by Skyler Grant
I wasn't going to wait for his permission. I stormed into the back rooms to talk to this Cliff firsthand.
Cliff turned out to be a paunchy and balding officer who looked to be somewhere in his mid-forties.
"You think it’s a good idea to just walk around anywhere you like in a police station?" Cliff asked.
I didn't see his eyes wander much. I appreciated that.
"I thought it might go over a bit better than me slapping the boy at the desk," I said.
"You know that you've been shot?" Cliff asked.
His eyes had at least caught the important bit in the little wandering they did.
"I'm aware. Got ambushed by two cars full of men as soon as I came to the city," I said.
Cliff grunted at that and motioned to an empty chair. I took a seat. "If you came looking for me to do your job for you, then you're going to be disappointed. Kid’s dad was playing at the Lapis Lounge two nights back. Kid came to watch him play. Dad finished his set and the kid was gone. Nobody saw nothing."
"You're skipping past the people trying to kill me bit awfully easy," I said.
"Lady, it's that kind of town," Cliff said.
I wasn't buying that. I also wasn't feeling right. When you’ve been in as many battles as I had, you got a sense for when a fight was about to break out. I had that sense now. I glanced around the room. Most of the officers had cleared out and positioned themselves at the exits.
"You're in on it," I said.
Cliff shrugged. "Whole town is dirty, Miss. You've got to be pretty stupid, if you need help, that you go to the police. I don't know why there'd be a hit out on you, but we'll take the money for it."
They wouldn't. I sprang out of the chair and rushed towards the nearest door. The hall beyond was filled with police. The first lunged at me and I swept under his arms, then between the legs of the second. There were too many. A booted heel took me in the temple and another connected in my midsection knocking the wind out of me. Before I could get my bearings back, my hands had been cuffed behind my back.
The officer from the front desk was getting entirely too friendly with his hand on my thigh. I headbutted him and his nose exploded with satisfying crack.
"Bitch," he growled and swung a punch of his own that split my lip open. "Tell me we get to have a little fun before killing her."
"Miles. Lay a hand on her that way and I'll shoot you myself," Cliff said. "Take her downstairs and put a bullet between her eyes. Guess she shouldn't have tried to escape custody."
With my arms cuffed behind me and without combat skills, there was only so much fight I could give. I was dragged downstairs. I’ll give it to Cliff. At least I didn't get raped before they put the gun between my eyes and pulled the trigger.
My world exploded in a haze of red and in an instant I was elsewhere.
I might have almost mistaken this for a natural wilderness if it weren’t for the towering buildings visible in the distance on all sides. I sat up from where I'd appeared in a field of flowers. Immortality, right. At least my thigh had been healed and I wasn't in cuffs.
A tiny woman, with rainbow-tinted wings and wearing a fedora and sunglasses, lounged back on a flower petal and stared at me.
"Well, aren't you a strange sight," I said.
"You're one to talk, lady," said the fairy.
She had a point.
I massaged my face where I'd just felt bullets enter it. I couldn't deny I was shaken by what just happened. I'd been strong my entire life and more than able to handle most of what threatened me. This body was strong and fast, and I could handle the dress code, but I didn't like not having my skills.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Central Park. The one place nature has a bit of free reign in this whole city," said the fairy.
I was glad it did. I didn't lose too much time with my unexpected resurrection that way.
"I'm Persephone," I said.
"Figured. We heard some plant Goddess would be visiting town. You can call me Lily," Lily said.
I sat up. Dying really had completely healed me. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it could have been worse. I felt refreshed and rejuvenated.
"I don't suppose you've seen a missing kid," I said.
"Faeries steal them all the time, but not the one you're looking for. Sorry," Lily said.
"You steal children? Why?" I asked.
"Usually to take them on adventures," Lily said, and leapt off her flower petal to buzz around me. "Don't you get cold?"
I actually hadn't so far.
"No, probably a Goddess thing. I'm rather new at it," I said.
"Must be nice," Lily said.
"I wouldn't go that far. So far, it hasn't been good for a lot except coming back from the dead," I said.
Lily completed her inspection and landed on a flower petal again. "That doesn't sound right. I mean, you can go all kablamo with the plants and vines and things."
"All I've managed to do is grow a stalk of barley. It hasn't been much use in a shootout," I said.
Lily tilted her head as she looked up at me. "What would you usually do?"
"Break kneecaps, steal guns, smash noses, cave in throats," I said. I guess I really did lead a rather violent life.
Lily grimaced. "Yeah. No. That isn't you, not anymore. You're all part of nature now."
"Nature generally spends its days trying to kill the rest of nature," I said. I'd never found the idea of nature particularly passive.
"The animals do, but not plants. I'm going to go all guest lecturer," Lily said.
I didn't mind. The timer was ticking down on the case, but I needed to get my abilities in order. Lily seemed to be a nature spirit of some kind. Perhaps she could help.
"Go on," I said.
"Plants were here before animals crawled along and they're going to be here after the last is put away. When this city is nothing but corpses and dust, it's going to be ivy up the side of every building and moss on every surface. We win the long fight," Lily said.
That was probably true. It also wasn't helpful.
"I'm fighting battles that less last than a thousand years," I said.
Lily buzzed back up to eye level, "Where do you think your powers top out?"
I didn't know. Sponsored heroes weren't a thing back when I'd been on the Network and I'd never seen any others operate. It left me only legends and myths relating to Gods.
"Able to transform people into trees? The raising of medicinal herbs?" I asked.
Lily snorted. "Lady, if you ever make it to your peak power cities are going to be crumbling in your wake as they become forests. You'll be making plants like people have never seen before. You'll be mistress of a million toxins and a literal force of nature. Yeah, you won't want to go toe-to-toe with your average war deity, but even there, again, in the end we plants win."
I'd been thinking too small. I hadn't really liked getting Persephone. I could have been happy with Athena or Nike. Even Nemesis fit my feelings about what happened to Olympus well. Persephone though was a victim. Which, of course, I was. I'd been attacked and had my whole world taken away. Since then, I had those that just kept trying to prey on me, and for all that I might have won those encounters it would be a lie to say they hadn't left a mark. Perhaps I really was Persephone, but that didn't mean I couldn't be strong.
"Can you help?" I asked.
Lily tilted her head. "Always a price with us faeries."
"What is yours?" I asked.
"This park stays. Nature will always have a foothold in this city. You have to make certain of it," Lily said.
I didn't know how to do that, but the request felt right. I was Persephone, this was a part of that. Protecting these places, whether it was a faerie price or not.
"Done," I said.
Lily nodded and buzzed off to circle a tree. "Focus here. Call to brambles. Even at your low power you should be able to bring them."
I practiced a few hours with the fairy. By the time we were done
I was able to coat any surface in vines of sharp barbs at will. It wouldn't be killing anyone unless they got very unlucky, but I could already visualize the applications.
"Looking good," Ismene said.
"This might just work out. I need to pay for the help and put in a complaint on the police. Can you find me the mayor?"
"I can get you to City Hall."
That would do.
There would be police there, but some places they could reasonably start a fight and some places they couldn't.
98
City Hall was a busy place. Well-dressed men and women scurried about and there was enough marble that I almost felt at home. My arrival caused a stir, of course it caused a stir.
This time things would go different than at the police station. I'd make sure of it.
The floors were cool beneath my bare feet as I made my way to the reception desk. A harried-looking young woman looked up and gave me a frown of disapproval.
"I need to speak with the Mayor," I said.
"Do you have an appointment?" asked the receptionist.
"Do you really think I need one?" I asked.
The receptionist looked me over once more and gave an unhappy grunt. "Jilted lover? We've got a strict no jilted lover policy."
"I've never met the man," I said.
Another upset huff and I was allowed past. The guards on duty didn't look disturbed at my presence. Whoever was hunting me had probably not made it this far then, or assumed that the murder at the police station had stuck and that I wouldn't be a danger for several more days.
The Mayor’s office was plushly appointed. An almost absurd amount of wood and leather filled the room, but that wasn't what drew my attention. There were collectibles, little memorabilia all around the office that looked far too current. In the virtual space like this it could be difficult to tell who was real and who was a construct. The owner of this office was plainly a fan of this era and so was probably a real person.
The nameplate on the desk identified him as Alfonso Pierce, a distinguished-looking gentleman in his mid-forties in an immaculate suit with a white rose in the lapel.
"Persephone herself. I heard you were coming to our city. I didn't expect you to come waltzing into my office," Alfonso said, leaning back in his chair as he looked over me. There was a calm self-possession to the man.
"Is that because you tried to have me killed as soon as I arrived?" I asked.
Alfonso gave a thin smile. "Little happens in this town that I'm not aware of. I didn't send those men to kill you, although I was aware of the attempt."
Everything he said was being put out there into the Network live. Liberty had sent me to perform this investigation and yet the Mayor here seemed to be talking relatively openly. A high member of the corporation then, dirty enough that everyone knew it and connected enough to not be scared to show it.
"Your police force tried as well," I said.
"I got notice they'd killed a stripper and prostitute who was trying to escape custody. I apologize for the confusion. I'm sure you can understand," Alfonso said.
If his goal was to piss me off he was succeeding. I reminded myself to be ice, not fire. To keep my cool.
"Of course. In a competently run city this kidnapping would never have occurred. I expected to encounter a few screw-ups," I said.
It was my turn to score with a barb.
"The beautiful rose has her thorns," Alfonso said after a moment. The barb, if anything, seemed to have soothed a bit of his contempt. I knew his type now. He appreciated the fight.
"The best ones always do," I said, moving to settle down into a chair across from the desk. I liked a fight too. "So do you know who took the boy?"
"There are only a few players in town bold enough to make a play like that. It's designed to make Liberty look bad, which means an outside connection, which narrows the list even more," Alfonso said.
He wasn't admitting to anything, but this implied that he knew something.
"They pay you," I said.
"Everyone pays me. It’s the cost of doing business in this town and the best way to assure that I remain a neutral party," Alfonso said, pointedly.
I was being extorted. It was subtle, but the hints were there. Up until now he hadn't been a neutral party. Unfortunately I had nothing to give him.
"I want more than just that name. Central Park, I want a law that it be maintained," I said.
Alfonso raised an eyebrow. "An unusual request, but then you are Persephone. I'll take it under advisement. Different parties have wanted that land for various purposes for quite some time. It has turned into something of a bidding war."
"What do you want?" I asked.
Alfonso shifted his gaze to look me up and down. He said nothing, he didn't need to.
Right. Of course. The strange thing was that I wasn't beyond sleeping with someone to get what I wanted. If I thought it would meet my goals I'd be happy to share a night and a bed, and leave the next morning better off. I already had a read on this man, though. If I agreed to such a thing he'd lose what little respect he'd gained for me and I'd never get what I wanted out of him.
"If that’s as far as your imagination goes then we've little else to discuss," I said.
"A pleasure to meet you, Persephone. I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors to find the boy," Alfonso said.
Of course, he didn't mean it. Alfonso was on the side of those who had given him what he wanted, and that meant whoever took the boy.
I made my way out of City Hall. Either despite himself, or in an effort to show some loyalty to his employer despite his baser instincts, Alfonso had given me a lead. Given the era, crime bosses would be a powerful force in the city. Whoever was doing this was coming from outside, working for a foreign power in an effort to harm Liberty.
I'd paused on the steps of City Hall to think about this. It almost got me killed. I was only dimly aware of the muzzle flash that came from a window across the street and I was rolling to the side as my Olympian reflexes kicked in.
A sniper on the third floor. I zigged and zagged as I ran across the street, keeping my motions unpredictable. Another shot rang out. Behind me a bit of the street exploded. They were good.
I'd been about to go seeking out gangsters to find out just who was leading the influx into the city, but this was even better. The Mayor must have called someone when I'd arrived and the assassin had set up to wait for me. There wouldn't be any guesswork, if I could get a hold of them.
I entered the building and took the stairs as fast as I could. The third floor was full of offices. Ismene marked the door I needed with a small blinking dot of green. Anderson Industrial.
They knew I was coming. If I were them, I'd be on the other side of that door with either a submachine gun or a shotgun just waiting for me. I ran at an angle and dived through the door’s glass instead. There was a muzzle flash and I felt a spray of pellets just graze my thigh. They hadn't expected my angle of entry or my speed, and only winged me.
"Brambles," I said and waved. The hitman looked much like one of those who had attacked me earlier. A grey suit and a fedora. Like the Mayor, he had a rose in his lapel. That rose exploded into a mass of twisting vines and thorns that wrapped around him.
The hitman couldn't move now without causing himself a lot of pain. He was a professional and did it anyways, ripping bleeding gouges into his flesh as he ejected the shells from the shotgun and loaded more.
"Brambles," I shouted again as I visualized a different application. I didn't have time to be nice about it this time around. Vines trapped his head and thorns dug into the sensitive flesh of his eyes. In an instant the hitman was blinded.
He remained good at this, firing his reloaded weapon. Even with my reflexes, in these close quarters I was only able to get mostly out of the way. The blast turned my shoulder and the better part of one breast into hamburger.
I was dizzy from the pain, but the hitman couldn't see what he’d done. I couldn't l
et him know how bad I’d been wounded.
"Try that again and you'll lose worse than your eyes," I said.
"You're going to kill me anyways," said the hitman.
"I could make you hurt instead. I could take my time," I said.
He stiffened. Blood seeped from the ruins where his eyes once were—he wasn’t doing any better than I was.
"What do you want?" asked the hitman.
"You know what I want. I want who sent you," I said.
"I rat on a client, I'm never working again," said the hitman.
With his eyes gone he wasn't working again anyways. Unless he was real. He must be. In that case eventually his eyes would come back, but the results of outing an employer would be broadcast throughout the Network to anyone who was watching me right now.
This required a change of plan.
"Do you know you just almost killed a sponsored hero?" I said.
"You're good. Better than they thought you'd be. I just grazed you," said the hitman.
I grabbed his hand and guided it up to the ruin that was my shoulder. His fingers dug into bloodied and mangled flesh for a moment and he grinned.
"I did get you good," said the hitman.
"You did. You just gave yourself one hell of an advertisement to a large audience. I think you owe me for the free press," I said.
The hitman considered that for a few moments. "You want the Duchess. She runs the Blue Lotus."
I took the shotgun from him. "Shells?" I asked.
A few more were fumbled from a pocket and I loaded the gun. I didn't need weapon skills for what came next.
The hitman took one barrel to the throat. It tore his head half off. The other barrel was for me. I wasn't doing anything with these wounds.
99
I had my target. I put my divine charisma to good use and talked myself into getting a ride to the Blue Lotus, or at least most of the way there. It seemed a good idea to get dropped off a few blocks early. I was glad I did, they were expecting me. I clambered onto a nearby rooftop where I could properly observe. I shouldn't have been surprised, with everything I did going out live, stealth wasn't really an option for me against an enemy interested in what I was about.
