The Web of the Weaver Book III: Financial Matters Chapter VI

I woke up in a chair with a man looming over me.

Pointing a gun at me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid—

“Don’t move!” he said, and suddenly my body went rigid.

Definitely a master. My bugs were still in the vents, away from the room. I hadn’t wanted to risk bringing them all. After all, if anyone had come up, I would have had time to gather them.

Stupid. I started bringing them, but he had only to pull the trigger. My armor was good, but it wasn’t Tinkertech, and didn’t cover all of me.

Also, what if his commands had to be actively countermanded to cease? I could end up paralyzed for the rest of my life.

But… I tried something.

“Hello.” I can talk, but not move. All masters had limits. He’d given me one command, a very specific command, that controlled my body. Because he didn’t want me to move.

But I could talk.

Was he also limited to a single command? That might explain why he’d never used it. Or I might be adding another mistake to the generous tally I’d built up today.

“You—you came in, why? I don’t know you?”

“I am The Investigator.” I looked up at him. He hadn’t removed my mask. Why? “Surely you didn’t expect people would just ignore the conditions surrounding the explosion.”

“You—how did you…” his gun was waving around the room. “I didn’t want them to—I just told the inspector that there was no problem when they came around…”

He was sweating.

I clearly wasn’t facing Jack Slash… but getting shot by a panicked man was about as bad. But he was panicked, and…

Guilty.

Maybe talking would work. But I wasn’t just restricted to talking. My bugs were moving through the vents, and the phone in my pocket had some of my bugs covering it.

Emily Piggot had given me a number. The bugs typed it and sent a text:

AM CURRENTLY BEING HELD BY A HUMAN MASTER. ACHILLES G. LANDON, ASSOCIATED WITH TEACHER. POSSIBLE ABILITY TO GIVE SINGLE COMMANDS. IN APARTMENT. UNABLE TO RESPOND. HAS SOME TINKERTECH BOOBY TRAPS.

Hopefully Director Piggot checked her texts, it would be unfor—

UNDERSTOOD. PROTECTORATE FORCES ON THEIR WAY. ETA 4 MINUTES.

“You’re upset,” I said. My swarm was gathering but the problem is the room was small. Even if he wasn’t able to see me, or was panicking, the chance of hitting me… was far too good. To say nothing of Orb Weaver sweeping in to save me would be far too convenient.

“What do you know about it!” he hissed, and the gun was waving around. My limbs were still frozen.

“I know what it’s like to be trapped,” I told him. “You knew Teacher… What was he like? I’ve been interested in him.” All the books I’d studied said that it was harder to murder someone who you shared a connection with—and I wanted to learn more.

“He was a great man!” Achillies said. He glanced over at the pictures. “I was having problems in college. My school… My high school wasn’t good. I was about to lose my scholarship, but He saw my potential… he invited me to his house, let me go with him.”

“And that’s when you got your power—“

“It wasn’t some kind of purchase! I wasn’t like those other parasites!” he shouted, and suddenly the gun was pointed right at my face.

Okay, it was harder to murder someone you shared a connection with, not impossible.

“No,” I said. “Of course not. You’ve done hard things, not the easy thing…”

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I did. He gave me a gift. Told me someone as smart as I was deserved a silver tongue. I can make people understand…”

“Or freeze.”

“No, I learned that on my own. It’s hard, I can’t use it much, but, but, then they PUT HIM AWAY! THEY FRAMED HIM!”  his scream rattled the windows.

“And you were left alone,” I said. “But your power kept you safe.”

“Yes, I did what he asked. He never ordered, always just asked, he was good like that, a true Teacher. He understood, you see, he understood what people needed and that someday, we might have a chance to pay him back. He told me, me! ‘Achilles, you’re not like the others, My Boy, and small-minded people might one day leave me without any options other than my friends! And I count you as one of my friends!’ That was the day before I graduated. We talked deep into the night!”

“I found you,” I said. “So… maybe I can help you with the favor? Because something’s gone wrong.”

“He… he was supposed to call me, to tell me where the money I was holding for him would go. But he didn’t. He can’t. They put him there, and he can’t tell me. I’ve been gathering money for him, to help him, to give to him, but he… he has to ask me for it. That’s what he told me, he has to ask me for it…”

Below, my bugs let me know, PRT troopers were coming up, Armsmaster with him—I could pick out his armor. My bugs detected knocks on doors, and if I couldn’t interpret the words, the actions were clear—they were evacuating the floor, as well as the one… Wait, why was Armsmaster on the floor below? Had they gotten the wrong address?”

“He expected to be sent to a regular prison by his enemies,” I said. “But not the Birdcage. So… you’ve been working all this time, but he can’t tell you what to do with it.”

“No, I just have to wait. I didn’t mean to kill those people. It was a mistake, but Teacher, he can make it better. I just have to keep the money and wait…” He was sweating. “But I can’t… I can’t let you tell anyone. I’m sorry.”

My bugs were ready but the problem was, I couldn’t be certain he wouldn’t just shoot through them. Some mastered individuals could ignore pain.

So… I would hit him on another point, take a chance, and hoped that my plan worked. It would be nice if Armsmaster hadn’t selected the wrong damned floor.

“You know,” I said. “I didn’t expect you to be so… pathetic.” It wasn’t hard to come up with the tone—I just had to remember Emma.

“What?” he said.

“I knew Teacher was an idiot, but to expect, well anything from you… And you can’t even tell me to shut up. That’s how bad you are, you can’t even say—“

“SHUT UP!” I nearly bit the tip of my tongue off as my jaw snapped shut, but suddenly I could move.

First gamble, worked—he could only give one command at a time.

And he hadn’t tied me up. I shot off of the chair, head-butting him before bringing my knee up into his crotch. He bent over, and I grabbed his gun, holding it as he pulled the trigger and shots filled the room. He opened his mouth, and some of my bugs flew into it. The rest of my horde was coming through as he grabbed me with his free hand, with a hysterical scream, literally picked me up, and slammed me down onto the coffee table so hard it broke. I struggled, and only had to wait another second for my bu—

And the floor gave way from under us as something cut a perfect circle in it, and we fell before some kind of taser struck Achilles from the side, causing him to stiffen, but not hurting me. How was that—

Oh, it was Armsmaster. So, tinkertech taser. Right. A PRT trooper pulled me to the side as Achilles was covered with containment foam, his screams muffled.

I still couldn’t talk. But it didn’t matter as Armsmaster turned to me.

“Remain silent, or you will be foamed. Investigator, under section 21 of PRT Master Guidelines, you are considered possibly compromised. While you are not under criminal arrest, we will detain you until you can be checked. We are authorized to use force to carry this out.

I just nodded as a hood was fitted over me, and my hands were cuffed.

I suppose the good news was that Armsmaster hadn’t been incompetent. I bet that the booby trap comment had left him reluctant to actually enter the apartment.

I also had a feeling I was going to be late getting home.

What a fiasco.