Deadly Premonition (Una/Cassius)

[jarahamee]

The bronze plate on the door read : 1021 C. Lucidus. Exactly where she was directed to go.

As Una knocked, the door swung open, seemingly of its own accord.

“Step in, seat yourself if it is comfortable.”

The office Una was invited into was narrow but richly decorated. Across from her was a huge wooden desk, and behind it was a great window looking out onto the city. On either side of the entry door were bookshelves lined with a mixture of books and what seemed to be strange and sometimes ugly statues, knives, an antiquated pistol, and several different kinds of mask on stands.

A large, scarred man sat at the desk, waiting, apparently patiently, for her to come seat herself in front of him. His dark eyes followed her as she entered, alert and keen as a predatory animal’s, though his body language carried no threat. He appeared to be wearing a sort of suit-like uniform, and his gloved hands were knitted together.

There were several plush chairs facing opposite his desk, one of which seemed to have the skin of a very large, dark-furred creature on it. The flap of skin that had once been its head was pointed in his direction, as if also attending the meeting.

The nametag on his desk read: Gold Badge Captain Cassius Lucidus

The desk itself had three organizers on it, teeming with paperwork. There were three photos on the desk as well. Agent Lucidus looked exactly the same in each photo but the photos appeared to be from different time periods. One appeared to be with another WDSA personnel, and was probably from the 80's or early 90's. The two of them appeared close, and Cassius’ hand was on the other man’s shoulder. There was an even older photo of Cassius posed holding a young child (his child?) and a photo that appeared to be much older than either of those where Cassius and a woman stood holding large rifles in foreign military uniforms. Black and white. Not a modern camera.

[hadopelagic]

As she stood outside the door, Una compared the symbols L-u-c-i-d-u-s with her texts with Ru. It was the enforcement officer's name. His office. There was no doorbell, so she rapped her knuckles on the wood.

Knock, knock, knock.

When the door swung open, she let out a surprised, "Oh!" Was it magic? Or was it automatic, like the doors in the grocery store near her house? Humans were so clever with their technology, although she wasn't certain that Lucidus was human. It was hard to know such things at the WDSA.

The man's office was a cornucopia of books and curios, a little museum she wanted to explore. For a moment, Una simply looked around, taking in the masks, weapons, and hardcovers with titles she didn't understand. Then, she noticed the pictures on his desk. His friends and family?

Slowly, Una walked across the office and sat in the plush chair in front of the man's desk. As this was a serious meeting, Una wore a pair of black formal pants with a white button-up shirt. She'd even fastened her braided hair in a bun.

"Mister Lus-i-dus?" she asked, pronouncing his name the same way as the text-to-speech app on her phone. "I'm Una. Mister Ru says you're looking in to my case."

The photos drew her eyes again. With a soft smile, she pointed at the child in a teddy bear sweater. He and Lucidus looked very different, but humans often adopted children, or started families with people who were not close biological relatives. "Is he your son? What a cute young man!" Well, most humans were cute to Una, even the adults, but they usually didn't like to hear it.

[jarahamee]

“Oh, very close to native pronunciation. They used to say “LUC-A-DUCE,” but now our English speakers say “LUCE-A-DUSE. Yes. You can call me Agent Lucidus. I am here because you relayed some concerning information regarding a potentially hazardous individual.”

The agent’s expression remained intent and alert, though the grotesque scar that extended the side of his mouth gave it the appearance of a wry half-smile. Other scars, some lighter in tone than his skin were visible, one bisecting his upper lip, another disappearing into his greying hairline. He seemed unbothered by the mispronunciation and picked a leather-covered pen out of cup to his right, scribbling it idly on the small stack of papers. When he was satisfied by its ink production, he looked up at Una, inviting her to speak with an inclination of his head.

Instead she noticed his photo. Interesting.

Usually only coworkers were interested in his photos, which encouraged part of him to put up even more. Maybe he’d bring his paintings some day.

“That is my son, David, when he was young, though now he is a grown man.”

He reached into one of the drawers of his desk to bring out a small unframed photo of a rather ordinary-looking middle-aged man, who seemed about the same age as Cassius. He wore glasses and a collared shirt, and was holding what seemed to be an award placard. He held it up briefly, aware that his guest probably had limited interest in his family life.

He placed the photograph back in its drawer, and squared his shoulders to hear her story. He wasn’t familiar with this kind of marine Super, though he had a brief brush with one of the more standard Sirens before.

[hadopelagic]

"Luce-a-duse," Una repeated, wondering why the pronunciation had changed at all. When she saw the photo of Adult David, she realized that Agent Lucidus aged very slowly, compared to his son. He might be an immortal; he didn't look vampiric, but there were other varieties of long-lived supers.

Una once heard a story about a demigod with mortal children. It was a curious tale, and had a good moral about the joy of creation vs the grief of death. But the agent probably didn't have time to hear it.

"Are they your children, too?" she asked, pointing to the other photos. One had a woman, the other had a man. The concept of parents interested Una, who enjoyed watching sitcoms about mothers, fathers, and their rowdy spawn. 

[jarahamee]

Cassius seemed taken off-guard by her question, but why should he? His business-like expression relaxed into an actual, admittedly lopsided smile. She might have been right about the vampire thing, considering the sharpness of his teeth, but he didn’t seem to have the same glamour as the two vampires she had met. He turned each photo over, as if to remind himself of which photo was which, before turning them back over and towards Una.

He pointed first to the black and white photo of the woman carrying the rifle. Both she and Cassius were wearing what must have been either a brown or green uniform, both decorated with various medals and ranks. The woman’s hair was short, light-colored and tightly curled underneath her cap and goggles. She was by no means tall, perhaps a foot shorter than the much larger man and relatively more slight;

“This is my…Beloved, Anya. We met as soldiers on the battlefield. She was a tank commander and gunwoman, as was I.”

The old soldier could have gone on in so many ways but did not. She didn’t need to hear the rest of the story. Who they fought against. How Anya’s husband had been killed by the Nazis, and how their own forces have abandoned her. It was not important.

His expression was fond as he turned to the second photo;

“Ah, this was me, when I was starting out here. I was the Captain of our unit. This is… my dear friend, Rhys Hemming, who is now the Director of our Department, when she was just a member of our fireteam.”

Cassius’ smile became a proud one. He had done well to ensure that his friend had found success, and Rhys had inspired him to change. He did not need to be a soldier anymore. He could leave that, and all the death and loss behind him, and finally move forward.

He picked up the archaic flip phone from the table and pressed a button with a loud beep, thumbing through messages;

“Now, it says here that you had an individual you were concerned over?”

[hadopelagic]

A soldier: that was good. It meant Agent Lucidus had experience with danger. Una was afraid that anyone who pursued her case would eventually have to fight a very difficult foe.

"Yes, he is an abyssal mer. It is difficult for my kind to live among humans. The differences between the deep ocean and land are profound; but the Individual of Concern is educated in your customs, like me. I met him during transformation lessons. Ah. Let me give you all the details."

And so UNA relayed the events of this story: www.deviantart.com/hadal-zone/art/July-Lottery-Entry-Europa-922005865

TLDR: The Individual of Concern thinks he hears a song from another galaxy, decides to drown the world, is clearly unstable, murders two mer and nearly Una, and then flees to land, where he may cause more mayhem.

As she spoke, she drank lots of fresh water provided by Agent Lucidus, since storytelling was very thirsty work. Finally, Una sat back and concluded, "My biggest sister has been asking questions and running an investigation below the surface. She believes that he's recruited other aquatic supers to his cause. Because of that, the Individual of Concern will live near the coast. His body can look like anything, but ... I suspect that he'll spend a lot of time as a handsome or beautiful human, with above-average physical fitness."

She leaned forward, smiling mysteriously. "Well, Agent Lucidus? Can you help? My biggest sister will be offended, but I think the investigation needs more feet on the ground. Literally. Ehe. Right now, I am the only abyssal mer who can spend weeks on land, and I am an anthropologist, not a fighter."

[jarahamee]

Cassius paused here and there in her story, jotting down notes as she spoke. Sometimes, he’d ask her to repeat what she said so that he could catch up as he wrote. Other times, he’d just sit there quietly, head tilted as he telegraphed that he was listening with his body language, pen still in his hand. He’d summarize what she said as well as he could, and perhaps record her later if she would mind giving a testimony.

“Killian.”

He knew as well as anyone that the person he was looking for was unlikely to keep that name, but it still stuck in his mind. The agent made a few more notes on his form, and then looked up, eyeing the abyssal mer.

“I consider this matter of great concern. Whether or not he is actually capable of performing this kind of powerful magic, he is forming what is considered a ‘cult’ with the intent of violence. We should, at the very least, start looking for possible leads.”

‘Near water’ was about as vague a description as one could get, but there were, at least, limited places around Wathais that this person could be in. If he was in the city at all, anyways. It was entirely possible he had gone somewhere nearby, or was in an uninhabited space.

Still, it was somewhere he could begin, and if nothing else, he knew how to carry on an investigation. He’d summon his team, and at the very least, Asher could get some scentwork in. They had another abyssal mer right here to scent.

“Do you have any idea how many people he may have recruited?”

The tall man’s expression was intent and serious, his jaw set, all traces of his previous smiles gone. His dark eyes glittered as they moved from her face to his paper.

“Your story reminds me…”

He reached into a drawer, probably low down in his desk, from how far he bent himself. He pulled something out, and then held it in the center of his gloved hand. A hand that Una would realize was misshapen, with long, crooked fingers.

In the center of his palm sat a tarnished silver locket, carefully made, but very worn, all traces of its polished surface defaced with scratches and nicks.

“The hair was likely that of a beloved. This was one I wore, many years ago when I was a knight.”

[hadopelagic]

It was fascinating to watch Agent Lucidus write; his gloved hand moved with quick precision, like an artist. His fingers were distinctive, compared to average human fingers. Like the rest of him, they showed signs of abuse and damage. A soldier's life must be difficult. She wished that she could reach out and touch them, but he wasn't a friend like August. Una had to be professional.

"The poison he used," Una said, "was very potent. He must have done business with a ... um ... I don't know how to describe them. They are like mermaids, I suppose, with the features of venomous snakes and fish."

Killian could have paid one for a vial of their poison; it didn't necessarily mean a close collaboration. But there was more troubling news.

"My sister spoke to a male harpy. He said an abyssal mer entered his territory, and was accompanied by a cursed man, whatever that means. They were looking for a cave, where dangerous ancients are imprisoned, or so the legend goes. I do not know whether they found the cave, or if it even exists. Our older stories often veer into fantasy."

When Lucidus held out the locket, Una put her elbows on his desk and leaned way forward to witness the delicate metal pendant. Such a precious, intimate possession; she was honored.

"Oh," she whispered, awestruck. "Who inspired your love? Were they a knight, too?"

[jarahamee]

As before, Cassius wrote down these details as seriously as if it had been any ordinary case, without mermaids, magic curses, or the moon Europa. His expression was ever serious, his attention rapt as a hunting hound as he looked down at the third sheet of his paperwork, and then back up at Una.

“I will keep these as possible leads as well. You mean, an underwater cave? We may need more than one team, when they are free.”

After the matter of the mad wizard from another dimension, anything was possible, and there were plenty of human beings here on Earth who were more than happy to watch the world burn. This fellow seemed to think that the abyssal merfolk would be fine living among the seas of an alien planet. He somehow doubted it, given how delicate most of Earth’s life was.

And then came her question.

Cassius was very difficult to surprise. He had lived a very, very long time, and had a wide breadth of experiences. He had come to expect things to happen when he wasn’t really expecting them, and that had made him mostly immune to surprises. It helped that a lot of his life’s experiences were less than dignified, but he had come to think that was just the way it happened to be.

Nothing could have prepared him for what Una had to say;

His eyes became wide, and his mouth became briefly, uncharacteristically slack, which exposed his sharp lower canines. How could he even answer her? Were there deep sea homophobes? Should he worry about being honest with… a mermaid?

“Er… Yes…actually. My Commander.”

Cassius’ voice sounded almost uncertain, shuddering a little, but he continued;

“He was wise, thoughtful and compassionate. He believed we should treat those we invaded with kindness and humanity. After all, they were not our enemies. That inspired my respect.”

His expression softened slightly with the memory. Cassius did not have many great loves in his life, who were not his friends or children, but his Black Dog was one of them. A brave and efficient leader, and one with wisdom and compassion. Rare among men, especially those in power.

[hadopelagic]

"And did he wear your hair in a locket as well?" Una asked, wistfully. "Has anyone?"

She flexed her fingers, resisting the urge to reach for the locket and touch the metal. So precious. A piece of Earth's bright body, a vessel for love's physical expression. Una wanted to praise the strength of the human spirit, but perhaps she should confirm that the descriptor applied to Cassius. "Are you human, Agent Lucidus?"

Abruptly, she stood and walked over to the fur-draped chair, considering. Was the skin a memento, too? Surely not. Humans didn't skin their lovers. They wore fur to keep warm. It must be a rugged cloak. Unless ...

"Or are you a selkie?"

It wasn't a seal skin, but perhaps there were other varieties of selkies on land.

[jarahamee]

Cassius stared back into the middle distance, and shook his head, eyes closed. It wasn’t customary to have women do that with their male lovers, and most of his male lovers were already married. No, it was only him, who never could seem to learn from his mistakes, who carried pieces of them with him for all his immortal life.

“He did not, and neither did the others, but I am always the sentimental one.”

Oh the irony. His expression was wistful. There was something special about each of the men and women he had loved. Each and every one unique as the stars. Some were thoughtful and wise, others were ruthless and efficient, and some were forward-thinking and progressive. Each one beloved to him. He would have done almost anything to keep them alive forever. Almost. The yearning created a near-physical pain in his chest.

But she had more questions, and he didn’t have time to be old;

He nodded at Una’s second question, uncertain why he didn’t expect it. Cassius did not look like a vampire, or a lich, or many other races of immortal being, but he rarely had anyone ask him those sorts of questions directly. While he had his share of alchemical modifications and of course, the help of Beast, he was, for all intents and purposes, a human being.

“Yes. I am. I…discovered a way to prolong my, and only my, life. It does not stop me from aging, but it slows the process.”

Perhaps, if he had the time to become a perfect alchemist, he could make the change minute enough to stop aging, for all practical intends and purposes, but that was no longer something he had an infinite amount of.

As Una stared at the skin, splayed over the back of the chair, she had the discrete sense that its gaping jaws and staring glass eyes carried far more life than they should ever possess, and were watching her back. The longer she looked, the more she could be assured that, as much as the creature might resemble an earthly animal, like a wolf or a bear, it most certainly was neither of those things, but something entirely different. An alien being made of stardust, and all that remained to be seen was its hollow skeleton.

The body here was not dead. At least, not completely. Indeed, the appearance of the visible portion of the skin was white and bloodless, but had the soft, spongy quality of living flesh. The fur that billowed from its neck and back bristled out with the quality of a living creature, and not the mockery of taxidermized animals.

Cassius stayed where he was at his desk, sharing a gaze with the Beast, who was posed to stare directly back at him, face forever transfixed in a silent snarl. His expression was somber, and why wouldn't it be? He was gazing upon his own death. How ironic.

“I am no selkie, but this is my ‘partner’ in casework; Beast. It allows me to change my shape, so that I can find things that are hidden from human eyes, ears and noses. I am hoping to use its help to catch our ‘friend.’”

[hadopelagic]

There was something about the fur that called to Una, as if saying: pet me. She looked at beast inquisitively and then asked, "Can I touch you, Beast?"

From behind his desk, Cassius told her, "It said yes."

That was interesting. They must communicate silently, perhaps telepathically. The same way Una spoke to her sisters and other abyssal mer. Gently, she smoothed her hand over the fur on the back of Beast's head and neck.

"The others," she repeated. He'd lived, and he'd loved, and he'd been heartbroken; that was her great fear in life. She couldn't bear to pursue romance, when the risk of loss was so high. That was short-sighted, perhaps.

"When the world of men was young," she said, "there was a goddess of life. And although she was immortal, her children were humans like any other. For life is precious and fleeting."

Una continued petting Beast softly.

"She rejoiced at the birth of her seven children, and celebrated every milestone in their lives. Watched them grow and start families of their own. Grieved seven times when they died, and felt their absence every day hence.

"And she rejoiced at the birth of her thirty-one grandchildren. Celebrated every milestone. Grieved thirty-one times. Felt their absence every day hence.

"And she rejoiced at the birth of her ninety great-grandchildren. Celebrated every milestone. Grieved ninety times. Felt their absence every day hence.

"And on went the cycle of life and death. And they say that when the weight of her grief overshadows the value of her love, the goddess will vanish. But still, she lives."

Her story told, Una pulled her hand back.

"Would you agree?"

[jarahamee]

Unsurprisingly, the fur did not feel like the dead hides she might have touched in the past. There was a certain warmth, a musky, animal scent to it, and the slightest feeling of oil on her fingers as she ran them through its thick pelt. The underfur was incredibly dense, so dense that it propped up the longer, rougher fur on the neck and back of the beast. As she touched it, she could swear it was…moving, in response, but nothing visible to the naked eye.

Cassius himself listened to her story, his head inclined as it had been before, when she told the tale of her mentor, and Killian, the murderous merfolk. His dark eyes shone with the intensity of his focus, gaze transfixed on her face. While it was not unblinking, his attention was absolute.

“I would agree. I carry all their memories where others have forgotten them. I track their family trees and celebrate their births, I mourn their deaths even though I no longer know the generations that have been born now.”

His expression was distant again. He kept himself too busy to be fully involved in every moment of all of his ‘descendants’ lives, but he still watched them. Visited now and again, a stranger to the generations that had been born now. How would they feel if he told them he was their great-great-great-…sometimes even more great-ancestor?

The scarred man imagined they would not believe him. Beyond that, it would complicate their lives more than necessary.

No, he would just help them now and then, when they might need it, a benevolent stranger, and nothing more.

He caught himself, focusing again as he looked back at Una and Beast, and smiled. The expression was crooked, pulling the right side of his mouth up grotesquely where it would otherwise be gentle. His gaze seemed softer. Emotional?

“I love my life here, but the longer I live, the more sadness I feel. I enjoy this…living in the moment. Watching the changing world. Eating, drinking, socializing, running, hunting… Learning… It is good.”

[hadopelagic]

"Always more to learn," Una agreed, returning to her seat. Again, she looked at Agent Lucidus's shelves. "I wish I could read. They make new books every day." Sometimes, she went to the bookstore just to look at cover art, trying to imagine the contents, so much knowledge on sheets of paper.

For a moment, Una considered sharing another story, this one about the ancients who got bigger and bigger, slower and slower, who now slept in the trenches, their dreams unending.

"How will you find Killian?" Una asked. "I think he will look for songs of power, which are rare and difficult to master without a teacher. I do not know many, myself. Just the song to transform into a human--" She gestured to her very average body. "--and a song to summon storms, which every deep mer learns. And I can entice sleep."

She looked again at Beast.

"But some songs can be dangerous. My sister knows how to wound a person with her scream. My other sister learned how to entice a ship into the rocks. Be careful around Killian and his agents."

[jarahamee]

“Do you want me to find someone who can teach you?”

Cassius’ words were honest ones. She did not have infinite time here, but reading was a boon to those who were capable of it. And there was so much knowledge, should she want it, accessible at the tips of her fingers, in the computer, in the library. A true wealth.

“I can connect you with them.”

He turned his head, cocking it to one side, and then another.

“My method is simple. I am going to look for other beings that smell like you, for all creatures, magical or not, have a distinct sense. Like humans, or werewolves, or vampires. Even though you are in your human disguise, I have no doubt that you still smell like your people.”

The old werewolf was not a hundred percent sure, but he was confident from his successes in the past that it would at least be a starting place.

“I will use this scent to search places along the dock, and send my resources to listen for any signs of cultish activity. I have no doubt he has been speaking on land as well as in water, perhaps recruiting beings besides other Mer-folk here.”

His dark eyes glittered and he offered his gloved hand across the desk to her, sharp face highlighted by the shadows in the room. He seemed confident and unafraid, perhaps even excited. His body language spoke of an alpha predator, and not prey.

“I am not afraid of death, but I will advise caution before we take any actions, I promise you.”