Broker-Chapter 183

Sonya stepped through the portal and out into the snow. She took a deep breath and tasted the crispness of the air. Going from three environmentally disparate places in quick succession was an interesting thing and it allowed her to experience the nuance of the air with more clarity than she expected, even with her enhanced senses. New York had thick and pungent air, heavy and tainted with things that cloyed against her senses. The subaquatic base was sterile and flat with no distinctness to the air, unremarkable to the point of being remarkable. This place was sharp and fresh, almost minty as it filled her lungs with a heady chill. The sensation was thrilling in a way.

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“Oh, I like that.”

“Like what? Oh shit it’s cold out here,” Kingshark grumbled, rubbing his arms as he peered around. Blackrazor stepped out through the portal behind him and frowned at his surroundings before schooling his expression into something neutral to hide his discomfort. Sonya put her hands on her hips and turned to admire the scene around them. They were standing on the side of a mountain overlooking many more. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but white snow and dark stone.

“Welcome to the alps,” Sonya said brightly, crossing her arms behind her back and glancing around, “Now where is it…” she murmured, squinting at the mountainside behind her two companions.

“I fail to understand why we are here, are you going to build a false base of operations in this remote place?” Blackrazor asked, turning to look at the sheer wall of stone behind him.

Sonya strode up next to him and ran her fingers over the wall, “Oh the hard part’s already done,” she said and pushed her senses into the wall, reaching out until she felt something like a door mechanism. She concentrated on it and with a flex of her technopathy willed the doors to open. At first nothing happened and Blackrazor gave her a skeptical look that she responded to by sticking out her tongue. He crossed his arms and sighed just as Kingshark joined them.

“Hate this place already,” he said irritably.

The stone beneath them shuddered and the two men looked down before looking up at the wall as it began to shift backwards, a portion of it beginning to slide back. Sonya clapped her hands with delight, “Secret door!” she laughed as the moving slab of rock shifted to the side before disappearing into the wall. Ahead of them a narrow hallway stretched towards another door set deeper into the mountain. Lights slowly came on along the path, providing just enough illumination to guide them inside. “This is the back door, by the way, I hadn’t tried it yet so I figured this would be a good opportunity.”

The two men stood there staring at the open passage with a mixture of awe and confusion. They looked at her after a heartbeat, Kingshark letting out a sigh. “Of course you have a hidden mountain fortress, it’s you. Why was I surprised?”

“Like something out of Steel Kit Seven,” Blackrazor breathed before clearing his throat, “I mean, how on earth did you come upon a place like this, Mistress?”

Sonya shot Kingshark a petulant look before smiling at Blackrazor, “It was actually Queen August’s,” she said and started inside, “Now if you don’t mind let's get out of the cold.”

The two men nodded eagerly and followed her inside. About half-way through the passage the door began to shut behind them. Sonya glanced over her shoulder and shrugged before making for the door at the other end, she gestured and a small panel next to it flashed green before it too slid open. They were immediately buffeted by warm air radiating from within. Kingshark let out a groan of relief as Sonya climbed the three steps up and into the interior of the structure. She glanced around curiously, taking it all in.

They were standing in a positively massive central chamber. The floor beneath their feet seemed to be made of the same stone as the mountain but had been flattened and polished to a marble shine. Everything in the space glittered and sparkled, the furniture, the paintings on the walls, the statues, even the fountain set into the heart of the room where a steady spray of water shot into the air and caught the light from spotlights hanging above it. She made a face and wrinkled her nose, “I’m selling all of this as soon as I can,” she said with disgust.

“You haven’t been in here yet?” Kingshark said, squinting against the overwhelming gleam.

“Nope, I opened a portal to the front door, sent some of my legion in to check it out and make sure there was nothing dangerous inside. As well as gather up valuables,” she frowned at the decor, “Seems like my orders weren’t clear or they didn’t see a reason to grab all this stuff. I checked out the exterior with my Astral Eye before I put it out of my mind.”

“You have been pretty busy,” Kingshark chuckled, “Guess those statue things of yours are gone by now.”

“That's what I was expecting as well,” Sonya said thoughtfully as the sound of stone against stone rang out in the large room. The trio turned their attention towards one of the open spaces on the far side that looked like it led into a hallway or some manner of auxiliary room. Two marble statues stepped out, their stoic gazes falling on Sonya. The figures took the form of women wearing cloth robes that left little to the imagination, their hair bound tightly in rows on their heads with gold wire criss-crossing braids. They strode forward before stopping at a respectful distance and dropping to a knee.

“Didn’t you kill August two months ago?” Kingshark asked.

“Yep.”

“These entities are still here,” Blackrazor said.

“Yep.”

Kingshark looked her way, “Isn’t that a strain on your mana?”

“Nope.”

“What do you mean, ‘nope’?” He asked incredulously. He looked back towards the two statues that hadn’t moved an inch.

Sonya scratched at her neck, “I’m honestly surprised as you are. This ability is kind of a fire-and-forget sort of thing. I don’t think I actually uh… make them. They come from somewhere and I just let them loose,” she tilted her head. Did you notice anything when you made them back then? She asked Ishtar.

Yes, I did. I was aware of this function.

Sonya frowned, Why didn’t you mention it before?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

How would that have helped you at any point up until now? Ishtar asked, I expected you to eventually come back to this place and learn it for yourself. It’s better this way.

Sonya pursed her lips, What else do you know about my abilities that I don’t?

Significantly more, and no, I am not going to just hand it over to you. You need to explore your abilities on your own. We share the same mind, you can figure it out.

Sonya let out a heavy sigh, You can’t baby me this once?

I think I baby you enough, Ishtar teased.

Fine, Sonya whined and rolled her eyes. She glanced at the others who were watching her make silent faces, “What?”

“Talking to Ishtar?” Kingshark asked.

She rubbed her neck and looked away, “It’s a new-ish development, yes.”

“Being able to consult a separate perspective at any time sounds incredibly valuable to me,” Blackrazor said thoughtfully, “I admit to being a bit jealous.”

She gave him a flat look and shook her head before clearing her throat and clapping her hands, “Alright! Anyway!” she said brightly, putting her hands on her hips, “Might as well take advantage of the situation!” she took a few steps back and gestured for her friends to get out of the way before holding up her hands. She let out a breath and let the instincts rise up inside of her. Now that she was more cognizant of what they were and that they did not draw on her mana to exist she could feel those same functions within her instincts like information she should have known all along. “Bring woe to those who slander me, march, agents of the heavens,” she intoned.

She pushed the ability as far as she dared without actually exhausting herself, half a dozen thin lines of light forming in the air behind the two that were on their knees. The lights opened into panels through which more legionnaires stepped out, all dropping to a knee to join their comrades. She let out a shuddering breath and shook her head, she wasn’t drained but it was definitely taxing to do it all at once. “Phew, six more,” she said, “I think I’m going to start summoning more when I can and leaving them here until I reach the limit.”

“Is there a limit?” Kingshark asked, eyeing them cautiously.

She pursed her lips and concentrated on her instincts, “I’d say no more than fifty right now, give or take, it doesn’t feel like a specific number to me.”

I do not know the limit either, though I have sensed it increase gradually.

Good to know that we’re learning some things together.

Sonya…

It’s fine, just a little hurt about it. I’ll hit a dungeon or something and brush up.

That would be good, I can guide you if you’d like while you do that.

I’d appreciate it.

“You have your statue women,” Blackrazor said flatly, “Now what?”

“Well, I was thinking about having Amos help me with this place but now I’ve got a better idea. I want to test the limits of this ability and what these guys are capable of so why not have them remodel it into a dummy lair like you suggested, Barry,” she said with a grin, “I’ve only tried direct and closed-ended orders. Let’s try something a bit more open-ended.”

She took a deep breath and fixed her gaze on the eight statues kneeling before her, “Legion,” she commanded, trying to sound more regal, “I find the garish trappings of excess wealth offensive. Take them down and set them aside, I will put them to better use. Once you have done so, turn this place into a lair suitable for me. ”

The statues rose as one, their cold eyes regarding her for a moment before they turned away, walking to the jewel encrusted decor and tearing it from the walls and uprooting it from the floor. A few left for other rooms and began carrying piles of jewelry back into the room to dump it at her feet. She winced as one of them ripped a whole portion of wall out as it removed a bust attached to the wall. What happened next made all three of them freeze in place. The legionnaire placed a hand over the broken portion of wall and the dark stone turned into white marble before filling in the hole. It emotionlessly turned away from the patch of marble before carrying the bust to the growing pile.

Sonya glanced at the others, “How about we leave them to it? I’ll send one of Charon’s people to pick up the loot and sell it.”

“Yeah, no offense, those things are creepy and I’m literally the horror guy,” Kingshark said flatly.

“Agreed, though this has given me much to think about,” Blackrazor said thoughtfully.

Sonya nodded and made a casual gesture, creating a portal back to the underwater base that they quickly went through.

–

Adam was not new to the life of a criminal. He’d been bouncing between a solitary lifestyle and working with groups since he was in middle-school. Gangs were not forever as much as the leaders of such groups insisted they were and more often than not they were broken up either by internal problems or police intervention. Only the big gangs ever ended up becoming something that lasted. After the flash that changed, even the big gangs were starting to tear themselves apart as low-ranking members overpowered those above them and individuals in stagnant leadership positions pushed higher.

The idea that any criminal group could possibly stay consistent for any period of time was laughable to Adam. What was even more laughable was the idea that the higher-ups in such a group would show any sort of respect towards the lowest ranking members. It came as a bit of a surprise, then, that when the gang he had joined in Seattle was absorbed into a new light-touched group that the leadership was insistent on creating better conditions for him and the others. Even so, he was still at the bottom of the barrel.

Being a nobody wasn’t a big deal, though, it kept him out of the big fights. He’d heard about Vegas and had seen heroes crack down on his friends when they pushed their luck too hard. Fighting some superhero was absolutely not on his to-do list. If he had his way, he’d keep his head low and get paid while he was doing it, even if that meant becoming a janitor. He wasn’t entirely sure if the offhanded remark he’d made along the same lines had landed him where he was or if he was just unlucky. Something had caught the attention of the local kingpin, Dupe, which was how he ended up where he was.

It was also how he learned something he really wished he hadn’t. He had been working on the administrative level of the underwater complex run by the supervillain Kingshark, cleaning the floors and staying out of everyone’s way. He’d never seen Kingshark in person except from a distance but from what he did know the guy was pretty cool with his men and extremely protective. That made him proud to do what he was doing. He was paid really well and the living spaces were comfortable for the most part, not that he could spend the money where he was. That had been on his mind as he opened the door to one of the rooms that the others told him belonged to Kingshark’s boss.

No one talked about who this person was though he had a pretty good guess. The contract he had signed with the non-disclosure agreement had included Ishtar’s name on it. It wasn’t a huge leap of logic. That piece of information had been floating in the back of his mind as he laid eyes on the woman standing in the room with an asian-looking guy who practically radiated death. Anyone who hadn’t been living under a rock would have recognized her immediately. The Voice of the Hero Movement, Sonya Chernovna.

What was even crazier, she knew his name. Just plucked it out of the air before sending him off to go find Kingshark. That had been equally awkward, properly meeting the supervillain for the first time. All that had ended with Adam wandering down one of the deep-sea base’s many halls in a daze, not sure what to make of the revelation when he heard a familiar voice around the bend in the hall ahead of him.

“Well of course, silly! How else are you supposed to get past that stage?” Sonya laughed, walking around the corner with Kingshark and the scary dude in tow. She came to a stop and met his gaze with an easy smile, “Look who it is!” she said brightly and he felt his feet root to the floor as three supervillains fixed their gazes on him. “Adam! I liked your energy earlier today. Have you considered becoming light-touched?”

He blinked, “Huh?”