Life Ore Death - DC Feruchemy [Young Justice]
- Thread starter Obloquy
- Start date
- Crossover
Obloquy
CrossMyHeart And HopeToDie, StickANeedleInMyEye
- Location
- the Physical Realm
I'm doing pretty well. There's a little bad news -- my father tested positive for COVID -- but the good news is that he hasn't been hospitalized, he's recovering well, and his quarantine will be finished pretty soon so we can see him again.
The other good news is, I'm a registered member of Be The Match, and I recently popped up as a donor! In less than a week, I'll be undergoing a minor operation to donate bone marrow for a guy in his mid-30s with an otherwise terminal condition (they don't tell me more details than that).
Wish me luck everyone!
Lastly, I've started writing a My Hero Academia story and I'm planning to start posting once I've got a good backlog. Anyone interested in reading a few bits to give opinions, just PM me.
I will confirm that Zatanna is not cutting herself.
She has begun smoking her dad's Silk Cut cigarettes that she found lying around because the smell reminds him of her.
Time will tell whether the habit sticks or not, but it won't do any favors for her breathing and stamina if so.
Time will tell whether the habit sticks or not, but it won't do any favors for her breathing and stamina if so.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Well, that's certainly a relief.
Obloquy
CrossMyHeart And HopeToDie, StickANeedleInMyEye
- Location
- the Physical Realm
I have posted the start of a new story!
Blood is only Blood is a My Hero Academia fan fiction wherein Vlad King teaches Homeroom for Class 1-A.
It's inspired by a bunch heartwarming Dadzawa stories, (especially one that mildly bashed Kan as well,) because while I don't doubt Aizawa would die for his kids... speaking as someone who's studied pedagogy and taught a few classes, Aizawa actually is pretty mediocre at the teaching side of things in canon.
Most importantly, Aizawa himself is aware of this shortcoming in-story, since IIRC he even acknowledges Kan as a superior teacher during the combined training camp arc.
A lot of authors have pointed out things like "did Aizawa even find out that Izuku had his Quirk for 6 weeks when school started" or "did Aizawa ever offer to help Izuku keep from breaking his bones," in stories I've read, so here's my take on a story where Izuku's teacher does those things.
Not that I'm going to make Kan a total sap -- he still fights villains for a living and knows bad teaching could get his kids killed -- but it's a good chance to apply some IRL pedagogy practices I've studied from my own attempts to be a teacher.
So no Ferris (yet, though she might cameo in passing), but if you want more teenage heroes in a coming-of age story with great characterization like in LOD, go on over and have a read!
So far, I've only posted it on SpaceBattles due to issues I've had juggling multiple threads in the past, but I might cross-post it depending on how well it's received.
* I'm also accepting a few requests for LOD snippets if anyone wants to see something or get a question answered. Getting a linear storyline is proving problematic, so I'm thinking I might jump around a bit once I start updating come New Years.
** As for other updates in my life, I just donated 1,300 ml of blood to someone with a terminal disease, so I've hopefully saved a life (for the second time, since I donated to someone else back in 2015). Again, if you qualify, I highly recommend signing up for Be The Match, because you really could save someone's life.
Blood is only Blood is a My Hero Academia fan fiction wherein Vlad King teaches Homeroom for Class 1-A.
It's inspired by a bunch heartwarming Dadzawa stories, (especially one that mildly bashed Kan as well,) because while I don't doubt Aizawa would die for his kids... speaking as someone who's studied pedagogy and taught a few classes, Aizawa actually is pretty mediocre at the teaching side of things in canon.
Most importantly, Aizawa himself is aware of this shortcoming in-story, since IIRC he even acknowledges Kan as a superior teacher during the combined training camp arc.
A lot of authors have pointed out things like "did Aizawa even find out that Izuku had his Quirk for 6 weeks when school started" or "did Aizawa ever offer to help Izuku keep from breaking his bones," in stories I've read, so here's my take on a story where Izuku's teacher does those things.
Not that I'm going to make Kan a total sap -- he still fights villains for a living and knows bad teaching could get his kids killed -- but it's a good chance to apply some IRL pedagogy practices I've studied from my own attempts to be a teacher.
So no Ferris (yet, though she might cameo in passing), but if you want more teenage heroes in a coming-of age story with great characterization like in LOD, go on over and have a read!
So far, I've only posted it on SpaceBattles due to issues I've had juggling multiple threads in the past, but I might cross-post it depending on how well it's received.
* I'm also accepting a few requests for LOD snippets if anyone wants to see something or get a question answered. Getting a linear storyline is proving problematic, so I'm thinking I might jump around a bit once I start updating come New Years.
** As for other updates in my life, I just donated 1,300 ml of blood to someone with a terminal disease, so I've hopefully saved a life (for the second time, since I donated to someone else back in 2015). Again, if you qualify, I highly recommend signing up for Be The Match, because you really could save someone's life.
Obloquy
CrossMyHeart And HopeToDie, StickANeedleInMyEye
- Location
- the Physical Realm
She warned KF about them because they technically had a Hemalurgic charge and may have been 'leaking' investiture, meaning he could give himself magic-style poisoning if he stabbed himself with them.
Once she had a few free weeks, Renka chopped them up, smelted them down, and now she has a bunch of atium beads/marbles/ingots for ingesting, or for re-smithing into atium-alloy metal-minds.
Once she had a few free weeks, Renka chopped them up, smelted them down, and now she has a bunch of atium beads/marbles/ingots for ingesting, or for re-smithing into atium-alloy metal-minds.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Oh really? I never remembered that.
- Location
- Scotland
Thanks for the answer.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
In other news, I found an Allomancy mod for minecraft:
Windborne
Devourer of Stories
- Location
- Oregon
Just binged this the past couple days, this was excellent.
Few thoughts, I can't help but feel that Renka is going to need to use the Lerasium for herself. It's something I've wanted to see her do, because frankly the fact Harmony (Sazed) didn't give her the equivalent Investiture she received as a Sliver for Ruin by empowering her with Preservation doesn't make sense especially if he was sending her to an unknown world. It'd be in keeping with his Intent as well. Plus if she wants to help Flash and Batman heal via Feruchemy she needs to do it as soon as possible which means she'll need Compounding. And doing it soon is necessary because if they Cognitively recognize their injuries as being part of them they won't heal even with Gold healing the same way Kaladin doesn't heal his slave brands, he views it as a part of himself.
And frankly she's going to need that power boost to take on the Light. Plus allowing herself to die in 10 years seems highly unlike her considering her various self imposed tasks, like being Prince Artur's godmother, Cassandra, being the permanent big sister to the Team, oh and warding off Darkseid so he doesn't follow her home to the Cosmere, she really can't die anymore.
Few thoughts, I can't help but feel that Renka is going to need to use the Lerasium for herself. It's something I've wanted to see her do, because frankly the fact Harmony (Sazed) didn't give her the equivalent Investiture she received as a Sliver for Ruin by empowering her with Preservation doesn't make sense especially if he was sending her to an unknown world. It'd be in keeping with his Intent as well. Plus if she wants to help Flash and Batman heal via Feruchemy she needs to do it as soon as possible which means she'll need Compounding. And doing it soon is necessary because if they Cognitively recognize their injuries as being part of them they won't heal even with Gold healing the same way Kaladin doesn't heal his slave brands, he views it as a part of himself.
And frankly she's going to need that power boost to take on the Light. Plus allowing herself to die in 10 years seems highly unlike her considering her various self imposed tasks, like being Prince Artur's godmother, Cassandra, being the permanent big sister to the Team, oh and warding off Darkseid so he doesn't follow her home to the Cosmere, she really can't die anymore.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I don't know what it would be alloyed with, though. What Atium Alloys do we already have? Unfortunately I'm pretty sure that we already have Tin-Atium in the story, but that would have been my first choice.
Ooh, I see that this got a Heart from Obloquy. I don't know what part it was for though. Still interesting, wonder what that means.
Ooh, I see that this got a Heart from Obloquy. I don't know what part it was for though. Still interesting, wonder what that means.
Just wanted to say that this is a very cool story, Obloquy, and it's clear you put a lot of thought and effort into it. It was actually this fic that introduced me to the Cosmere in the first place (many thanks for that), and I'm going back and reading it a second time with full context now that I've finished with all the Cosmere books.
(Also, now that I have a fuller view of the other half of the setting, the gears are turning and I'm giving some serious thought to how a what-if scenario would play out where Endowment found the worn spot between universes instead of Sazed and sent a newly-minted Returned through to investigate...)
(Also, now that I have a fuller view of the other half of the setting, the gears are turning and I'm giving some serious thought to how a what-if scenario would play out where Endowment found the worn spot between universes instead of Sazed and sent a newly-minted Returned through to investigate...)
- Location
- USA
My omake might amuse you.
-To be clear, if you're serious about spinning something off then you 120% have my blessing, I'm not staking a claim to the idea if someone else wants to put in the work for an actual fic.
Obloquy
CrossMyHeart And HopeToDie, StickANeedleInMyEye
- Location
- the Physical Realm
Glad people are still enjoying LOD, I'll get back to it eventually but I'm in a paralegal training program that's a bit of a time and attention sink.
@CocoaNerd I hope you enjoy the re-read (though you'll also probably notice better the rough spots where I had ideas I didn't fully think out or put down now,) and if you want to try something inspired by LOD in some way, go for it, we need more Cosmere fan fiction in the world.
@CocoaNerd I hope you enjoy the re-read (though you'll also probably notice better the rough spots where I had ideas I didn't fully think out or put down now,) and if you want to try something inspired by LOD in some way, go for it, we need more Cosmere fan fiction in the world.
- Location
- Somewhere.
You're alive! Good! Hope the training goes well.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Training? What's Obloquy (presuming that you are speaking of her(?)) training for?
- Location
- Goose Land
Paralegal training. Says so in the post.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Oops. My bad for missing that.
Snippet of Ferris as a Zinc Compounder from Wax & Wayen era
So, I haven't yet decided whether or not to commit to a full Young Cosmere crossover fic, but I threw together a little bit of an omake for this. At first it was 'what if Renka was a compounder twinborn as opposed to a full feruchemist?' and then to make it fit better I changed things a little bit so that 'Ferris' is an Era 2 descendant of Renka's who inherited a little of her ancestor's predilection for strategically Ruining people. So, here's Filtering parts 2 and 3, Reprise (warning for some physical and psychological torture in the vein of the original):
* August 8 [Cheshire/Jade POV]
About fifty minutes had passed by the time I finally returned to lucidity. Almost thrice what my internal clock would have suggested. 'Thanks for leaving the clock on the wall, morons.' The overhead florescent lights sent needles into my eyes; ropes and cuffs attached to multiple cookie-cutter school desks pulled my arms and ankles apart, as well as wrapping around my waist. I was on my back, flat on the tile floor, stripped of my most obvious weapons, and my mask was off.
Artemis stood in the doorway with Aqualad, keeping watch in the hall and keeping her back very much to me.
My stomach tightened, but I quickly forced the feeling down and smoothed it over. 'Stop. Heroes are bound by their stupid laws, and the Little League here can't really do anything to hurt me.'
'Wait, they have a freakin' telepath,'I remembered, and did my best to begin calculating pi as I had been taught, with only a fraction of my mind devoted to interaction, snarky comments, and lies. I was confident that even with that handicap, I still outmatched them all total in a battle of wits, and with Artemis involved it should be more than a fair fight.
An uneven, arrhythmic tapping was coming from the not-Artemis unknown bitch who hadn't demonstrated any stand-out abilities so far beyond high proficiency in a martial art I hadn't recognized. 'Though even that, paired with wearing that much jewelry to a fight, is… concerning.' The tapping was coming from some sort of small yellowish metal pin she held in her right hand, while the left one fiddled with the hilt of one of my sai, and the micro-expressive muscles in her face kept twitching and jumping even if she did her best to keep her eyes on me. If she was already fidgeting, then this was either so routine for her that I would be in for a long night, or she was thoroughly out of her depth. I hoped for the later.
The Martian sat like a good girl in a kiddie desk, smiling far too pleasantly at me. At some point she'd shifted to look more human, with a Caucasian skin tone and yellow dress. I couldn't fathom why she'd done it, unless she somehow thought she could put me at ease so I'd lower my- 'Shit, right, Martian! Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five_'
The Atlantean stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe, positioned to stare either at me or down the hall as he chose.
Artemis was still in the hall, facing diligently away, and no matter how badly her shoulders twitched she refused to look back at me.
I'd been lucid for well over a minute, and if they weren't going to begin the interrogation soon I would be tempted to bend the rules on my basic training and start taunting them.
"Hello!" the unknown chirped, and… that was not the tone I was expecting at all. Her tapping ceased and she dropped down to crouch by my ribs. She smiled and extended an arm toward my face. "My name is Alishwym and I will be your in-terror-gator today. It is nice to meet you. What is your name?"
'She is the stupidest good-cop I have ever encountered, and I'm not even certain how much of it is an act. Please tell me I didn't get fought to a near-standstill by an un-powered bimbo.'
"Bite me," I answered.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Bite Me. My name is Alishwym. I hope we can be friends. Do you work for the League of Shadows?"
"Ferris," Aqualad said softly, "you are not supposed to give away your secret identity so easily."
Her head snapped around to look at him; her eyes went hilariously wide. 'Please, oh please, let this just be a stupid act,' I mentally begged for the sake of my pride.
"Oh, right, yes! But does it matter with her?" she asked. One of her eyebrows twitched, but I couldn't quite guess what that tic meant for her.
"Hmm. I suppose… it will depend on how this interogation proceeds," the Atlantean murmured.
"Okay." She turned back to and smiled again. "Hello, please forget what I just said, Miss Bite. My name is Ferris and I will be your in-terror-gator today! I hope we can be friends."
'Oh gods, I think she actually might be a bimbo pretending to be less of a bimbo and getting it too much in the wrong direction. Why the hell are the others Martian. Don't get distracted.' I began counting off pi again.
"Now, again, are you for the League of Shadows?" Ferris asked.
"Bite me," I repeated. Ferris gave an exaggerated pout, then held my sai up to my neck and pressed it to the skin, hard enough that the point was slightly painful but not enough to draw blood. In spite of myself, I felt my confidence wane slightly.
"Please do not be difficult," Ferris asked. "If you do, we will be forced to fall back on more ex-stream methods."
"Am I supposed to be afraid?" I asked, a mocking tone to my voice. "Superheroes don't torture people. Hell, you wouldn't even know where to start."
Ferris hesitated for a moment, then sagged and sighed, removing the sai. "You're right, of course."
pain.
"The hell! You're not allowed to do that!" I snapped, reflexively trying to move my bound right arm to clutch at where the bitch had stabbed her pin into my unarmored upper right leg. More like a small nail, really.
I'd suffered so much worse than this so many times that it wasn't important. 'Pain is nothing,' I boasted to myself. 'She just caught me off-guard, and I wasn't braced for it.' I was even able to convince myself I believed it.
"None of us are trained in the use of ena- enhank- of using pain to get answers," she explained slowly, while pulling out another pin from a compartment on her uniform. She sounded genuinely regretful, but that could have easily been an act. "But we cannot afford to let you or your friends hurt Doctor Roquette, and this is, I think, the best choice we have. Now, I asked about your job. Are you-"
"Since when do superheroes use fucking torture?" I threw at the Atlantean.
"-a member-"
pain.
"-of the League of Shadows?"
It was hardly sensitive information, so I decided to answer the obvious and save the un-mangled remainder of my leg (I'd had much, much worse than this in torture-resistance training, but I wanted to be in good enough shape to kick her teeth in myself, later.) for delaying later questions. 'If I can play out for time long en- Martian. Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two_'
"Yes. I am a member of the League of Shadows. Why would you stab me if you didn't know that?" I asked. 'Telepathic illusions aren't supposed to cause intense, specific pain,' I knew, but part of me wondered if this was some sort of graduate studies League of Shadows so-you've-been-caught-by-the-crazy-capes test I'd been dumped into. Ferris cocked her head, and her jaw muscles twitched in silence for several seconds.
"There are many people who might want Doctor Roquette dead. Many. Many many many people. It might have been the Russian government or the Tea Party or the European Union, or even the dreaded UNISEC," Ferris lectured me soberly. "We had to be sure."
"Well since when do you attack bound prisoners? What will the Justice League do if they find out about this?" I challenged. The Atlantean looked directly at me and held up a radio.
"We are not the League. Robin has confirmed that the Batman regularly does worse than this to criminals in Gotham who are not also career killers. Also," the Atlantean continued, voice hardening, "it is your own fault that no one here will speak on your behalf. Kid Flash was never fond of these proceedings."
'Crap, he used past tense. Did I miscalculate? Does being a speedster somehow equate to drowning faster?'
"Aqualaaaad," my interrogator whined, "you proooomised that she could be my prisoner because I've never got to do this befoooorrrre. Stop messing me up and don't talk to heeerrrr."
"I'm still willing to take over if you can't get anything," the Martian chirped. The Atlantean nodded once.
"Good! Now, Miss Bite, please tell me how many more people we will need to greet tonight."
"Over nine thousand, just like in that-"
"And how will they try to kill me?" she continued, shoving her pout in my face.
I tried spitting in her eye, but sadly couldn't make the distance.
"They will be as unending as the night, as dangerous as the unknown, and devoted unto the death, just like I am, foul heathen," I recited drily.
'And I really hope I live long enough to see Black Spider web you up like a piñata so I can stab you a few times before Claw twists your head off like a bottle cap,' I envisioned viciously.
"And when can we expect them to arrive, because do I need time to cook enough food for nine-thousand growing teenagers like you?"
'Since I didn't report within the hour they should be here any shitty freaking Martian!! Three-point-one-four-one_'
"I haven't the foggiest," I snapped.
"Is that like the weapon fog?"
"No, and stop pretending to be an idiotic, airheaded, football-team's-bicycle bimbo, I know yo-"
pain.
"It is not nice to call names," she chided, a third nail now in my left leg, and I had a momentary flashback to that man saying the same thing to Artemis after she'd disrespected him and been unable to back it up.
'Artemis.' My eyes moved to my erstwhile sister, wondering if she was really cold enough to leave me like this. 'No, she shouldn't be, even after spending years stuck with him.'
'Years where she was alone, after I abandoned her to him.'
'Okay, yes, maybe she could.' But if she wouldn't acknowledge me as family- '"family loyalty is the first contract you ever sign, baby girl and you will never break a contract," he had chided more than once,' -then dammit I wouldn't be torn up by it.
"When can we expect our nine-thousand guests to arrive?" Ferris repeated patiently.
I refused to break. 'Our trust we will stay, and I will not betray. It's not even an hour; I can just last out the clock!'
"I don't know!" I pretended to confess with a sob. "Whenever they get suspicious. Maybe now, maybe already, maybe not until morning! I was the only one at the base when we got the call to go here, and I don't know when the others will start to get back."
Ferris weighed my words for a moment, turned back and conversed silently with the others over what I assumed was a telepathic link 'Martian! Three-point-one-four-one_' then eventually stood up with a stretch, pouting.
"Fine. If you will not co-op-er-ate then, I think, we will have to use the Plan Bee."
'What, all that and she's just giving up now? Unless…' "Shadows serve to the death without fear," I recited, fishing for a reaction.
Ferris, along with the Martian, looked down at me, aghast. "Kill you?! Miss Bite, we are heroes. We do not kill prisoners."
"Just torture," I countered dryly.
She shifted uncomfortably. "Desperate times, yes? But lives are precious and must be Preserved. Mars, I think from what Miss Martian has told me, knows this well."
The other girl nodded. "We never really developed the death penalty on my home planet, 'cause of telepathy, right? If one of us dies violently, it causes psychic ripples that damage everyone who's too connected. Which leads me to, um…"
There was an odd span of silence. The three – only three, because Artemis had twitched to almost look at me but never fully turned around 'and is that still worrying me after I resolved to give up on our happy perfect family?' - shared a long, silent look. Arm gestures, head shakes, and shrugs flew between the three of them. It took maybe seven second for them to finish and turn back to me.
"So, what's the plan? Oh, oh, I know! The untrained little alien girl is going to tear my mind apart with her years of ruthless experience and training and steal all my secrets. I could just cry."
'Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five-three-five-eight-nine-seven-nine-three_'
"Actually, I'm sixty-four," she admitted, because what? "Martians can shape shift, you know, so why should we actually look like our age or even gender? Although I really am a girl so no need to get creeped out guys, I swear," she added quickly. I opened my mouth for another commen-
"But yeah, that's pretty much the plan!" the Martian crone (apparently) confirmed cheerfully, standing up and shifting her skin back to green. "I mean, you've been resisting my telepathy okay this whole time, so I don't think it'll work, but we figured we'd try things the hard way first, as a courtesy."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you mean the easy way."
She shook her head. "Nope, hard. I don't really know how you humans got things backwards, but you all kind of seem to assume that reading a mind is easier than just rewriting it to be more agreeable. Maybe it has something to do with how you default to auditory communication?"
My throat went dry as the meaning of her words set in. I was pretty sure I could feel my bravado draining away.
"N-no," I managed to choke out through my regulated breathing, "there's no way you can expect me to believe you go around Ludovico-ing people behind the scenes. Martian Manhunter's been here for decades and he's never-"
"It is not good for ad-ver-tise-ment, yes?" Ferris challenged. "Also, The Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth can compel people, and that The Green Lanterns can 'manipulate will' is meant very literally."
I was beginning to wonder if that talk about the idiot-heroes of America had been propaganda for the even stupider masses, and 'Shit! Didn't Lady Talia once mention that Batman was trained by the Shadows?'
The Martian reached down to place her hands to my temples, and I instinctively tried to pull away.
"Do not worry, please. If Miss Martian does have to do things the easy way to you as well, I promise that it is not a painful thing, and you feel very nice after it is done."
My stomach churned at the implication, and suddenly the gap between the two extremes of her behavior made a sickening amount of sense.
"Artemis!" I shouted, voice cracking slightly in fear. "Artemis, don't let them do this!"
The others looked at her in surprise, and for just a moment I felt like I had achieved something.
Silence hung like a noose as I stared at my baby sister's tensed shoulders.
'She's grown up so much,' I realized. 'I wasn't even as tall as her when I left the house, and I never got to see her grow. Does she even remember that she has a sister? I can barely remember what Mom's face was like, it's been so long, and- Oh gods, do I even deserve to call us sisters? She would have been so small when I left her, left her all alone with him. Why didn't I give in and take her with me? Artemis, what happened to you that you ended up like this?
'Calm down,' I ordered myself, though my body wasn't listening. 'If it's all an act, then I'm safe no matter what. And if this is actually a real, demented situation, then she'll still step in because she was always so soppy about our family loyalty bull.'
My not-so-little sister turned around, and from across the room she looked me dead in the eyes.
For the first time in the better part of a decade, we saw each other again.
I saw her assess me. I saw her recognize me. I saw her not care.
"She killed Kid Flash, plus who knows how many other people. A new lease on life is already too good for her. Do it."
Her voice echoed in my skull. I'd thought I'd misheard until I felt the Martian's touch press on my mind.
Raw, undiluted panic surged through me. In that shining moment of perfect clarity, I learned that despite Sensei's best efforts there were, in fact, still some things I was afraid of.
'It's no less than I deserve from her, but… damn it all... I guess we poor souls really are our father's daughters.'
My brain revolted against my training in a last-ditch attempt to save itself, and my mental defenses dropped. I didn't even have the will to feed her false information; everything was laid bare.
Once the Martian retreated from my mind, the fear abated somewhat, but it did not disappear.
"I got what we need," she reported to Aqualad, who nodded in response.
"Good. Ferris… see to the prisoner's wounds and remain behind to guard her. See to it that she is not harmed any further. The rest of you, with me."
Being left behind with that freak set my nerves on edge. It only seemed marginally better than being left with the alien.
After the others left, Ferris reached down and unceremoniously yanked all three nails out of my legs. There was a little blood, but she'd apparently managed to avoid any major arteries. The pain must've been getting to me worse than I realized, because a wave of relief washed over me as soon as they were out. 'Wait a minute.'
Little Miss Psycho pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere and wiped off the spikes before returning them to their storage, but she seemed distracted, her body language and facial expressions twitching in time to an unseen conversation. Eventually she pinched the bridge of her nose, stalked over to the far wall, and pulled up a chair to stand on.
'What is she-? Why that little' I started mentally listing off appropriate curse words in three different languages as I realized they'd been pushing me mentally off-balance from the start, right down to setting the clock forward a half hour. 'Alright, play me once, shame on me. But now I'm onto your tricks.' "So, what'd you dose those needles with? Fear compound? Hallucinogens? Miniaturized neural override arrays?" I asked, aiming for a conversational tone. It was hard when all my hair was still standing on end, but I managed.
Ferris glanced back at me, eyes critical. "That is not, I think, the sort of thing one should discuss with her enemies." She chewed her lip. "Rusts, but it is fair, after you told us everything," and didn't that barb just sting, despite being exactly what I was hoping for. "Maybe you can glean enough information about me to buy the Mercy of your masters. Former masters?" She nodded, apparently coming to a decision. "A game. For each question of yours about me that I answer, I ask one and have it answered in turn."
'Too easy.' I smiled. "Deal. So, the needles?" I asked again, eager for information.
"Mmm. I create metal-minds, to enhance cognitive traits. On my world, I am what is called Twinborn, someone who can use two metals. Brass," she fished out one of the needles, then jangled the rings on one hand, "and zinc. For helping your fear while they were in you and sharpening my mind, re-spec-tive-ly." 'I truly can't tell if she has trouble with polysyllabic English words, or if she's still trying to play dumb.' "It took weeks of meditations to make needles with this level of Connection. My turn. How do you know Artemis?"
"What, you don't trust your teammate enough to ask her yourself?" I threw back at her.
"Is that your next question?" she riposted.
"Only if that's yours… Dammit, fine. She's my little sister. Was. I don't know if I've got the right to call her that anymore, after…" I trailed off, uncomfortable regrets settling in the pit of my stomach.
"I see. I do trust my teammate, because people I trust trust her, but I do not think I trust you, and I wanted to know if she was in danger, and if danger followed her. Your turn."
"So, are you really here because the Martian put the mind whammy on you, or was that all part of the production?" I'd already figured out the answer, but throwing her a soft question or two would hopefully drop her guard and let me fish for more valuables.
"Not by her," she responded without hesitation, and I snapped to attention, searching for any signs that she was leading me on. As near as I could tell though, there weren't any. "And it is not why I am here. But I have been… 'mind whammied' in the past."
Ice ran down my spine, and I failed to suppress a shudder.
"Why did you join the League of Shadows, please?"
I snorted. "Like you even want to understand."
"I do. And I can," she said, sounding sincere.
I mulled it over. 'I could always just refuse to answer, but then she probably would too. Plus, she just used psychological warfare capable of beating out Shadows training. Hero or not, she isn't clean. …Actually, that's something I need to check instead of just assuming.' "Because sometimes life doesn't give you a choice."
"No," she said. "Everyone always has choices, I think. But there are not always good choices, only less bad ones, so I am not- do not ask to judge. Only to know why you joined the Shadows, specifically."
I rolled the question around in my head. "Because I was strong, but not strong enough, and the Shadows were an escape and a way to get even stronger. Because I refused to roll over for other people while there was still a chance I could make a better life for myself."
"Ruining others to avoid being Ruined," she mused, nodding as if it made perfect sense. "Surviving. I do not, now, agree. But I do understand."
"How much of that show back there was your idea?"
"Most of it," she admitted blithely. "I did ask for details and ideas over the telepathic link, which I think you noticed. You will hopefully, even if it is a small hope, be relieved to hear Kid Flash is not dead." And I was, if only because it meant less of a chance of a barely sub-luminal fist through my chest any time soon. "I am… not sorry, but I think I would not have done it quite the same, knowing what I do now. I am still learning where the lines are, here. What is good, and what is not. What is different from home, and what is the same."
"Where is 'home,' anyway? You said 'my world' earlier. Are you even human?"
"Three questions in a row," she faux-chided. "I will answer, but then you will have to answer more of mine." She thought for a moment. "I will only answer this because I want it to be eventually public knowledge. According to The Batman when he looked at my dee-en-ay, I am human, but not an Earth-human. Home is Scadrial. It is very much like Earth, but it is not I think a 'parallel timeline.' Your land and stars are all wrong, to start, and we do not have any major satellites. Luna, or anything like it."
"…The moon?"
"Mm, yes. It is very nice, by the way. We are at… I think Kid Flash said about nineteenth or early twentieth century development, with some outliers in either direction? That is all I will tell you right now, you will have to buy the news papers if you want to know more. Why did you abandon your sister? Do you regret it?"
My throat went completely dry for the second time that night. How dare she- "I'm not answering that," I hissed. "Not to you." 'It was the smart thing. She would've… would've slowed me down. Shit.' My emotions might be more taught and frayed than they had been… since I left, actually, but I would not start tearing up in front of an enemy operative.
"We are done then, I think, after I ask my last question."
"I just said-!"
"If you had a chance at a new start, would you take it?"
I blinked, then barked out a laugh. "You just told me Martian Girl back there couldn't rewrite my mind!"
"No, I told you she did not rewrite mine. She could, I think, do it with practice." And there was the fear again. "But that is not what I meant. If you could escape your past debts. Change your name. Stop fighting, or fight only to protect. Perhaps… rusts what is the term, 'mend fences' with Artemis? Would you take it?"
"…"
She must have eventually gotten tired of my silent glaring, because she sighed and turned around and away from me in her seat.
"…I don't know. I don't think they really make those kinds of deals. Not for people like me. And especially not after already getting all the information they could ever need," I added bitterly.
She turned back to face me. "If you are right, then they are fools. It is better to pay harm done by doing good than by not doing more harm. But I think you are wrong. If about nothing else, then about you only being worth what someone else could learn from a look through your mind, without your life to give them experience." She scrunched up her face. "I do not think the words did what I wanted there. But I hope you understand."
"…I still don't know. But maybe."
Author notes, in no particular order:
In case it wasn't already clear, this Ferris is a Zinc Twinborn. With the exception of the little bit of violet love for Artemis and the red rage for Sportsmaster, the colors were different emotions she was rioting in Cheshire. She pulled a sort of reverse-"the frog does not realize it is being boiled" trick, rioting Cheshire's confidence and determination hard as soon as she woke up and then easing off it whenever the team acted agressive, making it feel like her will was eroding faster than it should and thus making her doubt herself. And then after they'd stirred up plenty of fear (and inserted a few telepathic back doors under the guise of torture), she flared Zinc and pushed that fear as hard as she could, to give M'gann and opening to read everything without having to tear Cheshire apart to get it.
Since Ruin isn't around in Era 2, Alishwym is not the Sliver of Entropy. The 'mind whammy' she refers to is actually something she inadvertently did to herself early on while getting used to her Twinborn powers. She compounded way too much acuity without storing any and trapped herself in 384 subjective hours compressed into the space of under a minute. The only reason her sanity didn't shatter irreperably is that she had a Pathian spike earing in and Harmony was able to keep her some degree of company while she was trapped.
Yes, those are hemalurgy spikes, which she knows how to make thanks partially to some general knowledge passed down from great-whatever-grandma Renka, and partially because she figured it out on her own from observation (remember, she has a spike earring and has talked to Harmony). She charged them from feeder rats, and they don't confer any powers, they're just wedges she uses to make bigger openings for her zinc allomancy (and, in this case, M'gann's telepathy). She's also running multiple layers of obfuscuation around information about Hemalurgy. Cheshire thinks (though she knows she could be being fed bad info) that the spikes are actually the source of the rioting, and that they're formed using some kind of meditation, and that they're the same thing as a metal mind. The Team knows it requires sacrifice, but again, they've only seen it with rats, and they only know she can use the spikes to open telepathic back doors. Nobody knows about the different metals or that Hemalurgy can steal traits. Part of it's because this Ferris didn't have all the same traumatic experiences with Hemalurgy that Renka did, and part of it's a "spill a lesser secret to hide a bigger secret" thing. They're brass because it's the pair metal of zinc, so she can better play it off as being directly linked to her rioting. The only reason it's not zinc is because stapling the emotional fortitude of an animal to a human does much worse things than just sticking a 'null spike' in them.
Funny fact: I couldn't really think of a way to fit it in, but Ferris was tapping acuity to communicate with the team over telepathy the whole time she was playing the questions game with Cheshire.
M'gann's statement about rewriting brains being easier than reading them was an outright lie, but it was a lie based in how emotional allomancy works. About the closest you can get to mind reading on Scadrial, short of holding Preservation, is highly enhanced perception or maybe compounding Connection. By contrast, soothing and rioting are much more readily avaliable.
I am never writing something with this many colors again.
About fifty minutes had passed by the time I finally returned to lucidity. Almost thrice what my internal clock would have suggested. 'Thanks for leaving the clock on the wall, morons.' The overhead florescent lights sent needles into my eyes; ropes and cuffs attached to multiple cookie-cutter school desks pulled my arms and ankles apart, as well as wrapping around my waist. I was on my back, flat on the tile floor, stripped of my most obvious weapons, and my mask was off.
Artemis stood in the doorway with Aqualad, keeping watch in the hall and keeping her back very much to me.
My stomach tightened, but I quickly forced the feeling down and smoothed it over. 'Stop. Heroes are bound by their stupid laws, and the Little League here can't really do anything to hurt me.'
'Wait, they have a freakin' telepath,'I remembered, and did my best to begin calculating pi as I had been taught, with only a fraction of my mind devoted to interaction, snarky comments, and lies. I was confident that even with that handicap, I still outmatched them all total in a battle of wits, and with Artemis involved it should be more than a fair fight.
An uneven, arrhythmic tapping was coming from the not-Artemis unknown bitch who hadn't demonstrated any stand-out abilities so far beyond high proficiency in a martial art I hadn't recognized. 'Though even that, paired with wearing that much jewelry to a fight, is… concerning.' The tapping was coming from some sort of small yellowish metal pin she held in her right hand, while the left one fiddled with the hilt of one of my sai, and the micro-expressive muscles in her face kept twitching and jumping even if she did her best to keep her eyes on me. If she was already fidgeting, then this was either so routine for her that I would be in for a long night, or she was thoroughly out of her depth. I hoped for the later.
The Martian sat like a good girl in a kiddie desk, smiling far too pleasantly at me. At some point she'd shifted to look more human, with a Caucasian skin tone and yellow dress. I couldn't fathom why she'd done it, unless she somehow thought she could put me at ease so I'd lower my- 'Shit, right, Martian! Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five_'
The Atlantean stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe, positioned to stare either at me or down the hall as he chose.
Artemis was still in the hall, facing diligently away, and no matter how badly her shoulders twitched she refused to look back at me.
I'd been lucid for well over a minute, and if they weren't going to begin the interrogation soon I would be tempted to bend the rules on my basic training and start taunting them.
"Hello!" the unknown chirped, and… that was not the tone I was expecting at all. Her tapping ceased and she dropped down to crouch by my ribs. She smiled and extended an arm toward my face. "My name is Alishwym and I will be your in-terror-gator today. It is nice to meet you. What is your name?"
'She is the stupidest good-cop I have ever encountered, and I'm not even certain how much of it is an act. Please tell me I didn't get fought to a near-standstill by an un-powered bimbo.'
"Bite me," I answered.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Bite Me. My name is Alishwym. I hope we can be friends. Do you work for the League of Shadows?"
"Ferris," Aqualad said softly, "you are not supposed to give away your secret identity so easily."
Her head snapped around to look at him; her eyes went hilariously wide. 'Please, oh please, let this just be a stupid act,' I mentally begged for the sake of my pride.
"Oh, right, yes! But does it matter with her?" she asked. One of her eyebrows twitched, but I couldn't quite guess what that tic meant for her.
"Hmm. I suppose… it will depend on how this interogation proceeds," the Atlantean murmured.
"Okay." She turned back to and smiled again. "Hello, please forget what I just said, Miss Bite. My name is Ferris and I will be your in-terror-gator today! I hope we can be friends."
'Oh gods, I think she actually might be a bimbo pretending to be less of a bimbo and getting it too much in the wrong direction. Why the hell are the others Martian. Don't get distracted.' I began counting off pi again.
"Now, again, are you for the League of Shadows?" Ferris asked.
"Bite me," I repeated. Ferris gave an exaggerated pout, then held my sai up to my neck and pressed it to the skin, hard enough that the point was slightly painful but not enough to draw blood. In spite of myself, I felt my confidence wane slightly.
"Please do not be difficult," Ferris asked. "If you do, we will be forced to fall back on more ex-stream methods."
"Am I supposed to be afraid?" I asked, a mocking tone to my voice. "Superheroes don't torture people. Hell, you wouldn't even know where to start."
Ferris hesitated for a moment, then sagged and sighed, removing the sai. "You're right, of course."
pain.
"The hell! You're not allowed to do that!" I snapped, reflexively trying to move my bound right arm to clutch at where the bitch had stabbed her pin into my unarmored upper right leg. More like a small nail, really.
I'd suffered so much worse than this so many times that it wasn't important. 'Pain is nothing,' I boasted to myself. 'She just caught me off-guard, and I wasn't braced for it.' I was even able to convince myself I believed it.
"None of us are trained in the use of ena- enhank- of using pain to get answers," she explained slowly, while pulling out another pin from a compartment on her uniform. She sounded genuinely regretful, but that could have easily been an act. "But we cannot afford to let you or your friends hurt Doctor Roquette, and this is, I think, the best choice we have. Now, I asked about your job. Are you-"
"Since when do superheroes use fucking torture?" I threw at the Atlantean.
"-a member-"
pain.
"-of the League of Shadows?"
It was hardly sensitive information, so I decided to answer the obvious and save the un-mangled remainder of my leg (I'd had much, much worse than this in torture-resistance training, but I wanted to be in good enough shape to kick her teeth in myself, later.) for delaying later questions. 'If I can play out for time long en- Martian. Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two_'
"Yes. I am a member of the League of Shadows. Why would you stab me if you didn't know that?" I asked. 'Telepathic illusions aren't supposed to cause intense, specific pain,' I knew, but part of me wondered if this was some sort of graduate studies League of Shadows so-you've-been-caught-by-the-crazy-capes test I'd been dumped into. Ferris cocked her head, and her jaw muscles twitched in silence for several seconds.
"There are many people who might want Doctor Roquette dead. Many. Many many many people. It might have been the Russian government or the Tea Party or the European Union, or even the dreaded UNISEC," Ferris lectured me soberly. "We had to be sure."
"Well since when do you attack bound prisoners? What will the Justice League do if they find out about this?" I challenged. The Atlantean looked directly at me and held up a radio.
"We are not the League. Robin has confirmed that the Batman regularly does worse than this to criminals in Gotham who are not also career killers. Also," the Atlantean continued, voice hardening, "it is your own fault that no one here will speak on your behalf. Kid Flash was never fond of these proceedings."
'Crap, he used past tense. Did I miscalculate? Does being a speedster somehow equate to drowning faster?'
"Aqualaaaad," my interrogator whined, "you proooomised that she could be my prisoner because I've never got to do this befoooorrrre. Stop messing me up and don't talk to heeerrrr."
"I'm still willing to take over if you can't get anything," the Martian chirped. The Atlantean nodded once.
"Good! Now, Miss Bite, please tell me how many more people we will need to greet tonight."
"Over nine thousand, just like in that-"
"And how will they try to kill me?" she continued, shoving her pout in my face.
I tried spitting in her eye, but sadly couldn't make the distance.
"They will be as unending as the night, as dangerous as the unknown, and devoted unto the death, just like I am, foul heathen," I recited drily.
'And I really hope I live long enough to see Black Spider web you up like a piñata so I can stab you a few times before Claw twists your head off like a bottle cap,' I envisioned viciously.
"And when can we expect them to arrive, because do I need time to cook enough food for nine-thousand growing teenagers like you?"
'Since I didn't report within the hour they should be here any shitty freaking Martian!! Three-point-one-four-one_'
"I haven't the foggiest," I snapped.
"Is that like the weapon fog?"
"No, and stop pretending to be an idiotic, airheaded, football-team's-bicycle bimbo, I know yo-"
pain.
"It is not nice to call names," she chided, a third nail now in my left leg, and I had a momentary flashback to that man saying the same thing to Artemis after she'd disrespected him and been unable to back it up.
'Artemis.' My eyes moved to my erstwhile sister, wondering if she was really cold enough to leave me like this. 'No, she shouldn't be, even after spending years stuck with him.'
'Years where she was alone, after I abandoned her to him.'
'Okay, yes, maybe she could.' But if she wouldn't acknowledge me as family- '"family loyalty is the first contract you ever sign, baby girl and you will never break a contract," he had chided more than once,' -then dammit I wouldn't be torn up by it.
"When can we expect our nine-thousand guests to arrive?" Ferris repeated patiently.
I refused to break. 'Our trust we will stay, and I will not betray. It's not even an hour; I can just last out the clock!'
"I don't know!" I pretended to confess with a sob. "Whenever they get suspicious. Maybe now, maybe already, maybe not until morning! I was the only one at the base when we got the call to go here, and I don't know when the others will start to get back."
Ferris weighed my words for a moment, turned back and conversed silently with the others over what I assumed was a telepathic link 'Martian! Three-point-one-four-one_' then eventually stood up with a stretch, pouting.
"Fine. If you will not co-op-er-ate then, I think, we will have to use the Plan Bee."
'What, all that and she's just giving up now? Unless…' "Shadows serve to the death without fear," I recited, fishing for a reaction.
Ferris, along with the Martian, looked down at me, aghast. "Kill you?! Miss Bite, we are heroes. We do not kill prisoners."
"Just torture," I countered dryly.
She shifted uncomfortably. "Desperate times, yes? But lives are precious and must be Preserved. Mars, I think from what Miss Martian has told me, knows this well."
The other girl nodded. "We never really developed the death penalty on my home planet, 'cause of telepathy, right? If one of us dies violently, it causes psychic ripples that damage everyone who's too connected. Which leads me to, um…"
There was an odd span of silence. The three – only three, because Artemis had twitched to almost look at me but never fully turned around 'and is that still worrying me after I resolved to give up on our happy perfect family?' - shared a long, silent look. Arm gestures, head shakes, and shrugs flew between the three of them. It took maybe seven second for them to finish and turn back to me.
"So, what's the plan? Oh, oh, I know! The untrained little alien girl is going to tear my mind apart with her years of ruthless experience and training and steal all my secrets. I could just cry."
'Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five-three-five-eight-nine-seven-nine-three_'
"Actually, I'm sixty-four," she admitted, because what? "Martians can shape shift, you know, so why should we actually look like our age or even gender? Although I really am a girl so no need to get creeped out guys, I swear," she added quickly. I opened my mouth for another commen-
"But yeah, that's pretty much the plan!" the Martian crone (apparently) confirmed cheerfully, standing up and shifting her skin back to green. "I mean, you've been resisting my telepathy okay this whole time, so I don't think it'll work, but we figured we'd try things the hard way first, as a courtesy."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you mean the easy way."
She shook her head. "Nope, hard. I don't really know how you humans got things backwards, but you all kind of seem to assume that reading a mind is easier than just rewriting it to be more agreeable. Maybe it has something to do with how you default to auditory communication?"
My throat went dry as the meaning of her words set in. I was pretty sure I could feel my bravado draining away.
"N-no," I managed to choke out through my regulated breathing, "there's no way you can expect me to believe you go around Ludovico-ing people behind the scenes. Martian Manhunter's been here for decades and he's never-"
"It is not good for ad-ver-tise-ment, yes?" Ferris challenged. "Also, The Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth can compel people, and that The Green Lanterns can 'manipulate will' is meant very literally."
I was beginning to wonder if that talk about the idiot-heroes of America had been propaganda for the even stupider masses, and 'Shit! Didn't Lady Talia once mention that Batman was trained by the Shadows?'
The Martian reached down to place her hands to my temples, and I instinctively tried to pull away.
"Do not worry, please. If Miss Martian does have to do things the easy way to you as well, I promise that it is not a painful thing, and you feel very nice after it is done."
My stomach churned at the implication, and suddenly the gap between the two extremes of her behavior made a sickening amount of sense.
"Artemis!" I shouted, voice cracking slightly in fear. "Artemis, don't let them do this!"
The others looked at her in surprise, and for just a moment I felt like I had achieved something.
Silence hung like a noose as I stared at my baby sister's tensed shoulders.
'She's grown up so much,' I realized. 'I wasn't even as tall as her when I left the house, and I never got to see her grow. Does she even remember that she has a sister? I can barely remember what Mom's face was like, it's been so long, and- Oh gods, do I even deserve to call us sisters? She would have been so small when I left her, left her all alone with him. Why didn't I give in and take her with me? Artemis, what happened to you that you ended up like this?
'Calm down,' I ordered myself, though my body wasn't listening. 'If it's all an act, then I'm safe no matter what. And if this is actually a real, demented situation, then she'll still step in because she was always so soppy about our family loyalty bull.'
My not-so-little sister turned around, and from across the room she looked me dead in the eyes.
For the first time in the better part of a decade, we saw each other again.
I saw her assess me. I saw her recognize me. I saw her not care.
"She killed Kid Flash, plus who knows how many other people. A new lease on life is already too good for her. Do it."
Her voice echoed in my skull. I'd thought I'd misheard until I felt the Martian's touch press on my mind.
Raw, undiluted panic surged through me. In that shining moment of perfect clarity, I learned that despite Sensei's best efforts there were, in fact, still some things I was afraid of.
'It's no less than I deserve from her, but… damn it all... I guess we poor souls really are our father's daughters.'
My brain revolted against my training in a last-ditch attempt to save itself, and my mental defenses dropped. I didn't even have the will to feed her false information; everything was laid bare.
Once the Martian retreated from my mind, the fear abated somewhat, but it did not disappear.
"I got what we need," she reported to Aqualad, who nodded in response.
"Good. Ferris… see to the prisoner's wounds and remain behind to guard her. See to it that she is not harmed any further. The rest of you, with me."
Being left behind with that freak set my nerves on edge. It only seemed marginally better than being left with the alien.
After the others left, Ferris reached down and unceremoniously yanked all three nails out of my legs. There was a little blood, but she'd apparently managed to avoid any major arteries. The pain must've been getting to me worse than I realized, because a wave of relief washed over me as soon as they were out. 'Wait a minute.'
Little Miss Psycho pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere and wiped off the spikes before returning them to their storage, but she seemed distracted, her body language and facial expressions twitching in time to an unseen conversation. Eventually she pinched the bridge of her nose, stalked over to the far wall, and pulled up a chair to stand on.
'What is she-? Why that little' I started mentally listing off appropriate curse words in three different languages as I realized they'd been pushing me mentally off-balance from the start, right down to setting the clock forward a half hour. 'Alright, play me once, shame on me. But now I'm onto your tricks.' "So, what'd you dose those needles with? Fear compound? Hallucinogens? Miniaturized neural override arrays?" I asked, aiming for a conversational tone. It was hard when all my hair was still standing on end, but I managed.
Ferris glanced back at me, eyes critical. "That is not, I think, the sort of thing one should discuss with her enemies." She chewed her lip. "Rusts, but it is fair, after you told us everything," and didn't that barb just sting, despite being exactly what I was hoping for. "Maybe you can glean enough information about me to buy the Mercy of your masters. Former masters?" She nodded, apparently coming to a decision. "A game. For each question of yours about me that I answer, I ask one and have it answered in turn."
'Too easy.' I smiled. "Deal. So, the needles?" I asked again, eager for information.
"Mmm. I create metal-minds, to enhance cognitive traits. On my world, I am what is called Twinborn, someone who can use two metals. Brass," she fished out one of the needles, then jangled the rings on one hand, "and zinc. For helping your fear while they were in you and sharpening my mind, re-spec-tive-ly." 'I truly can't tell if she has trouble with polysyllabic English words, or if she's still trying to play dumb.' "It took weeks of meditations to make needles with this level of Connection. My turn. How do you know Artemis?"
"What, you don't trust your teammate enough to ask her yourself?" I threw back at her.
"Is that your next question?" she riposted.
"Only if that's yours… Dammit, fine. She's my little sister. Was. I don't know if I've got the right to call her that anymore, after…" I trailed off, uncomfortable regrets settling in the pit of my stomach.
"I see. I do trust my teammate, because people I trust trust her, but I do not think I trust you, and I wanted to know if she was in danger, and if danger followed her. Your turn."
"So, are you really here because the Martian put the mind whammy on you, or was that all part of the production?" I'd already figured out the answer, but throwing her a soft question or two would hopefully drop her guard and let me fish for more valuables.
"Not by her," she responded without hesitation, and I snapped to attention, searching for any signs that she was leading me on. As near as I could tell though, there weren't any. "And it is not why I am here. But I have been… 'mind whammied' in the past."
Ice ran down my spine, and I failed to suppress a shudder.
"Why did you join the League of Shadows, please?"
I snorted. "Like you even want to understand."
"I do. And I can," she said, sounding sincere.
I mulled it over. 'I could always just refuse to answer, but then she probably would too. Plus, she just used psychological warfare capable of beating out Shadows training. Hero or not, she isn't clean. …Actually, that's something I need to check instead of just assuming.' "Because sometimes life doesn't give you a choice."
"No," she said. "Everyone always has choices, I think. But there are not always good choices, only less bad ones, so I am not- do not ask to judge. Only to know why you joined the Shadows, specifically."
I rolled the question around in my head. "Because I was strong, but not strong enough, and the Shadows were an escape and a way to get even stronger. Because I refused to roll over for other people while there was still a chance I could make a better life for myself."
"Ruining others to avoid being Ruined," she mused, nodding as if it made perfect sense. "Surviving. I do not, now, agree. But I do understand."
"How much of that show back there was your idea?"
"Most of it," she admitted blithely. "I did ask for details and ideas over the telepathic link, which I think you noticed. You will hopefully, even if it is a small hope, be relieved to hear Kid Flash is not dead." And I was, if only because it meant less of a chance of a barely sub-luminal fist through my chest any time soon. "I am… not sorry, but I think I would not have done it quite the same, knowing what I do now. I am still learning where the lines are, here. What is good, and what is not. What is different from home, and what is the same."
"Where is 'home,' anyway? You said 'my world' earlier. Are you even human?"
"Three questions in a row," she faux-chided. "I will answer, but then you will have to answer more of mine." She thought for a moment. "I will only answer this because I want it to be eventually public knowledge. According to The Batman when he looked at my dee-en-ay, I am human, but not an Earth-human. Home is Scadrial. It is very much like Earth, but it is not I think a 'parallel timeline.' Your land and stars are all wrong, to start, and we do not have any major satellites. Luna, or anything like it."
"…The moon?"
"Mm, yes. It is very nice, by the way. We are at… I think Kid Flash said about nineteenth or early twentieth century development, with some outliers in either direction? That is all I will tell you right now, you will have to buy the news papers if you want to know more. Why did you abandon your sister? Do you regret it?"
My throat went completely dry for the second time that night. How dare she- "I'm not answering that," I hissed. "Not to you." 'It was the smart thing. She would've… would've slowed me down. Shit.' My emotions might be more taught and frayed than they had been… since I left, actually, but I would not start tearing up in front of an enemy operative.
"We are done then, I think, after I ask my last question."
"I just said-!"
"If you had a chance at a new start, would you take it?"
I blinked, then barked out a laugh. "You just told me Martian Girl back there couldn't rewrite my mind!"
"No, I told you she did not rewrite mine. She could, I think, do it with practice." And there was the fear again. "But that is not what I meant. If you could escape your past debts. Change your name. Stop fighting, or fight only to protect. Perhaps… rusts what is the term, 'mend fences' with Artemis? Would you take it?"
"…"
She must have eventually gotten tired of my silent glaring, because she sighed and turned around and away from me in her seat.
"…I don't know. I don't think they really make those kinds of deals. Not for people like me. And especially not after already getting all the information they could ever need," I added bitterly.
She turned back to face me. "If you are right, then they are fools. It is better to pay harm done by doing good than by not doing more harm. But I think you are wrong. If about nothing else, then about you only being worth what someone else could learn from a look through your mind, without your life to give them experience." She scrunched up her face. "I do not think the words did what I wanted there. But I hope you understand."
"…I still don't know. But maybe."
Author notes, in no particular order:
In case it wasn't already clear, this Ferris is a Zinc Twinborn. With the exception of the little bit of violet love for Artemis and the red rage for Sportsmaster, the colors were different emotions she was rioting in Cheshire. She pulled a sort of reverse-"the frog does not realize it is being boiled" trick, rioting Cheshire's confidence and determination hard as soon as she woke up and then easing off it whenever the team acted agressive, making it feel like her will was eroding faster than it should and thus making her doubt herself. And then after they'd stirred up plenty of fear (and inserted a few telepathic back doors under the guise of torture), she flared Zinc and pushed that fear as hard as she could, to give M'gann and opening to read everything without having to tear Cheshire apart to get it.
Since Ruin isn't around in Era 2, Alishwym is not the Sliver of Entropy. The 'mind whammy' she refers to is actually something she inadvertently did to herself early on while getting used to her Twinborn powers. She compounded way too much acuity without storing any and trapped herself in 384 subjective hours compressed into the space of under a minute. The only reason her sanity didn't shatter irreperably is that she had a Pathian spike earing in and Harmony was able to keep her some degree of company while she was trapped.
Yes, those are hemalurgy spikes, which she knows how to make thanks partially to some general knowledge passed down from great-whatever-grandma Renka, and partially because she figured it out on her own from observation (remember, she has a spike earring and has talked to Harmony). She charged them from feeder rats, and they don't confer any powers, they're just wedges she uses to make bigger openings for her zinc allomancy (and, in this case, M'gann's telepathy). She's also running multiple layers of obfuscuation around information about Hemalurgy. Cheshire thinks (though she knows she could be being fed bad info) that the spikes are actually the source of the rioting, and that they're formed using some kind of meditation, and that they're the same thing as a metal mind. The Team knows it requires sacrifice, but again, they've only seen it with rats, and they only know she can use the spikes to open telepathic back doors. Nobody knows about the different metals or that Hemalurgy can steal traits. Part of it's because this Ferris didn't have all the same traumatic experiences with Hemalurgy that Renka did, and part of it's a "spill a lesser secret to hide a bigger secret" thing. They're brass because it's the pair metal of zinc, so she can better play it off as being directly linked to her rioting. The only reason it's not zinc is because stapling the emotional fortitude of an animal to a human does much worse things than just sticking a 'null spike' in them.
Funny fact: I couldn't really think of a way to fit it in, but Ferris was tapping acuity to communicate with the team over telepathy the whole time she was playing the questions game with Cheshire.
M'gann's statement about rewriting brains being easier than reading them was an outright lie, but it was a lie based in how emotional allomancy works. About the closest you can get to mind reading on Scadrial, short of holding Preservation, is highly enhanced perception or maybe compounding Connection. By contrast, soothing and rioting are much more readily avaliable.
I am never writing something with this many colors again.
Last edited:
- Location
- Massachussetts
This alternate Ferris is an interesting character. I like that you've made her distinct from Renka but with enough influence that the descendant idea works well.
I admit to being quite concerned about where that Hemalurgy use was going. It wasn't until the end that I remembered about the interaction with M'gann's telepathy.