When Mark walked through, Keith was on the other side. He poked him once in the forehead and grabbed at him like Mark was falling and Keith was catching me. Mark played into it, pretending to have been knocked out.

“Is she ready yet?” Keith growled.

“She’ll be out in a minute. Until then, get him strapped in and start up your little slideshow,” Thatcher replied.

Keith dragged him to the center of the room. Mark reached out with my senses to get a grasp on the place, but they were everywhere. Keith tossed the dead weight into a chair and strapped his arms to the arm rest.

“Give me ten seconds to leave, then get a grasp on your surroundings,” he whispered.

Counting in his head, Mark waited. Once Keith was gone, he opened his eyes. He was in a void. Below him, he could feel no floor, though he knew Keith and Thatcher had just been walking on one. The void pulsed in various colors, darkening toward black. In front of me was a projection screen. Mark felt out with his powers, but none of them seemed to work. He couldn’t sense or hear anything.

He tried summoning his armor or weapon, but nothing would appear. The only reaction he got was a warm pressure in his chest when he felt out for the coin.

The void suddenly dipped into inky blackness, leaving Mark feeling like he was floating through nothingness. In front of him, a white dot appeared and began to grow larger. Mark closed his eyes, hearing the familiar sounds of his torture being replayed. It clicked off, then the void began to grow brighter again. He could hear Keith’s voice, and closed his eyes, pretending to be passed out again.

“Gah, that video again. Got tired of watching it after last time. Almost threw it away. She’s lucky she paid me in time,” Keith said.

“Why are you screaming?” Thatcher asked. “Anyway, we know it works. Let’s wake him up and tell him how this is all about to go down.”

Mark felt a sharp slap against his face. He came to, acting groggy and confused. Thatcher was smirking down at him.

“Before you ask,” Thatcher said, “no, I did not need to hit you that hard. But it felt right. Anyway, welcome back. You are in a pocket dimension. We will torture you as much as possible, until we can either get you to consent, or get your Patron to consent for you.”

Mark looked up at him, “Consent to what?”

“Don’t play stupid now, Marcus. It’s too late for that. You know what we’re doing here. You stopped me from getting my artifact back from that librarian. If you consent, this all goes a lot smoother. If not, torture. We’ll keep asking you over and over again until you do. And before you think your friends will help again, we’ve fixed that mistake.”

“Fixed it? How?”

Thatcher rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to sit here and tell you everything, Marcus. I’m not an idiot. Just know that you don’t have them to depend on. So you’ll be here, without your powers and without your friends.”

“Why are you telling me any of this at all? You know I won’t consent,” Mark growled.

“You will eventually. You almost did last time. We offered this deal up front last time as well. Keith wiped everything but the torture. I assume you’ll break in a third of the time this time.”

Mark looked to Keith who was staring him directly in the eyes. He knew that wasn’t going to be a problem this time. Keith gave him a way to hold onto his mettle. Mark looked back to Keith.

“Fuck you.”

Thatcher rolled his eyes again, “Very well. Let’s do this.” The two men walked away and the room grew dark. The false memories that they had planted last time played out before him, seemingly floating out in existence. He could feel the pain of the memory burning inside of him, but she steeled himself against it as he formulated a plan.

The memory played over and over again until it faded and the lights of the void came back up. Thatcher approached him and asked again.

“Let us use you,” he said, a beat between each word.

“Okay,” Mark said.

Thatcher was taken aback. Something in Mark broke, a connection he didn’t fully have. Whatever he agreed to had been accepted on a metaphysical level, like when he made a deal with Traitor. Thatcher waved at Keith who ran off into the void.

“I have to say, Marcus, I’m a little disappointed. As much as I don’t like you, I had a little respect for you. To give in so quick is a surprise, for sure.”

“I don’t want to do this again. I’m tired. You killed me to bring me back in against my will. Why run away from your plan now,” he replied.

“I’d say too true, but I don’t trust you. Don’t try anything stupid. You have no power here,” Thatcher said, looking at him suspiciously.

Keith came back holding three bags. Three small pedestals rose between him and Mark. He placed a bag on each. Thatcher was behind him, removing the items from the bags.

The first one was a battered collar. It was black and looked as if it had been restitched a million times. The middle one was a simple golden bracelet with a gem in the middle of it. The last was a larger bag, as it was holding the largest item.

The Guardian Shield glimmered though no light was hitting it, a crack splitting down its center. Mark could feel a small bit of magic tying him to it. It called out to him, but he couldn’t reach it.

Then loud steps echoed through the void. They were coming from behind Mark. He once again desperately reached out with his powers but couldn’t tap into anything other that the warmth in his chest and the small thread tying him to the shield.

A hand grabbed the back of his neck, wrapping around it gently. She leaned on him, watching her lackeys set up the ritual she had spent five years trying to get together.

“Wow, it’s all coming together, isn’t it, Mark?” she asked.

“Seems like it. All you need is to finish it, and you get what? Vast cosmic power? Is it worth it?” He asked.

“I’ve spent years and years studying rituals and magic and the Patrons. I have killed members of my own collective just to make it…more. Being a Patron myself will only allow me more access. Eventually, there will only be one ruler of the planet. Of the people. Why shouldn’t it be me?” It was okay for a villain speech, but Mark had heard better.

“What was the point of faking your death?” He asked.

Natalie walked in front of him, smiling, “If I had suddenly disappeared then you got kidnapped, it wouldn’t take Jay much to track me down. Easier to leave a corpse disguised as me. Now, let’s begin.”

She pulled out a knife and cut below his gunshot scar, drawing blood. She wiped the flat of her knife on it then walked to the center of the room in front of him. She chanted something as she wiped the blood across the collar, then the bracelet. She looked at Mark and smirked before she did the same to the shield.

She began chanting and all three items began glowing. His blood fizzled out on the shield, disappearing in a puff of green smoke. The blood on the bracelet did the same, turning to a green smoke as it burned away. And then the blood on his collar burned away as a red ball of smoke puffed above it.

Natalie promptly began screaming. She looked at Thatcher, who was confused, then to Keith. Keith reached into his pocket, pulling out an identical collar. He then dropped it and it fell through the floor of the void.

“How dare you?” Natalie screamed at him.

“I shouldn’t have let you get this far. I ruined your ritual too late last time,” Keith said.

Thatcher spoke up, “You control the void. You tipped off Jay last time? Why?”

Keith smirked, “I may be a lot of things. A lot of terrible things. But I’m not some lackey of a Knowledge sheep with delusions of grandeur. I’m done with this crap.” He held out his hands and the void swirled with color.

Mark almost missed Natalie cutting Keith’s throat as the feeling of his powers filled his body. He pulled on the straps, freeing himself. Thatcher’s eyes grew wide, and he ran, creating a portal that disappeared as he left.

“Followers aren’t too loyal, Nat,” he said.

“Thatcher will come back when the danger is gone. With this piece of shit dead, he’s the only one who can get out. You’re stuck here with me. I’ll keep you here for another five years if I have to.”

“And what makes you think you can win?” he asked.

Natalie picked up the Guardian shield and her eyes glowed, “You know, the powers Knowledge gave me allow me to hit you with pinpoint accuracy in your weak spots.” She threw a knife that should have bounced off his armor, but lodged into his shoulder.

He smirked, “And the Guardian shield allows me to sap your energy away. How can you protect the weak when you’re weak all on your own, Mark?”

He could feel it as she said it. His armor wasn’t holding up the same anymore. He summoned a sword, but it barely came out the size of a machete. Even his sensory powers were dulled. He grew tired as she circled him, ready to throw another knife. He wasn’t going to be able to last long in this fight.

The warm sensation in his chest thrummed against his heart. Natalie squinted her eyes at him. He looked down, able to see a circle of light appearing on his skin. The coin in his pocket reached out to him. He pulled out the glowing coin and it jumped to the spot on his chest like a magnet.

As it connect, energy burst from his chest, and a swirling portal of radiant light appeared. Two bursts of energy sped through the portal, connecting with Natalie, who went sprawling, keeping a tight hold on the shield.

Mark watched the portal as Rylie stepped through. The portal disappeared and she looked around, finding Mark. With the shield not focused on him, his energy started returning. He summoned his sword, combining it with his coin as Rylie let the radiant magic spread across her skin.

Natalie stood up and faced them down, shield moving back and forth between the partners, ready to lunge.