Part 49
Ms. Danoob, flanked by four of her guards, opened the cell, revealing Mr. Tetz. "Good morning," she said. "We haven't had the pleasure of speaking directly until now. I'm Ms. Danoob, I'm the administrator of this facility."
"Yes, I know," he replied evenly.
"Ah, Seven filled you in on us?"
"Yes, she told me all about your little piracy ring."
"Ah, moral judgment from a member of the Terran Empire - how deliciously ironic."
"Do spare me," he answered. "Whatever you might say, it rings hollow from the mouths of common thieves."
"Oh please," Ms. Danoob said. "A) We’re hardly common thieves, as most thieves cannot cross the rifts between dimensions. B) For someone who forces other species to carry future generations of your own just so you have the numbers to continue dominating them says so much about your skewed sense of ethics that it's clear we've no common footing save self-interest. That's what I'm here for."
"What, negotiation?"
"Obviously," Ms. Danoob said, "our two sides are at an impasse, so here's the proposal. We want a relatively small amount of platinum, gold, and osmium from you -the equivalent of perhaps two or three months of your salary, so hardly noticeable to your empire. In return, we'll return you, unharmed, to your own universe, and we'll never return."
"And we have what kind of guarantee of this?" he asked with obvious mistrust.
"We can sign a treaty, just like the ones you signed with all the species you've conquered over the centuries."
"Your attempt to create a parallel between you and the empire won't fly with me, Ms. Danoob," he said. "The fact is, all you're doing is offering to not try to take things if we simply give them to you. That's not the most convincing argument."
"We are taking things that are of limited worth to you," she said. "Much as I despise the necessity of this mess, the fact remains that I do need to have some money flowing into Crossroads if it is to continue. If you don't work with me, I'll have to find it by other means."
"You can try," he replied. "But we're ready for you now."
"Everywhere?" Ms. Danoob asked. "Your space is vast, and we just need to find small spots here and there where you've made mistakes. And really, the amount you pay us would be less than what it'd cost to hire on even one more guard. Why don't we just settle things now and be done with it?"
He seemed to mull this over for a time, though it was clear he wasn't at all happy about the thought. "Very well," he said. "But there's one thing I want to be clear on - Seven comes back with me."
Ms. Danoob was silent for a bit longer than she should have allowed herself to be. "If that's what she wants," she said, "then I won't stand in her way."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mara stood leaning against the sink in the impressive bathroom of her renovated quarters at Crossroads Facility. There were red marks on her neck still that faded to purple where Seven had bruised her, but she hadn't caused any damage that the medics here weren't able to reverse. The real damage hadn't been physical, Mara knew that much.
Mara had no interest in the marks - or in what Seven had done. Mara had put her in an impossible position, and she shouldn't have been surprised that Seven had finally used the only language Mara had been willing to speak at the time, which was violence. No, Mara felt nothing towards Seven save guilt at what she'd done... well, that and the great loss. Her mistake all that time ago on the station had done more than just cost them time, it had cost their relationship. Sometimes when you make a choice, there's no way to unmake it, no matter how much you might want to. So Mara stood there and stared at her reflection as her reflection stared back.
This was not poetic license.
"Go away," Mara growled.
"It's too late now, Mara," the Emperor's Hand said. "You accepted me, and now I'm a part of you. You cannot shut me away any more, Mara - you embraced the darkness, and there is no escape."
Mara just scowled in response. "Watch me," she said, turning and walking towards the door. Beyond, she saw her own sleeping body - she was dreaming again. Whatever, it wasn't like it-
There was the sound of shattering glass, and Mara turned back to the mirror. It was gone, replaced by a hole, a hole into her darkest instinct... and something was coming out.
The Emperor's Hand pulled herself into the bathroom and sneered at her. "No more barriers, my dear," she said coldly. "You opened the door for me, only I get to close it." Mara understood, of course; this place represented her world now, and by being here the Emperor's Hand could control her actions in the real world. Mara swallowed but despite her nervousness there was resolve in her posture. She'd let the Hand out before, and she'd tried to kill Seven. There was no way Mara would ever let her keep control.
Mara rushed the Hand and tried grappling with her, but with casual effort the Hand pushed her away. "You're weak, Mara," she chided. "Weak and stupid. Just run along and let someone with some backbone handle things from now on." Mara growled and sprung at her again, and the Hand easily brushed her aside and into the wall. "What a disappointment... I'd hoped maybe you'd picked up at least some of my power, but this is just pathetic, Mara. You're so lucky I came along when I did, or you'd be nothing but a weeping little girl, curled up in here hoping the big bad universe stayed away."
"Shut up," Mara rumbled.
"Or what? You didn't have the strength to save Seven, and you couldn’t find a way to bring her to you without me, right? Face it, little girl, you're nothing more than a thin shadow." She smirked a little. "And that may be the funniest part of all... because if Seven did somehow come back, it would only be because of my power. Just think about that Mara - deep down, it was never you she loved, it was me."
Mara ran with all she had, burning with anger and tried tackling the Hand, but it was like hitting a stone pillar, and she just bounced off. She laid on the floor and looked up at the smirking face of the Hand, and she seemed stronger than ever. There was no way, as Mara looked at her, that she could hope to overpower her, she was just too strong! No matter how-
Mara blinked. Oh Mara, she thought, sometimes you are such an idiot.
"What now?" the Hand asked as Mara got back to her feet. "More of your pathetic attempts to try to resist. Please, go ahead, I can use the laugh." But Mara didn’t move, she just stared at her. She'd figured out what the Hand had been doing. The Hand represented the darkest sides of her nature, fueled by anger and hate... even anger and hate directed by Mara toward herself. The angrier Mara got, the more she tried to attack and crush and annihilate her, the stronger the Hand would get. In the end, she'd win.
But then Mara smirked... because the door swung both ways. Her eyes drifted around the room, and she saw her opportunities. She grabbed up a length of cable and pulled it free, running at the Hand again. She'd expected another attack, maybe even the attempt to trip her up or something. What she didn't expect was for Mara to dive before reaching her and wrapping the cable around her ankle. The Hand tried to stomp her, but Mara rolled away, backed up, and heaved, and strength or not, the limb came out from under her and she toppled over. Mara kept pulling, dragging her across the floor until the Hand grabbed onto the bed leg with her left hand, stopping the drag. "Oh, I'm going to make you regret this!" she said darkly.
Mara, for her part, said nothing. Instead she tossed the cable around the heavy door handle and walked back the other way, pulling all the while so that the Hand had to keep gripping tighter and tighter to the bed frame to keep from getting dragged across the room. "Stop wasting my time," the Hand hissed. "You can’t hope to defeat me. I'm the strong one, you're just-" She stopped as she heard the click, and saw the stormtrooper binder latched to her wrist. In an instant, Mara had attached the other to the bed leg.
Mara grinned down at her. “That so?" She wrapped the cable around the bed leg; the Hand resisted, but with only one hand she couldn't stop, and soon Mara was sitting on the limb, and her smile got even more sinister.
"Darkness," she said slowly to the Hand, "finds its strength in passion. You are affected by my anger, my hate, my jealousy, my fear..." She leaned down and whispered in her ear, "and my ticklishness."
The Hand's face bore no expression. "You cannot defeat me, Mara, and we both know it. You're weak, and that me-hehehe-ans I hahaha I'm going to hahaha stop this right now! Hahahaha!"
"You said you could use the laugh," Mara said evilly, tickling the Hand's ribs. "So I guess it's true that you really can tickle yourself, sometimes."
"Hahahaha! Oh, you'll pay dearly for this! HAHAHAHA!!!"
"Oh no," Mara said slowly, squeezing all over her helpless ribcage while the Hand squirmed and struggled and laughed like crazy, "your bravado is hollow. Out here, I can see you for what you really are. You may be able to tap into the power, but that doesn't make you strong. You have no idea what it's like to really have to struggle and endure, because you always, always found the easy way out. Your power was always just a crutch, and now, that's left you like this... unable to resist even the most simplest of minor tortures." The Hand was laughing so hard she was crying as Mara ran her fingers up into her armpits, then down around her flanks and belly. "Cootchie cootchie coo," she said. "Ask me to stop. I can see you're dying to."
"HAHAHA NEVER!"
"Then I'll just keep on tickling and tickling and tickling..." Mara said, letting her fingers add the emphasis to her remark. "Because there's nothing you can do to make me stop. The only way out is if I let you out." She went back to kneading the ribs, and the Hand roared. "Oh yes... please, don't ask me. I've been waiting for a chance to really pay you back for everything for a long time. Please, give me the excuse to tickle you until you go mad, because there's nothing else that can stop me. You can't even pass out here, because we're already unconscious." The Hand danced around on her back trying to find a moment's escape from the wriggling fingers. "In fact, even if you ask, I may not stop. I'm really starting to like this. Maybe I will give in to darkness and use my power to satisfy my desires." The Hand was beet red from laughter while Mara pressed the tickle attack even further. "'Cause all I want to do is tickle you and never stop," she whispered.
"OKAY! O-KAY!!! HAHAHAHA! I SURRENDER! SEND ME BACK!"
Mara snuck back up into her armpits, and the Hand began trembling with laughter. "Beg me," Mara whispered in her ear. "Beg, like you made Seven beg when you did those horrible things."
The Hand was struggling even to find air, she was laughing so hard. "Please," she pleaded. "Please stop Mara! HAHAHA Please stoooohahahaha-"
Mara smiled. "That's more like it."
She opened her eyes. She was in bed. The Emperor's Hand had lost, pushed off into the background of her mind. It'd always be there; it was a part of her, after all, but she hadn't let it win. No matter what Seven's choice was, the impression she'd left with Mara would never leave, and for what they'd once had, Mara wasn't going to let herself become that dark assassin again.
Mara turned and looked at the blank spot beside her, a hole where a person should be. That didn't mean this wasn’t going to be hard, she thought, fighting the tears and wishing it wasn't empty.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Because of the severity of Mara's attack, Seven had eventually gone to the modified alcove they had to regenerate. It would not only allow her to more efficiently rest, but allow her Borg technology to repair itself and accelerate her healing. Ms. Danoob and Ronald waited while she finished, and her eyes opened. "Better?" he asked, visibly concerned.
"Yes," Seven said. "I hadn't imagined I'd ever be happy to make use of these again, but it's definitely helped."
"I'm glad," Ms. Danoob said. "I'm returning Mr. Tetz here to his own place and time, and if you want, I can return you with him."
Seven looked surprised. "I thought-"
"It's whatever you want, Seven," Ms. Danoob said. "I certainly won't stand in the way of your happiness."
"All the details are arranged," Ronald said. "We can leave right now."
Seven's mouth opened and closed a few times. "I- I have to see Mara."
Ronald's face fell. "After what she did-"
"I know," Seven said. "Believe me, I know." She closed her eyes. "But after everything we shared, I'm not just going to walk out of her life without saying anything."
"Seven, she's a monster. I don't want you going anywhere near her again."
Seven looked up into his face, and wept just a little. "You don't understand. I... I have to say goodbye. After all she and I have been through together... I'm sorry, but this is something I have to do."
Ms. Danoob, flanked by four of her guards, opened the cell, revealing Mr. Tetz. "Good morning," she said. "We haven't had the pleasure of speaking directly until now. I'm Ms. Danoob, I'm the administrator of this facility."
"Yes, I know," he replied evenly.
"Ah, Seven filled you in on us?"
"Yes, she told me all about your little piracy ring."
"Ah, moral judgment from a member of the Terran Empire - how deliciously ironic."
"Do spare me," he answered. "Whatever you might say, it rings hollow from the mouths of common thieves."
"Oh please," Ms. Danoob said. "A) We’re hardly common thieves, as most thieves cannot cross the rifts between dimensions. B) For someone who forces other species to carry future generations of your own just so you have the numbers to continue dominating them says so much about your skewed sense of ethics that it's clear we've no common footing save self-interest. That's what I'm here for."
"What, negotiation?"
"Obviously," Ms. Danoob said, "our two sides are at an impasse, so here's the proposal. We want a relatively small amount of platinum, gold, and osmium from you -the equivalent of perhaps two or three months of your salary, so hardly noticeable to your empire. In return, we'll return you, unharmed, to your own universe, and we'll never return."
"And we have what kind of guarantee of this?" he asked with obvious mistrust.
"We can sign a treaty, just like the ones you signed with all the species you've conquered over the centuries."
"Your attempt to create a parallel between you and the empire won't fly with me, Ms. Danoob," he said. "The fact is, all you're doing is offering to not try to take things if we simply give them to you. That's not the most convincing argument."
"We are taking things that are of limited worth to you," she said. "Much as I despise the necessity of this mess, the fact remains that I do need to have some money flowing into Crossroads if it is to continue. If you don't work with me, I'll have to find it by other means."
"You can try," he replied. "But we're ready for you now."
"Everywhere?" Ms. Danoob asked. "Your space is vast, and we just need to find small spots here and there where you've made mistakes. And really, the amount you pay us would be less than what it'd cost to hire on even one more guard. Why don't we just settle things now and be done with it?"
He seemed to mull this over for a time, though it was clear he wasn't at all happy about the thought. "Very well," he said. "But there's one thing I want to be clear on - Seven comes back with me."
Ms. Danoob was silent for a bit longer than she should have allowed herself to be. "If that's what she wants," she said, "then I won't stand in her way."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mara stood leaning against the sink in the impressive bathroom of her renovated quarters at Crossroads Facility. There were red marks on her neck still that faded to purple where Seven had bruised her, but she hadn't caused any damage that the medics here weren't able to reverse. The real damage hadn't been physical, Mara knew that much.
Mara had no interest in the marks - or in what Seven had done. Mara had put her in an impossible position, and she shouldn't have been surprised that Seven had finally used the only language Mara had been willing to speak at the time, which was violence. No, Mara felt nothing towards Seven save guilt at what she'd done... well, that and the great loss. Her mistake all that time ago on the station had done more than just cost them time, it had cost their relationship. Sometimes when you make a choice, there's no way to unmake it, no matter how much you might want to. So Mara stood there and stared at her reflection as her reflection stared back.
This was not poetic license.
"Go away," Mara growled.
"It's too late now, Mara," the Emperor's Hand said. "You accepted me, and now I'm a part of you. You cannot shut me away any more, Mara - you embraced the darkness, and there is no escape."
Mara just scowled in response. "Watch me," she said, turning and walking towards the door. Beyond, she saw her own sleeping body - she was dreaming again. Whatever, it wasn't like it-
There was the sound of shattering glass, and Mara turned back to the mirror. It was gone, replaced by a hole, a hole into her darkest instinct... and something was coming out.
The Emperor's Hand pulled herself into the bathroom and sneered at her. "No more barriers, my dear," she said coldly. "You opened the door for me, only I get to close it." Mara understood, of course; this place represented her world now, and by being here the Emperor's Hand could control her actions in the real world. Mara swallowed but despite her nervousness there was resolve in her posture. She'd let the Hand out before, and she'd tried to kill Seven. There was no way Mara would ever let her keep control.
Mara rushed the Hand and tried grappling with her, but with casual effort the Hand pushed her away. "You're weak, Mara," she chided. "Weak and stupid. Just run along and let someone with some backbone handle things from now on." Mara growled and sprung at her again, and the Hand easily brushed her aside and into the wall. "What a disappointment... I'd hoped maybe you'd picked up at least some of my power, but this is just pathetic, Mara. You're so lucky I came along when I did, or you'd be nothing but a weeping little girl, curled up in here hoping the big bad universe stayed away."
"Shut up," Mara rumbled.
"Or what? You didn't have the strength to save Seven, and you couldn’t find a way to bring her to you without me, right? Face it, little girl, you're nothing more than a thin shadow." She smirked a little. "And that may be the funniest part of all... because if Seven did somehow come back, it would only be because of my power. Just think about that Mara - deep down, it was never you she loved, it was me."
Mara ran with all she had, burning with anger and tried tackling the Hand, but it was like hitting a stone pillar, and she just bounced off. She laid on the floor and looked up at the smirking face of the Hand, and she seemed stronger than ever. There was no way, as Mara looked at her, that she could hope to overpower her, she was just too strong! No matter how-
Mara blinked. Oh Mara, she thought, sometimes you are such an idiot.
"What now?" the Hand asked as Mara got back to her feet. "More of your pathetic attempts to try to resist. Please, go ahead, I can use the laugh." But Mara didn’t move, she just stared at her. She'd figured out what the Hand had been doing. The Hand represented the darkest sides of her nature, fueled by anger and hate... even anger and hate directed by Mara toward herself. The angrier Mara got, the more she tried to attack and crush and annihilate her, the stronger the Hand would get. In the end, she'd win.
But then Mara smirked... because the door swung both ways. Her eyes drifted around the room, and she saw her opportunities. She grabbed up a length of cable and pulled it free, running at the Hand again. She'd expected another attack, maybe even the attempt to trip her up or something. What she didn't expect was for Mara to dive before reaching her and wrapping the cable around her ankle. The Hand tried to stomp her, but Mara rolled away, backed up, and heaved, and strength or not, the limb came out from under her and she toppled over. Mara kept pulling, dragging her across the floor until the Hand grabbed onto the bed leg with her left hand, stopping the drag. "Oh, I'm going to make you regret this!" she said darkly.
Mara, for her part, said nothing. Instead she tossed the cable around the heavy door handle and walked back the other way, pulling all the while so that the Hand had to keep gripping tighter and tighter to the bed frame to keep from getting dragged across the room. "Stop wasting my time," the Hand hissed. "You can’t hope to defeat me. I'm the strong one, you're just-" She stopped as she heard the click, and saw the stormtrooper binder latched to her wrist. In an instant, Mara had attached the other to the bed leg.
Mara grinned down at her. “That so?" She wrapped the cable around the bed leg; the Hand resisted, but with only one hand she couldn't stop, and soon Mara was sitting on the limb, and her smile got even more sinister.
"Darkness," she said slowly to the Hand, "finds its strength in passion. You are affected by my anger, my hate, my jealousy, my fear..." She leaned down and whispered in her ear, "and my ticklishness."
The Hand's face bore no expression. "You cannot defeat me, Mara, and we both know it. You're weak, and that me-hehehe-ans I hahaha I'm going to hahaha stop this right now! Hahahaha!"
"You said you could use the laugh," Mara said evilly, tickling the Hand's ribs. "So I guess it's true that you really can tickle yourself, sometimes."
"Hahahaha! Oh, you'll pay dearly for this! HAHAHAHA!!!"
"Oh no," Mara said slowly, squeezing all over her helpless ribcage while the Hand squirmed and struggled and laughed like crazy, "your bravado is hollow. Out here, I can see you for what you really are. You may be able to tap into the power, but that doesn't make you strong. You have no idea what it's like to really have to struggle and endure, because you always, always found the easy way out. Your power was always just a crutch, and now, that's left you like this... unable to resist even the most simplest of minor tortures." The Hand was laughing so hard she was crying as Mara ran her fingers up into her armpits, then down around her flanks and belly. "Cootchie cootchie coo," she said. "Ask me to stop. I can see you're dying to."
"HAHAHA NEVER!"
"Then I'll just keep on tickling and tickling and tickling..." Mara said, letting her fingers add the emphasis to her remark. "Because there's nothing you can do to make me stop. The only way out is if I let you out." She went back to kneading the ribs, and the Hand roared. "Oh yes... please, don't ask me. I've been waiting for a chance to really pay you back for everything for a long time. Please, give me the excuse to tickle you until you go mad, because there's nothing else that can stop me. You can't even pass out here, because we're already unconscious." The Hand danced around on her back trying to find a moment's escape from the wriggling fingers. "In fact, even if you ask, I may not stop. I'm really starting to like this. Maybe I will give in to darkness and use my power to satisfy my desires." The Hand was beet red from laughter while Mara pressed the tickle attack even further. "'Cause all I want to do is tickle you and never stop," she whispered.
"OKAY! O-KAY!!! HAHAHAHA! I SURRENDER! SEND ME BACK!"
Mara snuck back up into her armpits, and the Hand began trembling with laughter. "Beg me," Mara whispered in her ear. "Beg, like you made Seven beg when you did those horrible things."
The Hand was struggling even to find air, she was laughing so hard. "Please," she pleaded. "Please stop Mara! HAHAHA Please stoooohahahaha-"
Mara smiled. "That's more like it."
She opened her eyes. She was in bed. The Emperor's Hand had lost, pushed off into the background of her mind. It'd always be there; it was a part of her, after all, but she hadn't let it win. No matter what Seven's choice was, the impression she'd left with Mara would never leave, and for what they'd once had, Mara wasn't going to let herself become that dark assassin again.
Mara turned and looked at the blank spot beside her, a hole where a person should be. That didn't mean this wasn’t going to be hard, she thought, fighting the tears and wishing it wasn't empty.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Because of the severity of Mara's attack, Seven had eventually gone to the modified alcove they had to regenerate. It would not only allow her to more efficiently rest, but allow her Borg technology to repair itself and accelerate her healing. Ms. Danoob and Ronald waited while she finished, and her eyes opened. "Better?" he asked, visibly concerned.
"Yes," Seven said. "I hadn't imagined I'd ever be happy to make use of these again, but it's definitely helped."
"I'm glad," Ms. Danoob said. "I'm returning Mr. Tetz here to his own place and time, and if you want, I can return you with him."
Seven looked surprised. "I thought-"
"It's whatever you want, Seven," Ms. Danoob said. "I certainly won't stand in the way of your happiness."
"All the details are arranged," Ronald said. "We can leave right now."
Seven's mouth opened and closed a few times. "I- I have to see Mara."
Ronald's face fell. "After what she did-"
"I know," Seven said. "Believe me, I know." She closed her eyes. "But after everything we shared, I'm not just going to walk out of her life without saying anything."
"Seven, she's a monster. I don't want you going anywhere near her again."
Seven looked up into his face, and wept just a little. "You don't understand. I... I have to say goodbye. After all she and I have been through together... I'm sorry, but this is something I have to do."
