The Archway, Part 9 (Patreon)

The screen came to life, displaying a standard video-sharing app. The video seemed to have been taken from a live news feed. It looked like footage of the skyline of Grand Unity. Due to the small screen and and the unsteadiness of whoever was holding the camera, it was difficult to make out what was being shown.  Still wary of a Bright's technological trickery but now too curious to resist, I leaned forward.

There was a collective gasp from my companions. Something had happened to Grand Unity. Some of the structures were the same glittering spires of white, green, and silver I had seen from the helicopter when I left. The Spiral Gardens were still corkscrewing gracefully into the sky. The elegant contours of the Museum of Art and History was visible. But an entire section of the city was entirely different.

Pillars of black smoke rose from numerous fires, covering the streets with a patchwork of flickering lights and shadows. The streets were crumbling and broken, as though maintenance had been neglected for a long time. Strange, unfamiliar structures dominated the skyline. In place of the beautiful modern architecture were towering medieval castles and towers. There were entire office blocks that seemed to have been recreated in rough-hewn boulders and monoliths, as though they had been built built by some primitive race of giants. Elegant skyscrapers were replaced by ominous towers of black marble and shiny obsidian. Some structures looked more like caves or tangles of trees than anything a human would build. Most disturbing of all, Miranda could make out huge webs strung between the unfamiliar buildings. She thought she could just spot an enormous spider crawling across the air. The voice of a news announcer began to pipe through the tiny speaker:

“The strange transformation of our beloved city's buildings is only one symptom of the awful disaster that has struck Grand Unity. What began as a struggle at the Archway Park when one Laura Peterson tragically manifested as a Knave, has now escalated into a situation that threatens the very survival of Utopia.”

The footage cut to footage of military maneuvers. Tanks were moving across the streets of Grand Unity. Behind them marched platoons of foot soldiers dressed in white and armed with electric rifles, and accompanied by figures in more elaborate uniforms who were most likely Knights or Espers. Helicopters, flying in formation, passed overhead. I had known that Utopia had a military of sorts to field in dire circumstances, mainly composed of Knights, law enforcement, Thought Police, and a reserve of trained volunteers, but I had never seen them deployed before. Bringing up the rear were stranger-looking pieces of equipment, things that looked like rayguns or high-tech cameras being carried on wheeled carts. I guessed that these were Bright-devised weapons of some kind.

“A general state of emergency has been declared. All Knights have been commanded to submit themselves for active duty, as well as any Special whose abilities could be helpful to the combat effort. Our brave soldiers have thus far succeeded only in delaying the enemy's expansion.”

The camera panned over to the road in front of the tanks. There, a bizarre-looking mob was gathering. I recognized some of them as the same type of creature that Garrett and Alice had been transformed into. But there were others. It was an army of monstrosities. Hulking things that looked like cyclopes or ogres. Hissing, scaly reptilian monsters, some walking and others slithering. Gray, corpse-like things that shambled forward, moaning and clawing at the air. Dozens of bat-like creatures of various sizes fluttered through the air above the mob. There were hundreds of them, with more on the way behind them.

The battle began. Bright bursts of phosphorescent flames filled the air as the soldiers opened fire. The tanks began firing their cannons into the enemy mob with thunderous booms. Some of the creatures fell over or retreated under fire, but I knew the transformed Knights would not go down easily. Within seconds, the neat, orderly rows of soldiers had been scattered into a chaotic mess. The numberless hordes broke over the tanks like a wave, sending some of them flying backward into the soldiers. Huge spiders began to drop down from nearby buildings. The electric rifle blasts began to slow down as the soldiers were crushed by the rampaging monsters. I winced and shielded my eyes at the blood. A helicopter slammed into a nearby building, exploding on impact. Soon, only the Knights were still in action, fighting without fear or fatigue as only they can. I could only imagine what the brave reporter who had captured this footage could be thinking.

Then another figure appeared above the battlefield. I recognized her high-collared cloak and cold eyes. It was Laura. She was standing in mid-air like a telekinetic Esper. With a smirk, she pointed a finger at one of the Knights who was leaping back and forth and pummeling her minions down below. A bolt of bright red lightning shot from her fingertip, and the superhuman warrior fell convulsing to the ground. As he rose again as a shaggy, hulking beast, another bolt transformed one of the wheeled rayguns that was sitting abandoned in the grass, turning it into a dark, twisted version of itself. The camera fell to the ground and the feed cut off.

The frightened face of the announcer appeared on screen.

“Based on the footage we have gathered, it is believed that Laura may be a Knave of a type as yet undiscovered. She appears to be able to transform and dominate others at will, and  to even grow more powerful by doing so. Grand Unity is being overrun, and even as our brave soldiers scramble to contain her, many of them are being forced to join her hideous army. Evacuation of Grand Unity is still underway, but there is no way to determine at this point how many Utopian citizens are trapped in Laura's transformed city. Brights at the Science Core are working desperately to find a way to reverse the horrible effects of her powers. Even the Archway Park itself is inside Laura's growing territory. Casualty estimates are speculative at this point, but are believed to be in the thousands. This is a dark day for all of Utopia.”

The announcer was handed a piece of paper. “And for those who repeatedly ask: No, the Precognition Core did not know this was going to happen, and do not, as yet, know the outcome of the conflict. Thank you. Please stand by for further bulletins as events allow.”

The video ended. There was silence. Princess Boom-Boom wept softly into Nurse Wipe's shoulder. Cynthia was trembling, but had a look of determination in her eyes. Sammie and Jang-Mi held hands. Larry just cast his eyes downward sadly.

I sighed. I had wondered what had become of my mother and sister after that disturbance at the park, but I had been so busy with my own problems I had hardly thought about it all day. Now, I wondered if they too had become part of Laura's army. I shuddered as I thought of how every one of those horrible creatures had once been someone's family member or friend. And not all those who fell to Laura were being transformed. Many were just being killed.

I sniffed and brushed away a tear. I had never imagined that anything like this could happen. It was worse than anything I had seen or done today.

I looked at Larry. He was sitting patiently while I processed what I had seen. “I guess...I guess Cross wants a truce?”

Larry nodded. “She wants to use you against Laura. She hoping that your conversion ability can beat hers.”

“Doesn't she think that I'm a Knave, too?” I asked.

Larry smirked bitterly. “Funny how that works. Now that there's a bigger threat to deal with, Cross is suddenly a lot more open-minded. At the very least, she thinks you're more reasonable than the flying lightning girl.”

I looked down at my hands. After struggling to deal with Duchess Cross all day, the idea of trying to deal with what I just seen on the screen seemed insane. I had a half-dozen women with some limited abilities to my name, and she had an ever-expanding horde of super-powered monsters. And I bet her army won't need any naps or diaper changes. What exactly did Cross imagine I could do about this?

“I would need another power amplifier to even start on something like that.” I heard myself say. Even I was surprised by how level my voice sounded.

“That's why Cross let me bring Suki back. She should be able to assemble another one with the right parts.” he said.

I looked over at Suki. She was still looking nearly skeletal. I hoped that being near me would restore her, but if so it was taking a while.

“What about Megan?” I asked.

“Not doing any better than Suki. Cross is holding her hostage for the time being, along with all those teddy bears. We might be able to get them back, if you can persuade Cross that you're on her side.”

“And the nullifier?”

“I doubt she'll part with it. In her mind, it's the only reason you haven't taken over this whole place yet.”

“Do you think it would work on Laura? Or  her...people?”

Larry shrugged. “No idea. Suki might know.”

I looked around at my small circle of allies and converts. They were all patiently waiting for me to announce my intentions. I was sure that they would go along with whatever I chose, whether it was talking to the Duchess, trying to escape from the facility, or forming a Mariachi band. My stupid ability would see to that. Half of them hadn't even joined my forces willingly, and forming an army capable of helping to save Grand Unity would likely involve converting many more people, willingly or not. I sighed.

“Alright. I'm willing to hear her out.” I finally said.

Larry picked up the computer and began swiping through the menu. In a moment, he set it down on the crate again. On the screen was a strongly-built middle-aged woman in a gray uniform. Her perfectly-combed black hair was tied into a ponytail, and her face was grim. She was sitting in a dimly-lit room full of live screens, which I guessed to be the primary security room for Special Containment. I thought I had been mentally prepared to see her, but as soon as her eyes fell on me, my heart began pounding and my hands began to feel slippery.

“Good afternoon, Miss Hubble.” she greeted in a far more neutral voice than she had used the last time she had spoken to me.

“Duchess Cross.” I said, trying unsuccessfully to make my voice as clear and calm as hers.

“You've seen the footage I instructed Mr. Dunbar to show you?” she asked. I only nodded.

“Your thoughts on the situation?” she inquired.

Horror. Grief. Despair. Anger. But I had to bite my tongue. Wanting to help is not a strong bargaining position, and this was a hostage negotiation.

“I think you must be feeling desperate.” I countered.

She allowed a faint half-smile to form on her lips. “That is an extreme description. The situation has reached a critical stage, it's true. Other options are still available, however. The Queen asked me if I had any inmates or guards I could spare to the war effort. Seeing that a large number of my guards have been turned into plush novelties, I naturally thought of you. You should consider this an opportunity to regain some much-needed good will after your recent acts of defiance.”

I assumed an amused smile. “Is that what you're offering? Good will?”

“I am offering you the opportunity to be of service to Utopia. To use your abilities for the protection and advancement of society. Does that mean nothing to you now?” she said.

“Society has not been especially kind to me recently.” I said, allowing myself the luxury of some venom. “When I needed Utopia to help me, it sent me here. To you. I've seen what you do around here. You're not some guardian of justice, you're the warden of a chamber of horrors. So get off your high horse! If you want my help, you better be prepared to fork over something real for it.”

She arched an neatly-plucked eyebrow. “What sort of...compensation did you have in mind?”

I paused. I suddenly wished I had thought this through a little better before negotiations began. I stalled. “First, explain how you imagine I could help with your problem in Grand Unity.”

“Mainly, I want you to open up another front. Miss Peterson appears capable of assimilating almost anything into her forces, including Specials, ordinary citizens, and even inanimate objects. Judging by what I have seen, your abilities are comparable, although your reach has not extended as far. It is not presently known whether you can assimilate her forces into yours, or vice-versa, and your tactical value heavily depends on that interaction. However, I trust that given sufficient time and access to resources, you could build a force comparable or even superior to hers.”

I pursed my lips. She had obviously given this a lot of thought. “Aren't you worried that she could assimilate me as well, and become even more powerful?”

“That is one potential undesirable outcome among many. My hope is that attempting to assimilate your forces into hers will provide enough of a distraction for the Utopian defense forces to gain the upper hand. You see, I have already sent the schematics for the nullifier to the Queen. If the same type of weapon can be used successfully against Peterson, then there is every reason to believe that Utopia will triumph against both her and you. What you need to decide is how well-disposed toward you we will be when this conflict is over.”

I smiled. To my own surprise, I was starting to enjoy this negotiation thing. “So, you're putting all your hopes onto one surprise super-weapon? Sound pretty risky to me.”

She returned my smile. “Quite so. We don't know how similar your ability is to hers, and without putting her on the examination table, it difficult to find out.” She leaned forward, as though to whisper a secret. “You, on the other hand, we can definitely shut down hard. No matter how far your effect spreads, we have the means to neutralize it. Sadly, it does not appear to restore those you have assimilated back into the people they once were. That is why I have chosen to return Dr. Yamamoto to you. Still, whoever wins this war, you will definitely lose. There are enough Brights in Utopia to build nullifiers all day long. Your only chance to survive this is to court our good graces.”

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. The rush I felt was almost as good as the feeling of converting someone. “Good point. I'm in a bad spot here. Maybe I should be talking to Laura.”

Cross's tight little smile instantly turned into a savage scowl. “What did you say!?” she snarled.

I kept my eyes firmly on the screen, not daring to look at Larry or the others.“It seems like an alliance with Laura would make a lot more sense. She and I have a common enemy, after all. It's not like I can really win if I work with you.”

I was bluffing, of course. As disillusioned as I was with Utopia, it was my home, and I would do what I could to save it. I could never work with Laura, not after what I had just seen. Still, if Cross would think of me as a Knave no matter what I did, there was no reason to let her in on that.

Her tight-lipped smile recovered. Maybe she knew I was playing for bargaining power, or maybe she only wanted me to think that she knew, or maybe she...no, focus.

“I think we both know that Laura is not looking for allies. She would simply convert you if you tried to reach out to her. You just want a better deal. Well, go on! You have my attention. Where do you imagine this will go for you?”

I swallowed. “I want Special Containment. All of it. The Oddballs, the Jokers, the Knaves. The whole thing. I want a home for all my people, where I make the rules. And I want a written treaty stating that nobody from Utopia will attempt to retake it.”

“You know I can't do that.” she said.

I arched an eyebrow. “Oh? I bet you could if you really tried.”

“Be serious. Utopia is not going to tolerate an army of rogue Specials on our border.”

“Then I guess you'll have to tolerate the one in Grand Unity.” I said with a grin.

“You need to be realistic if you want to make this work.” she said calmly.

“You need to be realistic!” I said, sounding every bit like the toddler I was dressed as. “Laura is getting stronger every minute, and Utopia is losing ground. You can find some other hell-hole to shove all the undesirables into, but Grand Unity is gonna be damn hard to replace. Assuming Laura is nice enough to stop after she has one nightmare city. Any way you look at it, I'm asking for one unimportant corner of Utopia, in exchange for giving you back the Archway. If anything, I'm being generous.”

“I don't have to offer you anything. I have the nullifier, which can counter anything you wish to throw at me. Laura's current advantage is likewise temporary, until an effective counter-measure can be developed. The only question is how much suffering and death she will cause before we can stop her.  I am offering you the opportunity to redeem yourself.” She stated coldly.

I was on a roll. “And after I 'redeem' myself, where will I live? What will my 'redemption' net me? A cell on Level 4? And what about the people I've already converted? Will you keep all of us imprisoned for life? I'm sorry. Redemption is not enough. I want freedom.”

Duchess Cross was losing her temper. “Well I'm sorry too, but 'freedom' ceased to be an option for you the moment you passed under the Archway! You exist to strip people of their free will and turn them into disgusting mockeries of the human beings they once were. Freedom for you is slavery for everyone else. My job is to keep people like you from harming others.”

I couldn't let that slide. “Really? What about Larry, or Megan, or Cynthia, or Jang-Mi, or Josh? People with harmless, barely-there abilities, who are no threat to anyone. You're the one who locked them up and experimented on them. Where was your kind, freedom-loving soul when Sammie was being tortured? You are a fraud, and so is the rest of Utopia.”

Cross sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. “I suppose expecting to be an adult about this was too much to ask. Oddballs are kept here because their abilities are of little practical value. What we can learn by studying them may be far more valuable than anything they can accomplish as individuals. Simply put, they are kept here because they can do the most good here, just like every other Utopian. Had Suki found a way to replicate Sammie's abilities artificially, we might have developed teleportation technology. Megan could have been an environmental miracle if we had learned how her metabolism works. The true limits of Larry's power are still not fully understood. Your own abilities would have been a fascinating research project, I have no doubt.”

Finally I felt like I was making headway. “So that's it. How silly of me! You're not holding innocent people prisoner because of hatred or prejudice, nooo! You're keeping innocent people prisoner so you can perform unethical experiments on them, and then present the results as nothing more than the products of your genius. After all, if the public found out about what really happens around here...”

“Is there is a point to this? My patience isn't unlimited.”

“My offer still stands. I want Special Containment. Really, you ought to be grateful that I'm taking it off your hands. Either you pack up everything you want to keep and drive far away from here, or we both fight it out and see what happens. Of course, if you work with me on this, I'll be able to help you deal with Laura...and you'll get to stay in your big-girl pants!” I finished with a smirk.

There was a long silence. “Fine. I'll need a few hours to make the arrangements. Then, I'll take the nullifier and my remaining staff and leave in the helicopter. Everything and everyone else will be yours. In addition, I will give my personal guarantee that your right to this facility will remain sacrosanct as long as you agree to deal with Laura, and to limit your activities to Special Containment once she is dealt with. Fail to fulfill either of those conditions, and I will be back with enough nullifiers to put down everything you have. Is that agreed?”

“I want a written treaty.” I said.

“You'll have it once I report to the Queen. You have my word.” she said.

“You can take your staff, but all the inmates stay.” I stated.

“Fine.”

“And the ones you fried with your nullifier beam.” I said.

She smiled. “Those I'll hang onto until we're ready to leave. In case you try anything funny.”

I ground my teeth. I wondered what Megan was going through right now. Still, I had won the negotiation. I was getting everything, including hundreds of Knaves to convert. And if Cross realized that I wanted Megan for anything other than her tactical value, she would suddenly be too valuable to part with. I had to be patient, and hope she would understand.

“Alright. That's a deal.”