"-AAAAA-
"
Sororicide, part 22
26th July 2003
22:09 GMT -8
"…not really sure why you did that."
A tiny
spike of irritation allows my ring to manipulate the mechanisms of my apartment's lock. As a security measure it doesn't have any externally accessible components.
"I dislike bullies, Miss Komand'r."
The two pillars rotate in response to the lock being deactivated, causing my door to open down the middle. It's designed to be
very difficult to force, externally applied pressure just pushing the two parts together more strongly. I don't look back as I stride in, letting the automated security system get a good look at me.
"
Recognised, Red Lantern two eight one four. Welcome home."
I stop just ahead of the inner door, hearing Komand'r's faint footfall follow on behind me. "Computer, one guest. Indefinite leave to remain. Name: Komand'r."
"Recognised, Komand'r. Welcome home."
The pillars behind us rotate closed with an audible thump, then clank as the mechanism engages. I had this place refurnished when I started living here by people whose usual clients were supervillains. Perhaps I should have been more annoyed that that's actually something it's possible to make a living at, but they did good work. A moment later the inner blast door slides aside, granting us access to my richly furnished living room. There's quite a lot of red, but perhaps not quite as much as my theme would seem to demand.
I walk slowly through the living area in the direction of my armoury, dumping the alien armour off to one side. Another
tiny surge of irritation and my own torso armour unlocks, allowing me to start pulling it off my body. Would have been nice if my ring could have given me some sort of physical tune-up as well as the Lantern-powers, but the best I've been able to get it to do is burn away excess fat. On the other hand, I'm more physically active now than at just about any point in my life, and the ring
does appear to improve my endurance and reduce my capacity for boredom while I exercise. I'm no Mister Universe, but there's definitely muscle definition present in a way there didn't used to be. "Make yourself at home. I'm just going to grab some normal clothes."
In a wall-mounted mirror I watch as her face goes contemplative for a moment before appearing to dismiss me as I move out of sight. The armoury door has a palm reader, so I drop the cuirass on the floor for a moment to allow me to pull my left hand free of my gauntlet and then put in on the reader. It flickers into life for a moment, then the reinforced door slides open. This armour was a gift from a guy in New York. Well, I
say gift, it was really more of a 'I'll make you armour if you don't kill me' kind of thing.
Fucking mob armourers… Anyway, the flat's AI can do maintenance to my armour which my ring certainly can't -and clean it as well- so I usually leave it here instead of in subspace.
I put the gauntlet under my right arm and pick up the cuirass with my left before ambling in. Not a large room, just a few weapons and the armour stand as well as the maintenance armatures. Haven't
quite been able to get an Ironman-type system set up, but this is body armour, not true power armour. Gauntlet goes on the bench, then I lift the cuirass with both hands and put it on the stand. Then the left gauntlet and rerebraces follow the right gauntlet and I'm nearly free. I throw the gambeson into the washing basket and pick up a towel to dry myself off. I don't really get hot any longer, but sweating is a normal physiological response to stress and I feel a
lot of that most days. Boots come off next and get stored in their own slot, followed by my greaves. I take a moment to do a few stretches before towelling my bare legs and chest and my crotch dry.
Oh, that's better. Towel goes into the washing basket and I take a pair of loose cotton trousers off the bench and put them on, followed by a t-shirt printed with the logo of the Death Metal band 'Atrocity'.
Last step… I walk over to the medical scanner and stand on the platform. "Update."
The machine hums for a moment, green lights dancing over me. "No change detected since last scan."
Great. I close my eyes for a moment, listening to the beating of my heart. I know the Corps of which I am a member isn't quite like the one in the comics. No 'rage zombies'-. Well, not
exactly. Still, the ring
is changing me. It would be nice to be able to monitor it better. Oh well.
I walk out of the armoury, hearing the armatures whir into life as the door closes again. Looking down the short corridor into the living area, I see Komand'r holding her right hand out to one of my trophies, comparing the size and shape of her hand to the size of the shape melted into the bone.
"Do you like it?" She pulls her hand back in to her body as she turns, a little more wary now. "For people who make me
really angry, I-" I hold out my right hand, fingers outstretched. "-like to hold them by the head and have the ring burn the flesh off. That little shitter was the leader of a militia which murdered about… Www
wwhw… Two thousand people? After my employer confirmed the kill they let me keep his skull. The bounty payment paid for this place, actually."
Say what you like about Dharma, he pays well.
"Those guys from earlier?"
I shake my head. "They didn't deserve it." I walk over to the aliens' armour. I'll have to hand this over to… Star Labs? But I can do that tomorrow. First, I
burn holes into the chest plates around the transponders and pull them free. Couldn't risk setting these off by putting the armour into subspace.
"What are those?"
"Emergency FTL transponders. If the wearers die, if the armour gets destroyed or they trigger it themselves, a call for help goes out. I'd rather avoid that for the moment." I put them down on an empty shelf.
"What did you mean by 'bullies'?"
I walk into the centre of the room and flop down on one of the settees. "People from
more technologically advanced societies who think they can do whatever they like on our world. They had
no right to remove someone from this jurisdiction yet they tried anyway because the people whose job it normally is to stop things like that wouldn't have been strong enough to stop
them." I tilt my head to the side for a moment. "Not that I have to tell a Tamaranian what
that's like."
No visible reaction to
that. I suppose I couldn't be sure that this Komand'r would care. She keeps walking around the edge of the room, taking in some of my other kill trophies, each skull with a hand-and-red-lantern-sigil burn on the forehead. "Were these murderers too?"
"Mostly. Murderers, brigands, warlords…"
She nods at the smallest skull. "Children?"
"
That little shit had murdered seventeen people, twelve of them tortured to death, by the time I met him. I saw no reason to wait for an arbitrary age limit."
Dharma's little test of my resolution, before he attempted to sic me on Miss Roth. Apparently she's responsible for..
something very bad happening some time in the next couple of years and he wanted me to 'intervene early'. I took the deposit, checked his information and then refused the commission on the grounds that she hadn't
done anything. And frankly that it doesn't look like she ever would. He couldn't give me more information -a lot of Shadow Cabinet operatives get pissy about that, but it's not like he knows
everything- so he told me to stick around until I change my mind. Can't hurt to keep an eye on her, and it's his money.
"You… Did all this with your
power ring..?"
I hold out my right hand, taking a good look at it and noticing the renewed interest in her eyes. It's not the original ring. Lord Atrocitus took
that when he took me to Ysmault for my 'induction'. "Red rings are catalysed by anger and hate. Though -because I know this is why you're asking- taking it from me would-."
Pantomime of innocence time. "Oh,
no, I wouldn't-."
"Yes, you would." Her face goes back to a somewhat more
honest expression. "But it wouldn't work. It's bound to me by blood and magic. Take it off and it would just crumble to dust." I pull my right arm back a little. "Of course, if you want one of your
own, there's no real reason why you can't go to Ysmault yourself. I'd be happy to take you."
Her eyes narrow slightly. Curious but cautious. "How would that work? What does 'Lord Atrocitus'
want in return?"
"There's a.. three day ritual. Senior Lantern
Qull gradually regresses your mind to its most primal, rage-filled state, until you're reduced to a savage, animalistic level. At
that point, they throw you naked into the Lake of Blood which surrounds the Red Central Power Battery and Lord Atrocitus himself calls forth your rage with which to forge your ring and personal lantern." I flick my eyebrows up for a moment. "As to what he gets out of it, I'm really not sure. I
think.. that he likes giving people filled with righteous anger the strength to fight against their oppressors. But, he hasn't said anything definite to
me."
She turns her head away again, looking at an ornate sword I took from a previous target. "Maybe. Maybe not."
I nod, then wait for a moment. "Have you given any thought to what you're going to do? Now you're not having to evade those bounty hunters?"
"I've got a few things…"
"I ask, because one of my regular employers has another target for me. I'm planning to go after them in three days' time. I'm not.. hurting for cash myself. I'd happily split the commission with you."
She looks at me out of the corner of her eye. "What kind of
split?"
"Half the money for half the work. The job should be well within our combined abilities."
"
Hmmm." Appraising look now. She turns to face me, hip tilted slightly to the side and
her eyes... Ah. Not a huge surprise. And I think I'd be… Okay with it. No, more than that. I'd like to have someone around to share -she saunters forwards, poses above me for a moment then drops into my lap- this life. Or, hey, just until she gets bored. Frankly, having someone who's a little more on my wavelength-.
Her left arm goes around my shoulder as she leans in slightly, her eyes studying my face as she tries to gauge my reaction. She's a
lot stronger than me, but that's not.. a problem, as far as I'm concerned. I raise my eyebrows and give her a small smile. Her grin expands and in an easy motion she twists to straddle my legs, staring down at me from above with both hands on my shoulders.
"Interested in Human males?"
"You're not
that different." She leans forwards. "And I do owe you for your help."
I interpose my right hand and press my index and forefingers against her lips. "No. Not like that."
She blinks in confusion. "Like what, Red?"
"Because you find me attractive, because you like me… Because you've got an itch and I'm a convenient penis… That's fine. But never because you owe me. Never for.. obligation's sake. I don't..
own you. I don't want to."
She leans forwards, pushing my fingers out of the way and nuzzling the side of my face as her right hand
ah. "I think I can manage that."
