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When I was training new Rogues, I generally didn't have time to try and pry into Mister Impossible Sentinel's affairs. The city therefore had quite a peaceful period whilst I tested the Rogues in every way. It soon became apparent that only Lonely Starlight was likely to succeed. Broken Oak was a close second, and I had a feeling it would be a tight contest between the two of them when they became Junior Apprentices.
Sure enough, Broken Oak and Lonely Starlight were the only two to pass the Void of Perfection, and as summer waned, I gave them the chance to choose their new names. Lonely Starlight chose the name Moonstar, while Broken Oak chose the name Sly.
At the end of November, as winter approached, Moonstar and Sly were deemed ready to undertake their first missions. Both had conquered their training in leaps and bounds, and I was very pleased with the both of them. But now came their true test.
"Sly, your father is manager of one of the most prominent banks in London," I told him that cold frosty morning at the end of November. "He carries the keys to one of the richest vaults. Get those keys."
Sly nodded. "As you wish," he said, before bowing and departing.
I turned to Moonstar. "Your father is head of the Aura League," I said. "And he's also a thrifty accountant. Find out where he gets his funds from, and bring me your report."
"I'll do it," Moonstar said. But as she prepared to leave, I held up a hand. "Why?"
Moonstar paused, her hand on the door. "He wants me to become a hero," she said. "He wants me to follow in his footsteps, so he can feel like he hasn't failed as a father, when he failed as a husband. I don't want to be a hero. I want to be a villain. The world needs more people like us."
The world needs us, my mother had said, the day she sent me into training. I rubbed my arms to dispel the involuntary gooseflesh. "Why?" I asked again. 217Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPSZkc5FbF
"Father needs a shock to the system, to remind him not everyone follows his ideals," Moonstar said, speaking slowly as if she were just coming up with the answer now. "He got it with Mother, but then Thunderclap killed her, and he had to kill Thunderclap. I think he was beginning to see the world wasn't as black and white as he imagined it, but then it all got messed up when Mother died. I want to remind him again, and get it to stick this time. The world doesn't need more heroes. It needs more villains, to balance out the good. And good isn't always nice."
I thought of my first husband, Black Bat, and shivered. He'd proven out Moonstar's claim; you didn't always have to be nice just because you worked for the side of all that was true and good in the world. And you didn't always have to be evil just because you stood in opposition to all that was true and good in the world.
And sometimes you had to stand in opposition, to right the imbalance, and to bring a bit of harmony to the world.
I understood Moonstar a lot better now. "Will you still do as I ask?"
She nodded. "I'm yours, heart and soul to serve," she said, bowing formally.
I nodded. I could tell I had her loyalty now and always. "Then go and do as I ask," I told her. "Don't let him sway you."
Moonstar gave me a small smile. "He won't even know it's me," she said confidently, and I raised an eyebrow as she left. That sort of cockiness usually tripped up even the best recruits, but I had the feeling Moonstar wasn't just blowing smoke.
She really would get the information I needed, and she'd make sure Gilbert didn't get even the tiniest whiff of who had compromised his innermost secrets.
The day was starting to look a hell of a lot more interesting.
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That night, I got the bad news that Sly had fallen prey to the old adage of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd gotten the keys to his father's vault, but Switcher, known for her ability to switch into and out of people's bodies, had been on duty that night, using the body of a guard while her own recovered from a nasty affray with Heart Stealer, my second most deadly assassin after Candycane.
The Switcher had spotted sly, recognised him as potential Bad News, and had shot him on the spot. He'd survived, but then Absolute Zero had come along, tipped off by the affray, and when he'd seen Sly, he'd used his skills to freeze the poor bugger solid from the inside out, just as The Long Shade, Gilbert's brother, had done to Alys seven years ago. It was suspected Absolute Zero had copied The Long Shade's tactics, and I gritted my teeth in anger. Sly's father, Dark Flame, would likely never know it was his own son who'd fallen tonight, but the fallout was going to be spectacular.
And as usual, Mister Impossible Sentinel would hear of it, and applaud the act, never mind that Aboslute Zero had done to Sly what The Long Shade had done to my sister. The two acts would like remain divorced in his mind, and I felt the anger rise up even more strongly.
Not even an extended swim could calm my nerves, and, at the end of my tether, I submerged myself and screamed, until I ran out of air.
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Sly's death had been sometihng so easily preventable, and that heroes, people who were supposed to uphold all that was right and good in the world, had done the deed was too much. I screamed again, frustration, pain and anger combining in a suffocating tide that almost killed me. But survival instinct forced me back to the surface, where I leaned on the terracota walkway and cried myself dry.
Moonstar had said good didn't necessarily equal deceny.217Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrntdaRfSIK
Nor had it tonight.217Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKzHSxs74M
Sly's death was the last straw, and as I pulled myself out of the pool, I prayed Moonstar would get the information I needed.
Once I had it in hand, I was going to turn those backers to my cause, and watch as Mister Impossible Sentinel's empire crumbled around him.
I no longer cared for revenge for my sister's death.
The stakes were now much more personal.
Mister Impossible Sentinel was going to have to start watching his back.
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