Broker

Chapter 159

Sonya crossed her legs and got comfortable. Her eyes swept over the gathered aspirants. There were almost a quarter of them missing and she wasn’t going to get a headcount until they all returned. In particular, her favorites were all gone, including him. She narrowed her eyes a little, Marta had told her that Lillian and the scouts were in the dungeon when everything had gotten started and Amos had seen the Nashville crew race towards the dungeon through his cameras. She still wasn’t sure what Otis had done to the dungeon. Cass was convinced he’d done something, but it was all she could do to hope they’d be okay.

She closed her eyes and opened an Astral Eye over the battlefield outside, observing from a well hidden spot. Things were drawing to a conclusion it seemed. Euclidia’s archway had risen in the center of the courtyard, heroes pouring out. She paused for a moment to watch Chunhua step away from yet another cultist who collapsed beneath her overwhelming might. Chunhua turned her head and looked up, meeting her ethereal gaze. Her lips twitched, You’re getting stronger and stronger aren’t you? I’m glad. Finally out of your rut. Chunhua nodded to her before turning back to her work. Sonya set her hands in her lap and turned her attention to the dungeon, the swirling light of the portal bubbling and rippling as Lillian stepped out, sword strapped on her shoulder and an injured aspirant cradled in her arms. Yet another streak in her hair.

You fought hard in there, didn’t you? You endured pain and threw your life down to protect someone else. You survived. I’m proud of you, She thought as the others stepped out, talking and laughing. Everyone accounted for. Otis stepped out as well, his appearance flickering through her sight. And it looks like you’ve started using that ability of yours with a bit more nuance, bastard. Couldn’t be so lucky that you’d die in there, but I suppose I should be happy you went in, even if it’s for the wrong reasons. You helped and now I have to pay that debt, she thought before a ghost of a smile widened on her face. Good. I’ll use it as a chance to keep you on a leash until I figure out how to kill you. Keep your enemies close, right?

Her sight moved again and she followed her sense of where Marta was. Her smile turned into a grin as her eye opened on the side of a tree and she took in the sight. Should I let it play out a bit longer?

Liberty slid across the ground several feet, her sword raised and tilted as the massive hammer swung by the disguised Marta crashed into it. Marta followed through with a grunt, pushing the weapon’s swing into a full arc that attempted to knock Liberty into the sky. The future herald snarled and pushed back, her body glowing with coppery light and Marta was forced back, her weapon moving in the opposite direction as Liberty swung again, aiming for her throat. Marta whipped her body backwards in a backflip, hopping off the ground twice before landing and readying herself. Liberty was the first to move this time, kicking off the ground and hurtling like a meteor towards Marta as her blade glowed brightly.

Glowing? Sonya sat up a bit in her seat, ignoring the looks a few of the aspirants gave her. Her senses picked up on every movement around her even as her eyes were shut. She pressed her lips together. I know that sword. She resisted every instinct to break into a manic grin, I found you! I found you Craftsman! Looks like you’re playing house with Liberty! Two for the price of one? I’ll take it! She thought as Liberty collided with Marta with a howl of fury. A thunderclap sounded that Sonya could even hear from where she sat. The aspirants sat up in surprise. Marta was thrown into the sky, white streaks whipping off of her body as her power continued to build with the length of the fight. 

Liberty said something but Marta didn’t react. Hm? Liberty tilted her head and then narrowed her eyes, pointing her weapon at Marta and shouting something else. She looked angry, furious even. She lowered her weapon as Marta landed on the ground and Sonya watched as Marta’s arm, which had been broken by the exchange, set itself. Liberty turned her attention towards the trees where Sonya’s eye lurked and she said something else. Sonya’s eyes narrowed, She figured it out, it looks like. Oh well. Time’s up. You lose this time, Liberty.

She used technopathy to access her earpiece and sent a voice message to Marta.

<“Marta dear, looks like she figured it out. Deliver a message for me…”>

–

The thunderclap shook the earth, the ground trembling beneath Liberty’s feet as she launched her sister into the sky. Something felt off though, Is Cassiopeia really this strong? Still not a match for me, but… She thought as the woman hurtled into the air, higher and higher. She followed the arc of her sister’s flight and narrowed her eyes. “Bonnie!” She shouted at the girl. There was a pause and then… no reaction. Liberty’s lips formed a thin line as rage bubbled in her gut. She bore her teeth at the person masquerading as her sister. No reaction to the name of her beloved childhood stuffed toy? The one I tore to pieces to send a message? No, this isn’t my sister.

“Who are you?” She demanded, pointing her sword at the person. “Why are you wearing my sister’s face?”

The person landed and Liberty watched as the woman’s arm, which seemed to have been broken, set of its own accord. She scowled and turned her gaze towards the woods. A regenerator disguised as my sister, sent to block my progress. Underhanded, mischievous, and reeks of one particular person who played similar games during Vegas according to my intelligence. A faint pink light glowed in the trees that she couldn’t get a fix on and her lips set thinner. I knew it. Her eyes cast down towards a figure sitting in the trees, beaten to hell from the looks of it. Halloway. If you’re here-

She scoffed and turned her gaze back towards the person wearing her sister’s face. “Are you Ishtar?” She demanded, “Interfering on behalf of the heroes? Seems beneath you.”

The false Cassiopeia flipped her hair and lowered her hammer, she tilted her head as if she was listening to something before smiling. “My mistress has a message for you,” The fake said, “You lose this round, Liberty. I’m coming for you. You wanted a war? You have one.”

Liberty bore her teeth with a snarl, “Just a henchman then,” She bit out before smiling. “A war it is, then,” She said and stood up straight before pulling a needle from her pocket and snapping her arm out, whipping it towards Halloway’s chest. It dug into his flesh and he let out a cry of pain before his body began to heal. The fake turned in surprise towards the spot as Liberty barked out a laugh, “The heroes won’t take my best people so easily,” She said and raised her head, “Halloway! Gather the round table, I would have words with them back home.”

Several rifts opened in the air around Liberty. Kant and Ellis fell through. Their bodies were bloodied and beaten from the vicious fighting. No Ewen? They must have grabbed him before he fell through, no matter. He failed. Halloway appeared next to her, blood dripping from his nose as he staggered a little. She grabbed him by the back of the neck as the fake readied her hammer. “We’re leaving,” Liberty snarled and pushed power into Halloway. He grunted and seized for a moment before a silvery multicolored line stretched out beneath her and the others. She tilted her head towards the fake, “I’m looking forward to our battle, Ishtar and… I’m guessing you’re Companion.”

The fake didn’t react, but it did lower its weapon and glare back at her. “Good to know you’re a shapeshifter as well, I’ll keep that in mind,” She said as the rift yawned open and she fell through with her battered lieutenants.

–

Marta watched them go, her arms shaking. She let out a shaky breath. Sonya had warned her that Liberty was strong, but she was absolutely monstrous. She took her hit like it was nothing, even swinging her hammer with all of her strength. What’s more, Marta’s arm broke from the impact, not the other way around! She looked down at her wrist and flexed her fingers. If that turned into a protracted fight, I would have been turned into paste. I’d have come back, but… Her thoughts trailed off as she reached for her earpiece.

“Some of them got away,” She said.

<”It’s fine, we have one at least, thanks to Chunhua. The Committee will lock him up, but I’ll pull some strings for an interview. I want his power regardless,”> Sonya said to her. <”Come on back and well done. She’s not an easy opponent.”>

“That’s putting it mildly, she’s stronger than I estimated,” Marta said as she turned away. “I’ll be honest, I went all in on that last swing, not trying to emulate Cass.”

There was a long pause, <”So she has more followers than I expected, understood. That doesn’t change much. This war won’t come to blows for a while yet, we have time. Propaganda will sap some of her strength.”>

“So we’re following through with the original plan?” Marta asked.

<”With some minor alterations, yes,”> Sonya said, <”Kingshark is ready. Blackrazor is pulling his people out of her camps for now and purging traitors. I’m also sending Mephisto to South America. The young heroes will be ready and I have some apparent worshippers to meet and see if I can’t leverage in Japan. We have a lot to do before the final confrontation and I want to make you stronger, dear. Just in case.”>

Marta clenched her fist, it trembled again, an aftershock of the impact. “Yes, mistress. I’m looking forward to it.”

–

Sonya strode down into the depths of her beach house. Her arms crossed behind her back. Her eyes glowed in the dark, the faint ticking louder than ever in her head. She hadn’t heard it in a while. She strode past one of the glass cases containing a decorative knife and looked back at Ishtar who nodded to her. She set her jaw. I need to do this myself. She’s right. I can’t keep hiding behind her. In the end, this is on me. She thought as she walked into her office. Her mind reached out and the screens came on in the dark. She didn’t need lights, after all. She stood in the middle of the room and took a steadying breath.

Ewen has been secured and is being transported by the Pandora Committee to a new prison. She thought as her eyes swept over the screens. The surviving aspirants are better off than I expected, driven even. Her lips dropped into a frown. Ten died, not including Canis. Crowley said she bled out while being held hostage by the enemy. Her heart felt heavy in her chest and she let out a sigh as a flare of anger rose in her chest. Those two aspirants in particular, left hanging from trees like that… disgusting. Liberty’s people are warped beyond anything I had considered. She shook her head only to pause as a presence made itself known in her home. She glanced up and narrowed her eyes before smiling and turning around to face the door.

The door opened a few moments later and Chunhua stood at the threshold. She tilted her head to the right, a gesture of invitation, and Chunhua stepped through. “You did well out there.”

“Carla came through,” Chunhua said quietly, she’d been a little morose after finding out that she hadn’t been able to save Canis but had recovered, the strength of a real hero, “She’s… pretty great. Am I talking to Sonya right now?” She asked.

Sonya’s eyebrow rose, “Sure are.”

Chunhua hesitated, reaching up and brushing her dark hair back, “Can I… talk to her? For a moment?”

Sonya raised an eyebrow but felt Ishtar’s presence at the back of her mind give her assent. She felt her arms go slack as her eyes went unfocused. Her breathing eased as she floated up to sit casually in the air, resting her chin on her palm and looking down at Chunhua. Ishtar smiled cooly, “You called, little hero?”

Chunhua squared her shoulders and looked up at Ishtar, meeting her gaze and setting her jaw tightly. “I have only one thing to say to you,” Chunhua said, “Out there, out in the world, no matter what you do. No matter what your goals. If you are there, I will stand against you. I will stop you from hurting people, no matter what,” She let out a breath, “But-” She closed her eyes and nodded to herself, “I will help Sonya, I will be there for her. Not because of her past or mine, not because of the last timeline, but because of who she is today. I hate Ishtar, and I will never, ever, forgive her for the things she’s done,” She said and exhaled, “I want to talk to Sonya now.”

Ishtar returned her stare for several heartbeats, her expression complicated. She felt Sonya’s presence wriggling at the back of her mind but didn’t let go just yet. She leaned forward and grinned, “You’re playing a dangerous game, hypocrite.”

“I’d say the same to you two,” Chunhua shot back.

Ishtar barked out a laugh, “And how do you plan on doing this? A noble heart like yours? How can you rationalize it all?”

“Let me talk to Sonya,” Chunhua insisted.

Ishtar’s brows furrowed and she canted her head to the right, “Very well,” She said and drifted back to the ground. Her eyes softened a little and her shoulders sagged before straightening up. Sonya brought her hand to her lips for a moment before looking away, clearing her throat. “That was… quite the speech.”

Chunhua stepped forward, “Sonya,” she said, “Your memories may have set me down the path to trying to figure out how to reconcile with you. I don’t know what this is, I don’t know how I feel, I don’t know any of it. I can barely function some days, but…” She looked down at her hands, “You are so…” She clenched her fists and looked up at her, “...you can set conditions in your deals, right?”

Sonya felt her heart clench a little, “What kind of deal?” She asked.

“I want to be the hero that you need me to be, that the world needs me to be,” Chunhua said with a shaky voice. “You were right that day. I regret what I did, what I asked for, what I got out of it. That was the most painful kiss of my life.”

Sonya looked away, “I’m sorry, I forced it on you, all of it,” She said soberly.

“You may have, but I wanted to know,” Chunhua said and looked up at her. “I want to make a deal.”

Sonya looked back at her and brought her hand to her chest, their eyes meeting, “Name your terms.”

“When I am on the field, when I face Ishtar or her agents, when I am fighting as a hero,” She said, “I want you to lock those memories away. I want to fight unrestrained, unchained. I want to face her with my full might, not knowing who she is under that mask.”

Sonya frowned, “You want me to go against a previous deal,” Sonya said even as her heart rate picked up, “That’s quite the ask, and what are you going to give in exchange?”

“When I am at rest, when I see your face, those memories come back and I suffer through them all over again,” Chunhua declared, “I will never kill you, but I will try my best to stop you when the time comes,” She touched her chest and looked Sonya in the eyes, “I want to suffer like you are, I want to experience it, every day if I must, if that means being the hero the world needs me to be. Just like you’re the villain the world needs most.”

Sonya swallowed hard, “I still love you.”

“I know,” Chunhua said, “I’m not deaf. You told Carla.”

Sonya snorted, “Eavesdropper.”

“Just spying on a known supervillain,” Chunhua snarked back even as the agony lingered in her eyes.

Sonya let out a shaky breath, “Are you sure you want this? I’m never going to force a deal on you again. That is a promise. It broke me to do it to you the first time.”

Chunhua gave her the gentlest smile in the world, it made Sonya’s heart ache. She wanted to run to her, hold her, kiss her, comfort her, to ease her pain in any way she could. But she held her ground, her lips trembling as Chunhua gave her assent with a nod, “Yes. I want to fight Ishtar, but I want to be your friend and whatever the hell else, I want to be there for you if I can.”

Sonya swallowed and held out her hand, “It’s a deal.”

–

Liberty landed on her feet as the others collapsed onto the cold floor beneath them. She paid them no mind for the first few moments, her eyes fixed on the wall ahead of her, her thoughts roiling. The room was dark, only faint lights providing minimal illumination to allow someone to navigate if they needed to. She felt him approaching before he even stepped through the door, the cropped brown hair shimmering a bit in the light that framed his body. Orange eyes glowed brightly as he stepped inside with nonchalant grace. 

“Craftsman,” She bit out.

“Looks like things went about as well as I expected,” He said, “They should have taken the tools I made for them.”

She snorted and glanced down at the sword on her hip, “I’m inclined to agree,” She said sourly, “Your toy is powerful, it withstood quite a hit, it seems like you’re the only person working for me in this room with a mind,” she added, her voice dripping with venom.

Ellis, who as shifting to his feet, glanced at Kant and scowled. He said nothing and she noticed the injury on his neck. They silenced him, amusing, she thought before looking to Dame Kant who was sitting on her knees, a mixture of shell-shock, grief, and rage warring on her face. She drew Black Lotus out, then, too early. She failed. It will take time to piece her ego back together. Now is not the time for that though. She reached down and grabbed the woman by the shirt and pulled her to her feet, looking her in the eyes, “Did you enjoy your duel?” She demanded.

Kant’s eyes seemed to waver for a moment before they fixed on Liberty. Distant. “M-my lad-”

Liberty snarled and pulled her close, “You are fortunate I did not cast you aside like Ewen,” She growled in a low voice. “All that planning, wasted, to soothe your precious ego. If you weren’t useful to me still, I would kill you now,” She rumbled and the room shook. The faint coppery light that glowed in Kant’s eyes began to fade and her body seemed to wither a little under her touch. Kant’s eyes went wide and she struggled for a moment.

“P-Please! Don’t-”

“You will earn your place all over again,” Liberty hissed, “Struggle well, Kant,” She dropped Kant to her knees and the swordswoman groveled.

“Please!” She begged and sat up, whipping her head towards Halloway and opening her mouth. Liberty kicked her in the chest and sent her careening to the far wall. She struck it, hard, and lost consciousness.

“Lip service,” She spat before finally turning to Halloway. “You.”

Halloway seemed to fight down his terror as he looked up at her, “It was-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!” She snarled, “I trusted you with this operation! I gave you more than enough power and put you in a position to succeed! It was your responsibility to keep Kant reigned in, even if she is your peer!” She bellowed and grabbed him by the throat, “Give me a good reason not to crush your throat now and save myself the trouble of enduring your pathetic groveling!”

He wheezed and coughed, but didn’t struggle with his body as she held him aloft.

“You’re hard on them,” Craftsman commented at her side.

“It’s necessary,” she said cooly, “Well? Do you have anything to show for this failure?” she demanded.

Halloway reached into his pocket, his face going red, then purple, he pulled a small object out and held it out. She snatched it from his fingers and examined it before letting him go. He coughed painfully on the ground as she turned it over in her hand. “A drive?” She held it out to Craftsman who shrugged and took it from her. He pulled a thin rod looking device out of his own pocket and pulled on it, stretching out what looked like a screen made of fabric. He slid the drive into a slot on the side and began to read after tapping the fabric screen a few times.

“That’s all you have?” She asked.

“The aspirants are far more powerful than we suspected, well trained,” He gasped as he pushed himself up, “A boy named Gravitic had abilities that countered mine and enough skill to hold his own.”

“A boy?” Liberty asked, frowning in thought, “So she could get such training as well, I see. So many camps manufacturing heroes just like that.”

“Liberty,” Craftsman said and held the screen out to her.

She turned and frowned at him before looking down at the screen. Her eyes sweeping over the text slowly. At first her face contorted with rage before it began to relax as she read more and more of it. She took the scroll-like object from Craftsman and kept reading, pacing back and forth for several minutes before she finally handed it back over to him. Her gut was doing backflips. Who is this person? They somehow manipulated Halloway into delivering this to me. It’s… magnificent. She rubbed her chin and glanced at Halloway. He has no idea. Even so. He was loyal enough to bring it to me without hesitation.

“I will stay your punishment, Halloway. You brought me something good,” She said with a cold smile before turning to Ellis. “You will oversee Kant’s training and recovery until she is worthy of rejoining the Round Table ranks, Ellis. Do this and I will forgive you as well. I’m suddenly feeling very generous.”

Ellis dropped to the ground and pressed his head to the floor. “-ank -ou,” He wheezed.

“May I ask what was on the device, ma’am?” Halloway asked.

She turned to him and rest her hand on the pommel of her sword, “A new strategy, and a new standard to adhere to,” She said, “My path to glory.”

BROKER

SEASON 2 PART 1: FOG OF WAR

END