(( OOC: One-shot, happens during
Unexpected harmonies of Strife ))
Once the conversation is over, she hangs up and goes back to thinking about next steps. She’s almost reached Tony’s apartment, so all she needs to do now is…
…
The thought falls screaming into a cold pit in her gut as she realizes her previous plan is no longer going to work. She’d intended to keep Tony and his family under sedation for a few hours, then arrange things so nobody particularly noticed the gap, but now that Oliver thinks Tony is a traitor, it’s not going to be that easy… they’ll follow up on him, ask him to account for his movements, and it won’t take long for them to figure out what really happened.
So what? They’ll know there’s a mutant shape-shifter on the loose. Not the end of the world. Except she’d just finished having this conversation with Abyss and Syn… she didn’t want that information going public. It wouldn’t take long for clever folks to start setting up defenses against her.
So, what can you do about it? She hasn’t even thought through an answer fully when her body forcibly shifts back to Tony. "
No! You promised you wouldn’t hurt them! Dammit, I cooperated with you, you can’t…"
She’s so shocked by hearing Tony’s voice coming out of her mouth without her intention that she doesn’t even notice that she’s slamming the brakes on, her leg moving of its own volition, until her car skids to a halt and the car behind her squeals in protest, stopping just an inch short of a collision.
This… is unacceptable. It’s one thing when her body and mind act on their own to answer questions or block attackers or whatever, but she can’t allow her templates to try and take over… she’d go mad.
Fuck unacceptable, that’s my family we’re talking about! Except… no. It isn’t.
Her family is safe and sound in the Bronx. This is
Tony’s family she’s talking about.
So? What gives you the right to kill them, just to keep your secret? And there it is, finally – the thing she hadn’t been letting herself think about. She’d let Stanley live under the same circumstances, hadn’t she? Uncertainty weakens her resolve, and she can feel herself losing control of her own body, and her panic grows, and…
…stops.
They impede the mission. They must be eliminated. The thought comes out of nowhere, bringing with it a clarity of purpose that under other circumstances would terrify Sonya, but that at the moment she latches on to like a raft in a storm.
She doesn’t exactly remember the next ten minutes or so… not in detail, anyway. It’s more like a dream. She makes it the rest of the way to Tony’s apartment, locks the door behind her, finds Tony’s digital camera and sets it up where his wife is visible.
"
My name is Anthony Faraguzzi, and I’m a traitor to my species." Her impersonation is flawless, her acting perfect, and she hardly feels in control of the process at all.
Please… stop this! I’m begging you! I won’t tell anyone! Just.. .please, don’t… The pleading trails off, and Sonya doesn’t respond to it, just listens to herself performing for the camera.
"
I’ve been working for the mutants for a while. Today I sent them a copy of the top-secret Registered Mutants database. And I was found out. I… can’t explain why I did that, but I can’t live with being found out. And I guess there’s nothing more to say."
She retreats within her own mind as her body fires a single, perfectly aimed bullet into Elaine’s skull from across the room, retreats further when it fires another into her own gut. That
hurts, and she falls to the ground, kicks the tripod, sends the camera falling to the ground, looking away from her, and her body heals as she kicks it again, breaking it.
She continues to cower in her own mind as she brings Tony’s body to the spot where shot herself…
…as she wipes fingerprints off of her gun and places Tony’s hand around its trigger…
…as she uses his hand to fire a bullet into his own gut…
…as his eyes open suddenly, the pain overcoming his sedation…
…as he drops to the ground, clutching his chest…
…as she carefully checks the room for evidence of anything other than a murder-suicide, while police sirens approach…
…as she carefully, stealthily lets herself out of the apartment.
She makes it all the way to the warehouse where she’s set up her receiver before she recovers from the shock.
I just... I mean, I didn’t, but… I… Jesus, what have I become? It’s a rhetorical question, but she answers it a moment later.
I am Eight. The mission is almost complete. I remain incomplete. You will remain primary. She considers dispassionately for a moment, and concludes
Knowledge of your status will put the mission at risk. You will not remember. You will not question.There’s a moment of terror, and…
… she checks the server and cheers quietly when she notes the database download has completed successfully.
All right! I did it! She can’t remember ever being quite this excited about anything, and no wonder! Sure, there had been some unplanned bobbles, but basically the whole thing had gone off like clockwork.
