equal and opposite...

N/A: Sensitive content warning. Mentions of child ****, substances, bullying and ****.

Juno had become a singular consciousness, an Emily enhanced but corrupted by power. This led her to take drastic measures to ensure her uniqueness and survival, eventually becoming reality itself. Her only plausible excuse would have been the act that DR. Reginald Broox committed, as well as the fact that everyone had treated her like something to be used and not like a person.

Ironically, the Emily Lockard of this universe had been treated a thousand times worse. Her childhood was hell, having to deal with an abusive father and an alcoholic and ****-addicted mother. Her adolescence wasn't better. With her parents unable to take care of Emily, the government had stepped in and sent her to a boarding school for troubled teens.

Her high intelligence and maturity made Emily unpopular from the start, so she was constantly harassed and physically assaulted with absolutely no one bothering to help her. It all came to a head a few days before her early graduation.

Emily's intelligence had impressed the most prestigious university in Spiral City, a semi-public institution co-financed by the government and the country's main business conglomerates. Hideki Labs, Yabusa Robotics, King Enterprises and Shaw Biosciences. This university was created with the purpose of hiding certain corporative secrets, such as Zoe Hildebrand and Chloe Walker's doctorates, but it accepted special students to maintain its image and as a recruiting entity since all SCU graduates were interviewed by the four companies and normally hired by one of them. Proud to have been invited to SCU for a first interview and a preliminary assessment exam, Emily had been unable to hide her excitement, something she would regret.

With the excuse of celebrating this magnificent event, some of her classmates organized a party whose main star would be Emily herself. By now the girl should have been suspicious, but her excitement made her drop her guard. A few hours later, Emily Lokhard lost her virginity to a group of boys and girls, all of whom had taken turns to **** the defenseless girl.

The only government intervention consisted in providing the abused girl with the necessary medical attention together with the pertinent threats to **** her silence. Suffice it to say that her self-esteem and confidence never recovered.

This should have meant that this new, super-powered Emily would have sought **** against her abusers, the government, or the world itself... She never did it. Juno and Kazumi found themselves staring at the new goddess in surprise. Juno in particular felt guilt and shame welling up inside her when all Emily did was make sure Broocks got fired eventually, all with real evidence.

"Let's go Zumi."

Kazumi didn't reply. She only hugged her girlfriend while they both left that reality to return to theirs. After all they had accomplished their goal as far as Kazumi was concerned, and she knew that Juno needed love right now.

You sighed when Juno and Kazumi left your universe. It hadn't been hard to sense them with your new abilities, even as the rest of you filled with a consuming rage. The fusion had meant that all the minds that made up you had access to each other, especially with Hala's unique abilities since her power literally consisted of rewriting reality, which meant knowing it down to the last detail.

All the minds within you agreed on only one thing, yours being the only one to disagree. They wanted blood. With you being the center of the new being, your immobility meant that they could not act and they did not like that. Tears filled your eyes as you let a single thought flow into the mental storm. "Please..."

It was a single word, but it was enough. The anger disappeared to be replaced by overwhelming love. Again, everyone agreed. They knew you, Emily Lockard, and you were loved. Feeling like you were losing control of your own existence, you teleported to the cavern where it all began and broke away from the others before falling to your knees. Your body never reached the ground, as you were supported by multiple arms. You could feel Kelly supporting you as Zumi hugged you from the front, but you knew the others were there. You closed your eyes and let everything finally come out with your crying. Pain, fear, hate, sadness...

You all knew there would be questions, but that didn't matter now. Now the only thing that mattered was the comfort that these eleven people could bring you. You felt the surprise of some of them at perceiving your thought of them as people, and you responded with your own certainty of that notion. It didn't matter where they came from, they were all sentient beings, and as far as you were concerned, that qualified them as people. Certainly the supposed real people had done much less for you.

You blinked sleepily some time later. from what you could feel, you were lying on someone's lap. Looking up, you noticed that it was Ela. The girl smiled warmly at you before leaning in to kiss you gently. Before you could ask, she started to answer you.

"Zoe and Chloe are in their labs. A part of me is impersonating you right now so your coworkers won't link you to the shit storm that's unleashed. Tina and Lina have returned to their floors and diverting part of attention. As you can see, Abby, Hala, Eve and Kelly are here, they all wanted to stay and protect you. Kazumi is with Lilith, making up a cover story about have found and rescued our resident pet. Oh, and Hala needs you to authorize some minor reality rewrites to keep things running smoothly..."

"Wait wait wait! Slow down, please!"

Ela smiles embarrassed and kisses you again as an apology, which you take advantage of to deepen the kiss for a while longer. She certainly doesn't stop you. using your mental link, Ela begins to show you the consequences of everything that happened.

Apparently, Shaw is poised for a massive takeover of all of his competitors, taking advantage of the chaos generated. both the Dr. Broox and Emilia King were working with him, and with King's ****, the greedy bastard has set his moves on.

The loss of its only three phase binder prototypes has caused serious economic damage to Yabusa Robotics, and the disaster in your own company is not even necessary to explain it. Finally, the incident at the secret military base seems to have come to light and has caused an unprecedented government scandal, even if they have managed to leak enough information that the public is unaware of what was hidden there.

You need to authorize the changes Hala is proposing before it's too late. You certainly don't need or want to guess what Shaw will do with all that power. The first thing you change is the number of existing phase binder prototypes, creating one more, the only extra device currently in the possession of its original creators. You marvel at what a simple change can do when Hala shows you the new reality. Even with three of the four prototypes missing, Yabusa Robotics is no longer in danger, the **** of the CEO himself being the most serious consequence of all that happened. With his daughter running the place for now, Yabusa Robotics will be fine, although you don't rule out trying to meet her in the future if necessary.

The next change you make it's related to the property of Safiya. In this universe, Emilia had a twin sister named Jane, who died in the fire that wiped out her entire family. Having lost her only love and mistress, Safiya had **** but to serve the only remaining King. Wishing that Jane hadn't died, everything changes. Safiya still served Emilia, but she did it because Jane was subject to her sister. With Emilia dead in the incident, Jane's first wish was to free her beloved. Fortunately, Safiya reinterpreted that wish and made Jane her vessel, so now they are both relatively immortal, and Safiya still faithfully serves Jane King.

These two changes have made a significant difference. Jane has given a press conference in which she admitted to all of her sister's and Reginald Brooks' crimes. With Yabusa Robotics's support, the shit is now distributed between Hideki Labs, the government, and Shaw Biosciences, with the latter paralyzed in his conquest plans.

Hideki Labs will make Broox responsible for everything, which benefits you all, and the government can get screwed just for what you care about. They certainly haven't done much for you, and from what Hala is showing you, by the time Shaw recovers, his government and military endorsements will have been cleansed thanks to the public scandal.

You sigh in relief and lie back on Ela's lap. You know that you still need to move some things around at Hideki Labs, but you also know that you have some support on that front. Not only do you have Zoe and Chloe on your side, you also have the CEO's own niece, who also hated that Reggie asshole as much as you do. She's her uncle's favorite and will probably be Hideki Labs's new CEO very soon, so things are taking her place. You and the girls will have to make plans soon, but the urgency is gone for now.

A flash of light catches your eye and you look in the direction of your protectors. It seems that Abby and Kelly have decided to merge. You smile at the strange entity, whose shape is reminiscent of a humanoid galaxy, all contained in a barrier of matter and energy. The barrier is transparent, so staring at the entity causes a very curious visual effect, very similar to looking into Zoe's or Tina's inner space. You know the power contained within KellyAbby right now is enormous. You also know that if she joins Tina and Lina that power is multiplied. Now that you think about it, you should all experiment with different combinations to see how you can merge.

"Emily love, the prodigal niece is here."

"Can't you just keep pretending to be me? I'm very comfortable here..."

"No baby. I mean here, in this place. She's found us out, or at least she's found out that you're not you."

You only have time to get to your feet before the elevator door opens and lets everyone out. All your girls are here, accompanied by the CEO's niece, just as Ela informed you. It is not any of them that raises the bile in your throat. It's the remaining occupant of the elevator. Great, dear Dr. Reginald Broox is here.

KellyAbby is by your side before you know it, as are Eve and Hala. The copy of you that is among the others smiles at you with an apology before disappearing, since Ela no longer needs it. The rest of the girls quickly gather around you, much to Hideki's amusement and Broox' displeasure.

"I told you, Sakura! I warned you that girl would cause us trouble!"

"Calm down, Dr. Broox. I'm sure everything will be explained to us very soon. Also, I suggest you don't use my first name so lightly. I'm still your superior and I certainly don't recall granting you such permission."

Reginald makes an embarrassed face, but doesn't apologize at all. The fucking bastard has balls! Even you wouldn't commit such disrespect within these walls, and you sure as hell you have more trust and closeness with Sakura Hideki than he does! You would consider her something of a big sister if your thoughts about her didn't invalidate that definition. Her constant flirting on game nights towards you and Kazumi doesn't help either.

"You've got balls, Reggie. I'll give you that at least. It takes courage to come out here and spout your shit knowing what you know. After all, you were there, and I'm pretty sure Emilia King and that general were also keeping you informed of the other two simultaneous activations. At least before everything got out of control for you."

The total lack of respect Chloe has shown towards her superior has been clearly noted, and the sneer that still graces her face is as well. The incredibly furious man opens his mouth no doubt to admonish Chloe, but Sakura stops him dead in his tracks.

"Dr. Broox is still your superior, Dra. Walker. You would do well to remember that."

"My apologies, Miss Hideki. I find it difficult to deal with him very often, but you are correct. I will make sure to be more civil even if he is not deserving in my opinion."

"Chloe, please."

The pleading in your voice works perfectly. Chloe looks in your direction for a second and gives up with a sigh. You flash her a grateful smile in response. Even if you can understand her attitude towards the manipulative prick, and Sakura probably can too, manners are crucial here...