Life Ore Death
* May 10 [Artemis PoV]
I didn't know if Wally's parents' excuses for not visiting this evening – something about his job, her book club, and maintaining normalcy now that Wally had peaked out of the danger zone and should be waking up soon – were valid, or were just reasons for me to be there without needing to worry I'd run into them, but I was beyond caring.
'
Other than hating myself for all but chasing them away because I'm too chicken-shit to sit down in the same room as them,' I reflected bitterly. I snarled under my breath, deleted the last two sentences of my essay about The Winter's Tale, and started typing again.
I kept glancing back at Wally, though, and the machines keeping him stable. In particular, the empty space where the one machine wasn't anymore. It was only for five minutes, but Ferris had taken Motherbox with her when she went to the bathroom. I had the call button at hand in case anything happened – not that I
needed to be worried, because Wally had started recovering and he'd even woken up once or twice on Monday – but every second that ticked past without that magic computer at hand to help out made me twitchy.
My eyes fell on Wally's face, and I tried to not stare, but I just sort of timed out, watching him, until the door's lock beeped.
I spun around, reaching for a weapon, and Ferris stepped tentatively through, smiling.
"Wow," I said as she strode carefully across the tile floor and back to her seat. "It's still weird to see you up. No problems?"
"No problems," she agreed, putting Motherbox back on the bedside table. She wasn't quite up to standing uninterrupted for too long, much less any of the wild athletics involved in heroism, but she was walking on her own with only a cane for support, and that was awesome.
I went back to my essay, got out another four sentences, forgot how to cite in-text, and snapped the screen shut.
"I'm going to get a snack and stretch my legs," I said, too twisty in my stomach to stay here much longer. '
I can't bear to stay, but I don't want to go. That sounds like it should be some song lyric or something.' "Want anything?"
"Coffee, please," Renka said, scribbling a line in her notebook. I knew she was storing something, but it was anyone's guess what.
"Right," I said. I slipped out the door, into the hall, and found a stairwell with almost no one in it (almost everyone preferred the elevators). Hustling up and down a few flights of steps wasn't the worst way to burn of nervous energy, even if it echoed loudly, and I'd gone up twenty and down twenty-two in total before I decided to go down one more and hit the café.
Waiting in line, I got a text message from Motherbox:
UNKNOWN METAHUMAN + BASELINE WAITING OUTSIDE DOORWAY.
I had sprinted out and over to the stairwell before even putting my cellphone away. I flew up the five flights of steps, encountering no one, and I had a knife in my hand as I exited into the hallway, slipped into my silent running, and got my breathing under control.
'
I don't hear any fighting, so I bet whoever it is just has to wait outside for someone to leave or enter, without the key code.'
My attention on the few reflective surfaces around that could give me away, I slid to a silent stop and peered around the corner.
Both were boys, both were about Wally's age or a year older, and both looked pretty harmless.
One of them was chubby, brunette, and dressed nicely with a sweater vest over his dress shirt and tie. He was fiddling distractedly with some device, and I would've bet money that there was a hacker signal relay stuck somewhere on the door's lock that it interfaced with.
The other one was blonde and lanky, wearing headphones that probably weren't playing any music and an orange tracksuit that would've hidden him in plain sight superbly if it weren't so reminiscent of the prison duds I'd last seen him in.
My vision flashed red as I gripped my knife and realized why Cam and some other Shadows agent would be waiting outside of Wally's hospital room. For a moment, it was so, so easy and appealing to imagine slitting throats and digging blades into eyes.
Then I thought about the blood on my hands, and the red spilled across the hall's floor, and I took a breath.
'
They don't know I'm here, Ferris is armed and aware of them, and chance are other Justice League members are on their way,' I reasoned, sliding back around the corner before Cam's wary eyes could turn in my direction. '
I need… I have Robin's Christmas gift,' I realized, hands sliding to the stealth utility belt around my waist, similar to what he'd given half the Team for the holiday. It wasn't filled with a tremendous amount of gears, but it had some foam and shock charge arrowheads along with medical supplies, and other things.
'
Right,' I thought. '
I can do this.' But first, I pulled out my phone to text Ferris an update. We needed a plan.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
* May 10 [Icicle Jr. PoV]
I was on watch duty while Winslow – and seriously, I wasn't sure whether it sucked more that the guy was named
Winslow, or that he wanted me to call him
Toymaker, seriously – tried to hack the locks on our target's door. It wasn't
hugely necessary, since we could wait for either a doctor to go inside or for anyone inside to come out, because it had to happen eventually, but he was
ostensibly in charge of the operation and he'd bitch about me to my old man and the higher-ups if I jumped the gun, even if we succeeded.
Getting dad mad at me – '
Icicle, I shouldn't rely on family ties on the job, I call him Icicle, or boss.' – was the last thing I wanted, besides ending up back in Belle Reve. I still ached from what'd happened after he found out that fucker posing as Tommy Terror tricked me.
"Dude," I muttered, glancing around the halls again, "it's been a quarter-hour. What's
taking you?"
"Whoever this is pretty clearly merits some higher security," Winslow grunted, and it looked like the little piggy was sweating from all that work, sitting there and pressing buttons. "I swear, there's an actual AI in the coding, changing things up on me."
'
Whoa. I guess we got sent after someone big after all.' "All that, and no alarms or anything?"
"I'm good at what I do," he boasted, even though he really wasn't.
"Whatever," I muttered, and glanced out the window, because I was bored as fuck. It was sort of cool we got sent after someone important – '
Maybe dad and whoever he works with trust me more than I thought, sweet!' – but killing someone in a hospital bed wasn't exactly impressive. '
Not that I can… Come on, really? A conscience, now? Look, cold blood is supposed to be my thing,' I reminded my head, '
and it's not worse than… I mean, Dad has had to have done this stuff and whatever. I'll do it, I'll get it done, and I can move on to knocking over proper banks or bringing in big names who're cool to take down.' "Any I idea what this guy did to get us after him?" I asked.
There was a rush of wind down the hall from some open window somewhere, and a woman's voice answered me.
"Yeah, he survived," she snarled bitterly.
'
Holy shit!' I spun around, creating ice claws and my armor, but a familiar face stopped me cold. "A-Artemis? Dude, wha-?"
"Hey Cam," she commands, "lose the claws or I take your teeth out. One. By. One." She flourished a knife threateningly.
"Artemis," I hissed, "the hell are you doing here? Are you on mission? What happened to Toymaker?" I asked, because he was gone.
She smiled, all teeth, and I abruptly remembered that being two years young, without powers, and a girl never stopped her before.
"I'm on the other side, moron. Now tell me what Icicle Junior is doing trying to break into my bedbound boyfriend's room, or I get unpleasant." I boggled wondering what the fuck was up, and was she a shape shifter, because the last I'd seen her she was in jail in Star City. "…I mean it," she threatened, closing in and grabbing me despite my ice. "I have had it up to
here with the Shadows and assassinations, Cameron. Who the fuck sent you after my boyfriend, and why?" She tightened her grip on me. "Was it Sportsmaster?"
"Wait, you haven't heard?" I asked. "Actually, um, what do you mean 'the other siiiiyyyyyaaaaiiiiiaaaa-!"
She yanked me out of my seat, spun me, dragged me in a whirl, and pinned me to the wall one-handed faster than I could finish. Her face was inches from mine, her eyes were hard, and I couldn't see her other hand and what it was or wasn't holding.
"Star City. Green Arrow's new partner, an archer named Artemis, doofus. Now if you don't want me to personally hunt you down every time you try anything for the rest of your life, much less leave you in a hospital bed yourself, you will answer. My. Questions.
Clear?"
"I get it, I get it!" I babbled, heart hammering because damn she was scary. Not the hot kind, either, just flat out terrifying.
"Good," she growled, pushing me harder against the wall. "What are you here to do?"
"It- it's a mission!" I complained, because she had to know what that meant. "No names, we just got a room number here, we-,"
"Who gave you that number? Was it Sportsmaster?!" she demanded.
"No! Haven't you heard? Sportsmaster's all persona non grata," I parroted back, still not certain what it meant. "He's AWOL!"
"He-? What?" she asked, not so angrily.
"He's gone. Whoever broke him out last time wasn't us, and he must've bought off the Shadows or something, because no one's chasing him and there was all this talk of some drugs or something, but he doesn't give us orders anymore 'sfar as I know!"
There was a brief little pause where I could feel my heart hammering while we didn't say anything. I decided
not to try fighting.
She might actually kill me. She was good enough to, and mad enough to, and that'd be such a
stupid way to go.
"Okay then. Who sent you here?" she asked again.
"Just- Some guy in the Shadows, or working with them. I don't know his name!" I complained. She gave me an inch more space.
"…You know if it was any science guy or anything? Some mad doctor?"
"I don't know," I insisted honestly. "Just got a call, Dad told me where to go, got the briefing, met my partner."
"Who is…?"
"Some robotics specialist called Toymaster. Maker, Toymaker! Said his name was Winslow. He's supposed to lead, but he sucks balls, he's the worst kind of geek. What happened to him, anyway? Hey, wait, did you say boyfr-? Urk!"
"Since you seem to be out of the loop," my old friend purred lowly, "let me enlighten you. I'm out, Cam. My mom got out of jail, Dad hasn't been big in my life since she kicked him to the curb, he got crippled, and I'm running with the Justice League now. Green Arrow." I felt a twinge of jealousy that she got to see her mom again, because mine was dead, had been for
years, but more than that… "I have to say, whoever you're working with
really doesn't respect you, Cam. This has been out since Roanoke, and they didn't say
anything?"
"Roanoke?" I asked. "I've… heard a couple people mention that name. Place. I mean…." '
Vanishing didn't do me much good in my cell....'
"The Disappearance Disaster, Cam. I was part of the Team that stopped it. Killed one of you bosses' co-workers," she added bluntly.
"Oh. How'd the Justice League handle that?" I asked, sounding more mocking than was really safe right not. "They don't like you getting your hands dirty? Do they even
know about Sportsmaster and Huntress?"
"They know," she assured me, but I wasn't sure I believed her. "Do you know what's going to happen now?"
My mouth went a little dry. '
Shit, do I risk an escape?' "You put me back in jail?" '
At least the "good guys" don't maim.' "Artemis, if I fail here, they're going to leave me," I half-begged, absolutely certain it was true even if no one had said so, because I got put on a no-stress assassination under a tool like Toymaker and falling from that low a spot would see me buried or whatever they called it. Burned.
Ignored.
"Cam, you came here to murder a
good man in his
hospital bed," she hissed, suddenly pressing back in. "If you got through that door, someone would've
died. You try to tell me that's right, or not fucked up in the head, then I'm through with you. The people I have would never leave me to rot, and if you can't get out of the shitty situation you got yourself into, being used as a fucking pawn-!"
"Shut
up!" I snapped, and tried to make more ice.
The world stopped spinning a few seconds later, even if my head didn't stop throbbing so fiercely.
"Thew fit me," I complained weakly.
"Don't be too angry. Artemis probably saved your life," some unfamiliar woman replied. I blinked at her as my eyes focused again.
'
Let's see… Black, hair like a princess, and she's probably been stuck in that chair for a while, from her arm muscles.' "Who're you?"
She smiled pleasantly, glancing up from the data-pad screen she was reading. "You can call me Ferris. Hello, Cameron."
"I've heard that name before," I muttered blearily. '
Wait, shit.' "Y-you're that girl, the Justice League… Superman? Doctor Fate?"
"Superman, mostly," she said pleasantly. I looked around.
'
I'm still in the same hall. The time… No, I don't remember what it was before. Toymaker is still nowhere, and I'm not arrested yet.' I checked my wrists and neck, but I wasn't restrained. '
I'm not arrested yet. I need to get out of here.' I got up. "Fuck the mission, I'm out."
"Stop," Ferris instructed, before I got two steps. It was accompanied by a mechanical click, and an electric whine, and I froze.
I turned back around. "Wh- who the hell let you bring one of those into a hospital?" I asked, eyeing the laser gun.
Ferris shrugged, keeping it aimed vaguely at me. "Justice League. It's not like our bodies and powers aren't deadly weapons."
"Okay, right," I agreed, because she had a gun trained on me. "So, I'm just going to-,"
"Do nothing unless I tell you to," she finished confidently. "I will shoot you, Cameron."
"You're bluffing. The Justice League doesn't kill people," I babbled, because that laser gun looked dangerous. I still didn't move.
"I quote: 'A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another, or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.' I am a wheelchair-bound woman protecting the life of a bedbound emergency responder volunteer who is also a minor. You are a known felon, you escaped from prison, and you have by your own admission come here to kill someone."
"O-okay, so it's legal, but so is execution and the League doesn't do that," I protested, trying to remember if everything she said fit.
Ferris – who was supposed to be associated with
Superman, living icon of liberty, truth, and the American way – raised an eyebrow.
'
This is a re~ally bad time for me to be remembering lectures on the American way being imperialist suppression of others,' I thought.
"I committed my first murder when I was twelve, Cameron Mahkent," she said. I tried to make sense of that. "In the years since, I have amassed a three-digit kill count, culminating most recently, I think, with Klarion the Witch Boy, who was considered a peer and equal by Ra's al Ghul himself. Ra's al Ghul, in case you were unaware," she added sardonically, "is currently under arrest after a raid by the Justice League, and awaiting trial. Mm. The Batman has said that Ra's al Ghul argues in favor of stricter measures, like assassination and blackmail, to bring world order." She shook her head despairingly. "I cannot understand how he and you find it difficult to realize what happens when
we use such 'stricter measures' on
you."
"Uhh…" She let me just stand there for a while. Finally I slumped. '
Gotta see where this goes.' "What do you want me to do?"
"Walk with me, Cameron," she invited. "Better yet, push my chair, please. We are going to walk the halls and talk about your life choices." To my surprise, she deactivated the blaster and put it in a holster on her wheelchair. "At the end, I am going to offer you a choice."
<Bleepleep, > chimed some device on her person, but she didn't check it for a message. She just waved me closer.
"What, seriously?" I asked, stepping over cautiously. She let me get behind her without a problem. '
I can just attack her.'
"We will talk, and I will explain why the best option you have – the one that will make you the most happy, the most successful in life – is to take my offer at the end. Spurn my generosity, and you will harm yourself most of all, I think. It costs you nothing but time."
"Yeah. Time for the Justice League to get here." When I said that, she turned and rolled her eyes at me. '
Drama queen,' I thought.
"Cameron, we picked up your attempts to penetrate our security more than half an hour ago. The Flash can run very quickly; both the Doctor Fate and the Martian Manhunter are based in Chicago," she corrected, and suddenly I was nervous again. "If you imagine we need to wait to take you into custody, then you have not thought about what had happened to Winslow."
That got to me. '
How the fuck did she know that name?' I gripped her wheelchair's handles tighter. "What's happening to him?"
"He will be getting a talk similar to what you are getting, I think, but from someone else," Ferris dismissed. "Mm. Push, please."
Uncertainly, I started to push her down the hall.
She indicated for me to turn right at the end, and I did, because why not? "So," I asked, "what's happening?" Her device beeped.
"Cameron Mahkent," Ferris recited, uninterested. "Son of Joar Mahkent, AKA Icicle Senior, and Denise Mahkent neé Jameson, AKA Akimbo. The former is loose and wanted after escaping during the mass breakout from Belle Reve; the latter was killed as part of League of Shadows in-fighting in 2004, despite having been largely inactive for the prior decade."
"Wait, what?" I stopped and leaned over her, demanding, "I was told my mom was in a crash with a drunk driver! What do you mean, in-fighting?" Ferris tilted her head back up, her weird eyes meeting mine without blinking.
"You did not know that Artemis helped to save the world on Roanoke. You did not know that you were being sent to assassinate a Justice League sidekick, earning the utter enmity of the League if you succeeded. You did not know that your mother was murdered by your father's co-workers because they worried he was becoming too successful. Cameron, why do you work for people who do not respect you?"
"They respect me fine!" I snapped. Ferris shrugged, and went back to occasionally tapping at her pad. "Is there a
point to this?"
"The League of Shadows is full of traitors who will double-cross you for glory. Whatever you want in life, they will not give to you."
"Respect," I answered. "Power. They'll get me that."
"The moment you fail, they will turn on you," she said, twisting to meet my eyes despite the humming of the device in her pocket. "And, Cameron?" she finished softly. "You Can Always
Fail."
I shivered slightly as her words washed over me, remembering all the times I wasn't good enough.
How I would never be good enough.
'
Fuck that.'
"Yeah, and you've never failed?" I challenged aggressively. '
Don't grow ice claws, don't grow ice claws, not if Flash isn't gone yet.'
"Mm. The Justice League can fail, yes. When we fail, we support each other. When criminals fail, they betray each other."
"It's a dog-eat-dog world, and anyone pretending otherwise or trusting people is stupid," I spat, having heard it a million times.
"Do you trust your father? Did he trust your mother? Is that what happened?" she inquired. I tried to unravel that. "Mm. Left here."
"'Kay," I muttered only just realizing I'd started walking again at some point. '
What she said...' "Of course I trust my father." '
Moron.'
"Why? You are intelligent," she asserted, which made me flush a bit, "and you say that trusting people is stupid."
"That's people. He's
family," I told her.
"Is he? You are relatives, but are you family?" Ferris challenged. "What will he do if you return after you failed. What did he do, after you failed at the attempted breakout from Belle Reve?" Her tone suggested she already knew a bit about it.
"I- that's different. I got tricked by that no good Tommy lookalike! Besides, it still got Strange into the Warden position and he broke us all out after ward," I spat, unwilling to have her think badly of me. I wasn't sure why I cared about her opinion of me, but I did.
Ferris inhaled, her left eye twitching. "Icicle Junior," she said slowly. "Did he give you that name, or did you make it?"
"I- he always called me junior, that's all." I muttered, because the answer was awkward.
"Junior, instead of your name. Mm. Cameron, how does your father feel about you?" she asked calmly.
"My father loves me. Even if I should be better," I admitted, uncertain why, but I felt like I could trust her. '
She won't laugh at me.'
"Sportsmaster loves Artemis. That did not stop him from abusing and abandoning her."
"He didn't abuse her!"
"Tell that to her scars," Ferris replied flatly, "and the nightmares of when he left her alone with a pedophile for a test."
'
What the fuck?!' My stomach squirmed uncomfortably. '
That... That's bullshit, right? Or maybe it was not so long a... wait, back when....'
"Is she really on the other- on your side now, with the Justice League?"
"She is. She is happy, I think. She is doing well, and she is doing good. She would like you to make the same choices."
"Oh, like that'll ever happen," I scoffed, uncomfortable with the thought of it. "I'm a criminal, you know?" '
No turning back from that.'
"So is the Plastic Man," Ferris countered, and I vaguely remembered something about him being added to the Justice League. "The Justice League does not kill because people can change. You can reform. Mm. In particular, you are still a minor."
"Not where the law's concerned," I sighed. '
I thought Juvie sucked, but Belle Reve was waaaay worse. By a mile.' "Tried as an adult."
"Under coercion from your father and his criminal associates," she asserted. "You are lucky. Your birthday is in a month, and then you will be an adult. But. If you return now, you can still petition to be tried and sentenced as a minor, having been coerced by adults to be tried as an adult. If you co-operate, you may receive a light sentence and in a year or two at worst, you will be free again, I think."
"Who the hell would be stupid enough to believe that? 'Sides, the Shadows would kill me," I reminded her, twitching.
"Would your father let them?" Ferris asked. She touched my hand to stop me, in the middle of some empty hall, and she met my eyes again. "Mm. I am craning my neck, and it aches. Come around to my eye level, please," she invited. Anxiously, I did, crouching down.
"Now what?" I asked half-miserably. Which I shouldn't be, but I was. '
Would he let them hurt me? After all... After everything...?'
"If you had the life you wanted, what would it look like?" Ferris asked me.
'
…Huh?' "Huh?"
"You want things, Cameron: power, respect, riches. What does your life look like, what do you imagine, when you have them?"
I bit my lip, closed my eyes, and obligingly dredged up my dreams of a better world. She had her hand on my shoulder; it felt steady.
"I want kids, and a wife," I said, omitting the 'hot' part. "Maybe my old man moving in with me; he's biologically fifty now, so if I get a sprog when I'm thirty he'll be in his sixties, right? He could stay back at the house, watch my kids, while I go out and get work done."
"What work? What do you want for a job?" she inquired.
I shrugged weakly. "Something cool? Security for a secret base, breaking into a secret base, fighting off the Justice League…."
"You are not interested in murdering other children's parents, kidnapping kids, trafficking other meta-humans, or making gruesome examples of people who refuse blackmail, then?" Ferris pressed. "Of their families?"
"Ew, no. That stuff sucks," I admitted, hoping I didn't sound like a wimp.
"Those are all crimes your father and Sportsmaster have committed," she informed me easily, and I cringed.
"My dad's too cool for that," I said weakly, looking away. '
No way. Come on! He wouldn't… would he?'
"Cameron." Gently, her fingertips touched my chin, and Ferris turned my head back to face her. "What I'm asking you to do is incredibly difficult. Thinking painful thoughts always makes me want to ignore them, or lash out. But. Your teenage years are the best time to re-evaluate your life and choices, and to decide who do you want to be as a person. Artemis speaks well of you, and I have faith."
I puffed up. "Of course she does, I'm awesome. Uhh… what are you asking me to do again?"
"Mm. I believe that you want to be like your father, so that you can earn his respect and affection, yes?"
"Yeah." I squared my shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. "Screw that, I'll be better than him." '
Then he'll be proud of me.'
"I will not tell you that you are wrong to want him to care for you. However. Do you believe that he is proud of you now, or do you want him to
become proud of you?" she inquired. "As an outsider, I can see you making a mistake that will sabotage getting his attention."
"Oh y-yeah," I challenged, trying to sound pissed and threatening. '
But she's had points so far... She seems trustworthy...' "What's that?"
"Imitating him."
I blinked. She didn't let me moved my head away.
"How does that make any sense?" '
How will he respect me if I don't prove that I'm tough like him?'
"What do you know about your grandfather, Cameron? Because I know Joar Mahkent never followed in his father's footsteps."
"I- Well, maybe my gramps was a tool," I said. '
Dad was on ice for like, thirty years, right? Grandpa would be way in the past.'
"That is emphatically not my point." She shook her head, and for a second I felt like I could breathe again. "Joar Mahkent created Icicle Senior. He defined it, and he will be better at it. He broke the mold, defied expectations, and did what he wanted. I may object to what it was that he wanted to do, but as Ollivander said in Harry Potter, he is great. Terrible, but great."
"Yeah," I said, a little moved. "That he is."
"Artemis followed her father's order for years. The first time he respected her was when she defied him, and fought back," Ferris told me, and I was a little happy that Arty had moved on and up in life. "There," she said sharply. "That feeling? That she has done well for herself, and you are impressed? That is what I mean. You will never inspire that feeling as long as you follow in your father's footsteps, because he did not become who he is by following in anyone's footsteps. You can do the same things he does even better, but he did them first."
"What am I supposed to
do, then?!" I snapped, angry and miserable and '
God dammit I am not going to cry.'
I didn't even notice that my ice had spread out and crawled onto her, and she didn't react.
In hindsight, I would be very glad that the hallway was deserted.
"The man whom you were sent here to murder in his bed," she said, soft and threatening enough to inspire a jolt of fear and shame in me, "once told me about a word, 'gadara'. It is in a language where they have almost thirty words that mean 'enemy,' each with a different connotation. 'Gadara' is an honorable enemy, and it is among the highest of compliments. A father who has opposed his has son in some matter will greet the boy as an honored enemy before acknowledging their bond as father and son, because the former is greater praise.
"Any two fools can be related by blood, Cameron, but it takes a strong man to raise a son who is strong enough to rebel successfully, instead of following meekly and hiding in the father's shadow. If you want your father's respect, Cameron Mahkent – if you want your child to idolize you, rather than scoff at you and idolize your father – then you should not earn that respect, but take it. Rebel, and demand it."
"What, by joining the heroes?" I scoffed, but part of it was sounding appealing. Dad had hit me in the past, and I was scared to hit back… but I had seen him and Sportsmaster fight, like, lightly, for dominance, and they were pretty close friends as well as opponents. '
Rivals….'
"I do not know. However, you will, I think, have time to decide. It will be boring, at first, yes, but once you go through with that, then you will be free to see the world and to grow as you wish, and until you may meet your father's eyes as his equal. Perhaps you will even find that he must come to you, and seek your respect, because you have outgrown him."
'
That… I kinda like the sound of that.' "What are you telling me?" I asked uncertainly. She shifted, and the ice on her cracked.
For a moment, she felt incredibly warm, and I pulled away, as though I were melting. Her hand chased after me, and grabbed me, and pulled me back to face her. The heat had been weird, but then it got weirder: I was already cold because of my powers, but to me she still felt colder than ice, and I shivered, chilled by her touch.
"I told you that I would offer you a choice, Cameron Mahkent. Here it is. You have two options before you, unless you choose to disregard me entirely and try to fight, or improvise. The first option is simple:
"I will let you go," she claimed. I blinked at her. "Despite your crimes, I will let you leave this building unmolested, and for twelve hours, no law enforcement will pursue you, provided you commit no other offenses. I will ignore and forget what brought you here, and that you came to kill a defenseless hero who is my friend on your father's orders. You will be free to go.
"What you do after that, and how you explain yourself to the Shadows, in your decision," she warned me.
"Cripes. Like that's not a scary thought," I moaned. Even so, I trusted her, despite all my shitty lessons saying not to. "…Or?" I asked.
"Or, you can roll me outside, and I will make a phone call," Ferris offered. "The law enforcement will come for you, and you will surrender gracefully, and you will co-operate. I will see that you receive a competent attorney, who will not be biased because you have powers, and you will tell xir everything. You will be tried as a minor," she promised, " and we will protect you from retribution by the Shadows.
"When you have served your shorter sentence you will be free to forge your own path in life. Artemis and I," she continued, "will even visit you at times, to ensure that you are not targeted and to give you time to talk over what you want to achieve when you are free."
"Freedom and vulnerability, or time and security. Mm. Perhaps it is a counterintuitive offer, considering the English saying about sacrificing freedom for security and ending with neither, but your freedom will be returned to you," Ferris said. "Going straight and serving your sentence – cooperating – is something your father never managed. You may do it, and then you will have your chance to grow, yes?"
"I-? I need to think about it." '
Fucking hell, going back to juvie? But I've been there, and its better than Belle Reve, and I'll age out….'
"Take all the time you need, provided you do not leave without answering me, please," Ferris said. She stroked her fingers along my face, across my lips, and I drew back at the chill.
"How are you doing that, anyway?" I wondered out loud. In my head, part of me was snarling, '
How would you stop me?'
"Mm. I am in a wheelchair, but I am the woman who killed Klarion the Witch Boy {
Wicked}, peer to Ra's al Ghul. Right now, I am the most dangerous person in a two-mile radius. That is why I am not scared; you cannot possibly hurt me."
'
Oh, now that sounds like a challenge.' "Oh, really?" I asked getting to my feet. My ice armor regrew; I wasn't going to hurt her, I knew I sort of owed her for even offering, but it made me feel more secure, and
'I think she needs a warning about getting cocky, like I did.'
"Really."
A wave of heat hit me, like rolling off from a furnace, and my ice armor sloshed into water. I staggered back as water hissed to steam, and then it was gone. When I looked, she was cold again, and frost was even forming on her clothes.
"Right, right, no fighting!" I pleaded, taking the hint. '
Holy fucking shit how did she do that? I need to know more about her ASAP.'
She smiled, hummed, and said nothing.
'
Right. Right, she made me an offer, and she wants an answer. Shit.' I bit my lip, and I thought.
I paced around a little and I almost slipped in the water on the floor three times.
I muttered to myself about all of it.
I weighed my options.
I tried to imagine things.
I asked Ferris a few questions, but I didn't listen to her answers. I didn't even pay attention to the questions, not really.
Finally, I said, "Okay. Take me to the car, or make the call, or whatever. But I don't want to be there too long."
"That way," she instructed. "Elevator."
I pushed the wheelchair over, I pushed the button to go down, and I pushed her out the front door. Ferris had been tapping out a message on her data-pad the whole way, and getting responses, and as I squinted in the afternoon sunlight, a freaking
limousine pulled up.
"Your ride," she said cheerfully.
"What, really?" I asked, and pushed her closer. '
How the fuck did this happen? I mean, what? Really, what?'
"Yes." She took the wheels in her hands again, and I walked around to hang uncertainly by the car door. "Cameron."
"Yeah?"
"It is going to be hard, but few things in life are easy. The more difficulty you have getting through this, the more impressive it is to succeed. You will have support. I don't know if you will stay, mm, stay 'reformed' after this, but you will have the choice," she told me.
"That's important?" I mumbled, and even I knew it came out petulantly. "...s'rry," I mumbled, because I
cared about her opinion, I guess.
"It is the desire of
Harmony to allow the most people possible to make the most choices possible. That said, you also have the choice to double-cross me, and to either flee or start fighting." She smiled pleasantly, without all that many teeth, which was encouraging, weirdly. "I do not make threats, Cameron. I don't know what I will do, if you betray my deal. I may not do anything.
"I may not need to," she finished. "Either way, only you can decide. Good fortune to you." She nodded, wheeled around, and went in.
When sliding doors closed behind her, I opened the door to the limo and got in.
"About time," said an irate and familiar voice. I swallowed hard. Across from me, Amanda
fucking Waller sat waiting. Glowering.
'
What the hell kind of pull does she have to get the Wall to come meet me?' I wondered nervously. "Uh. Hi, Warden?"
"Boy, I am
not impressed. In fact, I am rightly
pissed off to be seeing you here, but I've been told you have some information for me. Now listen up, because the lady in the chair is right: you get
one chance. I am fat, black, and post-menopausal, and if you are in my way instead on board I will
steamroller on over you. When the Belle Reve breakout happened, we caught three of the crooks within a few blocks of my house, where my
kids live. I want to flay everyone involved in that fiasco, and you ain't seen scary 'til you seen me
mad.
"You say Professor Strange organized the breakout at New Year's? I want to know when, why, and how," she demanded. "Start talking."
I stared.
I swallowed once, because my throat was hella dry.
The car started to move.
She folded her arms and eyed me.
I nodded.
"Right," I began. "Here's- Here's what I heard."
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This chapter (and a chunk this episode in general) was highly inspired by a scene in the Spitfire-focused fic From Beginning to End of the Middle, by bettercrazythanboring, which I will not link to because (WARNING) it breaks the two-clicks rule for explicit material.
If you're of age/okay with a T-rated story that connects to a side story with Mature content, take a look and give kudos or a comment, because it deserve a lot more love IMHO.
Link for the map's broken.
It's still showing up fine on my page. Is it possibly your device or browser?
Well, if you click the link in Feruchemist in my footnotes/signature below, it'll take you to a wiki where you can find the Final Empire Map through a few links or a search pretty easily.
