74

Chapter 74

A Darker Path

Part Seventy-Four: Sleight of Hand

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]

Goddess

"Highness, she awakens."

"Good." Bianca smiled and settled herself into the throne that she'd had placed in front of the chair holding Atropos, with the low table between them. The chair was made of solid steel, with metal clamps holding Atropos firmly in place. Even if the black-clad assassin could fly (there had been no report of that) the chair was bolted to the floor; she would go nowhere and do nothing without Bianca's permission.

The throne, of course, was higher than the chair. It was necessary that Atropos knew who was in charge right from the beginning. Adjacent to this was the fact that they'd removed her hat and mask; those two accessories lay alongside the weapons on the table. Atropos would have nothing to hide behind, when speaking to her Goddess.

The girl stirred, then she raised her head, shaking it slightly to get her long black curls out of her face. She flicked a glance from side to side, then seemed to focus on Bianca. "Ah," she said. "The idiot of the week. Who are you, where am I, and do you honestly think you're going to get out of this alive?"

Her voice was strong and confident, but Bianca felt not even a twinge of danger from her. "You may call me Goddess," she replied suavely. "You have been brought to my presence because I have need of your talents. Your authorities called this world Earth Shin, to make it subordinate to their Earth Bet, but make no mistake; this is the Supreme Earth, and it will rule over all. I will rule over all."

"Big words," Atropos retorted. "Bastard Son had big ideas, too. You might want to think about what I did to him, and reconsider your life goals in the process. Release me now, and I might think about letting you go with a warning."

Bianca wasn't sure who Bastard Son was, or had been, but she knew enough not to show weakness by acknowledging ignorance of a reference. Instead, she laughed out loud, letting it peal through the room. Off to either side, she heard her Court take up the laughter, mocking the arrogant assassin in their midst.

"You are clearly delusional," she said, holding up a hand to cut off the laughter. "I brought you here to serve my will, and that's what you will do."

"Nobody has yet forced me to do a damn thing I didn't want to do." Atropos' gaze bored into Bianca's. "I promise you, you will regret dragging me here. My good friend Mr Pump Action Shotgun has a way of redefining Kneecaps as a Privilege. I'm pretty sure he can extend that to Shins as well."

The continued defiance was irritating. To see Goddess, to hear her voice, was to be enthralled by her. However, Bianca had planned ahead for this very thing, given the rumours that Atropos was able to kill Master effects. "If you will not pay heed to me, see what else is at stake." She gestured, causing the three screens to lower from the ceiling and power up.

Atropos raised her eyes. Bianca could not see the screens from her angle, but she knew what was there. It had taken her literally millions in bribes, as well as a judicious application of her influence, to have the three hostages spirited through the White Rock portal at the appropriate time. From all accounts, two of the three were people Atropos was most likely to have a connection with.

The men who had taken them had come through as well, expecting to be well-paid for their efforts. However, she had not forgotten the insult of their demanding higher pay in the first place, so they were now in chains, awaiting her (dis)pleasure. She would get to them in time. Atropos was a higher priority.

"Why?" Atropos' tone could have shaved steel. "They're kids. Why bring them into this?"

Bianca smiled beatifically. That was exactly the reaction she'd been angling for. "Emma Barnes is the leader of your cult, while Aisha Laborn is the head of your fan club. Theo Anders is apparently also under your care, so he is here as well. Each of them is at a hidden location around the world, far separated from each other. They are guarded every hour of the day. If I give the order, the guards will kill them before you can get to them. The guards also wear harnesses with heart rate monitors and bombs, so if they are killed, the killer also dies." She steepled her fingers and looked over Atropos at them. "Now, either dispense with this pointless defiance or I will order one of them killed. And you will have to choose which one."

"I see." Atropos flicked her eyes over each of the monitors. "You've made your point. Who do you need me to kill?"

Bianca gestured, and the monitors retracted toward the ceiling once more. "That's more like it. I have been striving to unite this world under one government, one rule, for some time now. There are those who are ungrateful and short-sighted enough to resist the right and proper rule of the powered over the unpowered. Find these resistance cells and kill the leaders for me, and not only will your minions be unharmed, but I will also reward you appropriately for your service to my name."

"And I get my weapons and teleporter for this?" Atropos pointed with one finger at the items on the low table. When they'd searched her, they'd found the shears (of course) as well as the pistol and several magazines of ammunition for it, the pump-action shotgun and a box of ammo for it, the teleporter (a most fascinating device), and a ballpoint pen in her shirt pocket.

They'd let her keep the pen.

"Of course you do." Bianca made a throwaway gesture. "Nothing you have there will allow you to kill me, and if you try, one of your hostages will die. If you harm a member of my Court, one of your hostages loses a hand. You will also be wearing a body-camera, which will be broadcasting back here in real time. Interrupt the broadcast in any way, and … well, you know what will happen."

Atropos waved the same finger, this being about the only thing she could do with it. "Point of note. When I teleport, it's likely to take a few seconds to reconnect to the cell phone network or satellite network, or however it broadcasts. No punishing the hostages for the weaknesses of your system."

"Ah." Bianca glanced sideways at Tori, who nodded fractionally. Atropos wasn't lying then. "I knew that. We will of course take that into account. Was there anything else?"

"Just one thing. Harm the hostages for shits and giggles, and the deal's off. But leave them alone, and I'll shoot those Resistance guys in the head all day long."

Bianca nodded. "Your terms are acceptable. You may commence your task to solidify my position as supreme ruler of this world." Using her telekinesis, she opened the metal clamps securing Atropos to the chair.

"Trust me, by the time I'm done here, the name of the Goddess will be the most celebrated one across the face of this world. They'll probably declare a public holiday." Atropos stood and shook out her wrists, then proceeded to re-arm herself with her private arsenal. Last of all, she slid the teleporter onto her arm and secured it in place before looking up at Bianca. "You mentioned something about a body-camera?"

"Yes." Bianca gestured for the camera to be produced. Such things were not her job. Her job was to order them to happen.

The camera was duly brought forth by one of the many faceless minions whose sole function was to carry out her wishes. Atropos accepted it and attached it to the front of her long-coat with an expertise that suggested she'd done this before. "Well, then," she said, picking up her mask and hat, "there's one thing I need, and one thing I have to do, before I go ensure your rightful place in history."

"And what might those be?" Atropos might have been cooperative since the hostages were revealed, and there may have been no danger signals from her, but Bianca's patience only stretched so far.

"Well, first I need a notepad so I can leave my calling card. Second, I'm hungry." Atropos patted her stomach. "Point me at the kitchens, I'll fix myself a snack, and then I'll be on my way."

Bianca was tempted to deny her the request, but her tone was polite and reasonable. She hadn't even argued about the body-camera. "Very well. Show her to the kitchens and bring her a notepad." Giving Atropos a hard stare to show her who was boss, she added, "Fifteen minutes. No more."

"Not a problem." Atropos' tone was entirely agreeable. "That's all the time I'll need."

Miss Medic

Riley put on her best puppy-dog eyes. Aisha had been schooling her in the art, and sometimes she could even wheedle things out of Brian using them. Theo, of course, had been a pushover from the start, but that was just the way he was.

She liked Theo, because he was a nice guy and he was super cuddly. Unfortunately, 'nice' wasn't likely to win him many points as a kidnap victim (and 'cuddly' none at all), so she hoped he could stay out of trouble until she could come save him. Or Atropos did, whichever happened first.

"Y-you're not going to hurt me, are you?" she quavered, giving her lower lip a good tremble.

The guard glowered down at her. "Will if I have to, so sit down and shut up," he growled in oddly accented English. He didn't seem amenable to the idea that people shouldn't hurt children, so she shifted him in her mind from 'just following orders' to 'not a nice man'. This gave her a few more options.

As she obediently sat down on the thin mattress that had been supplied for her, she mentally categorised the weapons she'd seen on him: a heavy calibre pistol (not useful for her because she'd never had the training and it would knock her on her ass) and a large knife (definitely useful). The heavy harness he wore was something else altogether; she was fairly certain that it held a heart monitor linked to (this was a guess) a bomb big enough to destroy the room they were in.

She also had one other thing that her kidnappers apparently didn't know about. Her memories of being Bonesaw were faded at best, and she was extremely reluctant to delve into them, but Bonesaw had known how to deal with violent people.

She just had to hope that there was a way back for her after all this was over and done.

Theo

The room wasn't large, and there was just one chair. Miserable, Theo sat curled up on the thin mattress, trying not to attract the attention of the guard. His stomach ached from being punched; he was pretty sure there was a bruise there now.

He still had no idea what was going on, but the guard's attitude was terrifying. Theo knew killers, and this man was both a killer and a fanatic (he knew those, too). If he were ordered to kill Theo with the heavy pistol or the brutal-looking knife, he would do it.

I hope Riley's okay. She was so small and vulnerable, and his heart ached with worry about her.

The door opened and someone walked in. Or rather, something walked in. It looked like a seven-foot-tall man, if said man was constructed of thick slabs of steel with molten metal oozing out from between the gaps. Drops splattered on the floor, but vanished without a trace. Over his right shoulder hovered a tiny ball that appeared to be composed of pure light.

"Hey, kid," said the newcomer. "You look like you're in a bit of a bind there."

Theo stared at the guard, who seemed to be frozen in place. "What's going on? I don't understand anything that's happening!"

"Okay, you want the big picture or the small picture?" The apparition came to the centre of the room and looked down at him, ignoring the guard. More drops of molten metal utterly failed to make any kind of mark on the wooden floorboards.

"Um, everything? And is Riley okay?" Theo looked at the guard again; he still hadn't moved.

The metal man tilted his head slightly to the side, as though listening to something. "Chirurgeon's just fine. Let's concentrate on you. You can call me Foundry. Big picture, you've been kidnapped to be used as a hostage by a jumped-up six-parter from another world, who wants to make Ending do what he's told. Really bad move, if you ask me. Ending doesn't take orders, he gives them. Small picture, Ending's voluntold me to give you a nice easy entry into getting powers, like he did with Queen Administrator. So, here we are."

Theo blinked. About ninety percent of what Foundry had just said had gone over his head. He understood 'hostage', and that was about it. "What?"

Foundry sighed. "I've been told to keep you safe. Now, do you have any ideas how powers work?"

Up until that moment, Theo had thought he did. Faced with a direct question, he wasn't so sure. "Probably not."

"Good answer. So, you know how your grandfather, your aunt and your father all had similar-type powers, creating metal out of nothing?"

Theo wasn't stupid. Sometimes he just needed to get a good run-up to grasp a concept. The earlier mention of 'easy entry into powers' gave him the hint. "You're the power," he guessed. "The personification or whatever."

"Bingo." Foundry appeared to smile. "I've been hanging around to see if you'd hit a trigger point. Normally you wouldn't quite be there yet, but rules are made to be ignored. Also normally, this thing we're doing wouldn't even be happening. I'd just slam-dunk you with powers that nearly fixed all your problems, then sit back with popcorn, watching you get yourself in and out of trouble."

"But that's not what's happening now, is it?" Theo was starting to figure it out. "This 'Ending' is making you be nice to me, and … what? Ask me what actual powers I want?"

"Got it in one. I have to say, I'm not totally sure about this, but QA seems to be having a ball with it, so let's try something new. Hit me. What do you want? It's got to have something to do with metal or other hard stuff. Creating it, destroying it, or whatever."

Theo frowned. "Before I commit myself … what's that?" He pointed at the ball of light over Foundry's shoulder.

"Oh, that's Plasma. She provided a ping, a fragment of her shard. You spent a lot of time around her, so that rubbed off on me."

Right, he thought. Kayden. Wow, okay. What can I do with this?

"Okay," he said out loud, thinking as fast as he could. "What are the limits of what I can create? Can I make something that's the same every time, but has moving parts?"

Foundry looked thoughtful. "So long as it's made out of metal … sure, I guess. What did you have in mind?"

Theo put up a finger. "Hadn't finished. How about electronics?"

"A little trickier, but so long as it isn't all electronics, I can't see a problem. We'll borrow a tiny spark from Plasma to make it work. What are you thinking about, kid?"

"A couple of more things. When I create it, can I add accessories, so long as I detail them right now? And anything I create, I can then un-create, right?"

"I can't see a problem with any of that." Foundry was starting to look extremely dubious. "Look, before we go any further, just tell me what you've got in mind, and I'll tell you if it's possible."

So Theo told him.

Emma

"You should be asking for forgiveness right at this moment," Emma told her captor sternly. "Our Lady in Darkness does not suffer fools gladly. I was one such fool, once upon a time. Now I am Twice-Warned, and I have learned better."

"Will you just shut up?" groaned the guard. "I get it, you love Atropos, but you don't have to keep harping on about it all the time. She's your world's problem, not ours."

"If I am here, then She is here as well." Emma was quietly confident of that fact. "And She has forbidden violence against us. Those violating Her edicts learn very quickly why they should not."

Over a year ago, finding herself wanting, she'd become the sort of person Sophia would approve of. That had been a mistake. Following Sophia's death, she'd found herself adrift without wind or rudder. It was only with the destruction of the Simurgh that her need to follow someone had crystallised again, and she'd plunged her entire identity into what she believed Atropos would approve of.

Even the rules that Atropos had laid down had failed to puncture her faith. While other cults she'd heard of gleefully encouraged their followers to commit all sorts of atrocities, Atropos had told hers to … be good people. To not kill even those who deserved it.

Some had left, grumbling that this was not as they'd expected things to be. Despite her own tiny doubts mounting up, Emma and the other faithful of their Lady in Darkness had remained, keeping faith and doing their good deeds; as She had put it, solving more problems than they caused. Through all this, ignoring the questions that whispered themselves to her late at night, Emma's faith had remained unwavering.

Never did she doubt, never would she doubt Atropos' right to judge and End the bad people of the world. Atropos was, and rightfully so, a terrifying presence in the city, in Emma's life.

Emma's misgivings were more subtle than that: did Atropos need the cult at all, and (more importantly) did Emma truly need to subsume her personality into the cult in order to gain Taylor's approval?

With the latest conversation they'd had, the answers seemed more and more to be … 'no'. Atropos' attitude toward the cult had always been exasperated tolerance, and she seemed to want people to be good rather than to worship her.

Atropos' admission that she didn't always know what was going to happen was what had brought on the tipping point; not because of any perceived 'feet of clay', as Anne had put it, but because she had freely admitted it. Atropos didn't care if those around her didn't see her as all-knowing. To put it crudely, she didn't give a fuck. Sophia had absolutely given a fuck about never being seen to lose.

Could I do that? Emma had asked herself. Could I live my life as a good person and not care what people thought of me? It was certainly something to ponder on.

While she was working on that, she had her role as the leader of the Followers of Our Lady in Darkness to fulfil. She didn't see it as playing a part, because she truly believed that Atropos was the saviour that Brockton Bay needed (if not the one it wanted). More to the point, as she'd told Taylor, the cult (she was self-aware enough to admit that yes, it was indeed a cult) had reached the point that if she walked away now, it would keep going of its own volition, and probably veer off track into something ugly. She owed it to the Followers to maintain its original intent, and so she would stay on as leader.

In the meantime, it was easy to slip back into the mindset, and if she could keep the guard irritated and focused on her, it would make things easier for Atropos to take him down when the time came.

She wasn't much use as a hostage, but as a cult member, she was really good at annoying people.

Bianca

Fourteen minutes later, Atropos was ready to leave.

The cooks reported (through Tori) that she had wandered all over the kitchen, peering into every cupboard and refrigerator, before assembling a simple meal and eating it right there at the counter. Now, with her mask and hat in place and looking much more like the semi-mythical slayer of the Simurgh than she had when she woke up, she stepped up in front of Bianca. "I can shoot them or I can capture them alive," she said. "Which would you prefer?"

Bianca frowned. "You don't need to interrogate them to find out about their comrades, do you?"

"Nope. I can go straight to them." Atropos slid back her sleeve. "I don't need to ask a single question."

"Then kill them." Bianca smiled cruelly. "If they don't want to live under my rule, they don't get to live."

"Killshots it is." Flipping up the small panel, Atropos typed in a series of numbers then hit a button. She closed the panel and slid her sleeve down, then drew her pistol so smoothly that Bianca didn't even register it until it was out and ready to use. "And … go." A portal appeared before her and she stepped through it.

"Screen!" called out Bianca. At her command, a large flatscreen lowered itself from the ceiling, passing by the three that had been set up for Atropos' chair. It reached its lowest point at a comfortable viewing angle for her, and the picture came on.

As Atropos had pointed out, the camera was only just now sending its signal out, and the fight was already well underway. She saw Atropos shoot one man in the chest, then kick a gun out of a woman's hand so hard that she spun around before shooting her in the back of the head. Bianca was no stranger to combat, but that was with powers. Atropos was fast and deadly, an exponent of lethal ballet.

The last opponent fell. Atropos dropped to one knee beside him, the impact shaking the camera then the picture steadying on his head. Blood ran from the bullet-hole just behind his left ear as Atropos checked for a pulse. "Dead enough for you?" she asked out loud.

As she turned, the camera panned over the rest of Atropos' victims. They hadn't stood a chance; she'd evidently appeared in the middle of them and started shooting immediately. Bianca bared her teeth in triumph as she gloated over the carnage.

So fall all my enemies.

There was a small table off to one side, and Atropos went to it, pulling out the notepad. Murmuring to herself, she scribbled a note on the pad. Bianca couldn't see the writing from the angle, but she could hear what Atropos was saying. "If you find these people, they were idiots for opposing Goddess. Signed, Atropos."

Bianca smiled and nodded in agreement. That was a fine sentiment. It seemed that Atropos had decided to throw in her lot with the superior force after all.

For the next minute or two, Atropos prowled around the makeshift base, apparently just exploring. Finally, she pulled back her sleeve, flicked up the panel, and typed in another set of coordinates. The portal appeared before her, and she stepped through it.

The picture dropped out, of course, but Bianca was unfazed. Leaning back in her throne, she looked around at her Court. "Go, eat, if you wish. I'll be staying here. I enjoy seeing my enemies fall before their executioner."

As the screen came back up, Atropos was once more cutting a swathe through Bianca's sworn enemies. Not a shot from her gun missed, and not a bullet from the rebels even came close to hitting her. Again, she checked a couple of pulses, the drop to the floor jarring the image, but every rebel she checked was dead.

This, Bianca decided as Atropos began writing out her next calling card, was how wars should be fought.

Miss Medic

It was time, Riley decided, that something needed to be done. As Riley Laborn pretending to be Aisha Laborn, she was acting as though she believed all was well, but the deep-seated instincts she'd retained from her Bonesaw persona were telling her that all was assuredly not well. She hated having to listen to those instincts, but they were the thing most likely to keep her alive right now, at least until Atropos showed up.

Whoever had kidnapped her and Theo was clearly willing to have her killed if they decided Atropos wasn't fulfilling whatever terms had been decided on. And if they went so far as to put a guard who was absolutely willing to kill a ten-year-old girl in the room with her, and equipped him with both a pistol and a knife and a bomb that would go off if his heart stopped, then they were more invested in 'fuck you' than peaceful cooperation. Which meant that Riley's best bet for survival was to use one of the several plans she'd already made to get past this guy, and go find Atropos herself.

After all, why should Atropos have all the fun?

Accordingly, she got up off the mattress. Breathing deeply, she began flexing her stomach muscles in a way designed to elicit a specific response. If she'd had more time, even the contents of a random kitchen cabinet, she could've been more elegant about this, but sometimes the simplest ways worked.

"Siddown," growled the guard as she approached him.

"I'm not feeling so good," she said, holding her stomach.

"Don't care." He went to shove her back.

She gave her stomach muscles one more spasmodic clench, and projectile-vomited all over his feet and legs. The bacon, eggs and OJ she'd had that morning, plus the snacks she'd been eating while they watched cartoons, all came up, splattering the unwary guard with the horrible stinking mess. Bonesaw, she vaguely recalled, had once rejiggered her digestive system so she could project flesh-eating acids over a distance of yards, but that might've been overkill here.

Even as he reacted with disgust, she brought up her fist into his groin then let go one last spray of puke into his face as he bent over in pain. Blinded, caught totally off guard, he never saw the knuckle strike that smashed into his larynx. He fell to his knees, choking; while she lacked the strength to actually destroy his ability to breathe, she'd certainly disrupted it. But he was still a big man and would recover shortly, so she grabbed his knife from its sheath and went to work.

Involuntary surgery had been Bonesaw's thing, not hers. She always asked for permission first. But in this instance, she preferred to think in terms of 'pre-emptive self-defence'.

And besides, she could always fix him again afterward.

Theo

After Foundry left, Theo watched as the guard resumed moving. It was evident that his captor had no awareness of the visitation Theo had just experienced. He was also giving Theo the stink-eye and resting his hand on his gun butt more often.

This guy wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to kill someone.

But still, something within Theo wanted to give him one last chance. "So, hey," he offered. "You know Atropos is going to be looking for me, right?" He'd made the connection that if a powerset calling itself Foundry was all about metal, then one calling itself Ending would be all about killing, and Atropos fit that description better than anyone he knew.

Why Riley would be connected with a name like Chirurgeon, he was still trying to figure out, but that wasn't something he was concerned with right now.

The guard sneered at him. "She comes here, I'll blow her head off then I'll blow your head off. Or maybe I'll just gut you like a fish, fat boy."

Oh. Right. This guy wasn't from Bet. He'd heard of Atropos, but that was about it. It would be impossible to scare the guy if he didn't know enough to be scared. "Okay, then. If you're going to be like that, I'm just going to leave." He stood up from the mattress. "And if you're smart, you won't stand in my way."

The 'fat boy' comment shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did. He'd heard worse, from worse people, ever since he was old enough to understand what it meant. But in the twelve hours he'd been in the Laborn household, nobody had mentioned his weight, or even made a disparaging comment toward him.

Pulling out the pistol, the guard pointed it at him. "Sit your fat ass back down."

Theo took a deep breath, and activated his power. Almost faster than the eye could see, the gleaming powered armour—silver with green highlights, to get as far away from the red-and-black of the Empire Eighty-Eight as he could—formed around him. It was solid but not chunky, and he could feel the various mechanisms whirring as it spun up to full power. The visor dropped into place, allowing him to see in infrared as well as normal light. Outlines formed around the guard and the pistol he held, informing Theo of the calibre, and the minimal chance it had of penetrating his armour. It also outlined the module on the guard's harness, notifying Theo that it was a bomb attached to a heart monitor.

A moment later, the pistol went off. Theo felt the slight jar as the bullet ricocheted off his shoulder and buried itself in the ceiling. Even his hearing was protected; the noise was loud but not deafeningly so.

Grabbing the pistol in two hands, the guard shakingly aimed at his visor. The chance of the bullet penetrating that wasn't much better, but it was a possibility, so Theo brought up his left arm in a defensive pose. A kite shield was generated from the forearm, extending upward and downward with a very cool chnk-chnk-chnk-chnk sound. Theo hadn't specified that, but apparently Foundry had figured out his likes and dislikes, and included it just for fun.

The second shot bounced off the shield, just as it had his armour. Theo was done being a punching bag; he dismissed the shield and lunged forward, grabbing for the pistol. His steel-gauntleted hand closed around it, servos whined briefly, and there was a crunch of metal giving up the ghost. Opening his hand again, he dropped the mangled remains of the firearm to clatter on the floor.

"I said," Theo reiterated, hearing his amplified voice echoing within the confines of the room, "I'm leaving."

[A/N: The armour Theo is generating isn't quite as sleek as Iron Man's armour, but not as chunky as Ironmonger's. It also has options that have not been shown yet.]

End of Part Seventy-Four