Issue 1 Downtime

Croyden groaned as he awoke in his cell in Paladin's base. The first thing he did was try to force the door open with his powers, which didn't work. His hand shot up to his neck.

"An inhibitor... Fuck..."

"Still feeling in control of the situation?" Came the voice from outside the cell.

The room was actually somewhat spacious despite being without much in the name of amenities. No bed. Toilet and sink were of extremely solid construction. Walls were gun-metal gray. In the center of the room was a drain.

"Come to gloat?"

"What use would that be?"

"No, I'm afraid that you're going to do all the talking here."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Have we already entered the phase where you swear up and down you'll die rather than tell what you know?"

"I'm dead either way."

"And if I said I'm not interested in killing you?"

"I'd say you're lying."

"Am I? If I kill you, there really isn't much of a chance for you to regret your decision, is there?"

"So let's shift the options. If you tell me what you know, the General is going to have one of your associates hunt you down and kill you messily."

"If you don't tell me what you know, you will live and regret every second of it, externally a drooling vegetable but internally living out your own personal hell. Who knows how long that will last? Days? Weeks? Months? Will you even be able to tell, in that state?"

He thought for a moment.

"If I were to cooperate, what then?"

"Why, I'd imagine we'd work out a deal, wouldn't we?"

"After all, your gracious host there seems to be fairly good at pantsing your fellow soldiers, doesn't he? If the long arm of the General were all it's cracked up to be, wouldn't Paladin be a handful of ash by now?"

"So I suppose that leaves you with two possibilities, doesn't it? Either Paladin's been working for the General all along, and this has all been a test..."

"...or there are places even the General can't reach."

"As ironic as the former would be, the General is not omniscient. Harbinger is closer to it. Paladin is lucky she doesn't consider him a threat."

"Yes, let's talk about Harbinger then. How likely do you think it would be that she'd be sent after you?"

"The glorious Herald coming down from her throne to go after little old me?" he asked, laughing at the idea.

"Then I'd say that increases your survivability to almost mutinous levels, wouldn't you agree?"

"That it does," he agreed.

"So with the big stick out there off the table, what do you think the odds of you avoiding the big stick in here are?"

"High. As long as I keep myself useful... or perhaps simply benign."

"Let's start with honest, shall we?"

"Well in that case... what do you want to know?"

"The sphinx, what happened to her?"

"Not dead but not exactly alive either. She's.... well she's Harbinger's new plaything."

"And you've seen this, or you just assume it?"

"I've not seen it myself no, as much as I'd like to see that bitch suffer."

"Not high up enough in the organization to know what goes on there, are you?"

"Not high enough to get into Harbinger's quarters or stupid enough to snoop."

"Who does have that kind of authority?"

"The General," Paladin said the door whirring and clicking before swinging open. Paladin stood full armored in the entrance to the rest of the safe house.

"Is this really what I'm going to be labelled a traitor for? The hotel janitor could answer these questions."

"That eager to move on to bigger things? Maybe I just don't think you've got any of the dangerous secrets."

"Think what you want."

"The path to redemption is not always an easy one," Paladin said, "I can certainly force him down the path."

"Or you can tell us about the Generals research facility beneath the hotel, and what his plans are for the research that I've heard has just recently borne fruit."

"A stable trans-dimensional wormhole. As for his plan? Officially it's to provide for unlimited expansion and resource gathering, but personally I think it's just a way off this doomed rock."

"I have my doubts that the General would simply abandon his previous conquests. Unless Chaos is starting to regain ground even without Balor," Paladin said, "Tell us a bit more about the research facility. Defenses, staff, other research projects."

He told them all he knew, including the test subjects Apophis had provided.

"You were working with Apophis? When did he change sides?" Paladin asked.

"He didn't. He simply saw a chance to make money off us."

Paladin was quiet for a moment as he contemplated something.

"Why was the General contracting through Apophis to get test subjects? It is easily within his power to get the for himself," Paladin said, "Or was he providing you with something other than chattel?"