Chapter 32: Set ‘Em Up

“You know.” I kicked my heels idly against Electra’s sides. “I always wished I could speak Spanish.”

Beneath me, hands clasped around my thighs, Electra huffed, though not from my weight of course. “Spanish?”

“My mom was from Ecuador.” I shifted again, flexing my core as my hands did their dastardly work. “But she wouldn’t teach me any, wanted me to grow up speaking English. Mainly because of my complete imbecile of a father, but still.”

“You’d think you could’a learned it on your own.”

I pouted, pressing forward slightly. “I suck at languages. Of course, I picked up a bit but—” My shiv screeched against the stone, and I slipped.

Electra swore, taking half a step forward as I threatened to tumble off her shoulders. “God—hecking—darnit, Empress!”

I placed a hand against the wall, pushing myself upright. “Sorry.” Looking closer, I could see the brick in the corner had a nice long scratch going across the middle of it. Right through something that looked very much like the runes Maarin had shown me.

I scraped at it for a bit more, before the shape fizzled, glowing briefly once, then sputtering out. I grinned. “Got it.”

“Jeez Louise.” Electra shifted, half kneeling and half shrugging me off of her back. I slipped nimbly back to the ground, and if anyone said otherwise, they were a lying liar who lied.

Completely unrelated, Electra caught my wrist before I could faceplant into a wall. “That did it?” she asked.

“Should have.” I took my arm back, brushing off my undersuit. Today, with Electra’s help, we’d done a complete canvassing of the cell. That one enchantment in the corner was the only thing we could find; luckily, we’d spotted it before the light vanished completely, and the moon had given me enough to work by for chipping it off.

We could speak freely.

Electra tilted her head and looked at me. “You know, I never really thought about you as Latina.”

I paused, blinking once, then again. I sighed. “And we were doing so well too.”

“What?”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.” It was just one more thing I’d blackmail her with later. “For now, do you think you can short out our handcuffs?”

She squinted at me for a moment longer, before shrugging. “I don’t know.” She rolled her wrist, the silver shackle glinting in the light. “You saw when they put it on you, right?”

I grinned with the promise of savage vengeance. “They knocked me out.”

And I would remember that.

Electra shifted. “Uh, Em’ you’re kinda freaking me out here.”

I smoothed my features into something more socially acceptable. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She groaned. “And you say ‘normal you’ and ‘super evil happy fun time you’ are the same person?”

“They are.”

Electra rolled her eyes. “‘They’, sure.” I smiled beatifically up at her. “Anyway, a wizard did something weird with it, and then it kinda melded together seamlessly.” She ran her finger around the edge of the shackle, tracing its smooth surface. “I’m not sure what you want me to do here.”

I hummed. “How good are you at inducing magnetic fields?”

She blinked, instantly catching onto my plan. “You think I can shatter it?”

“Silver is highly conductive, isn’t it?” I smirked. “And last I checked, you weren’t constrained to actual circuits or anything, just… run it parallel to the band.” I twirled my finger in the air. “Make two magnetic fields that shear at each other at great enough intensity, and pop.” Oh, sure, I was simplifying a bit, but I’d also seen Electra fry C’thulu when she had enough charge, and she’d been going hard with the generator the last couple of days.

Usually, when you wanted the impossible, it was best to leave the fine details up to the hero’s imagination.

She frowned at the silver band on her wrist, sparking slightly as she fed electricity through it, arcs jumping from the metal to her skin and back again. I knew it wouldn’t reduce her charge; she wasn’t quite a perpetual motion engine, but she had nearly perfect charge retention as long as it arced back to her.

I wasn’t kidding when I called her a human shaped superconductor, and at room temperature no less!

“Maybe,” she said quietly. The moonlight cut a sharp line across her features. “But it’s metal, if it buckles and warps…”

I hummed. “What’s a little blood between friends.”

She chuckled. “Be the first time we’re shedding blood for each other.”

“Not true.” When Electra glanced over at me, I smiled. “There was that time at the beach. I never did thank you for it, huh.”

She blinked, looking at me for a moment, before running a hand through her hair. “Yeah, I guess we did stick it out then.” She nodded sharply. “So, when do you want to stage our prison break?”

I sighed, sitting down on the floor. “Not yet.”

She cocked an eyebrow, sliding to the ground across from me. “What are we waiting for, then?” She made a show of looking around. “Not like we’re gonna get a much better chance.”

“If they’re expecting something, they’d be expecting it tonight.” Idly, I reached out and pulled the pouch containing the hand mirror into my lap. It must have been nearing midnight now, the moon rising ever higher, until only a silver sliver spilled through our window. “And we’re not the only pieces on the board.”

She bit her lip, looking at the dark mirror in my hands.

“When did she say she was going to call?”

I smiled. Still, despite the late hour, my heart was at ease. “We barely got to this part, when we spoke about it. I thought we’d have more time to set up something, but if Rel needs more time, she’ll have it.” I leaned back against the cold stone wall. “I’m not going to spoil my own scheme this time.”

Electra snorted. “Been there a bit too often, Em’?”

I flicked her ear. “Don’t call me that.”

Electra pouted at me, rubbing her ear. “You didn’t seem to mind last time.”

“Yes, well, last time your head was between my legs.” I gave her a cheery smile. “I tend to be more forgiving in circumstances like that.”

She sputtered for a second. “Like I would ever go down—!”

Beyond the walls of the cell, the bells in the center of the city chimed once, a long, mournful note. Midnight. The mirror shivered once in my hand, and we both paused.

“—Via.” A picture slowly formed in its depths. “Lady Via!”

I felt a smile steal unbidden across my face. “Relia.”

She sketched a brief bow, head bobbing in the mirror frame. “Lady Via.” Her eyes glanced towards the edges of the frame. “Are you alone?”

“Well, they managed to catch Electra and throw her in with me.” I waved a hand. “I assume you had something to do with that?”

Rel looked down sheepishly. “I was hoping she’d get away.”

Electra snorted. “No she wasn’t.”

Rel’s head snapped up, and it was funny to see her glare towards the top of the mirror, like she was peering out of it upside down. “Well, maybe if you were a bit quicker on the uptake.”

“Now, now.” I tapped the mirror once. “Play nice, both of you. Besides, it wasn’t all bad.” I smirked at my erstwhile nemesis. “Electra was just talking about how she’d never—”

“Habah-ba-ba-ba!” Electra leaned forward, arms waving. “That was—that’s not important.”

Rel frowned again. “What’s not important?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” I smiled, leaning back so that Electra was no longer in view. “So, are we ready?”

Rel crossed her arms, but I simply waited.

I’d been waiting all day, after all.

After a moment, she sighed. “Dee and Dum have rounded up everyone. We even managed to use some of the street rats and these mirrors to get more information." She gave a sharp nod. “That’s why I couldn’t reach out to you earlier, Lady Via. There is a reason the Adventurer’s Guild moved against us so quickly.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

She took a slow breath. “They’re not the only group of armed thugs in Silverwall,” she said. “There’s the Guard of course, but they’re better armed, and better centralized. Beyond the Guild’s reach.”

I nodded. “So who were they after, to need so many… practice weapons from me?”

“The other guilds in the city have leg breakers of their own, especially the Enchanter’s Guild. The Adventurer’s Guild plans to change that.”

I blinked, before a wide smile broke out across my face. “When?”

Rel paused, looking off to the side. “Well…”

“Rel, tell me when.”

“Tomorrow.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“Lady… Via?”

When I came back to myself a moment later, even Rel was looking at me oddly. Electra had gone so far as to scoot back across the cell.

“Don’t mind me.” I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes. “That’s perfect. Oh, it couldn’t be any better if I planned it myself.” I looked back to the mirror. “You know where they’re going to go?”

Rel let out a breath, before a smile started growing on her face. “Yes, Lady Via. We do. They plan to start with the Enchanter’s guild, as they have the most support.”

At that, my own answering smile grew even more savage. “And they want your support?”

“They do.”

“Perfect. And the other groups? I don’t imagine they’re going to wait around.”

Rel nodded. “From what we have managed to overhear, there will be several other groups going out at once, to hit the smaller guilds.”

I nodded. “And our friend, Arlo?” It had been a while since I’d heard from the leader of the Tarnished, the other big gang in the docks.

At that, Rel glanced away. “He… does not want the Guild taking control of the outer city any more than we do, but… he also won’t move unless it’s worth his while.”

I drummed my fingers against the floor, another giggle escaping me as the piece fell into place. “And if we do?”

“Then he can attack many of the smaller groups. But, Lady Via, even between the both of us, we don’t have enough people. I have heard that—”

“They’ll be keeping a few parties back at the Guild in reserve?” At Rel’s surprised look, I added. “It’s what I would do.”

To my side, Electra grinned. “Heh, bet they won’t be expecting a prison break.”

Rel caught on quickly, eyes glinting. “So what should I offer Arlo?”

“Oh, him?” I waved a hand, as the last bits clicked home. “Anything. In fact, he can have it all.”

Both women blinked, looking at me in surprise.

“Lady Via?”

“Don’t worry about it, Rel. You’ve set everything up so perfectly, it’s like I was there myself.” I smiled. “I knew I was right to put my trust in you.”

Rel jolted, a flush of red working its way up her neck. “M-my Lady!”

“Now,” I said. “Get everyone ready. We’ll strike as one, the moment they think victory is in hand.”

Rel nodded. “They’ll begin their attack on the Enchanter’s guild two bells before noon, if we begin then—”

“No, no.” I shook my head. Once again, both Rel and Electra looked towards me. “There’s no reason to step in and help the enchanters of all people. In fact…” I smiled.

“Isn’t it just the perfect chance to kill two birds with but a single stone?”