Gus probed at Basileus with his new Telepathy skill. He was tentative at first and unsure it would even work at this distance. As he was about to let the ability go, he got faint shades of emotions, which became more distinct, but flickered from one extreme to another. There were traces of fear, uncertainty and doubt, resolve, anger, pride, all swirling together.
As Gus intensified his focus, he began to get impressions of motives. Under the emotions, there was the strong feeling that Basileus was putting up a brave facade to fool everyone, including his own men. That wasn’t all though, there was a resonance…
And somehow Gus just knew. In a flash, he saw that he would have been just like this guy had things gone differently in his life. As he always imagined they should have, with his mother never disappearing and him getting powers like his older brother. He too would always be searching for ways to make his father proud. And he would never find them.
Gus pulled back out of his probe, shaken. What was that? A chime sounded, but Gus was so struck he didn’t check it.
“Now he begins to see,” Nick said. “You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not smashing it.”
Gus shook his head to clear it. This wasn’t the time for riddles.
Focus! Basileus was hiding something, so he probably didn’t really want to kill Aurora. Or he had no intention of keeping his promise if Gus did hand over the manor. He didn’t want to hurt Aurora; his plan was probably to turn her to his side if he could. That had to be it.
Gus cleared his throat, trying to sound bold. “I am afraid I’ll have to disabuse you of your assumptions. I’m not giving up the manor.” Gus shrugged and put his hands on his hips, awaiting the response. He knew it would push Basileus’ buttons.
“Who do you think you are? That manor is no more yours than it was Methiochos’. My father paid to have it made and sacrificed more than you can imagine to design it and all it contains. You will never be able to utilize its full capabilities. It is wasted on someone like you.” Basileus spat, all composure gone.
Gus could see his balled fists start to spark by his sides. Just a little bit more agitation… “Last I checked, possession was nine-tenths of the law. If I hadn’t done what I have to clear the island and take down the bio-stasis field, you would have gone along without ever having access to the manor. So in my book, you lost ownership when you first lost the manor. You didn’t try to contact me to work something out and now you’re trying to coerce me under duress of harming someone close to me. And you think that makes me want to trust you? I’m not the idiot you seem to think I am. Get bent.” Gus tried to ooze smugness, folding his arms and plastering a huge grin on his face.
“You don’t think I’ll do it, do you? Don’t push me, you won’t like it when I push back,” Basileus said through clenched teeth, veins visible on his reddening forehead as he began to become angrier and angrier. He reached out an arm towards Aurora, as if to emphasize his threat.
“Do whatever you damn well please. You’re going to anyway, regardless of whether I concede or not. There’s a reason people don’t negotiate with terrorists. If you don’t have any morals, what’s left to create a basis of trust that you’ll honor any agreements? If you harm her, what will that leave you as far as negotiating power? Nothing. So shut up and get out of here.”
Basileus became an even deeper shade of red and flung both hands out wide over his head. Energy arced between them, magenta and purple-hued streams connecting his fingertips.
“Ooooh. I’m impressed, fireworks,” Gus hollered back, trying to pack the words with sarcasm.
A sparkling storm of blueish energy built up larger and larger and he flung it at Aurora. She brought her legs up, crunching into a fetal position and there was a large flash as the plasma ball collided with her and the loading arm. When Gus blinked away the photo-bleaching effect of the bright explosion, he saw only a burned rope swinging at the end of a partially melted metal loader arm. Nothing substantial remained to even make a splash in the water below.
“You see now, boy? I will have no mercy with you either.” Basileus panted, winded and drained from the massive expenditure of MP.
Gus stared at the spot where Aurora had hung. No! He looked back and forth at Basileus and the empty loading arm. The smile crawled back on Basileus’ face, his anger gone seeing Gus’ distress.
“Not what you expected, is it?”
That shouldn’t have happened! I read his thoughts! He was bluffing, he had to be. I was sure of it!
“Now let’s discuss your surrender, here and now, boy!” Basileus commanded. “You have worn my patience thin.”
He felt emotionally sucker punched as he looked at the tiny cloud rapidly dispersing over the water. I did this. I pushed him too far. Aurora would have had a chance if I could’ve kept my big mouth shut. Why did I drop my telepathy probe? Would I have sensed him change his mind?
Doubt and questions continued to barrage Gus and he stood there shell-shocked at what to do. The other supers around Basileus took a small step back, uncertain what their volatile leader was going to do next as well.
“Now what?” Gus asked, mostly to himself, not really knowing where things would go from here. He was alone again. His bravado evaporated away as reality sunk in on his situation. He reminded himself that he only had to deal with a couple dozen supers, and that he had managed so far, but the thought gave him no comfort. At
