“I’m in the room, Sir,” Martin said quickly. “No sign of Ishtar.”
“I’m sending Vytal and Bck Lotus,” The Chairman said, his voice grim, “Any sign of Ironsides?”
Martin took a few more steps, moving through the entry hall and into the main part of the small hotel room. He gnced down at the ground, first, where a puddle of blood still y sticky on the carpet. He panned his view up and to the right, his eyes traio focus on the space immediately in front of him in order to not miss clues or relevaails. It was kind of like putting on blinders. There had been a struggle, the wardrobe was smashed into numerous pieces from what looked like an impact from above. He panned his vision to the left, to the far bed first which had its bossed and spttered with blood. There were spots of blood all over the walls as well.
Then he focused on the bed o him and his time stopped. Ironsides was just ying there, on his back, eyes closed as if he’d just fallen asleep. Marti his shoulder go numb for a moment and his oo his side. He swallowed, “I found Ironsides,” Martin grunted. He walked over to his friend and leaned over the bed, cheg his pulse. “He’s dead,” Martin said, his voice stiff and ical even as his mind seemed to spiook a few steps bad sat down on the bed across from his friend. His gun locked in his grip, his eyes fixed oill corpse.
He looked so peaceful.
The only signs that he’d even been in a fight were the bloodstains and tears on his clothes. The fatal wound wasn’t even truly evident. He regarded the man he had worked with these past few months sihe fsh, the man who had demonstrated to him that the light-touched weren’t all bad. He’d seen the heroes do their work but Martin had always seen them as grandstanding even as they’d demonstrated their honor time and time again. He just couldn’t let go of the uanding that they were vigintes in his mind. Lu-no-Ironsides had been someone who didn’t he reition, his only goal was to use his abilities to do a little good in the world.
He’d ged Martin’s mind about heroes. He’d helped him accept reality even while his single-minded obsession with Ishtar had iably led to this point. The thought brought a frown to his fao, it wasn’t his fault. Ironsides would never feel that way. As evil as that woman was, she was right to warn him against devaluing what Ironsides had tried to do. The thought that he agreed with anything Ishtar had to say made him even more siow than it could have ever possibly made him before. He looked away, gng at the nightstaween the beds. There was a rge envelope there, held down by the arm clock.
Ishtar’s letter. He realized and finally ehe safety on his gun before slipping it bato his coat. He picked it up and ope. He numbly pulled the two sheets of paper out. The first was on the white lined paper of the plementary notepads that one could find in the drawers of the hotel. The other was on a thick paper that reminded him of some kind of part. He read the note first, he’d seen his the top. The text was a bit uling, it had been clearly written in pen but it was sid and straight he could have been vi rinted by a puter. Won’t eve me get an idea of your penmanship. His detective brain groused, grasping for some details to distract himself from the reality he sat across from.
‘Chief Iigator Martin,
For what it is worth, I am sorry it came to this. Your partner was a good man and fought me valiantly. I gave him a choice at the end, to die standing and as a hero or live but never be able to tell a soul of what he had learned from ht. Perhaps it is the pulsion of my ability, the implication of the deal offered, but I am pelled as I write. I am incapable of telling lies.
Do with that information as you will, detective. Your friend ear for you.
As for the tents of this envelope. It tains a tract. This tract is capable of awakening the unawakened abilities possessed by a non-light touched person who signs it. The terms are simple. It is you who must make a choiht now you are but a fish in the o where I own the sharks. You allow yourself to fall behind, slide into obscurity and be ed. Or you use this opportunity and attempt to catch up.
The choice of whether or not we tihis game of cat and mouse is on your shoulders, detective. I am curious as to which is more important to you, your principles or your o be the oo catch me. In full transparency, I will likely endeavor to kill you tonight if you choose not to at least sider my offer.
My dolences for your Loss,
Ishtar’
There were striations on the paper, signs that it had endured more than just the movements of the pen across it. She had used superhumao write it, if he had to guess. It had only taken him a few mio arrive at the room after her first tact. Those observatiohe first numb thoughts that occurred to him as the rest of it sank in. She was pelled? She ’t lie? He looked up at Ironsides’ body, his lips trembling as he moved to the dot. It was indeed a tract. He felt something ihe paper that tingled against his fingers, something uifiable to his senses.
Just like she’d said, the terms were straightforward and simple. Signing this dot would awaken powers for him, but Ishtar would be able to withdraw one favor of her choosing at the time of her choosing from the signator. While the tract remained unfulfilled, the signator could not speak of anythied to the tract or its creator, Ishtar. If an individual toug the tract chooses to expose information about the tract or the creator before signing the tract, the tract will be voided and its powers dispersed. He stared at the the bottom.
‘Endorsed by: Ishtar
Notarized by: Mephisto’
A new hen, probably oh a dealmaking ability given his name. Martin shuddered. He didn’t notice his phone buzz in his pocket, nor did he notice the small gathering of shadow in the er of the room, him. He only hung his head, both pieces of paper ched in his hands as he wrestled with it all. I should hand it over, this is wrong to even sider this while sitting here. He thought as the shadow behind him grew deeper. He swallowed hard, She read me like a book. Damn it. His phone buzzed again and he finally answered it.
“Martin,” He said hollowly.
“Are you alright? I’ve been trying to tact you,” The Chairman said.
Martin looked at the dot in his hands, “I’m fine. Just sitting here.”
“I uand,” The Chairman said after a long pause. “Bck Lotus and Vytal are on their way, the elevators iel have been disabled, likely by Ishtar. They are taking the stairs. They should be there in just a few moments.”
Martin folded the dot and hout thinking, slipping them into the inner pocket of his coat. “Uood sir,” Behind him, the growing shadow faded away.
–
Bck Lotus watched as the Chief Iigator left the room, his eyes sunken, his expression filled with a mixture of grief, resolve, rage, and fusion. She looked over at the still body of his partner. She had to give the ma for being so stoi the face of such a terrible loss. It was not easy to lose a rade. She squared her shoulders and gnced around the room. There was evidehat another corpse had been in the room at one point, the blood pooling on the carpet being the indicator. They weren’t sure who she’d killed, but Ironsides had indicated that there had been a body in his message to the Chief.
“It’s unblemished,” Bck Lotus said thoughtfully, standio the body.
Vytal stepped over and pced a hand on Ironside’s body before abruptly pulling his hand back, his blue eyes going wide. “This man was pletely healed before his death. There are several incredibly small puncture wounds remaining. Such precision,” Vytal said hesitantly, “He was killed painlessly, though based oate of his clothing and the room he clearly put up quite the fight.”
Bck Lotus frowned, what kind of person would do such a thing? Was it out of some sense of honor? In her brief versation with the Chief before sending him away, she’d learned a bit about what Ishtar had to say wheook Ironside’s radio. “She wanted him presentable for a funeral. We’re not dealing with a normal mind here,” She said evenly, crossing her arms and gng around the room.
“I could have told you that, this woman is insane,” Vytal said darkly.
“No,” Bck Lotus said with a shake of her head, “I get the feeling she is very, very sane. Something far worse than a crazy person.”
–
Ishtar sat in the dark ay hotel room with a smile on her face. Bckrazor had been very kind to move her into the room rather than her using teopathy to open the door and alert the hotel’s puters that the room had been accessed. She had taken pains to disable the motion sensors that trolled the lights, she had a feeling they served a greater purpose than illumination. Her helmet was at her side as she leaned back, her eyes closed. She was sharing everything that had happened with the real body.
The shadows arouirred and she opened her eyes, turning to where Bckrazor was taking shape. The man stepped into physical being and regarded her as she returned his stare with a smile. “How did it go?” She asked as he lowered himself to a knee.
“It would appear he is sidering it,” Bckrazor said, his tohoughtful.
“You disapprove?” She asked curtly. He shifted a little and she gri him, “It’s okay to have your own thoughts, Bckrazor. Speak your mind.”
“There is a lot that could g now that I am no longer him,” He said.
“The man sticks to his decisions,” Ishtar said, “If he took the dot with him, he will sign it. Even if he doesn’t, that’s still beneficial to me.”
“I don’t uand,” Bckrazor said after a long pause, his shoulders sloug a little.
“If he divulges the information about my so-called weakness and the tracts, that will only be a positive. He 't prove that Ishtar and Sonya ovna are one and the same, so he only apply it to Ishtar. People talk, Bckrazor. Word spreads. Leaks happen. Information from a reliable source like the Pandora ittee’s iigation unit is very trustworthy. People will know a deal with me be made with fidence,” Ishtar said, “They will know that I give them power with only a favor in exge.”
She tilted her head to the right and beamed at him, “And if he chooses to sign, he will have promised his morals and turned into a far more iing oppo. He will also be uo speak about my abilities until I call to collect, which I have no iion of doing unless absolutely necessary,” She let out a ugh. “In other words, regardless of the oute, I win.”
He looked up at her and his expressiohoughtful. He smiled, “Masterfully done, Mistress.”
She snorted, “A bit improvised, in my opinion, but I am not oo avoid capitalizing.”
She slid to her feet and began disrobing, ign the startled look from Bckrazor as she folded the garment a on the bed o her helmet. She gnced over her shoulder at him, “Take this to my hotel room, please.”
He got to his feet and nodded, “What about you?”
She shrugged, “What about me? I am nothing more than a highly funal ade from an ability and my time is at an end. Persisting only serves to trouble your true mistress. Now go,” She said with a dismissive wave. He nodded brusquely and scooped up her regalia, turning into shadows without another word and disappearing into the floor. She watched him go a out a sigh, rubbing her shoulders and popping her neck. “This was fun,” She hummed to herself as she walked to the shower and slipped iandih the showerhead and turning it on. She closed her eyes a out a breath as her hair fell around her.
Ishtar said seriously.
–
Sonya’s lip twitched as she sat across from the Chairman who hung up the phone a out a sigh, “Very troubling,” He said with a shake of his head. “He was a good man.”
“So I’ve heard,” Sonya said, sounding equally saddened, “I have only entered him a few times and read his dossier.”
The Chairman gnced her way, “You followed up on him?”
She sighed, “Of course I did, your new Chief Iigator is his partner and the man has had a very singur i in me for quite some time. I like to know who my potential enemies are.”
The Chairman’s shoulders slumped, “It’s pin as day that his suspis are unfounded, just look at the situation. You’ve been down here with me the eime,” He shook his head and rubbed his temple, “It’ll be a bit indelicate but I’ll order him to stay away from you. I think giving him a lengthy break might also be in order.”
She smiled, “I think you’re being rather kind.”
He smiled back at her, “Now, about tomorrow. I assume with the situation as it is you’d rather not risk yourself in going to the dungeon? My son is still very excited and I’m sure my future daughter-in-w would be very disappoio not go. She seems to like you.”
Our little deal seems to have quite the effect, is it really c the dire of your thoughts to the point of rationalizing? Fasating. I wish I could study you longer. She thought before she held up a hand, “Chairman, your son will be with us, what do I have to be afraid of?” She asked with a small smile, “As far as I’m ed, despite the tragedy of the evening, our pns for tomorrow remain unged. You do o see a dungeon first hand after all, right?”
He smiled, looking a little relieved, “Right.”