Brennan sat in a cell by himself, trying to amuse himself by counting the number of imperfections in the walls. They were plain, but various nicks, scratches and whatnot dotted its surface. The floor and ceiling were likewise bare, the room's furnishings consisting of a small bathroom area and a bed.
Was this where Hot Rod had met his end? Or, if not this specific room, one much like it? How many Miracle bearers had been locked in isolation like this?
He hadn't told the military much of anything about the Legion, exercising his right to silence. Even if he hadn't run off with the others, feeling responsible for attacking innocent civilians because of a bad tip, he wasn't about to betray Achilles and the others.
Would the Executioner come for him here? Perhaps that would be a mercy. He'd been here for less than a day and he was already feeling disorientated. Time had no meaning. His thoughts ran around in pointless circles. How long could a human endure this?
Brennan took a deep breath and resumed counting imperfections. Whatever would be would be. He'd accept his fate.
"Have you found anything?" Ferry asked, looking at Twin. Most of Team Chaos (excluding Cold Snap, who was still healing) had gathered to discuss their next move.
"No. There are no records at all about anything under the Subways," Twin replied with a frown. "I could discuss this with our temporary allies, but I don't want them to get first dibs on anything down there. It's quite a pickle. If we want first pick of whatever's down there, we have to brave the danger. If we want someone else to brave the danger, we have to accept their leftovers."
"If I can scout down there - "
"No," Twin interrupted Ferry. "You're too valuable to risk."
"What if we sent the Legion down there?" Paris asked with a chuckle. "Convince them that our base is there. They take the risks, and we can safely pillage whatever they find."
"Not a bad plan, except the Legion just got put on the wanted list," Twin replied with a sigh. "I saw the record half an hour ago. Prime has been arrested, and the other four are at large, with a warrant out for their arrest. Something about attacking civilians unprovoked."
"That doesn't sound like our friend Achilles," Paris said, frowning.
"Either way, they're going to lay low for a while. If it weren't for whoever shot Cold Snap, I'd say this is our time to shine. Unfortunately, we don't know who they are or what resources they have. It's too risky to move openly."
"What if we just move and take a couple risks?" Corrosion asked, flexing his arm. "Legion's out, and Shell can hopefully tank anything this mystery assassin throws at us."
"Oh sure, risk my life," Shell sighed, leaning against the back of her chair.
"Mostly, I'm just itching to raise some hell again," Corrosion admitted, grinning maniacally.
"Then go by yourself. Don't risk my neck."
"Enough," Paris said, motioning for the two of them to be silent. "Twin, what do you think our best play is?"
"I'll contact our new friends and see what they know. Maybe the underworld knows something we don't. At the very least, based on our investigations, the doors down there are all locked tight and they don't have someone who can teleport. That should keep them from getting the jump on us."
"Got it. Corrosion, Shell, stand by. By the end of the week, though, we'll have something for you to do."
"Who put you in charge, Paris?" Corrosion growled, letting a few drops of acid fall from his fingertips.
"Me," Twin said firmly. "If you don't want to end up dead, do as I say. We'll keep investigating the bottom of Arx. And once we've figured out what cards they have, we'll need a strong team of elites to help us destroy them. That freak is the one thing standing between us and our goals."
Twin stood and walked out of the room, a dark look on his face. Ferry glanced around, then smiled and clapped.
"Meeting adjourned!"
"Achilles and the Legion are in deep doo doo," Cleo said suddenly when she got home from school.
"More than usual?" Courtney asked, raising and eyebrow. She sat on a couch watching TV, while Sawyer played chess with Ida. Surprisingly, he was losing more games than he won. Darius watched them impassively.
"Prime got arrested and he's sitting in solitary confinement. The military's trying to find the rest of the Legion so they can arrest them too."
"What did those idiots do this time?" Courtney sighed and motioned for Cleo to sit next to her.
"Let's see...it's kind of complicated. The threads are kind of messy and I can't quite untangle them. Basically, Ben's group - his name's not really Ben - tried to steal something, and a different group caught Mist and then she escaped, so Ben told the Legion where she'd been held - "
"Wait, wait, wait," Courtney said, holding up a hand. "Ben is associated with Mist?"
"I guess. Anyway - "
"No, hold it, girl, this is serious. Does Achilles know?"
"Doubt it. And even if we told him, would he believe us? I just see him laughing us off and saying we can't possibly understand him because we aren't the real chosen ones - "
"Yeah, okay I can see that. So?"
"Ben told the Legion - oh, by the way, Ben's real name is Jase and he's kind of a criminal mastermind of some sort - and - sorry, I've been sorting through this stuff like all day - anyway, he told them where the other group was hiding out. One of them is Whiplash, so he told them Whiplash was there, and the Legion went in looking for a fight, but by the time they got there Whiplash and the other lady - her name's Sasha - anyway, they were long gone and the only ones left were people without Miracles or criminal records because they hadn't got caught doing anything yet.
"So the Legion beat them up and the alarm on the house went off and called the military and a couple of those people almost died, but the military showed up and tried to arrest the Legion for attacking civilians and most of them ran off, except Prime stayed and let them arrest him. He hasn't told them anything, but - "
"Okay, that's enough," Courtney said, placing a hand on Cleo's shoulder.
"Sorry. Anyway, Prime's in solitary confinement for now. And the Legion's looking for the rest of the military - wait, no the military is looking for the Legion."
"Cleo. Breathe."
"Right." Cleo sat back and closed her eyes, trying to relax.
"So is this good for us or bad for us?" Sawyer asked slowly.
"Both," Courtney said. "Bad because we don't have them to stand in the way of Team Chaos or anyone else. Good because they won't interfere with us. And, really, some of them should be locked up anyway. I'm just sorry Prime was the only one they caught."
"Do we tell the military where they are?" Sawyer asked. "I assume Cleo can find them easily enough."
"I could. But I'm tired right now. I've been stuck in my visions all day trying to sort out what exactly led to this nonsense. As dumb as Achilles is, this seems just a little too dumb, y'know? Oh, and I need to review everything we learned in class today because I was not paying attention."
"Okay. You go study," Courtney said, patting Cleo on the shoulder. "Take a break. Darius should have supper ready soon."
"Thanks." Instead of getting up, though, Cleo curled up on the couch and looked ready to take a nap.
"Sometimes I think we should just burn the whole city to the ground," Ida muttered, moving her rook to put Sawyer in checkmate again.
"Dammit!" Sawyer growled. "How do you manage to win so much?"
"You suck at chess," Ida replied coldly.
"I don't suck bad enough that I'd constantly lose to a little kid!"
"Ida's simply the superior player," Darius said. "The game was a foregone conclusion nineteen moves ago."
"You've got to be kidding me," Sawyer groaned.
"Can we talk about how Ida just said she wanted the city destroyed?" Courtney asked, glaring at her.
"It would solve the Miracle problem," Ida said flatly. "Wanna go again, Sawyer?"
"One more time! I'll win this time for sure." As he started resetting his pieces, Ida smiled smugly.
"Ida, it's putting the cart before the horse to kill everyone in the city to stop Miracle crimes. And it's extreme."
"Do you even know what a horse and cart is?" Ida retorted.
"Something from the Old World. My point stands."
"Whatever, Turkey."
Courtney sighed, putting her face in her hands.
"What are we going to do about this kid?"
