Location: 423 West 73rd Street, Foyer

Time: Afternoon, January 2nd 2108

Once again, I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out. Based on the light coming through the windows it was probably a few hours at least.

As I tried to push myself up my left hand gave out. I splashed back down into an ambiguous pool of blood. Would I have rather it been from me or from them? I tried not to think about it.

Besides, I had too many things to worry about to be focusing on such a small detail. Quickly rising on that list of concerns was my left hand.

It was completely numb. Why? He didn’t do anything to my hand.

“Oh? Oh oh oh? Is it awake?”

“It moved, right?”

“Right.”

“Then it’s awake.”

“Finally. Should Sara talk to it?”

“What’s the word?”

“An interrogation?”

“Time to start the interrogation!”

I could hear two similar sounding women having a conversation, followed by the pitter patter of footsteps. Unfortunately it was a voice I recognized, and not one I was looking forward to hearing again.

Sara.

“What do you want?” Last time she was after Emelia, but she shouldn’t have anything to do with me.

“Disgusting.”

“Sara doesn’t want to hear it talk, right?”

“Right.”

“But what about the interview?”

“That’s fine, because Sara asks the questions.”

“It shouldn’t be asking.”

“But it will have to answer.”

“Sadly.”

“Hey, ah, Sara? I need medical treatment, but anything based on augmentations won’t work. Think you can help?” Looking back I probably should have been more worried when I realized who the little mouse that Vier was referring to was. Still, I didn’t have anything to lose by making an appeal.

“Why hasn’t it gotten up already?” My appeal was ignored. I didn’t have anything to lose, but it would appear I didn’t have much to gain either.

“It should live its life looking at the ground.”

“But the inspection only works if Sara can see its face, right?”

“Right.”

“That’s why Sara set up the wires while it was napping.” Napping? I’d rather her not use pleasant terms to describe my situation.

“Of course.”

“Finding all the wire was fortunate.”

“Almost as fortunate as finding a strudel.”

“Here we go, time to get up.”

I could hear metal rubbing against wood, followed by an intense pain wrapping around my wrist. I looked toward the source of the pain to see my arm being pulled into the air by a strand of metal wire wrapped around my wrist.

It continued to climb until my body was upright, on my knees, with my left arm held above my head. Blood was dripping down from where the wire dug into my wrist.

It hurt, it really hurt. I wanted to scream, but lacked the energy. Or maybe the resolve. As pathetic as it sounds, I was starting to get used to that kind of situation.

“When Sara pulls on the wire it gets tighter, but it doesn’t get loose when Sara lets go.”

“It was really lucky to tie some wire in a way like that without knowing how it works.”

“Almost as lucky as discovering baklava.”

A young woman jumped out in front of me. Her red hair was tied up into pigtails that bobbed as she hopped around.

“Hey, Sara. Funny running into you again. Looks like I’ve become your hostage again, huh?”

She had traded in her Little Red Riding Hood outfit for a ball gown and tiara.

“Disgusting. I don’t like that it talks like it knows Sara.”

“Don’t say things like that, you’re going to give the other woman the wrong impression.” I wasn’t sure who she had been talking to, but I’d rather her not take Sara’s interpretation of me at face value.

“Other woman? There’s another woman?” She held her hand above her eyes, as if blocking out the sun, and looked around the room.

“There’s no other woman, right? Right. No, definitely not. It’s just Sara. Sara can hide from people, but people can’t hide from Sara.”

Just her? The voices weren’t similar, they were both Sara. She’d been talking to herself.

“Then why are you here, Sara? Did you come for me?” The last time we met I was nothing to her. Even as a hostage, she forgot about me and left me behind. To be honest, I was hoping she had somehow become an ally, at least temporarily. Even at rock bottom I knew she was never someone I could work with, but she could potentially deliver me to a medical professional.

Who would my allies even be at that point?

“Disgusting. Why does it keep calling Sara, Sara? Again. Who is Sara?”

“You, right? Isn’t your name Sara?”

“Sara? No. Second time. No. Sara was Snow White before. Now Sara is the Duchess. Not that it matters to a plot device like you.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to being called a plot device, but either way, I was at her mercy. Again.

“Enough of this other stuff. It’s Sara’s turn in the interregnum. Why did the big sparky one kill you?”

“Big sparky one?”

“Yes. He’s a dangerous one, even for Sara. The little sparky one got help from Sara’s wife and made Sara run away. The big sparky one was worse. Much worse. Sara wouldn’t even be able to run away. That’s why Sara watched him kill the old man. Sara wasn’t going to get involved. It was Dinah’s job to protect the old man. Sara was just supposed to pick him up. It’s not Sara’s fault! Nothing is Sara’s fault!”

“Ah, um, right.”

“Right? What is Sara supposed to do with you? The big sparky one is Sara’s enemy. The big sparky one was fighting you. Right? What does that mean? Sara’s already made a mess of this. No. Not Sara. Dinah. Dinah’s fault. Say it! Say it was Dinah’s fault!”

“It, it was all Dinah. Sara, no, you didn’t do anything wrong.” She was clearly insane, but my life was in her hands. I’d have to be an idiot to antagonize her.

Well, more of an idiot than I already was.

“Right? Right. So? What to do?”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” My life was being extended by a proverb.

“Disgusting. Sara is not its friend. That idea makes Sara want to kill it. Kill the thing that isn’t Sara’s friend.”

“Never mind, feel free to forget the proverb. Who takes those things seriously anyway?”

“It needs to stop talking, right? Right. On with the interview. Only one question. What is Sara supposed to do? This part wasn’t in the mission. And Sara’s good luck doesn't work on it. That means Sara has to choose on her own. What to do?”

“You want me to tell you want to do?”

“Answer the question. That’s how interviews work. You give out answers. Like how the baker gives out strudels.”

I didn’t think it was a trick. Even if Sara was capable of that kind of thing, why bother setting a trap for me at that point?

Someone like Sara, who constantly had everything she could ever want handed to her, wasn’t sure what to do when things went against her expectations. And thanks to my ability as a nullifier, I was one of the few people that could encourage her to make a decision that she would probably come to regret.

“Well, then, I think the best course of action is to let me live, and to get me medical attention. Although Demon’s Blood won’t work on me. I need a traditional treatment.”

“Sara can do that. Sara will call for people. People Sara works with. They’ll move your body. Sara won’t touch it. They’ll bring a bandage or something.”

Like I thought. She couldn’t even imagine a bad outcome, so she was incapable of doubting my words. My biggest concern was her ‘people’. There was no way they’d be as trusting as her. Still, it was a risk I had to take. It’s not like I had any other options.

“And if I could, I’d like to make a second request. Could you let me down?” My hand had already turned a dangerous color.

“Let it down? How?”

“What? You tied me up, can’t you just undo the knots?”

“Maybe? If Sara wanted to, Sara could, but it seems like a lot of work. Ah, Sara knows a faster way. Just pull the wire. Keep pulling it until it can’t pull anymore. Then it will drop.”

“Wait wait wait, what happens to my hand in that situation?”

“It doesn’t understand? The wire will go through. Through the wrist. It will fall. The hand will pop off. Pop.”

“Don’t use such a childish sound effect to describe mutilation!”

“Here we go, right? Right.”

It didn’t take long to find the downside of working with someone like Sara.

As I quickly said my goodbyes to my second favorite hand I was forced to accept the fact that my justice failed to change anything. In a way Vier was right, but I don’t plan on accepting his point of view. True Justice, the real deal, never loses. What I’ve been presenting is nothing more than a shallow view of the whole thing, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. In the end, this was nothing more than an introduction on justice.