Chapter 198: Chapter 167

Well, now isn’t she just marvelous? That new ability is fancy too, very pretty. He thought with a smile, admiring the killing machine that he had created. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before. Was it because of the guide? He turned away from her and gave her a gesture of dismissal. A polite nod was her only response as she slipped away and joined the crowd. It wouldn’t do to stay off to the side too long, himself especially. He was the man of the hour, after all. Most Promising Hero of the camp. Well of course I am, it goes without saying. He smirked and shot a glance towards Black Lotus and Sonya. The two of them were talking with Crusader’s family as if nothing had happened. Not even an eyebrow out of place, no gestures to signify that they noticed anything. Looks like it holds up against Black Lotus’ senses, I figured it would but that was… a long one.

He didn’t want to admit how draining it was to broadcast his cheat over so many people at once, but it really was. All the more reason to get stronger. Effort is needed. I need to internalize that. The cheats are not enough. I need more abilities too. I wonder if there’s a cheat for that. The magic sword and crown work well enough but they’re just items I created. He sniffed and crossed his arms. “You can come out now,” He said patiently.

A heartbeat, and Riot stepped out from within the dojo, his face pale and his shoulders sagging a little. “Yes sir?”

Otis glanced his way, “You did good work, well done.”

Riot pursed his lips and looked away, “That was… wrong.”

“Your point?” Otis asked, “It accomplished what I wanted. She won’t be thinking about turning on me or being disobedient any longer. How did you do it? I’m curious about your ability.”

“You already had a karmic bond with her because of the things you…” he trailed off, “the things you did to her,” he said sourly. “She and her brother obviously had a strong one too,” he cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, “I tugged on their bond and fanned the flames, made him more aggressive towards her than usual and amplified her sensitivity.”

Otis nodded along, “And then?”

“And then when you intervened, I just twisted the bond between the two of you, adjusted it slightly so that instead of her seeing you as a malefactor, there was an opening to see you as a new foundation to rebuild herself on. Her mind did the rest,” he tensed, “With your help of course, sir.”

Otis brightened, “Very well done, I like it, I like it a lot, we should work together more often.”

“If you say so,” Riot grumbled.

Otis threw an arm over his shoulder, “Oh Riot! You’re such a funny guy! A real riot, get it?” he chortled, “You almost sound like you don’t want to work with me. After all I’ve done and am going to do for you. Not very nice, you know?” he ended the question with a pointed stare in the younger man’s direction.

Riot shrank a little, “Wasn’t my intention, honestly. Working for you is a dream come true.”

“Of course it is!” Otis laughed and pat his back, “Good that we’re on the same page, Riot! You made an excellent teammate for the dungeon run.”

“You didn’t need any help, sir,” Riot pointed out.

“True,” Otis admitted, “But every little bit helps, and I prefer to maximize my chances in a dungeon. Self preservation is important!”

“You sound like Miss Chernovna,” Riot said, glancing sidelong at him.

“Do I now?” Otis gasped, he chuckled again, “Well, I see her as something of a mentor, you know. Admire her. Look what she’s done with herself with just that silly ocular power of hers. Isn’t it great? If I didn’t know any better I’d think she was the main character of this story!”

“Story?” Riot asked.

Otis waved a hand, “Nevermind, I’m just rambling. A powerful new Herald has joined us, Riot. We should celebrate while we can,” Otis said and started walking towards the crowd with him. “Speaking of Sonya, by the way, I thought she and Black Lotus were on the outs. They seemed so tense at the beginning of camp. What do you see?”

“They slept together recently,” Riot said flatly, his face turning a little red.

Otis narrowed his eyes, a small smile crossing his lips, “Did they now? Would that be a problem for Miss Mint?”

“Doubtful, Miss Chernovna is fairly open about her non-monogamy, sir. It’s in all the tabloids and she owns it without any shame. Given the last time I saw her and Miss Mint, the new Chairman doesn’t think anything ill of it,” Riot said and adjusted his glasses, “It’s not a worthwhile leverage point, if that’s what you were looking for.”

Otis clicked his tongue, “Fooey,” he sighed and leaned a bit harder into Riot, “That mind game was tiring! And we still have this silly tour to do and then final prep for the graduation tomorrow morning,” he went on with a roll of his eyes, “I just want to get out of here and crush a few villains already, you know? Get my legend started!”

“Not much longer, sir,” Riot said, “We’ll be in New York soon.”

Otis let out a wistful sigh, “Ah, New York, it’s been a while. I wonder how that detective I met is doing. He had a good eye, you know. Almost saw through one of my disguises,” he paused and frowned, “Next time I see him, I’ll tear those eyes out and feed them to him,” he snarled.

Riot swallowed audibly as they neared the crowd, a few people turning to wave a greeting to him and Otis. “R-right,” He mumbled as Otis’ mask of genteel heroism went right back up without missing a beat.

–

The television flickered as the channel switched over to the news. The anchor began to speak and Mimir frowned. French, right. He grumbled and his eyes flared to life. The words translating in his head the moment he heard them. It was an odd dissonance that he still was getting used to, hearing the translation layered just on top of the native language. He wasn’t sure if he really heard it or if his mind was compensating for what amounted to self-inflicted telepathy. It didn’t matter, he supposed, as long as it worked.

“Across the world, the graduation ceremonies for the first wave of Hero Training Camps have begun. Notable leaders from across the Hero Community have made appearances to address the graduating class and encourage them in their next steps,” the anchor began, “We bring you to the Angers camp at the site of the decommissioned observatory, there, in the absence of Guildmaster Abreo, Vice-Guildmaster Lucien DuCast also known as Braque, has come to speak on behalf of the French Hero Collective and the Paris Guild.”

“Braque? Like the hunting dog?” Addison said from behind him, walking around to sit down and hand him a cup of coffee. He took it and nodded to her. It was just the two of them while Hellion was with Max learning how to handle himself in a fight.

“Mm,” Mimir grunted, “He’s predominantly active at night, from what I’ve dug up so far he claims that his ability works best then. He’s just using the cover of darkness to conceal the appearance of his creatures.”

She clicked her tongue, “I see,” she murmured as the red-haired Australian sipped her own drink, “Can you get a read on him like this?”

“My reading ability only works out to nine paces,” Mimir said.

“Nine paces?” She turned towards him, “You never mentioned that. Isn’t that kind of vague? Who’s paces?”

“Mine,” Mimir said, “Nine is an important number to Norse Mythology, Odin spent nine days hanging from the ash tree, nine steps before Thor’s death, nine realms connected by the World Tree,” he explained as Lucien settled behind the podium on the screen. The sleek haired man smiled thinly at the crowd, his gaze casting over them. He wore a perfectly tailored suit and- Mimir froze and leaned forward. “He’s gone through some more changes. It’s going to be harder to hide his nature.”

“Huh?” Addison grunted and leaned forward to peer at the screen, “Yeah, his skin is darker and… redder? Wait, what’s up with his eyes?”

“His pupils are stretching out lengthwise, like a goat,” Mimir said.

She wrinkled her nose, “Disturbing.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“He’ll get it under control,” Mimir said, “Before it becomes drastic enough to draw attention.”

“How do you- right,” she stopped herself and went quiet as Lucian began to speak.

“It is such an honor to be here,” Lucian began, resting his hands on the podium, “If only I’d had a bit more warning about my boss’ departure to the Dharan Exclusion Zone! Maybe I would have prepared a speech in time!”

The crowd laughed and he leaned forward, “I don’t think I need to have written anything down to know what to say, here,” he said as he scanned the graduates present. “Today, I will be given the solemn duty of presenting you with your hero licenses. From this day forth, you will be charged with the defense of your fellow man and the pursuit of humanity’s future!” He raised a finger, “Because that is what you are. You are the future,” he declared, “In more ways than you think. Every day more and more light-touched are awakened and there are fewer and fewer people left behind.”

Mimir’s eyes narrowed as he took in the faint micro expressions on the man’s face. Speaking from a place of loathing, are you?

“Left behind, but not forgotten of course!” Lucien clarified, “They are as much human as you are. But you have become something more, haven’t you? And that quality comes with a responsibility! You bear the responsibility of safeguarding them, of making sure that their daily lives are as peaceful as they were in the past, before the flash.”

“Hypocrite,” Addison snarled, “He’s going to be blowing smoke out his ass the entire time, isn’t he?”

“Probably,” Mimir muttered, “Not much we can get out of this and I wasn’t able to find a way to get into the ceremony to get a direct line of sight with him,” he grumbled as the speech went on. More posturing and thickly veiled allusions to normal ‘humans’ being lesser than light-touched. All of that talk coated in the sweet veneer of duty and glory. Mimir was starting to get nauseous.

“I’m changing the channel,” Addison sighed, “We aren’t getting anything we don’t already know from this,” she checked her phone, “The American graduation is available.”

He was half way through a sip when she snatched up the remote and changed the channel. He swallowed and coughed, “W-wait!” Too late.

There she was, on the screen. That tiny figure with white hair fluttering behind her as she stood on a stage behind a podium, all smiles beneath those glowing pink eyes. He felt his throat begin to tighten as his fingers formed a white-knuckled grip on the mug. He cleared his throat a few times, trying to shake off the sensation as the deal worked its magic on him. Damn it. If I could just figure out a way to get her to ask me a favor, then I wouldn’t be having this problem.

“I wrote a speech for today,” Sonya began with a small smile as she ran her fingers over a small stack of papers in front of her, “It was a long one. Might even run over time,” shot an apologetic smile to the crowd, “I figure you all are probably hungry. I know I am, could go for a burger or something,” she sighed dramatically before she grinned at the crowd, “You ever have one of those cravings that you just can’t get out of your head?” She asked.

“What on earth?” Addison mumbled, eyes fixed on the screen.

“Well apparently there are about thirty or so people sitting in front of me who know exactly what I’m talking about,” she said, “An all consuming desire, a feeling deep in your gut, a driving emotion that pushes you beyond your limits to become something greater than you were before. A craving,” She swept her eyes over the crowd again, “To become a hero.”

“Today, you become heroes. Today, you start a path that will lead you through trials and tribulations that will make the last ten weeks seem inconsequential. It is not an easy path. It is not a safe one. You chose it anyway,” she smiled warmly, “And I could not be more proud of you. You learned, you changed, you grew stronger, and you fought with all your might to get to this point. Now, here you are,” she ran her fingers over the speech again and looked down at it thoughtfully, pausing as if she was getting choked up, “Ready to take on so much weight on your shoulders.”

“Humanity is strong,” she said, “Humans learn, adapt, we struggle and we overcome. We strive to become better at whatever we set our minds to. We could have fallen in ourselves after the flash, society could have broken down. Instead? We thrived. You thrived. You represent the greatness humanity has to offer. Because with those powers of yours set aside, we are all still people, humans, and we’re in this together. You are now the pillars that will hold humanity up and carry us into the future,” she stood up straighter and raised her hand to her heart, “So on behalf of all of Humanity and on behalf of the Pandora Committee, thank you for beginning your service, and congratulations!”

Applause rose up from the crowd as Sonya inclined her head and shifted the papers around on her desk, “I will now be calling the graduates one at a time to be presented with their licenses along with any parents or guardians to receive their trainee lanyards. This will symbolically represent them leaving their civilian life behind to become Heroes, dedicated to the service of the human race.”

She cleared her throat, “Ollie Anders, please step forward.”

Addison let out a whistle, “Huge tonal difference,” she said as she sipped again at her drink, “Love that woman, she really has her heart in the right place for humanity.”

Mimir just grunted, his expression frozen in a mask of impassivity. He couldn’t even change his facial expression this time. He fought for control of his body, but it was just no use. This was far worse than when Addison had confronted him in the tunnels.

“It’s wild, she just came out of nowhere, but if it wasn’t for her things would be so much worse, wouldn’t they?” She said, “Say what you want about the heroes, most of them are fake, yeah, but she’s done a pretty damn good job…” she trailed off and glanced his way, “You used to live in New York, right?”

He frowned a little and focused on anything other than that evil woman. Calm down. Let the conversation play out. She’s perceptive. His body relaxed, “Yeah, I was a detective,” he said and sipped at his drink.

“You ever see her in person?” She asked, curious.

“I did,” he said flatly, “I’ve actually met her a couple of times. We spoke before hero day while I was acting as an agent for the Pandora Committee.”

“Oh right,” she nodded, “You mentioned that. That was how your…” she paused, “...sorry, shouldn’t bring that up.”

He sighed, “It’s fine,” he said and leaned forward, focusing his mind on his coffee to keep his head clear. He couldn’t say or do anything that would cause his contract to trigger and ruin his chances here.

“So what’s she like?” She asked, “Is she just as wacky as she seems?”

He froze, his body and mind locking up for a moment. It took several seconds for him to clear his throat and shrug, “She’s got the best interests of the world at heart,” he said, “Nice to her people.”

Addison narrowed her eyes, “What was that?”

He turned her way, “Hm? Nothing,” he said, trying his best to keep a straight face. Any facial expression, any twitch, any hint and he’d push it too far. He’d gotten away a little with revealing that he’d met Ishtar since it didn’t connect her with Sonya, but this was dangerous territory. If he tried to circumvent the contract too much it might break. Would she know? Would he lose his powers? What if she brought hell down on the Vigilantes because of the breach? She wasn’t above exterminating a threat with extreme prejudice.

Addison let out a breath and rubbed her neck, “Alright,” she said but seemed to eye him a bit longer before getting to her feet. “I’m gonna go do some research,” she said, “You uh… enjoy your coffee.”

“Thanks,” he said and let out a breath.

I hope that was enough.