Thornwatch: Liberty Vs

==Vs The Hidden Killer==
It was rare for Thornwatch to be summoned to the mortal world. As Captain Liberty climbed the steps to the Boston Public Library, he couldn't think what kind of "battles you can't fight alone" he was walking into. A gust of cold air brushed into him as he followed the calling through the large front doors leading inside the building. Bracing himself for the worst, Liberty adjusted his Torch. To mortals it appeared as a normal motorcycle glove, allowing Liberty a breath of relief when no one paid him any mind. Rubbing his hands together and adjusting his jacket, Liberty took time to unfurl the scarf around his neck as he began to warm up.
The library was as it should be: quiet. No feuding warlords. No insurmountable beasts. It was rare for Thornwatch to receive false alarms, and few were foolish enough to purposely to summon the Warriors of the Thorns under false pretenses.
Liberty scowled. "Scarecrows.... I should have known the Ministry would stoop to-"
A distantly familiar female voice broke the silence of the library, her forced French accent obviously fake and unpracticed. "Oh! Oh! Mon capitan!"
Liberty whipped around to see an old acquaintance bouncing up and down in her seat at a computerr cubicle, waving her arm around to draw his attention. Liberty's Mindfinder honed in on her wrist; she had tied the briars summoning him around her skin as a bracelet.
"K-Keri!? Keri Urban?" Liberty smiled and walked to her.
She dropped her poor French facade. "It's about time you got her, captain. Do you have any idea how many butterflies it took to make sure my timing would be right so you would be the Thornwatch officer to come to my aid." Keri stood to embrace him. She stood a lean 6'10", almost a foot taller than him.
"Keri, I don't thnk that's what they mean when they say 'Butterfly Effect'." Liberty held in a snicker.
"Listen, I am so happy to see you, but I know quite a bit more than you about tugging on the strings of Fate. I'll keep my butterflies and you can continue believing cause and effect are things made of physics and chemistry. Now darling, I didn't call you here to talk about things you don't understand; I called you here to talk about things I don't understand!"
Sitting back down, Keri slumped over, propping her head up with one arm. "Now you know technology and I do not mix, so I need you to show me how to manhandle this bizarre construct!" Her free hand flippantly motioned towards the computer screen, her smile turned to a frown.
"Why me, Keri? You know I'm not well-adjusted to these things either!"
"That's precisely why I need you! You're like me, pet. We're both misplaced! It's just mine is an exile of space and yours of time. You went through what I go through now, so you can see this through my eyes!" Keri smiled again, her hand absent-mindedly pulling the scarf off Liberty's neck, dropping it onto his snow-covered boots.
"Wait, wait a second. This is Boston, Keri" Liberty pulled up a chair to sit at her flank, "What are you doing here? Last I saw you, you were settling down in sunny Malibu Beach!" Keri apparently hadn't changed her wardrobe since her move: her outfit was as gaudy as it was revealing, hardly suitable to a Boston winter.
"Aww, you remembered! You were so helpful with moving me into that fine chateau!"
Liberty reminesced of the shabby, one room apartment he carried her one box of possessions up the three flights of stairs to. Keri was a woman beyond comprehension, which included her love-it-or-hate-it opinions about everything, which always came across as random and without reason.
Keri looked down at the keyboard and meekly continued her tale, "They found out, handsome, about everything... They know I used to wear the mantle of Gentry, about my banishment and my attempts to blend in with them, to start over. They called me such horrible names, Liberty. They've taken to one of them: The Hidden Killer. I remember a time when such a title would invigorate me! But alas, poor Keri Urban has enough troubles connecting with the aliens of this strange world without the name Hidden Killer getting in the way... So I left and here I am, but this time they won't have suspicions because of my inability to use their trivial trinkets, because this time you've have helped me master them, you darling you!" Keri's speech roused both of their fighting spirits.
"Alright, Keri, let's get started! Hit,err, press the button down there on that box, the one with the word 'power' on it."
"But I'm trying to get the bright pictures onto this pane of glass up here. I don't care about some drab white box on the floor!"
"No, Keri, that box down there is what makes the screen, as they call it, up here light up like a movie theater."
"Ah! I get it! It's a puzzle box! And here I was thinking mortals knew not of tricks and riddles. How delightful!" She clapped her hands, her eyes bright with joy.
"Alright, now press 'Control, Alternative, and Delete' at the same time." Liberty showed his Fae companion the position she'd have to put her fingers in, which was far too abstract for her to understand.
"Put my fingers on there for me, pplleeaasse!! .....Ooh! You always smell so lovely, Captain, like a rose plucked from my manse's garden!"
Liberty shuddered to think what her definition of 'manse' would be in the middle of sprawling Boston.
"Alright, Keri, just press down and the computer should start up."
She smiled, bearing her far-too-perfect teeth as she pushed down hard on the keys, but her Fae nature made electricity arc from the keyboard's circuits. The inside of the processor sparked and the monitor's entrails set aflame, the smoke seeping out the top of the screen.
"Is, is.... am I computing?"
Liberty silently picked his scarf off the floor, brushing it for dust and wrapping it around his neck before grabbing Keri by the wrist, pulling the dumbstruck Gentry out of the library before its staff caught wind of their burning computer.
"Keri, perhaps a quick drive to Amish country would help us find you a home."
==Vs The Hag of Henslowe Park==
Liberty stared into his tea, a smile forming on his reflection. Relaxed in the small wooden chair, Liberty sat with one leg crossed.
"It's been too long since I've sat down like this. Thank you for inviting me over again, even if it was largely work-related."
Liberty's courteous demeanor and honest grin warmed the heart of his host, an old crone wrapped in rags and tattered clothing. Turning to face him, she called for her favored servant to start mopping the kitchen where they sat.
"We're getting older, us two, you know, though I have been old for far longer. I'm just happy you were the officer to take my call. It's just so good to have a chance to spend time with old friends."
"That servant of yours was more violent than your usual stock. Don't worry, he'll be punished for attacking you and then it will be right back to work for the rest of his agreed-upon term." Liberty sighed, though his smile did not fade.
Sitting down and daintly picking up her own teacup, the Hag of Henslowe Park looked at the greyed Thornwatch captain, puzzled. "Liberty, you seem tired! And not the physical kind. Could the constant wandering finally be taking its toll?"
Liberty returned his gaze to his reflection in his cup. "No... and yes. It's just... well the other day I rescued this ensorcelled toddler from a sahagin warlord in the San Diego Zoo. Everything was business as normal, until I returned him to his satyr father. The dad picked him up and smiled, looking straight into the eyes of his child and said 'Come on, little guy, let's get you home to your mother.' In that moment I realized something. I haven't had a home since Faerie, and even that was an island inside a snow-globe where I was alone, excluding mindless shades trying to kill me. I've spend the last eighty mortal years, and you know it was far longer than that, never laying my head down anyplace permanent. The closest thing to family I have is the boys back at Bravo, but they all have families of their own-"
The sound of a dropped urn shattering on the floor was heard the next room over. The Hag stood. "Hold that thought, dearie, I have some points I want to make..." The Hag scurried to her living room where her second servant had been dusting.
Exploding into a torrent of insults and criticisms, the old woman demeaned the servant as he cleaned up his mess.
"Why don't you join me in here, Captain; I want to keep an eye on this one."
The serf snarled at Liberty when he came into the room, bringing the two teacups with him. Joining the Hag on her patchwork couch, Liberty raised a brow at the bizarre display of a random hotel room on her television set.
"Nevermind the T.V., you were saying?"
Liberty snapped his eyes back to his host. "I don't know, Midge, I guess I'm ready to settle down, or at least try settling down. I can't stop this Desire for something permanent. I've never had anything like that before."
The Hag was struck with inspiration. "What about that lovely Mz. Deep you used to be so fond of? You know I saw her the other day at my commencement ceremony from the Ministry. She was the one reporting on my 'Living Legend' award. She's such a nice young woman. Why can't you settle down with her? A little birdie told me if you're ever in Austin..."
Liberty blushed, the green oxidation on his face taking on a darker hue. "Raspberry!? Midge, I don't know. It's been years since Paris and that was the last time I talked to her! Besides, she's young and ambitious; she doesn't need some old vet like me. Plus, I Desire a home, not a wife! Priorities take precedence!"
"Listen Liberty, I understand, but what is the point of a home if you don't fill it with people you care about?"
Category:Fiction