Scene 36 - October 26th

Interior Cell Block, Afternoon

Abraham Armstrong

“Alright, Legion,” I said as I entered her cell and leaned against the wall, eying her through the force field. “You’ve had your chat with the Kaufmans.” And I couldn’t help but wonder what she had said - wanting to talk with the two of them was no doubt why she had been at Quinn’s house the night she was first sighted. But I hadn’t been privy to the contents of the conversations, and Susan had declined to tell me. They were of a personal nature, and if Quinn or David decided to tell me on their own then that was one thing, but she wouldn’t do it herself. As a result of my curiosity, I was a little annoyed when I said, “Now give me my best friend back.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure he’s still your friend? It’s been years, after all.”

“Only three,” I said, frowning at the villain. “That’s not so long, really.”

“And what if he doesn’t want to see you anymore?”

“What are you saying, Legion? Why wouldn’t he want to see me?”

“Oh, I thought you knew why I had to take him,” Legion said. “I suppose I should warn you. A moment...” She raised a hand and produced a small clicker from nowhere. It clicked, and the commlink in my ear suddenly went dead. Sparks popped from the cameras in the corners of the cell - they had clearly been ruined as well. The force field that separated us shut down too - what the hell was that thing?

I crouched into a fighting stance, ready for an escape attempt - this was, after all, why I was here to supervise her transformation - and tested the door behind me experimentally. If it was an escape, the tech she had managed to sneak in would probably have popped its lock, but I discovered that it was stuck closed. On the other side of the door I could hear a commotion - the cameras’ destruction had obviously been noticed, and agents were already trying to get into the cell to give me back up.

Legion grinned, suddenly moving at full speed rather than the slow pace she had apparently only been pretending was force on her. “Snuck it in by hiding it inside a bone. Your scanners can’t see through my bones when I’m this dense - I could have anything in here.” She laughed. “In this case, however, you have nothing to fear. Instead, I think you have a decision to make. You see, the reason I took Ventus was that he had discovered something which I think you’ll find unfortunate.”

My eyes narrowed. What could Will have discovered that... “Are you saying he knew about Ambrosia?” I asked, my heart sinking.

“Got it in one,” she said approvingly. “Yes, Ventus discovered the company after capturing a client back in Vegas.” The two of us had both grown up in Las Vegas, and spent the first two years of our careers as heroes there. Then I had been transferred to New Venice to lead the team after the previous team leader, the Warden, retired - Ventus, meanwhile, had remained. “At first he thought we only sold powers to villains, but after his investigation was quashed by Nanoblade, he began to realize the truth.”

“Wait, hold on. Are you saying that Nanoblade got his powers from you?” Nanoblade was one of the biggest heroes out there, and had been a mentor to Ventus and I both.

“Oh yes. You didn’t think we only sold magic, did you? We wouldn’t get very far like that - Middleman can’t duplicate powers, after all. But many cosmic powers can be granted repeatedly.”

“I... I never really thought about it, beyond myself,” I quietly admitted. “I tried not to think about it that much.”

She nodded. “Probably for the best. The point, however, is that Ventus didn’t stop his investigation, he just had to do it in secret. He was good at it, too, and turned up a great deal of information. Including that you purchased your powers from us, Abraham Armstrong.” Legion shrugged. “So, the company sent me to deal with him. I can bring him back, of course, but if he still plans to go public with all of this another me will just take him out again.”

“And what the hell do you want me to do about this?” I asked.

“There are two possibilities here,” she said. “Either you can convince him to remain quiet - you are his best friend, after all - or this ‘escape attempt’ goes badly, and you manage to destroy my brain. Either way, I’ll be gone and your secret will be safe.”

“Why are you putting this decision on me,” I growled. “You can’t ask me to choose that! He was my best friend!”

“I ask you to make this decision because you are his best friend,” she countered.

“Will this at least count as my third favor?” I asked without much hope.

Legion shook her head. “Oh no. I don’t owe you anything, whatever that me may have thought. This affects you, and you need to make the choice regardless.”

I glanced at the doorway behind me. It seemed to be taking a while for them to get through... “Can I talk to him before you make the change final?”

She nodded. “Certainly.” The shapeshifter held up her hand again and it began to bulge, shaping itself into a head. A strong jawline, heavily tanned skin, black hair that would have hung down to his shoulders if she had bothered to give him any... he had more stress lines than the last time I had seen him, but when his grass-green eyes opened and locked on mine, I knew that it could be none other than my best friend, William Wordsworth.