Question of Loyalty

Leon had not given up trying to talk to Freya but nothing had changed and his voice was starting to give out.  The only time she had responded was when he told her he needed to use the restroom or she would have to live with the smell.  She fetched Lucas and the two of them escorted him out of the room and down the hall.

If Freya had been alone he might have considered overpowering her, but after what Prometheus had done to the cage he would not have chanced it.  He had seen Baird go feral at Alley Cats before and as strong as Baird was he could not have ripped through the metal cage.  Bent it possibly, but not broken through like Prometheus had.  He didn’t think anything but a clockwork could have.

As they escorted him they passed a window.  It was dark out and Leon could only make out the clouds from his angle, but now he had some frame of reference for the time.  After a moment he realized that this was the first time he had needed to relieve himself since he had arrived.  Was it really just Monday night still?  It had felt so much longer.

    The two of them stopped at a door and opened it for him.  He went inside and they shut him inside, granting him privacy.  The room itself had a window and was spacious, which was comforting because it meant this place had not been designed initially as a prison.  One look out of the window confirmed his suspicions about where he was and that he would have to plan his escape very cautiously.

    After he finished he didn’t tell them right away.  He took some time to search for some way he could make a weapon or find something like a chemical that he could throw in their eyes later.  He was disappointed that the room was devoid of anything but paper.  They had even removed a mirror so that he could not break the glass, though that wouldn’t have worked as they would have heard it.  

    “You do not look well, sister,” Lucas said outside the door and Leon paused to listen, though he lowered the seat just to make noise so they wouldn’t be suspicious.

    “I’m fine, Lucas,”  

    “You do not look fine.”  The wolf said quietly with a tone of compassion, “Are you certain you do not want to talk about it.”  After a moment of silence he added, “I lost Rufus too.”

    There was a long silence and then Freya started to speak hysterically, “It’s everything!  Rufus is dead!  Kuga is captured! Prometheus is going to burn down an asylum full of people tomorrow with Kuga inside!  What if they leave him to burn?!  What if they leave them all to burn?  He’s scaring me, Lucas!”

    Lucas was silent a short time after Freya’s outburst, but finally he responded, “They would not allow that.  These people care for their own like we care for our own.  Prometheus knows that and will exploit their terror.  Do not let fear cloud your mind as it will them.  What has Prometheus always told us?”

Freya paused and then responded weakly, “‘Fear is both our greatest weapon and our worst enemy.’”

“Be brave, Freya.  We will be a whole family again soon.”  She mumbled something that Leon couldn’t hear.  Apparently neither could Lucas.  “What did you say?”
“Except for Rufus,” she said again, more clearly.  “Haven’t you noticed how little Prometheus cares that he’s dead?  He just says he is proud of him whenever I ask him, and did you see Lilith today?”

“You were like that for a time too, sister.  Resistant, but you grew happy again did you not?” There was no answer.  The tone in Lucas’s voice changed as he continued, gone was the false compassion, replaced by threat and suspicion, “Does your loyalty waver, sister?  Perhaps you should go to Prometheus and join Lilith for her re-education?”  

    “No, I still-” There was a yelp from Freya and then a long howl of pain from Lucas.  Someone outside crumpled to the floor coughing horribly as the other went running.
Leon realized he was holding his breath and took a quiet breath.  Leon faintly smelled something like lavender in the air that wasn’t there before, but he doubted it was lavender.  There were half a dozen pairs of feet Leon could hear running down the corridor.  

“Lucas?  What happened?!” Prometheus asked furiously.  Seeing him on the floor coughing he must have realized he would not get any answers.  “I see.  “I told you to watch her closely Lucas.  She is distraught and likely to bolt just as Lilith did and now she has surprised you with your weakness just like that boy who caught Kuga.  Learn from this mistake, Lucas.  I know you’re intelligent enough not to make the same mistake twice.”

Prometheus seemed to shift a foot or two, from the sound of it, “Find her before she gets off the ship, but be gentle! She’s just as lost and confused as Lilith had been!”  Prometheus opened the door to the bathroom suddenly, revealing Leon who had been listening at the door with his ear.  “And you are going back to your cell.”