gg be honest with me: how often do you just reread FM from start to finish? Cause damn.
Heron, I'm glad you're starting to feel better!
Falcon… *squints* how old are you? The only people who call me Ms. are children.
Mars' office was just like how Desmond had seen it last. The only change was that Mars had changed her clothes. She didn't look surprised to see them either. "Kamala, I see you found him as promised," she said and almost sounded afraid of Cain.
"Yes," Cain said and put his hand on Desmond's head, making him sit. "None too worse for wear than when I left him." Desmond batted Cain's hand away angrily and glared at him, Cain just sort of smiled at him. Desmond pulled off his mask. "Time to move into phase two," he said, sitting next to Cain. "Have you located the clone yet?"
"Yes," Mars said.
"Then what's the hold up, lets go," Desmond said.
"Its not so simple," Mars said. "The Adjatevs are keeping him with Tiamat."
"Okay? Is that supposed to mean something to me? Who's Tiamat?" Desmond asked, looking at the both of them.
"I assume you know who Hera is?" Mars asked, Desmond nodded. "Then you know she was our High Priestess before everything saw an end," again Desmond nodded. "Tiamat is like that."
"Oh don't sugar coat it for the boy," Cain said. "Tiamat is the oldest living proeathan. No one knows how old she is anymore and she's not affiliated with any of the eight nations living in Apollo. She's also a hugely powerful psychic; maybe even more powerful than you," he said looking at Desmond.
"Is that supposed to intimidate me?" Desmond asked.
"She's a telepath," Cain said.
"But you told me telepaths are useless. The mind isn't linear," Desmond said.
"This is true," Cain said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and looking at Desmond. "But if the telepath in question also doesn't use their telepathy in a linear fashion it becomes feasible."
"Tiamat's the only one we know who can do that," Mars said.
"There's a reason the ancient Sumerians worshiped Tiamat as a goddess of both life and destruction," Cain said. "When a proeathan gets old enough, their minds change. In most cases they just shut down, destroy themselves. Proeathans don't die of old age, they die of brain entropy."
"Tiamat has none does she," Desmond said.
"Correct. No idea how. What caused it."
"We think she's immortal," Mars said.
Desmond looked skeptically at Cain, "What do you think?"
"I don't know. I've never been that close to her. She broadcasts a psyonic wavelength similar to the Eden that messes with my head. Gives me headaches and nose bleeds just getting in her range."
"But my clone is with her?" Desmond asked.
"Yes," Mars said.
"What's she do to other people who aren't Cain?"
"Total psychic silencing," Mars said. "Proeathans can't use their sixth sense at all. Worst cases will cause headaches."
"What about humans? What about my clone?"
"Humans are fine for the most part. They rarely have psyonic abilities-
"Yeah but this is my clone. He's a second stadalla with none of the fun shit included that makes him work properly. But he's still a genetic replica of me. Meaning he's a psychic too. What's going on with him?"
"He seems fine," Mars said. "Its why they've had him tend to her. She doesn't seem to effect him. Or if she does, not in a harmful way."
"So then I should be fine?"
"Yes," Mars said.
"When we first came here," Desmond said, looking at Cain. "You said tell Tiamat I was here. What was that about?"
Cain shrugged, "Its a saying the proeathans in Apollo have apparently. 'Tell Tiamat' is kinda like 'blow it out your ear'. It means fuck off."
"What?"
"Someone was talking to me, I told them to go tell Tiamat about Demeter."
Desmond stared at him then said, "You really are an asshole aren't you?"
Cain grinned, "Would you have me any other way?"
"Anyway," Desmond looked back at Mark, "I need to get to my clone. And he's with Tiamat?"
"Yes," Mars said. "No one gets close to Tiamat anymore. Apparently once they found out your clone wasn't effected by her they shoved him in there to care for her. He doesn't come out."
"So I need to go in."
"Yes."
"How hard is that going to be?"
"Security is tight in the halls and rooms around her. But once inside her psyonic boundary our tech doesn't work, video doesn't work at all honestly. They monitor her by infrared. To get you close to her and your clone we'd have to create a blackout across that entire sector of Apollo," Mars said.
"Huh, shouldn't be too hard then," Desmond said.
"Desmond, you don't understand. We're talking a huge section of Apollo that Apollo himself personally oversees at all times as not only is it where they keep Tiamat, but its where the Adjatev leaders live," Mars said.
"No, it still shouldn't be too bad," Desmond said.
"Yeah? Then how do you think we'll do that?" Mars huffed.
Desmond removed one of his gloves, "My clone's genetically identical to me," Desmond said, examining his fingers. "But, he's also nothing like me," and he made the glyphs on his hand start to glow as well as the ones across his face and the rest of his body but they were hidden by his clothes. The lights in Mars' office dimmed and started to flicker. "I break technology," he said, "just show me what I need to touch, I'll bring the entire city down around its ears," he grinned, and it wasn't a nice grin. Mars looked petrified of him. He made the glowing stop and the lights came back up, outside they could hear some proeathans calling to each other in confusion.
"What was that?" Mars asked, her hand in a trembling fist on the table.
"Me," Desmond said simply, "This is why your people were afraid of me. I'm the end of what you were, and the beginning of what's coming after. I've been here long enough, I need to know where the power station is to Apollo and where Tiamat and my clone are," he said very calmly, in control. He felt Cain watching him intently.
Mars took a deep, unsteady, breath. "Okay," she said. "I'll get you there. It'll take a day or two though. I don't know how you'll get into the power station though. Apollo keeps it locked down."
"You let us worry about that," Cain said.
Desmond looked at Cain, "You're coming?"
"Well it'd be irresponsible to let you go alone. My Abel would never forgive me."
"He already doesn't like you," Desmond said.
"Yes but I don't need to add fuel to his pitiful little fire now do I?" and Desmond had to admit Cain had a point.
Mars sighed a little, "Fine. I'll find the power station, just stay out of trouble."
"I have been so far," Desmond said.
"Amazingly," Cain said sarcastically.
"What are you going to do when you get to Tiamat?" Mars asked.
"I don't know," Desmond said, "if she's a problem, I'll kill her. Though she's an old lady, how much trouble could she be?"
"And what about your clone?"
"My clone ain't shit," Desmond said firmly. "He has my memories from a year ago. I'm different now. He won't be an issue."
"I hope so. Who knows what's happened to him being with Tiamat," Mars said.
"What does that mean?"
"Like I said," Cain said, "ancient Sumerians worshiped a goddess named Tiamat. Started out as a mother goddess, but the egos of men aren't the only reason she because a goddess of chaos." Power psychics can do all sorts of things.
"And you'd know?" Desmond demanded.
"I've seen you," he said plainly. "You do impossible things. Tiamat is old and powerful, you were born this way, but she has more years on her in learning about the proeathan's abilities than anyone."
"You almost sound like you respect her," Desmond said, narrowing his eyes.
"Who knows," Cain said slowly, "Maybe I wasn't the first. Maybe she's been asleep all this time," and that made Desmond shiver all over, goosebumps going to cover his entire body. That Cain, as ancient and terrible as he was, wasn't the first immortal was a terrible thought. And a proeathan, an actual psychic who had years of training and not just something Desmond played pretend at. But she also might not have been immortal. Just a story the proeathans told. Either way it was scary.
"You just like scaring people don't you?" Desmond said.
"It has a certain allure to it," Cain admitted, "I've been a boogie man more than once. Primitives are so easy to scare after all."
"I'm not," Desmond said.
"Nope," Cain agreed. He looked back at Mars who seemed confused by their exchange. Clearly she didn't know about Cain's immortality. Desmond wondered who did. "You said it'd take a day or two to locate the power station?"
"Yes," she said. "Getting you into the main power core will be impossible. But the sub station that powers that sector of Apollo where Tiamat and your clone are located will be possible. Though difficult."
"Again, leave that to us," Cain said, brushing off her concern.
"Then that's all I have for now," she said.
"Okay," Cain said, and got to his feet with a grunt. "C'mon Desmond, lets let Mars work her magic."
"And what will we do?" Desmond asked, getting to his feet.
"How'd you like to learn about your enemy?"
"I mean, I'd rather not," Desmond said, "but I don't have a choice in this do I?"
Cain grinned, "No, not really," and he pulled Desmond's mask down and pushed him out the door where he couldn't talk or complain. Desmond just scowled at Cain instead and the bastard didn't even seem to care as he beckoned him towards the lift. He hoped if Tiamat was immortal she wasn't as fucking annoying as all the other one's he'd met so far.
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