It was a weight off your shoulders to once more be within the jeeps metal frame, to escape the world of the rich, the world of those who didn't quite see the world as others did due to their disconnection from the struggles of the common man.
Once you had dreamed of being rich and famous, but those dreams had died with your innocence, many years ago.
Oh, how you had been disillusioned with that kind of world, that kind of lifestyle. You had seen the various stars you had looked up to as role models being pushed into rehab, falling out with the police, even dying as they indulged their self destructive lifestyles.
You had wanted nothing to do with it, no part of a lifestyle fueled by excess driven by an inability to be happy with what you had and an ego the size of the universe.
Of course, you'd had a taste of that ego and reigned yourself in, you knew that the taste of power was intoxicating, yet...
Yet, you couldn't justify becoming like those people you'd had pushed upon you as familiar figures you should have looked up to. You'd disconnected yourself from that particular treadmill and lived life as your own - somewhat paranoid - person.
No, you didn't want to be the next household name, the next starlet that the world aspired to be - you were just like the stars before fame got to their heads.
Flawed, in many ways, but still aware enough of your flaws to work towards overcoming them.
You would overcome them, too.
There was nothing you couldn't do if you put your mind to it.
Tom's discontent was apparent to you, yet you felt that it was far from the right moment to address how he was practically seething before you - no, you'd give him a little time on the road to cool off before you addressed this.
Your ability to deal with people online didn't translate smoothly into real world experiences after all - online you were queen of such, able to mediate and solve issues while in the real world you floundered and struggled as you'd been out of the loop somewhat since school.
You'd had a bright future ahead of you, your teachers had said.
You were a bright young lady who could get far, they'd said.
Work in your area had been something you'd never been able to get, and further education was something you couldn't afford without work to support it.
Perhaps, you dared to hope, if you were employed by one of these agencies, you'd be able to afford to pay for higher education. You'd be able to get your own place - not too far from your parents, you wanted to be close enough to visit. You'd be able to get further education, pick a subject and reach for the stars
You'd make your name known in whatever field you took for your accomplishments - you'd show them all that you were a genius who didn't need her damn near divine power to get ahead.
Of course, that power wouldn't hurt, but...
"Hey, Tom?" you ventured as the jeep pulled up to a set of traffic lights, as traffic rushed ahead of you. A few taxi's, a double decker bus and a fair amount of regular cars passed by before the man beside you finally turned to look at you, to utter but a single world in response to your attempt to gather his attention.
"Yes?"
"You were tense back there, what about the entire situation was getting to you?"
"That's need to know."
"Right, Thomas VICTORIA."
"That's not my surname," came his response as he tried to keep a straight face, though there was a hint of a smile.
"Damn, games and movies lied to me. You should have been the Queen's estranged son, furious that you had to return there and deal with her refusing to acknowledge your existance."
"I wish, I wouldn't have to work this job then."
"So, want to talk about it?"
"As I said-"
"Oh, yeah, sure, need to know. That's entirely bullshit you know, you were sent to tag along with me because your boss is grovelling at my feet right now as I present so many opportunities. This is personal, isn't it?"
"No."
"You don't like HMSO, that's a given. Can't blame you, bunch of egotistical assholes who don't operate properly. You were recruited from the armed forces, right?"
"Right."
"So, you get the value of a chain of command, you want order, accountability. They lack that. But it's not that, either. No..."
You fell silent for a long moment as the lights changed and you turned towards the river, towards what you presumed was the way towards the tower of london.
It wasn't really much of a tower, you expected with a name like that, that it would have towered on the skyline like some grim needle, but you had to keep in mind, you figured, that this was a tower built many centuries ago before they figured how to make a building stand as tall as a skyscraper would tumbling down.
"It wasn't the Queen either, she's just a grumpy old lady as far as you're concerned, it was the Minister, wasn't it?"
"Are you done grasping at straws?"
"Nope, it was the Minister. He's a monster with no soul."
"As a member of the Tories that's redundant."
"So, what was it?"
"It was the minister, he doesn't have a heartbeat."
"Oh."
"You say that as if you don't think it's signifigant at this point."
"Well, yeah, the Queen's two centuries old, I died recently and got better, Millicent wears peoples bodies as clothes and your boss sees dead people. You can blame modern media for how fast I get disillusioned and over everything."
"You do realise this means he's deathless, or worse?"
"Wait, deathless, as in-"
"Yeah, the people who will want to exact revenge upon you for things you never did."
"Well... Shit. What's the best way to kill them?"
"Varies, most of the ways involve shooting them in the head miss 'I play games and watch movies'. You should have known that."
"Yeah, and you're still evading the question. What bothers you about the deathless?"
"It's not so much what bothers me about them, it's the threat that they pose to you that bothers me. I'm here to make sure you come to no harm, and historically, the information we have on the deathless amounts to a whole lot of nothing."
"And you know this because...?"
"Combat training, I have to know how to take care of any unnatural entity efficiently."
You slumped back in your seat as those words were uttered in response.
Here you were with power beyond your wildest dreams at your fingertips and you couldn't use it effectively enough to defend yourself against these things.
So far, you'd managed a grand total of one kill with them - yourself.
When trying to manipulate air currents.
You needed an instruction manual to inform you how to do this stuff, as you didn't know how you'd accomplish control otherwise.
The journey continued in silence as you approached the Tower of London, as you took note of how the building you approached had a fair number of people going in and out of it.
It was a tourist attraction, this shouldn't have been a surprise for you.
Yet, the fact that this place was a tourist attraction and functionally acted as a prison for one very special inmate was what surprised you.
If the woman here had killed someone of immense - even if diminished - power, was it safe to have tourists come through this place if she was able to escape?
While you didn't have the answer for that, you knew that she hadn't spoken since being imprisoned, so it was potentially a fruitless endeavour for you to be here in the first place.
Perhaps the time she had spent here had dulled her, left her no longer capable of rationalising the concept of escape - perhaps she was as sharp as ever and simply had nothing to say to those that were here.
You'd know once you were face to face with the woman, you knew that much.
"So, the Queen said she'd have us cleared by the time we arrived," you started as the jeep pulled up into the parking lot nearby. "Does this mean you're just going to escort me with guns in plain sight?"
"Of course," came Tom's response as he pulled a pair of sunglasses from the glove compartment of the jeep.
"Isn't that asking for trouble?"
"I have my identification on hand on hand to get us through security checks."
"Are you a Major?"
"No, why?"
"Just wondering, you could have been Major Tom."
"Oh, that song."
"Ground control to Major Tom..." you hummed to yourself as you hopped from the jeep, though your intent to follow behind the man was shattered as he gestured for you to take the lead. "Why?" you questioned, as he sighed in response.
"Just take the lead, I need to be able to keep you in sight while watching you in any public location. If you get snatched, it's hard for me to react as quickly if you're behind me."
"But-"
"No buts."
"That's what Millicent told me," you grumbled, remembering how she had been quite clear that you had no ass.
"What?"
"Nothing," you sighed as you stepped ahead of the man. "At least I know I have nothing to stare at. Fuck you Millicent."
You could feel the confusion washing off the man as he fell into step behind you, one hand upon the weapon slung about his neck. He didn't have context and you were content to keep it that way for the foreseeable future.
Potentially indefinately.
Perhaps as long as it took you to forgive Millicent for saying that your slender form was flat.
Maybe you should be worrying more about the fact you were being escorted by an armed man who could potentially look like he was using you as a human body shield.
Predictably, it was at the entrance to the Tower of London, a place that was more of a keep with a curtain wall surrounding it than a proper tower, that you were stopped by armed security.
They'd obviously seen you approaching before you had arrived via either the watchmen that stood atop the walls or the camera's they had placed within the various nooks and crannies that'd permit them to watch the surrounding area's without being entirely obvious.
It was as you approached the portcullis leading in that they became visible - they in this case being the Yeomen, the people that you'd thought were nothing more than people employed to dress up and look the part about the grounds of the place.
"Okay, stop there Alyssa, they're trained soldiers," Tom stated as he placed a hand against your shoulder, then stepped before you with his hands held out to the sides as not to appear threatening. "I believe you're expecting us?" Tom stated as he nodded back towards you. "I believe Her Royal Highness, Queen Victoria should have arranged for us to visit a certain individual in holding here?"
There was murmering amongst the ranks of the rifle armed guardsmen as they gestured for Tom to approach them and present his identification, something that had them quickly relax as they gestured for you to approach next.
"Follow us, we've been expecting you, but you can't be too careful these days," came the ones voice as you fell into step behind the group.
But this wasn't what you wanted now, no, you didn't want to simply follow the group when another idea was burning its way into the forefront of your mind.
"Hey, before we do that... I hate to be trouble, but do you sell camera's at a tourist stand or something here?" you asked, prompting the guardsmen to turn and face, giving you the chance now to see that each one of these men looked to be at least in their fourties. "It's silly, but I'd really like to get a photo of myself with you while I'm here," you added as you smiled sheepishly.
The group of men glanced at Tom as if to ask him if they really should, a nod from him being the sole response that they were given as he reached into his pockets to retreive a handful of bank notes.
As one hurried away to obtain the camera with the money they had been passed by Tom, Tom himself stood a short distance from you talking with the group about things as deployment and other such military things that you had little interest in. It was the perfect chance for you to look about, to take in the details of the tourist attraction you were in as you took note of the inner side of the curtain wall's details, as you glanced at the main keep - a palace, a fortress in its own right.
You still were't certain why it was called the Tower of London, but it did have a few towers on its corners that you presumed one of which served as the residence of Anxiety.
Before long had passed, standing in the pleasent heat of a summer giving way to autumn, the guardsman that had departed to obtain the camera returned, handing it to you while you reached over to pass it to Tom.
"Snap one of me with them first, I'll get one of you with them after," came Tom's response as he moved to pose with the group, saluting smartly as the camera was raised and with a flash of light, a picture of him was snapped with two guardsmen either side.
No sooner had that been done, he stepped back towards you to repeat the process with you - though you didn't want a picture that was so formal, no, you wanted some cheerful picture to send back home.
Your one had the men positioned about you as you smiled brightly for the camera.
As the group started leading the way once more, Tom reached to pass the camera to you, only for you to shake your head as you held a hand up to dismiss this.
"No, not until after I've met with Anxiety. I don't want to risk the camera being damaged as it'd suck to lose those pictures," you stated as Tom gave you a slight nod.
"Fair enough," came his response as he placed the camera's carry strap about his neck. "I'll return it to you once you've finished the meeting with her."
"I can't wait to be done so I can change out of these clothes," you mumbled as you idly straightened out the frilly clothing you wore.
"You look nice in that."
"Easy for you to say, it's not the kind of thing I'm used to wearing. I can't run in these shoes and this skirt," you mumbled in response as you entered the main keep - the difference in heat was immediately noticable as you felt the warmth on your face and the heat permeating your clothing give way to the coolness of the Tower itself.
"There's a few things to keep in mind while visiting the inmate, Miss Smith," came one of the group's voices as they turned you through one of the doors marked as being off limits. "While she has been restrained in advance and has shown little activity in the years she has been here, she is still to be treated as dangerous. Getting close is something you do so at your own peril."
The heavy door slammed behind you, reverberations echoing down the stone corridor as you were guided towards a spiralling stairwell.
"Similarly, she has not spoken in her time here, and while we have been informed that your presence may be enough to provoke a verbal reaction from her, we have also been informed that she may simply elect to remain silent, if she still remembers how to speak," they continued, their voice reverberating about the stairwell as they lead you upwards and past the doors leading off onto each floor.
You were being taken to the very top of the stairwell, to the top of the small tower.
"A final warning, the taint she bears is in an advanced stage, as such she is no longer entirely human. Do not allow her appearance to alarm you, however. If she grows rowdy or attacks you, shout and we will enter the room and provide you with assistance."
"You're not entering with me?"
"No Miss Smith, we've been informed to admit you alone, as it is unlikely she will speak with any other."
"What about me?" Tom immediately asked as a frown became visible behind his sunglasses.
"Sorry, you're not permitted entry either. In the event that Miss Smith is assaulted however, you're fully authorised to subdue the prisoner with any level of force you feel necessary given that she will recover swiftly from even lethal injuries."
"I see," Tom grumbled as the guardsmen placed a heavy key within the lock of the door at the top of the tower and opened the door.
The room that greeted you as you stepped through the heavy oak door was not entirely what you expected. It was bare, that much you expected, made of heavy stones, this you expected too, but it looked like something from the last century.
The room was littered with black feathers, straw and a few tattered books that sat in stacks gathering dust, it was illuminated by light filtering in through old latticed windows with glass panels set within, glass that was barely translucent enough to permit light through, let alone to permit you to see out.
There was an iron rung set into the floor beside a simple wooden bed frame with chains leading beneath the sparse covers, covers that bore a shape that was lumpy in a way that looked almost like a person, yet at the same time it was all wrong unless... Unless that person was a giant.
"Anxiety?" you ventured as you watched the shape beneath the covers shift lazily, the sound of those chains clinking followed by silence. "I have come to speak with you, if you'll permit such," you added after a long moment's silence.
The covers shifted again as a hand with delicate fingers tipped with claw like nails reached out, patted for the pillow that sat at the end of the bed, then in a futile gesture, flung it your way.
The pillow sailed past you by a wide margin, striking the wall as a cloud of dust burst forth.
"If you do not wish to speak with me, say so and I'll leave, Anxiety," you ventured once more as you watched the covers slowly pulled down. The form that was unveiled was one that lay on its side, facing the wall away from you - a figure that had to roll over towards the wall to turn to face you as not to roll over the large, unkempt wings that stood on its back.
That figure was one of a woman dressed in a plain, though by now grubby white dress, a woman with vast black wings on her back. A woman whom with a face framed by long, unkempt black hair, that gazed at you with solid black eyes that looked almost akin to those of a bird.
As she pushed the covers aside and sat up, you could see the short chain that restrained her sat about her ankle, preventing her moving more than a short distance from the bed - though as this room was small, you figured you barely had more than a few feet more that she couldn't reach into if she chose to leap at you.
"Do you recognise me?" you asked, hopefully as you watched the woman stretch out, her hands clasping above her head as her wings stretched out, fluttered and settled behind her back.
Yet there was still no response, only an alien expression as the woman regarded you as if you were an intruder in her territory.
"Of course not, you've been here so long you don't remember anything but the tower," you sighed as you turned towards the door.
This was fruitless, the woman was a dead end as she was dulled by the long years of imprisonment - the one time companion of the thousand soul, his killer, reduced to a caged bird with no song.
You'd tell the boss that she had ultimately been a dead end, that perhaps with further visits you'd get some result, but as it was... She was simply not going to be of much help until the peson she once was, was roused from the stupor of such lengthy imprisonment.
"W-waa-waaaait."
That slurred and stuttered word was just what you'd hoped for - some form of response, some form perhaps, of recognition.
You had hoped that she would respond to you and here was your window.
The chains clinked once more as she stood, as she clambered from the bed and stood there with her head tilted curiously as those alien eyes regarded you.
"Anxiety?" you whispered as you took a cautious step forward.
"Are... Are y-y-you here for-for me?" came her words as she rubbed at her throat gingerly, with the back of her hand. It was as if she trying to dismiss an unwelcome sensation.
"Yes Anxiety, I'm here to visit you," you responded in a gentle tone.
"Wh...Why are... Why are you... A woman, You-choo-keys?"
You-choo-who?
Oh. The thousand souls name, it was an awkward one, it was a wonder she even remembered it after all this time.
"I'm not-" you started, only for her to take a step forward. You couldn't help but feel intimidated, there was something distinctly predatory in her nature that had taken root in the absence of her humanity.
"It suits... Suits you. Always delicate. Delicate delicate. Pretty now. Like," came her stilted statement as she swallowed akwardly. You could see the light of recognition in her eyes shining through that haze as she seemed to be rapidly awakening from a deep slumber.
"So, you recognise me?"
"Yesss," she hissed. "Delicate girl. Slender, easily broken. Want... Want... Want to... Take me from... Cage and... Let me... Protect?" came her words as that predatory edge tainted them, a half step forward from her mirrored by you as you took half a step back.
"I don't think they'd let me take you from here," you whispered nervously in response.
"Ask... Nicely. Do thing with voice. Ask?"
"I'm not able to do that."
"Oh. Need remember how then, remember from last time and... Ask. Then... Then I will keep you safe. Never let you get... Hurt again," there was some hint of regret in those words, but the mention of remembering how to do something from last time struck your curiosity.
"What do you mean, remember how to do it from last time?"
"Yes."
"Could you explain?"
"Not remember?"
"I don't remember anything."
"Oh," she paused as she sniffed at you. "Yes. Just need remember, like did with... Past lives. Was able to... Make magic, talk to past self. Use past skills. Just need remember and... Do again?"
This was interesting, but you were pretty certain at this point that you had no means of accessing the skillset of a dead immortal. Still, if this thousand soul had different skills across different incarnations and was able to access them all somehow, that was a fairly formidable trick.
But you didn't want tricks, you wanted true power with what to change the world and get results.
"Anxiety, I... I don't remember anything," you started, you didn't like that you were lying to her, yet you knew that allowing her to believe you were the entity that she had once killed was your best chance to get her to co-operate. "What am I?"
"Delicate," came her solitary response.
"What am I, other than delicate?"
"Pr-eeee-tty," she cooed.
"Um. Thanks, I guess," you mumbled as you shifted uncomfortably. This wasn't a response you'd wanted from her of all people, you were fairly average.
"Face okay. Pretty under."
"Wait, what?" you hadn't meant to state this, but it seemed the shocked response was what she needed to hear to elaborate.
"I see... Colours. Pretty colours, like last time. Thousand colours. More colours than others. Not as smooth, maybe put back together wrong?"
"How could I be put back together wrong?"
"Not know, just see... Colours not flow together right."
"So, what am I?"
"Pr-eeee-tty," came her coo once more. This wasn't going to get you anywhere, you had to approach the question slightly differently.
"What does that make me?" you sighed as you slumped down and settled upon your knees on the hard wooden floor. You felt weary.
"Makes you... Put back together. Were broken. Most parts not original parts. Body new. Delicate. Colours old, but new. Not understand what that mean."
"How can you see those 'colours'?" you asked as you watched the woman settle down opposite you.
"Not sure what it mean. Maybe... Way of breaking cycle," she mumbled to herself, no longer listening to you. "If colours not smooth, maybe... Can't shatter colours," she continued as she made a stabbing gesture towards her neck with her finger, a gesture that had her draw a dark fluid that you could only assume was blood. That blood welled up only briefly as it darkened the neck of her dress before the flow stopped.
"Who am I, Anxiety?"
"Already say. Delicate. Pretty."
"People call me a monster, is this true?" you asked as you watched her eyes widen.
"No! You... You not monster, different. Not tired anymore. Not monster, no. Who call you monster, say so... Can make pay?"
"I don't want you to exact revenge upon-"
"Re-venge. Are... Are you... Are you here for revenge?" she asked as you saw realisation dawn across her features. She clearly remembered what she had done and had finally put two and two together with the puzzle pieces you had left her. If you had been that entity, it was possible, you supposed, but you didn't have any reason to wish to exact revenge on a woman you'd never met before now. "Did you... Stitch yourself back together so... So I couldn't stop you again and... Come to kill me for what I did?"
"No Anxiety," you breathed as you shook your head slowly. "I'm not here to hurt you, I just want answers."
"No... You're here to... To kill me. You always knew how, always saw dirty, dirty truth. Tainted soul, tainted body, broken immortal, needing you to live. Stolen power, but then you went and... My body adapted. Don't need you, don't need your stolen power. Ways you could kill me don't work now, sick, sick monster. Leave me here for longer than I remember, then come to kill me when you're done letting me suffer."
"Anxiety-"
"Won't let you, can't let you. Waited too long, your knowledge doesn't work now, not the same flesh you knew."
"Anxiety?"
"Leave me, I don't bow to a patchwork god born of stolen human parts, just because I can't see how you can be killed anymore doesn't mean you can't be. Try to kill me and I will tear your throat out and stab you a thousand times, I will break you again as I did so before-"
You stood and folded your arms about your chest, the more she raged the less intimidated you felt. She was dangerous, yet deep down you felt that the worst she could do was scream at you as long as you remained out of her reach.
"Goodbye, Anxiety. I'm leaving now, I don't think I'll return if this is how you're going to treat me," you stated as you turned towards the door, only for the woman to let out a wailing cry.
"Don't go, I'm sorry!" she screamed as she leapt forwards, the chain about her foot causing her to fall flat on the floor behind you as she scrabbled in vain to make up the meters distance it'd have taken to reach your foot. "Don't go," she sobbed over and over as she scratched at the floor, while you slowly sank down to sit before her once more.
Gingerly, against your better judgement you reached out with one hand to place it against the back of one of hers in a comforting gesture, a gesture that had her snatch your hand with both of hers, grasping it as you looked up at you with an expression that was almost childish in how innocently distraught she seemed.
"Please don't... Don't leave me. I can't take being alone anymore," she whimpered as she implored you with tear filled eyes to remain.
"Will you answer my questions?" you responded cooly as she nodded her head frantically in response.
"Anything, just don't... Don't go!"
"Why did you do what you did, Anxiety, why did you kill... Me?"
"I had to, I'm so, so sorry. I had to. If I didn't you'd... You'd leave and... And never come back for me. I didn't know you were too weak to... To come back again," she sobbed as she tugged on your hand, drawing you steadily towards her as she brought your hand to her cheek.
"How did I come back?" you asked as you brushed the back of your hand against her cheek.
"I don't know... Maybe... Maybe Jack stitched you back together. Always following you, calling you... Boss. Didn't need him, only needed me, didn't need Joy either, just me. Just us, always just.. Us."
"Who is Jack?"
"Calls himself... Lord of souls, lord of the dead... Was once here, people called him the ripper. Sometimes talks to me in dreams."
"What does he say?"
"Don't know, never listen to him. Never speak to him. Just... Sat there waiting, waiting for you to... To come back."
"I," you started as you rubbed at your stomach. You could feel nausea rising as the entire surreal experience started to get to you. Here you were, struggling not to let this situation overwhelm you as you turned paler than usual. The implications of what had been said, along with the frayed sanity of this woman were things you hadn't been ready for, and yet, you knew you were in for more of this in the future.
You just had to remain collected long enough to swallow that anxiety, to either present her with further questions or to bid her farewell with whatever promises it took to allow you to get out of the door safely.
You were going to make false promises, weren't you?
...You couldn't just promise the inevitable question of taking her with you, that you'd honestly talk with people about her being released, could you?
That was crazy, wasn't it?
What on earth were you going to do about this madness?
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Topic: I told them I could be anything... (Read 27226 times)