A Torrent of Madness [Limen]

If one ever needed to find Limen, one need look no further than the current largest explosion. Destructive detonations notwithstanding, the slums had once again become Limen’s haunting grounds. Quiet roads, free rent, and friendly conversation with people of all sorts and gradients of violent tendencies? What wasn’t to like?

She had been taking a nice nighttime rooftop stroll on her way to find something to do when something to do appeared in a once quiet alleyway below her. Limen stopped at the edge of the building and, keeping to the shadows, leaned down to get a look at the scene below. Five guys and their five friends with no fries but a couple of weapons to recoup the loss were surrounding one fellow with no weapons but a pretty nice looking sack. She’d caught whispers of a guy giving out free food for a chat that matched fellow outmatched down below to a t. She could see where this was going.

She was getting ready to attempt to scare them off with her patented Limen intimidation techniques, but it seemed she was a tad too late and them a good bit unlucky. Mr. Outmatched didn’t seem the slightest bit perturbed by his predicament; if anything, he seemed happy. Limen considered her interest piqued. She also considered these ten thugs to be in some serious trouble.

Instead of getting involved, Limen squatted down on the roof overhanging the scene. She had no reason to attempt to save these thugs and their lack of self preservation from someone who had death in his eye and confidence to make due in his posture.

She drew her bow over her shoulder and readied an undrawn arrow just in case, though. If this was a bluff, it was a damn good one, but one likely to result in the tooth loss of an undeserving party. No need to intervene yet, but she would be ready.

Now seemed about the time for things to get weird. Limen squinted at the frozen thugs below to make sure she wasn’t missing out on a new dance craze or something, but before she could discern more than this was not usual thug behavior, a familiar non-face appeared before her.

She tried to match his grin. “Oh hey, it’s my stalker. That explains the weird game of freeze tag and,” she looked past him at the scene below, “death.”

She straightened up to a stand, letting the bow and shaft of the undrawn arrow rest in her left hand. “Neither. Here to watch the show, actually.” She nodded at her bow. “This was for just in case the worker fellow was actually a worker fellow who had no luck or sense of tone and I needed to do a bit of friendly civ saving. Seems I’m getting better at spotting Waldo out of a crowd of unpowereds and you at, well, lessening the crowd.”

She pulled the arrow up with her right and dropped it back in its place in her quiver. No reason for a fight, no reason for a weapon. She looked again at what remained of the thugs below, making a body count and trying to piece together what happened. Ten, one dead by car, the others by various weapons - a detective would say the ones scattered on the ground around them were the most likely culprits. They seemed like they’d gone and killed each other, but the why and how, that she’d missed.

“So, what’re you up to on this fine final throws of summer evening, besides freezing people out of season, teleporting, and making for a thrilling mystery murder novel?” She smiled and shrugged at the super, not fearing to meet his faceless gaze or bothering to put space between them. “‘Cause, I can’t say I’m not interested in how you performed your little trick there.”

At his calling of a pathological liar, Limen let out a loud cackle. She wasn’t necessarily trying to mimic his own eerie laughter, but she wasn’t going to let herself be completely shown up. It’d been awhile since someone’d called her that. Couldn’t say anyone had ever started out a conversation with it before; what a pleasant surprise. As the laughter faded into a wide grin, Limen rested a hand on her chin.

“You did ask me. Not sure what you were expecting.” She dramatically shrugged and shook her head. “Take it as you like; lie, truth, neither. But let the jury hear that pondering the strange happenings of this backaway alley and making conversation with this law-abiding citizen seems significantly more appealing tonight than incurring the wrath of him. There is a method to every madness,” she shot him a wink, “but I’m sure you know that.”

She took a step forward to crouch down on the edge of the building. “Alright, Law-Abiding Civ, I’ll bite. Ten dead, one by apparent collision with swiftly moving vehicle and the other nine by apparent collisions with various weapons and blunt objects. All I saw was what looked like a flash mob after Medusa walked by, and then bam, everyone was dead. Since I doubt any of them had any powers, yours had to have been somehow at play.” She looked back up at him, eyebrow raised. “Did I ever tell you I’m the worst student? I don’t ever do my homework, so I’ve no idea what your powers are. Besides the whole no nose thing.”

She turned back to the scene, shifting one of her legs to a more comfortable position. “I’ve seen enough gang fights to tell by their final positioning and wounds that these unfortunate fellows had it out with each other, using those weapons down there. As for the one who got hit by a car, either he got pushed by someone and the last guy was either finished off by you or died from another wound. Since you’ve got no blood on you and that last one there would take longer than this did, Occam's razor suggests car guy was the last guy and said car finished the job. I just didn’t see it.” Limen’s grin widened. “Meaning you used your powers there. You didn’t stop time, I don’t think, because you appeared in front of me while everyone else was frozen. I mean, you could have some really weird time powers, but Occam’s Razor is going to strike again here. You can make people see things that are different from reality, right? Illusions and all that jazz. I wasn’t seeing reality, and,” her voice lowered, “neither were they.”

Limen stood and turned to face the faceless man. Her smile had turned proud. “I bet you made them see something in each other that turned this mugging into an impromptu battle royal, and to the victor came an unseen car. That, or you’ve got said really weird time powers and just spend a whole good while setting up that scene down there to make it look like that other solution of mine in an attempt to trick me. Either way,” Limen gave him three loud claps of her hand. “Color me impressed. Have you considered writing mystery novels?”

Limen considered Law Abiding Artist’s counter argument. Hand on her chin, gaze skywards; she paid little mind to him circling her, as he didn’t seem like he was going to go suddenly hostile, she had no need to look for an opening to go suddenly hostile herself, and she had a smoke bomb in her pocket in case she needed to make a ninja escape.

“My mother told me many things, but if I listened to her, well,” Limen chuckled, “I wouldn’t be where I am today. But I’ll tell you what, those people sure looked frozen to me, and unless someone slipped a really delayed something into my beef jerky, I haven’t taken any drugs. I like to think my eyes are good enough to tell when something’s off. Wouldn’t be much of an archer if they didn’t.”

She didn’t try to argue with the point that she’d never heard of any drug that could cause what she, personally, had seen below, and to have it all go off at once for all those people perfectly - the chances of that were so small that, if she were him, she’d be keeping an eye out for sudden elephant stampedes for karma’s revenge.

She gave him a tilted grin “So, don’t keep me hanging, my good artist. Explain to me the real workings behind your artwork.”

“You got me there.” Limen chuckled, swinging up to her feet and pivoting on her heel to face him. One of him, anyway - the one that had been the most behind her. “Wouldn’t be fun if you gave away your secrets so easily. Besides,” she gave him another wink, “as long as I don’t know your artistic intent for certain, I can draw from it my own. And pretend I’m perfectly correct.”

Placing most of her weight on a single foot, Limen tipped an invisible hat and ducked into a light bow. “Pleasure’s mine, sleep walker wandering reality, day dreamer dreaming of your next masterpiece, Anonymous. You’re too kind, really. I am too but a simple wanderer, walking the boundary between life and death, waking and dreaming, sanity and madness. My name is Rook Argall, known to most here as Limen.”

She stood up slowly, her eyes remaining set on his. Her left foot she placed behind her right and she gestured with one arm out to the side, casting a glance to each of the other three Anonymouses as well.

“Perhaps I’d best give you a question in turn, my friend. It’s only fair.” She waved to the ten below. “If I were to hold the power to bring one of these people back to life, on the spot, perfectly healed, who of them would you pick for me to do so? The gang leader who just lost nine of his fellows because of a terrible decision; the youngest of them who was here, part of this gang, because life pushed him in this direction but had not shoved him far enough to yet allow for change; the woman beside the leader, who had backed up his cause, and now that he is gone, she may take what forces may remain elsewhere and shape them differently; or perhaps someone else entirely?”

Limen put a hand on her hip and gave the bag a light toss. “You’d give life just to see it end again? Ah, Yorick, you’re more obsessed with death than I thought.” She chuckled. She hadn’t a skull, but she guessed- human teeth would do. Limen drew out one of the whiter of the teeth and held it up to the sky, turning it around in her hand and squinting at it like it was a fine gem. “Are these real or more illusions? ‘Cause I’ll tell you, one makes for good cursed inlays, the other like short-ranged plastic spiders.”

She dropped the tooth back into the pouch and pulled out another - a human’s canine tooth. Left, if she wasn’t mistaken. “Seems like a waste, though, don’t you think? To bring someone to life just to see them die. If you’re dead, you’re gone. You become static. You can’t change anything anymore. Or, in your terms there, they’re only fun for a short while and then they’re dead.” She glanced up at Anonymous. “So I’ve got a question for you. How do it put this.” Her gaze drifted upwards and her brow furrowed. The bag was tossed twice in consideration. “Why do you seem to have a distinct lack of care for peoples’ lives?” Her tone and mindset was entirely curious; she was not asking to be accusatory, but because he was far from the first super she had seen this in, and she wanted to collect some data as to why this was.

‘Live and suffer the endless torment of his actions’. If Limen’s mind was normally difficult to get a good fix on, she was quite fixated on that. Her gaze drifted absently away, over the distant cityscape, and she let her now empty hands rest on her knees. That’s what it would be for that man, wouldn’t it? Having killed nine of his allies. Either he gave up and ended it, or he went on knowing his actions could never be undone. He could never forget, not truly. It bothered her that Anonymous thought this was funny, but it was just a quick flash of a thought. In an ironic, twisted way, like when the devil plays jokes, it was funny. How ending a life could unalterably change someone else’s.

Limen swung silently up to her feet. Fingers laced behind her back, she took a few light, trotting steps towards Anonymous, around his side. Her smile was a relaxed one, free of that mischievous edge for the first time this evening.

“People’s lives are meaningless, you say? Tell me, Anonymous, have you ever had someone important to you die?” She hummed. One final step brought her around to his front, and a matter of inches from his chest. She showed no signs of hostility, but nor any fear. Limen looked up at Anonymous. “Maybe caring about their death is a waste of time. But, if they were important to you, their life couldn’t possibly be meaningless, could it?”