No Water, No Ways

[Katarina Kane]

The fight had taken a lot out of Ryn, and she could finally get some rest. Katarina drove, and drove, and drove. Off the freeway to the Antelope Valley highway and into the San Gabriel mountains, past the never-constructed California City, past the long-dry Searles Lake which still had Katarina wrenching her hands on the steering wheel, and into canyons and, by extension, Death Valley.

She cut off what counted as the 'main highway' here onto another smaller road, apparently at random -- one that wound it's way up Telescope Peak. And from there, onto something that may, at one point, in better times, had been considered a road; a dust track that the Panda rumbled and bounced along and continued winding up as it cut into the hillside and the scrubbrush.

Eventually, about three hours after they had left, the Panda rumbled up to a building composed mostly of wood and rust, with warning signs keeping people away because of the obvious danger.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

For pretty much the entire time they're driving, Ryn is out cold. Even the roughshod road shaking the car about doesn't disturb her. She's weirdly vulnerable like this for something so devastating. Every once in a while the threaded fibers wrapped around her move, loosening here and there and tightening again. Finally most of the bandages unravel completely and reveal the spots where they have plunged into Ryn's skin to hold together muscles and bones. With the worst of it healed they withdraw and - save for the wrappings around her chest - are pulled into the three narrow slits that sits on each of her shoulder blades. The lowest one on each side is covered by her makeshift bra and the others close up until all that's left are thin lines that look more like the rest of the scars on her skin.

When they pull up to the abandoned mining town she stirs, unfolding herself on the seat into a stretch that has her popping multiple times.

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina got out and winced as she stood up, stretching herself. Her crushed wings fluttered open in the sun, and she moved her back awkwardly to try to stretch them out. Walking seemed to be fairly tough for her, as she limped forwards towards the building, keeping her head on the proverbial swivel as she approached the building.

"I think we'll be safe here. At least for a while..."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

It only takes two steps of Katarina struggling for Ryn to appear at her side, arm snaking around her waist and offering up her shoulder to lean on. She seems to fit perfectly under her arm, which is odd because Katarina could swear the Deva was an inch or two short of that before.

"No humans" she nods. "Some thresholds that could hold a road. I'll break them."

[Katarina Kane]

"Don't be so sure we're alone," Katarina said. "It's supposed to look that way.

There's a handgun in the glove compartment. False bottom."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Ryn questions what threat exists that can stop her but is defeated by a bullet, but she goes to fetch it nevertheless, handing it to Katarina while holding it with two fingers like a slimy fish.

"It doesn't smell like a place many humans frequent anymore."

[Katarina Kane]

"That's...almost the idea," Katarina said. "Just another ghost town in the mountains, with a story to keep everyone away..." she said, as they approached a small door that seemed primed to go deep into some kind of shaft? "And far enough away that no one would randomly stumble across it. You have to know it's here to know it's here."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"A path into the mountain?" Ryn asks, smelling the (relatively) cool and faintly humid air inside. Then, almost as an afterthought. "Do you need light?"

[Katarina Kane]

"I shouldn't," Katarina says, somewhat tersely.

She moved a couple of boards and rocks out of the way, revealing a fingerprint scanner much like the ones in use at the Agency. She pressed her thumb against it and...after a disturbingly long pause... the sound of a click, and some apparent 'rock' sliding away revealed a dimly lit mineshaft -- but a lit mineshaft notwithstanding.

"This used to be a mining town," Katarina explained. "There are thousands of mines dotted around here, mostly sealed up. Gold, I believe. The town was abandoned when the gold dried up; and the nonsense with the man who has hanged twice. That, coupled with it's distance from almost everything, made it an ideal spot..."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"You've been here before." she notes and even with the blindfold on the illumination is hard to miss. "Some kind of shelter?" she asks, probably close but purely by accident as she's thinking more in terms of shelter from the elements.

[Katarina Kane]

"Something like that," Katarina confirmed. "I've only been here...twice," she said. "Not too much reason for me to come out here myself. It's all through agents, and handlers, and other contacts.."

She drew her pistol, and hobbled her way down down the shaft, speaking in hushed tones as she did. "I don't know if this will work, but it was the best thing I could think of."

They eventually came to a metal door. Katarina took a deep breath, and swung it open to reveal a small room -- a desk, a bank of computers, and a startled man twirling at the sound of the two entering.

"You see nothing, you hear nothing, you smell nothing, you obey fully and completely and without question," Katarina said quickly, the power flowing off her in stronger waves now that she was in more of a siren form. The man blinked once, twice, and then sat back down and took another sip of coffee, opening his book back up and continuing to read.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"Who is this!?" Ryn hisses, immediately tensing up. "Why are there so many electric boxes inside a mountain?"

[Katarina Kane]

"This is..." Katarina said, squinting at the man, who sat there drinking his coffee unaware of their presence. "...I have no idea. An agent, monitoring the computers. We're not that far from Edwards Air Force Base, and Fort Irwin is within range, as well. Gathering data and sending it back across the Iron Curtain. Part of my job; part of the reason I was allowed to come out here to make a name for myself."

She smiled, thin-lipped. "Having someone tell me what I can and cannot do is nothing new."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Ryn is at least vaguely familiar with a concept of a spy, though she still doesn't understand the full reasoning and statecraft behind it. Well, she gets the idea, she just doesn't care for nations any more than for physical boundaries in general. When she was captured by what she assumes now were a kind of spy, they'd asked and told her a great many things she didn't understand or care to remember, but they did seem very insistent that whether or not her allegiance was with one group of humans or another was very important and that a great barrier was involved. Presumably like the Great Wall but made of metal.

"They're making you spy." she says with her usual disdain for that kind of control or coercion, head turned towards the man in his seat. It doesn't take a genius to guess that she'd have no compunctions about ridding the world of who she perceives as at least symbolic of an even deeper meddling in Katarina's life. "For the... Rus." she dredges up an old but not too ancient name for the people roaming the cold tundras.

[Katarina Kane]

"An intelligence operative. For the Soviets," Katarina corrected. "Pазрядка makes things a little different than they were in the old days, but you don't just get an opportunity to go West just because you feel like it. There is a...duty to the state I must perform in order to perform in the States. So far, I have had to do relatively little."

The man continued to read his book, entirely ignorant of Ryn's gaze.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"You're not with them anymore. Why still obey them?"

[Katarina Kane]

"I can't fight on every front, Ryn," Katarina said, slamming her hand on the desk more out of frustration than anger. "The Agency, the Kremlin, the executives -- at some point, you have to play someone's game, because everybody wants a piece of you. And it's not like I can tell them 'sorry, I'm now a mythological sea beast, and I think that takes me out of your jurisdiction."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"Yes. You can. They've taught you to think them stronger than you. To control you. I've seen it time and time again. Killed men and gods alike for it until they cursed and banished me. Yet here I am still."

She steps close to Katarina and gently grasps her shoulders. "You're neither selfish nor evil for wanting to live like you do. It's not a right you have to earn."

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina bit her lower lip, looking away for a moment.

"I want control," she said. "Big things. Small things. Everything in between. Would it be..would it be so bad if everyone danced to my tune for a change?"

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Ryn frowns a little behind her blindfold. "There's a difference between Freedom and Rule... but claiming the former by force? No, there's nothing bad about it."

[Katarina Kane]

"You need a little force in this world to truly get what you want. Otherwise, you're the one pushed around," Katarina said, biting her lower lip.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"The only thing that matters is what you do. Not that you do it at all."

[Katarina Kane]

"I want to do what I want."

The music kicked in once more, as Katarina turned away for a moment

Alone
With no place left that you call home,
Nobody waiting by the phone,
No one to care that you're not there,
No one to defend you...

Somehow,
The shadow always tracks you down,
'Til you've got one knee on the ground
And the next mistake is all it'll take
For it to end you.

Hey there, Cinderella, get your foot out of that shoe.
Stop trying to fit in and do what they say to do!
Break out of your chains, girl, give it all you got
I don't need a siren's curse to show them I'm something I'm not!

She turned, briefly to the man reading his book. "Dance," she ordered, and the out-of-shape man robotically stood up, and started providing back-up dancing for as the song swelled.

"They said once upon a time, but that time is now, I must chase my glory
Just pick up the pen and start again; this time I'll write the story.
You know I want my wishes on the stars to all come true
Now I have the power that it takes to make sure that they do!

I can be non-compliant, strong, defiant, self-reliant too!"

Katarina pushed the man over to his hands and knees, using him as a stepping stone as she climbed ontop of the desk.

"This is my "I want it" song, so shout it to the rafters!
I've waited far too long to start happy ever afters!
If I get a second chance to return to the stage where I belong
I won't let anyone else out there stop my Siren's song..."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Ryn can't help but smile at Katarina singing her truth, even if there's quite a bit of as-of-yet unfulfilled longing to it. When the music comes back around, Ryn steps up next to Katarina and joins in, first grasping her hands, then gently spinning her towards the bank of spy equipment. Standing behind her she has one hand on her shoulder, the other on her hip.

♪♫"This is your 'I want it' song, so make sure that they all know.
You've served them far too long to be dancing in their spy show!
So here's the perfect chance to let them know that they are wrong.
With these machines here you can make them hear your Siren song."♪♫

[Katarina Kane]

"...With this equipment here?" Katarina asked, as the music continued but this was one of those talky bits on the middle where patter happens before the song reprises.

"Sending a message on coded channels, across the waves to the Soviets?"

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"They listen through these machines, do they not? Tell them to set you free."

[Katarina Kane]

"That's declaring war. Not all of them will hear...not directly, at any rate..."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"If you tell them to they will make others listen. Or let them come and face us side by side."

[Katarina Kane]

"You can't take on half the world..."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

"Then I think you better sing."

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina looked at Ryn, and didn't take her eyes off her as she picked up a receiver.

"This is station 12, signing on for one last time.
Calling home so far away...

We have lost an agent to the feelings in the West
She doesn't have much more to say.

We must respectfully request that you all cease and desist
It's pointless to go after her; none of you can resist
Her potent siren's song!
And so we say so long!

This is my I want it song, so I'm making you sure know
I've served you far too long, and now it's time to go!
You helped my wishes, sending me so far away
But I don't need you anymore, so I bid you good day..."

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Ryn smiles broadly, perhaps the most she ever has that wasn't some kind of teeth-baring grin and joins in, singing alongside Katarina. She lets her hands slide down from Katarina's shoulders and takes her hands into her own.


♪♫"I lived once upon a time, but then I saw you, I must chase my quarry
They said once upon a time, but that time is now, I must chase my glory

Just pick up the pen and start again; this time we'll write the story.
You know we want our wishes on the stars to all come true
Now we have the power that it takes to make sure that they do!
We'll make sure that they do..."♪♫

And even though she can only see Katarina as a vague shadow through the blindfold, she can feel her presence and hear the rapid beating of her heart, something in her chest tightening and fluttering at the same time. Her fingers tremble a little and then she slowly leans forward to kiss Katarina.

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina's breath hitches, as their lips touched. She dropped the microphone, the loud squacking indicating the channel closing.

"Doug..." she said, after a moment. "Eyes closed."

**Fade to end of Act II**