The night mirrored the ocean; cool, calm and filled with hidden currents.
The tank had been easy to avoid; the Grey-Coats, harder. They’d slipped past the Authority unseen for the second time.
The Ozics proved near impossible to shake. Rich and bored, it would seem, made for a hazardous combination.
Elliot had suggested they raid an Authority-run pharmacy to stock up on some medical supplies.
Both Austin and even Sol had praised his resourcefulness.
Now, a single masked figure blocked their path, holding a stun rod stolen from a Grey-Coat.
The unknown individual removed the mask, revealing a star-shaped Somatic Scar on their forehead. Edith. The lazy Ozic.
The star shone faintly; her stolen staff crackled with blue arcs.
"Oriole… It’s time to come home so I can finally get some sleep," she sighed. Austin noticed the dark bags under her eyes.
Earlier, Sol had picked up a thick branch from a splintered tree toppled by an Authority tank.
Oriole opened her mouth to reply. Nothing came out.
The lawyer lunged at Edith, swinging the branch in a ferocious two-handed blow at her head.
"Whoa!" she yelped, shielding herself from the attack. Wood slammed against metal.
Edith staggered back to avoid another swing. "Just let me take her! Give up already!"
Sol drove the branch into her stomach. Austin could only think about the enforcement of the Scar-Ceiling outside of the Centre weeks ago. It filled him with guilt.
Edith hit the ground gasping for air. Sol wasn’t finished, he swung as if playing golf. There was no ball; just broken teeth and a rich, lazy woman spitting blood on the street.
"Never again," he murmured.
"Nev’ again…wha’?" Edith managed to rasp.
"Give up," Sol snarled. "Never again!"
He brought the branch down on her head again and again, his voice rising as he screamed his mantra into the night.
Oriole cowered behind Austin, her face ashen, her whole body trembling.
"W-what happened to him?" She whispered.
Edith had gone still. Elliot shot the lawyer a look of pure disgust.
"I don't know. Let's just get to the pharmacy." Austin said quietly.
Sol tossed the bloody stick onto the shattered remains of the Ozic. Sweat dripped from him in heavy drops, pattering onto the tarmac.
The group walked to the pharmacy in silence.
Sol wasn't himself. His usual self-important look had been warped into shame.
The Authority pharmacy did not stock medicine. The shelves held Tranq, dissociatives, numbing agents, and worse.
Austin immediately noticed something he hadn’t seen in the Centre: a small white bottle labelled 2mg Paxcycline.
"What's this?" he asked Elliot.
Elliot took one look and grunted. "Pax. Strong mind-bender. Folks say ya can connect with anyone on it."
An idea hit Austin. A bad one.
"What if… no, that’s stupid", he muttered, shaking his head.
"Nah. We gotta do somethin’ ’bout Sharky Sol before he goes nuts. What d’ya got in mind?" Elliot asked.
"Me and our dubious lawyer friend over there will take Pax. I’ll Pull him and figure out what’s eating him," Austin said, sounding less convinced with each word.
“That… might actually work," Elliot said, grinning. "Oi, Sol!" he called.
"What?" came the grumbled reply.
"Got somethin' to make ya feel better. Make the hard edges nice and soft."
Sol didn’t get the chance to answer. Elliot pinned him and shoved the Pax into his mouth. Sol swallowed reflexively.
"Wha-" he spluttered.
Austin took the pill. Anxiety and tension melted away as the Pax surged through him. Vibrant colours swam across his vision as he focused on Pulling.
Everything collapsed into a dizzying vortex of light, sound, and colour as he tumbled through Sol’s mind.
Abruptly, the tumbling stopped. Austin landed lightly on his feet in a courtroom lined with tasteful oak panelling. Thick red carpets absorbed every footstep.
Austin felt compelled to sit, so he did. Slowly, he scanned his surroundings.
To his left, trembling inside the wooden dock, stood a lone teenager with long, unwashed black hair and an ill-fitting suit.
The chamber was dominated by a vast presence. Its golden radiance filled the room. The brightness, too painful to face directly, obscured its true appearance.
When the being spoke, the entire room quaked beneath its deep, resonant voice.
“It is time for the trial of Solaris Blake," it intoned. "The Court of the Self is now in session.”
Austin realised there was no jury. No public. No press. Only judgment.
Then it struck him: Sol was the defendant.
"Solaris Blake, you stand accused of embezzlement, fratricide, abuse of controlled substances, and manslaughter," the luminous being declared.
The cogs in Austin’s mind clicked into place: this being was judge, prosecutor, and Sol’s Shadow all in one. Self-hatred elevated to godly status.
Young Sol stammered, "I—I stole money from the firm, but I had no choice. My b-brother needed antipsychotics that the pharmacy wouldn’t provide. I had to buy them on the black market!"
"The Court calls Valerius Blake to the witness stand," the light pronounced.
To Austin's utter horror, Senior Surgeon Valerius materialised beside the dock, wearing his usual white garb.
"The drugs prescribed for my delusions were indeed in short supply. That does not change what he did: he stole from clients and chose himself when he was caught,’ Valerius said, his tone lacking neither anger nor injustice.
"And what was the result?" the voice demanded.
‘I turned myself in for Purification. Submission became salvation; my pain burned away with my soul. Solaris sacrificed me out of selfishness."
The light thundered at Sol: "Fratricide! Betrayal of kin! What argument remains? What defence?"
Austin hesitated. "Why did he have to steal? Surely there was another option," he asked Valerius
Now it was the turn of the Surgeon to pause. "He was... desperate," he said, "Our parents were gone but their debts remained. The underworld offered him money to shield the scum from the Law. He stole from crooks to buy my medicine."
"The Court accepts your reasoning, Austin Middle. The defendant is cleared of embezzlement and fratricide."
Valerius faded from the stand, but not before turning toward Austin for a fleeting moment. The grey eyes, wet and expressive, seemed human at last.
"The Court calls Elliot."
The dealer appeared, younger than in the outside world but far more bitter.
"You supplied the defendant with
Paxcycline and Tranq. Why?" the voice demanded.
"Guilt," Elliot replied, "He'd come to me shaking, sayin' he couldn't face the shame that day. Stopped comin' eventually."
"A coward's escape," The voice thundered.
Austin understood his role now: he was the defence.
"Elliot, if he was such a coward, why did he stop taking it?"
Elliot had a note of pride in his voice when he explained, "He said he had to stay sharp, that he'd protect someone both sides were huntin' for."
"The Court withdraws the charge of substance abuse. It now calls Oriole Seele and Edith."
Oriole appeared. Unlike any witness before her, she stared directly into the golden light, her expression one of mild, unshaken curiosity.
Edith, by contrast, was incandescent with rage. She was badly mangled by the savage beating Sol had given her.
"That’s the one! He clobbered me to death and left me to rot!" she seethed, glaring at Sol.
The teenage version of the lawyer sank deeper into his chair. "It...it was self-defence."
"The Ozic want me for one reason," Oriole countered, "for use me as a weapon against the Authority." Austin blinked; she hadn't stuttered once.
The golden light seemed confused, cycling between a harsh, uncomfortable glare and a dim flicker.
Eventually, it settled at a moderate brightness.
"The defendant is acquitted of manslaughter. I accept him."
The light lowered and descended onto the teenager, vanishing the moment it touched him.
~
The courtroom dissolved, and the world snapped back into focus. For Austin, everything felt strangely lighter.
"I feel dizzy," Sol said to a potted plant.
"So? What’d ya find?" Elliot asked.
"A third way," Austin muttered.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.