Trinity didn't resist Radiance as the brainwashed superhero carried her through the sky on her enchanted, angelic wings. What would have been the point? Her power was all but useless against her; Radiance had proven that time and time again. She didn't try to squirm out of the hero's grip, and even if she'd been able to speak, Radiance wouldn't have been able to hear her over the sound of the howling winds that blew through the towering spires of Future City's beating heart. At some point, it started to rain, which made Trinity feel almost comically pathetic. Now she was cold, sad, and wet.
It was a nice reminder, in a way. She couldn't control what was going to happen to her any more than she could control the weather. Her fate was out of her hands. Just as it had been for days. No, just as it had always been. Trinity wondered if it was finally time to accept it.
Trinity hated going downtown. She hated how hostile the skyscrapers felt looming over all the streets, blotting out the sky and reminding all the little people that their wonders and riches simply weren't for them. As it turned out, flying was worse. There was no magic to it. Trinity wanted to be down at street-level, in amongst the crowds, where the people were more than just faint little lights. There were too many lights, Trinity decided. Rivers of them beneath, made of cars, and great strips of them rising up on either side of her, shining out of thousands of identical windows. It made her feel nauseous.
It wasn't long before they approached the greatest light of them all: Quinn Tower. It was the tallest building in the city by far, and lit up like a beacon. It was visible from everywhere, and up close it illuminated even the clouds above, bright as day. Radiance approached it head-on, before tilting back to catch the wind and swooping up, straight toward the sky. Then, moments later, she spread her wings wide and used them as a kind of air brake, bringing them to a dead stop in mid-air. For a single instant, Trinity felt like they were falling, but then they simply touched down gently on the rain-drenched surface of the skyscraper's helipad.
The flashing landing lights were almost blinding, especially reflected in the steadily-growing puddles, but once Trinity adjusted to the brightness and stopped feeling like she was going to throw up, she noticed there was someone else standing on the helipad with them. A figure she recognized all too well.
The Peregrine.
Up close, she was every bit as intimidating as her reputation. The Peregrine cut a tall and wiry figure, but with added bulk thanks to the costume she was wearing. Unlike Radiance's, hers was all practical; it was a dull, unremarkable gray color, and The Peregrine hadn't bothered to hide any of the armor plates worked into it. Numerous gadgets and sensors were visible all over her, attached around her belt or worked into her cowl, a swooping mask that ended in a point vaguely evocative of a bird of prey's beak. She looked like a woman who knew that she, as a mere mortal going up against gods, would need every advantage she was going to get, and so she'd decided to stop at nothing to get them.
In Trinity's opinion, she also looked scary as hell. Her reputation for ruthlessness was well-known. Most heroes did their best to bring villains in alive. The Peregrine wasn't one of them.
She didn't bother to look at Radiance as she approached the pair, but she inspected Trinity with unnerving intensity before turning and calling back:
"Bring her inside."
Radiance moved to obey without a word, walking after The Peregrine and threatening to drag Trinity along by her golden chain until she jogged to catch up. The stiff and unnatural way Radiance followed The Peregrine's orders only confirmed what Trinity already suspected, and that meant she was seriously fucked.
The door to the helipad led directly to some kind of personal suite. The large, open-plan room inside was luxurious, in that very sparse, plain, minimalist way Trinity always attributed to rich people not having enough imagination. Still, she couldn't help but be grateful for the luxury. It was pleasantly warm inside, and a far cry from Radiance's spartan, unhappy safe house. The room was dominated by a set of large, long, leather couches arranged around some coffee tables, with a bar and a desk over in opposite corners and a set of stairs leading to a loft above. The outer wall was nothing but floor-to-ceiling windows - mirrored glass, Trinity judged, since she hadn't been able to see in from outside.
The whole place more or less gave Trinity the creeps, but she was too tired not to sit down when The Peregrine indicated. The couch was disgustingly comfortable. Radiance stood sentry next to her, holding her by a short leash.
The Peregrine let her stew for several long moments.
"So," she began eventually, sitting down opposite Trinity. She moved with grace, despite her armor. Radiance remained standing. "What do I do with you?"
Trinity knew an obnoxious leading question when she heard one. She was normally good with snappy retorts, but it was a little hard to think when her chest was aching the way it was. She sat back.
"What the fuck is going on?" she demanded.
"Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?" The Peregrine replied. "You're a supervillain. And you recently stole a great deal of money."
'Supervillain'. Yuck. "Well, it's not here," Trinity shot back. "As you can see."
"I'm well aware." It was difficult to read The Peregrine's expression under her cowl, and her voice remained level. "Some of my people are retrieving it right now, as a matter of fact."
Trinity frowned. "Then... what am I doing here?" She risked a glance at Radiance. Then, her willpower slipped, and she asked the question she really wanted to ask. "Wait, no. First, what have you done to her?"
"Worried?" The Peregrine tilted her head to one side. "Or... impressed?" When Trinity didn't answer, she answered: "I've brainwashed her, of course."
"So, that's your power?" Trinity tried not to show too much concern on her face. "Some kind of mind control? But you've been hiding it?"
The Peregrine laughed. "Hardly," she replied. "No, I'm not nearly as impressive as you, Shimmer. I simply have the resources it takes to reverse-engineer the human mind." When Trinity was visibly nonplussed, she rose to her feet. "Allow me to demonstrate."
She walked over to Radiance and slapped her across the face once, very hard, and quickly enough to make Trinity jump. The blow couldn't possibly have hurt one such as Radiance, but it seemed to rouse her a little. She blinked, and her posture became just a little less stiff.
The Peregrine sighed. "Oh, Radiance," she mused theatrically. "You really are a high-maintenance girl."
