Just a few more lio cross off my list, she mused, gng towards the effeminate man across from her.
had looks that would render most people a little bewildered. That’s to say, he’d look amazing in a dress. Or a skirt, I wonder how Mikay is doing, Sonya thought as she eyed him before dismissing the thought with a wry smile. He had a pretty face, ear length hair and bright expressive eyes. His facial structure was delicate tht now though his expression was a mix between terror and curious delight. He was gng from his hands to Sonya’s face, flexing his fihoughtfully.
“You have questions?” She asked him finally.
He jumped and looked her in the eyes, “Tons of them,” He said hesitantly. “I have no idea what your aim is in all this.”
“Let’s just say I’m trying to save the world,” Sonya said ftly, tapping her nails against the helmet on the seat o her.
He g it and swallowed, “How do I know you’re not lying to me?” He asked.
She frow him but shrugged, there wasn’t any point in hiding anything from him. He’d taken the usual non-disclosure deal back at the office. “I ’t lie, it’s a side effey ability. When I try, I choke,” Sonya said evenly, “I use half-truths and misdires, I even make truthful statements deceptively, but I ot state a direct falsehood,” She expined a out a dramatic sigh, “It’s incredibly inve.”
He snorted, “You need more than a wyer, then, you need a spokesperson or someone who pretend to be you when necessary,” He said and looked down at the small foldihat had bee out between them and the dot on top of it. Sonya gnced knowingly at Marta who snorted and got up to grab herself a drink. She’d expin that to him ter. First he o prove that he was useful to her at all.
I didn’t promise him that he would survive this flight, after all. She thought darkly as Marta brought a of soda over for her. She took it graciously, “Thank you, Marta.”
Marta nodded and stepped away as Sonya took a sip and reviewed the dot. He frowned a little and pulled a pen out from his coat, making a few notations here and there befrabbing his suitcase with a grunt and pulling out a notepad. He started to write furiously, gng bad forth between the dot and making a few surprised noises whe to oicle or another. He gnced up at her, “You’re the one doling out youth to people?” He asked.
“I am,” Sonya said, “It’s a profitable business.”
He chuckled and shook his head, “No kidding, based on the offer you made me.”
“You’re happy with the sary?” She asked.
“Very,” He grunted a writing.
“And you don’t care about my as?” She pressed.
He set the notepad down and rubbed his jaw, “I’m ly oo judge someone about morals,” He said after a few moments of thought, “I’m a defeorney first and foremost, and I’ve defended some pretty horrible people. Based on what you said, you’re crag a few eggs to save the hen house. Some people would have a problem with that, but frankly I’d rather the world still be around than otherwise,” He said with a shrug, “Besides that, do I really have any other options?” He added and looked her in the eyes.
Sonya smiled at him, “Not any pleasant ones, no.”
He ughed, “Yeah, you definitely ’t lie,” He gnced down at the dot, “I’m guessing that the circumstances of a deal you strike have to be forthing as well?”
“Usually, yes, though I have been able to make deals without expining that the deal will be binding,” Sonya said with a nod, “They also don’t have to uand the sequences of the deal being struck. Though the price has to be clear and both parties have to agree.”
He rubbed his , “That would make it difficult based on your w here,” He said and looked down at the dot again, rubbing his temple with the back of his pen, he gnced up at her again, “Does your ability erm…” He searched for the words, “...e up with a price for the exge when nothing is immediately avaible?”
Sonya raised her eyebrows, “It does, yes.”
He nodded, “I wonder if…” He murmured and began to write again, occasionally he would simply draw a line oepad. He kept at it for a few minutes before setting the notepad down and flipping through it a few times, nodding to himself before turning it over to her. She reached out and took it a a charge run up her arm.
Sonya stared at the words in her HUD for a few moments, her heart hammering in her chest. This was it, this was what she had been looking for! A way to make deals without even being present! She wondered if she could sneak in w that would allow her to analyze the person signing the trao, that would be too easy. My instincts are telling me I still o make physical ta order to analyze someone, she thought. It was regrettable, but fair.
She set the dot down, feeling his and Marta’s eyes fixed on him. “Success,” She said, letting out a breath, “You, sir, just became very valuable to me. I suggest you write up a tract for yourself ing your new employment,” She took a sheet of paper from the notepad and scribbled a few things down in a bullet point list before passing it ba. “Include these as part of your retainer.”
He took the paper and looked it over, tilting his head quizzically, “Uh… what is ‘Ogre Strength’? Awakening? I don’t uand…” He trailed off as he caught her eyes.
“It’s an unon-tier ability I picked up the other day, along with the others, they should be suffit to increase your survivability signifitly,” She expined as she reached bato her warehouse. The ability she plucked from it was the one she’d discovered yesterday wheaken his hand for the first time. Word of Power. She felt the instinctive knowledge of how to use it flood into her subscious. Very nice… she mused, Right now it do very little but over time it’ll bee quite powerful. Too bad for Otis that he never had a way to awaken , he missed out.
“I’m going to tell you a secret, ,” She said, “Ohat only a very select group of people know about.”
He looked up at her, his eyes wide, “...does it have to do with awakening being part of my retainer, and you mentioning ‘pig up’ an ability?”
Her smile turned a little cold, “Every person on this p has an ability, but only a small pertage of them use it,” Sonya said, “The rest are unawakened. I use my ability to forcibly awaken someone. Like you, for example.”
He looked down at the paper in his hands, “You manufacture light-touched?” He asked, a bit of trepidation in his voice.
“Yes, and you, my new friend, are going to help me streamlihe process,” She said and took a sip of her drink. “Oh, and by the way,” She said brightly, patting her helmet, “ Make sure you put me in the tract as Ishtar.”
–
licked his lips as he looked down at the stacks of papers on his desk. There were three in total. Two were sizable, a lot of paper and toner had goo them. The third was just about fes long. He reached for it and reviewed it o time, running his hand over his head and rubbing his neck. Everything looked good. He didn’t dare sneak anything in, but he wasn’t about to leave himself open to danger either. He chuckled, “It feels like I’m selling my soul to the devil, and he made me write the tract myself, either way, he gets my soul.”
He sniffed ahe dot back down befng over at the other two. Each tract was only a page long, kept as simple and legible as possible. Even an idiot could uand what went into it as long as they had the capacity to read. There were hundreds of each. One pile offered youth in exge for a sum, he’d left the amount of time and the prik as instructed. The other offered awakening to the unawakened in exge for a tracted period of service.
“ she really get their taformation just by them signing this paper?” He asked, pig one up and looking it over, “Scary.”
The door opened a the tract down, swallowing hard as Sonya swept into the room. It was still hard to believe that this woman ying the entire world for a fool. She’d basically created both the heroes and vilins. He had no idea what the extent of her pn was, but he was starting to get an idea. He wasn’t stupid. The vilins were ag as a rallying point, the news was filled with heroes defeating monsters and then deg their iion to track down and capture vilins during their down time.
She gave them something to agree on, was she worried the heroes would turn on eachother or something?
He shoved the question aside as she picked up one of the awakening tracts, runnihumb across the paper as she read it. Her meical eyes twisted and clicked, a faint tig sound ing from somewhere inside of her head. I feel like captain hook, he thought grimly, watg her expression, Any moment and she could just strike. At least until she signs the trayway.
She set the dot down and then picked up the youth tract, reading it as well before finally turning to the st, his tract. She read it slowly, gng up at him once or twice before a small smirk blossomed on her face, “Mutual prote, hmm? You’re a shrewd man.”
“I’d rather not end up dead as soon as my usefulness has been fulfilled,” He said ftly, gng around his new office. It was far more stately than the borderline cubicle he’d worked out of in Orndo. wooden shelves had already been filled with his books and possessions and a puter had been affixed to the wide mahogahat had been brought in just for him. Starhaus Furniture, this must have cost a fortune… “I like the new office, I’d hate to lose it.”
Sonya ughed, “Well don’t get too used to it, I’m hoping to build a new headquarters for ASTA iure,” She said, reading the st of the dot, “This looks good, the spirit of our initial agreement is there as well, I’m gd you decided to hahis correctly, .”
He cleared his throat, “Based on what you told me, just toug the thing gives you a summary, I wouldn’t be able to trick you even if I wao.”
Her smile widened, “I knew you were smart.”
“I made sure to reinforce the non-disclosure, you told me a lot about your powers, it would be bad if I mentioned any relevaails on act or while under coer,” He expined, gesturing to the paper.
“Oh I saw that,” She said and looked down at the two other stacks of tracts, “You really know how to endear yourself. I’ll remember that,” She said and pulled a pen from her jacket. She set the dot down oable and it began to glow faintly for a moment. As the light faded, she flipped to the end and sig. She turhat page around and pushed it towards him, “Your turn, as soon as you sign that, you’ll be a new man.”
In more ways than one, I suspect, he thought and looked down at the paper. At the bnk lihat sat between him and a ged life. Just twenty-four ho he had been nguishing in his tiny office barely skating by with a sary that would make any other self-respeg wyer feel sorry for him. He gripped the pen in his hand and took a deep breath before signing his name on the sheet, directly beh where the name ‘Ishtar’ had been written in a looping signature.
The paper glowed, fshing brightly for a moment and he heard a gasp and a small thud. When the light faded he saw Sonya gripping the desk between them, holding on for a moment before catg her breath. “Oh… what a rush!” She gasped, chug a little as a faint tingling began to work its ’s fingers. He gnced down at them as she straightened herself, “Oh, I fot to mention,” She said casually, “This will probably hurt a little.”
shot awake a half hour ter on the cou his new office. There was a light b over him and an ice pa his head. He reached up groggily and pulled it off, daintily toug the egg-sized lump that had formed after he must have banged his head on his desk when he passed out. He coughed and rolled onto his side, his body ached, but he felt something else. It was like an instinct that hadn’t been there before. Innate uanding hardwired into his body. He sat up and looked himself over. He didn’t feel much different otherwise, just, stronger, more resilient, healthier.
He g a baseball he’d set on one of his shelves and cleared his throat, “e,” He anded a a tiny bit of something drain from him. As it did, the ball uself from the shelf before nding in his hand. His breath caught in his throat, his eyes wide in awe, he clutched the small object as Sonya spoke up, sitting on his desk.
“I’ve thought of a name for you,” She said and he looked her way, her lips were wide with a smile that sent a bit of chill through him despite his excitement, “From now on, you’ll be Mephisto.”
TheBroker
Vilin-Tier
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