|
|
Jun 23, 2016 12:43:01 GMT
Post by physis on Jun 23, 2016 12:43:01 GMT
 In the past thirty-six hours, Sophia has never been so scared in her life. She pulled out all the stops and contacted both the Kingsport police and the Initiative about Zahir Brand's disappearance. Of course, a good villainous group makes sure that nobody knows where they are until a ransom note is sent.
It was the least valuable ransom demand in the world: Bring Physis to the warehouse on the edge of xx and xx. Come at 10pm exactly, or don't bother coming at all.
The message is clear: Physis is not the negotiator; she is to be the ransom. And the Initiative would be more likely to arrest Physis than to believe her story.
Change is coming for her. She can lie down and wait for it to kill her and someone she loves, or she can put on a helmet and meet the villains on their territory.
* * *
The hostage exchange takes place at a mostly-cleared parking lot. That makes Physis nervous. Not only for her husband's sake, but Leto's as well. He came out of his own choice, but Physis had brought this unfortunate business to his door.
It couldn't be helped. Physis needed someone who could protect Zahir on his way out of Arkham. If there is a way out of Arkham for him. She can always fight her way to another dawn - she's been doing it for years. There is no such guarantee for the hostage.
"No tricks." Sophia had practically begged Leto. "If he lives to see tomorrow, then I am satisfied with the outcome."
The lot is empty except for two vigilantes, their vehicle, a gang of thugs in suits, and a man who has blood running down his head. Who may or may not even know what the hell is going on.
It's funny. Seven years ago, she had given up everything that she was in order to escape these men. Tonight, she is giving up everything in order to return.
"Let him go."
The man with the cross necklace pushes his glasses up by the bridge. Jonas speaks as if he were a friend, and Physis hates him for it. "Are you really Physis?"
"Why don't we find out?" One of the men raises his handgun, and waits about two seconds before shooting Physis in the torso with a handgun. The bullet phases through her chest instead of tearing open her lungs. "Huh. I expected a stand-in. The Alliance welcomes you, Ghost of Arkham."
leto
|
|
|
|
Post by leto on Jun 24, 2016 7:45:53 GMT
 Leto's first instinct is to make sure the gun misfires, but he brutally represses the urge. Sophia had said no tricks. He only has one job here. He'll have to trust that she can take care of herself without him, and she certainly doesn't let him down on that front. He shivers a little at the sight, but only a little.
His gaze keeps returning instead to the man on his knees, hair matted to the side of his head with blood. The CEO of Oricon doesn't look like he does at press conferences or electronics exhibitions. He's wearing a slightly too small tanktop he must have been sleeping in, and faded plaid boxers. He has one sock on and one not.
Zahir yells when the gun fires, lunging forward against his captor's grip, but just as quickly goes quiet and placid as the bullet passes through his wife. The look on his face is inscrutable. Leto knows the man is very, very smart, despite his eccentricities. He wonders if an entire marriage is reshaping itself into an entirely different puzzle in Zahir's head. He wonders what it means if it isn't.
physis
|
|
|
|
Jun 24, 2016 10:19:05 GMT
Post by physis on Jun 24, 2016 10:19:05 GMT
Jonas looks unimpressed. He knows: Physis is not simply a mask and a a ghosted body. Physis is something that he's broken so carefully and re-sewn over the years, up until it needed him no longer.
"Unmask yourself."
His men start howling like hyenas, desperate for the disgrace. For too long, Physis has avoided all consequence. How catharthic it is, to bring everything crashing upon her head.
Her hands are frozen stiff at her sides. It is not her instinct to do so, not after curating her image so carefully for the past several years.
Jonas doesn't waste more words. Instead, he draws his own gun and shoots Zahir in the leg. He is not the type of person who will suffer the indignity of repeating himself.
"NO!" She yells, as if it would have made any difference. Physis yanks her helmet off and it lands onto the asphalt.
None of Zahir's captors look surprised, though a few do whistle in her direction. He's not bleeding enough to have been shot in an artery, but it takes a greater fear to keep Sophia rooted on the spot instead of rushing to his side.
leto |
|
|
|
Post by leto on Jul 1, 2016 6:01:41 GMT
He can't make the gun misfire, he can't, he can't, he can't, but he can make sure the bullet misses anything important in his leg, that it does as little damage as is possible, and so he does do that, twists paradox like twine.
On the ground, Zahir looks even smaller, somehow, blood blossoming across his boxers like fat flowers, but he smiles at Sophia with the grace of a man who knows the world owes him a quick and easy death. Ishamael and Batin ride behind his eyes like blood-gorged flies, screaming at the indignity of the situation they're in, fighting desperately for control.
This is not how Ishamael dies, a prop in someone else's story. He is many things, but he knows this much: he has always been important. It was that importance that drove him mad.
Batin merely knows he still has work to do.
physis
|
|
|
|
Post by physis on Jul 1, 2016 8:52:18 GMT
Sophia's heart breaks into a thousand pieces to see him like this. She can't do it, she can't assume the mantle of strenth that Physis had previously afforded her. Those days seems so faraway now, so small. Like she had been a little girl running down the streets with a cape, and not a phantom whose name is on everyone's lips.
She knows how exchanges should work, she's seen a hundred of them before. Interrupted several, even. But all those rules fly out of the window when she sees blood.
"Don't hurt him, please" Does she sound like her father when she begs? More importantly, will it make any difference in what happens tonight? "I'll give you anything you want, just -- please let him go."
One of the men with the single golden earring approaches. Physis has traded blows with him before: that is how she knows to be afraid. He grasps her by the chin so that Sophia can be looking upwards instead of at the asphalt like the coward that she is.
"You are going to clench your teeth. Make this worth my while." She understands his meaning and nods. The first punch doesn't quite send her to the floor but the second one does. Once she hits the ground, he starts kicking her with the knowledge that Physis will not be retaliating. It feels a little like justice, especially since the victim of this scheme would never lift a hand to her like this.
"This is for my brothers who died at Hudson--" He starts to punctuate every location with a kick. "the docks, the bridge, the Hill, and the penitentiary." He steps off of Sophia eventually, huffing from his exertions. From this angle, Physis really looks like a young woman instead of a lamentation forged of blood and bone.
"Get up." Sophia doesn't even take a moment to catch her breath or check the swelling in her face. She doesn't dare to disobey. The pain is primary in all things, except for Zahir's welfare. She rises shakily, favoring her left side. Not yet, not yet. She isn't allowed to fall until Leto can bring her husband home. Her expression is pained. She must endure. She must. It's only a beginning, she knows.
The one known as Lorenz looks at Sophia dubiously. "If you treat Physis so heavy-handedly, will she really last long enough for all of her creditors to spend time with her?"
leto |
|
|
|
Post by leto on Jul 5, 2016 2:34:31 GMT
This is his chance, and Leto seizes it with both hands.
mLjRu|hV < 50 he manages to escalate the question into a full blown fight
...And he fails miserably. These men might have their disagreements, but they are very united in their purpose today.
physis
|
|
|
|
Post by physis on Jul 5, 2016 4:13:18 GMT
She feels miserable, but at least she has power. Sophia can't even imagine how Zahir feels right now. Let down by his security, deceived by his spouse, and unable to do a single thing.
No.
No, she does know. That's why she's going so far. Sophia wants to believe that she can succeed where a different man in a different time had failed. History is not a waterwheel. The same ending does not have to follow.
Sophia wipes away some blood from her lips. "Let's just get on with this." She's still dangerous, whether she believes herself capable or not.
(No, don't think like that. He's not out of danger yet. Maybe he won't ever be. They already kidnapped him from Kingsport proper once.)
She walks past the man who had hit her. He allows it. Sophia stops when she's in front of Zahir. The handcuffs are unlocked silently. She embraces him, careful to avoid the injured leg. He's so warm.
"I am so sorry." She tells him miserably. Somewhere in the back, someone makes a disgusted noise(tm).
leto |
|
