He didn't look like the Alaric that had sauntered into the interrogation room in the police station a few days ago. For one thing, he was younger, healthier-looking, and obviously blond.
But there was no mistaking those green eyes that stared at her with a manic fascination.
"You're looking… much lovelier than the last time I saw you. How delightfully odd." He paused halfway through as if trying to find the words to describe her appearance, a wide smile seeming to stretch his face almost unnaturally.
"It's a Proxy." Koa growled. "He's scrubbed the mind so clean of that thrall that there's no one left in it, just a living puppet for him to control."
"Ah… if it isn't Mr. Masters. Ever the educator. And is that Mr. Watanabe behind you?"
She sensed Hayoto stiffen next to her at being recognized by name by a servant of evil.
"You've got a history?"
"Everyone in the Athens Sect has a history with this leech." The Assassin growled back.
Alaric's Proxy smirked. "So good to see you again. It feels like only yesterday, but I'm sure it's been much longer. Do forgive me. Days just blend together after a while."
Leta surveyed the area but there weren't a lot of options for escape.
The walls of the bridge were several inches above her head, red and teal painted bars and sheeting engineered to make jumping the ten meters to the tracks below as hard as possible.
The only exits were blocked by thralls whose she had no doubt would kill her before she got even halfway through their line.
They were trapped.
Alaric had played them like chess pieces.
'Think, Leta, think. How do we get out of this one…' she thought, but the vacant eyes of the thralls held no answers.
In the back of her brain, she remembered words he father seemed to repeat at every dig.
'Never assume. Get all your facts straight before you make a move.'
Simple.
No nonsense.
Relevant as hell.
"I'd advise you to cooperate and come with us. We have much to discuss, Miss Black." The Proxy gestured with a hand like a gentleman escorting a female companion to an opera.
Koa flourished his daggers as he readied for a fight, "Not even trying to be subtle about murdering us, are we?"
"Sh…" Alaric put a finger to his mouth as if he was talking to a petulant child. "Your betters are talking."
Koa's eyes narrowed to slits as he bared his teeth. "Betters?"
Leta used their back-and-forth banter to focus on the Proxy and use Scan.
[Name: Christos
Class: Corrupted - Puppet (Master: Alaric)
Abilities: Weak Mental Manipulation, Weak Intimidation, Weak Vitality Drain, Weak Fear Creation
Strengths: High stamina
Weaknesses: Low constitution. Significantly low reflexes]
Saving her curiosity about the low constitution for another time, she turned to the large, burly thrall just to the Proxy's left. His bald head showed hints of old scars, his nose had a bump from a break that never healed properly, and his large frame could only be described as that of a brawler.
[Name: Andreas
Class: Human - Uncorrupted (Beguiled)
Abilities: none
Strengths: High Power
Weaknesses: Significantly Low Mental Fortitude]
"No harm will come to you as we find a more… appropriate location for this conversation, you have my word. Your colleagues will receive the same courtesy, undeserving as I find it." Alaric addressed her, pulling her out of her musings and back into reality.
"I'm guessing what comes after the 'conversation' is up for debate?" Koa growled, taking a step forward to be in the front of their group as if to fight or protect Leta. A movement caught her eye and she looked down to see that the Warrior had put a hand behind his back, fingers closed with pinky and thumb extended.
She recognized the hand signal for 'phone' Koa was trying to give them out of sight.
"Don't." She put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, giving her all to this act. "It's not worth dying here. Let's get what information we can and think of a way out."
The Proxy's cheeks seemed to strain with his smile as if the energy it took was too much for it's form."Shall we go then, Miss Black?"
Leta slowly stepped forward, eyes scanning the distant gazes of the thralls. She gripped her punch daggers tightly ready for a fight if it came to it.
The thralls kept their sightless gazes on her but otherwise made no move to attack her. The moment she was within arms reach of the Proxy, the thralls turned west as one like a synchronized army.
Koa and Hayoto walked close behind her, their eyes shifting from one thrall to the next looking for danger.
When they arrived at the end of the bridge the Proxy stopped, the marching thralls halting in their tracks.
"While it entertains me to no end to cause a stir, I would recommend putting your toys away." He said with a pointed look at their weapons.
Scowling, the boys sheathed their daggers while Leta put her hands inside her hoodie to keep Inimus's melting form out of sight.
She held up her hands in the universal sign of surrender. When the Proxy nodded, their march continued. As they neared the more populated streets, the thralls began to spread out, blending into the crowd as just another aimless person going about their business.
'What effective servants.' She mused.
"As I said, I had been meaning to get your attention, my dear." The Proxy crowned with words sickly sweet like nectar dripping from a fly trap.
"You made my mentor a thrall. You made her try to strangle me in my sleep!" Leta bit out as an idea began to form in her brain. She'd been Scanning each of the thralls for weaknesses and had noticed a pattern began to form.
Every single one of them, from old to young, male to female, had Significantly Low Mental Fortitude as their listed weakness.
Alaric's proxy shrugged as if she'd simply asked how he liked his coffee. "It got your attention, did it not? If you'd died, it would have just proven that you weren't worth the trouble in the end."
'What a nut job.' Leta mused to herself. "Could have just sent a letter."
"I don't know if you've received much mail during your stay in Athens, but the postal situation here leaves much to be desired." He sniffed in disgust as if he'd just been presented with dog poop.
They turned south once they hit a busy highway.
"But since I have you for a moment, I'd love to know what really happened below the water the day you became more than a mere human." He asked, but this time she could feel that odd vibration in his voice that she hadn't been aware of previously.
[WARNING! FOREIGN ENTITY IS ATTEMPTING TO USE CORRUPTED SOFTWARE TO GAIN ENTRY TO THE HOSTS MEMORIES AND SURFACE LEVEL THOUGHTS.]
[FOREIGN ENTITY'S POWER IS WEAKENED DUE TO USE OF PROXY PERSONA]
[HOSTS MENTAL FORTITUDE STAT + EARS OF THE JUDGE + PERSUASION IS HIGHER THAN MENTAL MANIPULATION TROJANWARE.]
[MENTAL MANIPULATION BY FOREIGN ENTITY HAS FAILED. PROTECTION OF HOSTS MIND STILL HOLDS.]
Leta swallowed, her body bracing as she felt the wave of Mental Manipulation crash into her like an incoming tide, her mind steady as a rock as whatever the vampire was trying to do washed right over her.
'He really is weakened using the Proxy.' She mused. While the mental attack at the police station was like a hard shove against a door, this barely event felt like a soft knock.
"I was at a dig with the rest of my team - that you tried to Jedi mind control less than a day ago- and was injured." She growled with more confidence than she expected, teeth bared at the mention of her teammates. "I mishandled some equipment and ended up injuring myself badly against a deadly coral. I'm lucky to be alive, and even luckier that near-death experience seemed to have pole vaulted me into my new status as Arisen."
Leta glanced down a side street and noticed a large black dog poking it's head out of an alcove, large tongue lolling out when it spotted her.
She nearly gasped in shock when she recognized the beast.
Leta looked over her shoulder as if she was checking on her two following teammates. Instead, she locked eyes with Hayoto and mouthed 'Trip me.'
The Assassin didn't need to ask, his leg kicking forward to catch the back of her foot. Like a choreographed damsel in distress, she gave a dramatic gasp as she fell to the ground.
The action had two of the flanking thralls grabbing hold of her companions to restrain them from bolting.
At her fall, the Proxy had turned to her in confusion. "I see the transition has not improved your balance."
A large meaty hand came into focus as one of the Thralls bent down to help her up.
Taking a long, slow breath, she closed her mouth as a low tone vibrated her vocal cords. It felt like a tuning fork was stuck in her throat as she met the Thrall's eyes and concentrated on her intentions.
[OVERRIDE OF TROJANWARE THROUGH MENTAL MEANS UNSUCCESSFUL AT THIS LEVEL. PHYSICAL TOUCH IS NECESSARY].
Leta took the thrall's hand, focusing once more.
I am your master.
You defend me.
You protect me from harm.
Over and over she repeated this mantra in her head as the note was drawn out, feeling it pulse through her and around her as she was pulled to her feet. She didn't even dare to blink as her eyes bore into the thrall, feeling her will touch the feeble mental shields of the brawler and prodding at it, looking for weakness and finding that it was paper thin.
Her command broke through like a rock through glass, digging deep as it consumed the previous commands it had been given.
It blinked - the only outward sign that the Proxy was no longer in control, but remained still.
[ TROJANWARE REMOVAL SUCCESSFUL.]
[HOST HAS LEARNED THE SKILL, OVERRIDE, LEVEL ONE.]
"Shall we move on?" The Proxy moaned in displeasure.
Behind the Proxy, the small flames of the restaurant candles began to blaze brighter.
Leta smiled wickedly, morbidly excited about what was to come.