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PoV: Argyra
Research has helped distract me- no,
focus me on what matters.
No more former best friends, no more heartbreak, no more binges. No more fighting
her, and having her so close I can almost just reach out and touch her, only to hit and punch because she's
so fragile and going to get herself-
I growl, shaking my head.
No more of
that. Nothing but pure, honest
research.
I'm doing my best to seal myself in my lab, and talk to others as little as possible outside what's necessary to coordinate with Carmine's people, and it's perhaps the most mentally healthy I've been in ages.
Control, that's what it's all about. Of myself, of my life, of my work.
And boy, have I been having some luck with that last one. Fates bless my Omninalysis spell.
What? What would
you call it?
A little over a year ago, I got tired of having to switch between half a dozen different spells whenever I wanted to analyze something, and realized that all of them shared enough commonalities that if I tried, I could integrate them. It's a brilliant piece of work, if I do say so myself, the result of years of study and tweaking, really drawing on all my skills with divination and Truth Magic. It isn't even that much more strenuous than any of the spells individually, because when you get down to it, they're all really approaching the same fundamental concept, just from different-
I cough. Right, the actual stuff I've been using it on.
Executioner's lair was a
goldmine for my research, especially when combined with the corpse of Marco the Cultist I've kept petrified in my lab. He'd apparently managed to steal some
very rare and valuable books from the Skathites, books he just kept sitting around on his shelf, no wards or anything.
I smirk. That's what happens when you hyper-specialize, moron.
In addition, he kept surprisingly meticulous notes when trying to create his own personal enhancement rituals. While they're
unfathomably crude, and relying on absurd amounts of brute force to compensate for it — seriously, Executioner was the equivalent of a toddler punching a square peg hard enough they manage to force it into a round hole, breaking their toy in the process — they still presented something mildly beneficial to my work.
I also managed to strike a deal with Mammoth, and got a sample of his flesh along with an hour of detailed scans with my omninalysis spell on its most detailed setting. It's helped
immensely at actually figuring out all the quirks of enhanced strength on the human body, as well as giving me an example of a less self-destructive form of physical enhancement.
Combining all of them — Marco the cultist's corpse, the sample and scans from Mammoth, and the texts from Executioner — I've finally been able to unlock the secrets of Venom, and even progress
far beyond it.
Because let's be honest, Venom? Not exactly the best bioalchemy you could ask for.
I'm not sure if it's just because I'm working with the street stuff, but Venom is crude,
incredibly crude: it basically does the biological equivalent of stapling on extra muscles to you, which then require extra fuel, and will start to rot away if you don't keep them constantly fed with more Venom. Marco's was even worse, the whole thing would have fallen apart near-instantly without Trigon's power.
On the other hand, enhancement like Mammoth's — and, loathe as I am to admit it, the Executioner's — is
far more elegant, integrated fully into the subject's biology fully, requiring only a minor increase in calories.
Unfortunately, Executioner's healing factor was only partially biological, so I wasn't able to replicate his whole come-back-from-being-blown-up trick, but subjects of mine should at least be able to heal a fairly deep wound in an hour or so.
Well… theoretically. I still need to actually work out the kinks.
Which is why I'm here, waiting around in Carmine's office as Sofia finishes her daily briefing to the Skath-Buster Squad tee em. It's me, Jinx, Mammoth, the ever-loyal Killer Moth, and Rose, along with a dozen or so of Carmine's underbosses.
Rose's antics, surprisingly, haven't been as grating as usual. I don't know if it's because she's on the job, or because she's no longer able to prod at my biggest psychological weak point like a toddler trying to jam their fist into a Pringles can, but she's been almost
pleasant. I mean, she's still a massive bitch, but I don't know, maybe New Eri's more able to deal with her?
Sofia finishes up her presentation, dismissing the room. People look at me strangely as they file out, but I just jerk my head towards Carmine, and they seem to understand. Rose gives me an assessing gaze, and pauses in the doorway.
I raise my eyebrows.
She hums, smirking, and moves back to plop into her seat.
Rose just smirks when I stare at her. "What? I'm excited to see whatever you've cooked up, Yra."
Carmine seems content to ignore her, pouring himself a drink at his desk. Sofia shrugs and joins him, opening up a bottle of water and taking a gulp.
He swirls it around, the glass, airing it out, and takes a long, slow sip.
Asshole.
Eventually, he leans forward. "I heard you wanted to speak with me, Sorceress?"
I nod. "I did. I have a proposition you'll be highly interested in."
He gestures for me to continue.
For a moment, I pause. The first option alone would be enough to have called this meeting. It's something that would undoubtedly help us fight the Bertinellis, but wouldn't be metaphorically unsealing Pandora's jar.
This… this would change the game. Turn him into the number one power in Gotham, within the year.
Should I really be doing this?
I scowl as I realize just who that little nagging voice in my head sounds like.
Fuck that shit. New Eri isn't going to be dragged down by your weepy, crying hypocrisy. She's going to help destroy Bane, one of the most evil men in Gotham, and isn't going to care about your stupid little foibles.
Time to knock Carmine's fucking wingtips off.
"I've managed to reverse-engineer the process both Bane and the Bertinellis use to enhance their
suldati. I can perform the ritual on others, safely, and without side-effects."
Sofia spits out her water, and if Carmine were any lesser man, I imagine he'd be joining her. As it is, he just slowly swirls his brandy, taking a long, slow sip.
Rose just looks delighted.
Carmine leans forward, unable to hide his interest. "You're right, kid. I am
very interested."
"I want to be upfront about this", I say, "when I perform the ritual on them, we won't getting the type of dramatic results you see with the higher-level cultists. No dramatic transformations, or spitting fire, or what have you."
He frowns. "What's stopping you?"
I do my best to keep my tone clinical. "A lot of that power is being borrowed from their patron, and the only way I even begin to make up for it is to
drastically increase the number of human sacrifices."
Carmine hums in thought, and Rose looks downright
eager.
"
Which" I say, a bit of archness leaking into my tone, "I feel the need to clarify, I would be
extremely hesitant to do."
Carmine looks displeased, but nods. "Alright. But if things really get hairy…"
Sofia looks at her father with poorly-disguised disbelief. "Daddy…"
"What?" he says. "I'd make sure it wasn't anybody innocent, just guys that would'a died anyways. Enemy
surdàti, that sorta thing."
I look at Rose and share a moment of schadenfreude at Sofia's crumbling illusions.
"Even at the lower tiers," I continue, cutting off Sofia before whatever emotions are swirling inside her can coalesce into a response that will just derail us "I don't think it'll have the same efficacy."
Carmine growls, clearly frustrated. "Why the hell not?"
I sneer derisively. "Because those
ilithioi are doing the magical equivalent of Reaganomics. Sure, their guys will be stronger and faster than anything I can do… until two years down the line, when all of their organs fail at the same time. Maybe three years if they only transformed once."
"Although" I say with a hum, "if you had someone who was terminally ill
anyways…"
I'm pretty sure one of the Eastern Bloc countries is doing something like that, building in magical sacrifice to their euthanasia program. Forget which, but that combination of ruthless utilitarian pragmatism, idiosyncratic policy, and magical knowledge just
screams-
"No" Sofia says, voice hard.
Carmine turns to her. "Sweetie…"
"
No, Daddy!" she says, glaring. "You said this would be
my operation, done
my way. And my way is, no… no…"
She waves a hand in frustration. "Sacrificial lambs, or whatever you're proposing here!"
I shrug. "Well, in that case, I have two options for you. The first is, if you give me a while to set up, I can give you a formula which will enhance maybe a dozen of your
suldati. It'll last for a few hours, and should let them at least keep pace with the lesser Bertinellis. That's the low-price option."
"Well" I say chuckling, "low
er price option. It'll still run you three million."
Though my loom-sight, I can see the coiled tension in Carmine's muscles, and the few unlikely timelines where he ends up exploding and flipping the desk.
"The
higher-priced,
far higher-priced option is me creating
this for you."
I pull a diagram out of my expanded inner coat pocket, and slide is across the table.
"It's… a cup?"
"I prefer 'grail'."
Rose coughs. "Becauseyoureadramaticlittlebitch".
"This is the
Κύλιξ Λεόντων, the Grail of the Lions" I say, ignoring Rose's jibe, "it's a work of enchanting designed to take animal blood, and transmute it into, well… a very specific bioalchemical formula."
Carmine leans forward. "
Lu Graal di Liuni, huh?"
I have to suppress a sharp grin. Got him on the hook, now I just need to reel him in.
"This, when provided with animal blood, will produce a specific formula. A formula which, when injected, will increase their strength, speed, stamina, and durability to anywhere from twice to three times. It'll last for several hours, with no lasting side effects as long as you use it no more than once a week."
Sofia gasps. "Are you saying…"
I grin, wide and shark-like. "Your own personal, safer version of Venom."
What can I say?
I really,
really fucking hate Bane.
He controls more territory than any other gang leader, and it takes the efforts of every other gang, the heroes,
and the GCPD to contain him. The reason for that, the
only reason, is because of that half-baked green shit he pumps into everybody he can. It's why he's able to act like he does — the wanton destruction, the sex slavery, the goons running around injecting civilians to get them hooked — it's all because he has thousands of super-strong people ready to throw themselves like a human wave at whoever their Venom dealer points to.
So if someone were to come along with an alternative to that… the power of Venom, in a safer form, controlled by a leader with Carmine's intelligence and cunning? With Carmine's proven track record of not being a stain on the honor of humanity, and letting his subjects live in (relative) prosperity?
Bane won't know what hit him.
And fuck you Ar- anyone who tries to tell me that this isn't righteous. I've
seen what Bane does to the places he controls, to the lives he destroys.
Ms. Vasilopoulos, it took me years, but you'll finally have your revenge.
"As you can imagine," I say, "I
highly recommend this option. Set it up next to a slaughterhouse, and you'll have essentially an infinite supply."
"How long will it last?" Carmine asks, voice tight.
I raise an eyebrow. "The things I make don't
break, Don Carmine."
"Well" I say with a chuckle, "I might have to fix it up after a few hundred years, but I'll throw that in free of charge."
Sofia shoots me a look "You're going to be ali-?"
"How much?" Carmine says. "How much for the grail. And fuck it, the ritual too."
"Fifty million dollars, plus the three."
Sofia chokes. "W-Wha-"
"Done"
I smile. "I'll need a few days to perfect the formula, and another to enchant the grail."
It's only because my loom-sight can see the — unlikely,
very unlikely — potential futures where he lets his emotions run wild, and flips the table, roaring in victory and joy.
"Right" the mob boss says, tightly controlling himself "dismissed, then."
Unfortunately, his celebration will have to wait a few minutes. I hang back as the others file out of the room. Rose, apparently sensing I'm about to disclose something interesting, stays, and I honestly don't care enough to tell her to fuck off.
"Was there something else?"
"There
is one more thing. The improvement process still needs some fine-tuning. In order to actually
perfect it, I may need… test subjects."
The mob boss seems to relax, apparently on more familiar territory. "Subjects of the human variety?"
I nod, slightly hating myself for doing so. But I mean, isn't this a
good thing, ultimately? It's not like the
suldati being experimented on wouldn't have been killed anyways, and if it takes down Bane… isn't that a net good?
"Alright" Carmine says, voice only half-there, like he's talking about the weather, "you'll have your subjects. I'll get the address to you tomorrow."
I nod, and turn sharply, walking out of the room. I can hear Rose following right after me.
Once we're out of earshot, she chuckles, elbowing me in the side. "Look at you, you little mercenary! I didn't know you had it in you."
I slow down, stopping to raise an eyebrow at her.
She smirks, putting a hand on her hip. "The Argyra of two months ago would have been all
boring about the human testing. Lecturing about morality, and whatever. And this whole plan with the artificial Venom? Incredible!"
I stare at her impassively, as her eyes trail up and down my body, hungrily.
"Gotta say, Yra, I'm
liking the new you."
I turn to her, tilting my head. Slowly, a smile breaks out on my face.
"Rose… that's the thing you never understood about me."
"I'm the same person I've always been I say, leaning forward into her personal space. "It's just that now… now I don't have anything holding me back."
"So" I say, cutting her off before she can speak, "is there any chance we could discuss your appreciation for this 'new me' back at my place?"
Rose cackles, and grabs my hand. "Oh Yra, it would be my
pleasure."
AN: Hey, remember that bit in 1.7 about the only foster parent Eri actually liked getting killed by Bane's henchmen? Turns out, that was actually pretty relevant!
Question 1: What's a good name for Eri's improved version of Venom? Need some suggestions.
Question 2: Again, I'm looking to commission some art of Eri for this fic, if anyone has any recommendations for artists, I'd be open to them.
Title comes from a line in the Radiohead song: "Sometimes you sulk, sometimes you burn / God rest your soul / When the loving comes and we've already gone / Just like your dad, you'll never change". I think it's very appropriate.
For the record, assume that all dollar amounts are in 2024 dollars, bc I don't want to have to deal with doing inflation calculations every time I mention money. Maybe butterflies made inflation worse in this timeline, let's say, so we're at 2024 levels in 2011.
Discussion is the thing that keeps the fire of motivation burning inside me, so if you read the chapter and liked it, please make sure to comment. I read every single one, and each of them brightens my day.
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