Broker

Chapter 141

Lily hustled down the hall, she’d been reminded multiple times not to use her physical abilities inside the common building. She cursed a little under her breath, Damn it, if Luke hadn’t put his storage room half-way across the building this wouldn’t have taken so long! She grouched, rounding the corner into the main common area before darting to the left towards the planetary diorama and the stairs leading down. She took two steps at a time, careful not to drop her cargo, before landing and racing past the gym. Just two doors down from the gym where she’d awakened her full abilities for the first time was a viewing room. She pushed through the door and into the room where nearly everyone at the camp had gathered in the small theater. 

She slid to a stop as a few people poked their heads up and held up their hands. She dug into the bag under her arm and started tossing things quickly at them before turning to Miss Chernovna who gratefully took a can and popped it open, taking a sip as she stared at the screen. All done, Lily hopped over the rear seat and landed between Snow and Alex.

“What I miss?” She asked breathlessly, handing her a can of cola and passing the bag to Alex who dug through.

Snow glanced at her with wide eyes and cracked open her can and shook her head, “Nothing yet, they’re still looking around the building.”

“What about those statue things?” She asked, “Any more show up?”

Snow shook her head and Lily looked up at the screen. The reporter was sitting at a table with footage of the gallery building that had been attacked to his right. It was huge on the screen and one could see the smoke billowing from the building as well as from the cop cars that had been crushed and cut in half by the statues. Fortunately it looked like the bodies had been cleared away. Her gut twisted and she clenched her fists as the reporter raised his finger to his ear and nodded. “We’ve just received a report from the field that the first responding hero, First Wind, interacted briefly with one of the walking statues,” The reporter said, “According to First Wind, they are in some way connected to the elusive Supervillain Ishtar.”

A few of the students sat up, she spotted Marc literally get to his feet near the front of the room. The reporter straightened himself up and frowned at the screen. 

“We would like to remind our viewers that while the Pandora Committee has declared the individual calling themselves Ishtar as the highest priority villain in the world, there is very little evidence or information available concerning this person’s existence and that the prevailing theory is that ‘Ishtar’ is-” The screen cut out and voices rose in the room for a moment. Axel held up his hands and reached for the remote in his pocket just as the screen started to hiss and crackle with static. 

“What the hell?” Lily murmured, leaning forward.

The static cleared and a symbol appeared on the screen. It was a stylized eye made to look like it was made of digitized lines and code. It glowed pink, flashing in and out for a few heartbeats as everyone went very quiet. Lily felt a small hand grab hers and she squeezed it as the pulsing increased. It stopped and everyone held their breath until a cruel voice came out of the speakers around them. It rasped and hissed, popping and crackling. It sounded like a knife being drawn down across a bloody hunk of ice, slick and terrible. 

“I am Ishtar.”

The image blurred and the singular eye disappeared for a moment before a figure came into view. A pair of glowing eyes blazed on a dark unfeeling helmet. The figure was standing in a dark room that looked vaguely like the inside of a vault, a huge door behind them. Their-no-her arms were behind her back. Her entire body was covered in light armor that seamlessly fit together to look vaguely like a jumpsuit. She had long white hair that billowed around her in an unseen wind. She stood in front of the camera for several seconds before speaking.

“Today, I eliminated Queen August,” She began and the room grew even tenser, Snow squeezed hard against Lily’s hand. Lily tried to tear her eyes away but she just couldn’t. Ishtar waved her hand as if dismissing something unimportant, “Her actions were aimless, pointless, and wasteful. She ran about, murdering people for the sole purpose of hoarding jewels for her own fetishistic obsessions. Feral.” Ishtar hissed and tilted her head towards the camera.

“Let me be clear, August was unworthy of the title of Supervilllain. She had no higher purpose. No ultimate design. No code. No compunctions. She killed and wrought havoc indiscriminately. So, like An Set before her, she is dead,” Ishtar continued, “I hold the villains of this world to a higher standard. If you are bad for business, I will excise you like the cancer you are,” She clenched her fist in front of her, “I am the final authority amongst the Villains of this world. I have judged August and found her wanting.”

She crossed her arms behind her back and stood taller, “Looks like I did your job for you this time, heroes,” She rasped out a laugh before tilting her head, “What are you going to do about it?” She scoffed and turned away, walking offscreen as the image began to blur and crackle. Everyone in the room gasped, Lily tensed and got to her feet, Snow held her hands over her mouth. Against the door, blocked initially by Ishtar’s body, was a golden figure pressed against the door with eyes wide in abject terror. A woman that struck a horrible resemblance to the face on the wanted posters.

The feed cut.

The reporter who had just been about to dismiss Ishtar’s very existence looked pale as he collected himself. He cleared his throat, “W-we-we’ll be right back.” He said and the screen cut to a commercial.

No one spoke for a while, Marc turned away from the screen and marched out of the room, his fists clenched, Ollie got to his feet and hurried after him. Lily glanced up at the instructors. Sonya had her arms crossed and frown on her face. Axel was rubbing the bridge of his nose. Black Lotus looked thoughtful, her eyes narrowed at the screen. “I heard a rumor,” Alex said, “That Ishtar kidnapped An Set during the battle of Vegas. Helped him escape.”

“Wanted to punish him herself,” John said mutely, “Terrible.”

“That’s what we’re up against,” Greg breathed, “That’s the final boss?”

Lily frowned as she felt the mood in the room shift. She saw Sonya turning towards everyone, about to speak, but she couldn’t help herself. She got to her feet; “She’s trying to rattle us!” Lily barked before pointing at the screen, “That? That was a challenge! She just told us she did our jobs for us!” She shouted, “Don’t be scared! Be angry!” She bellowed, “We’re heroes! It’s our job to keep this world safe! It’s our job to help others in need! It’s our job! Not hers! She just decides who lives and dies? Bullshit! We have courts and judges! We have rules!”

She clenched her fists, “We fight for those who can’t! She said it herself, she only dealt with August because she was ‘bad for business’ that she didn’t meet her standards as a villain,” She scoffed, “All she’s saying is that she has no problem with the villains out there that meet her standards, that those who live up to her expectations can go around committing crimes with their powers without reproach in her eyes.”

She whirled on Black Lotus, “Teacher, Can she be beaten?” She asked flatly.

Black Lotus returned her stare with a smile, “There are no such things as gods, just powerful people. With enough of us working together, anyone can be beaten.”

Lily reached down and gave Snow’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, “That’s all I need to hear. I’m getting back to training. Got a final to pass,” She turned to the others, “What are you gonna do?”

Alex hopped to his feet and punched his palm with a wild grin, “I got anti-monster training in a half hour,” He said and hopped over his seat, “Later!”

The others quickly rose as well, their eyes burning, fists clenched, jaws set. None of them were going to take this laying down.

–

Ishtar stepped through the portal and into the throne room, pleased with herself. She glanced up at the Spice King who sat on his throne looking down at her thoughtfully for a moment before breaking into a wide smile, “You certainly took the heat off of me,” He laughed, slapping his hand on the armrest. He got to his feet and marched down the steps, “What a performance!” He said delightedly. He spread his arms wide and she actually returned the offer of an embrace this time, giving him a short hug before stepping back a little.

“I meant everything I said,” She said plainly.

He cleared his throat, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Make sure you do,” She said and rest her hand on her hip, looking around the room, “Everyone else go off to rest?”

He nodded, “Yes, today was an exciting day. I understand my son distinguished himself?”

“He did,” She said, “Guru’s ability was fascinating but has very narrow applications currently, he needs to develop it more. I’m sure it will be very powerful in the future,” She pointed out, “Broadside was quite impressive and she did a good job protecting your son,” He tapped the side of her helmet, “I’d keep her on retainer as a bodyguard for the boy.”

“Oho!” He rubbed his chin, “An excellent thought! I’ll have to bring it up to them. And Grave?”

“Extremely effective against opponents of his tier but next to useless against higher-tier opponents. A solid hitman if nothing else,” She said with a breath, “Shame about Cross, but his determination outweighed his will to live. Nothing to be done about that.”

Erebus nodded, “Understood, now, what happened with August’s remains?” He asked but she held up a hand to forestall him.

“Before that,” She said and looked him up and down, “How do you feel?”

He raised his eyebrows and cracked a wild grin, “Incredible,” He said and reached into his coat, pulling out a business card. He held it up and with a moments concentration it began to turn into gold. He handed it to her and she took it, turning it over between her fingers, “It worked just as you said it would. Marvelous. I may request your services for another if possible,” He said.

She looked up at him from the card, “And what will you pay me with?” She asked, “Don’t get greedy, Erebus. Two is more than most in this world have and both of yours are Mythic.”

He pouted a little but nodded, “Very well, I suppose I can’t argue those points,” He said before clearing his throat, “Now! I have taken the liberty of delivering most of the promised gifts to your room. “However, I wanted to give you the grand prize in person. Consider me the kind of person who appreciates presentation, like yourself.”

She barked out a laugh, “Every good supervillain is a showman. Wonderful!” She said with a clap of her hands and floated back up into the air, drifting towards the center of the room as Erebus gestured towards one of his attendants in the corner of the large space. The attendant quickly bowed and turned to go through a door. She relaxed, stretching her arms and resisting the urge to yawn. It’s the first time I have ever felt tired. How interesting.

She drifted back down to the ground as several attendants strode out of the door, parting before forming up around a large audacious gilded chest. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her legs as she hung a few feet off the ground, watching the short procession as it made its way to the base of the throne. There, they held it up for Erebus to approach and open the chest. She tilted her head, trying to take a peek but couldn’t see past his chest. Eager, she alighted on the ground, “The Epic dungeon reward, I take it?”

He nodded as he turned around, “Quite so. My sons were baffled by it,” He said and approached her, cupping whatever it was gently in his hands underneath a silk cloth. He stopped in front of her and held it out, pulling way the cloth. She narrowed her eyes behind her helmet in confusion. It was an egg. Just about twice the size of a chicken egg. It had a mute gray coloring to it and the faint sign of texturing. It looked as if it was made of stone. Her eyes narrowed even more and she focused on it with her senses.

Warm? Internal temperature? She froze and looked up at him, “There’s something alive in there!” She exhaled. She had no memory from the past timeline of such a thing ever existing. She reached out and took it up in her hands after a nod from the man. It was ludicrously heavy, twenty pounds, thirty? Dense. She thought and ran her thumb over the surface. Something inside shuddered and twisted before settling back down again, She glanced up at him, “It reacted to my touch.”

“Yes,” He said with a nod, “It came inside of the silk wrapping and when my boys touched it with their bare skin they felt a bit of their mana drain off. I believe it might depend on mana to grow and mature. I’ve instructed no one to make skin contact with it since then.”

She looked up at him and back down at it again, “Fascinating!” She exclaimed, turning it over between her gloved palms, “May I have the cloth?” She asked and he obliged her. She took it and threw it over the egg in her hand before retracting a bit of her armor so that it touched her skin. Immediately she felt an intense sense of drag going through her body as whatever it was inside the egg feasted on her power. She closed her armor and took a quick breath, “Incredible.”

“If I may ask,” Erebus said, “If it ever hatches, please let me know. I would love to see what is inside.”

She returned his look with a nod, “Yes, I’ll make sure to introduce you,” She said, carefully folding the cloth over the egg. She didn’t dare digitize it and store it, who knows what could happen. Instead, she brought her hand up to her heart, “With this our deal is complete besides the ongoing contractual responsibilities.”

He grinned, “It has been a pleasure doing business with you, Queen of Villains.”

“I can most certainly say the same, Spice King. Good luck on your conquest,” She said and created a portal before stepping back through it.

She huffed out a breath as she appeared in the room, taking off her helmet and setting the egg down on a counter for a moment. She glanced up and spotted Mephisto relaxing on one of the beds, flipping through his phone. He looked over and sat up, grinning at her, “All done?”

“All done,” Ishtar said and stepped towards him, “You know this has been the longest-” Numbness washed over her face for a moment, it spread down her body and towards her feet. She staggered and dropped to a knee, gasping for breath as the sensation faded. Mephisto was at her side in an instant. She felt dizzy, her head hurt but it was also strangely… quiet. She blinked and looked up at Mephisto, “Mirror! Now!” She barked.

Mephisto hopped to his feet and ran over to the vanity where he snatched up a powder clip, opening it and handing it to her. She grabbed it and looked down at her reflection. Sonya. She saw her own face but the eyes were closed in a light sleep. Sonya! She thought more fiercely. The reflection stirred and its eyes fluttered open. Sonya looked at her in confusion. I’ve been in control too long. She thought and quickly relinquished control. 

Sonya felt herself hit the ground and blinked a few times in a daze. She sat up abruptly and looked up at a very worried looking Mephisto. “Are you okay?”

She rubbed her neck and shook off the odd sleepiness that had come over her, “Yeah, I’m fine,” She exhaled, “I think I need a nap though.”