Deviation Actions
Literature Text
There was one thing she did know would work without fail, however. With a bit more concentration, the chains binding her began to heat up until they glowed red. She tugged and they broke apart with ease. Burns showed on her wrists for perhaps a few seconds, but faded quickly. She owned that heat. She could recover from it just fine. Garnet strode toward the bars, breaking them as easily as she had her chains. Once she was past the unconscious guards in the hallway, she didn’t bother softening her footsteps anymore. Once she made it that far, there was nothing they could do to stop her, and they damn well knew it. Snagging a set of keys from one of the guards, she set off down another hallway. They kept locking her things up like she wasn’t going to find them. Whatever, she didn’t care about most of it, but she wasn’t leaving without her boots. “Pervy bastards always stealing my damn clothes,” she muttered to herself as she opened the lock. Sure enough, there they were. She put the boots on first of all, then grabbed the sack full of the rest of her clothing and heaved it over her back. Seriously, what the hell was the point? There wasn’t even anything dangerous in there. Except…
Her eyes fell on something small and shiny hanging from a hook on the wall. It looked like some kid’s toy gun, tiny little thing, ridiculously decorated with silver and gold inlay. But if it was in this room with her stuff, they must have wanted to keep it away from someone. That meant it was either worth a lot, or really, really dangerous. Probably both. She pocketed it, and no sooner had she removed the thing from the wall than a loud wailing noise sounded that would certainly wake up every Wisen in the building.
“Oh, please…” Garnet rolled her eyes, not seeming to be in any more of a hurry than she had been just a moment ago. She could hear the shuffle of many pairs of feet, but paid them little mind as she glanced at the many windows before her, debating which one to go through. Magic was forbidden in this world, and that just didn’t suit her, so she had to pick another one. Trouble was she really hadn’t the foggiest idea where any of them led.
“Eeny, meeny meiney—”
“Someone stop her!”
“Mo!” She ducked through the nearest window, disappearing into the twilight beyond. She turned as soon as she’d stepped through, pointing her new little toy at the portal she’d come through. She might not be able to stop them all from following her, but she could at least get the bastard who’d seen her and shouted. Besides, she wanted to see just what this little doohickey was that they were trying to keep locked up.
She fired once, and immediately the portal disappeared, leaving empty blackness in its wake. “Whoa… the hell is this thing?” She examined it a little more closely. No markings that would give any indication of what it had actually just done.
Fine, she’d just have to test it herself. She picked up a stick from the ground near where she stood—long enough to keep her hand well clear of the hole. Slowly she approached the dark space, holding the stick out in front of her. When the end of it got within a few inches, the stick started to fall apart into dust before her eyes. She pulled it away. The end of the stick was gone.
“Holy shit, I am so keeping you,” she said to the gun, as if somehow it could hear her.
She glanced finally at her surroundings. Green grass, deep blue sky, one moon… probably one sun too. So it was at least another world that was recognizable. “But where the hell is this place?”
“I could answer that if you’d like.”
Garnet’s eyes widened and she whirled around, fist flying until it connected with a sickening crack. The hooded figure that had been standing behind her staggered backward and fell to the ground.
“Oh, it’s you.” She stared, bemused, at the man who was now struggling to get back to his feet. “Seriously, you fall down and your face is still covered? What, is that hood glued on?” Her hand twitched as though she would very much like to tug it off him, but she refrained.
The Wisen brushed himself off, the incline of his head seeming to indicate a glare, though his face was totally hidden. “Charming as always, I see.”
Garnet snorted, hands on her hips. “Hey, I’ve got plenty of charm. I just don’t waste it on bozos like you. The hell do you want anyway? Certainly not to jail me again, or you’d have at least twenty of your cronies here with you.”
The hooded figure looked her up and down. “You have something I want.”
“You and every other man in the—”
“Not that, you idiot girl. I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“I dunno, I’m just an idiot girl—you might have to explain it to me.” Her hand, however, went to her pocket.
The man was fuming under his hood. That girl was thoroughly infuriating. He was almost starting to regret the day he’d taken her in. Yet she had started out so useful. If only they hadn’t satisfied Alaric’s curiosity… but then, the question had been burning in his own mind as well. They knew nothing happened to a non-singular being if their other self died somewhere in the Spiral by ordinary means, but if another Self was doing the killing…
He was grateful, at least, that their experimentation meant that they knew not to do it again, that there was only one of her. At least, only one that they knew of. But it would have been safer had they chosen someone far less clever. Garnet as she existed before the Wisen first toyed with her was ruthless, but obedient. But with each new murder (or would you call it suicide?) she began to change. By the time they fully realized what had happened, it was too late. Garnet had absorbed the personalities and skills of every instance of herself she had ever encountered. She held all their memories, though could rarely access them all at once.
The Wisen had yet to determine just what triggered a shift from one Garnet to the next, and it was impossible to tell which one they were dealing with at any given moment. Some were honest, some liars, some fickle, some loyal—and the loyal ones all held different allegiances. The girl was utterly maddening, and there was, to their knowledge, no cure. And nearly every one of those dozens, maybe hundreds, of personalities could outsmart some of the Wisen’s best minds.
Lessons learned: never use a genius as your lab rat.
Before the man could speak, Garnet had started again. “If you think I’m giving up my new toy, you’re sorely mistaken. I rather like my little friend here, and I intend to keep it.”
“Of course, of course,” he answered in a would-be placating voice. Garnet, however, saw through it, and gave another derisive snort. A sigh hissed out from under the hood. Always with this one you had to strike a bargain to get anywhere. “Fine, keep it. But you’re not to tell anyone you have it, and I’ll need you to do me a few favors.”
“Seeing as how I’m the one with the fancy gun, Wiseass, you’re not in much of a position to be asking me for favors.”
There was a distinct sound of grinding teeth from beneath the hood. “My. Title. Is. NOT—”
“Oh, shut it. I know damn well what your title is. Do I look like I care? I want to know what’s in it for me.”
There came another sigh and a slight pause.
“Well, Wiseass? You want my help or not?”
More silence. Garnet, growing impatient, was just turning to leave and drop the whole deal when the man spoke again. “Surely you want to know exactly what that thing is capable of? …by the way, it’s not a gun. It’s a cannon.”
“Okay, I’m listening. What is it you want?”
Now you get to really see more of Garnet's personality shining through.
