Broker

With some exquisite presents in hand for the lovely ladies in her life, Ishtar followed Erebus on a brief tour of the rest of his collection. She had to admit, while she was drifting through the vault, that she was kind of short on treasures to show off. After all, what kind of villain didn’t have a gallery of ill-gotten gains to flaunt in front of the heroes? The thought gave Erina hives for some reason, but she thought it was brilliant.

Oh, what about that monument we stole? Sonya asked.

And where are we going to put it on display? Erina pressed.

We digitized it, so we could make it super extra tiny or something, couldn’t we? Sonya suggested.

Sonya… I’m almost positive that’s not how that ability works, Erina said with a sigh.

You’re just saying that because you think a villain vault is gaudy… Sonya pouted.

Class. Elegance. Refinement. Power, Erina insisted.

Pffft! Glamor. Panache. Flair. Skill! Sonya shot back.

Just… pay attention. We’ll talk about this later… Erina conceded.

Ishtar grinned as she floated alongside Erebus. He was standing in front of an armor stand that had a suit of bronze armor. It looked like hoplite gear, but it was a little more angular in the helmet area. He gestured to the breastplate in particular. “It took a bullet at point blank range, but it is clearly made of bronze. Such a fascinating thing,” he said, rubbing his chin. “There are etchings along the inner breastplate that I think are the source of its reinforcement, however…”

“No real way to test it, right?” she asked, squinting at it. “I’m guessing they don’t light up or something?”

“Not at all, I’m afraid,” he chuckled as she floated over his shoulder, tapping her chin. “They aren’t even in a language any researcher I know is familiar with.”

She floated back and shrugged. “Then let it go for now,” Ishtar said lazily, crossing her legs as she drifted backwards through the Vault towards Charon, who was peering at a pair of cufflinks from an Uncommon dungeon and Companion, who was watching them. Ishtar flipped upside down and changed trajectory to get closer to her. “What’s that face for?” she asked with a grin.

Companion paused and then crossed her arms. “You can’t see my face, Mistress.”

Ishtar grinned. “But you were making a face.”

Companion’s arms tightened a little. “I am simply coming to terms with a fact that I should have realized a long time ago, Mistress. Seeing you and King Erebus interact has simply crystalized the realization,” she said diplomatically. She offered a small bow of her head. “Forgive me for staring.”

Ishtar crossed her arms and floated up a bit, squinting at her. “And what might that be?”

“That you are a dirty old man at heart, Mistress,” Companion said with the same politeness she would serve tea with.

Charon snorted off to the side.

Ishtar’s eyes bulged; she whipped towards Charon and then back to Companion. She held her hand over her heart, opened her mouth, closed it, frowned, and squinted down at Companion, who stood there with her face veiled, completely still. Ishtar squinted at her for several seconds before shrugging. “Fair enough.”

“Ha ha ha!” Erebus chortled, walking over to join them. “You have good companions! Sycophants will only ruin you,” he said, clapping a hand over his waist and laughing. “I am glad you brought them!”

Ishtar pulled away a bit and lounged on her side in the air. “Speaking of guests, when are you gonna tell me who else you invited to your little shindig?” she asked.

He raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms. “Aha, already getting to the point are we?”

She raised a finger. “Oh, I got other points, but we’ll start here.”

He threw his head back and laughed, moving his fists to his hips before looking her in the eyes. “Who else would I invite to a party celebrating the visit of the Illustrious Ishtar?” he asked with a dramatic wave in her direction. “I invited villains, of course.” Latest content publıshed on n0velfire.net

Charon stood up and turned to him. “Which ones?”

Erebus raised a finger. “It was a long list of invitations, my undead friend. Suffice to say there are some friends and foes in the mix. But that is the fun of a party on neutral ground, isn’t it?”

Neutral ground, an interesting way of putting it, Erina commented.

“Master Erebus,” Companion cut in with an inclination of her head. “I trust that you did not give the reason for the celebration ahead of time,” Companion said carefully even as her veiled face fixed on the man completely. “I must consider the security-”

He barked out another laugh. “HAH! Of course not! Why spoil the surprise?”

Ishtar grinned. “So everyone’s going in blind then, us included. Sounds like fun.”

Sounds troublesome, Erina commented.

Boo hiss, buzzkill! Sonya jeered.

Did you just-

“You had another point?” Erebus asked, turning his attention squarely on Ishtar. “The real reason you came to visit, I suspect?”

Ishtar pressed her lips together for a moment before sitting up in the air and crossing her legs. “Less a point and more an observation, Erebus,” she said, her mechanical eyes holding his own off-gold gaze. “Your expansion,” she began, her tone switching from her playful lilt to something more serious. She lowered herself towards the ground and stood in the air, her arms crossed behind her back. “I believe you may have pushed the envelope a little too far too quickly, my friend.”

Erebus paused and glanced towards his treasure vault. He hesitated for a moment as his eyes narrowed in consideration. He walked towards one of the displays and rested his hands on it. “My goal is to eliminate the sort of conflict that has plagued this region for centuries, Ishtar,” he said, his tone growing somber. He stood up straight. “Do you believe that sort of goal would allow for half-measures?”

Ishtar tilted her chin up. “Do you think you’ll live long enough to see that goal achieved at this rate?”

His eyes grew hard as his lips formed a tight line. He nodded slowly. “The build-up in western China. I’m aware that the Committee is planning for a push without using portals right away.”

She exhaled. “Then you should understand the trouble. What if they send a group of Internationals? Perhaps they send Black Lotus?” She waved her hand towards his treasures. “You have all this amassed power - quite literally infinite wealth - perhaps you should consider negotiating a truce with the Committee and building up what you have?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Could you not simply call off Black Lotus?” Her frown at the question was answer enough. He exhaled and crossed his arms. “I see. You walk a dangerous tightrope, Ishtar.”

“It’s for my own goal. As you said, no half-measures,” she said without batting an eye at the hypocrisy, her hands raised in an overdramatic shrug. She tilted her head and cracked a grin in his direction.

He stared at her for a heartbeat before snorting then throwing his head back in a barrel laugh. “HA HA HA! AH YES, OF COURSE!” He slapped his thigh. He let out a long breath and looked towards his treasures one more time. His eyes softened a little. “Perhaps now would be a good time for some patience. I am a villain; I feel no shame in reneging on a treaty once my foundations are solid.”

She smirked. “That’s more like it,” she said and gestured towards the exit. “Give it some more thought. How about you and I talk about this party?”

—

Riot leaned against the tree and listened as Saleh spilled his proverbial guts. The guy was absolutely hopping mad. It was kind of funny to watch him unravel like this if it wasn’t also so pathetic. He could only imagine himself doing the same just over a year ago and felt his gut twist, his hands clenching into fists in his pockets. Most of his complaints weren’t even about the larger issue as far as His Majesty was concerned. While Erebus was holding his ground better than Liberty had, he was falling into the same trap as that crazy woman: overextending too quickly. What had he said? Play tall first then switch to a wide strat? Yes, that was it.

“...and then that woman showed up!” Saleh fumed, pacing back and forth.

Riot felt himself draw back into the conversation. “‘That woman’?” he repeated.

“Ishtar!” Saleh barked, pointing at the palace. “She’s in there right now poisoning his mind even more!”

Riot straightened and glanced towards the building. “...She’s inside?” he asked quietly and focused on his ability. Threads stretched from Saleh and into the building, but he couldn’t make any of them out inside without having a direct line of- He looked up. There it was - what he’d seen during the final battle with Liberty - a faint thread of gold stretching up to the sky. It was so faint that if he didn’t concentrate hard enough he would have missed it. A flickering thread that seemed almost loose, like it was waiting to be pulled taught. It stretched from the ground to the heavens and gripped… something. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he could feel it from here. It was one-sided, a claim of some kind, a demand.

She’s here…

“Are you even listening?” Saleh demanded.

Riot shot him a look. “I hear ya, man,” he said and adjusted his glasses, squinting at the thread as it moved around. He turned back to him. “What’s she here for?”

Saleh scoffed. “My father’s hosting some kind of masquerade party. There was a mountain of masks on the shipping manifest the other day.”

Riot rubbed his chin. “Oh, really?” He hummed and pursed his lips. “And what would it take to get into this party?” He glanced at Saleh. “Have I explained how my ability works?”

Saleh stiffened. “...No? What does that have to do with my-”

“I manipulate Karma,” he said with a grin. “Connections between people. I can modify or even sever them.” Or tear them to pieces. The greater their built up karma, the more damage I can do. Someone as famous as Ishtar… it might even be more spectacular than Liberty’s demise.

That got Saleh’s attention. “Sever ties? For example, between my father and Ishtar?”

Riot shrugged. “Sure, why not?” he said. “I could twist it to animosity, if you’d like, or just cut the tie all together. Your preference. Consider it making up for what happened to your brother.”

Saleh waved his hand sharply; his eyes were burning. Riot knew that look. He’d seen it in his own eyes in the mirror and on the faces of many, many others. Obsession. The young master of the Gilded King’s palace clenched his fist. “I couldn’t care less about some messenger. If that’s how you want to justify it, fine. I will get you into that party,” he snarled and put a finger in Riot’s face. “Just keep your word.” He turned on his heel. “Meet me here after nightfall. I’ll get you that invitation.”

Riot’s eye twitched. Rude. “Fine by me,” he said with a grin and reached into his shawl for the pouch he kept his phone in. “See you then.” He tapped a quick text, and a rift portal tore open behind him. “Looking forward to the party.” He stepped backward, and the rift snapped shut.

High above, along the upper walls of the palace, a bird watched Saleh storm back into the palace through dead, sightless eyes.

—

Sonya stood in the suite that Erebus had provided for her in the palace. Her armor had dissipated, and Erina was sitting off to the side. Levi had finally fled Marta’s skirt in favor of his proper place on her shoulder. She scratched the scaly familiar beneath the chin and turned towards Charon. “...He met with someone?” Was it perhaps the source of that strange feeling in Deus Ex Machina?

Charon leaned forward on the couch and rested his hands on his cane. “Yes, there was definitely a second life source there,” he said and tapped his pale right eye. “Grafted ability.”

“Did you overhear anything or see the other person?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nah. They were in a small cluster of trees. If whoever it was had the ability to deal with your observational ability, they’d certainly detect my presence.”

Sonya crossed her arms. “Either way, we can assume the boy is planning something,” she said and glanced towards Erina. “What do you think?”

Erina was sitting in an armchair with a glass of something amber already in her hand. “Kill him and be done with it,” she said flatly. “Specifically, arrange for someone else to do it. The boy seems volatile, and the palace will be crawling with villains tomorrow.”

Sonya frowned. “If something happens to Saleh, my agreement with Erebus is basically null and void,” she said. “That’s not-”

Erina held up a hand. “And what if Saleh has something worse than that in mind?”

For a few heartbeats, Sonya said nothing. She turned away and started to pace the room, her eyes fixed on the floor as she gave what little information they had a second look. The situation didn’t look good if the boy planned on causing some sort of upheaval during the party. Perhaps he had something similar in mind to what Erina had suggested. If he convinces one villain to attack me during the party, in a public way, even if I deal with it… she thought carefully. …if it even remotely looks like Erebus or his family is involved, in front of all those villains?

Erina seemed to see right into her thoughts. “Ishtar cannot look weak. Forgiveness cannot come easily after a betrayal, or at all.”

Tch. I know that.

She kept pacing, stroking Levi’s chin as she tried to think of some answer to the situation that didn’t involve breaking ties with the guy holding onto a significant chunk of her money. That, and she really liked the guy. She reached up to rub the bridge of her nose and tried to put the thoughts in some sort of sensible order, but all she got was the same result. If something happened at the party that was directed at her, she would have to extract some manner of payment.

She gestured to the suite’s kitchenette. “Marta, coffee, please.”

Marta inclined her head. “Of course, Miss,” she said but didn’t move right away. Sonya looked up and met her eyes. The maternal concern in her gaze made Sonya wish there was more time between gaining this information and the event itself. There’s just not enough time to concoct some kind of scheme. All I can do is spring the trap and see what happens.

She exhaled and leaned back. “The theme for the party better be interesting at the very least,” she grumbled. “Otherwise, I’m gonna riot.”