The Grey Edge: Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘Your recruit is dead.’
Taylor turned, stopped his calculation of the security system, resistance of the walls, and lack of scenery through the fake windows to see Magpie. He stared at the warden. ‘You’re lying.’
‘I had stressed her too much, it’s unfortunate, but I suppose I can wait another twenty years.’
Information was power. ‘For what?’
‘It’s no concern of yours, agent, it’s my business.’
‘You’re lying,’ he said, his face still neutral, ‘now bring me my recruit.’
‘You are a guest in my court and you see it fit to give me orders?’
‘I want to see my recruit, Magpie.’
‘If that is your wish, agent, but it isn’t pretty…then again, I’m sure you’re used to that kind of thing.’
He took a step forward. ‘Now.’
She turned to the door, and it opened as if on queue. Two attendants – obviously her children, but without the trappings of the guards who had escorted him to the guest room – stood silent in their grey uniforms. There was a body on the trolley they had wheeled in, hidden just beneath a thin sheet.
Body on a trolley. A common sight. A sight that didn’t bother him. She wasn’t dead, therefore the body wasn’t Magnolia, therefore there was no need to worry. She wasn’t dead. It wasn’t her. She’d been cured as he’d been pulled away, trapped in her mother’s Court, but cured.
Magpie tore the sheet away, revealing what looked a lot like Magnolia. A lot like, but not her. The same height. The same build. The same face.
It wasn’t her.
He stared at the body, then up to Magpie, wondering if he was supposed to take the fake seriously. If he was perceived as so simple that he’d be duped this easily. An assumption he could use to his advantages.
It was a very poor simulacrum.
‘Where is my recruit?’
‘She’s in front of you, Agent.’
He felt pity for the corpse – it was of Magpie’s blood sure enough, another of her children, another pawn destroyed for her plans. There was the obvious argument that children were a renewable resource, but a needless death was a needless death.
It was, however, dead, and barring a change in the universe’s rule – of the interference of someone like Ryan – there was nothing he could do for her, she was nothing but the Exhibit A for Magpie’s point.
He, however, could make a point of his own.
It was easy enough to flip the body – it was as light as his recruit, and bore all of the same scars – the glamour was perfect, and it was recently dead – by touch it was easy enough to tell that it had only been dead a short while – tactile proof in favour of what Magpie was saying. Tactile proof, had he believed her, of course.
He brushed aside the white hair – white hair that smelt like neither her usual scent or the infirmary, more proof that he was right – to reveal the nap of her neck.
He dug his fingers into the cooling skin, and pulled away a section, exposing the flesh inside. ‘There is no tracking chip,’ he said in a calm voice, ‘this is not my recruit.’ He looked to Magpie again, his point made.
‘Leave well enough alone, agent,’ she said, her usual tone taking over.
‘Magpie…’ he said, itching to attack her, but knowing it was useless to do so in her own Court – he was weak, and he was helpless.
The warden sighed and shooed the attendants and their trolley outside.
‘Your recruit lives, though her title does not. She is here, and she is staying here.’
‘You have no-’
‘Think, if it is within your capacity to do so, before you speak. I am her mother, by law, I own her. I am her warden, by law, I own her. Trust me when I say that I am well within my rights to do as I please.’ She smiled. ‘I even consulted a lawyer, just to be sure that I am in the clear. Whatever claim you think you have is superseded by my rights.’
‘She is my recruit.’
‘Is it frustrating, agent, to be so limited in your reasoning, in your speech, in your capacity as a sentient being?’ She gave him a slow smile. ‘Or am I giving you far too much credit in assuming that you are sentient?’
‘She is an aide, and as such-’
Magpie raised a hand. ‘Do you really think you have anything to bargain with that I could want?’
He didn’t. The Agency did.
They had the mirror, and the mirror could be whatever she wanted, so unless she wanted nothing, he – by proxy – had something she wanted.
‘I thought not.’
‘I do.’
Give up the mirror. Get rid of both problems. Two…two birds with one stone.
No.
It was a bad idea.
Magpie was already too powerful, with the mirror, even with the admittedly small piece that resided in the abomination’s chest, it was too much of a risk to take. Mimosa at least was incompetent. A weapon, a danger, without question, but one with a decent chance of remaining a dud.
‘And what do you have?’
‘Your life,’ he said, ‘release us, and for today at least, you live. You keep us here and I make no such promise.’
She moved – almost faster than he could track, and slapped him across the face, clawed nails cutting deep grooves across his cheek and nose, barely missing his right eye.
‘You dare,’ she said, slapping him again, ‘speak to me that way in my own Court?’
‘I do.’
‘Try my patience more, agent, and it will be only ashes that will be leaving my Court.’ She retreated to the chaise lounge across from him. ‘I want you out, now.’
‘Not without my recruit.’
‘You will leave.’
He stared at her. ‘Then kill me, Magpie.’
‘Do not tell me what I already want to do. I think though, it would make my daughter even more difficult. If you choose to leave-’
‘I will not.’
She clapped her hands, and the door opened again. Two young women walked into the room – another two of her children, another two of Magnolia’s half-siblings obviously enough. As much skin as Magnolia exposed with her choice of clothes, they were modest in comparison to the young women in front of him.
Both wore skirts that may as well have been belts, their lack of underwear obvious as they walked across the room. Their shirts were thinner than the gauze that the scholar placed over healing wounds – he saw their pale skin as readily as if they were topless.
Magpie gave them a sharp look, and they nodded. The girl to his left went to her knees, and the other turned, knelt, and went down on her hands and knees, presenting herself to him.
He looked back to the warden, not dignifying the situation with one word.
‘You fuck my daughter, agent, but for you that’s no longer an option – I’m being generous and providing an alternate, two, if you want both.’
The magpie on her knees reached for her his pants. On instinct, he gripped her wrist and squeezed – a quick second thought stopped him from breaking it: she was nothing more than another of Magpie’s pawns. Another innocent.
The warden shrugged. ‘Break it if you want, agent, she’s yours to do with as you please. They both are. For a year anyway. Though, I would like them back in a reasonable condition.’
‘I am not a reasonable man.’
She laughed at him. ‘You aren’t a man at all. And if you can’t return them in a reasonable condition, at least return them breathing. Breathing, I can always find a use for them.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Even if it’s selling them by the pound.’
‘Please,’ the girl whose wrist he held, said, ‘let me suck your cock. Mordred says my technique is adequate at least. Hit me after, but give me a chance first.’
He squeezed her wrist tighter, shook his head, then pushed her away.
‘What do you want with Magnolia?’
‘I don’t want Magnolia, I want an heir.’
‘And you’re barren, Magpie?’
‘Every warden,’ she said, ‘can choose the method of the next warden’s ascension. I did not want my children fighting for the position, it would leave too many corpses on the ground that I could use for my own designs. There is only one mechanic by which I can be replaced: one of my chosen sons impregnating one of my chosen daughters. Come on, tell me why you haven’t been curious about why she is so…fast and loose with who she fucks. Sex is hard-wired into her genes.’
‘And you think she’ll agree?’
‘I think,’ Magpie said with a smile, ‘that handcuffs and sedatives have been invented. Her consent isn’t required.’
‘I will kill you,’ he said, perfectly calmly, ‘if you hurt my recruit.’
Magpie stood. ‘Enjoy my daughters, agent, name them as you want, they have none.’
‘Magpie-’
She left the room without turning to look at him again.
It is so very rare that I get first post. Thank you for the chapter, Stormy!
Stuff which might require fixing:
“You are a guest in my court and you see it fit to give me orders?” (‘see fit’ is the phrase I’m used to)?
“barring a change in the universe’s rule – of the interference of someone like Ryan – ” (of -> or)
“Do you really think you have anything to bargain with that I could want?” (could -> would)?
“As much skin as Magnolia exposed with her choice of clothes, they were modest in comparison to the young women in front of him. ” (subject disagreement, maybe, perhaps change to ‘she was modest’)?
“thinner than the gauze that the scholar placed over healing wounds” (scholar -> scholars)?
And, you know, the ones I missed, for there are always ones I missed. Evil hidey buggers.
see it fit is more formal, shes trying to speak formally.
they refers to magnolia’s clothes.
’cause it’s “Magnolia showing skin with the clothes” rather than “Magnolia’s clothes showing skin”. Modifier, subject, m’ionno I’m an engineer, I quit taking English classes for a reason. It’s probably fine, it doesn’t lose any of the meaning, but I think it’s technically incorrect. And I’m too OCD to not notice.
…it needs to be changed. -_-
It is so very rare that I get first post. Thank you for the chapter, Stormy!
Well, I was posting it at an odd time. 😀 And you’re welcome. ^_^
BitchBeak! ^___^
Won’t the child of two half siblings be impaired in some way, or is that enough variation?
I claim it is your fault that I read this. Wikipedia: inbreeding. Half-brother/half-sister sexing is about half as bad as brother/sister, and twice as bad as cousins. As much as Wikipedia is willing to quantify these things (note “dubious-discuss” tag on the list).
The real question is, would a child of Magnolia’s have white stripes in their hair?
inbreeding, from genetic standpoint, is more likely to accentuate positives than negatives until the third generation. A half brother half sister pairing is most likely to bring an accentuation of positive traits from the common ancestor then any negatives. without having matching male dna to also excentuate. So it will be half her, and a quarter each the other parents, making her genetics dominant. Especially if she chose vastly different men for the first fathers.
Source, please? It was my understanding that inbreeding is bad due to the increased possibility of recessive alleles carried by one first-generation parent being able to be duplicated in the third generation if both second-generation breeders were carriers. But I like the idea of trying to concentrate stronger genetics, especially since Magpie seems to have chosen the fiercest of her children as breeders. I’ll quit this line of thought before I pull a Godwin’s Law.
…Godwin’s applies, since it’s a discussion, not a random “YOU’RE A FREAKING NAZI NAZI NATZEEEEEE” arguement. 😛
I cant find a good one online. But I’ve been over it many times in various classes (im a biochemistry major whos just some humanities classes short of my degree) where we did the math and squares on comparing genetics. In the first couple of generations, you are likely to concentrate reccesives, yes, but reccesives aren’t always bad, and it allows elimination of negative dominants. from a genetic standpoint, aunt/uncle with neice/nephew was best. But only for 2 generations of inbreeding. The third generation, if its inbred, is where you start getting some problems.
I’ll hunt down some academic sources for you when i get the chance.
And, no, I’m involved in teh Transhumanism movement, and say this is not a Godwin situation, as the Nazi’s breeding ideas and experiments DID give a lot of useful information and techniques. (for amusement, early Jewish tribes did just as much racial purifying and strengthening through intermarriage and force children. Remember, the seed belongs to the tribe!)
If I am remembering correctly, the same ideas apply to dog breeding, an area where maintaining traits from one litter to the next, from a pool of set stock is very important. Yes?
…but you could have just decided to go with “a wizard did it” and not do the research. >_>
The real question is, would a child of Magnolia’s have white stripes in their hair?
*shrug* Would depend on the father, I guess.
I am only internet-mad, not actually mad. I learned things, even if they were things I hope never to apply my knowledge of. (learning things is always good)
Also, using “a wizard did it” in any sexual context will, for me, always elicit the image of a wizard ‘doing it’. From behind. With his +69 Staff of Penetration.
…freaking Python, making me use inconsistent quotation marks…
It’s possible, but given her apparent control over genetics, unlikely. In addition, Inbreeding is not -necessarily- a bad thing – too much of it is, of course, but it’s a commonly used technique in animal breeding.
…Magpie’s control over them is key. It’s something she’s planned, it’s something she designed them for, she’s not just throwing two of her kids together willynilly, so all precaution possible, genetically speaking, would have been taking.
but it’s a commonly used technique in animal breeding
That statement is so much worse given how she treats her kids like livestock. -_-
Lazarous Long used it in human breeding… but then, he didn’t treat some people much better.
…that it’s magic, normal rules don’t apply. 😛
Forget the F#@&!^? Blackberry sauce…
I want to flay her strip by strip cooking each one and forcing her to eat herself as I go… once her skin is gone then I will start with her feet slicing off bits and force feeding her her own fucking bile Oh and I would cauterize the bleeding as it goes so that she has to eat all her limbs before I start feeding her the flesh from her torso scraping the flesh off the ribs then do her abdomen so her bloated guts spill out and she can see how fucking full of herself she really is!!
The part of my brain that likes puns just tripped over the part of my brain that likes … um, appreciates horror, and, um. Hi. Not quite blue-screen, more like a force restart.
I nominate you to write a Solstice torture story, to be posted as fan works, and please not involving Merlin ’cause he doesn’t deserve it, or Dorian ’cause he’s sexy. But I can totally imagine the Solstice giving one of Fortitude’s souls to someone with an appetite for that kind of torture.
Oh Umm Oh My *Blushes* I might… but I would want to clear it with Stormy completely I dont want to step on her toes… and um I have to be angry to really do it like that one…
So maybe?
is always allowed, read up on the rules Fan Works Policy and DO IT! there needs to be more fan fiction… i don’t want to be alone…
I love fanfic, it’s my little vice. There are few things that would genuinely squick me or I would deem unpublishable – AL13N’s fic is…well, you’ll know if you’ve read it, and I go back and read that when I need a lol.
I’m covering my legal ass my requiring a…word, goddammit, waiver of your right to sue me. Realise of course that it’s insanely unlikely that I would copy anything from fanfic – you guys all know how many books I have in my head and how many ideas I’ve considered and dropped over time. Plus, yanno, I’m not a horrible person. -_-
Stealing little things like the “weaponise tea” comment from the other day is about the most I’ll steal. With permission. And that’s…not really so much because I don’t have ideas of my own as it is to show that the community has an effect on the story? Something like that, I’m not being very eloquent, just got up, sorry. -_-
me, when ive done fanfic, if something i wrote got stolen and used, id jump for joy.
You know what we really need though? A mirrorverse rpg.
…it would just feel like such a betrayal. If the situation ever arose where I thought that I absolutely couldn’t live without using it, I’d talk to you (or whoever) about it. Organise something, rather than just going HA MINE /moustache twirl.
You know what we really need though? A mirrorverse rpg.
Zana was going to make one using GURPS, but it was it was suggested that we need our own system – but more importantly, I need to actually have everything written down first (all the universe info etc).
But before that ever comes to light, we should have the random agents forum one running – I just need to finish off the first story, so there’s something established to run from.
that would be cool as well. I think the original L5R system (the d10 rollkeep system) would work. Hmm, I’ll have to talk to a friend of mine about it, I seem to recall that its an open mechanic now, not being held from use.)
that said, a mechanics discussion/building topic mightnot be a bad idea, start hashing out things so that they fall together when its time.
… and so little time to do it in.
Not quite blue-screen, more like a force restart.
Thanks for reminding me about something. *makes note*
Merlin ’cause he doesn’t deserve it, or Dorian ’cause he’s sexy.
Merlin will have enough crap to deal with in #6…and Dorian’s sexy would return. I mean, he’s regrown limbs. ;D
This is just…I am in awe, Fan. 😀
I wonder how many failed male chosens there were. Or whether Mordred(assuming he’s the jerk from the last chapter) was raised differently than the girls.
By the way, the name is very interesting. In some of the more recent adaptations of Arthurian myth, Mordred is the product of incest.
The idea that Mordred is the son of Arthur and his (half?) sister (before he, at least, knew of the relationship) goes back at least to Mallory’s L’Morte d’Arthur
I found the name interesting in another way: first Merlin; now Mordred. How do these tie together? And who else with a name taken from that mythos will show up?
…it’s just coincidence, there’s no connection. -_-
And who else with a name taken from that mythos will show up?
Who knows? 😛
…was indeed the nigh-rapist jerk from the last chapter.
And he was raised differently. He was more like a favourite son, spoiled and given whatever he wanted. There were back-ups of course, but he was Magpie’s primary choice.
Mordred is the product of incest.
I needed an “M” name and our resident owl made a suggestion…I didn’t even think about the implications until later. >_< Probably worth noting that I didn't name Mags either, that's owed to Matthew. Everyone else though, I think I named. I think.
… sick! Me likes! *nods in approval*
Well, c’mon, get sicker! ^_^
Yes ma’am.
Taylor probably has a few things in Magnolia that he can use to verify her with. Nice try on Magpie but you need try work harder on fooling him.
LOOL; you mean, like, semen(with rfid-tagging?)?
His bodily fluids would have faded to ash. In fact, that’s how the Parkers knew bout the sexy.
(Nice thought though. I thought the same after that comment. ^___^ Nice to know Miko isn’t the only bad one here…)
bad miko
*spanks*
*finds a cane and giant fake whiskers, hunches over like old man* Get a room you two!!
… should wave with the cane in the air a bit for extra effect 😀
*>__<* What is with all the spanking! Gaaahh!
I think it is just he wants a reason to touch your butt. That is why the spanking.
http://images1.fanpop.com/images/quiz/4669_1212970606615_500_276.jpg
I had totally forgotten that ‘Monty’ moment! Thank you for bringing it back 😀