Chapter 15 - Luke II
Luke walked besides Marissa and Jess, the former pushing the latter's wheelchair. His hands were opening and closing in an endless loop. He had tried to stop the motion at first but like a tick it started again after he stopped paying attention to it. Since he had seen how easily Pantheon had taken out the local parahumans, Luke hadn't been able to stop his worry that they were going to be next.
He had told Francis that they had to move on, Brockton Bay was becoming too hot for them. Francis of course vehemently refused, not even really listening. It was getting extremely frustrating. If it had been just a month ago, they would have already been gone long ago. Unfortunately Coil had somehow convinced Francis completely and Luke soon realized that their leader was willing to gamble their whole group on the chance that the man wasn't lying to them.
Luke hadn't been able to nap more than a couple hours since that revelation. He had the niggling feeling that Coil would be just fine with using them up and throwing them out afterwards, which made it very difficult to fall asleep.
Now they were going to have another meeting with their employer and get their next assignment. As they neared the villains office, the door opened and the little girl they had kidnapped walked out, her skin pale and her eyes glassy as she looked at them for a moment. Luke frowned at the empty look in her eyes before Coils personal assistant gently led her away down another hallway. She didn't look well at all. What was Coil doing with her?
Then, when she had rounded a corner, their leader practically skipped out of the office, a massive grin on his face. "Good news guys, Coil has managed to hire a really powerful precog which should make healing Noelle a lot easier."
Luke almost rolled his eyes. Coil had really found Francis' weak point. All he had to do was mention Noelle and their leader was puddy in the villains hands.
"That's great!" Marissa answered, happy about good news for once. "When do they start?"
Francis' grin suddenly turned down quite a bit. "I tried to argue with him but he promised to start right after we complete our current mission."
"And what is it?" Jess asked apathetically, her arms crossed. "Not another escort mission I hope?"
"No, no. I'll tell you on the way." Their leader waved them to follow him. Luke had the feeling that he was deliberately keeping some distance. "Just a repeat of something we did when we arrived."
"Kidnapping a kid you mean?" Luke decided to answer, surprising himself with the growl in his voice. Could Coil be any more of a piece of shit. Since coming to Earth Bet they had worked with a lot of people but nobody had rubbed him the wrong way like that snake wearing fuck.
Francis stopped when he noticed nobody was following him and turned back around.
"We should just leave." Marissa suddenly spoke up, looking at the rest of them, her brows knitted tight. "We should just leave and try somewhere else. I'm sure there are other…"
"We are so close to getting Noelle help and now you want to complain?" Francis suddenly growled, his earlier friendly and happy smile long gone. There was just a manic look in his eyes now. "Noelle has endured all this time and now that we are almost there you want to fucking bail?"
Luke stayed silent but his thoughts churned. Noelle, Noelle, Noelle. What about the rest of the team? Didn't Francis see what he was doing by accepting assignments like that. Didn't he see how Marissa slumped, her knuckles almost white on the handles of the wheelchair or how Jess swallowed, the crack in her apathy showing pure exhaustion? Didn't he see how Oliver was more withdrawn than ever? Their friend barely spoke five words since they had arrived in the city. Was he just ignoring that Cody had already left?
Even Luke himself was getting more and more frustrated.
It was like he was trying to unite the team against himself.
Francis stalked closer, looming over Jess and Marissa with his greater height. "You…"
Luke stepped between them, using his bulk to ward him off. "Francis, things are fucked in this city, can't you see that?"
Their leader stopped in front of him, a ray of emotions running over his face: Anger, frustration, desperation. Then he backed up, a forced affable grin on his lips. "I know but we have to stay for just a bit longer, only until Noelle is better, and then we can go back to how things were. Noelle deserves that much at least."
At that moment Luke realized that Francis was never going to stop. Even if they got out of the city, the next unscrupulous person would be able to exploit them again as long as they dangled Noelle's health in front of Francis' nose.
Luke exchanged a silent glance with Marissa, they both now aware that their friend was completely off his rocker.
They silently filed into the truck, this time with one of Coil's mercenaries as a driver, and took off towards a street out of the city. It didn't take long for Francis to start babbling again, talking about how Coil had found Purity's location. It would just take a quick swap from him and they would be done.
Nobody answered him as they exited the highway onto a country road about fifteen minutes outside the city limits. The streets were plowed until they took a right and the road almost disappeared under a fresh snow layer. Besides a single car waiting for them to pass they didn't encounter anyone else. Soon the van rolled to a stop.
"Guys, I can see the house." Francis announced, the wooden gable roof of a large farmhouse just visible off in the distance. It was still a couple minutes hike away but Francis could be there really quickly if he used the debris in the forest to swap himself closer. "Coil said that Pantheon is busy elsewhere so it should be easy to get in and out. Wait here and I'll be…"
Suddenly their car shook, and Luke grabbed the handle on the door. With wide eyes he felt the tires leave the road and they slowly drifted upwards. He grabbed his steel bearing out of his pocket, ready to start shooting as soon as he saw whoever was responsible for their sudden movement.
Marissa was already building her sun next to him, the flickering flame between her hands slowly becoming more substantial.
Behind them Jess was already asleep, a bubble of some kind growing out of her, unfurling tentacles stabilizing the creature inside the van before pulling a door open and scrambling outside while it continued to inflate.
Even their driver scrambled for his phone, pressing a button before throwing it to the ground, and grabbing his hand gun instead.
Then Francis vanished from the car, a dead piece of snow covered wood now on the passenger seat, and Luke could see him appear back on the ground. Then his leader was pulled back into the sky, like someone had yanked him upwards. He vanished again, replaced by a wooden stump, and again he was pulled out of the forest towards them, hitting a tree with his foot in the process and sending him into a spin. It happened a couple times more before Francis finally slumped, cradling an arm to his side and let himself be pulled towards the car completely.
They were almost at the treetops before they finally stopped.
The now well known dark figure of Markus Leon slowly rose into view at their front, his hands clasped behind his back.
The mercenary started shooting, blowing holes into the glass.
Luke imparted some substantial momentum into two steel bearings to send at the other parahuman. The windshield was completely destroyed, the holes from his projectiles almost ripping the safety glass from the car's frame. Even with all that Luke wasn't very optimistic that they would be able to do anything against the other man.
He was immediately proven right when Markus didn't seem to notice their attacks, not even flinching when Luke's bearings entered his body.
Jess' monster wasn't far behind, jumping from the roof at their enemy, tentacles and poisonous barbs poised to strike. The gravity controller just nodded and the creature lost all forward momentum, dropping like a rock before crashing into the forest floor down below.
The mercenary's gun clicked empty a moment later and the forest returned to its earlier silence.
Finally Marissa's sun manifested, the sound almost like igniting a gas stove. Luke immediately felt warmer even in the area protected by Marissa's body. She sent her glowing orb out through the side, the heat almost immediately melting through the door window before it zipped around at their opponent.
Even though Markus still didn't move, the sun missed him just by a hair. Marissa swung it back around and missed again. The woman was now gritting her teeth, her hand stretched out as she tried to force contact but it was slipping off something. It was like watching the moon orbit the earth, the ball of superheated material growing bigger as it just missed the Pantheon leader every time.
"Are you done?" Markus finally asked when Marissa let her arm fall down and stopped controlling the sun but it still stayed in a solid orbit around him. She looked more annoyed than he had seen her in a long time.
Luke nodded after a moment's thought. He had checked if he could jump down as well but they were now too high up. Additionally, after Jess' monster had exited the vehicle, none of the doors were letting themselves be opened. They were trapped and at his mercy.
When everyone had nodded, except the sleeping Jess, the passenger door opened by itself and the piece of dead wood was pulled out to be replaced by their bloody leader. When they had started blasting he had clearly tried to escape again with just as much success as before. Close up Francis looked horrible, still breathing hard and obviously in severe pain, he just slumped in the car seat trying to keep his broken arm stable.
They all had the same defeated look on their face.
"I never expected Coil to attack me directly." Markus said, looking them over with his unreadable face. "Especially with you. He must be getting desperate."
Luke frowned, not knowing himself what Coil had been thinking when he sent them here even if he thought Markus was out of the house. Had he miscalculated or… Were they the real distraction? The thought that they had been sacrificed filled him with anger, at Coil and at himself who had trusted Francis to not screw them over with his reckless decisions.
"How about you sell Coil out?" Markus offered after nobody replied, Francis groaning in pain the only sound in the car. "And in exchange I'll help you with Noelle instead, I have an actual way to improve her situation."
As one the Travellers stiffened and stared with wide eyes at the other parahuman. Francis wheezed while Marissa swallowed in fear. Luke himself clenched his hands, his gloves creaking. Even Jess' monster, which had flown back to the car and was now hanging on its side, stilled its movements.
"How, how about you go fuck yourself." Finally Francis answered through gritted teeth, practically spitting at the offer.
Luke looked at the back of his leader's head in disbelief. "Trickster! Let's hear him out! If we die here, everything will be for nothing."
"Shut up!" Francis shouted, hissing in pain as he moved his arm. "Even if we die, Coil will help her!"
This time it was Marissa that snorted. She didn't have to say anything, even Coils mercenary looked at Francis like he was crazy. Luke was tempted to strangle the psycho. Their lives were in the hands of someone who had already shown no remorse for eliminating his opponents, their only way out was making a deal. How couldn't he see that?
"I know things like that take time to think over." Markus answered, seemingly not bothered by the hostility. Luke had the feeling he had already dismissed Francis all together. His attention was now solely on him and Marissa. "I'm IntoTheDarkHole on PHO if you want to contact me once you have made a decision."
Luke nodded and saw Marissa do the same. He couldn't believe it. They wanted to attack his home and kidnap his teammate's child and he just let them go…
"I also hope you have a good landing strategy." Markus laughed before their car suddenly rocketed over the treetops and towards Brockton Bay.
The Travelers screamed in unison.
AN: This is the twentieth time I have now sent the Travelers to kidnap Purity's child. Surely this time it has to work. - Coil probably