Broker

Side-Story: House of Wonders III

Just like the entrance to the hallway, the stairwell was hidden in plain sight by the walls simulating the outside. It would have been much easier to see if they had been deactivated, but Ollie figured that this was kind of the point. Navigating this place required an understanding of it. More importantly, most of what he had already seen in the living room alone was clearly experimental. He considered his thoughts on Sonya Chernovna’s inner circle, the people working with and around her. She was very close with her lead scientist so it would be no surprise to him if she let Dr. Carter turn her home into a playground.

He glanced at the hallway that the other four had gone through, The stuff above ground is probably mundane if not a little more advanced than what we’re used to. He looked down the stairs. The interesting stuff is down here, he thought with a small smile.

A movement nearby caught his attention and pulled him out of his thoughts. He blinked and looked up into the piercing blue eyes of Cassiopea Hanks. The blonde girl was looking at him with a bit of mild concern, her head tilted a bit to the left as she crossed her arms. It wasn’t a judgy look, more like she was uncomfortable. “You um…” She started and cleared her throat before shaking her head, she turned away and went down the stairs, “...just finish pondering whatever and lets go,” She said hastily.

He blinked and watched her descend, I think… she was about to say something rude, He glanced back at the couch where Lily and Snow were relaxing. Lily clearly had no interest in sneaking through the place now that she’d found a place to lay her head and Snow was attached to her at the hip. His lips thinned, Lily said that Cassiopeia was trying to open up. Maybe she’s also trying to be more careful with her words too. He blinked, Oh, she was going to call me out about standing there quietly and grinning to myself.

He felt a bit of heat rise to his ears, Oh that’s embarrassing. He thought and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he started down the stairs. He resisted the urge to get lost in thought again, taking a deep breath and clearing his mind like Madame Rouge had taught him. Sometimes an empty head was good for seeing things objectively. Get rid of preconceptions, biases, everything else, just breathe and see things for what they are. He thought as he exhaled only to stop when he nearly ran into Cassiopeia’s back.

“Oh! Sorry!” He gasped, taking a step back before freezing in place. “Oh.”

Cass didn’t look back at him, “Yeah, my thoughts too,” She murmured as they looked into the large square room, about the same size as the room above. Instead of pretty walls made of illuminated screens, the walls were made of an off-white metal that gleamed a bit against the very simple lights that lined the ceiling. The metallic walls were affixed with numerous weapons, mostly knives, held within protective glass casings. There were three exits leading out of the room, each of them had doors made of the same metal of the walls and looked like they were designed to open into the walls rather than swing. “This is where she trains.”

“I knew she took it seriously but…” Ollie trailed off as he stepped into the room. He looked down at his feet, “The floor feels strange,” He said.

Cass stepped onto it with him before frowning as well, “I don’t- wait,” She tilted her head, “It feels solid but there’s something wrong.”

He tapped his foot against the floor and it sounded like a normal floor. He glanced at Cass and then raised his foot high before bringing it down hard, stomping on the floor. Immediately the floor gave way like a fluid, cushioning the impact. He gasped and pulled his foot out of the small impression he had made and it simply resumed its original shape, “What the heck is this stuff?” He gasped, looking at Cass who shook her head. She stomped her foot as well and the same thing happened, she grinned.

“Could you imagine sparring in here?” She said eagerly, “You wouldn’t even feel the falls.”

“The walls are still made of metal,” Ollie pointed out, walking over to one of them only to feel himself run into something that he couldn’t see that stuck out a few inches from the wall. He blinked and pushed against it and it again felt solid like the floor, a lot like the floor. He pulled his fist back and punched the wall and it gave way a little. “The walls are coated in it too!” He gasped, “It’s just transparent!” He paused and looked down at the floor, “No, the floor is dyed.”

“Knives are just for decoration then,” Cass murmured thoughtfully and sauntered past him. She glanced over her shoulder, “Well, there’s nothing else in here, coming?”

They approached the door to the left of the entrance and after a moment it slid open of its own accord, revealing a dark room. They glanced at one another before the lights in the room began to come on of their own accord. Inside was a spacious office. Ollie froze as he stepped inside, taking it all in. I think I’m underestimating how serious this woman is, just a bit. Ollie thought. 

The room was circular with a desk in the dead center. The desk was flat and spartan and made of the same reinforced white material as the walls. There was nothing on the desk but a small glass dome containing a mana crystal that looked like it had exploded from the inside while somehow staying whole. He wanted to walk over and check it out, but he had other concerns. The walls were screens like the room above, but they weren’t showing generic world news and sports. There were feeds from across the planet monitoring villain reports, hero progress, there was a live feed from Dharan, numerous financial trackers, a whole portion of the wall was dedicated to a dozen different news sources. Last but not least there was a map of the world showing the current carter radar readings including dungeon locations.

“She’s keeping an eye on the entire globe,” He breathed, “She said she was dedicated to helping humanity and heroes but this is… incredible.” 

“I know, right?” Cass said happily, walking further in and turning around on her heel, “This is just… breathtaking,” He swallowed a bit at her enthusiasm before walking towards the desk, going to check out the odd-looking crystal. Cass glanced his way, “Don’t touch anything. This place is special.”

He pulled his hand away from the object and nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning forward to look at it. It looks like lattices, little hairline pathways throughout the crystal. They’re all connecting. What is this thing? He wondered.

He pulled out a small notebook and wrote a few things down about the object before shoving it back in his pocket and glancing over at Cass again. She was watching one of the screens. He looked past her and saw the scowl of Liberty. The blonde woman was in a full suit of armor and shouting something from a podium. There were dozens of people wearing mismatched clothing beneath her, all raising their fists. He saw Cass’ shoulders tense, the girls body shaking a little bit. This isn’t good for her, he thought and hurried over. He tried to get her attention but her eyes were fixed on the screen. “Cassiopeia?” He called, “Um! We should-” Nothing. Her eyes were glazed over with a mixture of hate and terror. He sighed, Damn it. He thought and grabbed her by her hand and started to pull.

A moment later they were back in the common area. It was only then that Cass jerked and looked down at him. He was huffing, hard, resting his hands on his knees, “You are so strong,” He wheezed, “Goodness!” He panted, glancing up at her. He paused, his eyes going a little wide. She had so many threads coming out of her, some of them thicker than others. There was a black thread that went off into the distance and was as thick as a bridge cable. There was another that looked like it was made of silver. He’d seen one like it before. Coming out of Sonya Chernovna. What-

Cass immediately grabbed him by the arms, “Are you okay?” She gasped, “I didn’t hurt you did I?” She asked, panicked, looking him over. “I blacked out and you were- are you- did I?”

He held up his hands, pulling out of her grip and forcibly canceling his power. Now was not the time to be thinking about karmic threads. He waved her hands away, “I’m fine! I’m fine! See? No injuries, just a little worn out from dragging you out of the room,” He laughed, “I’m okay, miss Cassiopeia. I was just a little worried because of what you saw, it looked like it affected you quite a bit.”

She stared at him, confused, then blinked a few times and cleared her throat. She looked away and pulled back her hair, crossing her arms. “You guys are too nice, you know that? First Lily, now you. There's a thing called self preservation, you know?” She huffed before looking down at her feet, “Thank you for doing that.”

He scratched the back of his head, “From what I’ve learned, a good hero has a bit of a hard time with the whole survival instinct thing,” He pointed out before scratching his nose, “You’re welcome.”

She turned back to say something when abruptly the floor began to liquefy beneath their feet. They looked down, wide eyed, “What the-” Just as the words came out the floor re-solidified, encasing their feet in hard material. “Oh no.”

A faint hum caught his ears and he looked up to see a sphere floating over their heads, a red light flashing on one side. “And you two are the last, shouldn’t have sit still,” Sonya’s sing-song voice called down to them, “Time’s up, time to pay the piper, you little sneaks!”