Becoming Monsters: In The Mirror 2, Chapter 62

This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the exceedingly cute creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

Returning in cameo is Dev McTaggart, the character of Corrupting Power.

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Chapter 62: Reaping What Was Sown

Jail cells are not meant to be comfortable. Bit of an obvious statement, though I hear some other countries do it differently. Thing is, I was tired from an incredibly long day and an adrenaline crash. My phone call went to tell Lucy what was up after turning in my chainmail, gun, and sword for holding (not mentioning the rest of the objects I had in my Extradimensional Space). I wasn’t the only one there, either. Every living prisoner was being held separately (and, it should be noted, under much higher security). So, too, were most of the defenders. Anita, Iniki, George, and all three of the Fire Base folks along with every member of Shield Against Shadows at the fight. Even our people in the water emerged to voluntarily come and provide information (after uploading backups). Heck, Keith the Cleric was held for questioning along with us, though since he was both unarmed and clearly medical staff he was treated significantly better than the rest of us.

Once lawyers got involved, anyway. One and all, the defenders had refused to give any but the most bland identifying information until the Guild Hall could get its legal team out to us. That happened to be the next morning, so we all got to sleep a bit.

At eight in the morning on the dot, five people walked into the station. I would find this out later, since I wasn’t in a place I could see the front door. The first three consisted of two Humans and a Deer Beastfolk, all carrying briefcases. The lawyers. I knew the Deer was actually a Barrister by Class, armed with both a passionate love of the law and multiple intense boosts to her ability to use it. The other two were no slouches, either, and any one of them showing up here would have been cause for consternation among the police. All three together was more than mere representation. It was a threat and a warning rolled up into one.

With them was an assistant from the Guild Hall. A tall, blue woman with pointed ears and a business suit, her black hair flowing as she seemed to be everywhere at once. Fetching papers, finding numbers, creating drinks from thin air, and otherwise making all three of the lawyers much more dangerous than they were before.

And then there was the fifth person in their group. Her eyes were amber, her skin cherry red, and her boobs a solid four cup sizes bigger than twelve hours prior. Lucy’s belly was noticeably bulging now, and she was on a mission to raise as much of a ruckus as possible without literally setting off fireballs in the waiting room. To be honest, I’m pretty sure the officers at the front desks would have preferred she threw fireballs. They were trained for that, not a pregnant Succubus on a rampage.

As soon as legal representation was available, most of the interrogations went quickly. Anita and Iniki were the first to be released, along with Keith the Cleric. They headed back to the Guild Hall to update their respective bosses, and carried word that both a recording of the events and the initial copy of the Code of Ethics were available. Our people from Wild Hunt were next, along with Gloria. No firearms, no presence in the area the deaths happened, and only nonlethal takedowns meant they got released as soon as they could provide context.

Justin and Wilhelmina from the fire base took a bit longer, but half of that was getting their weapons back to them. Talonaxe was in significantly hotter water at the moment, he went back to holding pending the investigation. Something about firing particularly heavy technically-man-portable weaponry. When they left, though, Justin froze in the lobby. “Abbey…”

The blue woman helping the lawyers fixed him with a glare I recognized well from the number of times Lucy had given it to me. “Save it, Justin, we both have work to do.”

Ah. Yeah, I wasn’t looking forward to the version of that speech I’d be getting later, either.

Whitney and Paige didn’t have blood on their hands directly, but both had a lot of explaining to do. Leah and Amber definitely did have blood on their hands, they’d have a lot more explaining. George and Simon both skated fast. They’d been acting in clear defense of life and both had accomplished their objectives with no deaths. Then it was my turn.

I was seated at a plain table, the Deer woman in a seat beside me, my wrists cuffed and attached to the table. A few moments later, Lieutenant Richards came in to sit across from me. He was carrying a worryingly thick stack of folders. “Jeremiah Kithkin. Incubus Mirror, Level twelve, Guild Leader of Shield Against Shadows. Is this correct?” His deep bass voice was almost bored-sounding, but his emotions indicated intense focus

“I’m Level fourteen, but otherwise yes.”

“You realize you are obligated to report your Levels to keep your Delver Card, correct?”

Nice try. “I have fourteen days to do so from the point I gained the levels, which was two days ago. I must ask you about a legality as well, you realize you were obligated to verbally inform me that the room is within a Zone of Truth before asking me any questions, correct?” I wasn’t looking, but I could very easily feel the spike of glee from the lawyer at my side.

“Once I get past demographics, yes.” He lined up several folders on the table. “You are sitting within a Zone of Truth. Any statement you make will be the truth to the best of your knowledge or ability to infer. It does not compel speech, nor does it prevent you from invoking your rights to legal representation or to remain silent. Any attempt to dispel it can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand?”

I smiled a bit. “Yes. May I ask what charge I am being held for?”

“We will get to that in a moment.” He was reaching for the first folder.

My lawyer interrupted smoothly. “In that case, you will release my client immediately and cease this illegal questioning. I also need to see proof that you are subject to the Zone of Truth, since that was not stated.”

He stopped reaching for the folder. “You are being held for Manslaughter in the first degree, destruction of property, criminal mischief, illegal use of Status abilities against other people, and several counts of assault.”

“You didn’t answer the other question.” She was good, huh?

“There is no point to answering it, there is no way to prove the statement since I could lie to say I’m affected if I’m not.” He was irritated, now. Off balance.

Perfect.

“I could Scan you directly if you consented.”

He chilled. The barb was well-targeted, and he knew if he refused I’d be out of the station in thirty minutes with zero questions answered and three corpses he’d have to take my group’s word on. “Fine. For the one piece of information.”

“Of course.” I did in fact focus on that when I cast my Scan, and I saw the Zone in effect, but a couple more things popped up. Things like the fact that he was already under half Stamina, had the Enforcer Class, and both his Intelligence and Perception scores were high. “He’s affected.”

“Good. Now we may continue.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He did not sound particularly thankful. “Jeremiah. You may have noticed just how many folders I have. Last night was one of a long string of events which your name keeps popping up in.”

“I have been busy the last couple of months, yes.” I looked back levelly.

He opened one, seemingly at random. “For example, this one. Not too long ago, one of the assault charges. You and some of your Guild charged in to attack three armed civilians, caught on a security camera that activated upon detection of gunshots. Minor injuries reported, along with the destruction of two weapons.”

I glanced at it. “The militia guys. My team just closed out a Gate and responded to the same gunshot, they were threatening a Corporeal Shade and I intervened.”

He opened another one. “Speaking of militia action, you also took it upon yourself to intervene in a bank robbery.”

“Was this the one with the Weapons Free call, or the one I was allowed in by the senior on site leading to the capture of three of the people involved in last night’s adventure?”

“How about the death of a former police officer? Former Sergeant Paul Mann was investigating you long-term over several potential violations. Those were shelved following his firing, but have been reopened after his death and the incident at the zoo.”

“The one who was there due to associating with Julia Aster, which I warned you about personally, leading to the firing of said police officer, then his abduction of myself. I know you had to have investigated the link I told you about, you don’t fire seasoned SWAT/OPP officers on random accusations. And about the zoo, I will reiterate that my team, Emily Johnson specifically, was attacked there. We acted in self-defense, and the only fatality was due to a Monk overcharging himself.”

He opened ANOTHER folder. “Soldier death investigation, he perished in the Dungeon. Investigating officer reports that you refused to aid the soldier.”

“I told him, explicitly, to do it the right way or knock it off. Soldiers coming to me for Delving lessons, of course I refused. Those are two training sets that need to be kept separate. I also, incidentally, rescued him from a Delve gone wrong some days later. Marshal Shapiro can confirm this for me.” My words were level and calm, they were obviously true. Inside, though, far from where my Aura could reach, my heart twisted. Another life I could not save. I could mourn him later.

“And, of course, last night’s fireworks. Not your normal cup of tea, guard duty. Did you ever, just once, consider retreating and calling the police?”

“Honestly, it was a part of my initial conversation with George Godfrey. No offense, but police had proven themselves approximately or exactly useless in a dozen states where this was concerned and you’d already had one guy severely compromised. He had a hunch a strong guard would be needed. A hunch which, need I remind you, was correct.”

“For milk. This all seems… disproportionate. Three dead over milk.” He was leaning in, feeling that I was cornered.

Life was full of disappointments, wasn’t it? “To properly answer that, I need to ask if you have any Giantkin working at this station. It is relevant, I assure you. I will ask him two questions, and his response will tell you more than enough. You can ask the nice people watching us through the two-way mirror.”

He closed his eyes. “Sam, get Barton over here. This gentleman wants to go out on a limb.”

It took about two glacially-slow minutes before the door opened. Barton turned out to be a Yeti of some kind. “You asked to see me, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, I’m sure I don’t need to introduce Mr. Kithkin, here.” I nodded, and Barton nodded back. “As part of this discussion, he wants to ask you a couple of questions.”

“Yes, sir. Guild Leader Kithkin? Your questions?”

Better than I could have hoped, not only was there one here but he knew about me. “How valuable is Holstaur milk, in particular from the Leni Lenape dairy in Massachusetts?”

“HOLSTAUR milk? Here?” Barton’s eyes widened as if he wanted to ask exactly where it could be found. “That would be an extremely hot commodititty, very valuable.”

Lieutenant Richards Looked at him sharply. “What did you just say?”

“I said that it would be a hot commodi…” he clearly tried to correct himself, but couldn’t. “...titty. Sir, you didn’t tell me we’re in a Zone of Truth.” Barton seemed a fairly even mix of annoyed and embarrassed.

My interrogator’s mind caught up with the reaction rather than the language. “You should have known by the room. We will discuss this later, but why would it be that… dramatic? What kind of value are we talking about?”

“Sir, a gallon of it can go for more than a Gold, even near a Holstaur dairy. Twice that around here, and Giantkin can go through it by the barrel. Normal milk goes for a Copper if you’re paying with Coinage.”

My turn. “And for my second question. If I told you that a train carrying a full cargo of that was transferring to a ship to transport to Japan, what do you think would be the reaction?”

“I’d ask who lied to you, that just doesn’t happen. If they revealed their existence when they docked, they’d sell out faster than they could unload.”

“Thank you.” I looked at the man seated across from me, who was rapidly losing control of the interrogation. “I believe this thoroughly supports my point.”

My lawyer said nothing. She didn’t have to.

The Lieutenant dismissed Barton, then pulled out a notebook. “If this was all a defensive action, why were you recording the events? More publicity stunts?”

“Sir, I have to preface this with one of those phrases. With all due respect, those are scout drones run by two of my Guild during guard duty. As soon as missiles and fireballs got involved, the Twins cut on the recording in case of conversations like this one, or with insurance assessors. They should have made the recording available to you, as well, and for that exact reason. If I wanted publicity, live streaming guard duty isn’t the way to do it.” The lawyer didn’t like my phrasing much. Snark, and all, but it seemed necessary.

His eyes narrowed. “I see that I need to get to the point. Three people are dead after your team’s actions. Why didn’t you try to de-escalate this?”

“Two points, there. The first several of the PMCs were taken down nonlethally. I assume that the Shaper let them out into your custody?” He nodded. “We escalated the response when one of them had a rocket launcher. Our heavy weapons man interfered with one strike. The second was aimed at my face, and thankfully missed. Deescalation and less-lethal tactics cease to be options at that point. Especially when I identified the five, or say rather when they identified me. All five have attempted to kill me in the past two months, four are properly defined as attempted murder while the fifth was a duel. Attempts to deescalate at that point are fancy ways to commit suicide.”

“And, of course, my client both has a Good Samaritan duty to intervene in defense of bystanders, such as the dock workers, and also no expectation of self-sacrifice to attempt to deescalate,” the lawyer smoothly inserted. “He has even personally written a code of ethics for other Delvers, which is as of now codifying such things in the Seattle Guild Hall.”

Alright, she’s good. The initial draft of the Code of Ethics had only been available for twelve hours or so. Idly, I wondered if she was a signatory and found out that way, if the Twins had let her know somehow, or if there was some other arcane method of gaining the knowledge.

“You seem awfully prepared.” Lieutenant Richards was not amused in the least, tiny bit.

I looked back at him levelly. “It is my job to be, Officer. When I’m not, people die.”

“When you are, people have died.” He was looking back at me with a glare that was likely designed to make hardened murderers crumple.

“Sir, I wasn’t prepared for last night. If I had been, one or more of the deaths may have been averted. I will never know for certain, and that is something I have had to come to terms with.”

“As you can see, Officer,” the unbelievably precise Barrister once again inserted, “no piece of what you have presented justifies holding my client. In addition, he holds not one but two lifesaving missions. He is the Guild Leader of a Surface Hunting Guild, per the charter of Shield Against Shadows, and most of his people also work at Central Cascadia Hospital in various support roles. In addition, Status concerns dictate that he cannot be held here without compelling reason.”

His eyes narrowed, and I could practically feel him having to resist Scanning me again. “Jeremiah, how much Hunger do you have in your meter, and how long will this last you?”

The lawyer turned to me. “As your counsel, I recommend you do not answer that, as he cannot legally demand the information.”

With a deep breath, I clearly stated “I accept my counsel’s advice and decline to respond.”

Lieutenant Richards was practically grinding his teeth when he took a stabilizing breath of his own. “Fine. Do not believe for one second that this is over, Kithkin.” He stood. “Someone will be here shortly to unlock your cuffs.”

“Since I can see the key ring on your belt and know you are being petty, let me save you some time.” I invoked Shapeshifting, shrinking my hands until the cuffs no longer constrained me and smoothly pulling them out before returning to normal size. “I have complied with every instruction I received and did not resist. You have all of the same information I do about these events, save only for trade secrets, and I will be happy to answer more questions later. Not here. Please take me to where I can retrieve my belongings so that I can go calm down my wife and go home.”

The fact that I had voluntarily surrendered the weaponry and insisted on the paperwork being done right… and the fact that I had said lawyer hovering menacingly in the vicinity… sped the process of getting my gear back. We were still in the back halls when the lawyer turned to me. “You have been a model client, thankfully, but this is where I tell you that Marshal Shapiro is only covering half of our fees. You will be on the hook for the rest.”

“Between that and what the insurance adjusters are about to say, I’m glad we’re crowdfunding while working two jobs. I’m good for it, don’t worry, it might be a bit as these things shake out. I’m still under IRS audit, so as soon as I get the results of that you will be first in line for what I have.”

“If I didn’t think you would be good for it, I would not have come. Abbey?”

I hadn’t even noticed the blue woman walking up to us. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Status on the others?”

“All but one have been released, it seems they were angling for Guild Leader Kithkin. That one is the Dwarf, Talonaxe. He has run afoul of a few more stringent details of the area’s firearms laws.”

“Remind the others that those laws don’t cover directed energy weapons, then notify Quiverbow.” She thought for a moment. “Good job, by the way. I can see why Jordan hired you.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Abbey turned and walked briskly down the hall, turning a seemingly-random corner.

I looked off the way she went. “I’m glad the others aren’t going to be suffering for coming with me.”

“That remains to be seen, but I’ve won harder cases. Please remain available in case I need to ask you more questions, and don’t post the drone footage of these events in public places unless you desperately need to. Now go, we’ve had some success today but it will vanish if that pregnant Sorceress burns this place to the ground.”

“You got it.” I turned and walked through the door to the lobby.

There were many things I was half-expecting to happen. What happened wasn’t any of those things. A shimmering telekinetic force seized me, dragged me halfway across the room, and pulled me down to face my wife’s scarlet, sexy, and terrifyingly furious face. “Jeremiah Kithkin! You tell me you’re going to go watch a delivery as a favor, and next thing I know you’re on the news for a firefight AGAIN?”

“It really did come to me this time, and I told you as soon as I could,” I pleaded.

“I wasn’t THERE, Jay! I couldn’t help you fight, I couldn’t defend the one person on this Earth who really knows me! Our daughter could have been sentenced to grow up fatherless!”

“I… I…” There really wasn’t much I could say to that one. Although I’d come through with very little to show in the way of injuries, I had come within an attack selection of decapitation.

“In jail! I have to tell our daughter that you have a record!” This was significantly more dangerous than the circle of armed and nervous police officers who had brought me in some ten hours ago. Even other people in the waiting room were backing off as far as they could from this particular event. Including the armed police officers.

“No record this time, the lawyers were very good at their jobs and nothing they were accusing me of looks like it’s going to stick.”

“And them! How are we going to pay for them? And insurance? And the baby?” She was looking me in the eye. “And you know what else?”

I gulped. “W… what else?”

Lucy stomped three steps forward, her gravid form wobbling a bit as her center of balance shifted. She leaned into my ear and whispered “I am hornier than I’ve ever been in my LIFE. I’m going to get you home, shove you onto our bed, and screw you until you, me, or both of us pass out.”

Needless to say, the trip home was a bit of a blur. It didn’t help that any time there was the slightest chance nobody was looking, Lucy was kissing, nibbling, pressing, or stroking whatever piece of me she could reach that was out of sight. She ended up being the one to pass out first, though I will freely admit that after three orgasms of my own it was a close thing. She was asleep with a huge smile on her face and so covered in my cum that she looked like she was frosted. She didn’t wake even through the process of me toweling her off as much as I could. I staggered out to the living room and flopped onto the couch.

Emily was the one to find me there. “Alright, I’ve already made sure Paige and Whitney are alright. Amber didn’t get touched, but if you know a good therapist you may want to give them a call. Your turn.”

“I’m fine, Emily. Just tired. Got a little bit scorched in the pregame and a couple of bumps and scratches, but I’ve had a lot worse.”

She coolly looked at me. “Do me a favor, then, and without using any of your class abilities stand up and raise your arms directly over your head, reach for the ceiling and stretch your wings.”

She seemed serious, so I complied. The process of standing took a lot more effort than I thought it should, and when I tried reaching my arms and wings out most of my body felt like it was trying to pull itself apart. A slight grunt of pain escaped my lips despite all I could do to stop it.

“That’s what I thought. Let me siphon some of your injuries, then you’re going to do your stretches and physical therapy. All of them. Then it’ll be dinner time, and I know Gloria’s going to make something good. You will eat all you can, since it sounds like Regeneration has a lot of work to do.”

That process sucked, by the way. I had absolutely been neglecting it between everything that was going on, and my scars did not appreciate it one bit. Neither did my muscles, tendons, or ego. Dinner was, as usual, amazing. I knew for fact that Gloria had been in literal jail most of today, so how she completed the chicken soup tasting like it had been simmering all day I’ll never know. Lucy’s treatment was cut slightly short today, her own fatigue serving as a sharper limit on things. It still noticeably pushed her forward. Everything combined to make me restless, though. I needed clear air again, so I walked up the fire escape to the roof after telling the others where I’d be.

I was back, right where the city needed me. The duty might not be the safest, and it might not always put me on the good side of the people I protected, but it was needed. I took pride in doing my job well. That little glow lasted a minute or two before my phone rang. “Hello?”

“Dev here.” The blunt voice of Dev McTaggart, the man I’d met at the diner, came from the other line.

“Oh, hey, good to hear from you. What’s up?”

"Can you do me a solid and slow your roll a bit in terms of getting in the spotlight? I'm trying to finish up an article focused on you, and I can't write a good closer until you stop and breathe for a minute. Cool?"

“Um. Don’t watch the news this evening, then.”