Unfortunately, Orion was wrong about Adelpha being at breakfast. To their dismay, her usual place at the dining room table was still empty when they arrived. The rest of the clan didn't seem to notice, or at least, they pretended not to. Lyra, having been relieved of Bonnie, had joined her rookery, who were all standing excitedly around Coldfire as she gave them a demonstration of her flame-throwing capabilities. Lark and Lyndon bounced about, asking more and more questions, while Fleet kept searching for things that Coldfire could burn. Meanwhile, Linnet was overseeing the portioning of the hatchlings' plates, while the other adults conversed over their meals. All except for Lexington, who was perched on a stool, laser focused on the screen of his laptop, beside a mug of coffee that had already stopped steaming.
Orion noticed that Xanatos had indeed returned from his trip early and had joined the clan in the dining room. He stood apart from the group though, conversing with Brooklyn near the open door to the courtyard, and studying Coldstone and Coldfire with his typical, calculating gaze.
Brooklyn looked up expectantly as Orion entered with Sister and Bonnie. Sister groaned softly in anticipation of the wrath that was to come after her outburst the night before.
"Remember what Goliath said," Orion prodded her.
"I know. I know," she answered wearily and made her way toward the commanding officer.
"I'm sorry, Brooklyn," she said simply, not looking up from the floor.
"Oh really?" he asked, giving Xanatos a knowing eye roll. Xanatos reached to lift Sister's head and she scowled impertinently at them both.
"Now that is the very face of repentance," Xanatos commented snidely and it was time for Sister to roll her eyes.
"I can do some chores," she suggested, "To make up for it."
"Every piece of training equipment in the rookery, scrubbed and sterilized, until it glistens like one of Dracon's crime scenes," Brooklyn told her.
"Okay."
"And the pool in the rookery sunroom," he added for good measure.
"Fine."
"All that, and no further rudeness, and we'll call this a genuine apology."
"Fine," she repeated a little coldly despite her relief that the conversation was over, and turned quickly to take her place at the table, but Brooklyn gently caught her wing joint, drawing her back toward him.
"Hey!" he said, demanding her attention, "For the record, I care about Adelpha too. This isn't what I want. But there's a lot more going on here than you realize."
"Can we at least visit her?" she pleaded, "She shouldn't be all alone in there like some kind of prisoner!"
"You act right at breakfast and I'll take you down there myself," he promised and Sister nodded her agreement and quickly took her seat.
Orion turned to her as she perched on a stool.
"What did he say?" he asked earnestly.
"He gave me a punishment, but he says we can visit Adelpha with him after breakfast."
Micah came behind them and gave Sister's tail a tug.
"Should I have the tantrum now?" he asked in a whisper.
"No," Orion told him firmly, and Micah walked away, looking a little disappointed.
The conversation during breakfast was energetic and cheerful, which was astounding to Orion, considering all that was going on. Did the grownups not know that Elisa had suffered a bad reaction to her treatment? Did they not realize that Adelpha was being unjustly held captive in her room? How could they just sit and eat cheerfully this way, as if everything was just fine? He considered that they might be pretending, in order to protect the younger hatchlings so they wouldn't be worried. Perhaps that is what grownups have to do? Conceal their sorrows and anxieties and focus on the joyful things in life, so as not to burden others? Maybe they had always done this?
After all, the clan spent night after night hunting and catching terrorists, gangsters, human-traffickers, and generalized thugs. Surely they had seen all sorts of horrors that might have broken their souls, if they had not been able to find peace in beauty, family, and a greater purpose. Orion knew that in the old days, the Manhattan clan had been hunted by the Quarrymen and, even now, the clan had many enemies and the constant threats of Thailog and the Dracon syndicate looming over them. It was an unnerving thought, that all through his childhood, the grownups had been suffering through these tribulations without Orion even knowing anything was wrong. How had they coped? As he considered all this, he felt himself overwhelmed with a sense of admiration and sympathy for his clan elders. He hoped that they would show him the secret, now that he was older and training to become a warrior. If he learned to do the same, they could confide more in him and let him carry some of the burden with them.
Orion glanced over at Sister, who was fussily picking at the blueberries in her oatmeal while the adults spoke over her head. She didn't look up as the subject turned to Coldsteel again. Apparently, Lexington would be off patrol for the next few weeks, as he and Xanatos worked together to render Coldsteel's machanical vessel harmless and devise an appropriate prison for him. As the project was discussed, Coldstone grew silent. It was difficult for Orion to guess the reactions of the two cyborgs to the discussion at the table, as their metallic faces expressed no emotion, but he noticed Coldstone's living eye moving anxiously around the room.
Orion also noticed an unusual disposition in David Xanatos. He was normally friendly and outgoing around the clan, even to the point of being overbearing at times, but now, he did not join them at the table, but stood to the side with a countenance that could only be described as grim. Orion wondered what was troubling the normally confident and optimistic man. As he studied him curiously, Xanatos met his gaze and flashed him one of his typical cocksure smiles and Orion was a little surprised to find himself relieved. Orion knew that Goliath and Brooklyn didn't always think highly of Xanatos' ways, which were often arrogant, reckless, and sometimes even ruthless, but Orion couldn't imagine that any situation that left such a powerful, adventurous man looking bothered was going to turn out well for the clan.
Coldstone had begun to speak again, reiterating to the clan how important it was that Coldsteel not be allowed to interact with anyone, including members of the clan, lest he succeed in pitting them against one another and convincing them to tear the clan apart. Sister, who had been silent throughout the meal, bristled at this comment and Orion could already guess the snide comment that was balanced precariously on the tip of her tongue. He smacked her leg under the table with the tip of his tail and gave her a pleading look, which caused her to reluctantly swallow her scorn and hide her face in her cereal bowl.
Coldstone continued, with Coldfire interjecting occasionally and the clan listened in suspense as they described how they had discovered their enemy's most recent plot, which had finally led to his capture.
Coldsteel had found a landlord, who owned millions of dollars in both commercial and residential property in Cleveland, Ohio. The young man had reluctantly inherited the modest empire from his father and an uncle, and though he'd never really enjoyed the business, it had provided a beautiful life for himself, his wife and their two young daughters. So, while he could never bring himself to sell it, he was more than pleased when he received a strange offer. A prototype of a custom-made, robotic middle-man, was designed by none other than Xanatos Enterprises. The robot could be programmed to manage any business and perform any task. The bored and over-stressed millionaire could trust this well-programmed machine to run his affairs, collect the payments owed, and do the majority of maintenance on the properties while he went off to play with his family on their Lake Erie yacht. Of course, he eagerly agreed to the free trial period, and had no qualms about making Coldsteel a permanent part of his business.
Coldsteel had deceived the man for years, letting him believe that he was merely an AI powered machine, expertly programmed to manage the tasks and information necessary to run a business. As a result, Coldsteel had been mostly left free to do as he wished, stealing blatantly from his "owner" and his clients and amassing himself more wealth, power, and freedom than he could have ever imagined.
"What did he do with it?" Brooklyn asked them urgently, clearly disturbed by the possibilities of what Coldsteel could have accomplished with all that power.
'He turned them against the man," Coldfire explained, "He wanted control of the company, yes, but that could not appease him. Coldsteel was like a parasite that couldn't rest until he had consumed his host!"
Most of the clan was fully engrossed in the story now, except for the youngest hatchlings who had wandered from the table to feed bits of cereal to Bronx.
"But what did he do to him?" Orion asked, "Did he kill him?"
"No," Coldfire answered in a bleak voice, "What he did to him was worse than killing him."
"I highly doubt that," Sister answered skeptically. Orion suspected from her tone and disinterested facial expression that she found both of the clan's long lost members to be a bit over dramatic and self-righteous.
"Child," Coldstone addressed her in a firm tone, "There are assaults on the mind and soul that are far crueler and more damaging than any that can be waged on the body."
Bristling again at having been addressed so sanctimoniously, Sister replied, "I don't see how."
"Coldsteel had nearly full power over his master's company, young one," Coldstone continued, "But no matter how much he bled his wealthy and privileged victim, Coldsteel could not be satiated. The man was so absorbed in his own life, he barely noticed the losses. When he did notice, it caused him little concern. Coldstone knew that the money he was draining from the rich man's fortune, could buy him no solace as he watched this foolish, unworthy specimen of a human revel blissfully in the joys of life and love with his beautiful bride and daughters. The envy festered in him until he vowed that this outrage would not be tolerated."
"So he went after the man's family?" Sister asked, happy that the story was finally going somewhere.
"He went after the man's sanity," Coldstone corrected, "He worked slowly and sneakily, showing the man the false evidence, piece-by-piece, over many months. It was no great feat, really. He naturally had complete access to both his and his wife's Google accounts, bank accounts, and social media. Though the loyal and loving husband discredited all the evidence at first, Coldsteel slowly dripped droplets of poisonous doubt into his victim, filling him with anxiety, then betrayal, as he made him believe that the woman he loved had been the one stealing the funds from his accounts.
Next, he led the man to even more maliciously crafted evidence of his wife's infidelity. He planted the untrusting soul's internet profile with doctored photographs of his beloved with their daughter's gymnastics coach, whose class he quickly withdrew his daughter from, his most trusted employee, whose abrupt discharge from the company left Coldsteel even more freedom to work his treachery, and the man's own brother, with whom the man cut off all contact. Isolated and obsessed, the man descended further and further into madness.
Meanwhile, Coldsteel relished in the success of his cruel mission. He pushed his victim further. He filled him with jealousy, rage, and despair, until his spirit inevitably snapped. The wretched man determined that if he could not have the happiness he'd once enjoyed, then his entire empire, including his home, and his family, must be destroyed!"
The young members of the clan gasped at this revelation and Angela gave Brooklyn a questioning look, as if to ask if this was an appropriate story for young ears. It probably wasn't, but they were all fully invested and it was too late to back out of it now.
"It was that terrible night of the fire that Coldstone and I caught up with them," Coldfire continued, "The man had engulfed nearly two city blocks worth of mostly his own property in flames. The fire department had been able to rescue most of his tenants, but he and his family remained trapped inside the mansion.
The situation was impossible for even the brave human firefighters, but the heat resistant alloys that Xanatos had used to design our bodies allowed us to enter amid the flames, retrieve the crazed madman and his terrified family, and deliver them to the medical help they needed in order to survive their injuries."
The clan breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that the family had ultimately been saved, and the hatchlings chattered in admiration of Coldstone and Coldfire's bravery.
"Coldsteel didn't even try to fight us when we took him," Coldstone told them with disdain, 'Hello, Brother!' he greeted me, too enthralled in admiring his own gruesome handiwork to even concern himself with the loss of his freedom.
I said, 'What have you done? You've ruined this man! You've made him a murderer!'
And he replied in the strangest way, with no remorse at all.
'I? I have only revealed the monster that was always there! Why, within just a year, I removed his weak, superficial facade of a carefree existence to reveal the man's true nature underneath. He was no loving husband or honest business man! No, when you scrape the surface just a bit, you find a jealous, suspicious, and vengeful soul, capable of unthinkable evil, and no better than any other! And what right has such a man to happiness? None, of course! And now you and Sister can capture him and put him to justice! Aren't you pleased with me?'
Stunned by this almost unfathomable ranting, the clan fell silent for a moment, before Lexington commented.
"You know, I never liked him."
"I should think not! He's utterly insane!" his mate agreed, "Was he always this way? Or is this some sort of distortion caused by the sorcery that ensouled him into a robot?"
Coldstone and Coldfire each whirred softly as they both shook their heads.
"He was never right," Coldstone told them, "Goliath wished to help him, to guide him down a better path, but…it seems it was not meant to be."
"I'm surprised that Goliath didn't banish him," Ophelia commented with a hint of disdain in her voice.
"We were brethren," Coldstone explained, "He couldn't see sending away our own brother, no matter how much doubt and despair he spread or how many feuds he orchestrated."
"For better or worse," Coldfire agreed, "We were a clan."
"Aye," Coldstone agreed, "But we can no longer afford to wait in foolish hope for our brother's rehabilitation and -
"Goliath's not a fool!" Sister interrupted fiercely from down the table, and everyone turned quickly to face her.
"He didn't say that," Angela told her with a firm voice, that clearly indicated that she was crossing a line.
"It sounded like he was," she grumbled as she tried to refocus her attention on her breakfast.
"It wasn't that, young one," the gruff cyborg assured her, "I have the tremendous love and respect for my brother, and I know his greatest strength is his fairness and mercy. But I also know that Coldsteel can and will hurt this clan if he gets the chance. We must be vigilant and not give it to him.
Sister glanced at Brooklyn and then moped silently into her half-eaten oatmeal. Orion suspected she had a lot to say about the subject, but he was proud of her for holding her tongue for once. He knew she didn't want to jeopardize their chance to see Adelpha after breakfast. The table grew noisier and more light-hearted as the clan fell into side conversations and most found happier topics to discuss. Finally, Brooklyn said,
"I think it's time we clear the table and prepare for our first patrol."
"Brooklyn?" Sister asked hopefully.
"Yes, I haven't forgotten," he assured her and she and Orion both rushed to clear the table without having been asked.
A short time later, Brooklyn was leading them down the corridor to Adelpha's room, as promised. Bonnie accompanied them, skipping along while practicing a song.
"Now I suppose it goes without saying that neither of you is to tell Adelpha anything about Coldstone and Coldfire being here," Brooklyn warned.
"But why?" Orion asked, hoping he didn't sound as whiny to Brooklyn as he sounded to himself.
"Because that isn't what is best for her right now," Brooklyn replied cryptically.
"Fine," Sister grumbled, just anxious to get inside. She didn't want to talk about Coldstone and Coldfire anyway.
"What about her?" Orion asked, pointing a talon at Bonnie.
"You leave her to me," Brooklyn replied confidently, "We have an understanding, don't we Bonnie Boo?"
Bonnie grinned up at him and pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key.
