Wasting Time
"Before we start, do you have any questions?" Margaret asked. The five of them were sitting around the table with the map on it, Gerald keeping his hand close to one of the daggers embedded in the wood and paper.
"What's with the name?" Fate asked. It was really bugging him. It sounded like something created with purpose, not a name chosen by a group of hidden freedom fighters, or whatever these people were.
"This organization was named after my sister, who gave her life for the cause. She stayed behind to cover our retreat as we fled an Advanced planet whose fusion reactor we rigged to blow."
"Hm." 'Pretty similar to what we did when we met Cait. Makes it plausible, at least,' Fate thought. "And what exactly am I getting out of this?"
"You get to help topple the multiverse's hidden enemy, saving trillions upon trillions of people from the fate of slavery, becoming lab rats, specimens to study, experiments to exploit."
"Uh-huh. I was already doing that, so that's not all that valuable."
Gerald laughed, a singular, snobby "HA!"
"You? You've been working to dismantle the biggest threat existence has ever known?"
"Ah, fair point. It's definitely in my best interest to lie to a bunch of random psychopathic Exemplars and an Avatar that are currently doing nothing but waste my time." Fate gave Gerald a contempt-filled stare. "Did you catch the sarcasm, or do I need to spell that out for you too?"
"You little—" Gerald wrenched the dagger closest to him out of the table and lunged across, stabbing at Fate.
The latter felt the air around him turn solid as if frozen. He probably wouldn't be able to move. Fate simply used Null, letting the fool fall through him and tumble to the floor. He kept the 'forget me' bit of the power locked up, not wanting to reveal all of his cards just yet.
He stood, the embarrassing tumble Gerald took just now disrupting his concentration and freeing Fate from whatever had locked him in place. Fate stopped the flow of Divine Energy to his own Manifestation, kicking the knife away and placing his boot on Gerald's back as the man was struggling to stand.
He pushed down, forcing the man flat. Behind him, he heard the scraping of metal against metal, glancing back to find that Hank had pulled a large maul out of a nearby barrel. Robna just sat there fidgeting, and Margaret was staring at him with indifference.
He focused on Margaret. "Are you all going to continue wasting my time, or do you have an actual point you want to convey?"
"Gerald's always been a bit quick to anger," Robna said. "Fate was just defending himself, Hank."
"I'll put my weapon up when he gets his foot off my brother," Hank rumbled.
Fate raised an eyebrow at that. Hank's face, coupled with his bald head and green eyes, looked nothing like the scrawny kid he was currently holding down with little effort.
"Both of you, stop it. There's no reason we can't be civil." Margaret said commandingly.
Fate lifted his foot, letting Gerald scramble out from under him and rush to a stand. Hank dropped the maul back in the barrel he got it from, slumping back into his seat with a loud THWUMP. Gerald likewise took his seat, glaring at Fate the whole while.
"How many of there are you?" asked Margaret. "You can't have been working against the Advanced alone."
"Six," Fate replied.
"And what," Margaret said with amusement, "was the most the six of you have ever accomplished in your endeavors?"
Fate leaned back, smiling. "Before that, how many of there were you on that planet your sister died on?"
Margaret frowned, displeasure flashing through her eyes. "Hundreds."
Fate's smile grew wider. "We did it with five."
"BULLSHIT," Gerald yelled, and even Hank slammed the table with his fist, anger coloring his expression.
Fate laughed. "Oh, seems you've forgotten already. I have no reason to lie to you sorry 'freedom fighters' or whatever you call yourselves. Granted, we were just normal Prodigies back then, but so were the dozens of other Awakened we slaughtered."
He leaned forward, the smile suddenly gone from his face and his contact lenses revealing his true eye color. "I could single-handedly kill all four of you in less than a minute. I'm only still sitting here, letting you waste my time, because you said you had a way to kill that bastard, that Advanced-sympathizing, bearded moron. So, I suggest you cut to the chase, or you'll be lucky if I leave here with your lives intact."
"I'd like to see you try, you krathma-livered fuck—" Gerald stuttered to a stop, the hand on his shoulder like a vice. He looked to the owner of the hand, Margaret giving him a look that said to shut the fuck up.
She released her death grip. "Very well, if that is how you wish to proceed. We have searched for over five years for a way to kill Avatar Gregovich, ever since we learned of his allegiance and his Manifestation's abilities. Through extensive research, we have found a similar occurrence in the libraries of the Philosophers for the Preservation of Knowledge.
"Another Embodiment millions of years ago had an ability almost exactly like Gregovich's, with the same Guilt Manifestation as well. The book we found on the topic detailed the man's entire life, along with how it ended."
"Which is?" Fate probed.
"The Divine Energy-infused aura of an Avatar with the Sloth Manifestation rendered the man's power moot, as the Sloth Avatar was simply able to, to quote the book, 'become too lazy to miss.' This entry told us that it is possible to counteract his ability with an Avatar of appropriate Manifestation. Theoretically, any of the Vice Manifestations should be capable of doing the job. The problem is finding an Avatar with the right Manifestation that's also willing to help."
Fate smiled. "See, was that so hard? Finally, you've told me something useful."
Margaret ignored the jab, though Fate noticed her eyebrow twitch ever so slightly.
"Do you know someone that fits this description?" She asked.
Robna spoke up. "Um, that's… actually why I brought him here. He's got the Negativity Manifestation."
Fate frowned in confusion as Hank, Gerald, and Margaret stiffened, the former two placing their hands on daggers in the table.
"And how do you know this?" Margaret asked. She appeared calm, but the sweat trickling down her brow told otherwise.
"My tag," Robna said. "That's good though, isn't it? It means he can help us."
"Or kill us and everyone else on the planet," Gerald muttered.
"He's just an Exemplar, Gerald," Margaret scolded, although her eyes never left Fate. "Mister Fate, do we have your cooperation? I believe together, we can finally kill Avatar Gregovich."
Fate sighed. "Why not? Don't have anything better to do."
The others visibly calmed at that, although Robna looked hurt.
"Then let's discuss business," Margaret said.