Chapter 14: Chapter 13
"Anything else you want to tell us?" I asked to Sherrel, the real name of the Squealer, who just looked up at me with tears, trying to think of anything to say.
"I used to wet my bed until I was eight." She said with a shaky voice.
"Didn't need to know that." I said with a deadpan, guess I did take everything I needed from her about the Merchants.
Their capes, their hideouts, their lack of tactics; I had pretty much everything on them. Well, everything Sherrel knew at least.
"Thank you for your cooperation anyway." I said and then pulled out another potion from my coat, enlarged pockets were still one of the best decisions I have ever made.
"Here's your reward. If you ever feel like getting rid of the less than desirable results your poor lifestyle had on your appearance, drink this." I said as I placed the bottle on the ground in front of her, just a few steps of difference between their position.
"Whelp, gotta go." I said with a smile before clapping my hands twice. First clap caused Sherrel's bindings to disappear and the second clap created a several bars, creating a spacious cell for my captive. Which made her eyes widen.
"Wait, I… you can't just leave me here! If I don't get my dose soon…"
"Nothing will happen. What do you think that pink sludge you liked out was? Your body is no longer addicted to that shit." I said and then left with a wave, leaving a flabbergasted Sherrel behind.
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"'Your body is no longer addicted to that shit.'
Those words were ringing in Squealer… Sherrel's ears as she tried to comprehend the situation.
She wasn't addicted anymore.
She wasn't addicted anymore!
There was a part of her mind that whispered into her ear that there was no way that bastard in the mask who just had been torturing her was telling the truth but the bigger part of her mind was overwhelmed with something she hadn't felt since she was inducted to the Merchants.
Hope.
There was a chance for her to be free of the Merchants. She may have kinda liked driving her rides around but her induction to Merchants was a bitter memory. After she was triggered, some mooks had found her trying to get parts from a junkyard in order to tinker and somehow Skidmark ended making a decision actually befitting a crime boss. He had her drugged with so many different drugs that it was a miracle that she was merely an addict rather than have her brain run down her nose.
After that her life was merely a case of getting high and hurting people so that she could feel somewhat better about her life. Even her so called relationship was something she simply had so that the other Merchants wouldn't try to mess with her. Not that it had worked much since for Skidmark the word boyfriend meant the same thing as pimp. Worse, while her plan hadn't worked her status as Skidmark's girlfriend had stuck.
She never thought that things would change for her, especially since even the so called heroes of PRT were not willing to go against Merchants. Meaning that her position would stay same until either Skidmark grew old and was replaced by someone or until she ended up snorting too much of their stuff and have her brain run down from her nose.
Yet now she could see a small glimmer of hope. She didn't know the name of the guy who kidnapped her and she couldn't exactly say that she liked the thought of being around a guy that was torturing her just five minutes ago but she had been doing lots of shit she didn't like these last years. He also seemed to be powerful, with a power that allowed him to torture people and somehow create a cell around her; meaning it was versatile. He just might have a chance at getting rid of the Merchants.
Which meant it was about time for her to jump ship and join the winning side.
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"What are you doing?" Monica asked me, making me stop writing.
"Hmm, let's say that it's a surprise. A very funny surprise for any cape who is dumb enough to mess with us and incompetent enough to get caught." I said with a smile as I looked down at my notes, which was a cluster of different runes.
"Please tell me that you aren't trying to create something that can stop capes from using their powers." Monica said with a sigh, sounding like she just wanted to lay down and act like everything in the world was merely a bad dream.
"Kinda, I don't think I can create something that will stop powers working in an area but I think I might be able to make some sort of shackle that will negate the wearer's powers. I will need a cape or two to test them on though. Why do you sound so stressed about it?"
"Because that shouldn't be possible!" Monica actually snapped at me, tears gathering on the edge of her eyes.
"How do you keep a parahuman in prison if it was impossible?" I said with a raised eyebrow, cause that sounded pretty much impossible.
"They are kept either bound or completely sedated until they are taken to prison and fitted into their collars. The collars keep track of the brain of the wearer and are programmed to activate when there is an activity in their Corona Pollentia. The effect of the collar range from shocks to keep the prisoners sedated to actually killing them with wide range of methods." Monica explained with a tired look.
That was good to know, a little dark but good to know.
"Well, I think I'll be able to make something." I shrugged and watched as Monica just left with a hopeless expression, muttering something about 'ridiculous trumps'. Something tells me she means something other than a weirdo with a Cheeto dust covered wig.
Seeing that she likely decided to rest, I turned back to my little project of runes and... I was kinda stumped.
When somebody said runes, most tended to think the Elder Futhark, the runes of the Norse and Celtic. Said to be discovered by the Allfather Odin himself after he sacrificed his eye to Mimi's Well of Wisdom and hanged himself on a branch of the Yggdrasil with his trusted spear Gungnir piercing his gut.
A story that had changed as it was delivered from one person to another about a rather impressive wizard who cared for rituals and knowledge more than his own life. But runes weren't just that, runes were actually any kind of letter system that was connected to magic and much like every wizard being talented in different branches of magic, so were the different types of runes.
For a collar that would suppress someone's powers I would need to use a combination of different cultures. My first thought had been to use the Asian runes that were more commonly used with Ofuda, but discarded it as that style was more specialized in suppressing ghosts and other non humans.
In the end all I knew is that Egyptian hieroglyphs would be used in my design but for the needed finishing touches in the system, I would likely need Aztec runes. Something that I was a little bit hesitant since the history of Aztec runes was covered in blood and human sacrifice, something that magic of the runes remembered very clearly.
It was times like this I missed Lily, she had been quite talented with runes and smart enough for me to actually bounce off ideas with. I had to wonder, what was she doing now in our world...
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