83

Chapter 83

A Darker Path

Part Eighty-Three: Lesson Learned

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]

San Diego Wards Base

Gully

The portal reopened fourteen minutes and fifty-five seconds after Scapegoat had vanished into it. Gully knew this, because she'd been watching the clock. By mutual unspoken agreement, she and Spire were avoiding the corner where it had been, while speculating about where Atropos and Ashley Stillons had taken him to.

Spire had looked up the name on the PRT database, and to their mutual surprise had gotten a hit; the file photos of Damsel of Distress showed someone who was skinnier and somewhat more unkempt, but the white hair was unmistakeable. Skimming Atropos' PHO entries had brought up Damsel's attempted entry to Brockton Bay and rebuff by Atropos, which only raised more questions. After that, they'd tried to play a little pool, but their inability to concentrate made it a ridiculous parody of the game; half the time, Gully missed the cue ball altogether. Nobody came even close to sinking a ball.

When the portal opened, Gully and Spire abandoned the game and paid full attention to the shadowy doorway. First through was Atropos, followed closely by Damsel of Distress. Scapegoat came last, stumbling as though he wasn't quite sure where he was.

"Hi there!" announced Atropos brightly. "One Scapegoat, in perfect working order, returned as promised. Ashley and I are going to hang around for a few minutes until you're sure he's okay, then we'll be moving along." She glanced at Ashley then gestured toward the table. "How about a game while we're waiting?"

"Sure." Ashley raised an eyebrow as she looked at the table. "I've never played, though. You're gonna have to show me how it goes."

"Well, the idea is to use the white ball to sink all the coloured balls," Atropos explained succinctly, then looked at Spire. "Borrow your cue? Thanks." She accepted it as he handed it to her.

"Triangle's over there." Gully pointed helpfully to where it was hanging on the wall.

"Appreciate it, but we won't be needing one." Leaning over the table, Atropos briefly lined up on three different balls in quick succession, sending each of them bouncing off their fellows in a staccato series of crisp clicks.

With what she'd already seen of Atropos' exploits, Gully fully expected every ball to be sunk within seconds, but that wasn't what happened. Instead, like Brownian motion run in reverse, the coloured balls coalesced into a triangular formation at one end of the table, bunching around the eight-ball. At the far end, the cue-ball rolled sedately to a halt precisely on the spot at the centre of the break line.

Gully stared; the balls couldn't have been better placed with the use of the triangle and a micrometer. She'd thought she was aware of Atropos' level of pure bullshit, but this just set the bar even higher. From the way Spire's jaw dropped, he was of much the same mind.

"Okay, that was impressive, but what now?" asked Ashley.

"Now I show you how to play. Gully, loan her your cue? Thanks." Atropos strolled around to the end of the table where the cue-ball awaited. "Now, unlike what I just did, you're only supposed to hit the cue-ball with your cue …"

Spire dragged his attention away from the table and approached Scapegoat. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." Scapegoat nodded, a little jerkily. "Better than okay. I'm fantastic. I'm amazing."

Gully frowned. This was more upbeat than she'd seen him … basically, ever. "Where did you go? What did you do?"

For an answer, Scapegoat held out his phone. On the screen was a photo of … "Wait a minute," Spire said. "You went to England? To London?"

Gully leaned in to look at the image. Despite the misty rain that gave the lights little rainbow haloes, it was impossible to mistake the photo, and the ones that followed, for anything but what they were. "Damn. What did you even do there?"

Scapegoat drew a deep breath. "Did you know it's possible to pull someone out of the Birdcage? Because I saw Atropos pull someone out of the Birdcage."

"You are going to have to give us more detail than that," Spire insisted. "Who got pulled out? How did she do it? What happened?"

Bit by bit, the story unfolded, as Atropos coached Damsel of Distress in how to play pool behind them. By the end of it, Gully was considerably more informed regarding the events that had taken place over the last fifteen minutes, but was still very much in the dark concerning the how and the why of it all. A tiny yip of triumph heralded Damsel's first success in sinking a ball, but neither Gully nor Spire bothered to look around.

"So, did she say anything else about why she's doing all this?" asked Spire, once Scapegoat had run dry. "Why she needed your power and Damsel's power to be improved?"

Scapegoat hesitated. "I think she wanted Ms Stillons to be on top of her game, mentally and power-wise. I'm just a fortunate side-effect in the grand scheme of things, and Teacher's a casualty. All that crap out of Ms Stillons' head and mine had to go somewhere, and who better than the guy who's screwed with so many other people's lives?" He shrugged. "I know it's not exactly heroic, but who says no to Atropos?"

"And Teacher fixed it so you don't have to take things on yourself anymore?" Gully found this to be particularly interesting. Scapegoat's power seemed to be designed to mess with the kid, but the worst aspects of it had just been … taken away. "You just … pass it along?"

"Easy as handing someone a pencil," Scapegoat confirmed. "Doesn't even touch me. It's like this is the way my power was supposed to be, but it got screwed up on delivery, y'know?"

Gully rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I hear you on that."

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Atropos

From: Dragon

Subject: Teacher is now psychotic

What the hell did you do to him? Up until now, I've had to expend twice as many resources than I have to on anyone else just to keep an eye on what he was up to, but now he's done a total one-eighty. Literal supervillain rants that expose all his plans, and he's already been beaten up twice in the last hour for trying to force his 'teachings' on capes who weren't interested. His life expectancy is dropping by the minute.

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Dragon

From: Atropos

Subject: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

We are talking about the same Teacher, yeah? The one who's a total waste of oxygen and food by any reasonable metric?

I'm just wondering why you're so concerned with his welfare.

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Atropos

From: Dragon

Subject: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

You said you wouldn't hurt him if he cooperated.

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Dragon

From: Atropos

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

I said I wouldn't kill him, and I didn't. He didn't pull anything stupid, so I didn't need to teach him about kneecap privileges. As for the rest of it, I made no other promises.

He's already got one warning and if he ever sets foot outside the Birdcage, I'll be dropping a second one on him, just on general principles. Long story short, my care factor about his physical *or* mental well-being is going further into the negatives by the second.

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Atropos

From: Dragon

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

Okay, so he was always going to be screwed up mentally by this. Got it.

*sigh*

Just out of morbid curiosity, could you please tell me what you did to him?

Please tell me you didn't just straight-up End his sanity?

… can you actually do that?

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Dragon

From: Atropos

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

… kinda. I got him to give them a power upgrade. As part of it, he hit them with a mental effect, essentially making them addicted to his power (you know, like Saint was). So, I told Scapegoat to give it straight back, along with all their various issues (Ashley had more than a few). Short-term result: Scapegoat and Ashley now have improved powersets, and are as mentally healthy as it's possible to be, while Teacher's still an asshole villain, only more so (besides, he started it). Long-term result: one step closer to saving the world.

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Atropos

From: Dragon

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

Okay, thank you for the clarification. I still can't help feeling that there's something supremely unethical about all this.

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Dragon

From: Atropos

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

Pretty sure I left ethics behind when I took up shooting supervillains in the face. These days, I'm extremely results-oriented. And I'm totally fine with these results.

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Atropos

From: Dragon

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

There's absolutely nothing in that statement that I can point to as being incorrect.

PS: *wow*. You couldn't have fucked him up harder if you tried. He just got beaten up again.

Even knowing what he's done, and despising everything that he stands for, I still can't help feeling just a little sorry for him.

Actually, one question. When he uses his power on someone, is the mental influence an automatic thing, or can he choose not to apply it?

PRIVATE MESSAGE

To: Dragon

From: Atropos

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Teacher is now psychotic

He can choose the level. He always chooses 'totally indebted to me'.

He's screwed with many heads and ruined many lives.

I wouldn't have done this to him just for karma, but I've got no problem with inflicting it as a side effect.

Plus, he was plotting against me, so fuck him.

Toodles!

Damsel

Ashley stepped out of the portal into the familiar surroundings of her apartment. Oddly enough, it still felt different to when she'd left, even though everything was still where it had been less than half an hour ago. The difference, she realised without much in the way of difficulty, was all in her own head.

"What did Scapegoat do?" she asked, walking over to the window and looking out. The city looked fresh and clean and hopeful, full of promise and optimism. For the first time, she felt as though she belonged, rather than needing to make an effort just to fit in. "I feel like I've been walking on air since we got back from England. That game of pool helped me get used to it, but right now I feel really weird and I don't know why."

Atropos moved up to stand beside her. She wasn't being threatening or pushy or aggressive, she was just … there. And Ashley found that she was fine with that. There was no longer a sense of impending doom if she put even one foot wrong. "Weird good or weird bad?"

"Um." Ashley had to stop and think about that. Her entire life was weird these days, so categorising new experiences wasn't as easy as it had once been. Once upon a time, it had been mainly divided between 'sucky' and 'less sucky' but now she had a whole new category called 'holy shit is this my life now' which was getting bigger all the time. "Good, I think? I feel like I should be going over it with a fine-tooth comb to find the catch, but at the same time I'm pretty sure there is no catch. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that I used to dwell on a ton, that's just … not there anymore. Or it's there, but it's not as important to me as it used to be. Does that even make sense?"

"It does." Atropos turned to look at her. "Cards on the table. All that stuff you've been going to therapy over, and getting medication for, it's been starting to show through again. Like with the stunt you pulled with Genesis. Arrogance, aggression, the driving need to prove you're better than everyone else no matter what, that sort of thing. Basically, the monkey in your head that kept bashing the rage button every time things didn't go the way you wanted, back before we got to know each other. With me so far?"

Ashley did her best to raise an eyebrow. "I wouldn't go as far as calling it a 'monkey bashing a rage button', but …" She paused, recalling a couple of incidents where things had gotten way out of hand. "Okay, yeah, maybe I would. Of course, once you got my hands fixed, things were less likely to go wrong, and I knew you'd come down on me if I acted out anyway, so that kept me under control. But now, I feel like even that's not necessary. There's no part of me that I've got to keep an eye on. What did you do?" An epiphany burst on her. "Holy shit! It's part of what Scapegoat did, isn't it?"

"It is." Atropos nodded once. "Basically, he found the potential version of you somewhere in the hypothetical multiverse who had no mental problems, made a template of that, and swapped it out for everything that was going on with you."

"Everything? Like, everything that ever made me hurt anyone?" Ashley found her armchair and dropped into it, mainly because her legs didn't feel like holding her up any longer. "All that's just … gone? What did he do with it? Is the poor bitch that he got the good template from now as fucked up as I was?"

"Well, no. She doesn't actually exist. Like I said, she's a potential version. It's a powers thing. No, he passed it all on to Teacher." Atropos actually sounded amused at that.

"Who's now back in the Birdcage and is as fucked in the head as I used to be." Ashley shook her head in disbelief. "Wow, I know he's a colossal dick and all, but that's seriously harsh."

"Well, it had to go somewhere," Atropos pointed out reasonably. "The whole point of this exercise was to get it out of your head. Scapegoat can't just discard it. It would be supremely unfair to load him down with every single dysfunction he takes away from people. You absolutely don't want me to have it."

Ashley startled herself with a laugh. "No, fuck that idea with a rusty shovel. Bad idea all around." Then she nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, yeah. Teacher was the only other option, and he has kind of earned it. But are you going to keep an eye on him?"

Confirming her suspicion that Atropos already knew the answer to the question, the black-clad killer chuckled. "Dragon's been blowing up my phone about that. Apparently, he's gone full ham megalomaniac. He's literally doing supervillain monologues about his plans, and he's already been beaten up three times. Couldn't happen to a nicer asshole."

"So, he's going to die in there." Ashley could easily recall how she'd been pushed by her issues to either do something villainous or rant about how she was going to do something. "You knew that when you started this whole thing. You basically sentenced him to death."

"No." Atropos' tone was less playful now. "He earned his death sentence a long time ago. Up until now he's been skating on the consequences of his actions, because his capabilities are useful in the Birdcage. I just made him more annoying than he is useful. But in all honesty, I don't care about what happens to him, just that he never gets in my way. I needed certain things to get done, and they got done. Over and above that? Zero fucks given."

"So, what am I?" Ashley wasn't quite sure where this was coming from. She was damn sure she normally wouldn't have challenged Atropos like this, no matter what reason she had for doing it. "Your wind-up toy? Your chess piece? You needed me to be sane and powerful, to do what you need me to do?"

"No, Ending just needs you powerful." Atropos must have caught the flicker of confusion on Ashley's face. "That's what my power's called. I talk to him occasionally, and we hash out how we're going to do stuff. He's literally all about Ending anything and everything. Now, I don't really care about the sanctity of human life as an abstract concept, but there are some people I do care about, and I will End anyone who makes a move to hurt them. Outside of those people, yeah, there are some who are potentially useful to us. I figure it's easier to arrange a better quality of life for you guys so that when the time comes to call on you, you're more likely to say yes without needing any coercion. It took a while to explain the concept of 'willing cooperation' to Ending, just saying."

Ashley stared at her. This was the most Atropos had explained to her about what was going on behind the scenes … ever. It also explained so very much. "'Ending'? That's what your power's called? What about mine? Does it have a name?"

"Yeah. 'Demesnes-Keeper'." Atropos shrugged. "Don't look at me, I didn't name 'em. Those aren't really the names anyway. They're basically a whole encyclopaedia's worth of nuance and meaning, condensed down to a single word or phrase. Anyway, you're getting more out of this than a cool job, a nice place to live, and a chill outlook on life. When was the last time you were actually concerned about someone else's well-being, like you were with Teacher?"

"… huh." Ashley blinked. "I didn't even realise. When did that happen?"

"When Scapegoat took all that crap out of your head." Atropos tapped the side of her own head. "He gave you free rein to experience empathy again. Which you're gonna need tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Ashley frowned. "Why am I going to need it tomorrow?"

The Next Day

Danny

All was quiet on the worksite; the assembled ranks of the people working for the Betterment Committee were silently watching two people. Rumours had spread thick and fast about the confrontation between Ash and Gary the day before, from the believable (Gary had fired Ash) to the also-believable (Ash had threatened his life).

Danny hoped that this public spectacle would quell all the rumours. There were times to keep such things behind closed doors, and times to blow the doors clean off. Taylor had told him that this was one of the latter.

Standing beside the work vehicle, in which Danny had fetched her from her apartment building, Ms Stillons glanced at Danny. He gave her a brief nod of encouragement. Turning, she approached Gary where he stood before the assembled workers.

He watched her approach; Danny could see the stiffness in his back and the muscle pulsing in his jaw. Oddly enough, this was missing in Ms Stillons. Yesterday, she'd been dead set against accepting any level of culpability for what had nearly happened. Today … was yet to be seen.

She stopped a couple of yards from Gary, then paused for a moment before opening her mouth. Danny couldn't blame her for thinking her words over; what she said next would go a long way toward deciding the eventual outcome.

Finally, she spoke. "I'm sorry."

Danny blinked; either she'd picked up some serious acting chops overnight, or she was being totally sincere. He wasn't quite sure which of the two explanations was more believable.

While she was a reasonably intelligent young woman, it took more than brains to put heart and soul into a role like that. Moreover, the Ashley Stillons he'd seen on the job site even yesterday would've chosen to carve her own spleen out with a rusty spork before deliberately admitting fault in such an unreserved fashion.

Taylor had said the problem would be fixed by Friday morning, but she hadn't said how. Now it was actually happening, and he still couldn't see how the trick was being pulled off.

Ms Stillons stood tall and straight as she offered the apology. Not a hint of sarcasm or deception came across in her words. "You were right to be angry, yesterday. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I ignored every safety precaution in the book. People could've been hurt, or worse. I understand that, and I won't do it again."

Gary didn't reject her words, but he did frown as he looked at her. "Okay, I hear what you're saying and I'm taking it into account, but how do we know it won't happen again if you get another wild hair up your butt about how slow we're doing things?"

"That's fair," she allowed. "I'd be worried about me, too. But what you didn't know is that Atropos came to my place last night and we had a long talk about being responsible on the worksite, along with other subjects."

A visible stir went through the assembled workers at that; the accompanying murmur might well have been something like oh, shit.

Everyone there knew of Atropos, by definition. She was literally the reason the Committee even existed, and why there was so much money going into everything. The word 'respect' entirely failed to encompass the amount of regard in which the workers—unpowered, capes, and Eagletons alike—held her, by several levels of magnitude.

But nobody wanted her to knock on their door for a chat about how they'd been irresponsible on the worksite. That was very much on no bucket list ever. The fact that Ms Stillons had experienced such a visit (he doubted anyone even considered that she might be lying about it, because ha ha ha fuck that) and was showing up for work anyway bespoke a level of intestinal fortitude accorded to few.

"Well … uh … okay." It was Gary's turn to blink as he absorbed the new information. "You're going to need to re-sit the tests on safety regulations, but once you pass that, you'll be back on the worksite." He drew a deep breath. "Also, I'm sorry I yelled at you and called you a moron. That was unprofessional of me." He held out his hand. "All good?"

"All good." Ms Stillons shook his hand. "Thanks for giving me another chance."

"It wasn't really my call," Gary admitted, glancing at Danny. "But after talking to you, I understand his decision."

"Good to hear." Danny clapped his hands once and raised his voice. "Okay, you layabouts. Show's over. Time to get back to earning your exorbitant salaries. Gary, I'll expect your written report on the entire incident, including the resolution, on my desk by day's end."

As the workers began to disperse, he opened the door of his work vehicle. He still had no idea how Taylor had pulled it off. And whether he'd understand the explanation, if she gave him one.

But if it fixed the problem, he decided, he could live without the explanation.

End of Part Eighty-Three