The next day, Moonstar returned with a USB containing the information I was after. "How did you get it?" I demanded.
"I moved out shortly after I turned sixteen," she told me. "One of my housemates is a hacker, so when I told him I needed to get into very private files, he got to work straightaway. Father has no idea the information's been stolen."
I took a deep breath. Moonstar really was on my side; I could tell. "Thank you," I said. "Dismissed, but stay here at the house today. I'm sure your roommates won't mind?"
"They know I've got interests outside the house," Moonstar assured me. "So long as they know I'm safe, that's all they really care about."
I had to smile at that. "Get on with you," I said, and Moonstar smiled back as she excused herself.
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By mid afternoon, I'd gone through the entire list of Gilbert's backers, and I was horrified. Almost all of them had pledged to me when I first started my rise to power, but Gilbert had somehow sweet-talked them away from my side. I sat back, tapping my lips in furious thought. I had no idea how he'd managed to sway them to his side, but since I'd approached them as Eva Destruction and not as Llian Rhees, he'd seen it as his duty to lull them away from me so I couldn't corrupt them.
It was time to call those debts due.
I stood and snapped my fingers. Loud Sword came into the office moments later. "Plan?"
"Plan," I said, smiling at his astuteness. "I think it's time Llian Rhees returned from her long sojourn in Essex. I'll have to work fast; tell my operatives in Derbyshire it's time to open the house. I'm going to host several parties, and I have the exact kind of clientele in mind."
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As December stole in, I returned to my mansion in Derbyshire, and before long, the invitations began flowing out. I'd compiled a list of all the backers who'd pledged to me, and around the end of the first week, the RSVPs came flowing back in. I had to smile. They had no clue who they'd be dealing with, and I never forgot a pledge once it was made.
And I was going to get to the bottom of just what Gilbert had promised them to get them to join his cause and not mine.
Sly's death still rankled, after all.
Two weeks after the last RSVP had been received, the guests began arriving. I noted names and faces as they passed through the receiving line, their admiring glances at the gold and silver and crystal which surrounded them at every turn. I smiled at the admiring murmurs as they greeted me, Candycane, Crazy Coyote, Loud Sword, and Moonstar, who I'd decided should be included in the upper echelons of my council. This was also another test, but I suspected she'd be more than capable of passing with flying colours.
"How do you do it?" Barba Tiercelin whispered. One of my first supporters, she was done up very nicely in green and gold. But her plain brown hair and freckled complexion did not do her opulence any favours. In fact, her plain face ruined the effect, in my opinion. Certainly, her job as a legal secretary didn't allow her to afford such a beautiful dress, and I wondered idly who her backer was. I suspected Gilbert or one of his associates was keeping her in good money, and it occurred to me to wonder if her husband, Yoann had any idea. I filed the tidbit away for later consideration.
"I just have well-placed connections," I said airily. "In fact, I'm keen to see your social connections, my dear. I'd be fascinated to know some of your friends."
Barba brightened. "It would be my pleasure," she said, and I hid a smile at the eagerness which lit up her face.
One by one, the guests filed through into the foyer, to be greeted by servants, and a few well-placed henchmen. Dressed to the nines, my plants had been told to ply the guests with all sorts of flattery and blandishments. I had more than enough funds to cover such promises, but more to the point, I needed them lured away from Gilbert's side.
I wanted him on his knees for what his heroes had done to Sly. And to my sister. And countless other friends and family who'd fallen victim to his misguided brand of justice over the years.
The night wore on, and, one by one, each guest agreed to throw their support behind me. Barba in particular lit up at the chance to leave her job behind for a much cushier position in St Albans. It would get her away from Essex, and out from whoever's thumb she was currently pressed under. Yoann likewise agreed to the move, which led me to believe he was halfway convinced his wife was sowing her attentions elsewhere.
Finally, as midnight approached, I gathered my guests in the dining room. "You all know why you're here," I said, once silence had been achieved. "Fifteen years ago, you all pledged to support Eva Destruction. But then Mister Impossible Sentinel lured you away with powerful words and potent promises."
Faces went white, and more than one guest sucked in a shocked breath.
I snapped my fingers, and in a burst of white light, I stood before them in my costume. "I'm calling your original pledges due," I said coldly. "Fifteen years is too long a gap for your services to remain unrendered, but now is the time to collect. And not one of you will leave until I can be sure you fully intend to render your long overdue service."
Barba went ashen, as did several others. I gave them no quarter. "Seven years ago, Mister Impossible Sentinel sentenced my sister, Freeze Frame, to exile, after she was exposed as a double agent. His brother, The Long Shade, didn't agree with this, and had my sister executed the night before she was to journey across the Channel to start her new life."
Someone gasped in horror. "Mister Impossible Sentinel sentenced The Long Shade to death for what he'd done," I said. "But you'll notice, he's made no attempt to apologise in person, even though he's had several opportunities to do so."
In fact, radio silence had been all I'd received after extending an invitation for parley days after the charity event in which Gilbert had confessed to his brother's crime. "I stand due for this apology," I said. "And I'll reveal that Mister Impossible Sentinel had confessed this to me months ago, not knowing who I was. I advised him 'on behalf' of Eva Destruction, to make a formal, public apology. Hence the invitation I sent him as Eva to parley. He has not returned acknowlegement of my invitation, and therefore, I hold him in highest contempt."
I had them now. "More to the subject," I added. I then told of the disatrous attempt on Sky's father's hidden vault, and how he'd been killed in cold blood by Absolute Zero, a man with no scruples. "He didn't arraign Sly for trial," I concluded. "Instead, he killed him, leaving him to die in the same manner as my sister did, frozen to death from the inside out."
"No hero would do that!" Barba screamed.
Her shout brought a cacophony of arguments, counter-arguments, and so on, as each guest recalled incidents on the part of Gilbert's so-called "heroes". "I call you to account for failing me!" I shouted into the din, reducing the chaos to silence once more. "Join your efforts to mine, and I promise, we will rebuild this world into a better place! Therefore, I ask you pledge yourselves to me! If you wish to join my ranks, Candycane will take your names and arrange for your testing to see that your hearts are true! If you pass and make it to the rank of Pilgrim, you will asked to help spread the word!"
"If anyone doesn't want to join, but still wants to help out," Candycane added, "give your names to Loud Sword, and he can spread the word to others. He can tell them the truth, and let them know they have a chance to right the imbalance."
Shouts became cheers, and I knew I'd won them. "Who's with me?" I shouted.
Their assent was a buffeting wave of sound, and I smiled as the cheering resumed.
Mister Impossible Sentinel was going to be in for a very nasty time.
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