Scene 26 - December 19th

Exterior City, Afternoon

Dominic Könberg

Loki narrowed his eyes at my sister. “What are you doing here,” he said, his voice flat and angry.

“Don’t worry,” Viv said cheerfully. “We’re here to help.”

“Really.”

“Yes, really!” she assured him. “We see this too,” she gestured at the aura that still covered the city, “and we also think it should stop.”

“And why is that?” Loki asked. “As far as I can tell it’s been nothing but a benefit to you - you escaped in the confusion-” His voice wavered uncertainly for a moment, probably because using the stealth cloak meant that he couldn’t actually remember how we had escaped. “-how could we trust that you won’t stab us in the back?”

“We don’t need to stab anyone in the back,” Viv assured him. “If we were going to stab you, we’d do it in the front.”

“Unlike you,” I heard Percy mutter.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Newton asked, stepping forward to stand beside the illusionist. “We’re heroes, we’re not going to stab anyone.”

Percy scoffed. “Oh, very likely-”

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“Sir Ardent,” I said in a calm but warning tone, and he fell silent.

“Thank you, Sir Amethyst,” Viv said to me, then turned back to the Journeymen. “I apologize for Sir Ardent here. While we certainly have our issues with the system you’ve all entered into, the rest of us are willing to set them aside for the moment. And he’ll follow our lead - won’t you, Ardent?”

He crossed his arms and looked away. “...yeah.”

“See?”

“That would be lovely, if I thought I could trust you as far as Sequoia could throw you,” Loki said. “But I see no reason to. We’d be much better off without having to worry about betrayal.”

“As I said, we’re not the type,” Viv repeated. “But even if you don’t trust my word, trust my rationality. This situation? Completely unworkable for us. Far too many eyes - both the ones Anima keeps creating in search of you all, and the ones from elsewhere that will surely be very interested in the artifact allowing Anima, and Maxwell before her, to pose such a threat. We don’t want that attention on this city, and we certainly don’t want an artifact like that floating around - even if we do have to work with fake heroes like Newton to accomplish it.”

“Hey!” Newton protested. “Just because I’m new-”

“Actually, Dame Acumen,” I put in, “I’m not sure Newton is what we thought they were.”

She glanced back over her shoulder at me. “What else would they be?”

“...I don’t know, but they fought Legion - or said they did, at least.”

Viv turned back to Newton. “Did you?”

“Yes! Canaveral made me run for my own safety, but I tried to fight her!”

“...interesting,” she said. “You’re telling the truth.”

“Why would I lie about this?” They threw up their hands in apparent confusion. “Seriously, where did you get whatever idea you have about me?”

“That’s confidential,” mom said, shutting the conversation down. “Regardless of your connection or lack thereof, the issue right now is Anima having that artifact, right? Can we help you?”

Loki narrowed his eyes, thinking. “...fine,” he said after a moment. “But no arguing amongst each other, alright?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Viv promised.