A Darker Path Pt 60 (Patreon)

Payment of Debt

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

PRT Building ENE Observation Room Two, a little before noon

Zoe Barnes

The observation room was comfortable, at least. There was a sofa, and a table (fixed to the floor) along with chairs (also fixed to the floor). A restroom with, presumably, the normal fixtures. The water dispenser held paper cups. Zoe noted the lack of sharp corners, and the suspiciously padded walls.

Alan had hollows under his eyes that hadn't been there when they walked into the building. His palpable relief at Emma being hale and hearty had taken a hit when they saw her makeup (when was she applying that? On the bus to school?), and had vanished almost totally when she started talking to the interviewer. The fervour in her voice was … terrifying.

Zoe knew cultist fixation. She'd met a few followers of Lustrum before that movement went belly-up due to their leader being Birdcaged. Annette, thank God, had never been that deep into the movement, but some had lived and breathed it. She'd once been spat on by a Lustrumite for saying she wasn't interested, thanks. Fortunately, Alan had been there, or it could've gotten a lot uglier.

Emma was showing a disturbing number of signs in that direction. Dressing to look like her idol (Zoe was including the makeup in this): check. Acting as though her idol was infallible: check. Referring to her idol in a Messianic manner, with flowery language: check. Determination to follow every one of her idol's beliefs and rules: check. Putting her idol's wishes above even her own well-being: check.

The only good thing in all this was that Atropos was apparently as dubious about the cult aspect as Zoe herself was, and had given Emma good rules to follow. Hopefully, this meant she wasn't going to end up in another Lustrum situation. Though why Emma couldn't have just joined that online fan club, Zoe couldn't imagine. It seemed to be fairly harmless, trading photos of the dark-clad cape.

Once the guard left them alone in the observation room (Zoe wasn't even going to imagine for a second that they weren't being watched, given the discreet cameras set into the ceiling) Alan pointed at one of the chairs around the table. "Emma. Sit."

Emma sat down, though she didn't come across as subdued as she normally would've been in this situation. She certainly wasn't as downcast as she had been when she'd first confessed to bullying Taylor … wait. Emma and Sophia were bullying Taylor, then Sophia ended up dead and Emma scared out of her wits, and confessing to her wrongdoing? And now Emma's doing everything but worship Atropos? Could there be a connection there?

Zoe frowned as she worked through that, then shook her head. Taylor was a sweet child who loved books and called her 'Aunt Zoe' and wouldn't hurt a fly. There was no way she could actually be Atropos. It just wasn't possible.

We really are going to have to get back in touch after this is dealt with. I need to apologise for Emma's behaviour, at the very least.

"Okay," said Alan, sitting down opposite his daughter. "Talk to me. What's with this … followers of our lady of darkness thing?"

Emma smiled. "We are the Followers of Our Lady in Darkness, Dad." Somehow, she managed to slot the capitals into place without sounding pretentious about it. "She is the saviour of Brockton Bay. Can't you see it? The gangs are gone, the drugs are gone. Every monster that's threatened us since She appeared has died. We've needed this for so very long, and now She is here."

"That's the thing." Alan was using his Reasonable Courtroom Voice, the one that had won him so many settlements. "She kills people, Emma. She's dangerous. How do you know you won't be the next victim?"

"If I am, it will be because I have angered Her one more time, and earned my fatal Warning." Emma smiled and shrugged. "She is a harsh mistress, but a fair one. I Follow her because She is strong enough to change Brockton Bay for the better, but I revere Her because She drew me out of the Darkness and gave me one last chance to help Her in Her mission."

He winced. "You already told the lady in there that she told you not to kill people. Please tell me you're not doing that."

"Oh, no, Dad." Emma shook her head with a smile. "We would never break Her prohibitions. Instead, we are following Her other directives. No charity theatre. Do good that actually helps people. Solve more problems than you cause. So, we are buying toys from the Rogues' Guild, for they are also favoured in Her sight, and distributing them to children in poor areas of the city."

"I … what, actually buying toys?" Alan blinked. "Where are you getting the money for this?"

"I have some money saved up from my allowance, and my last few modelling jobs. Some of the others have their stimulus money. The one called Salvage makes toys that can take some punishment, so we buy them from him and go to the community centres that they've put up in the bad areas of town. We hand out the toys and tell people about Our Lady in Darkness, and how She is saving us from ourselves. They understand."

Zoe sat down next to Emma and took her daughter's hands. The black nail polish was new, but at least it was properly applied. "Emma … are you being coerced into being a Follower? Will something bad happen if you leave?"

"No, Mom." Emma shook her head, the smile returning. "She does not mandate that anyone Follows her, only what we do. I could cease Following at any time, or even remain a Follower without presenting myself as one, and She would not care. But if I stepped down from leadership of Her Followers, another would have to step up, and they do not have the knowledge of Her wishes that I do. If the Followers strayed from the path, She would become angry, and bad things happen to those who anger Her."

Yeah, no shit. Zoe had seen the pictures and footage that the news outlets had tidied up enough for public consumption. 'Bad things' was perhaps the understatement of the decade.

Alan weighed in again. "We just want what's best for you, Emma. It's good that you're helping people and doing good in the city, but people might not like you parading around flaunting that you're following her example. You can't take care of yourself like she can. Nobody can."

Emma nodded. "That's true, Dad. But enough people have seen Her, and enough know that She can appear wherever She is needed, that nobody does more than shout hateful things at us. And I have caused enough hurt in my life that such punishment is only my due."

"Wait." Zoe held up a hand. "You said she 'drew you out of darkness'? Is that some kind of metaphorical thing? Or did she actually lock you away somewhere?"

"It wasn't metaphorical, Mom." Emma's gaze went distant for a moment. "I placed myself in Darkness, to put myself through a trial to expunge my weakness. She appeared and drew me out and stood me on my feet. Then she put clothing on my back and food in my hand, and gave me the rules by which we Follow Her." For a moment, her eyes dropped to the tabletop. "She may also have yelled at me a little, which I deserved. But She did not prohibit me from following Her and doing good works. Not in Her name, but in ours."

Alan frowned. "Let's backtrack a bit. When you were hanging around with Sophia, doing stuff with her, did you consider her to be someone special? Because she had powers, too."

"No, Dad." Emma chuckled as she shook her head. "Sophia thought she was something special, but she was nothing like Our Lady in Darkness. None of the heroes are. Or the villains. You can see that, can't you?"

He shook his head. "But Atropos is basically just another cape. I mean, no offense to your Lady, but it's true. Right? We don't worship capes. That's not a thing."

A rebellious thought crossed Zoe's mind. But the Fallen worship the Endbringers. And Atropos killed the Simurgh. What does that make her?

Emma looked Alan in the eye. "Dad, Our Lady in Darkness isn't 'just another cape'. She's different. She's special. She's better." A sigh escaped her lips. "Better than I ever was."

"But she kills people."

"She kills bad people."

Oh, boy. Zoe could tell this was going to be a long four hours.

<><>

The Boardwalk, a little after 4 PM

Atropos

Alexandria slowly sat down, as did Legend. The third cape, wearing plated armour and a helmet with eye protection, remained standing. I knew who he was, and why he was here, but if he wanted to go with 'silent and mysterious', we could play that game.

"You knew we were coming," Alexandria said, making it not quite a question.

"Who was that?" asked Legend, looking in the direction Citrine's car had gone.

"Citrine. One of Accord's Ambassadors. He's coming to Brockton Bay." I waited for the inevitable reaction.

"What the fuck?" asked the third cape. "You've literally waded through a bloodbath of villains over the last two months, and now you're inviting that asshole into your city?"

"Bastion." Legend spoke firmly. "If you can't speak to Atropos politely, then don't speak at all."

"No, it's fine." I gave Bastion a nod. "It's a legitimate question, especially since I initially banned Accord from coming anywhere near here. That was when he was running drugs into Brockton Bay, of course."

"So, what changed?" asked Legend. I nearly grinned, but I knew Alexandria would pick that up, so I didn't.

"Even with the money we were about to get from the Nine, I knew we were going to need a proper plan to fix Brockton Bay without half it going in wasted effort or resources, so I contacted him to draw one up for me. Because say what you like about the man, he can make a plan."

Alexandria frowned. "And how much did that cost you?"

I made a throwaway gesture. "Half a million. Chicken feed, really, considering the returns on the investment."

Predictably enough, Bastion jumped right into the opening I'd left him. "You paid a known criminal mastermind half a million goddamn dollars, when you could've gotten almost as good value from legitimate city planners for one tenth of that? What the fuck?"

"Sorry," I said, not sounding sorry at all. "I misspoke. It wasn't my money." I gave them a quick rundown on the escapade with the eighteen-wheeler, the half-mil in cash I'd taken out of the back, and the subsequent drug bonfire.

By the time I finished, Legend was wheezing with laughter and even Alexandria had a smile curving one corner of her mouth, while Bastion stood with arms folded, apparently determined not to be amused or impressed. Ignoring his subordinate, Legend thumped the table with his fist. "You destroyed his shipment and paid him with his own cash?"

"How did you know he wasn't going to sell you a dud plan?" asked Bastion.

"Because I would've known." I looked him in the eye, or where his eyes were behind the opaque protection. "And because I didn't demand it for nothing. But mainly because this is the first time anyone's ever requested a plan from him to improve a city, funding already available. It would've been utterly irresistible to him."

I knew he was frowning under the helmet. "What's that got to do with anything? One plan's the same as another, right?"

"Nope." Now I let myself grin. It didn't matter if Alexandria figured it out. "Accord's in the crime game because he wants to fund a plan he's got to fix the world. Hunger, energy, pollution, everything. Everything. He's had this plan for years. But nobody wanted to implement it when he was a PRT consultant, and nobody wants to implement it now. However, if the worth of his plan to refurbish Brockton Bay and bring everything up to speed can be proven—and it is working—then he'll have an example to point to when he's trying to sell the big one."

"And you're doing this to help him sell his big plan?" asked Legend, having recovered somewhat.

"Hell, no," I retorted, my grin widening. "As far as I'm concerned, the big kahuna can sink or swim on its own merits. But he's totally invested in making this one work, and I'm down with that. Anyway, because of the way the variables are changing with this plan, he's asked if he can move operations here so he can keep a closer eye on things, and update the plan as needed. Citrine and I were just discussing a few aspects of the situation, like how he can't bring any crime here."

"I … see." Alexandria nodded once, slowly. "That's a remarkably pragmatic way of doing things. And from what I hear—" From Contessa, no doubt— "it does indeed seem to be working."

"That's why I'm doing it this way." I gave her my full attention. "However, before we get onto the business that you want to raise, I have an issue of my own. Specifically, Director Wilkins and the idiot she sent to Brockton Bay. Am I going to need to kill her? Because she's already been warned, and I will if I have to."

"The Chief Director has informed me that Wilkins has already been removed from her position, and is in custody pending a formal indictment," Legend said hastily. "Partridge has been severely reprimanded and demoted in grade. Neither one of them needs to die."

I let him sweat for a few seconds, then nodded. "That's acceptable, for the moment. Also, Deputy Director Renick deserves an attaboy for his quick thinking."

"I'll speak to the Chief Director about it," agreed Legend. "I'm sure she'll be amenable."

I just bet she will, I thought with a smirk directed at Alexandria. She was the only one who noticed it, and her lips tightened briefly.

"Is anyone going to tell me what this is about?" asked Bastion. "What's Director Wilkins done?"

"Primed the guy she sent to the Brockton Bay PRT to try to find out my real identity," I informed him. "Not that I'd be in much danger if that got out, but I do have family and friends. If they got hurt as a result, everyone involved would die."

I didn't raise my voice or change my tone when I said the last four words, but he flinched anyway. "Oh."

"Fortunately, that doesn't have to happen." Legend sounded quite pleased about this state of affairs. "So, the next thing we wanted to talk to you about. Director Piggot's report waxed downright lyrical about how thoroughly you dealt with Ellisburg and Nilbog. We were wondering if you'd be willing to take on the same kind of deal for Eagleton."

"The Machine Army," I said. "Just to be clear, they're the ones you want me to kill."

"For ten percent of the annual budget for keeping the place under quarantine, for the next ten years," Alexandria confirmed. "Straight to the Betterment Committee, as usual?"

"Sounds like a deal." I rubbed my chin, pretending to think about it. "I'll drop by tomorrow afternoon and deliver their twenty-four-hour warning. Give them one full day to surrender to PRT forces and submit to containment. If they've failed to do this by Wednesday afternoon, I'll kill them all."

Bastion had been quiet since my "everyone involved would die" comment, but now he spoke up again. "Excuse me, not trying to trash talk you or anything, but how the hell are you going to do that?"

"With panache," I stated solemnly, "and style."

"I apologise for Bastion," Legend said to me. "He wouldn't have been our first choice to do what we're here for, but as Eidolon's out of the running, he's our next best bet."

I shrugged. "Like I said, not a huge problem. I've heard worse. So long as he does the job, I'd don't give a damn what sort of language he uses. So how is David doing, these days?"

If Legend was surprised that I knew Eidolon's real name, he hid it well. "Resting. Relaxing. Adjusting. Enjoying being able to sleep in. He's getting a medal for his sacrifice. Right now, he's kind of the on-site cape emeritus, being that he's the first cape from our generation who's actually been able to retire and make it stick. He says that in a year or so he might start writing his memoirs."

"Well, good." I gestured in the general direction of the Boat Graveyard. "So, did you need directions, or do you already know where it is?"

"I saw it on the way in," Legend assured me. "Did you need a lift, or will you make your own way?"

"I'll be fine." I swung my legs over the seat and stood up. "I'll see you there."

<><>

Alexandria

Rebecca grabbed Bastion under the arms and took off straight up. He grunted a little with the acceleration, but she wasn't much worried about his finer feelings right then. No matter that Atropos had professed to be unworried by his rudeness, his outbursts could have alienated the cape who was apparently their best bet for dealing with Scion himself.

She honestly had no idea what to think about that aspect of things. When Atropos had first started making waves in the ENE region, Rebecca had dismissed her as just another edgelord newbie cape, riding high before the inevitable crash and burn. After all, anyone could get a lucky shot in against a more experienced opponent. The fact that she was killing her targets just meant that either she'd be arrested and Birdcaged like Gavel, or (more likely) she'd pick the wrong target, get dogpiled, and end up face-down in an alley somewhere.

But neither of those things had happened.

Atropos had confidently predicted that she'd kill the most feared and respected capes in the city, and she went right ahead and did it, even working to a self-appointed timetable. This had been enough to spook their respective gangs (and smaller, unaffiliated gangs) into fleeing the city. By the time the dust settled, Atropos was the only villain standing in Brockton Bay.

Also by this time, she'd also shown herself to have some level of combat Thinker ability, enough to checkmate Contessa so thoroughly that the older woman still got pissy when she was reminded of that particular incident.

And then she proved it beyond all doubt, by removing both the Nine and Butcher from consideration in quick succession. Rebecca had no idea how Atropos had managed to avoid being turned into the next Butcher, but every Thinker she could point at the problem verified that it was just Atropos behind that mask. Interestingly enough, unlike a lot of capes, the girl seemed happy to target Masters and take them clean out of the picture. She'd made this clear with her takedowns of Heartbreaker, Mama goddamn Mathers, and the grandmaster of Masters herself, the Simurgh.

Just for the last two, Rebecca was willing to grant Atropos a huge amount of leeway, so her requested prices for her extremely effective services were no burden at all, when it came down to it. What she didn't need were self-opinionated assholes poking at Atropos and perhaps annoying her to the point that she stopped cooperating with the PRT and Protectorate.

As though she'd communicated this to him telepathically, Legend came up alongside them as they flew north. He didn't look thrilled, at all. "Bastion," he said. "Consider yourself on report, when you get back to Boston. You will be stepping down as leader of your team until you've completed a thorough course of training in speaking politely to S-class threats, or whatever else Director Armstrong can dredge up for you."

"But—" Bastion stopped speaking and actually thought about what he was going to say, which was a wise choice considering that he was talking to his boss. "Yes, sir."

"Good answer. Ah; she's already waiting for us." He accelerated away from Rebecca and Bastion.

She could've kept up, but carrying someone at speed was awkward and problematic when it came to wind resistance. Besides, she didn't quite feel like finding out if Bastion could still use his powers with dislocated shoulders.

In less than a minute, she was descending toward the section of Lord's Port nearest what was colloquially known as the Boat Graveyard. It was an apt name, with forty-odd ships of varying sizes (all big) rusting at anchor, some half-sunken. The mouth of that section of the harbour had been blocked by a sunken container ship, making it impossible for the other ships to leave.

As Legend had noted, Atropos was standing at the dockside, awaiting their arrival. Rebecca was reasonably sure she didn't have access to Doormaker, so she must've used whatever form of teleportation she evidently possessed. The idea of someone with Atropos' particular capabilities also being able to teleport was enough to put an itch between anyone's shoulder-blades. If we hadn't told her Wilkins was already being punished, the idiot would be dead by now.

They landed briefly on the dock and surveyed the task before them. "Biggest one first, just to get it out of the way?" suggested Legend.

Rebecca nodded. "It's full of water, so I'll probably have to punch holes in the bottom to let it drain."

"How big is that, anyway?" asked Bastion. "It's hard to get a good read on it from here."

"Four hundred thirty yards long, sixty yards across," Atropos offered helpfully. "A shipping company deliberately anchored it there, to lock everything else in here, then people who joined the protests specifically to cause trouble scuttled it."

Bastion nodded to acknowledge the information. "Jesus, okay. I'll do my best."

<><>

Atropos

"That's what we're here for." Legend took off and Alexandria followed, carrying Bastion. I watched as they flew out to the half-sunken ship. Part of the deck was awash—it got that way near high tide—but they landed on the dry area. I pulled out a pair of binoculars I'd stashed in my pocket and proceeded to watch the action.

After a minute or so of discussion, Alexandria and Legend lifted off while Bastion started generating a force field that wrapped huge glowing bands around the entire ship. Alexandria flew down into the water, probably feeling how deeply it was embedded in the bottom mud, and Legend fired a laser that blasted open a deck hatch. The water inside erupted into a massive column of steam that quickly climbed skyward. Bastion, I noted, had a secondary force field covering himself at this point.

The force field he created ended up with a large 'handle' near the midpoint. Alexandria came up out of the water and got up under the handle … then started to lift. At first, nothing happened, but I knew she was just testing the weight. Legend was still blasting the laser into the hold, evaporating the water and causing huge volumes of steam to belch upwards in a tremendous cloud.

And then Alexandria lifted, or tried to. At first, the ship started to move, but then the force field 'handle' cracked and broke apart, followed quickly by the rest of the field. Alexandria, who had shot upward, came back down and they had another consultation.

As Bastion stood back and shielded himself with another force field, Legend flew up and generated a bright red laser that began to slice into the ship itself. Sparks flew and more water flashed into steam, but he wasn't taking no for an answer. In an impressively short time, he'd carved the ship clear in half, the edges still glowing red.

This time, Bastion wrapped the glowing bands around just one end, and when Alexandria hefted it, it came up out of the ocean. Water deluged from the open end, along with more pouring from the holes she'd apparently bashed in the sides while she was underwater.

Lifting into the air a little more, the entire half-ship turned in a stately fashion, still releasing thousands of gallons of seawater back into the harbour every second, and headed for the dockside. I watched as it came, and pointed to where they could put it. This was a large expanse of dockside space that had once been used for storage of containers and other items, but every usable piece had long since been picked over and taken away.

Legend must have figured out my intent and communicated it to Alexandria, because the ship veered in that general direction and gradually lost altitude until it settled down on the cracked (now somewhat more cracked) concrete. Between its long immersion and the fact that it had never been intended to sit on dry ground, it partly collapsed more or less as soon as it touched down and Bastion dropped the force field holding it together. This didn't matter to me; it wasn't my ship. All that mattered was that it was out of the damn way.

I gave them a double thumb's up, which Legend returned as they flew overhead on their way back out to fetch the other half. This one didn't give them nearly as much trouble, after which they went after the main mass of ships.

The ones that were still floating at anchor, they left where they were; they could be towed away as needed, or even pulled up onto a slip and repaired. But the half-sunken ones were treated the same as the container ship. Wrapped around with Bastion's force fields, hefted by Alexandria, they were unceremoniously hoisted out of the water and dumped on dry ground to consider their sins.

After the last one crunched onto the now-sodden concrete—there was a lot of stinking seawater pooling there and running back into the harbour—Legend flew over and landed in front of me. "Well, the ships have been moved," he said. "Was there anything else? I could cut them up for you."

"Hm." I considered the idea, then shook my head. "No, I appreciate it, but I'm sure we'll be able to find people willing to do it. Give the local economy a bit more of a boost."

He nodded in understanding, and offered his hand. "Well, then, it's been interesting."

I shook it. "Good to see you again. Take care."

"Likewise." He took off straight up and joined Alexandria and Bastion, who were already at altitude. I didn't bother waving as they headed southward toward Boston.

As the sun sank toward the western hills, Lord's Port looked oddly empty. From the mouth of the harbour all the way to the dockside, fewer than half the obstructing ships now interrupted the view. Dad, I decided as I set up the teleport home, was going to be positively thrilled.

Part 61