Before the power outage...
Peter was leading the way to the agreed meet-up point, where they would meet up with Young Santa and Mr. Scary, better known as Tino and Berwald. Ludwig followed after him, keeping an eye out for looters. People were opportunists, after all.
It had happened fairly quickly. Peter's former guardians had been furiously texting him since the Magician's grand declaration through the Super News Channel. And Peter hadn't immediately responded. When he finally did text, he had received so many texts filled with demands for answers. Deciding to remain fairly tight-lipped, Peter had instead requested a location to meet them at.
Which was now where Ludwig and Peter was heading.
The boy was deep in thought. He couldn't guess who was behind this whole spectacle. But he should know. He knew all of Mr. Scary's (and Young Santa's!) rogues. None of them fit what was happening in New Pond. None of them would try to kill Mr. Scary through some mediocre villain. So who was it? Was Berwald just as confused as him? He hadn't let on, although it was hardly easy to emote through text, especially when one didn't use emojis.
Peter was suspicious. There was a chance Berwald did know what was going on. Which meant he had been hiding it from Peter. And that didn't sit well with the boy. With that possibility lurking in the back of his mind, Peter was glad to have Ludwig, now dressed as Germanium, along as back-up. It made the tween more comfortable with the idea of challenging his former guardians.
Because if one or both of them were lying to him, he needed to get the truth out of them, no matter the cost.
Tino and Berwald were naturally already at the meeting point when Peter and Ludwig turned up. Both were Supers with the ability to fly, enabling them to travel faster than two super heroes restricted to walking on foot (although Germanium could sometimes speed up his travelling by skating along power-lines). Relief flooded Tino's face when he spotted Peter in the distance, immediately running over to them.
"Peter and... Germanium?" Tino asked, slowing down. Surprisingly, the two elder super heroes had chosen not to don their outfits, wearing plain civilian clothes. That made Peter's blood boil, because it meant exactly one thing: they had no intention of doing anything about Arthur, neither stopping or helping him.
"It's dangerous in the city right now," Germanium lied to the two supposed civilians. He had been expecting to meet with two super heroes. "I thought it best he not wander around alone."
"Oh. Then... Thank you. I'm Tino Väinämöinen and this is..."
"He's Young Santa, and that's Berwald, commonly known as Mr. Scary," Peter interrupted, not wanting to play nice.
"Peter!" Tino exclaimed, somewhat outraged. Peter ignored him and walked right up to Berwald. Tino had always been nothing but warm and kind to him. Berwald, on the other hand as more often aloof and distant than anything else. That made him the one to be suspicious of.
"Who wants you dead?" he demanded. Berwald stared at him with quite some level of intimidation, but that was nothing in comparison to Peter's prepubescent rage fueled by justice and truth. Ludwig and Tino watched, expecting Berwald to say something, but instead silence filled the air.
"Well? How are you involved? Who's controlling Arthur, Berwald? Why do they want you dead? Who's controlling my brother, Berwald?!" Peter shouted, jabbing Berwald at every punctuation for emphasis. Hurt didn't register on Berwald's face until Peter called Arthur his brother. There was a sadness there, a sort of dejection. Like Berwald had forgotten that Peter wasn't a blood relative, but a kid he had agreed to look after for a while. For a friend.
Not family.
Tino let out a frustrated grunt, then pulled Peter back, so that the kid was no longer standing toe-to-toe with the much larger man.
"What is this, Peter? You can't just blow our covers and then demand answers from... Why..." The anger melted away and Tino slowly turned to Berwald, not without some level of bewilderment. "Actually, why does Arthur want you dead? And what's this about someone controlling him?" Tino asked Berwald. There was no suspicion there, just confusion.
"Peter and I have concluded that someone must be controlling Arthur," Ludwig explained. "Half of what he said was lies, his recent actions... do not match his past behaviour. It's a good approximation of him, but an approximation nonetheless. Someone is controlling him. I don't know how, but we were hoping you had answers, Mr. Scary. Er... Berwald."
"Answers? I bet you know everything! Why else do you never talk? Why don't we know how you're connected, why don't I know?!" Peter's voice was filled with hurt. He was a smart boy. He and Berwald were close. Which meant the only way Peter didn't know how Berwald was involved, was if Berwald had either not known himself or had been hiding it from him.
Berwald was far too tense to currently be clueless.
The tall man sort-of held up his hands, trying to placate Peter, but Tino stepped in.
"Peter's right. Why don't we already know how you're connected? At the very least, I should know who wants you dead. So why don't I, Berwald?"
Berwald opened his mouth to argue, then it clacked shut again. He was feeling cornered. It was radiating off him.
"Well?" Tino demanded, his own anger flaring up.
I... I can't... tell you... came a stray, hesitant thought. Berwald. It rattled in the trio's heads. He had always preferred speaking telepathically. Unaccustomed to verbalising speech, it always came out slurred and unintelligible anyway. Yet now, it seemed even his thoughts were too muddled to come across clearly, stuttering with nervousness.
He had always been afraid of being caught.
"Tell me!" Peter all but shrieked. "My brother is caught in the middle of this because of you!"
Berwald, the scariest hero in all of New Pond, was scared. Afraid. Vulnerable. He was willing to appear as such to Peter. Then his eyes wandered over to Tino and Ludwig and they steeled.
I... I don't know if I can. Tell you.
"Then don't. Just tell me why someone might want you dead." When Berwald looked uncertain, Tino added "Or tell me who it is. That I deserve to know."
Berwald looked away.
It's complicated.
"How is it complicated? Nothing's complicated when it comes to super villains," Tino retorted. That made Berwald flinch. What? Was that not true? Or were they not dealing with super villains? Was it a criminal? A super criminal? Or...
I have a colleague here. I believe he was originally just here to find Aquangel.
"Aquangel? She's hiding in New Pond?" Ludwig asked.
My colleague believes so. But if he's after me, after my alter ego... Then he knows I...
"What? What did you do?" Peter prompted after Berwald hesitated for too long.
I hid Arthur.
"You... what?" Ludwig asked. That made no sense. Did it?
Then the three were hit by a memory. Berwald's memory. An alleyway, two teenagers, one with a gun, one with orders. A flash of moments, a controlling voice. Repression. Control. Chaos born from being controlled and not knowing how. It came so suddenly that Ludwig only saw stars in his eyes for a few moments. Tino felt dizzy. Peter kept blinking hard, as if he was having trouble seeing reality.
"You... you created the Magician?" Ludwig asked as the stars cleared.
"Arthur tried to kill me?!" Tino exclaimed, surprised and horrified. He had never known.
"You made Arthur forget how Lizzy died," Peter stated, accusation thick. "You... Why would you do that to him?" Peter was one of the few people that knew exactly how important Lizzy was to Arthur. When Peter had moved in with his older brother, Arthur had still had photos of Lizzy here and there. They had gradually disappeared as Peter asked more questions about her, but it didn't take a genius to make a connection.
And now Peter knew why Arthur was always so reluctant to talk of her. Why he seemed to be at a loss when he did mention her. Berwald had taken away the memory of why she was no longer around, forced Arthur to repress it, to forget it. That was... that was beyond cruel.
It was either kill him or spare him. I had to.
"But you only spared him, because you didn't want me to mourn. If he hadn't been my friend, you would have..." Tino started, then he took a step back. "I... I need a moment." This was too much for Tino. He felt like scales were falling off his eyes and for the first time in his life, he could see clearly and it was horrifying. His entire life was coming undone from this one revelation, all his past observations clicking into place to show him the full picture, that he wasn't just a Super in a family of non-powered humans, but he was a hero in a family of villains.
From this one revelation, he was able to understand his family member's past actions, strange paperwork with strange messages and numbers, strange men that came to their home in the middle of the night.
Nothing in this world felt steady. He involuntarily leaned on Ludwig for support, back turned to Berwald, unable to look at him. Even Berwald was mixed up in this, another victim to his family's schemes that dated back for... For what must be centuries, all those stories of ancestor exploits...
The distress in Tino made Berwald's heart twist. Tino was his closest friend, the only family he had ever known. Seeing his friend in so much pain triggered an emotion he couldn't suppress. The wave of regret hit the trio like a brick wall and triggered Peter's rage.
With raised fists turned to steel, Peter began throwing punch after punch at the older Super, not caring if he landed a hit or not.
"Now you regret sparing Arthur?! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Peter hollered, not realising that every punch had missed its mark. Berwald's distress heightened and he accidentally thought out loud "If I had done what I was told, Tino wouldn't know now. He wouldn't be in this situation."
That did absolutely nothing to pacify Peter. With Tino now steady on his own feet again, Ludwig hurriedly held the tween back. If the situation wasn't so serious, Ludwig would have been amused to discover the dissimilar Kirkland brothers had a short temper in common. As it was, all of this was overwhelming to him. He prided himself on being fairly aware of the world around him, so to have such a conspiracy explode in his face was a bit uncomfortable.
It didn't help that he was missing so many pieces. He knew enough to recognise the name Väinämöinen. They were a ridiculously rich family, had been for generations. Apparently, they were somehow involved with the disaster, if the looks of Tino was anything to go by.
"All this time, you knew what was going on? Where you ever going to do something about it?" Ludwig asked. He had the disadvantage of being a stranger to Mr. Scary, so his questions didn't sting nearly as much. But much like Peter, Ludwig wasn't stupid either. He was excellent at deducing the truth. So he decided to try asking some harder questions.
"You were going to let everyone die, weren't you? You would drop the Mr. Scary persona, convince... control Tino into giving up Young Santa and you would then continue doing... whatever it is you do. Bodyguard Tino, I suppose? Maybe act as a restrainer to him? The hostages die, Arthur dies and you and Tino go about your day-to-day lives, pretending you were powerless to do anything to help. Right?"
Berwald glared. Ludwig hadn't believed it possible, but apparently there were scarier glares than those of the Magician. This didn't mean Ludwig cowered. Instead, he steeled himself. He had been threatened by larger, more malicious people. Berwald, though scary in appearance, simply did not compare.
I'm not a hero, Berwald finally announced. It was an explanation, an excuse. But those four words strung into a thought, came with a cocktail of emotions. Sadness, regret... This was how things were to Berwald. This was his role in life, to do whatever evil was deemed necessary for the survival of the Väinämöinen family. He was a born villain.
"No," Tino interrupted the flow of thought. He slowly turned to Berwald with an intense glare. "You are. You are a hero. You know that. We've been wearing our masks for too long for you to say... We've experienced too much for... You... You are not who they made you to be. Yes, maybe you weren't always as heroic as you could have been, but who ever is?! You were always so concerned with protecting me from... my family... You made bad decisions. But now I know. I know the truth, Berwald. So now you have a choice. You can let me help you, we can do something about the wrongdoings of my family. Or you can make me, make us forget. You can protect me forever, but be trapped in a prison of your own making. Or we can be friends and you can fight alongside me. So what will it be?"
Ludwig had never really gotten to know Young Santa and Mr. Scary. He had only ever met them in passing. But he had heard from other heroes of how inspirational Young Santa was, that he was somehow purer than even boy scout super hero wonder America. He had always thought such a notion was ridiculous, but now he could see it. This pure innocence of Young Santa was not born of naïvite, as he had been led to believe.
It was optimism. Hope. Knowledge, belief, complete faith that you could better yourself. That it was never too late to turn back. Tino was also, it seemed, quick to forgive. He had taken a moment to collect himself, then decided to just forgive Berwald. Offer his proverbial hand. Let Berwald decide what happened next. And it was a step beyond the goodness of even America.
Young Santa certainly lived up to being a saint.
Personally, Ludwig didn't want to trust Mr. Scary. Wouldn't have, if Tino weren't there. But apparently, Tino had such faith in his friend that even learning that Berwald had essentially created the Magician, had controlled both Tino and Arthur into submission... He still believed Berwald could and would do the right thing. And if Tino believed that... Then Ludwig could try to believe too (and maybe extent the courtesy to Arthur once this was over...)
It was silent for a few moments, Berwald torn between the two loyalties, his past as a servant, his past as a friend. Finally, the man made a decision and the unease melted away, replaced by strength and determination.
"I know where my colleague is," Berwald spoke aloud. It was mumbled, almost indiscernible, but all three had understood him anyway. "We go to him, we can stop the Magician. But... You must know. My masters, they are powerful."
"You can explain this in detail later, Berwald. For now, we focus on doing what is right, consequences be... darned," Tino finished lamely, remembering Peter was present. He cleared his throat. "The right thing to do is save the hostages. And Arthur. And if it means going through this colleague of yours, then I say, we do it!" Tino announced. The other three cheered. It felt a little weird for them, but Tino had said it with such enthusiasm, a lack of cheer would have been conspicuous.
"Hang on... Tino, can you give me a moment? I should catch the rest of the Dream Team up with... what we've discovered," Ludwig asked.
"Oh. Sure. Go ahead. I should get changed before going into battle anyway. Don't want my secret identity uncovered. Again," Tino politely replied. "Berwald, stay here. I'll be back in a jiffy with our costumes. Ok? Ok," he stated, before shrinking down and zooming off. Berwald watched Tino disappear, then watched as Ludwig moved away and... started playing on his... phone?
Then he noticed Peter. The child was glaring at him.
Peter? Berwald prompted.
"Tino might have forgiven you, but I won't. Not ever," he hissed.
Peter...
"No! I don't want to hear it! Arthur is the only thing I've got left of my mother and you were willing to let him die! Well fuck you old man! I never needed you or your stupid Swedish food, which tasted super gross by the way!"
With that, Peter stormed off to stand by Ludwig, making sure to always keep his back to Berwald.
Berwald slumped with sadness. This had not been his intention, not at all. But, he knew enough about Peter to know that his temper was not long lived and he rarely held grudges. Perhaps this would pass. For now... For now he had screwed up. And there was no way to fix it.
You have been added to group chat *INSERT_NAME_HERE*
Ludwig: I've got some information for you, it will help defeat the Magician.
Gilbert: What a coincidence. We have something to tell you too.
Elizaveta was not a damsel in distress that constantly needed saving. She would make a pitiful photographer if she spent a majority of her time incapable of taking photographs. However that didn't mean she didn't get into sticky situations. This one was by far the worst. Jeanne's dead body still lay where it had been shot. The air stank of rusted iron. Elizaveta was doing her best not to look. Not to think about it.
The tears kept coming.
She didn't know what time it was, but she was certain it had to be past four, possibly even coming up to four-thirty. Elizaveta was next in line to die. She needed to get out before then.
Now would be a great time to escape. The Magician was, for lack of a better word, dormant. Since sending the Dream Team off into the distance, he had sat back down in his chair and... ceased moving. With exception of slow, regular breaths, there was no sign of the Magician- of Arthur being there at all.
Made sense. Elizaveta was perhaps the only person aware that Arthur was currently not in control of his body. Some bastard from New York (his accent was pretty obvious) was using her friend as a puppet. It made her blood boil. Anger was seeping out just as much as fear and sadness. This violation was another reason her tears kept coming. She knew Arthur wouldn't... would never... Even if he was the Magician. He wouldn't- couldn't stoop that low.
Yes, there was the whole thing where the Magician had threatened her, but she was sure he had some kind of explanation for that. It didn't excuse his actions, but an explanation wouldn't not help. As things were though, she may never get to hear one. If she didn't figure a way out soon.
But what was the point? She had already been stuck here for hours, unable to figure a way out. And now, she was suddenly going to know how to get out? Just like that? Who was she kidding, she was going to die here and lie in her own pool of blood, just like Jeanne...
No. She had to stop thinking like that. She was the only one who knew the full plan. Sam and Sal were likely to live, irrelevant of the circumstance. The Magician's great, evil plan was nothing more than camouflage for that Bastard from New York's machinations. The true targets had always been Jeanne Ofarcher, Aquangel, Mr Scary and herself. For knowing too much. For being loose ends.
Arthur was going to die too.
It made sense. This whole nightmare was about tying up loose ends. Oh, she had hoped at least Arthur would live through this ordeal, but having had several hours to do nothing but contemplate, she had come to the realisation that Arthur likewise knew too much. She had originally thought he was being used as a patsy, that he would have to live in order to serve as that. But patsies didn't always live. And Arthur couldn't live. He had already proven himself dangerous without his powers.
After all is actions as the Magician, she doubted anyone would be stupid enough to let someone like the Magician live. She reckoned Arthur would be commanded to commit suicide. That way, no one would get an answer for why he had wanted Aquangel and Mr Scary dead and everyone would blame everything that had happened on him. No one would think to look for that Bastard from New York. Since it was all the Magician's fault. Since it was the Magician that had concocted this misery.
She needed to get out.
Four lives were on the line. One had already been lost.
If the best police detective in all of New Pond couldn't get out, how exactly did Elizaveta, a photographer, think she was going to escape? An ordinary woman with ordinary skills. She looked over to her fellow journalists.
Sam and Sal had long since given up. Unlike her, their tears had dried up and they just looked down at the floor in defeat. Probably thinking of their friends and families, what they did and didn't say. In the end, the two were just normal people doing their jobs. They hadn't come to work this morning, expecting to be kidnapped, held hostage and threatened. They didn't know what to do. They probably just wanted to go home.
Elizaveta just wanted to go home.
She rattled against the handcuffs. Nothing budged, naturally, but she did get Sam and Sal's attention. For a moment. Then they went back to looking at the floor. She rattled again. This time, the Magician stirred. His head turned in her direction. So he wasn't completely shut off from the world. Either that, or that Bastard from New York was watching her through the visor.
Unable to speak, she continued rattling. The sound filled the silent room. Arthur kept watching her. Noise... Would noise wake him up? Maybe? She stomped her feet, bashed her hip against the pole she was attached to, creating all sorts of noise, but the Magician didn't budge from his chair. After several minutes of this, she gave up.
She wished she knew how to dislocate her thumbs.
"You're going to die next," the Magician suddenly informed her. There was empathy there, regret. It almost sounded like Arthur, but his voice was just a little too flat. She felt hope swell in her chest. Perhaps the way out was staring her in the face.
Then, whatever had stirred the Magician to life had passed and he went limp again. Elizaveta went limp too.
If only she could speak. Maybe she could talk to him, maybe she could do something, but... No. Her eyes fell on Jeanne again. No. She should have followed Aquangel out of that warehouse. She should have called the police sooner. She should have called Gilbert. Oh, she really should have called Gilbert. The way the cards were being played right now, it looked like that Bastard was going to win.
The tears came back again.
Then the lights went out.
Alex observed his laptop screen. He had lost control of the city. This was bad. Rather predictably, it seemed the Supers had decided not to surrender, but to fight back. He hadn't counted on them looking for help outside of New Pond though. Some guy in Estonia had hacked his way into every digital device in New Pond. With exception of his laptop, of course.
It was a great irritation. All the data on New Pond super heroes indicated that this would not happen, which meant there were unaccounted variables involved in this situation. This straight-forward plan had quickly turned pear-shaped and could easily go downhill from here. With unknown variables at play, he needed to cut his losses. He couldn't risk getting caught and damaging his reputation as a damn good cleaner.
His reputation was damaged anyway, but it could get worse.
Still, some good had to come of this little misadventure.
He was here to kill Aquangel. Aquangel had not yet surfaced. And despite his efforts, Arthur had not only successfully protected the secret identities of other Supers, but also the whereabouts of Aquangel, who she was staying with, where she was hiding.
It was infuriating. This was supposed to be simple, easy even.
Oh, the gossip had claimed that plans tended to go south in New Pond. Perhaps he should have taken it a bit more seriously.
So he couldn't kill Aquangel. Fine. But he knew Mr. Scary was a loose end that needed tying up. He could put up a bounty for the death of Mr. Scary, whoever he may be. From there, it wouldn't take long for someone to kill him. That should neaten things up somewhat.
And on the bright side, they had finally caught themselves Arthur Redcoat. The search for him had once upon a time been quite high, but as the years passed, people assumed he would either come back to bite them in the ass or he would simply remain a loose end they were unable to tie up.
And now they had him on a silver platter.
Time to push up the schedule then. With Supers doing who knew what and Alex dropped in the dark, he had no choice but to kill the hostages. Afterwards, he would use the Magician to ensure his safe escape, before little Mr. Arthur Kirkland then wandered off into New Pond's forests and killed himself.
He leaned forward to the microphone and lowly purred "Kill the hostages, Artie. All of them. As the Magician, of course. Afterwards, meet me on the roof of the Karpusi Bank."
Yes, of course, came the telepathic response from upstairs.
Good. That was that done then.
Alex began grabbing his things and prepared to leave.
Meanwhile, the Magician sprang to life. He jumped to his feet and reached into his coat pocket, walking towards Elizaveta.
"The power was cut, which I have no choice but to assume can only mean the Dream Team want to save Aquangel and Mr. Scary. So, as I promised, I'm afraid I have to kill you all now," he calmly informed them with an eerie smile on his lips. Elizaveta had by now cried out her eyes. So, instead she stood tall, eyes fierce, daring even. The Magician didn't react to this, though he did say "You should know, I really appreciated you being in my life, Miss Elizaveta. It's a shame it's come to this."
He lifted up his gun, pointing it at her temple. She resisted the temptation to close her eyes. If she was going to die, she was going to die staring at her murderer, dammit. She could hear her heart beat between her ears, her mouth was dry.
Then she realised it was taking Arthur too long to pull the trigger. She tried to look at his face. Was that... hesitation? He had her at gunpoint and now he was... hesitating? Was he fighting back? But why now? Why not with Jeanne?
Maybe it was because Jeanne had been a policewoman. A threat to Arthur. But Elizaveta was just a photographer. A friend. Maybe... Just maybe... That was enough to make something in Arthur resist. Maybe...
BANG.
The bullet hit the wall. Arthur growled. Silence fell.
Elizaveta's ears were ringing. He had failed to kill her. At pointblank range. He aimed at her again, but his time, his finger was clearly refusing to pull at the trigger.
Arthur...? Elizaveta wondered. She felt hope surge. Arthur saw her as a friend, someone not to kill. Maybe... Maybe that would be enough?
He threw the gun to the side.
"Fine. It seems I'm having difficulties with guns. We'll just have to do this differently," he snapped angrily.
His eyes behind the visor lit up and she felt a pressure around her neck. She panicked. He was going to use his powers to snap her neck or strangle her to death. She could feel it. There was no pressure, perhaps he was resisting still, but this time... It wouldn't be enough. This was how she was going to die.
She might have reacted in fear if she hadn't, after reaching this conclusion, then immediately noticed that for some reason... The Magician was... sinking into the floor? It certainly distracted the Magician.
"What the f..." he started, then disappeared entirely into the floor. Nervous and confused, Elizaveta let out a sigh of relief. Looking over to Sam and Sal, she found they were just as confused and relieved. The Magician had just been swallowed up by the floor. How. Why. She didn't understand...
Then the lights in the room all lit up. She flinched at the change in lighting, but was pleased to see it nonetheless. The shutters opened, daylight streamed into the studio. It was like a terrible trial was over and she was allowed to see the sun again.
But... wasn't there a power outage? How was this...
Someone cleared their throat and they all looked to the door.
"Someone order some super heroes?" Red Blitz halfheartedly asked, leaning against the door frame, accompanied by Inviso, Brillo and... two guys accompanied by way to many cats. If Elizaveta hadn't been so emotionally drained, she would have screamed hysterically.
Alex had already shifted himself in gear, almost out of the building, when he realised what was happening with the Magician. His little pet villain had been ambused and unfortunately, the mind-controlled idiot was still following the order to kill the hostages.
He was ignoring his attackers, focused on returning to the hostages and killing them.
Rolling his eyes at the continued problem of mind-control, Alex was forced to sit down, open up his laptop and sort this idiot out. He spoke into the microphone "Artie, I want you to fight anyone who gets in your way. Kill them if necessary. Your first priority is preventing anyone from removing your helmet. Second priority is killing Elizaveta Hedévàry and Angélique da Gama. Third priority is join me at the Bank. Kill anyone that follows you."
He watched the Magician begin attacking the super dorks that had tried to stop an unquestionably more powerful Super. This was why Alex liked working for his people. They at least had enough brains to realise when they were outgunned, outwitted and overpowered.
He closed his laptop and decided to continue leaving. Who knew how many other idiots were in the building.
Just as he stood to leave, someone grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him back. Alex let out a choking noise as this happened.
He was roughly thrown to the ground, hard enough that for a moment, he saw nothing but stars. When they cleared, he found several Supers standing in a circle around him, looking down at him. One looked particularly angry.
"Hello. My name is Allure. I believe you are the man responsible for killing Jeanne Ofarcher. I have words to speak with you," he lowly growled. For a moment, Alex was too stunned to react. He had no idea when or how these Supers had surrounded him, how he had suddenly lost his upper hand and been found out so quickly.
Then a grin split across his face.
"Hello Allure. Company. Charmed to meet you."
Hi. I didn't mean to slip into the void for that long.