29.x (Interlude; Fortuna)

Two entities, one a thinker and the other a warrior, journey through space. Their purpose is the continued existence and evolution of their kind. They seek a complete mastery of all things, and upon reaching a static state, they will devolve into competition and self-destruction. To avoid this, they gather knowledge from other species, constantly refining their abilities.

They communicate, designating a destination and arrival points. The thinker entity, focused on long-term strategy, uses its precognitive powers to plan their actions upon arrival.

A third entity, ancient and using a different method of travel, intersects their path. They collide violently, exchanging shards in a brutal yet information-rich encounter. The thinker entity, though weakened, sees this as an optimal path, brimming with new knowledge and possibilities, including philosophy and psychology.

The thinker entity begins to model the host species, plotting a strategic approach while the warrior prepares to seed the world with shards. It envisions an optimal future for study.

On a parallel Earth, the thinker entity, now in human form, meets with the Wardens, a group of heroes, to discuss the threat of the Shepherds’ superweapons. The entity reveals there are eleven more superweapons than the Wardens know, stationed around the world. Arsenal, a Warden, is suspicious of the entity’s claims.

The Wardens plan to go to war with the Shepherds, aiming to cut off the head and disable the superweapons. The entity agrees to help but warns they will arrive late. Arsenal’s suspicions deepen, but the entity uses a power to wipe his memory and prevent him from acting on them.

The thinker and warrior entities continue their journey, negotiating shard placement. The thinker entity, weakened and focused on converting new shards, selects a world perpetually in conflict for a different kind of engagement.

As they approach the destination, the thinker entity discards shards to avoid dwarfing the planet. It alters one of the third entity’s powers, replacing its own ability to find the optimal future. In that instant, it realizes it has made a grave error. The impact with the planet is too hard.

A girl named Fortuna wakes from a dream, memories of a cataclysm slipping away. She devises a nine-step plan to remember. She recalls a monstrous godling orchestrating a global conflict, intending to consume the world to spawn the next generation of its kind.

Fortuna sees a 39-step plan to locate the godling, a 374-step plan to kill it and save everyone, and a 533-step plan to do both. She realizes she must choose between stopping the monster and saving her people.

Fortuna tells her uncle to flee and not eat or drink anything for three days, as it’s all tainted. She runs into the hills, knowing the godling’s plan has gone wrong. Phantom images are changing people, and the food and water are tainted.

She reaches the top of a cliff, finding a different sky and time. She sees the entity, a pool of flesh stretching into several worlds. A 29-step plan forms in her mind to reach it.

Fortuna encounters a black-skinned woman from another world. She effortlessly pushes past her, descending into the crater where the godling resides. She enters a living forest, the godling’s mask.

Fortuna faces the godling, knife in hand, but a gray fog descends, blinding her power. The godling smiles, knowing her power is its own. The black-skinned woman shouts.

Fortuna, unable to move, says, “I can’t.” The woman asks, “Where were you going to stab it?” Fortuna points to the nape of the neck. The woman drives the knife in.

They fall, the entity writhes, but it’s not dead, only disconnected. The woman asks if they should stab it again, but Fortuna is sure this is the last step.

Fortuna tells the woman she needs food, shelter, and a way back to her home. She promises to explain everything and reveals there’s another one of these things out there.

In the woman’s apartment, Fortuna helps secure the area around the doorway to the other world. She refuses to let people study the half-alive entity, fearing panic.

The woman asks what the next step is. Fortuna, unable to see the future clearly, asks how they would stop any powerful monster. They decide they need lab equipment.

A man named Lamar drinks a vial, hoping for a cure. He transforms horribly, growing scales, losing a leg, and screaming in agony. Fortuna ends his suffering.

The Doctor asks if it’s worth it. Fortuna can’t answer. They decide to wait and try to figure out what went wrong. Fortuna asks not to be called by her birth name anymore. The Doctor suggests another name, and Fortuna agrees, choosing Contessa.

The news shows a golden man floating above the ocean. Contessa confirms it’s the other entity. They discuss trying again, but Contessa fears disaster if they explain to someone important, as the golden man is hostile.

They decide their solution is to either break him or find something in the broken parts of the entity they killed. They start preparing more vials, correlating each with a specific map coordinate.

They find ten terminally ill patients and administer the vials. Six survive, five with beaming smiles. The Doctor explains they’ll need forty hours of testing and five hundred hours of active duty or five years of service.

One survivor, a blond man, expresses his amazement at feeling healthy for the first time. Another says he feels better too, but one woman says she doesn’t.

Contessa checks on the other patients. One is dead, two are monsters, and the last is a boy who can make doors. He can close the gaps left by the other entity, minimizing the chance the golden man can find them.

The Doctor suggests building a complex for their labs and research. The survivors agree to help. The blond man calls them heroes.

Contessa hears the word “Monsters!” and sees a wall of fog approaching. She uses her power to navigate the complex, learning the Doctor is alive but somewhere beyond the fog. She finds the Number Man is with the Harbingers.

Weld, leader of the Irregulars, attacks Contessa. She uses her power to evade him, learning the attackers have a thinker who planned this, knowing she wouldn’t pick up on their presence.

Contessa calls Number Man, who advises her to intercept instead of going directly to the Doctor. Contessa, cornered, asks for an escape route. Number Man suggests his window to another world.

Contessa fights Weld, using her power to escape through a narrow space. A teleporter appears, shooting at her. She disarms him and shoots a doorknob four times, entering Number Man’s office.

Contessa shoots Number Man’s window, trying to loosen the frame. The teleporter attacks her, driving her through the portal. She tumbles down a hill on an alien landscape.

The teleporter continues to attack. Contessa sees Weld and two other parahumans at the portal. She shoots one of them, a lethal shot. One of the deviants attacks with magma.

Contessa uses a rock and a burning branch to fake her death, glimpsed through smoke. She waits for them to leave, then makes her way back to the portal, finding it gone.

After an hour, the portal opens. Contessa finds the facility in disarray. She learns the Doctor is dead, Doormaker is alive but not here, and Number Man is alive but not here. The vials are gone.

Contessa meets a group of Protectorate capes. She learns Teacher is taking over, planning to pick up the pieces. He asks Contessa to help, especially with a crisis involving Weaver.

This summary compresses the original text by approximately 5 times, maintaining the narrative style and focusing on the key events and character interactions.