Summus Proelium

I was honestly pretty certain that if Cup had pointed that gun at anyone else in the room, we all would have been ready for it. We were poised to jump in, prepared to stop her by any means necessary. But because she pointed it at the last possible person we ever would have expected, it took all of us by surprise. No one knew what to do in that instant. And by the time we actually processed that she really was pointing the gun at her own brother, it was over. The man’s body had slumped over, lifeless against the ground. His sightless eyes seemed to stare in continued shock, as the very last thing he had seen was the only person he actually cared about preparing to kill him.

Then the shock had passed, and the girl, who was still standing there with the gun extended, was hit from six different attacks. A chair was sent flying at her from Carousel, two of the security guards shot her with their actual guns, Murphy/Hobbes tried to grab her with the tether-line from her own rifle, and both Poise and Style shot her with guns they had acquired from somewhere. Six attacks, and none actually accomplished anything. They bounced off an energy shield, which flickered into view around the girl under the assault before fading away again. But it was still there.

“Oh please,” Cup casually retorted while lowering the gun. “As if I’d let you all take me out in my moment of victory. Can’t you just let me savor this for a second? You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for a way to get out from under his thumb so I could strike out on my own, seriously. You think you had it bad, try being the one who had to fuck him and pretend you enjoyed it for years. No, really, maybe I could build a time machine and we could all swap places a time or two so you know what it’s like.”

“If there’s an unsubscribe from this diatribe,” Carousel put in a bit weakly, already pointedly putting herself directly in front of the spot where Wren and Qwerty were still crouched together, “I’d like to click, before I get sick.”

“What she said,” the Syndicate who was physical at the moment agreed. He held some sort of taser baton similar to what I’d seen Way use before. “Why the hell would you--that was--he was your--why?” He might’ve found his voice (which was more than I could say), but he was still staggered and baffled by this whole situation.

“Yeah, why the fuck would you do that?!” That was one of the doctors, of all people. He had rushed forward at the sound of the gunshot, his training apparently overriding common sense, only to stop when he saw that it was clearly too late. “You--you killed your own brother. He was--why?”

Visibly rolling her eyes, the blonde woman shot all of us a disbelieving look. “He was the bad guy, wasn’t he? Don’t tell me you’re not all glad he’s gone. Look at all the evil stuff he did! He was a monster and you know it. You’re all happy he’s dead, you’re just disappointed that you didn’t get to be the one who did it.”

“You’re a monster too!” Alloy was the one who blurted that, pointing with a shaking hand. “You--you were right there with him the whole time! You did everything he did, he was your--you two were--you’re just like him!”

Cup, however, sent her a small smile. “Only because he made me. I was what he turned me into. And I was… scared.” Her tone abruptly and unexpectedly shifted to that of a terrified little girl on the verge of tears. “I… had to do everything he said. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t have a choice. He made me do what he wanted. He hurt me, I didn’t want to. All those people, all those innocent, adorable puppies and children and-- you know, all that.” Just as suddenly, her tone had completely shifted once more, back to the almost bored tone. “And now he’s gone, so he can’t hurt me anymore. Or anyone. Who wants to have a party? Oh wait, I almost forgot. Ahem.” Raising her hand, she showed us the watch she was wearing, before dramatically pressing a button on it. All of us collectively flinched, and I even moved to jump in front of Raindrop reflexively. But before I could move, before any of us could do anything, she finished pressing that button and… nothing happened.

At least, nothing we could see. But within just a few seconds, while Cup was lowering her hands, the door burst open and Caishen came rushing in, accompanied by several armed Towers security guards, a couple SWAT cops, and Rubi in her simple ski mask.

“Down!” Caishen demanded at the first sight of Cup standing there. Her hand rose, some sort of blade held there and ready to throw. “Get down on the--”

“I surrender.” With those two simple words, Cup dropped the gun, smiled, and turned to face the Ten Towers leader while going down to her knees with her hands interlocked behind her head. “But tell me--I mean tell them how you got past all those nasty, nasty boys all of a sudden.”

“They fell down,” Rubi replied, her eyes clearly darting toward Murphy and Roald before she turned back again. “They all just fell down.”

Still smiling, or rather, smirking, Cup nodded and used one finger to point at her watch. “Electric shock right into the brain, through their communication earpieces. So important to stay in contact, you know. Knocks them right out so you can parade them in front of the cameras and straight to jail. The Scions are over. You’re welcome.”

“We’re welcome?” Caishen demanded, already taking a couple steps forward. That brought her close enough to see the body laying behind Cup, and she stopped short, a strangled curse escaping her.

“Oh yeah, you’re welcome for that too,” the kneeling blonde psychopath added with that same careless smirk. “I’m a real hero, I am.

“Do you think they’ll give me a medal?”

********

“It’s a trick, right?” Rubi immediately put in a few minutes later as she, Caishen, Wobble, and I stood to one side. Cup had been searched, disarmed of anything that they could find, then secured with Stay-Down cuffs and a gag, all of which she willingly accepted. No, not just willingly. She accepted them with an air of amusement. Now she was sitting on the floor surrounded by armed cops and the rest of our groups, while other authorities made certain the building was secure and checked over the medical people. Those same doctors and nurses were about to be relieved by the next shift, who were being checked over and cleared right at that moment so they could come up to check on the thankfully still-safe patients and let those who had been through all this go home.

In all, it could have been so much worse. But still, we had no idea what other traps and tricks the Scions might have in store, so the building was being scoured from top to bottom. And, of course, there was the big thing right here that was absolutely going to cause a huge incident as soon as word got out. Pencil’s body… and his killer.

Rubi shot a glance that way before continuing. “He’s not really dead. They fooled everyone or something. It’s a fake body, or, or…”

“It’s really him,” I put in. “Trust me, I just… I fought him, I secured him and dragged him up here myself. He didn’t move from that spot. And when she came in, when he saw her point the gun at him, he didn’t--” I swallowed hard. “Just trust me, it’s really him.”

“Instead of rescuing her brother, she shot him in the head?” Rubi blurted that in a low hiss.

My head shook. “Not just him. The dead Scions out in the hall when we first made it in here, she killed them too, before they could get to the VIP area. Pencil found them like that just before he heard us show up. But she was the one who killed them.”

“Why the hell would she do that? I don't get it. What's her game?”

“Immunity,” Caishen replied in a flat, humorous voice. “She's claiming that she was coerced into everything she did by her brother. She says he controlled her, made her act that way and that he constantly assaulted her for years. She says she was terrified of him and what he was capable of. According to her, she set up this elaborate scenario, even pretended to be infected by the Sleeptalk, specifically to expose him and wear him down so he could be stopped. And that little trick she pulled with knocking out all the Scions who were still on their feet so we could get in here, that extended through their Touched too. Most of them, anyway. As far as we can tell, the only one still out there somewhere is Shovel, the TONI dog. She claims she has no idea where he is. Either way, she says everything she did was under duress.”

“That’s completely absurd!” I hissed under my breath, not wanting to draw too much attention. More than we already had, anyway. “There's no way she wasn't fully in on all of that stuff. She's lying her ass off right now. She's making all that up.”

Caishen nodded once. “She is. But the issue isn’t whether or not we believe her. It’s about whether it's a story she can sell to any potential jury. Everyone knows Pencil was the leader. He was the worst one. Like it or not, she killed him, and by the law, she was legally allowed to. Anyone would have been. He was fair game.”

“So is she,” Wobble pointed out a bit darkly. “She has the same legal order he did. You know, because she did all the same horrible things.”

“Yes, she did,” Caishen agreed. “And yet, there are plenty of people who will believe she was forced into it and that this situation was her desperate attempt to get out. She's a pretty young woman, a very pretty young white girl with blonde hair. Do you really think if she bats those eyes and cries a little at a jury that she can't get enough to at least avoid a conviction? She’ll have reasonable doubt in a second. Especially when her lawyer brings up that she helped stop the rest of the gang. We’ll take her in, obviously. But I’m telling you right now, she’s set this escape hatch up well. Not to convince us. That was never the point. But all she has to do is convince a jury she wasn’t responsible for everything she did, or the DA that trying to convict her is a waste of time. My guess is they’ll offer her a sweetheart deal and keep her in protective custody for the rest of her life. Or, you know, until she gets bored and escapes.”

“And kills someone else,” I put in. “Wait, who am I kidding? She’ll kill a lot of people.”

Wobble sounded as angry as I felt. “You’re talking about her cooling her heels in some luxury hotel or something with a couple guards watching over her instead of going to Breakwater where she belongs.”

Caishen gave him a look. “Can you imagine a prosecutor trying to sell that to the jury? Telling them to send this poor, beautiful little girl who just fought tooth and nail to escape literal years of incestuous abuse from her psychotic brother to an island full of more psychopaths to abuse her? There isn’t a lawyer in this entire goddamn world who would willingly volunteer for that case. Her own counsel would have a field day with it.”

“What about--there’s truth-compelling powers out there, aren’t there?” Rubi put in. “I know there’s at least a couple working in the justice system. This seems like a good chance to bring them to Detroit, even if we have to wait until the lockdown is over. They can get to the bottom of this.”

“Sure,” Caishen agreed. “But she knows those people exist too. She would’ve taken them into account before coming up with this. I wouldn’t count on it working that easily, not with her being Tech-Touched herself. She could’ve done something to prepare for being forced to tell the truth.”

“This is--god damn it,” I found myself muttering, making all three of them look at me. Which seemed to snap Caishen out of her focus on Cup. Or Amanda, whatever. Either way, she gestured to me. “You need to have a doctor look at that shoulder. I saw what happened, it looked pretty deep.”

“Don’t worry,” Paige immediately put in while stepping beside me, “One of the doctors here put a med-badge on it. And I’ve got training with that sort of thing. We’ll take care of him.” Her voice hardened a bit. “And make sure he doesn’t get into any more fights for a good long while. Even if we have to lock him in a closet.”

I kind of wanted to object to that whole thing, but I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to after everything that happened. Still, I managed at least a slightly weak, “Hey.”

“Hm.” Caishen looked at me, then gestured. “Come here for a minute, would you? I think we need to have a conversation before you leave. It’ll be a short one, I promise.”

Paige gave me a look that clearly said she was ready and willing to punch the Ten Towers leader if I wanted her to so I could get out of there sooner, but I shook my head at her and stepped over to the corner out of everyone’s way before turning to the woman. “Please don’t tell me you have another supervillain who needs my foot in his ass.” I tried to make it sound glib, but she probably heard the exhaustion in my voice.

For a moment, Caishen didn’t say anything. She just stared down at me, clearly trying to find the right words. “You… God, you are a remarkable boy, Paintball. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing what you’ve done is. Pencil. You stopped Pencil.”

“I think that was more Cup, apparently,” I pointed out flatly. “Since it was all her plan, and we just played right into it to give her everything she wanted from the start.”

“Hey, stop that.” Caishen pointed at me. “Whether she intended this or not, that doesn’t make Pencil any less of a threat. Whatever she did before or after, you’re the one who fought him and beat him. I saw enough of the live stream they put out, I know what you--you beat him, Paintball. You stopped him from being a threat. Even if she hadn’t killed him, you had him in custody. You secured him and made sure he wouldn’t be out on the streets hurting or killing anyone else. Don’t let her take that away from you.”

Swallowing, I looked down for a moment before raising my gaze to meet hers. “To be honest, I mostly just want to lay down for awhile. It hasn’t sunk in yet, I guess.”

“Understandable, you’ve been through a lot.” With that, Caishen seemed to consider her next words carefully. “I’m not exaggerating when I say this is going to change a lot. Maybe everything. People saw you fight Pencil. They saw what you did, how you beat him. That video is already making the rounds. It’s going to make you even more famous than you already were. And infamous. It’ll make you as much of a target as it does an inspiration. The right people will love you and the wrong people will hate you. I’ve said it before, but I mean it now more than ever. Be careful out there. Watch your back, call for help when you need it. Keep your friends, your team, aware of where you are when you’re out in costume, and protect your identity. There’s going to be bad people gunning for you to make a name for themselves, Paintball. You’re the big man on campus now. Or at least one of them. People who want to prove they’re tough and dangerous are going to target you. So like I said, watch yourself and don’t make it easy for them, okay?”

She had a point, obviously. I didn’t even want to think about it, especially not right now, but yeah. People were going to be paying even more attention to me. To say nothing of how the next conversation with the Ministry was gonna go. Something told me that was absolutely going to be a big one, whether it came before or after my parents were back to normal. Which, naturally, was a thought that reminded me of just how close they were right now. But I stopped myself from even glancing toward their room and kept my focus on the woman in front of me. “I’ll be careful,” I promised. “We all will.”

“Good.” I could tell she was smiling then, as she gently took both of my hands. “But listen to something else. I meant what I said before. You are amazing. You did an incredible thing. No matter what Cup did with it later, or what she might have planned, or how any of that goes, don’t let that get lost in the noise. You stopped Pencil, and you deserve every accolade that comes with that. Including the reward. Which they will absolutely not give to that psychopath over there, regardless of any other deals she makes. You stopped him, you’ll get the reward. And--well, a lot of questions too. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to tell your story, everything that happened, a few more times. But I’ll try to cut down on that as much as possible, and we’ll wait. Go and get some sleep, come to terms with what happened, and decompress with your team. I’ll give you a call sometime tomo--no, in two days. I want you to take all of tomorrow off, you hear me? I promise you, I promise, if I hear one word about Paintball being out fighting tomorrow, I will send a team to drag you in so I can toss you in a cell until you sleep for twelve hours. You rest tomorrow and I’ll call you the next day about coming in for a full debriefing. And when I say tomorrow, I mean all of the rest of today and the next day. It’s just after four am on Saturday right now. You are off for the rest of the weekend and I will call to make arrangements with you on Monday. Is that understood?”

My head bobbed before I glanced toward the secured Cup and the body of her brother, which had been covered with a blanket. “What about her?”

“Oh, we’ll deal with her ourselves, don’t you worry about it,” the woman assured me.

“The person I feel sorry for is whatever prosecutor has to sit and listen to her bullshit story all the way through without punching her in the fucking face.”