Chương 15: Bk 1 Ch 14: Advocate

I'm at work when I get the call. It's only a half hour until close and things are starting to clear out, so Mr. Mercer doesn't grumble too much when I ask to leave early due to a personal emergency. I immediately fly over to Mark's place, finding him alone.

"What happened?"

"AJ called me from the lockup, didn't want to say too much in case the cops were listening, but apparently they were all at his place when that Valkyrie chick busted straight through the window. He said they were just doing some chores, probably means they were sorting some product or something, or else the cops wouldn't have had any justification to arrest them. Sounded like they were freaking out pretty bad, should probably try to get them out of their as fast as possible.

Uh, you're not gonna do anything else to them, are you?"

"... No. Not unless they're lying about something," I say slowly. This almost certainly is their fault, but not because of any new mistakes they've made.

"How likely are the police to interrogate them tonight?" Mark shrugs.

"Couldn't say. Depends on how much they know. If the cops think they're just independent dealers, they probably won't care that much, but if they realize they're a potential lead on a gang, they'll move a lot faster. I reminded them to shut the fuck up and not answer any questions, but better if we can get them out before that happens. Listen, I got a good lawyer, guy named Mr. Sterling, Dave and Jess know him too.

He's got an emergency number for arrests, never actually called it before, but I'm pretty sure he'll pick up. Just wanted to wait for your say-so." Convenient; he'll be less likely to associate anything with me if it's Mark calling. I nod.

"Go ahead." He walks over to the phone and dials a number. There's a few tense seconds before it picks up, but then he starts talking.

"Yeah, this is Mark King. Listen, some, ah, friends of mine just got pulled in by the cops. Was hoping you could help them out, I'll be paying. Uh huh. Alright, great. So here's the deal…" I listen as he lays things out. He hangs up and turns to me after about ten minutes, looking a lot more relaxed.

"Alright, good news. Mr. Sterling says unregistered white masks are a goddamn nightmare for the cops to deal with, any case involving them tends to collapse as soon as someone sneezes on it. He's almost positive he'll be able to get the charges dropped, he's headed down to the station now. Told him to let 'em know they're not in any trouble, too."

"Good. I'll make sure you're reimbursed." I don't have any serious cash on me, since I came straight from work.

"I have something I need to take care of tonight. Call me as soon as you've heard back."

"Will do." I figure I'll probably need to cancel my meeting with Apollo tonight, but I want to at least let him know. For the first time since we've started meeting, though, he doesn't show. I wait around until 11, but there's no sign of him. Concerning, but there's nothing I can do about it right now. On the bright side, I hear back from Mark around 10: 30. As promised, Mr. Sterling was able to have all the evidence thrown out pretty much immediately due to the hilariously illegal way it was obtained.

Does Valkyrie realize all the people she's arrested have probably walked out of the police station the very same night if they have a halfway competent lawyer? Shaking my head slightly in amusement, I tell Mark to take them back to his place, and I'll join them in a little bit. Despite my reassurance, the three of them look a bit terrified when I arrive.

"I'm super, super sorry, Boss, I know we fucked up again but I swear we didn't-""Calm yourselves," I say, holding up a hand.

"I don't believe the three of you did anything wrong; or, I should say, anything else wrong. But I don't believe it's a coincidence that it was you Valkyrie managed to find. I need you each to tell me, in exact detail, what you were doing before she captured you. Learning which of you she followed will be the first step in finding her." They do a good job, but nothing really jumps out at me. AJ works at a gas station, and went straight home to his apartment after work.

Zach goes to community college, and he met up with Ryan after they both got done with classes. They hung out at a music store for an hour, then went over to AJ's place. They didn't catch a single glimpse of Valkyrie or anyone who looked like she might have been her until she came crashing through AJ's window while they were rolling joints. I do at least get a proper description of Valkyrie, which is useful. Her costume is a formfitting steel breastplate, along with steel bracers and boots.

She wears a light blue skirt, but her arms are bare to the shoulders aside from the bracers. For a mask, she has a full-face steel helmet decorated with wings, but with a pair of blonde braids coming out the back. Her weapon is a pair, a longsword and a wooden roundshield. They're not sure exactly how old she is, but assuming she is a fresh magical she's definitely towards the older end, fifteen or sixteen.

If she is highschool aged, there's a decent chance she goes to West and got tipped off by the rumors about Ryan. I have no hard evidence of that, though, so I shouldn't discard other possibilities. At least they all assure me that none of them said a single word to the cops, and I believe them. I'm doing my best to cultivate a reputation for fairness, harsh when I need to be, but never vindictive.

I haven't had a lot of time yet, though, and I'm glad none of them panicked and decided to throw themselves on the mercy of the cops just in case I decided to kill them for getting in trouble again so soon. Then I really would have needed to kill them; betrayal is the one thing I absolutely can't afford to be lenient with. I let them go after telling them to spend the next month keeping their heads down, and assuring them that I won't count it against their punishment.

Mark has some interesting news for me too, though. Mr. Sterling had still been at the station when he came to pick the three of them up, and had told them that he'd "be happy to discuss a closer arrangement with your associates, if they're interested." It doesn't take a genius to figure out that I'm probably the associate he's talking about; he certainly knows there's a new black mask in town by now, and he can put two and two together. I am interested, but there's also an element of risk. Mr.

Sterling is both smart and observant, and he's spent a decent amount of time around me. There's a real chance he'll recognize me if I meet him in costume. But… maybe that's alright? Having a lawyer who knows my civilian identity would be useful for multiple reasons, so long as I can trust him. It is a lot of trust, but Mr. Sterling certainly doesn't seem like the type to go running to ABRA. If anything, I'd be more concerned about him selling me out to the Syndicate or something.

After thinking it over for a while, I decide to ask Jess and David, who've known him for longer. They're a bit surprised, but give their cautious approval. Although he's not exactly a conventional lawyer, they've never seen him be anything less than completely dedicated to his clients. It's still a risk, but not a careless one, I don't think. He's the one who asked for a closer arrangement, after all. I spend the rest of the weekend thinking about it, then give him a call on Monday.

"You've reached the office of Samuel Sterling."

"Hi, it's Gabrielle Harper."

"Ah, Miss Harper. What a pleasant surprise. How can I help you today?"

"There's something I'd like to discuss with you in person, if you have time."

"I do have time. I suppose you'll be back in school now, so perhaps tomorrow at four o'clock?"

"That's fine."

"Excellent. I'll see you then." I take the bus over after school, apologizing to Alex for missing our usual workout. His office is where I remember it. I take a seat in the cramped waiting room, and the door opens exactly at four.

"Please come in, Miss Harper," he says. He takes his seat behind his desk, and I sit in front, pushing down my nerves.

"So, what problem can I help you with? Or, are you perhaps here on behalf of an associate?" I stare at him for a moment, then snort in amusement and exasperation.

"You already suspected, didn't you?" He grins widely, full of teeth.

"I did, although I wasn't certain until the very coincidental timing of your call."

"How? What gave me away?"

"Nothing you need to worry yourself over, I don't believe. But first, would you care to introduce yourself properly?" I hesitate for a second, and then I transform.

"Call me Schwarzschild."

"Schwarzschild. Interesting. Named after the German mathematician, I assume?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you're familiar."

"I believe in accumulating a wide variety of knowledge. You possess gravity manipulation, then? Or is the name a subterfuge?"

"No, you're right." I demonstrate by briefly floating his stapler off his desk.

"But I still want to know what gave me away."

"In part, it was your success in dealing with your father via unorthodox means, and your lack of any visible injury after he struck you. But it was also many smaller things, things which would likely appear insignificant to anyone who has never worked closely with a magical before. Am I right in thinking that you typically wear your talisman as a pendant, for example? You have a habit of touching it when under stress, a habit which Praetorian shared." Behind my mask, my eyes widen.

"You knew Praetorian?"

"Oh, yes." Mr. Sterling is still smiling, but now it becomes slightly bitter, even wistful.

"I would go so far as to call him a friend. You've chosen to trust me, so it's only fair that I tell you a story in return." He leans back in his chair, seemingly gathering his thoughts for a few seconds.

"When magicals first started appearing, it was immediately obvious to me that the old structures of power had been made irrelevant, and the future would belong to your kind. It seemed clear that the correct course of action was to join the winning side as early as possible. My opportunity came in February of '89. At the time, I was five years into my employment with a firm called Lawrence & Hartman.

Our clientele was of the sort who had regular need for defense attorneys, although we were happy to provide them with a variety of other services as well. It began when I was tasked with helping one of our clients provide a young man with a fresh legal identity. That client's name was Antonio DeCassi, better known later as Bloody Tony."

"At that point, Tony was a soldier for the Tramunti family. The family had recently undergone an, ah, abrupt change in leadership, and many were dissatisfied with the resulting state of things, Tony very much among them. This was shortly after the passage of the Extradimensional Interdiction Act, and many of the earliest magicals such as Praetorian hadn't realized the necessity of concealing their identities. He was on the run after nearly being killed by federal agents, and Tony had happened to scoop him up.

The bargain they struck was simple: Tony would provide Praetorian a veneer of legitimacy in the eyes of the family, and Praetorian would provide Tony the power needed to supplant the current leadership. The pair of them were satisfied enough with my work that when I voiced my suspicions on Praetorian's true nature, they allowed me to join their partnership."

"I won't go into the details, but suffice to say, their plan was entirely successful. Within a year, the previous bosses of the Tramunti and their supporters had been disposed of, and Tony had taken their place. For some time, things went well. The other families were cowed, the money flowed in, and my own star was on the rise thanks to Tony's patronage. Then the government caught wind of Praetorian's involvement with the family. They issued an ultimatum: turn over Praetorian, or be destroyed.

Tony refused, of course. His power relied far too much on Praetorian, and no self-respecting boss would ever bow to the demands of the police anyway, but the truth is that all of us believed it was a bluff. At that point, no magical had ever collected a following larger than a couple dozen members, and the vast majority worked alone. We didn't believe the government had the stomach to take on an organization as powerful as the Tramunti family, not with magical support."

"We underestimated just how much they feared magicals, and the lengths they would go to to eliminate them. Suspected made men and associates were gunned down by police and federal agents with absolutely no regard for due process. The entirety of Lawrence & Hartman was arrested on suspicion of extradimensional collaboration, our status as lawyers doing nothing to protect us. In a way, that was fortunate, as I was already behind bars when the Tramunti retaliated.

I had no part in Tony and Praetorian's decision that if the government wanted a war, they would get one."

"As I'm sure you've been told, the final death toll was over two thousand. I don't know exactly how they managed to finally track Praetorian down, whether someone flipped on him or they simply got lucky, but I do know the bomb they dropped on his safehouse killed more than forty people and injured nearly three hundred.

That wasn't the only incident which caused public sentiment to swing sharply against the Interdiction Act, but it was one of the largest, and it certainly helped fuel the uprising in Los Angeles a few weeks later." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"As for me, it didn't take long for my esteemed colleagues to point the finger at me as Praetorian's closest associate. I endured a rather unpleasant few months of imprisonment, but after the repeal of the Interdiction Act and the passage of the Abhuman Registration Act, the case against me swiftly collapsed. I was released, but it took me three more years to have my disbarment overturned. Even then, my record was sufficiently blackened that no one was interested in hiring me.

I came to Franklin after being firmly rebuffed by the Golden Empire Cartel, hoping that perhaps a smaller and newer operation might be interested in my services, but my overtures to Barracuda and Obsidian when they arrived were ignored as well. All I could do was wait and hope that one of my clients might join with a magical. And at last, here you are." I wait for a moment to make sure he's done before I respond.

"I hope you aren't planning on staying only until you find a better prospect," I say.

"Certainly not. I won't pretend to have given up ambition, but I also understand the value of loyalty. The Columbia Syndicate might offer me more, true, but they might decide I've outlived my usefulness just as easily. Better to build a solid foundation myself, even if it doesn't take me as high as I once aimed. With that said, I think you might rise significantly higher than I'd hoped for since the Tramunti's fall."

"What makes you say that?"

"Call it intuition," he says, shrugging slightly.

"You've been active for several months now without drawing attention to yourself, and yet you aren't afraid to take risks when necessary, either. A good combination." I consider him for a moment.

"Assuming I do rise, and you rise with me, what then? What do you want?"

"The usual things, of course. Wealth, influence, respect. Beyond that… Perhaps revenge isn't quite the right word. Most of the men who personally destroyed my life are already dead, or faced other consequences. Even my former colleagues failed to save their own careers by offering me as a sacrifice. What I want is… to see the facade torn away. They call us criminals, monsters, a disease, and yet they didn't hesitate for a moment to commit atrocities a hundred times worse the instant their power was threatened.

The only difference between us is that they lie about what they are, and this offends me. I want to watch the power they fought so viciously to protect crumble, and I want them to know that I was right." Again, I consider that before I respond, this time for several seconds.

"The first lie they ever tell us is that the rules are sacred," I say eventually.

"The only true rule is that the powerful do what they want."" Precisely," says Mr. Sterling, and his grin has just the slightest touch of mania in it. I answer his grin with my own.

"I think we're going to work well together." We spend the next two hours going over the operations of the Sun Eaters with a fine-tooth comb. Mr. Sterling is generally fairly impressed with the way I've structured things on my own, noting the similarity to the way Mafia families are divided into crews. He does have some concerns about how much I can count on their loyalty, which I agree with; it's just an inescapable consequences of creating a brand new gang from nothing.

I can't exactly use the traditional method of requiring everyone to kill someone in order to become a full member, and I wouldn't even if it was practical. Right now, there's really no reason for anyone else in the gang to become a killer when I can just do it myself. Eventually, there probably will be, but I still don't want to make it a requirement. In general, I don't have a whole lot of interest in expanding into other kinds of crime.

Maybe gambling eventually, but that'll have to wait until we can secure a venue for it. Prostitution, I have very mixed feelings about. It'll probably happen whether I want it to or not, and I could potentially prevent some abuse by taking control of it, but I still find the whole idea to be extremely distasteful. Protection rackets and contract killings and robbery, though, I can pretty much discard except for when I need to send a message.

Drugs are profitable because people like doing them, but nobody likes getting robbed. I'm a magical, my power doesn't come from money, and I'd rather not live in the kind of town that sort of thing would create. More importantly, Mr. Sterling has plenty of experience with setting up front businesses and money laundering operations, something which I know virtually nothing about. Right now, our operation is still small enough to mostly handle everything in cash, but that'll be changing soon.

It'd also be very convenient to have some sort of centralized location where everyone can meet, including me. He promises to look into some options and get back to me. We also talk a bit about how to handle some potential threats. There haven't been any more incidents with Surf 'n Turf since the first one, not surprising since I ordered all my people to stay well away from their territory. Maybe things will stay that way, but Mr. Sterling predicts that they'll probably try to test the water at some point.

The trick will be pushing back hard enough to convince them we're not worth the trouble, but not hard enough to start a cycle of escalating reprisals. As for Valkyrie, he speculates that she may take offense to the trio she arrested getting off so easily and come back for round two. I'm a little worried, but she hasn't killed or even injured anyone so far, so they're probably not in any physical danger. More likely, she'll try and find someone higher up the chain through them.

Alternatively, she might realize she's not actually accomplishing anything and just give it up, but then she'll stop being our problem anyway. As for the money, I hand over two grand now. Mr. Sterling is understanding that we're still just getting off the ground and willing to be patient, but he also intends to cut ties with his clients that aren't associated with us as a matter of professional courtesy, so I have to give him something.

It takes a chunk out of my finances, but I'm up to four or five hundred bucks a week on average from the Sun Eaters now, so it's manageable. I make sure to give Mr. Sterling my cellphone number before leaving, and add both his regular and emergency numbers to my phone as well. He double checks that I know to always be circumspect on the phone, and I assure him that I do. Friday night, I head to my usual meeting with Apollo. I'm not sure if he'll be there or not; it depends on why he wasn't there last week.

Fortunately, he does show this time, although ten or fifteen minutes later than usual.

"Hey, I'm glad you're here," he greets me.

"I can't stay long tonight, I just wanted to let you know why I missed last week."

"You got caught sneaking out?" I guess.

"Sneaking back in, actually, two weeks ago," he admits.

"At least they didn't realize it was a regular thing, but they've still been watching me a lot more carefully. I had to go talk to the ABRA psychologists again, too, I made some stuff up but I think they knew I was hiding something."

"The ABRA psychologists?" I ask curiously.

"Yeah. It's their job to make sure we're not, you know, going off the rails or something. Normally we only have to see them once a year, but they can call us in any time. If you refuse to go, or if they think you might be dangerous, someone from a strike team comes and takes your talisman away." Jesus. That's something they never mentioned in any of the assemblies. I really am glad I decided not to register.

"Your babysitters, do they work for ABRA too?" He shakes his head.

"No, they work for the Gottfried Clinic. They have to report any concerns to ABRA, though, it's in the contract that lets me work there."

"So no one from ABRA is actually watching you day-to-day?" I ask, just to make sure.

"Uh, they have a full-time representative at the clinic, but she doesn't really do much. One time, a few months after I started working there, I tried to ask her if ABRA could make them let me work less. The only thing that happened is my- my parents yelled at me for asking a few days later, so I'm pretty sure she really works for the clinic too." I stifle a sigh and smile instead.

"Well, that sounds like no problem, then. There's nothing the clinic can do to threaten you without killing their golden goose. All you have to do is tell them to mind their own goddamn business, and as long as you keep making money for them, they're not going to say a word to ABRA."

"They told ABRA about me sneaking out, though," he says, frowning.

"Sure, cause they knew ABRA wasn't actually gonna do anything about it. Sneaking out is just normal teenage behavior, not a sign that you're about to go on a murder spree. It's just a tactic to pressure you. Trust me, there's absolutely zero chance that they'll ever risk letting your talisman actually get taken away."

"... So what am I supposed to do, then?"

"Simple. Demand to talk with the asshole in charge over there. They'll probably put you off, say he's too busy, so you say you aren't healing anyone until he sees you. I guarantee you'll be in his office within five minutes. Then you tell him to have his people stop reporting on what you do outside of work, to anyone, or else you stop healing. He'll probably bluster and threaten you, but all you have to do is remember that he can't actually do anything to you without screwing himself over as well."

"What if he decides to tell ABRA anyway?" I shrug.

"Then you'll either have to give up your talisman or run for it. I'd say the risk of that happening is tiny, but it's up to you whether you want to take it or not."

"I…" He crosses his arms and looks away.

"I wasn't even sure if I wanted to risk coming out here tonight. A friend from school convinced me to. She doesn't know I'm Apollo," he clarifies quickly.

"Just that I got caught sneaking out to see someone and got in big trouble because of it. She said if I didn't at least let you know what happened, I'd regret it. It's… kind of a big step, isn't it? I'm not sure if I can do it."

"I think you can. Maybe you couldn't have a month ago, but you're tougher than you were then. Can you think of a smaller step you could take first?" He hesitates for a few seconds, then shakes his head.

"Putting it off won't make it any easier. And if you never take the step at all, you won't get any stronger than you are now even if you find a way to keep practicing."

"... I've been healing people faster than I could before," he says eventually.

"Just a little, but it lets me get done a few minutes earlier every day. I'd like to keep improving."

"I believe in you. And once you're out from under their thumb, then we can have some real fun. Maybe I'll take you to a party to celebrate."

"A party? You mean, like, in civvies?"

"If you want."

"... What kind of party?" I grin.

"The kind your parents wouldn't approve of, of course."

"I don't think my parents approve of any kind of party. Except the boring adult kind that are really just work, I guess."

"Well, just imagine the exact polar opposite of that, then," I say, rolling my eyes slightly.

"Seriously though, you deserve to live a little for a change."

"I…" He trails off for a few seconds.

"I'll have to think about it. I want you to be right, but…" He shakes his head.

"I should get back, before they notice I'm gone. I'll do my best to be here next week, if I'm not… Well, I'll do my best."

"I'll be waiting for you." He leaves after that. After considering for a moment, I decide to follow him home from the air. It's a little breach of trust, but I'm not going to do anything malicious with the information, and hopefully we'll be unmasking to each other next week anyway. On the off chance things do go badly wrong for him, I'm not sure if I'll be able to help him or even want to, but better to at least have the option. I follow him deeper into the park, along one of the ridgeline hiking trails.

The trees make keeping track of him a bit tricky, but they also give me plenty of cover. He moves pretty quick, jogging at twenty or thirty miles an hour, and comes to a stop after just a few minutes. He jumps up into a tree, then across into another tree, then over a tall brick and iron wall separating the park from an enormous backyard. The accompanying house is way bigger than even my parents' house, definitely big enough to qualify as a mansion.

He takes a winding path through the yard, probably designed to avoid security cameras. I watch until he jumps up and climbs in through a third-story window, then head home myself. My apartment is perfectly adequate for my needs right now, but it does feel just a tad small in comparison. I wonder if he'd let me move in with him, once I've helped him take back all the things other people bought using his power?