“That’s nonsense of course,” he said. “It—”
Then he stopped. Because his voice echoed outside the building, projected into the city. He glanced at the radio and saw it was on. He gave her a dry look.
“I think,” he continued, “you are seriously ash-sick, young woman. Please, let us help you.”
Then he reached over and flipped off the radio.
Damn.
“Clever,” he said to her. “But what do you think would happen if those in the Community knew the truth? They’re a bunch of cowed civilians. They’ve been imprisoned here for seven years, never knowing the truth. Never caring to know it. You really think they’d help you?”
Marasi winced. So much for that plan.
The guard remained frozen in place between them. Eventually he’d realize he hadn’t caught her, and would drop his bubble. But that could take time, inside one of those. She knew how that felt.
“Entrone,” she said, “you don’t have to go through with this.”
“With what, exactly?” he said.
“You’re going to open a portal to let Autonomy’s army begin an invasion of our world. I know the plan.”
He grunted, then slumped forward further. He was still slime — the way he’d casually ordered the execution of those captives had proved it — but he was also obviously burdened by events. Perhaps she could shake his conviction.
“Why?” she asked, genuinely curious. “You know they’re here not to rule, but destroy. Lay waste.”
“Because if I don’t,” he said, “she’ll send them anyway — and then I’ll be one of the ones who gets killed. We can’t fight them. They’ll annihilate our forces.”
“Will they?” Marasi said. “From what I hear, Autonomy is frightened of us. Worried we’ll outpace her people technologically. If she could destroy us easily, she’d have done it already, right?”
“It takes special circumstances to create one of these portals,” he said. “Even for her. Can’t just be anywhere, or anytime.” He turned, looking over his shoulder. “The timing gave us a deadline.”
Rusts. That room behind him … that was where the portal would open, wasn’t it? She’d assumed there would be some kind of gateway, but it was the ground that was glowing. Rusts … maybe he hadn’t wanted a big mansion out of pride. Maybe they’d built it here to hide the fact that the portal, whatever it was, would appear here.
“The location…” he said, turning back. “I think it’s because of those people, oddly. Such a large collection of Metalborn. And we were required to bring in a strange power, a glowing light. That’s part of the key.”
“But—”
“Are you a Survivorist, constable?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Then you know our prime tenet,” he said, looking up and meeting her eyes. “The one we’re taught from childhood?”
“Survive,” she whispered.
He nodded.
“Not like this,” she said. “Not at the expense of others. Kelsier didn’t give up without a fight. He didn’t simply go with what the Lord Ruler demanded. He taught us to survive despite obstacles. Not to let ourselves be slowly crushed so we could gain a minute or two of extra breath.”
“Interpret it how you wish, constable,” Entrone said, rubbing his brow. “I think these troops will come even if Telsin is successful … to help oversee us, in this new world. One where we serve Autonomy.”
“That’s an excuse,” Marasi said. “Worse, it’s cowardice. You’re the mayor of this city. Your duty is to the people, Entrone.”
He laughed, standing up. “You can’t possibly be that idealistic.”
She blushed.
Was she?
Yes, she was. And proud of it.
I have to find a way to close that portal, she thought, looking through the bubble of slowed time toward the room with the light. Again she thought it seemed familiar. White, with a mother-of-pearl sheen. Yes. It was like the pure Investiture from Moonlight’s jars. The floor had been dug out, then filled up with the stuff, making a kind of pool in a recessed portion of the ground.
“A great deal of power in one place…” she said. Allik always said that you weren’t supposed to store too much harmonium in one place, or “strange things happen, yah?” He didn’t know what those things were. But Marasi swore she could make out a warping of the air in that room. That liquid was somehow powering the portal.
Entrone had stepped up to the faintly visible barrier of the slowness bubble. It was smaller than the ones Marasi made, closer to the size of Wayne’s bubbles. Entrone shook his head at the trapped guard.
“You’re like him, if I recall,” Entrone said, walking to the side. “A Pulser — capable of making bubbles of slowed time.”
Marasi didn’t respond. Entrone strolled sideways, near the wall separating the radio room from the kitchen, where she couldn’t see him through the doorway anymore. The bubble filled most of the radio room, but there were some portions at the edges that weren’t touched by it. His voice continued a moment later.
“Do you ever feel,” he said, “embarrassed by your useless power, constable? I know your sister is an embarrassment to your father. But at least he acknowledged her.”
He had done his research; a few years back, that barb might have bothered her. Now Marasi recognized it for what it was — an attempt to put her off balance. She focused on the glowing pool. The surface was beginning to ripple. Was there another way into the–
At that moment, Entrone ripped through the wall itself, circumventing the slowness bubble. Rusts! He’d sounded so worn out that Marasi had nearly discounted him. Now he crashed through the wood, shattering beams like they were twigs.
Marasi shot him in the chest, but the wounds healed immediately. Faster than Wayne’s did. He gave her a grim smile.
Marasi unloaded the entire magazine into him, and did little more than poke a few holes in his suit. He grabbed her by the front of her shirt and lifted her. Dust from the drywall streamed from his clothing as he pulled her right up to his face. Still in his grip, Marasi hit him on the side of the head with the butt of her pistol. He just grinned. She did manage to knock his hat off though.
“I’m a god now, little bastard,” he said to her. “What strength do you have to stand against me? Your Allomancy? Pathetic. Your weapons? Laughable. You have no power to threaten me.”
He turned and threw her out the window with a crash, back into the main cavern.
It hurt. A sharp blinding pain all across her body. Cuts and slices, followed by a dizzying hit to her head and shoulder as she slowed and stopped in a heap. Through teary eyes, through the pain, she saw his shape — shadowy to her vision — climbing out the window after her.
“The army is coming,” he said, his voice growing softer as he stalked forward, his nice coat disheveled. “I imagined I’d be some grand lord, ruling in a new world. But I guess … I guess … we all have to do what we must to survive.”
He reached for her. She tried to pull back, noting another group of shapes stepping out from the shadows outside the building. Had Armal and the others followed her up to the mansion?
She had hoped they would overhear Entrone admitting the truth via the radio. But perhaps … perhaps they’d been close enough, in their curiosity, to hear him speak now …
Please, please have heard him.
Gave Entrone loomed over her.
“You’re right about my powers,” Marasi said with a cough. “I’ve found uses for them. But they aren’t where my strength comes from. Not really.”
He grabbed her.