[Will Chase]

Will knew he’d miscalculated even as he finished speaking. He kept expecting an adult’s maturity out of Kiran, but hers was an altogether more fragile thing. She was cynical yes, but as much as it could often seem otherwise, cynicism and maturity were not the same thing. Where a wiser person would likely have seen through Will’s obfuscation and worked out that he knew quite a bit more than he was letting on, Kiran took his words at face value and so felt betrayed. It was a balancing act, a tightrope that he had to walk, and right now it was swinging in the wind, threatening to throw him off. Every step could go wrong in a thousand different ways, and he couldn’t hope to predict the right moves without going far further than he was willing to, without invading the mind of a child who already had plenty of reasons to fear powerful adults. She stomped into the other room and called it storming, though Will felt a twinge of amusement at her own realisation of how pointless that was in an apartment of less than 700 square feet. Not that it was much help with the near crushing weight of repressed anger, frustration, sympathy and fear, but it was at least there. He needed to give her, and himself, time. Time for her to cool down, and for him to gather his thoughts and plan. Considering that every plan he’d had so far had blown up in his face, he’d need a lot more time than he probably had, but even a little was better than nothing, considering he’d been thinking on his feet for the past few hours, and hadn’t even slept the past 2 nights. It was that exhaustion, a bone deep tiredness that had been setting in for a while but which he was only just allowing himself to become conscious of, that prevented him from realising what Kiran was about to see. When she did in fact see it, the spike of panic that shot through her jump started his brain like an adrenaline rush, one of the many side effects of being deeply invested in another person’s psyche. This was bad. Well, no, this was actually kinda good for him. It was just very, very bad for Kiran. Apocalyptically bad. Not that it wasn’t something Will had seen coming. He hadn’t expected it to happen so soon, but with how she’d been rampaging through people’s lives it was eventually going to catch up with her. Hell, it probably already had in other places which just hadn’t had enough to go on to track her down. But this was San Francisco. It was Will’s home turf, and he knew just how much CCTV and other security measures there were in every goddamn building. She shouldn’t have humiliated her last victim like that. She’d put him in a position where he either told the truth about her, or else went to jail as a paedophile. Of course he’d told everyone. Will needed to run damage control, and fast. “Kiran, Kiran, you have to listen to me.” He looked her in the eyes, though he didn’t dare get closer. With how she was panicking, he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t latch on and drain him dry. “Kiran, I can still help you. I still want to help you.” His voice softened and turned placating, almost pleading. “I know you’re not a bad person Kiran, I know that you want to be a hero.” He pointed a hand at the TV. “But they don’t know what you want to do. They only know what you’ve already done. You hurt that man, and others, but that doesn’t have to be the end of your story. That doesn’t have to be all you’re remembered for. You want to be like Paladin remember? You want to be a hero.” He took a risk, and held out his hand. “Silencer and Paladin, the heroes of San Francisco. This doesn’t have to be the end of that dream. I can help you Kiran. You just have to let me try.” One thing I've learned: you can know anything, it's all there, you just have to find it. Will Chase 698 Words

♛

[Kiran Wagner]

For a moment she sat, frozen, mind filling with worst case scenarios. She'd never imagined something like this could happen. She'd been so sure, so careful... why was life so hard? Why was everything against her?

She heard Will speaking, and glanced at him. For a moment she couldn't understand what he was saying. Then it struck her, and she looked at him, now with hesitant interest. She wouldn't have been receptive to his words a moment before. Then, she had been the powerful one, and interested in keeping that power and reminding him that she had it. (It is often the case that those who have lacked power cling to it most tightly and use it most terribly when at last it comes to them.) But now the calculation had changed. No longer was she the powerful one; now she was at the mercy of forces larger then she could handle. Not even her ability could prevent the police from catching her.

Seamlessly, her mind changed modes. She went from stubborn to ready to get help almost in an instant. She saw no contradiction between these two states; her actions, to her, had always been about making herself safe. No, about making herself feel safe. She told herself that she chained Will to stay safe, but the truth was that it had as much to do with how it made her feel as it did to how likely Will was to hurt her. Her preparations, careful and slightly mad as they were, had all been to that same end- that feeling of safety, and safety particularly in power.

Now in a moment all that had been torn away, and she was left drifting and again searching for that feeling of safety. Will held it out to her. She snatched at it, like a starving man after bread, and he went from adversary to ally. Because that was the best way to feel safe, after the television. She didn't even notice that he was making use of things he must have seen in her mind- in that moment, Will was telling her what she wanted to hear, and she didn't stop to examine what he said critically.

She hesitated a second longer. Her facial expression had changed, the anger in it replaced by fear, and something softer. Perhaps it showed the extent to which she had been playing a game before, a girl trying to turn the uncertainties of her world into certainties by her own strength. Whatever it was, when she spoke again her tone was quieter, more subdued.

“Okay,” she said. “What should I do?”

Will Chase

[Will Chase]

The sudden shift in Kiran’s personality almost caught Will completely off guard. Oh, he had seen the mental signs, and was well aware of how fragile she was, but the sudden change to her behaviour was still surprising. To go from standoffish and proud to a seemingly meek suppliant, asking for help and advice from someone whom she had refused to listen to earlier. The mental shift, while something he had been slightly more prepared for, was altogether more concerning, and Will felt a swell of anger in his chest at what had been done to Kiran. To destroy a child as she had been; if he ever met the man who’d done it Will wasn’t sure he’d be able to resist the temptation to return the favour, force him to feel what Kiran had felt in the aftermath of that nightmare. But anger, no matter how righteous, would be of no help to him now. He took a breath, paused for a moment, and spoke. “First, I’m going to need my phone. I have some people I can talk to who can help us.” He paused again, contemplating. Dom would probably be the best choice - Will had never really moved in high society, and had little personal experience with lawyers beyond the standard police encounters, but Dom was an ex-CEO and highly influential in the Hero Program. If the man didn’t have multiple famous lawyers on speed dial Will would be surprised. “There’s something you have to understand. You can’t run from this. If you try, even with my help it’ll only end badly. Either you’ll be caught, and imprisoned, or you’ll be found by someone unsavoury and pressured into criminal activities. Either way, you’ll never achieve your dream.” “You want to be a hero, and to do that we need to work through the system.” She didn’t of course, not necessarily, and Will was acutely aware of his own hypocrisy in insisting on it. He hadn’t joined the Program himself after all, and yet had been operating in at least a somewhat heroic manner for the past few years. However, while Will had little enough trust in himself, he had even less faith that Kiran would be able to avoid the temptation of using her power irresponsibly when she had already become used to doing so. No, she needed to be in a position where there was an overseer, someone or something watching over her to make sure she didn’t fall back on old habits. One thing I've learned: you can know anything, it's all there, you just have to find it. Will Chase 421 Words

♛

[Kiran Wagner]

Kiran was listening to Will, and part of her hated herself for it. Will was, from her perspective, part of the enemy- part of the nebulous group of adult figures who felt like they should be the ones running her life. Even the way he spoke- like a therapist or counselor trying to console her- grated on her like sandpaper. Part of her would have preferred he snidely comment about the situation she had gotten herself in; that would have been straightforward. (Of course, if that had happened, she might have snapped back and tried to punish him for speaking roughly. The grass is always greener, etc.) She could almost feel the chains tightening on her as he talked of the system. She hated that word. It conjured up images of bunk rooms in group homes and tired-faced social workers who never listened to her. She would never admit that Will had a point in saying she should go back there, even if she knew full well that he did. Image was important to her. Maybe the most important thing. She could endure almost anything if she was allowed to present herself as strong and powerful while doing it. That was what running away provided, more than anything. Power. Independence. How could she ever go back? Will's suggested path had only a hint of that: the promised recognition at the end of it, the promised Hero status.

Yet what Will dangled before her was a powerful lure, for all that. Not every adult in Kiran's life had hurt her, even if she acted like it at times. There had been kind and caring ones, ones that she had mostly spurned. Strong people didn't need care or help. Yet there was a part of her- never fully extinguished, that oh so desperately longed for it. That part of her was touched by Will's words, and it was the counterpoint to her frustration at the idea of becoming involved in some “system”. The truth- in some deep part of her that she never showed, that she turned away from whenever she could, yet could never entirely put out of her mind- was that living on her own was tiring. Even with her power, it was impossible to completely rest. It was a constant war with her newest captive, trying to stay one step ahead so her control never shook ever for a second. It was exhausting. It was all enough that she neither lashed out nor agreed immediately, only stared at Will for a long while.

Finally she said, “I don't wanna share a room with anybody.”

She immediately felt stupid for saying it. He must think she was an idiot. Yet that was the image his talk of the system brought to her mind, those temporary, impersonal rooms she had spent so much of her life in and so hated. For Kiran, it was the best way she knew, without admitting weakness, that she wanted- needed- things to be different this time. She needed something besides the impersonal hand of the system.

She needed to be loved, though she would never admit it and perhaps didn't even realize it.

She stared at him again, arms crossed in front of her, each hand working back and forth around the opposite elbow. She looked at him, then away. In a flat voice without real threat behind it she said, “If this is a trick I'll make you nail your own feet to the floor.”

Will Chase

[Will Chase]

Hope is a powerful thing. Hope can help people to withstand unimaginable horrors. Hope is the spark that lights the darkness. Hope is why people keep fighting. Hope is daring to dream of something better. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can deceive, can make a person think that there is something better. Can make one believe in the best of people who mean them harm. Will hadn’t felt hope in a long time. Not pure hope. The tiny flame, battered and beset on all sides, that refused to go out. He felt it now, if only second hand. It was a little staggering. A little humbling. A lot terrifying. Kiran was balanced on a knife edge, and he’d just held out his arm. Previously, she’d stayed upright mostly by sheer stubbornness, kept from slipping mostly by an ironclad denial of the truth of her actions. Now, he was supporting her. If she so much as thought he had betrayed her, even for an instant, that would come crumbling down, and he doubted her earlier denial would return. No. For better or worse, he had just tied Kiran’s recovery to his own actions. Considering that Will was a cynic of the highest order, whose lack of faith in the world was matched only by his lack of faith in himself, that was probably a bad idea. Scratch that, it was definitely a bad idea. Still, the deed was done. He’d just have to hope. He smiled at Kiran. “I hate sharing rooms too. Always have. I’ve never needed much space, but I hate sharing what space I do have. My mom tells me it’s the reason I’m still single.” He kept the smile, even as she threatened grievous bodily harm. “I am at your mercy.” He tugged lightly at the chain still wrapped around his ankle. “Speaking of, I hope it’s not too much to ask for you to let me stretch my legs a bit. I think better when I can pace.” One thing I've learned: you can know anything, it's all there, you just have to find it. Will Chase 339 Words

♛

[Kiran Wagner]

And with that, it was more or less done. All that was left was the posturing, satisfying the part of Kiran that really, really, didn't want to be seen to back down, because if you backed down in front of an adult you'd never win anything again in your life. At least that was how she saw it. But the most important part of the battle, as far as Kiran's mind went, was done, and won. The practicalities still needed to be worked out, and Kiran had only the vaguest idea of what they would be. But that was for the future.

She wasn't entirely unmoved by Will's bit of empathy regarding rooming situations. She didn't really show anything, of course. But it was a connection, however tenuous, and it eased her mind, just a little. He motioned at the chain, and she stared at him for another moment, face serious. “It's like a trade, isn't it,” she said. “You do something for me, I do something for you...” She took the key out of her pocket, looked at it. He was right, she thought. She was in control. As long as she was awake she could take control with a thought. She tossed the key to Will, then crossed her arms again.

“All right,” she said. “What now?” She was more open then she had been, more receptive. She didn't intend to ruin this by being stubborn... at least not right away.

Will Chase

[Will Chase]

Quid pro quo. Push and pull. Give a little, and be given a little in return. Will was thankful that this was something Kiran already knew. Had he been a less… observant man he might have suspected otherwise, considering how she’d treated him thus far, and given what he knew of the people she’d encountered before. But he wasn’t. Will knew that Kiran was better than she had otherwise demonstrated. He knew it. At least, he hoped he did, and in some tiny part of his soul begged that it would hold true through whatever might come. He caught the key in one hand, considered it for one second, then tossed it aside to land with a clatter on the table. “You could call it a trade,” he said, nodding. That was certainly one way of seeing the world. The trade might not always be in goods or in services, but some people would never believe in true selflessness. The return might be ephemeral, but even Alice could be said to trade in pride. A mercantile way to look at the world, and a cynical one, but not one Will was unfamiliar with. Had he not had the power he did, he might have subscribed to it himself. But there were good people out there. He’d seen them; it was the reason he was still capable of hope. He ran a hand over his forehead and thought. “Now, I need to make some phone calls. I said I would help you, and I will, which means I’m going to need to talk to some people with greater reach than me. I still have a few friends in the SFPD, I can talk to them and get the police off your trail for a little while, or at least slow them down long enough for us to put your case together. I have contacts with the Hero Program too, and a few lawyers who owe me favours for services rendered.” Will looked at her seriously. “This isn’t going to be easy or quick Kiran, but we can make this better. I promise you.” Will had never been the best at keeping promises. He’d promised his mom he’d stay out of trouble, and that had never lasted long. But this was one he intended to stick by, come hell or high water. One thing I've learned: you can know anything, it's all there, you just have to find it. Will Chase 396 Words

♛

[Kiran Wagner]

Kiran was far from the most trusting person. She was coming to realize, though, that if she wanted to achieve her dream, she didn't have any other choice. When Will described what came next, she felt a tremor of uncertainty, of worry. Institutions and bureaucracy frightened her, and the mention of the SFPD made her skin prickle. She was aware that she had done some things that could be construed as wrong. She didn't know if it was technically illegally to mind control somebody for cash, but she didn't mean to find out.

Kiran's mindset on her own wrongdoing was... complicated. On the one hand, she told herself that it wasn't wrong, and she had a hundred excuses about why it wasn't. On the other hand, she felt at least a little guilty about it, and was probably will to admit as much, eventually. What she really wanted to avoid was any sort of punishment. Kiran would gladly admit to as much wrongdoing as anyone wanted, provided that she avoided any sort of negative consequences as a result. If negative consequences were on the table, well, she wasn't going to admit anything.

Control. So much was about control for her. About being the captain of her own fate, the lodestar of her own destiny. Her default way of treating others was as tools, instruments to get what she wanted. But there was the beginning of something else in her now, an atrophied sense of being willing to trust Will... at least for now. She couldn't force her way to what she wanted, so she'd go forward carefully, ready to pull back as soon as she could. Not the best mindset for a hero, perhaps, but Kiran had never considered that.

Her eyes narrowed a bit when Will mentioned the SCPD. “What do you need the cops for?” Her voice wasn't completely suspicious, but it did have a hint of her old tricks in it. She made no move to reassert her power, however. This was part of the deal after all. His talk about working through the system had given her an inkling of the answer... she just needed to hear a reassurance that he wasn't out to get her from his own lips.

Will Chase

[Will Chase]

Kiran’s desperate need for control was probably going to get both of them killed. Will was smart enough to recognise that. Not smart enough to run for the hills as he probably should have, but smart enough to work out what it was that was going to end up with both of them in prison for the rest of their natural lives. Then again, Will had never let common sense and the threat of serious danger prevent him from doing the right thing, even at the cost of life, limb, and the ability to sleep peacefully. If he’d had that level of good judgement, he would have lived a very different life. He might’ve done law instead of criminal justice, like his professor had told him to, and even now be living the high life as a high powered lawyer. He certainly wouldn’t have wasted 4 extra years on a PhD in Law Enforcement only to go to Police Academy. He’d probably have turned a blind eye, and even now be stuck in a job he had grown to hate, surrounded by men and women whose cowardice he despised. No. He could never have been that man. Will was a man who could never let something go. Could never turn a blind eye, could never leave it alone. It had cost him a great deal, and would likely cost him more before the end. But he wouldn’t change that for the world. And after all, it wasn’t like he could stop now. He was in too deep, he’d made too many promises, both to Kiran and to himself. If she was the captain of her fate, then he’d be there to go down with the ship. Of course, that would likely mean he’d have to start explaining the concept of consequences for her actions to Kiran, which did not look to be too promising a topic. Will was determined to keep her out of prison, and pretty confident in his chances of doing so as well, but completely consequence free was another matter entirely. It would just be a matter of framing it as so. Still, that was a conversation for another time. “In a city like this there’s a camera on every street corner, CCTV in every building. Just getting here we walked past hundreds of people, and while most of them either won’t have noticed us or else will have forgotten us within the hour, there’ll be a handful who’ll remember. The SFPD can be slow, but there are still some decent detectives on the force, and if one of them gets the case it won’t take them long to track us here. Especially if it’s someone who knew me before - this wouldn’t exactly be the first time I’ve gotten myself caught up in something I shouldn’t have, and there are more than a few who know both that I have an office here, and that I’m just the kind of person to take you in, willingly or otherwise.” Will knew he’d taken on something of a lecturing tone, and he also knew it wasn’t the best idea. But he was making it a point to be straight with Kiran; if any of this was going to work, she had to believe him when he told her things, and the best way to do that was to be clear in his thought processes. “I need to make some calls to find out who has the case. I still have friends, and favours to call in. If it’s someone I know, I can get them to hang back for a while, give us time to work out a proper plan for handling this. If we’re constantly moving around to stay ahead of them, it’s more likely that we’ll end up doing something stupid and getting ourselves caught before we have the chance to frame you in a positive light.” One thing I've learned: you can know anything, it's all there, you just have to find it. Will Chase 654 Words

♛