Chapter 54: A Threat Contained, Dead or Free

--- Morris Brown ---

“This is even worse than I thought…” He grimaced, not sure if he was talking about the letter from the higher ups he was once more reading on his tablet or the idea Diaz had for ‘inoculating’ their agents within the city from the various plagues drifting about.

“I’m aware sir,” Diaz admitted with his own grimace from where the researcher stood off to the side. “But… this was the quickest and easiest cure I could find, and given what you, uh, shared at the meeting earlier… We’re going to need it sooner than later…”

“That doesn’t make this any less of a terrible idea.” Robinson chimed in from the other.

“No it doesn’t…” He sighed, because as much as he hated this option he hated the idea of facing the coming shitstorm without a cure far more. “Have you explained the situation?”

Diaz shook his head. “No sir. People aren’t really my specialty and… given the circumstances I thought it was better to let you handle this in case I make a mess of things.”

(Which we can’t afford at this junction.) The fact was, as crass as it was to say, they were fucked one way or the other it was just a matter of deciding how it was going to happen. (If we’re lucky we’ll all be able to walk after this.)

“And you believe you can handle your part in all of this?” He asked, Robinson appreciating the fact that in spite of having every reason to hate this the older man was still going along with things. (Then again maybe that just says how far up shit creek we really are.)

Robinson took a deep breath before nodding. “Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, my experience with Asylum and their security measures means I’m the best at handling this.”

“You don’t have to be here…” Diaz offered sympathetically. “You gave me the blueprints and I built the device so-”

“No.” Robinson interrupted. “If we must do this, then I’ll be a part of it. I promised myself long ago that I would not bury my head about this sort of thing should Sanctuary do it… I just wish it wasn’t necessary.”

“So do I.” He agreed, if more because of how this could make all their problems ten times worse than because of the older man’s bleeding heart. (Though if we were doing this to anyone else I’d probably feel just as shit.)

The doors to the elevator opened, and he started down the hall passing by a number of glass doors as he did so before coming to a stop in front of one particular door.

“Oh? I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon~” One Sarah Sionis smiled as she sat up from her bed and took the three of them in. “And you brought guests. Figured you would all be busy with the… mess going on outside.”

He felt his eye twitch as he gave Diaz a questioning look.

“I believed that explaining the plague would keep her from making any escape attempts. I-I made sure not to tell her about anything else.” His youngest department head assured him.

He noticed Sionis watching them intently, and decided any division of unity could not be afforded in front of the devil he was going to have to make a deal with.

Of course the crime family princess noticed, her grin growing amused. (I’m hating this more and more…)

“So since our mutual friend here seems to have withheld the juicer bits of gossip, I don’t suppose you intend to share whatever caused you to come and find me?” Sionis prodded with a calculated tilt of her head that someone who didn’t know who and what she was would find charming.

(I need to play this carefully.) He reminded himself, that was the whole reason he hadn’t had the guards put her shock collar on before this visit because, (This whole thing becomes significantly easier if she agrees to this willingly.)

“Before that I’ve a question for you.” He told her, arms behind his back. “During our previous conversation I tried to get you to talk about your father but you refused.”

Sionis let out a snort. “Yes, well that wasn’t much of a conversation so much as it was you monologuing interspersed with the occasional zap.”

Robinson and Diaz both shot him looks, ones he couldn’t afford to defend himself against without showing Sionis the weakness she was looking for.

“True, but circumstances have changed.” He sighed, thinking about those many many circumstances. “So much so that we really do need to talk about your father.”

“Well, as gracious a host as you’ve been, how could I possibly answer any way other than, no.” Sionis wondered with an amused smirk.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“That would be fair from your perspective.” He nodded, before noting that, “In the same way that many criminals would consider it perfectly fair that your father is trying to kill you for leaving his organization.”

He knew that neither Diaz nor Robinson were comfortable with that line of thought, but the fact that Sionis’s eyes flashed red for the briefest moment, short enough that most would consider it a trick of the light, meant that it was worth it.

“Hmm…” Of course, that didn’t mean the woman in front of him would admit it, especially since, “I’m not buying your bluff. Even if the good guy angle was a con I can’t see you handing me over to any one other than another Sanctuary branch.”

“You’re right.” He confirmed, before getting to the point. “Which is why we’d be very good at keeping him or any of his allies from getting their hands on you if you worked with us.”

Sionis scoffed, looking legitimately offended that, “You think me some damsel in need of rescuing? Need I remind you that you’re the one who called me my father’s greatest hitman?”

(No, since that’s the very thing making this such a risky gamble.)

“I’m aware that you don’t need us to protect you, but it could make your life significantly easier.” He assured her. “So much so that with a bit of assistance, you could lead a very comfortable life outside of a cell.”

The slasher in front of him frowned, clearly having caught on to something. “You wouldn’t let me go just for flipping on my father. There’s something else you want from me… something to do with the plague going on outside? No -yes- but not just that…”

“You’re right. It’s come to our attention that Malice is resistant to the various Deviant plagues and anomalies flooding our city at the moment, enough so that anyone with even traces of it in their system should prove immune to them.” He explained, keeping his face flat.

Sionis nodded, following along with a growing grin. “You want me to do something for you. Something you can’t do because you don’t have Malice in your system.”

“Based on our reports and studies, your power leaves trace amounts of Malice behind when-”

The slasher broke down into a fit of laughter. “You, you want me to use my control on people to make them immune! Your people! How desperate must you be?!”

“Very.” He admitted, as he showed her his tablet and the letter he’d received late last night.

Curious, Sionis leaned forward to read the notice, her eyes slowly growing wider. “They… they can’t do this!”

“Given the number of events occurring within our city and the fact that the unknown energy being projected across our city is spreading, they believe they can.” He forced himself to tell her through grit teeth at the rage he felt at the letter. A letter that didn’t even give him a twenty-four hour notice. “While unprecedented it is within their powers if the circumstances are dire enough.”

Sionis fell back on her bed and let out an appropriate, “Fuck…”

“I’m sure you understand now, why we’re so desperate to have something resembling a cure and why you would want to aid us rather than being imprisoned like you are.” Oh, he had no doubt she was going to try and break free the moment she was out of sight, nor did he doubt she could pull it off given who she was, but if he could get a cure out of her before then (it’s worth the risk.)

A silence fell over them as Sionis contemplated things for a moment, before letting out another “Fuck…” and sitting up. “Alright. What do you need from me exactly? Do you want me to start with you three?”

“No, while we may be aligned at the moment we’re not foolish enough to actually trust you.” He warned her. “You’ll be going with Diaz and Robinson here to begin inoculation procedures with those most likely to be exposed to the plague while staying far away from mandatory personnel outside of them. Should I see you trying anything well… it likely won’t be pretty for either of us.”

“Don’t worry I won’t try anything.” Sionis lied to his face with her hands raised.

He nodded, before swiping his access key and unlocking the cell. Something either Diaz or Robinson could do in his place, but he wanted her eyes on him for this next part.

Once the door began to open he started making his way back to the elevator, fully secure in the fact that it would take time for Sionis to sink her hooks into anyone. Which is why he wasn’t giving her any time to infect him with her Malice.

Though he did hold the elevator doors open just long enough to watch Robinson inject an explosive into the base of unaware Sionis’s skull while she was distracted by Diaz’s explanation of just what he’d discovered about the plague.

With that confirmed he switched to another tab on his tablet, to make sure the device was working and that he knew exactly where she was in case he had to hit the button to kill her where she stood as Robinson explained what had been done to her. (After all, we can’t leave a monster unaccounted for when there are already so many wandering the streets doing who knows what.)

--- Darkspawn ---

It walked through the halls of the building the other had hidden itself away in, calmly walking around the various prey that wandered in and out of the building. All of them just a bit too small and far too lacking in… danger for its tastes.

One of the humans rudely bumped into it and it considered simply slaughtering them all on principle before devouring their biomass because (waste not want not.)

Unfortunately, doing so would definitely alert the other who it could sense with far more accuracy at such a short distance. Able to practically feel them calmly walking through the halls as it stalked them, wishing to observe them before making any rash decisions. Though how much it could gain from this was debatable given how it had no doubt that the other could sense it just as easily as it could sense them.

After maneuvering through the halls -and restraining itself from devouring even more of the humans who got far too close for its appetites it finally brought the other into a sensory range for something other than whatever instinct marked it as the great enemy.

Which is how it found itself staring at a trio of teenagers just down the hall. One a dark skinned male, and then two females one with dark hair and one without, each of them vibrating with their own kind of otherness, and yet only one of them the familiar other that it was looking for.

(Interesting…)