The Frosted Files:Open Eyes

//Chapter 10\\

    Right as I hit my head, I woke up on a floor, drenched in what I hoped was water. There were chains around my ankles, knees, rists, and shoulders. I was gagged, too, a thick cloth tied around my head and in my mouth. To top things off, the fucker had ripped off my prosthetic, leaving bits of technology embedded in my flesh, but not much. It was too dark to see much, but I heard Locke's voice speaking.
    Somewhere in the room was a very loud clock, ticking away.
    As my vision cleared, I saw a greenscreen setup, with a camera pointed at it. Locke was talking to the camera, with my revolver in his hand.
    I must have made some sort of sound when I woke up, because Locke paused his little speech and stared into the camera for a second more.
    "Seems our guest star has woken. Let's bring him in," he said with a smile. He then turned to me, and stalked over. I tried to sit up, and settled for leaning on an elbow after my body protested. My nose felt broken, my shoulder throbbed with pain, and I likely had a concussion, but none of that mattered, because Locke had a gun. Guns are a very versatile tool - they can be used to kill, sure, but also to maim, to inflict pain before death. They can be used as blunt weapons, with the handle or grip, or as their intended bullet shooting form. And he had mine, my gun, that I used and trusted. His own revolver was still tucked into his belt, instead of the holster he used to wear. Strange.
    When he got to me, he whipped my revolver across my face. I felt the inside of my cheek hit teeth and rip, and I spit blood onto the floor. He seemed satisfied with this, and dragged me over to the greenscreen setup. I made a sound of protest, but he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it back, so that I faced the camera.
    "Ladies and gentlemen, Fate Destiny Frost, caught, bound, and gagged. This little snake has been a nuisance to me and my group for a long, long time, and while I'm sorry to have interrupted your regularly scheduled programs, I figured this would be a little bit more entertaining. Today, and only today, we will be viewing the first live execution in a very long time. But first, some fun." He smiled, and pointed the gun at me. I braced myself for the worst, squeezing my eyes shut, and heard the hammer get pulled back.
    "Uh, sir, didn't you have things you wanted him to say first? Y'know, while he's still conscious and... whole?" Some voice asked from the shadowy parts of the room. Locked rolled his eyes, but lowered the hammer slowly and tucked the revolver into his belt, beside his own.
    "Yes, Matvey, I did. Thank you for reminding me." Locke stalked off the little stage, off to a little side podium that held some papers. I looked at the camera, tracing the wires down to the floor and off to the power source, an extension cord that came in through the main door. For some reason, this room had no outlets, no windows, nothing a legally standard room would have.
    Maybe it was a cell. I don't know why a mansion would have a cell - or, well, I guess I do. A lot of richer folk tend to indulge in certain gross illegal activities, and cells come in handy for keeping those grossly illegal indulgences in place. Those kinds of people never lasted long in my city - I personally made sure of it. That's likely why these folk moved out before I could get to them. Bullets and blades made a great deterrent for the sick fucks that call themselves people.
    Locke came back over to me, a few papers in hand. He shoved one in front of my face, but the overhead lights made it too bright to read the little pencil marks. He went to pull my gag down, and as soon as he did, I lurched forward and bit his hand, biting down as hard as I could. I tasted blood well from under my teeth, and Locke yelled, kicking me in the gut. I fell back onto my side, and Locke grabbed me by the hair, pulling me back up to a sitting position. I felt his blood from his hand seep into my hair. That'd take a while to clean out, assuming I made it out of here, which I was.
    "Read the fucking papers, Frost." He said, shoving them back into my face. I went in to bite him again, and he backhanded me, hard. I went down, a ringing in my ears, likely from my already potentially-concussed head getting hit again. Muttering under his breath, he came over and undid my arm bindings, holding the barrel of one of the revolvors against the back of my head as he pulled my arms to my front and redid the chains.
    I grabbed the papers when he shoved them at me again, and held them close. When he had taken my gun and hand, he - or whoever had searched me - neglected to deprive me of the vial Adrian had given me. I guess a little glass vial of red smoke was no threat, maybe they thought it was cologne or something. Regardless, I rested my handless wrist against the outside of my pocket, feeling the vial against my chest.
    The light dimmed, and I could see the paper.
    I gave it a quick look over, then looked back up to Locke, who stood to my side. "Like hell I'm reading this, you-"
    He raised my revolver again.
    "Little-"
    He pulled the hammer back.
    I looked between him and the camera and let out a heavy sigh. Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit. He had me near a checkmate. I didn't know what the vial did when it broke, only that it was an 'emergency only' situation in which it should be used, but what kind of emergency had Adrian planned for? More chloro-fiends? Gunmen? An evil Batman clone? I doubt it had been for this, for me being bound and near defenceless.
    I looked back to the paper and cleared my throat.
    "Citizens of Arbitrium, this is Fate Frost, your-" I choked up. Locke waved the revolver a little bit, and I scowled at him.
    "Your hero. I have been rightfully captured, caught, and beaten by a man named Locke Flintwood, the rightful owner of Frost Incorporated. He built the company, and I stole it, like the little baby thief I am. What? What the hell-" I began at the stupidity of this, but Locke cleared his throat.
    "Strike two."
    I turned back to the paper.
    "Locke will be my sole inheritor after my passing - this video being proof of change of will. He will take over everything I own or co-own, taking my place on any council, group, or legal matter. After my very fortunate death, all assets under my name will be placed into his, Locke Flintwood's, name instead, immediately upon my death. After this live airing is over, the recorded video will be played every Sunday, at three in the afternoon. Arbitrium, farewell, my reign is over."
    I looked up to Locke, into the barrel of my gun.
    "It's time for a tyrant."
    I closed my eyes...
    ...And I broke the vial.
    Afterwards, I heard the report of the gun, but I didn't get shot. I slowly opened them, and saw that Locke stood, motionless, my gun still raised. A foot in front of him, hovering mid air, was the fifty caliber bullet. The little red light that was blinking on the camera had frozen on, and Matvey stood behind it, eyes wide. The clock, which I now saw was on the wall to my right, had stopped ticking, too.
    I shifted to my side, and nothing moved, except for one small detail.
    Red mist was leaking from inside my coat.
    I scrambled back away from the bullet, the mist, Locke.
    It just kept coming and coming, and everything else remained frozen.
    I looked around, and got to my feet, doing a mix between a shuffle and a hop over to the podium where Locke had had his papers. My hand sat on a little shelf on the inside of the podium, right below where the papers were, and I grabbed it, but the tech wouldn't respond whenever I held it to my wrist.
    Among the other papers on the podium was a key, an almost comically old fashioned key like you might see in cartoons or comedy movies. I grabbed it and tried it against the padlock on my wrist, to no luck, but the one around my legs gave out. Now I could actually balance, sort of.
    The mist still poured from my coat, but it moved over to a spot near Locke, where I had previously knelt. It was swirling slowly, not a wisp of red smoke escaping the mini vortex. I didn't know what else to do, so I watched as the smoke slowly stopped coming out of the broken vial, and joined the swirling mass of red.
    After what felt like an hour, I went over and sat next to it. Another hour later, something changed. The smoke started to solidify, growing denser, thicker. Sparks of a darker red flashed among the redness, arcing like lightning. Curiosity got the best of me, and I hesitantly reached my hand out to it, still bound by chains at the wrist and shoulders.
    A little shock of red lightning leapt out and struck my finger, sending a jolt up my arm and down my spine, followed by a loud boom.
    Great, first I get beat, then electrocuted. Wonderful day, this is.
    Except, I've been electrocuted before. This didn't feel like sticking a fork in an outlet, or even a tongue in an outlet. This felt different, this felt good. This felt like Power.
    Whatever the shield from the rings was made of was the very same stuff being shocked through my body right now. It was over as soon as it started, but the feeling lingered.
    And then the laughing started.
    At first, it had no origin - just a bodiless, deep, rich laughter echoing around the room. But as the smoke solidified more, so did the laugh, and, you guessed it, the laugh came from the solid non-smoke.
    Details began to form from the dense non-smoke, forming some kind of humanoid being, minus the lower half, which stayed as a swirling red mist.
    More details formed, and a head formed, and a face, and eyes - crimson eyes the colour of the lightning that had zapped me.
    And, after a moment, after hours of waiting, before me stood... Something. I was tempted to call it a ghost - the lower half remained smoke, even if it faded into the upper half, which was a very muscular man with blood red skin, who stood - or, stood as much as a guy without legs can stand - nearly nine feet tall. He had black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, and a very joyous face - his smile promised warmth and fun, his eyes sparkled with mischief. He wore nothing but a set of golden bands around his wrists, remnants of chains dangling from them.
    "Fate Frost." The being said, voice richer than any chocolate I could have found.
    "Uh- Hello, that's me, yes." I said, very stupidly. Gods, what was wrong with me?
    "You have broken my seal, and summoned me. Master so'Wyllt has ordered me to aid you should this happen - how may I help?"
    "I- uh-" I started, and looked around. Time was still frozen, so I seemed safe for now. I looked back to the red man, and started to think - and a few things clicked.
    "Are you a genie?" I asked, rather bluntly.
    That deep laugh sounded again, and the red man wiped a fake tear away in a very exaggerated manner. "No, no. Well, I suppose your people would use that term. Please, it's djinn. And I have a name."
    "Oh- I didn't mean to be rude, I- ah- sorry. What is- what is your name?"
    "Ehehe, nothing you could pronounce. Master so'Wyllt calls me Alexi, sometimes."
    "Ah, okay, thank you Alexi. Um." I sat down again, trying to get my thoughts in order.
    "Okay, quick question - is it the standard three wishes, or what?"
    Alexi smiled wider. "One absolute request, no trickery or mischief. That is all Master so'Wyllt has commissioned me for."
    One wish. One absolute wish, no trickery or mischief, meaning I didn't have to take several years to think of it.
    Still, I took a little time, thinking of what requests I could make and how they may be interpreted. While thinking, I went ahead and ripped the wires from the camera. I could ask for my arms to be unchained, but that feels like a waste of this powerful chance. I could ask for weapons, but I had access to my own gun, and whatever else was in this room. I could be blunt, maybe, something broad to acquire more help than a smaller request.
    Or, I could just; "Help me win this fight and get out alive."
    Alexi chuckled, and bent down, extending one massive pointer finger. He gently tapped the amulet on my chest, then slowly brought his hand up and flicked me on the forehead.
    "Ow! Dammit man, what the-"
    And Alexi's laugh started to get echoey, his body started to swirl back into smoke and dissipate.
    I rushed to stand behind Locke, panic starting to set in.
    Alexi disappeared, not a single wisp of red smoke left.
    I heard the clock tick, and a sudden surge of knowledge entered my mind.
    This amulet, this purple gemstone around my neck, contained some amount of Power. It held magic within it, and, as it glowed, I could feel and use this power. This, paired with the knowledge Alexi had given me, I could think of many, many ways to deal with Locke. Fire, maybe, or I could suck the air from his lungs. Maybe freeze his blood.
    As I thought of more and more aggressive ways to beat Locke, a small thought, almost a whisper, entered my head.

    This isn't you, Fate. Maintain control of yourself - don't succumb to the magical madness. It sounded oddly like a certain white haired wizard. 
    I slowly blinked, and as I opened my eyes, the room looked different. I could see various colors of smoke float through the air - over in the corner was a dark red and violet smokey haze. Around Locke were a few green wisps, but Matvey had orange smoke, and more of it. This was called the Sight, I knew from my newfound magical knowledge, and, just like soul stares, it stayed with you for good. A blue stream of this strange smoke flowed right through the wall, and as I reached out for it, time fully came into effect.