. Trust me, the wind can hit hard~"
Oliver beamed. "And that is exactly why you're the most powerful Archon." Stepping close, he pressed a quick, affectionate kiss to Venti's cheek.
Venti erupted into a flurry of giggles. "Hehehe! Awww~. You're just trying to flatter me~!"
Smiling, Oliver took his hand. "Let's head inside."
Instead of the sprawling reactor core they expected, they stepped into a cramped, boxy vestibule. A second set of heavy doors stood sealed shut in front of them.
"What is this place?" Venti blinked, staring at the small room and the broken door lying uselessly on the floor behind them.
"I guess you've gotta blow that one off, too?" Oliver suggested.
Venti raised his bow without hesitation, but a mechanical voice suddenly echoed from the walls.
Decontamination Started - Please Stand By.
Instantly, a fine mist began spraying from pipes lining the ceiling. Startled by the sudden hiss of liquid, Venti threw his hands up, summoning a swirling sphere of wind around them to violently repel the spray.
"Venti, wait! It's okay! It's just water!" Oliver shouted. He recognized the setup—a standard decontamination airlock to scrub off outside pollutants before entering a clean zone. But something was definitely wrong with the execution.
"Are you sure?" Venti asked skeptically. The moment he dropped his Anemo barrier, the accumulated water crashed down on their heads, soaking them to the bone.
Oliver sputtered, spitting out a mouthful of water. "Bleh!"
"Oops... sorry," Venti giggled. "But hey, like you said, it's just water~"
The system itself was fundamentally broken. Because Venti had obliterated the exterior door, the howling wind from the frozen wasteland outside was sucking most of the mist right back out of the facility before it could even touch them.
Decontamination Complete.
"This is such a sci-fi setup," Oliver muttered, wiping his face. "Though I guess it happens in the real world too."
"What was the point of that?" Venti asked as the inner doors finally hissed open.
Beyond them lay a cavernous, pitch-black corridor. "Geez, it's dark in there," Venti noted, peering cautiously into the gloom. He looked back at Oliver, waiting for an answer.
"It's an airlock. It cleans you so you don't track outside dirt or contaminants into sensitive areas that could get ruined."
"Huh," Venti murmured, stepping over the threshold.
Oliver swallowed hard and followed. "Honestly... seeing this just makes me hate Doctor Barclay even more."
Venti looked over his shoulder, confused. "Hmm? What do you mean?"
"He built a pristine decontamination unit to protect a machine, but couldn't be bothered to do the same for the lab where he kept the human beings he experimented on?"
Understanding dawned on Venti's face. "I see what you mean."
"Like, that is just pure evil," Oliver scowled. "He cares more about protecting his power plant than the people he stole."
"Well, at first I thought maybe he did this to stop the reactor from failing," Venti reasoned, his voice echoing slightly in the dark. "Like, to prevent a meltdown. If Claire is right and this place is connected to different worlds, I can see how chaos would rain down if this place broke in a catastrophic way."
"Sure, but he didn't do this to protect the multiverse," Oliver pointed out, stopping a few inches into the dark hallway. "He only added this because in his head: 'If there's a massive explosion over Greenland, the police and military will finally find me.'"
Venti let out a soft giggle. "Yeah, you're right. I was just hoping to find a shred of humanity left in him. No matter how evil someone is, they usually have at least one redeeming quality in their soul. Whether it's a love for animals, deeply caring for one specific person, or even a weird passion for cooking." He shrugged, then, his tone darkned. "Still. That doesn't overshadow the atrocities. Doctor Barclay and... Dottore. They are one and the same. It's sick to experiment on people. Maybe I shouldn't have killed Barclay, but..." He trailed off, looking to Oliver for reassurance.
The bard let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know..."
"Hey, it's okay, Venti," Oliver said gently. "Remember what you said? It was a trauma response. You hate Dottore, and I don't blame you. It's okay." He stepped in, capturing Venti's lips in a tender kiss.
Venti melted into it, pulling away with a soft breath. "Thanks, baby," he whispered. He turned back to the suffocating darkness. "Let's see what we can do about this."
"Yeah... we probably won't be able to just flip a switch to turn it off," Oliver guessed.
"Not without authorization," Venti agreed. "But maybe there's another method. First, let's just go see what we're working with."
They ventured deeper into the facility. The darkness was absolute; the pale light funneling in from the broken doorway behind them was rapidly fading into black.
"You know," Oliver started, trying to fill the heavy silence as they walked. "How did you manage to kill Barclay like that?" He was genuinely baffled by the memory. "That wasn't Anemo magic." He blinked, looking over at his boyfriend's silhouette. "Did you suddenly unlock Electro? Steal the Raiden Shogun's powers or something?"
That pulled a bright laugh from Venti, momentarily banishing the grim atmosphere. "Oh, no! Definitely not. It wasn't Electro either!" He smiled, his voice taking on a slightly more reverent tone. "It was a divine mechanism. Celestia has their nails, and we Archons have a very specific strike we call the Bolt of Judgment."
"Bolt of Judgment?" Oliver tilted his head. "I know about the Celestial nails, but... what the heck is the Bolt of Judgment?"
Venti stopped walking and leaned back against the cold wall. "Guess you never ran into that piece of lore? Probably from one of those newer 'updates' again."
Oliver stopped in front of him. "I guess so."
"Yeah, it's... sort of a forbidden power," Venti explained, shrugging. "Celestia grants it to the Archons to pass ultimate judgment on a mortal. But because it's an instant execution—and can only target a single, specific person—we're strictly ordered never to use it unless absolutely necessary. But... well, you already know how I felt with Doctor Barclay, and what you have told to me about him."
Oliver planted a hand on his hip. "But why didn't you use it on Nerraw? I mean, Doctor Barclay was a monster, but Nerraw was a terrifying threat to all of us!"
"Remember what I told you before," Venti said, his tone growing serious. "Nerraw was basically immortal. Not entirely immortal, since that key thing Mark and Thomas used could take him out, but I wasn't going to take any blind chances." Venti took a deep breath. "The Bolt of Judgment doesn't work on immortal beings. It's a built-in failsafe so an Archon can never turn it against Celestia. And it doesn't just protect the gods up there—an Archon cannot use it on another Archon. I couldn't smite Zhongli, and Zhongli couldn't smite me. Neither of us could use it on the Ruler of Death or the Ruler of Life."
Oliver listened in rapt attention to the massive lore drop Venti was saying. He was stunned he'd never encountered this in the game... surely a lore this massive would have been mentioned since Genshin Impact 1.0.
Venti kept going. "And it's a foolproof too. Well... I say that, but the results are rather explosive." He shook his head. "If I actually tried to use it on an immortal being—like, say, Xiao..." He blinked, peering at Oliver in the dark. "You know Xiao, right?"
Oliver nodded instantly. "Yeah, the Adeptus."
"Oh!" Venti beamed. "You really do know your stuff!"
Oliver giggled. "Well, he showed up pretty early in the game. You literally can't miss him if you play through the first half of the Liyue storyline." He smirked. "Plus, you two are a incredibly popular ship in the fandom!"
Oliver immediately clamped his mouth shut. Why did he just say that?
Venti blinked, genuine confusion washing over his pale face. "Ship? What do you mean, ship?" He tilted his head. "I don't remember ever riding a ship with Xiao..."
Oliver descended into a violent coughing fit. "Haha, well, uh..." he scrambled for a lie. "The... the ship in the game... you rode a boat together once..."
"Hmmm... that completely slipped my memory..." Venti tapped his chin, perplexed, before shaking his head to clear it. "Anyways! As I was saying, you cannot target an immortal. If you try, the Bolt of Judgment violently ricochets. It will fly off and hit literally anything except the immortal target you chose."
Oliver, still recovering from his mortifying slip-up, sobered immediately. "Oh..."
"Exactly," Venti nodded solemnly. "Who knows what kind of disaster would have happened if I fired it at Nerraw. It could have hit Mark. It could have hit Thomas. And, baby? I have more than enough trauma for one lifetime... if it had ricocheted and hit you, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself."
Oliver's heart swelled. The choice made total sense now.
Venti stepped closer, threading his fingers softly through Oliver's hair. "I need you to live to see your hundreds, my windblume. I can't afford to lose you this early."
Oliver leaned into the touch, a soft smile gracing his lips. "I'm not going anywhere." He caught Venti's hand, pressing a tender kiss to his knuckles. Then, trying to lighten the mood, he glanced down the oppressive, pitch-black corridor. "You don't think you can use this 'Bolt of Judgment' as a flashlight, do you?"
That earned a bright laugh. "Oh baby, don't be silly!" Venti giggled. "Foolproof, remember? I can't just spark it on random objects." He smiled warmly. "Normally, I wouldn't resort to this, but if we were still home, I'd probably just call on another Archon for a favor."
"Who?" Oliver asked.
"I dunno. Maybe the Pyro Archon," Venti mused. "I'm friends with her."
Oliver blinked repeatedly. "The Pyro Archon?"
"Yep!"
Oliver frowned. "But I thought you called the Pyro Archon a wayward, warmongering wretch?"
Venti froze, then instantly waved his hands in a frantic panic. "Oh, nohohoho! That's the other one! The first Pyro Archon, not the second one!" He burst into laughter. "Hahahaha! Oh my word. Out of everything in my history, you latch onto that one line I wrote centuries ago... wow."
Oliver rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "There's a second Archon...? Oh! The Natlan update that's coming up..." He froze again. "Well, not really an update now, but ugh, you know what I mean."
Venti giggled, highly amused. "There we go again. My word, the overarching story of this thing really lacks cohesion in certain parts, doesn't it?"
Oliver sighed. "So... you can actually just call other Archons telepathically?"
"Yes, though we rarely do," Venti explained. "We all tend to work alone."
Oliver smiled. "You're all a bunch of Batmans, I guess."
Venti giggled. "Whatever that means." He hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm... let me try something..."
The bard raised his hands, his teal braids glowing softly as he closed his eyes. The static air of the corridor instantly shifted, a localized current of wind picking up and swirling around them.
Oliver stood perfectly still, watching Venti intently. He trusted him completely, but he was incredibly curious about what magic he was trying to pull off.
Suddenly, the wind died. Venti lowered his arms with a heavy sigh. "Huh... nothing at all," he muttered, shaking his head. "Though it's probably just because I'm not a part of this world."
"What were you doing?" Oliver asked.
"Trying to tap into the leylines—to get in contact with anything divine from your world," Venti explained. "But there was nothing... the frequencies were just dead. No gods... no Archons, nothing I could tune into. Truly a... windless world." He shrugged. "Maybe it's just a dimensional barrier, but I know my power reached out. I felt it broadcast. The least your deities could have done was reply with a simple 'I cannot help you.'"
Oliver winced, his shoulders lifting in an awkward shrug. "Wellll... uh... Venti, there's actually a massive, ongoing debate about whether or not celestial beings even exist in my dimension."
Venti's arms dropped. He stared at Oliver, deadpan. "Really?"
"Either they don't exist... or they're very, very quiet," Oliver admitted. "I mean, we have countless religions and traditions... but none of them feature a god who physically walks around right in your face."
"Eh?!" Venti crossed his arms, a deep scowl furrowing his brow. "Huh... and my people have the nerve to call me a lazy Archon." He huffed. "Even though the Archons back home don't mingle with mortals as much anymore, we'd at least have the decency to acknowledge one of our own over the divine network."
"Heh..." Oliver offered a weak smile, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Eh, I guess I shouldn't judge. Most gods from my realm's past were incredibly secretive too. Some for good reasons, some for bad." Venti blinked, looking at Oliver, then pointed a thumb at his own chest. "And... I'm definitely one of those secretive ones, aren't I?"
Oliver desperately wanted to snort, but managed to suppress it. "I mean, you said it, not me."
Venti rolled his eyes playfully. "You were supposed to defend my honor and say I wasn't~" he giggled, reaching out to boop Oliver on the nose.
Right at that moment, the two-way radio clipped to Oliver's belt erupted in a harsh burst of static.
"Woah?!" Oliver jumped out of his skin.
Venti gasped, stepping back. "What is that?!"
Oliver unclipped the radio, frantically dialing down the blaring volume before holding down the side button. "Hello?" he said, releasing it and waiting.
"Oliver? That you? Is Venti with you? It's Mark. I'm with the rest of the crew back in the lab. We're all fine, just checking in on your progress. You guys good?" The radio clicked off with a sharp buzz.
Oliver pressed the comm button down again. "Yes! We're totally fine! Venti is okay. We just made it inside the power plant."
The radio buzzed back to life. "Oh! That's great!" Mark replied. "What's it—" Mark's voice suddenly grew muffled, like he had pulled the receiver away from his mouth. "Ask them about—" The audio cleared up. "Claire wants to know what it looks like in there, as she's never actually been given access to the reactor building."
Oliver and Venti shared a highly amused, guilty look. The place wasn't exactly easy to describe when they couldn't see a foot in front of their faces.
Oliver pressed the button. "Mark, guys, honestly, I have no idea. We... kinda just arrived..." It was a blatant lie. They had been standing in the hallway for ages, he'd been too busy flirting and yapping lore with his boyfriend. He cleared his throat.
"Just arrived?" Mark's voice crackled. "Must have been a rough trek through the snow."
"It's a pretty long walk," Claire's voice echoed faintly in the background.
Oliver pressed the comms again. "It's also completely pitch-black in here."
"Dark?" Mark asked instantly.
"How is it dark?" Claire's voice took over the mic, sounding baffled. "I know I haven't been inside, but... dark? It's a power plant hooked into an impossible, multidimensional power supply. The reactor building should be the very first thing on the grid to be lit."
"I dunno," Oliver said, staring blankly down the abyss of the corridor. "It's just void black. It's as if not a single light is on in this place,"
"Okay," Mark said after a beat of static. "Well, keep us updated when you find the main reactor core. And please! Remember what we discussed—no using destructive weapons. This is a reactor tethered to literal universes. Over and out."
The radio clicked off for good. Oliver secured it back onto his belt.
"What a bizarre device," Venti marveled, having watched the entire exchange in quiet fascination. "I've never seen anything quite like it. It operates almost exactly like the divine telepathy I was just telling you about. What do you call this strange contraption?"
Oliver giggled. "You sound exactly like my grandfather when I used to hand him a smartphone."
"Smartphone?" Venti tilted his head like a confused puppy.
"It's something everyone uses here. I'll explain it later. Or maybe Mark has one and I can just show you," Oliver promised.
"If it's something everyone uses, wouldn't you have one on you?" Venti asked as they finally began walking again.
"I do... well, I did, back in 2023. Doctor Barclay confiscated our phones right before we went into stasis for the experiment without telling us. Who knows where they are now. Honestly, I'm just glad I didn't have any sensitive personal stuff on it... though I am really going to miss my Spotify playlists," Oliver grumbled. "Cause I forgot what the hell the password was,"
As they walked, the hallway seemed to stretch endlessly. There were no doors, no windows, no side paths branching off into the dark. They could barely make out the skeletal frames of light fixtures overhead, all completely dead.
Suddenly, Oliver felt Venti's hand clamp around his arm, roughly pulling him to a halt.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Oliver whispered, peering into the gloom.
It was nearly impossible to see... but there was a distinct silhouette standing dead center in the hallway.
Oliver's eyes went wide. He looked at Venti, then back at the shadowy figure. "Uhh..."
Venti's bow materialized in a flash of anemo energy. "Stay behind me."
"That's... not Nerraw, is it?" Oliver asked, his heart hammering. He knew it shouldn't be—Nerraw was dead.
Venti moved with predatory silence, circling around to the front of the figure. The man was completely rigid, frozen in place like a wax statue. Venti boldly waved a hand directly across the man's masked face. Not a single flinch. "Huh. That's incredibly weird."
"Why isn't he moving?" Oliver whispered loudly.
"I have no idea."
"Could it be... one of Claire's coworkers?" Oliver offered, stepping a fraction closer. "It's possible right?"
Venti leaned in close, sniffing the air around the statue-like man. "He... smells mortal," he confirmed. "So that tracks."
"Hmm." Oliver frowned. "And since when can you smell if someone is mortal or not?"
Venti ignored the question entirely, his attention locked onto a different detail. "But why does he smell so... familiar?"
"Familiar?" Oliver asked. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know." Venti leaned in for another sniff. "I've definitely caught this scent before. He smells exactly like a Fatu..." Venti's eyes trailed up to the man's frozen face, finally registering the distinct design of the mask. Slowly, the bard backed away to take in the full uniform.
"This is a Fatui Soldier," Venti stated, his voice laced with disbelief.
That threw Oliver for an absolute loop. "F-Fatui?!" He stared wildly between the frozen man and the Archon. "What do you mean!? Fatui!? From Teyvat?!"
Venti nodded grimly. "It all makes perfect sense now. When Claire mentioned that Barclay used masked mortals infused with power to do his dirty work... the Fatui popped into my head immediately, but I dismissed it as a wild guess." He gestured to the towering guard. "But lookie here. I was right."
Oliver stared at the frozen Skirmisher in stunned horror.
Venti tapped his chin thoughtfully. "But the real question is... why would Barclay use low-level mortal grunts to guard the heart of his operation, instead of using a god like me, or some other devastatingly powerful entity? He had countless universes at his fingertips. He could have dragged Celestia itself down here to guard the reactor... but he picked Fatui foot soldiers?"
Oliver racked his brain, desperately trying to untangle Doctor Barclay's twisted psychology. Barclay was insane, but he was ruthlessly calculating. Everything he did had a paranoid, controlling logic behind it.
Suddenly, a terrifying puzzle piece snapped into place.
"I think... I think I get it," Oliver breathed.
Venti looked over.
"He brainwashed these people, right?"
"That's what Claire told us," Venti nodded. "Does that mean something?"
"Yeah," Oliver nodded slowly, the horror dawning. "I think it means everything. Barclay knew the brainwashing maybe wasn't a flawless system. If he used it on standard Fatui soldiers and they snapped out of the trance, Barclay could just shoot them or lock them down before they became a real threat. But if he had stolen the entirety of Celestia... what would happen if a literal pantheon of gods broke out of his mind control?"
Venti's eyes widened.
"They would completely eradicate my dimension," Oliver finished grimly. "Barclay is evil and he's a control freak. He probably only thought of his company going down under, and not the state of the Earth being completely broken after Celestia had their way with just one man who did them wrong,"
"And they absolutely would have," Venti agreed darkly.
"So that's why he picked the Fatui. They're strong enough to be lethal guards, but mortal enough that Barclay could put a bullet in them if they ever went rogue."
"Okay, that explains the who and the what," Venti said, gesturing to the unblinking soldier. "But it doesn't explain the why. Why is he frozen like a statue?"
Oliver blinked up at the taller, frozen man. "I... I dunno..."
Suddenly, a low, echoing rumble broke the silence.
Oliver blinked, instantly looking at Venti.
"Heh, if you're wondering if that was my stomach, it wasn't. Sorry to disappoint," Venti teased.
But Oliver's mind was nowhere near his fetish right now. The stakes were too high. "Well, it wasn't me either. I ate a ton of the food Mark brought."
Slowly, the two of them turned their heads back to the frozen Fatui soldier.
Another loud, painful grumble erupted directly from the man's midsection.
Oliver felt the blood drain from his face. He looked at Venti.
Venti's blinked, and looked at Oliver again.
"I'm not a horn dog, you know," Oliver whispered, his voice trembling slightly. "Venti... I think something genuinely horrific is happening here. I think he's conscious."
"Baby," Oliver swallowed hard. "If Doctor Barclay is the one keeping him frozen like this... he is beyond evil. Because this man is alive. He's still breathing."
Venti didn't say a word. He just summoned a draft of wind, levitating smoothly until he was face-to-face with the towering soldier. He pressed his ear perilously close to the man's masked face. After a tense, agonizing moment, Venti nodded tightly.
"Yep. He's exhaling out of his nose."
Oliver felt sick to his stomach. "Venti... he's just standing there. He's trapped in his own body, and he's starving."
Venti lowered himself back to the metal floor. "Then what do we do? Did lights being turned off in here trigger a stasis lock? Are there hundreds of these guys frozen all over the building? Claire said she hadn't seen her coworkers in months. Who knows how long this poor guy has been standing here... his own stomach is about to eat him alive."
Panic edged into Oliver's voice. "What if we find a way to free him, and he just immediately tries to kill us?"
"Normally, the Fatui are an incredibly odd bunch," Venti reasoned. "But if you save them from a fate worse than death, they usually have the honor to return the favor with a 'thank you', and will leave you alone,"
"Venti, I know that! But these aren't normal Fatui soldiers! They're brainwashed by Doctor Barclay! They probably don't even remember they're Fatui, let alone that they're from Teyvat!"
Venti nodded gravely. "You do have a point there,"
Oliver cast a desperate look down the endless, pitch-black corridor. "We need to find that reactor core. Right now. We need to find out if it's what's keeping them like this."