Chapter 21- The Siblings (I)

Wizah carefully pocketed the remains of her snack. It made a clunking sound in her pocket, and he guessed that she might have other snac—er, weapons, in there. She noticeably did not touch Valen, whose body was still jerking a little.

"I'm surprised you managed to find us," she noted, eyes sweeping over the room and oblivious to the confirmation of her memory wipe. "This place is pretty hard to find, yanno? Who'd you bully to get here?"

You, he thought in amusement, but kept his mouth shut. He'd had some time to get adjusted to the idea of her ability, Teeth, and she wouldn't be much of a problem as long as she didn't get close. She wouldn't be able to, with the electrical filter still positioned at the door, especially not with metal in her mouth and in her body.

She didn't seem to take offence at his lack of response, but instead focused on Io, on the mattress behind him. "Io, wake the fuck up."

"He's asleep."

"I'm not talking to you," she ground her teeth casually, and the subordinates behind her let out small moans. "Io, hurry up."

"...you're such a spoilsport."

Uari suddenly found himself unable to move. Rooted to the ground, stuck in his position, unable to open his mouth and unable to blink or breathe. Putting in his entire effort to lift even a finger was futile, and he was suddenly very aware of the pressure of the presence at his back.

Io hadn't moved a single inch. Wrapped up in the chains and zip ties, he had simply awoken from his sleep.

Dammit! Was this his ability? The pressure he emitted was incredible—phenomenal, even. Had he been simply hiding it, or was it part of his ability? Whatever it was, Uari couldn't move at all. His eyes were beginning to water, and the edges of his vision would blacken soon from the lack of air.

Io loosened the hold he had on him a little, and he was able to blink and breathe again, if not move. He could just barely curl his finger.

Wizah had disappeared from the door, but it didn't take long for him to guess where she was. A cracking, grinding sound came from the left of the doorway, and he surmised immediately that Wizah was chewing her way through the concrete walls. Stuck as he was, with no way to move, he could only watch with increasing trepidation as a hole appeared in the wall. He couldn't even move his eyeballs; what a terrifying ability.

Wizah's face appeared, and her teeth were shiny and metallic. He wanted to tell her that there was a bit of rock stuck between her teeth, but couldn't open his mouth. Steadily, the hole grew larger as she made strategic chews, and eventually, it crumbled on its own to create a second door in the room next to the original door.

Uari was still unable to move, which sucked.

Wizah strode in like she owned the place. Well, she might, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he was still unmoving and he hadn't figured out a way to dispel this pressure around him.

"Tsk, tsk," she clucked as she sauntered over to him. "I've always wanted to defeat you in combat at least once, but this just feels cheap."

"Hey!" That was Io. "Don't call my abilities cheap."

"It is, though. Look at him! He can't even move."

"If you want to be proud you should fight him at full strength."

"Huh?? What's the point of that? None of us will ever be able to beat him. Cunningness is part of battle strength too!"

"What an unchivalrous woman."

"What did you say? Did you just call your sister unchivalrous?" Wow, they were even siblings. "I'll digest your bones, you son of a-"

"Just get me out of here, damn!"

"We wouldn't be in this much of a mess if you just used Immovability on him the first time, dammit! What was the point of all this, huh??"

Io fell into a sullen silence. Wizah did have a point—if Io had used it on him from the start instead of answering his questions and then leaving, they wouldn't all have had to deal with this massacre of their dignity.

Wizah continued to lecture Io while she was getting him out of his restraints, and Io remained resentfully silent all the while. Uari would bet his entire (very substantial) fortune on Io sulking or pouting.

As funny as it was watching this pair of sibling-partners bicker, it was much less fun being hauled to a different room by the back of his neck. It was Wizah who pulled, because Io complained of body aches while being tied up and tortured. Wizah had narrowed her eyes at his unblemished skin, free of even a single bruise, but had dragged Uari's whole weight away by herself anyway.

His journey told him other things:

One, he was still in possession of his other senses. He could feel the pull of his clothes against his body, the unpleasant drag of the floor against his bottom, and the stench of fish.

Two, he still wasn't moving, which means that his immobility was extended to other people. He couldn't move himself, but neither could other people move his limbs. In essence, it was more like he was a statue instead of just being unmoving.

Third, although it seemed Io could control and vary the level of immovability inflicted on his victims, higher levels of immovability would drain his energy. That was why Wizah wasn't forcing him to drag Uari's body although she was struggling by herself. There was no way this older sister would have allowed her healthy younger brother to get away without some physical contribution...unless his energy was needed elsewhere, like ensuring that Uari wasn't going to be able to move anytime soon.

Fourth, Io could kill him on his own. Immovability could include the pausing of his ability to blink and breathe; if he had pushed a little more, would it include stopping his heart? His brain?

At any rate, Io obviously couldn't use his ability over the long term. It would be in their best interests to drag him over to get his memory wiped immediately, while Io's energy lasted. Since Wizah was a doctor—even if a quack—she would likely know how to conduct memory wipes herself.

Sure enough, the room they had dragged him into had a clinical-looking set of chairs as well as a hefty-looking Interface nestled next to them. Wizah dumped him on the floor, and moved towards the Interface to turn it on.