Many thanks to @BeaconHill, @Assembler, ShadowStepper1300, and @fabledFreeboota for betareading.
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"Why the fuck would
Shadow Stalker leave?" Missy asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her throw her hands up in the air. "Just when we're about to take the fight to them!"
My Wards and I were in a conference room in PRT headquarters. We'd gathered back here after our search for Sophia had failed to turn up anything. Clockblocker, Gallant, and Aegis were still out, meeting with New Wave. Kid Win was on the console, watching them. The rest of us were here, waiting for word from the Protectorate and Piggot.
The others were seated on the couches and armchairs around the television, which was off. I stood apart, hands clasped behind my back, looking out at the eastern horizon. The sun shone fiery over the city around me, reflecting off of glass and polished stone.
"It's my fault, in part," I said, affecting a mournful tone. "I asked her to approach Oracle of the E88. I think that's where this started."
"Where what started?" Sam asked.
"I think Sophia was mastered," I lied. I glanced back at the others. "Rings of Power can only protect you if you
want to be protected, and Sophia was friends with Oracle out of costume. Based on what she was saying before she left… she sounded just like Oracle did, when we fought her a few weeks ago."
"So you think Oracle got to her as a civilian and then mastered her?" Amy stared at me. "I can't believe Shadow Stalker would let her guard down like that, especially around someone from the Empire."
"Oracle wasn't always Empire," I said, remembering a girl with red hair and a smile which, in retrospect, seemed all too innocent. "Sophia felt responsible for her trigger, and for her joining the Empire. She wanted to pull her out of it. I suppose it backfired."
"Well, we have to get her out," Sam said firmly. "We can't let her stay there."
"One master at a time," I said, shaking my head. "Heartbreaker
has to come first. We're already ready to face him, and we can't turn aside now. We can help her as soon as we take him down."
"Assuming the Protectorate ever gets back to us," Missy growled.
"They will," I assured her without looking away from the window. "It won't be long now. We must be patient."
"I've never been good at patience," muttered Brian.
At these words a memory came upon me, like a flame bursting to life in the dark.
"The king of Rohan has fled his halls, my lord. His people make for their refuge at Helm's Deep. They will not long survive a siege there, without supplies or support."
"I do not want a siege, Wizard. You have an army. Use it. Bring the fortress down."
The image of the Istar, robed in many colors, came and went in a flash. I smiled as I shook myself free of the reverie. My teeth flashed in my reflection in the glass of the window. "Nor am I," I admitted with a low chuckle.
At that moment, the door opened behind me. The heavy metallic footfalls immediately told me who had arrived. "Armsmaster," I said without turning. "Any news?"
"Dragon's arrived," he said. "She's on the roof right now, working on her analysis. She'd like your help."
"I'll be happy to assist her," I said, stepping away from the window. I took Búrzashdurb from the table and hooked it to my belt, looking at Armsmaster. "The roof, you said?"
He nodded. "I'd go with you, but I want to finish a modification to my halberd before we move out."
"Very well," I said. "Go. We will tell you as soon as anything changes." I turned to my Wards. "If you're still tired, get some rest. Otherwise, train. I'll call you when you're needed."
"Yes, Ma'am," said Vista with a deferential nod. "Hope you find him soon."
"I doubt it'll take long," I answered, turning away. My mace clanked against my armor as I strode away.
-x-x-x-
"Dragon," I called as I emerged onto the roof. "Welcome back to Brockton Bay."
The Canadian hero was resplendent in her golden power armor, intricately engraved with images of dragons' maws snarling and outspread leathery wings. She stood about six and a half feet tall, still a little taller than me after my recent changes, and shone brighter than the glittering sea behind her.
She turned away from the horizon and gave me a nod. "It's good to be back, Annatar." Then she hesitated. "Uh, your armor…?"
"It's just soot," I said. "Although I have to admit, it does make me more intimidating. I might keep it until things are finished here."
"Finished?" Dragon asked, with a faint laugh, crackling slightly as it came through the speakers of her suit. "A hero's work is never
finished, Annatar. There's always more to do."
"Forgive me," I said, "but I think that means you're doing it wrong."
"Oh?" she said, and I got the impression of a raised eyebrow. "And what would you suggest we do differently?"
"I'm not suggesting anything absurd," I said. "Just… efficient. We need to be more proactive." I came forward and stood beside her as she gazed out at the sea. "Before I joined, the Protectorate never seemed to
attack the villains. They just waited for the villains to act, and then responded. A reactive force is a force that's always struggling to keep up."
She considered me. "That's a dangerous approach," she warned. "It's easy to go from
proactive to
preemptive, and then…"
"Then there's little to distinguish us from the villains," I agreed. "I know, Dragon. But I'm… fundamentally
different from the villains."
"We'd all like to think that," she said quietly. "I've never seen it hold true."
"But surely you agree that
you're different?"
She didn't answer for a moment. "I'd rather not find out."
"You fear your own power?" I allowed shock and pity to creep into my voice. "Why? Why fear yourself? Think of all the good you could do if you didn't hold yourself back."
"It's not that simple..." I didn't think her heart was really in it. "I
am dangerous, Annatar. And so are you."
"We're dangerous, yes," I agreed. "But that doesn't make us
problems. In our case, it makes us
solutions." I shook my head. "Villains are
selfish, Dragon. That's the core paradigm of villainy. It's placing what
you want over the greater good. Neither you nor I are susceptible to that flaw."
"I wish I shared your confidence," she murmured.
"You should." I turned to her properly, studying her. Her body language gave almost nothing away. She didn't seem to be emoting at all. "When have you ever done anything to earn mistrust? Especially your own? You don't
deserve that, Dragon. You're one of the most selfless, most
heroic superheroes I've ever had the pleasure to meet."
She was still—unnaturally so, as though she had stopped interacting with her own body momentarily. "I appreciate that, Annatar," she said, and her voice was somewhat wooden, almost emotionless. "It means a great deal, coming from you." Then she turned to me. "You told the Wards that you weren't human, this morning. Why?"
"It's the truth." A faint smile spread across my face. Dragon cared about this. She
wanted me to be inhuman. And I gave people what they wanted. "You saw my medical reports—my Corona and Gemma are dead. The others think I'm just a parahuman, but they're wrong. My power is part of me, and it's only a sliver of what I really am."
I sang a low, gravelly melody, like the purring of some great beast. Images of the ancient wyrms, winged and fierce and brimming with fire, filled my mind's eye. Slowly, my skin rippled and changed. Silver scales, hard as mithril, covered my face. My eyes narrowed, turning green and slitted as my ears swept backward. I had expected Dragon to recoil, but instead she leaned forward, fascinated.
"Don't be fooled by the flesh and blood you once saw before you. It is but a guise I wear, when I choose to walk alongside human beings. In truth, I am far greater." I smirked, showing off newly pointed teeth. "And far more dangerous."
"What are you?" Dragon asked, almost breathless. "Can I ask?"
"Call me Maia," I said, posing so that my scales glittered in the Eastern sunlight. "I am powerful, unchained, undiminished. And I plan to stay that way."
"It's… it's an honor," Dragon said. There was reticence on her voice. She wasn't saying something. But I didn't think she was unwilling—just unready. I would push her no further this time. "Thank you for sharing this with me."
"You are very welcome, Dragon," I said. "But please, keep this between us?"
"Of course. I understand."
"Thank you." I smiled once more, satisfied. "So, what have you found of Heartbreaker?"
"I've been working on locating him," she said. "Since his attack on you failed, he's probably planning to get out of the city today, assuming he hasn't already left."
"If he's left, we'll hunt him down," I said firmly. "He's not getting away this time."
"I agree with the sentiment, but
finding him will become a lot harder if he's not in the city," said Dragon. "I can do a lot, but there are almost seven billion people on the planet and more than three hundred million in this country. That's a
lot of data to sift through."
I nodded. "I understand. Let's find out if he's still in the Bay, first. You keep sifting through data—I've got my own way of searching."
She nodded and turned away, crossing over to a makeshift computer console which faced away from the water.
I, meanwhile, looked out over the city—
my city—and felt the fierce, possessive love of a lord over her fiefdom rising in me.
I remembered a plain of dust and ash, where every resource and speck of life was bent to working my will. I remembered the flame atop the mountain, and the dark watchtower overseeing it all. I might not remember much of that past life as a Maia undiminished—little more than images and a few names had come back to me, so far—but I remembered what it had felt like to rule over the land itself. The people might be transient and fickle, but if one ruled the
land, then the kingdom would remain for centuries.
That old country had
looked different, perhaps, but at its core, it was just another place—and like Brockton, it had been suffused with my power.
This place is mine, I thought.
This city is my city. Its power is my power, its life my life. It is bound to me.
Even before I had awakened fully, my Rings of Power, forged of the Song and the Discord, were exposing the city to power that was uniquely mine. The city had already begun to shift into a shape that was more in accordance with my desires.
It was astonishing that no one had noticed the steady decay and dissolution of the boat graveyard. The coast was almost clear, now, and the sea shone bright and largely unmarred by rusted metal, and no one had noticed. Even
I had not noticed until I knew what to look for.
A Maia has sung into the bones of this land, and the land has listened.
Nothing could hide from me in Gorgoroth, should I bend my attention to seeking it out. Brockton Bay, this city of mine, was no different.
And now it would help me find my enemy, if he was still here.
The PRT building was not the tallest nor the largest building downtown. It stood taller than its immediate neighbors, but higher skyscrapers dotted the surrounding city. That was no real barrier, however. The watchtower hadn't been as tall as the mountain, but I'd still been able to survey all of my kingdom.
So. Where was he? I scanned the city, my physical eyes darting hither and thither along the horizon as they mirrored my metaphysical gaze.
I saw it then—a cancerous stain in the north part of the city. It lingered like a black ooze, seeping into the living ichor of the Bay. A sickness infecting my territory.
It wasn't the only one. The Empire's influence was a sickly haze over the South, and the ABB was a pestilent fume in the North. Coil's forces dotted downtown like burning embers—I could already see Narya's influence spreading. Valefor was there, too, like a blistering outbreak in the East. I would have to clean them away soon. But there was no mistaking that thick, viscous tar of enforced loyalty and thralldom.
And it all came back to one nexus—one cell at the center of the infection. Follow the sickness back to the source….
"I've found him," I said to Dragon. "He's still here."
But not, I thought, with grim satisfaction,
for much longer.
-x-x-x-
"Heartbreaker's holed up here," Dragon said, pointing down at a map of Brockton Bay. "It's a fairly large house, but the family moved away after Leviathan. They had a housekeeper maintaining the place, and we think Heartbreaker's mastered her and is keeping his full group there for the time being."
"Great," said Piggot as she and Alexandria leaned over the map. "Fantastic work, both of you. Do we know anything about what he's doing?"
"Running away," I said, smirking with teeth that were human once more. I couldn't help but glance back to Dragon.
Back to the masquerade for us. "He knows his attempt on me failed last night, and he's cutting his losses. He's currently trying to get transportation out of the city. He'll be gone by nightfall."
"And with three of our heroes," Armsmaster said with a grimace. "Well, we have to stop him if at all possible."
"Oh, it's possible," I said. "My Ring-Bearers will be immune to Heartbreaker—"
"The parahuman who was at your house was able to affect you," Piggot interrupted. "He was probably one of Heartbreaker's kids, like Regent. And you said you think Shadow Stalker was mastered by Oracle. Why should Heartbreaker himself be any different?"
"Shutdown was
disabling us," I said. "Rings of Power don't protect from that. But Heartbreaker himself would be
subsuming our will. He would be trying to
control us."
"That sounds pretty damn semantic. And isn't that what happened to Shadow Stalker?"
"It's a conceptual difference," I replied, "but it's an important one. I promise you, Director, my Ring-Bearers have nothing to fear from Heartbreaker. We'd have to
let him win—which is exactly what happened to Shadow Stalker. Oracle manipulated her, played on their friendship until she let her guard down." I shook my head. "If we can just get Shadow Stalker back here, capture her, I can break Oracle's control, I know it. And she won't falter again. For now, though, we have to focus on the enemy in front of us."
"
I'll almost certainly be immune to any of Heartbreaker's kids' powers," said Alexandria. "Most powers that manipulate physiology don't work on me. So if all else fails, I can take down whoever's attacking Annatar and the Wards."
Piggot studied me. "A lot is riding on this, Annatar. You've tested your Rings against Valefor, but not Heartbreaker. If you're wrong…."
"I'm not wrong," I said firmly, meeting her gaze. "This is the only way we take out Heartbreaker today. All that remains is for you to decide whether you trust me." I smiled tightly. "So. Do you?"
She gritted her teeth and, after a moment, looked away. "Dammit. Yes."
My smile widened.
I win. "Then let's get moving. I'll get the Wards. Dragon, you get Armsmaster. Alexandria, you find Assault, and Director, if you could set up transportation through the PRT?"
"Fine. My people aren't getting within five blocks of that psychopath."
"Of course," I agreed. "We can take it from there—we just need transportation, and preferably in civilian vehicles. We don't want to tip him off if we can avoid it."
Piggot nodded. "I can do that. Meet in the garage in twenty minutes, suited up."
"Agreed," I said, and turned away.
"And Annatar?" Piggot called after me.
I halted. "Yes?"
"
Master him. Don't kill him if you can avoid it."
I smiled. "Of course. The punishment should suit the crime."
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