Thunder and Webs C115 [Silver + Gold]

Lilian Rose, Dryder and another visits the Hellfire Club. The Heart has a progress update on the anomaly.

Chapter 115: Cage Fighter by Night

Jan 19th

5:54 PM

Lilian Rose

I hated how much I was frequenting the Hellfire Club, it got to the point I was now considered a regular and… and the workers really anticipated my appearances. Cage fighter Lilian ‘Bloodthorn’ Rose was becoming quite the topic in the daily matches underneath the club, known for her bloodthirsty aggression and strange red Bioware limb.

So far, I’d kept my right arm secret from the public as Diana. When I wore my suit over it, noone could tell the difference and I had a selection of gloves that covered me up to my elbow for both arms.

The Silverhand was unstable and frequently got in the way of my electrical abilities, but for my other more brutal capabilities it was fine. Thermokinetic Catalyst, was my go-to Mutation as Lilian Rose, no one could tell the reason why my limb glowed and spewed an aura of scarlet flame was because of a Mutation, everyone just assumed I was making use of super-secret experimental Bioware stolen from SynTec.

But by now, everyone knew Silvereye had the SIM, and Dreadwire had the BUG from that Gold MALignant. If I were to suddenly show off Dual Adapter capabilities with a limb that resembled metal, it would raise questions. Until I could shapeshift it to resemble something… more organic, I’d be keeping it a secret.

“So, recap…” Anthony leaned from the backseat. “My aunt has a bit of Soul Killer in her that’s not Soul Killer anymore — called Anomaly. You guys faked her death by actually killing her, then reviving her… but in doing so… now whenever she’s speaking, the Anomaly is in control of her body. So if Anomaly’s speaking… then my aunt is in control of the body.”

“That’s what we think.” I mouthed, agitated by her condition.

“So then…” Anthony rubbed his temples. “How do we fix that?”

“By removing Anomaly from her.” I maintained that stance. “Once we get the go-ahead that its safe, for now… we need to study her condition and hope she proves herself useful in all of this.”

“Useful…” Anthony bit his lip. “Otherwise…?”

“Otherwise your aunt is too much of an issue for the Heart to keep,” Dryder said.

“We won’t let that happen, right?” Anthony asked, leaning forward with his jaw clenched.

“No. Anthony.” Dryder shook his head. “I… I failed your mother, I won’t fail your aunt. And not you, not again.”

His hands clenched on the steering wheel, his heart filling with what I felt was regret or… shame. Dryder reached for a bottle in the cooler between us, but I gripped his hand.

“You can get plenty at the club.” I warned. “You’re driving.”

“I’m literally nicknamed Drunk Ryder.” He argued.

“Well, set some standards for yourself.” I spat back.

———

Andressa stood very close to me as she guided us over to Anabelle, opening the room to reveal Anabelle Grazhe hunched over, eyes red and white with a pattern of red-spider lily flowers forming in her hair. She looked even more corrupted than normal, veins of red spasming as her gaze that first focused on me, then at Anthony. They widened, before she hissed.

“Kill yours-” Her hands clasped around her mouth, almost choking her breath before Andressa’s form shimmered into the Crimson Heart and she manipulated scarlet energy to pull Anabelle… Anomaly’s hands away.

Anomaly growled. “This is some bullshit! I get trapped in this prison and he’s walking?!”

“Aunt Annie?” Anthony stepped forward, but Anomaly just growled.

“I ain’t your fuckin’ Aunt, ya’ stupid disappointment. Besides, it’s Anabelle who’s trying to choke me!”

Dryder grumbled. “You did just try and tell her nephew to die.”

“Yeah, my new goal is to break her psyche so that I can be the one always in control!” Anomaly announced, causing her fist to punch her in the face. “Hey, calm down! You’ll be feeling this too later on!”

That only caused her hands to try and claw her eyes out, the Crimson Heart giving an exasperated sigh as she once again forcefully pried Anomaly’s arms away with red whips. “Give me a good reason to keep them alive, I plead.”

Anthony met the veiled gaze of the Crimson Heart nervously, before stepping forward and reaching out to touch his aunt’s bound hands, he grazed her skin gently and her fingers wrapped around his with an affectionate warmth. Looking into Anomaly’s crimson eyes, he whispered. “You’ve always been so strong and I… I detested you for the way you treated me. But right now, I feel… sorry. I’m sorry that you-”

Slowly, the crimson crept away as Anabelle’s gaze took over. “Who are you sorry for, brat?”

“Oh, uh-” He rubbed his cheek. “I guess I’m talking to you directly now?”

“Yes!” She hissed through clenched teeth. “And I have a lot of questions, you’re real? Not some sort of fucking illusion… you’re Anthony Grazhe?”

“The one and only. The same kid whose mother kept breaking down your doors and dropping you off to in the middle of your boring old job, even when I was twelve.” He smiled sadly, and Anabelle’s eyes dampened.

“Oh god, Anthony, I-” Anabelle turned away. “I let this thing send you and Diana to… I… I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, that thing was also in my head for a bit, but… Diana helped me.” He sat on the bed, still holding her hand. “We’re going to help you as well, you’re the fucking Lieutenant of the First Precinct, I don’t care what Omen says or does. It’s you.”

She crumpled her face as he used his power. “Your… Mutation feels different now.”

“It’s more powerful, guess it absorbed some of that psionic… power Soul Killer has.” Anthony stayed there with her. “I’m alive. And so are you, we’re here…”

“I’d hug you.” She said with a bitter laugh, “But I’m pretty sure my other half wants to strangle you.”

Anthony didn’t care, leaning down to hug his aunt, then her hands started tugging at his hair. “Ow, ow!”

He jerked up, rubbing the part where his hair was pulled. “Your other half trying to make me bald?”

“She’s just…” Anabelle tensed, as crimson eyes bled into her sockets once more. “I’m just pissed that somehow an ungrateful thing like you ended up alive.”

“What is it with the women in my family hating me?” He joked, but it fell flat.

I stepped in, giving Anomaly a rough glare as my red hand sharpened. “Anomaly. It’s a pleasure to talk to you again, I wonder what would happen if I ripped you out?”

“You’d likely render Anabelle in a comatose state, just like sweet Anthony again… except this time I’m not sure you’d be able to cure something like this. Half her mind shredded? Good luck.” She chuckled. “But… seriously, how the hell did you bring me back to life?”

“Why do you want to know?” I grazed my sharp claws against her cheek.

“Because-” Her eyes flickered with palpable anxiety as my nail grazed the corner of her eye, “—it’s a damn revolution in science! I’ve seen comparable things done with Implants born of the same MAL, case-in-point Heart Seeker and Hexblood, but to revive someone entirely using their own Implant? How’d you ever do it.”

Crimson Heart answered. “Dreadwire has the formula, no doubt something… extraordinary from that brilliant mind of his.”

“Well, exactly my point. Let me meet him and I’ll cooperate.” Anomaly bargained.

“Not possible.” I glared.

“Why not?”

“We’re not working together anymore, I’m sure you have some idea as to why.”

“Ah, I was wondering why your arm was made of metal.” She laughed. “So you killed him? You’re a Dual Adapter now?”

“No, I didn’t kill him.” I said flatly. “But I am… a Dual Adapter, of sorts.”

“Huh?” She blinked. “I want details.”

———

“Fascinating…” Anomaly was surprisingly cooperative when it came to the pursuit of science. “So, by synchronizing to Dreadwire using his… unique Emulect, it enables a cross-analysis where your SIM interacts with his body and his BUG can interact with your mind. And the Catalyst provided by The Bladefather only accelerated that — giving your electricity properties of Warpcode and resulting in a… symbiosis with Shardware.”

“Something like that.” I mumbled.

“I have dabbled in Shardware…” She thought aloud. “However, this is… wow. This is wow. You’ve no doubt earned yourself a Feature, likely a Unique one. However, to know what it is… you’d have to link yourself back to his BUG so it can read the patterns of Warpcode dwelling in your mind. But on the other hand… this is suspiciously close to Hybridism.”

“Hybridism.” I clenched my teeth, not yet revealing the details Ripley had sent to me regarding the experiments of Subject-K. “Explain.”

She glanced around at the Crimson Heart, laughing. “Should I explain it, or do you want to? Considering that well… you are one.”

“Indeed, albeit… a failure of one.” The Heart said. “Hybrids, simply, are humans capable of using Warp Energy without an Implant.”

“Yet, you have one. A BUG, the whole reason why you’re disconnected from the rest of Soul Killer’s hivemind.” I deduced. “So you’re saying I’m partially a Hybrid of the BUG-side… but a normal Adapter on my SIM side? While The Heart is the opposite?”

Anomaly shrugged. “I have no fucking clue. I’d only know if you had a child with... do you know what the Founder-Gene is? Even Kaisel Clones don’t produce any offspring with that genetic marker, hence why they’re a failure.”

“Yeah, I’m not testing it that way.” Besides, any future offspring of mine would have the Founder-Gene regardless. Not that I was going to reveal that my grandmother fucking Founder Beauregard Mazhyr in front of The Heart. So far, only Twilight knew and even that was too much.

“Shame.” Anomaly rolled her eyes, turning to me with a quizical stare as if deciding to say more. “Fine… fine. I’ll be your little informant-slash-geneticist.”

“I didn’t agree to the geneticist part.” I’d had enough of Soul Killer experimenting on my body. “Besides, what can you do that the Crimson Heart can’t?”

“I can do this… shoot yourself in the-” Her hand clasped around her mouth again, but my fingers already moved as my fingers clasped around my gun.

Growling, I kept my thunder contained. “What fucking point are you trying to make?”

“You’re exhibiting a loss of control, a result of your Capacity being overloaded by… the Unique Feature you have yet to ascertain the name of. You’ll require prolonged treatments to increase your Capacity, but that will take a considerable while since… you’re in all likelihood going to continue curing my other self — eventually resulting in sporadic Mutations that could result in your Capacity overloading even further.”

She was right. I hadn’t given much thought to stop absorbing more Mutagen, I already knew I was pushing it when I ate that bit of The Bladefather… but his shapeshifting capabilities had imparted development onto my own. Lilian Rose was far more terrifying now. But if my absorption of mutagenic material was going to continue resulting in further Mutations, I could be in serious trouble by testing the limits of my frankly impossible Implant.

“So…”

“So, I’ll help your development of a cure. Bypassing the need for you to continue absorbing it on your own.” Anomaly declared, much to my surprise.

“Really? You’ll help us make the very thing that resulted in your… condition?” I found it hard to believe.

“I’m the one whose arguably studied it the most, wouldn’t that make me the forthright expert on it? Besides, there’s nothing it can that you don’t innately possess.” Anomaly said. “My only bargain is that… I seek freedom.”

“Freedom?”

“Yes. One day I want to be free of this stupid living situation and live on my own, likely I’ll have to make some sort of… clone and transfer my consciousness into it.” She said that so casually. “Or perhaps… I should try freeing my mind from this body and find another poor host whom I can overwhelm and-”

“You’re not taking over anyone else’s body…” I searched in the Heart’s veils for some confirmation. “Do you think it’s possible for her to… free her mind?”

“It’s possible.” The Heart poked her chin through her veil. “Albeit, would require considerable resources and… well… expertise from The Dogwhistler.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I palmed my head. “Why her?”

“The mind that’s controlling her body isn’t the original.” Anomaly explained. “She was some… Net Delver forced to work in a Proxy Hivemind of NeoCore’s before her consciousness got whisked away to here and was put in the body of a girl in a comatose. Or at least that’s what Skeleton told the other me. That the uh… other me then said to me. But not Anabelle.”

…What? “Elsa’s a… mind disembodied from…”

“That’s who Ripley’s dating?” Anthony said incredulously. “God damn…”

“I guess that explains why she’s so powerful.” I mentally called on Twilight, whose eyes were averted from mine. {Is that true?}

“It’s complicated.” Twilight looked down. “She created us to… feel emotions. She was an algorithm before any of this, that’s why her… moral compass is loose. But she is… Starlight told me that she is changing — trying to-”

{Someone’s past doesn’t change what’s wrong and right. Ask Alex.}

“I know.” Twilight whispered, before fading.

“So… yeah,” Anomaly leaned their gaze forward on me. “Do we have a deal?”

I exchanged a glance with Crimson Heart. “If she helps us deal with The Revenant, would you let her live?”

“If she proves to be… useful.” The Crimson Souls nodded. “Both sides of her.”

Anomaly nodded obediently, but her middle-finger raised to the Heart. “Sorry, uh, Anabelle’s a lot more hesitant about this… cooperation.”

“You can hear her?” I asked.

Anomaly groaned. “Oh, yeah… she’s being a pain in the ass. Saying that she’d rather die than work with criminals.”

“Let me talk to her.” I said, ice in my tone.

Anomaly looked reluctant, but soon the red in her eyes cleared and Anabelle gasped into control. “Diana, you can’t be serious. She’s one of the Puppeteers that has been tormenting this District for the last twenty years…”

“I am.” My hand reached for the collar of her shirt, pulling her close as my fangs snarled at her. “Like it or not, you’re not Lieutenant Grazhe anymore. You’re just Anabelle, and not even that. You have a parasite inside of you. All of our lives have been dragged through a gutter full of rusty nails, see my eye? My right arm? I’ve been torn apart in this bullshit crusade to bring some fucking justice to this damned District! So don’t give me that ‘holier than thou’ attitude, we’ve got two enemies in our sights! And that’s Skeleton and Soul Killer! The one who killed your sister, and the other bastard she was looking into! I don’t care how much you’ve dedicated your life to maintaining the law, but so much of this leads back to shit your father let slide… you want justice? Real justice?”

I shoved her against the mattress, meeting her stunned gaze with feral eyes. “Then suck it up, Anabelle.”

Anthony flicked a gaze between the two of us, raising his hands diplomatically. “What Di- what Lilian Rose is trying to say is…”

“I don’t need you to talk to me like I’m a child, Anthony.” Anabelle scoffed, meeting my indignant stare with fearsome eyes of her own. “Explain to me what you meant about… my sister.”

Anabelle sat with a thin line on her lips as I told the tale of her sister’s case against Soul Killer, about how Juliet had left the task force following Anabelle’s infection from The Revenant… but I didn’t explain in detail as to who Dryder was to Anabelle. Her teeth clenched when I revealed to her Skeleton’s exploit of Juliet’s grief, and even Missy’s schemes.

“I see…” She whispered, teeth clenching. “My sister, corrupted by a MALtitan… I could never have imagined that… The Uncaged possessed such resources.”

“So you see why it’s them we need to prioritize?” I rasped.

“I do.” She gave a slight nod, breath hitching before she looked at Dryder. “My… other says you were her partner… I have no memory of you.”

“Yeah,” Dryder didn’t meet her gaze, “until the thing in your head and your father… it’s better that way.”

“Derrick Ryder,” the words passed on her lips with a flutter of pain, “thank you for… fighting for her. My sister.”

“It’s all I could do.” He folded his arms, leaning against a wall.

Anabelle’s gaze suddenly widened. “Uh… what? This entity in my mind is saying that… you were my boyfriend?”

Dryder stayed silent, his hands clutching tight before he gave a silent nod.

“I find that hard to believe.” She scoffed, but looked away as though she was choosing not to think about it. “We have more important things to focus on… I’m not sure what memories I have are correct and what’s fabricated so how about we just… get me on the same page for everything.”

“Yeah, we can do that.” I answered.

———

8:18 PM

Anabelle and Anomaly weren’t truly stable yet, the more frequently they switched, the less coherent they became until they needed rest. Anthony stayed by his aunt’s side, so Dryder and I sat by the bar of the Hellfire Club in conversation. “Do you think you and her could…”

Dryder shook his head, his expression lost in the past. “I don’t think so… a lot has changed. For both of us.”

“I get what you mean.” I topped some off for him. “My head hurts from all this… mind manipulating nonsense going on. Why can’t we just be ourselves?”

“Like we’d be ourselves even without any psychics around? This city knows how to break us.” Dryder gulped.

“Has it broken you, yet?” I nudged him.

“Nope. You?”

“Like fuck it has.” I lit up a cigarrette. “All this talking… I need something to punch. Diamante said that Maiden isn’t back until February and… I feel so agitated, there’s so many people who need…”

“Hey, girl, things like this take time.” Dryder pat me on the shoulder. “Besides, your Foundation is taking them in. You know they’re in safe hands.”

“Yeah!” Twilight popped up in between us. “Especially since you make me handle all the financials of the Silver Heart Foundation, not that I’m complaining but you know… I’ve gone days with no sleep!”

“Do you even need sleep?”

“No.” Twilight folded her arms. “I just mean that… well… sentient AI deserves rights too! I don’t even get paid for all this work I do!”

“She has a point.” Dryder raised an eyebrow. “Omen doesn’t know about her, so you should empty your own pockets.”

“I mean… sure… I got like half-a-million from having a digitalized cameo in that ‘Mysterious Objects’ show.” I groaned. “How much do you want?”

“Nah, not money right now. I still hack bank accounts sometimes.” Twilight tapped her chin.

“You’re hacking into people’s bank accounts?” I prodded.

“Only criminal accounts, you know… from people who are money laundering!” She defended herself. “Besides, I know how I want to get paid!”

“How?” I had a bad feeling about this.

She poked my head. “I want to enter a cage fight.”

“No… Twilight… you know I don’t like…” I shook my head. “Last time we did this… we… I told myself I wouldn’t fight here again.”

“C’mon, you know you love it! Besides, if I do anything you don’t like, I’ll let you back in control.” She held my hands, digital warmth slipping into them. “Just tonight?”

Biting my cheeks, I sighed. “…Fine.”

“Great!” She sent her magical words in front of my eyes.

Initiate the Twilight Protocol?

———

1:31 AM

Twilight

Lilian Rose was the best flesh-suit an AI Emulect could ask for, it was rare for Twilight to feel much when piloting Mutants, but Lilian had that… connection which just felt right. Right arm buzzing, a blade of bone and hardened blood swiped through the dog-shaped drones of The Houndmaster and the crowd went wild.

“That’s the Bloodthorn I bet on!”

“Show us what you can do!”

“Break their skulls!”

Their feverish bloodlust felt by Soul Resonance ignited Lilian through Soul Trigger, blood and muscle breaking apart like the flickers of embers on flames to reveal their true form. Her right arm took Twilight’s Warpcode just right, elongating with a beautiful shrill of agony until a blade of bone stretched about a foot-long. It wasn’t too different from weaving an Avatar.

A thin red haze shadowed the bladed limb, the devoured remnants of the Bladefather responsible for the sharpening of her right hand and extending a flaming aura around it that bristled with scorching heat.

Those three Meta-Mutations she’d gained were so worth it.

The first was in Limited Morphology Manipulation, drastically allowing her to manipulate the form of her body just like the Bladefather had. The second, in Soul Trigger, allowed her to emanate a slight telekinetic pressure assuming she reached the right emotional threshold, and finally Soul Resonance received a Meta-Mutation allowing her to rend others’ control of Warp Energy.

An Esper ambushing her from behind proved that point, a wild swing from Lilian’s right arm spilled blood in the air off the invisible assasin, a large gash in her abdomen tore out Bronze Energy from her control, letting Twilight harness it as the invisibility cracked apart.

Twilight could feel Lilian’s bloodlust echoing, she felt nauseous trying to contain it. “Calm down girl!”

“I told you this was a bad idea!” Came the harrowing growl inside her head, drenched in glee.

“End her!”

“Tear her limbs off!”

“Break them like an egg!”

The crowd’s cheers were beginning to take Lilian’s soul past the point of no return, so Twilight sought to burn Energy as quickly as possible as she piloted Lilian back into the mangy hounds of steel. Fleshy fangs stretched open from her jaw, the skin of her cheek tearing apart to expose rows of teeth and a sharpened tongue that tore and swallowed the metal, ravishing in its taste.

Twilight hadn’t ordered Lilian to swallow. At this point, it felt like she was holding a leash and ordering Lilian rather than remaining in exact control. She was only here for the ride.

And what a ride it was. Twelve contestants had entered the Hellfire Gauntlet, and Bloodthorn stood proud and tall as the sole victor, bled and bruised as she was around torn limbs of metal and flesh. She hadn’t killed anyone, but that wasn’t strictly a rule.

By the time she was in the main club, drinks were poured for her and all sorts of men and women were coming over to congratulate and compliment her.

As the club kicked into gear, Twilight was a drunk mess in Lilian’s head, moving alongside bodies in the strobing lights. At times, Lilian herself would take control, usually to hungrily down another drink before talking out loud to her digital partner in crime. “Next time… I want to fucking fight! Okay?! I barely get to go all out!”

“That’s because you keep trying to control yourself…” Twilight mouthed, “you need to give yourself times to… let loose. You have to admit this is pretty nice, right?”

Lilian just drunkenly growled.

“See that cute girl behind you?” Twilight forcibly sank into her head, turning her neck to see a cute blonde girl with snake eyes in her head. “I think she’s into you.”

“Fuck it.” Lilian swallowed her shot, moving aside to pull the blonde into her arms.

———

January 20th

Lilian Rose

2:34 PM

Waking up in a tangle of limbs, I poured some clarity in my head as I pushed myself off Claire. This was becoming way too regular for me. I should stop… but it felt… so fucking nice to let loose. My electrical powers were unstable, but as Lilian Rose, I felt only more powerful than ever. The rush of the crowd and the adrenaline of bodies charging at me, wanting me to give them my all… the they were usually pulled out in time before they could die.

Well… I never had killed anyone in these fights, the Crimson Heart was quick at pulling them away while remaining hidden despite it all. Something I’d quickly learned was that… she was omnipresent within the Hellfire Club.

Pushing myself up, Claire groaned. “Where you goin hon’… I want to see that freaky tongue one more time.”

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I just…”

I realized what time it was, fuck… I was late for a talkshow as Diana. “I have somewhere to be.”

As soon as my fun with Lilian ended, it was back to work as Diana.

---

Next chapter is called Three Chances, Ripley's last few to save his mother. The chapter after that? The moment we’ve been building towards. It’s called Every Step Led To This.