FSE

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Author's Note: This story is set in the same world as Demicoeur's Cinderfrost. It makes use of her 'hell-touched' as well as the general reaction of the public to said people. It does not feature her characters. Her comic can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/9778181/ . It's great, I suggest giving it a read. Very different in tone from this story, though. Enjoy.

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"You know, if we were in a comic book, we'd be superheroes."

Chady opens his eyes and glances over at Mancer. The rabbit's piercing blue eyes are trained on him, that uncanny, unblinking gaze waiting for a response she knows won't come. Or maybe she doesn't know. He can never tell anymore. For all he knows, she might already know what he wants to say: that one man's hero is another man's villain.

The eagle waits a few seconds for her to go on. She never looks away from him, even when he finally tries to break eye contact. The gag in his beak seems to bite back at him as he open wider, trying to get any kind of sound out.

"I can already see it, you know." Crap. This is the last thing he needs right now. She doesn't even notice him rolling his eyes. "I might be able to get out of here with just a prison sentence. Accessory after the fact. If I swing it right, I just might convince them that you threatened me. Made me help you."

That gets his attention. He actually glares over at her this time. Even through two layers of bars, a glare from a golden eagle is quite a thing. She meets his gaze, and he knows that despite her absent, empty gaze, she can actually see him this time.

"I know, Chady," she says. "But they don't know about me. They know about you, but they don't know about me."

Chady keeps glaring at her. Her eyes come into focus for just a second, but they don't seem surprised by his angry glare. She regards him coolly for a moment.

"Not good," she answers the silent question. Her blue eyes flicker again, and she glances away, towards the door to the holding area. There's a hiss as the door slides open, air sliding into the hermetically sealed disinfection chamber. They must've installed it after that incident with the dormouse hell-touched who could make plants grow. From anywhere. The news coverage for that one was particularly graphic.

The hissing stops as the pressure balances between the two rooms. A tall wolf with dark fur steps through. He's wearing normal business casual attire, with the notable addition of a handgun holstered just beneath his armpit. He pauses as he steps into the small holding area, casually reaching up to brush an imaginary hair from the collar of his shirt. Chady can't help but look the wolf up and down. The eagle figures that he could take him if it came down to it. Of course, the gun would present a problem.

The wolf finally looks up. He looks first to Chady, and takes an almost imperceptible deep breath. Without a doubt, the wolf has seen some of the pictures of what Chady did to that SWAT truck. The thought makes Chady grin, but only for a breath. The golden eagle reminds himself of how horrified everybody looked, of how scared he himself was afterwards.

By this point, the wolf has looked away, and is now walking down the empty space between the cells. He passes by the two empty ones without any hesitation. Chady still finds it odd that they have four cells. Most hell-touched are executed within a couple days of being captured. He can't imagine them needing more than two cells with a turn-around rate like that.

The wolf finally faces Mancer, turning his back on Chady.

"You're Amanda Eyton?"

"Yes."

Chady does a double-take, and leans out from where he's handcuffed to the wall to stare at Mancer. The rabbit's voice has a quiver to it, and he can see the moisture in her eyes as she stares up at the intimidating wolf. She's even trembling. Bile rises in the back of the eagle's throat as he keeps glaring at her.

The wolf taps his foot for a moment, looking the rabbit up and down. After a no-doubt rehearsed pause, he speaks. "You're in a lot of trouble young lady."

Mancer trembles. Actually trembles. Chady grips his hands into fists, imagining them wrapped around the rabbit's throat. "How much trouble, sir?"

"Quite a lot." The wolf's low voice has taken on a forced fatherly tone. "The maximum penalty for helping a hell-touched avoid capture is execution."

Mancer makes a sound that's a mix between a kicked puppy and a maid swooning, and then bursts into tears. She covers her face with her cuffed hands, and sinks down into a seated position on the floor. The wolf just lets her go at it, and Chady's rage builds. The eagle imagines what he would be able to do right now if they took off his gag. The thoughts terrify and excite him.

Chady realizes that Mancer is speaking. He shakes his head, and then focuses on her. All her words are half-sobs, making it almost impossible to understand her. "...So sorry... Never meant... He forced me..."

The wolf lets her go on for a while, and in another rehearsed movement, he raises both hands. "Don't worry. I don't want to see you get executed."

"You don't?"

"No. If you help me, I might be able to convince the tribunal to let you off easy."

"Help you how?"

"You just need to help me by testifying against the hell-touched, and giving me any other information you can. Do you think you could do that?"

The rabbit sniffles. The chain on her handcuffs clinks as she finally looks out from beneath her hands. Those bright blue eyes are puffy. "I guess I could..."

The wolf nods. Even from behind him, Chady can see the grin on his face. The wolf thinks he's won. Well no, if Mancer is helping him, then the wolf has won. By this time tomorrow, Chady will be hanging.

By this point, the wolf is pulling out a set of keys. "Don't worry. I'm just going to bring you out to the tribunal, and then I'll see what I can do for you."

Mancer sniffles as the wolf unlocks the door. She casts a momentary look at Chady, and the eagle can just make out the slight grin that flashes across her face. Then she lets the guard lead her out of the cell.

Chady glares after them, seething with rage. This isn't fair. Mancer's as guilty in this as he is. More guilty, even; it was all her plan. So why is she the one walking away, probably about to get acquitted as a hostage or something. Chady breathes in sharply, and he feels the air circulating in his lungs, wanting to rip out, to announce Mancer's lies to the world.

That's when, abruptly, Mancer turns, lifts her foot, and slams it into the side of the wolf's knee.

The wolf yelps in surprise and stumbles away awkwardly, favouring his other leg. He glares over at the rabbit, and is surprised to find that her eyes are oddly vacant. He doesn't let this deter him.

The wolf's hand goes to his gun. He pulls it out with comfort and familiarity that only comes with practice. Mancer waits until he's raised the weapon in both hands, and then she lunges forward at him. She swings her cuffed hands around at him.

A gunshot rings out, followed by another yelp of surprise from the wolf. He falls back as the rabbit punches him squarely on the nose. The gun clatters to the ground.

Mancer moves effortlessly. She lunges forward, and her hands are around the wolf's throat. He gets out half of an enraged growl before she closes off his airway.

The next thirty seconds go slowly. Mancer keeps her hands pressed to his throat, and the wolf gives occasional thrashes. He's at least twice the rabbit's weight, but each time he moves she's already found a way to stop him from breaking free. His movements grow weaker. His body gives a few powerful tremors, and then he stops moving altogether.

Chady keeps his eyes trained on Mancer as she stands up. Somehow the rabbit's handcuffs are no longer attached to each other. She pauses only to find the wolf's keys and pick up his gun. She makes her way over to Chady's cell, and unlocks it.

"You're still angry, yes?"

Chady nods very slowly as she removes his handcuffs, freeing him from his position. The eagle stands up and rubs feeling back into his limbs. He then looks to her.

There's a moment of very long silence. She nods.

The eagle reaches up and removes the gag from his beak. As it slides off, he sucks in a long, deep breath. She watches him passively, waiting for him to speak.

"You could've gotten away." Chady grimaces. His voice is even more raw than the last time he spoke.

"Maybe."

The eagle pauses at that, staring at her. Her eyes still have that distant, empty look to them. He knows better, but he decides to ask anyways. "What can you see?"

She doesn't respond for a few seconds. When she does reply, though, her eyes flick back into focus. "I see two hell-touched in the same room as a murdered police officer."

Chady sighs. No, never a straight answer from her. "Fine."

The two walk out of Chady's cell, Mancer leading the way. Chady only looks away from the rabbit for a moment to stare at the dead wolf. The smell of burnt sulphur is still heavy in the air. "How'd you get out of your cuffs?"

"I saw where he was going to shoot, and I put the chain of the cuffs in the way."

Chady knew she was good. He had no idea she's that good.

They reach the door the wolf entered from; the only door in and out of the holding area for hell-touched. The door is made of heavily tinted glass; they can't see through to the other side.

"The guards on the opposite side heard the gunshot," Mancer announces. "They have a small team gathered outside, preparing to enter." She turns and looks at Chady expectantly.

The golden eagle can feel her eyes on him. He opens his beak to take a breath, then lets it back out. "Is there any other way?"

"No."

"How likely is it that this is about to kill somebody?"

"Very."

Chady swallows.

"If they so much as see you, you know they'll kill you."

Chady takes a deep breath, and then he screams.

The eagle goes momentarily blind and deaf as noise roars out past his beak. The air in front of him ripples and bends, and the door's tinted glass all shatters. The force of Chady's scream carries the shards back into the decontamination room. They smash into the next door, a much sturdier iron one. Chady closes his eyes and then leans forward, squeezing his lungs. He can feel the power of his voice rolling over the door, pushing against it, trying to find a way through, to rip it apart, tear it limb from limb and send it scattering across--

There's a deafening crash, followed by a few yells. Chady's forehead creases with concentration. The muscles along his face all tense, and he slowly manages to clamp his beak shut. The roaring dies, and the eagle opens his eyes.

The door didn't give way. The concrete around the door gave way. The door has been blasted back into the hallway, carrying a few chunks of concrete with it. Chady has just enough time to register this before Mancer steps by him. She strides purposefully over the shattered glass and through the hole punched through the wall.

Before Chady can speak, she raises her handgun. She fires, then turns. In the course of a few seconds, she fires the gun four times. Her arm moves mechanically between each shot, lining up her targets with cold efficiency.

She lowers her arm after the fourth shot. She looks over her shoulder at Chady, and the eagle feels his pulse quickening.

"We've got forty-six seconds until the next team gets here. Come on."

Chady shivers, but he finally walks forward. Mancer has dropped her handgun, and is bending over and rummaging with something. When she stands back up, she's carrying a much larger gun; some sort of automatic rifle. Chady doesn't know enough about guns to actually know what it is. He does know, though, that Mancer is carrying it with far too much familiarity.

It's as Chady steps into the actual hallways that he finally sees where Mancer found the gun. She's lifted it off of the body of a dead tiger. The big cat is in the same business casual style of clothing as the wolf was, with the addition of a Kevlar vest. There's a neat, bloody hole in the tiger's forehead.

Chady's stomach turns as he looks away, only to find another dead body with a bullethole in its forehead. The eagle staggers, and finally looks closely at the rest of the hallway. He can see four bodies in all; one for each of Mancer's shots. Each one has a hole perfectly in the center of its forehead. They never stood a chance.

"Let's go," Mancer orders.

Chady looks back at her. She's holding the rifle lazily at her side. He can now see a few splotches of blood on the sleeves of her shirt, probably from handling the dead tiger. Her eyes are still vacant.

"We've got twenty seconds. Let's go."

She turns and walks away. Chady follows, breathing heavily. They pass by the crumpled wreckage of the iron door partway down the hallway. Chady glances at it for a moment, and then looks away. He tries to forget the leg he saw sticking out from beneath.

Mancer leads them on down the hallway. She's moving quickly, and Chady has to jog to keep up. They reach a fork in the hallway, and Mancer heads to the right without hesitation. Chady keeps looking around, waiting for another, better-prepared group to stumble upon them.

Quite abruptly, Mancer turns and opens a door. Chady follows her in, and they let the door click shut behind them.

All is dark for a moment. The room reeks of chemicals. There's a small click as a single lightbulb turns on, dimly illuminating the supply closet. Mancer is holding the small pull chain to turn it on.

For a few seconds, both are quiet, catching their breath. Chady finally finds his voice.

"What are we doing in here?"

"A SWAT team is about to come down the hallway," she replies. She actually closes her eyes this time, her forehead creasing as she focuses. "They're going to head into the holding area. Once they're in there, we'll leave."

Chady nods, even though she can't see. His eyes keep wandering down to that gun she's carrying. At first he isn't sure why he's so uncomfortable about its presence. When he thinks about it, though, it hits him.

"What's the gun for?"

"In case we run into anybody."

"In case?" The tone of his voice makes Mancer open her eyes. The rabbit's entirely focused now, and looking right at him. "The handgun would've been enough for 'in case.' Why do you have that?"

She's quiet, as she always is after he asks a question. Unlike usual, the rabbit's eyes are sharp. She isn't doing that odd thing, that looking without looking. She's actually considering him. Chady isn't sure why, but it makes him nervous.

"Alright. When the SWAT team discovers that we've left the cells, they'll sound the alarm. This entire facility will go into lockdown, and they'll start combing this area for us. The odds of us getting out of here without a confrontation are basically zero."

The eagle watches her, breathing heavily as he thinks about this. "You've used one of those guns before, haven't you?"

"Yes."

"And this isn't your first time doing something like this." It isn't a question this time. Chady slowly leans back against the wall and half-closes his eyes. He can feel Mancer watching him. This is the longest he's ever seen her eyes stay focused. She's nervous about something. He just isn't sure what it is. "What's the plan?"

"We move through the facility until we reach the rear wall. You blow it open, and then we get out."

Chady doesn't voice any complaints, and so they lapse back into silence. Eventually Mancer nods to the door. She clicks the light off, and the two step out. Mancer takes the lead again, and they start jogging down the hallway.

They round one corner before, quite suddenly, a shrill sound erupts from all around them. Chady pauses to cover his earholes, but Mancer moves on. The rabbit is never surprised. Why should she be?

Chady shakes his head to clear it, and then follows, wincing occasionally at the piercing alarm. It does nothing to make him feel better. He knows that Mancer will be able to tell if anybody's coming long before he would be able to hear them, but still, she's been wrong in the past.

Mancer stops sharply as they're about to round a corner. Chady almost walks into her from behind, but he just manages to stop himself.

The rabbit just stands there, her head slightly lowered. Chady knows better than to ask her for an explanation. She's too busy seeing.

She raises her gun, and then steps around the corner. She pulls the trigger twice in quick succession, fast enough that only a single bullet comes out each time. As soon as she's finished, she lowers her gun and keeps walking. Chady follows her, and is stunned to see two people in full SWAT gear lying dead halfway down the hallway. Mancer walks over to the bodies and then waits, turning back to wait for Chady.

The eagle catches up, and only once he's reached the rabbit does he notice the double doors.

"Through here," she says, gesturing to the doors. "Every door in the building will have locked automatically with the alarm, so you'll have to open it for us."

Chady nods slowly. Mancer looks nervous. He can't even imagine what she's seeing right now. Probably watching dozens of SWAT teams, keeping tabs on where they might go.

The eagle faces the doors. He takes a deep breath, and then screams.

These doors aren't as strong as the iron one that was blocking the holding room. They rip free from their hinges almost immediately and go flying back into the room. As always, Chady is a bit blinded and deafened by the force of the blast. He somehow manages to pick up the sound of a second, quieter scream through his own blast and the sound of the alarm. A chill runs up his spine. He didn't even ask Mancer if there was anybody behind the door.

He clenches his beak shut, and looks up. His eyes widen.

The room he's just blown open is much better decorated than the rest of the plain, almost sterile facility they've been moving through. The lights are brighter, and there's a nice hardwood floor. A few nice chairs lie in pieces on the floor, ripped apart by his scream. On either side of the door on the inside is a fully armed SWAT officer, each one looking just as stunned and surprised as Chady.

On the far side of the room there is a long, ornately carved raised platform with a heavy table on it. The two doors to the room have slammed into the centre of this table. From the blood splattered across the wall, Chady can only assume they crushed somebody sitting there. There are four other people, all finely dressed in suits, sitting behind the table and staring. Hanging on the wall behind them is a carved coat of arms.

In the space of time that it takes Chady to realise that they're in front of the tribunal, Mancer starts moving.

She raises the gun and begins firing with terrible precision. Both of the guards fall before they can even reach for their guns. Their bodies haven't hit the ground when she drops her gun, and then reaches over and grabs Chady's arm. The rabbit's hand is like a vice on him, clamping down hard enough to hurt. She gives a sharp yank, and he stumbles towards her.

She steps around him, placing him between her and the tribunal. The four remaining judges haven't had a chance to react yet. They're all too busy staring at the gunned down guards. Chady himself isn't sure what's happening. At first he assumes that Mancer means to use him as a shield... but against what? Both of the guards are already dead...

Her hands reach around from behind him. One grabs his forehead, and the other squeezes his chin just below his beak. In the instant that it takes Chady to understand what's happening, he feels her raising one foot behind him.

She slams it down into the side of his knee. Pain erupts from the joint, and Chady screams.

The hand on his forehead partially blocks his vision. The eagle can just feel the energy rolling out of him, and hear the deafening, roaring screech of his voice. Mancer keeps her foot against the joint, and every time it seems like he's letting up she puts on a bit more pressure. All the while, she's slowly, mechanically guiding his beak, turning his head to direct the blast.

She pulls her foot away from his knee. His body jerks and the screaming slowly dies. As he finally manages to close his beak, he feels ripples of wind running through his feathers. It feels strangely quiet in the room. The blaring alarm is quiet in comparison to his scream.

Mancer lets Chady go. Without her hands supporting him, his weight comes down on his knee. He immediately collapses, clutching at the dislocated joint. He lies there, writhing in position for a few seconds and fighting back another scream.

He finally manages to look up. The entire back wall of the room is gone. It's been ripped apart. The tribunal table is scattered in pieces across the grounds outside. The bodies of the judges are strewn about the wreckage, none of them moving.

Chady can only say one thing.

"What have you done?"

"I've done nothing." Her voice carries no trace of irony or sarcasm. "You just crippled the largest facility for the holding and execution of hell-touched in all of North America. You also killed all of the top judges involved in every hell-touched execution in the province in the past three years."

Chady can't reply. It's too much for him. All of the chaos of the past day is catching up, and he can recognize the feeling of shock overcoming him.

Mancer's voice is oddly chipper as she speaks. "Well, somebody will show up soon. I should be off."

Chady blanches, and finally manages to tear his eyes away from the scene to look up at Mancer. She isn't even looking at him. "What about me?"

"You don't look like you're in a state to walk. You'll have to stay here."

Silence. Then, very quietly, "Why?"

She finally glances down at him. Her eyes are focused and cold. "You're smart. Think about it."

The eagle's beak opens once, but no sound comes out. He tries again. "You wanted to strike out. Send a message."

"Go on."

"...you didn't want to take the fall."

"Exactly. Don't sound so betrayed, though. You'll be a hero. A martyr."

"You've had this planned since we were captured." Chady's breathing is shallow. He's keeping his voice level, but only just. He thinks for a bit longer, and then mutters, "No. Since before then. How long?"

"It was always an option." Chady can't read the look in her eyes. He never can. "Not exactly the optimal outcome, but it's always been a backup."

"I've always been the scapegoat, though."

"Yes," she says. "You have."

He glares at her, unsure what to say or do. He takes a few very deep breaths, and then he growls out, "I could rip you apart right now. One scream is all it would take."

"You certainly could. You could kill me, and every single police officer they send at you. You would enjoy it, too." He winces, and she grins. "You won't, though. I see that pleasure in you every time you let go. It's always there, but you choose to run from it. You're afraid of it. It makes you worthless as a living weapon." Her grin widens. "It might just make you the perfect distraction while I get away, though."

She turns and begins walking away. He stares after her, still in shock. He looks down at his knee, and knots churn in his gut. Just as she's about to step out the hole in the wall, he yells out.

"Please. There has to be some sort of way out of this for me. You know. You can see it. Just... tell me."

That draws her up short. She doesn't look back at him, but she does tilt her head to the side. When she speaks, her voice is calm and emotionless again.

"If you fight back, you'll kill at least fifteen people. You might be able to escape. If you don't fight back, a rookie will be the first to find you. A ferret. He will panic. He will shoot you, and you will die."

She walks out the hole.

Chady stares. Just like that, Mancer is gone. The eagle's breathing is heavy, his eyes very wide. He's shaking, and looking around desperately for something, anything that will help him escape.

He goes very still as he hears footsteps coming from down the hallway. They're hesitant. Chady closes his eyes.

He wants to scream.