Morrigan sat down on the opposite side of Grub and crossed her legs. The couch groaned under the added weight. She set her bottle on the floor beside her and cracked her knuckles one at a time before holding out her hands.
"Alright. Bring that fucker here."
Grub hesitated for only a second before slowly extending his arm. The black Mgbaaka Maara still sat around his wrist, its runes faintly glowing beneath the dim light of the room. It had been there for so long that part of him had almost forgotten what it felt like not to wear it. Almost.
Morrigan grabbed his arm with surprising gentleness and placed it across her lap, turning his wrist upward so the Mgbaaka Maara faced the ceiling.
For a moment she just stared at it. The obsidian band sat against his skin the way it always had, its runes dim and dormant beneath the camouflage. It looked harmless, as if it were just an average piece of jewelry, like it was nothing at all. Morrigan sighed.
"What a nasty little piece of work."
She raised her hands above the bracelet and a faint glow radiated from her fingertips. The light was warm and steady, carrying the same controlled precision she had shown when healing him the day before. Then she lowered her fingers and touched the bracelet's surface as the room grew silent.
Morrigan's eyes shut close and her breathing slowed. Concentration deepened the lines on her face as her glow intensified and began interacting with the runes etched into the obsidian. The dormant symbols flared to life, glowing a sickly orange that pulsed in rhythm with Morrigan's own light. For several seconds the two energies wrestled silently, the bracelet's kill-switch mechanism fighting against the intrusion like a cornered animal.
For a brief moment the glow intensified. Then Morrigan's eyes narrowed.
"Stop being annoying."
Suddenly, a crack appeared down the middle of the band. It was thin at first, running from one edge to the other like a fracture in ice. The glow from the runes stuttered, flickered, and died. The obsidian split cleanly in two halves and fell from Grub's wrist and landed harmlessly into her lap. A second later they dropped onto the floor with a hard clunk.
The Mgbaaka Maara lay there in two pieces. Now the insidious bracelet was just chunks of black stone.
Grub looked down at his wrist. The skin beneath was slightly discolored, a faint ring of irritation where the bracelet had sat for weeks. He scratched at it and felt a rush of relief so profound it almost made him dizzy. The itch had been there so long he had stopped noticing it. Now that it was gone, the absence felt enormous.
He kept scratching and running his thumb across the bare skin where the obsidian used to be, as if convincing himself it was truly gone. Luthiel watched from beside him, her golden eyes wide and glistening. Her mitten-like hands were pressed together against her chest as if she were holding her breath.
Grub turned to Morrigan, who seemed entirely unfazed by what she had just done. The old kappa was already reaching for her bottle.
"I thought you were out of Anima," Grub said, scratching his chin. "And whatever you just did clearly required some."
Morrigan shrugged as she uncorked the bottle with her teeth. "I recovered what I needed while talking to the Guardians on the walk over. Cracking a low-grade piece of junk like that isn't exactly taxing for someone with my control."
She took a swig and then paused, a smirk spreading across her beaked face. "Don't tell me you think I was going all out back there?"
Grub's head snapped toward her. "You weren't?"
Morrigan shook her head extremely casually for the topic of a fight that had nearly decided Grub's death.
"Physically, I was. My Maladroit doesn't give me a choice in that department. I believe my girl most likely told you what Equalization does." She glanced at Luthiel, who looked away innocently. "I truly cannot hold back against anyone. Every fight is real struggle for me."
She raised a finger.
"But I have been using my ability for years upon years, kid. Do you think this was the first time someone tried a trick like those rocks on me?" She chuckled. "Or when you made me laugh. That was genuinely astounding and I'll give you credit for the creativity. But I'm not so foolish that I'd lose that easily to a stumble."
Grub sighed. That matched what he'd suspected. The victory had been real. But Morrigan had almost certainly allowed more than she admitted.
Morrigan's smirk softened "While I might've guided the match a bit, I want you to know that your performance was genuinely impressive. It has been a long time since anyone has bruised me like this." She touched the fading mark on her cheek and winced slightly. "A very long time."
Grub accepted the compliment without argument. He picked up another fruit from the dwindling pile and bit into it, letting the sweetness wash away the lingering taste of blood still sitting at the back of his throat.
"I can't believe it's actually off," he murmured, looking down at his bare wrist again. The discolored ring was already fading, the skin beneath slowly returning to its normal pale tone. "I feel so free."
The word surprised him as it left his mouth. Free. He hadn't used that word to describe himself since before the Lacert settlement. Maybe not even then. Maybe not ever, as far as his memory was concerned.
Morrigan glanced at him sideways and took another drink. Then her expression cooled by a degree.
"Don't forget what I warned you about."
Grub met her gaze and nodded. "Like I said, that won't be a problem."
The old kappa studied him for a long moment, searching his face for something. Whatever she found seemed to satisfy her, because she nodded back and settled deeper into the couch.
"Good."
A brief quiet filled the room. Luthiel's golden eyes drifted between the two of them, reading the mood with sensitivity. She stayed silent, content to let them finish. Morrigan broke the silence first.
"So. When are you supposed to report to these Lacert bastards next?"
Grub stared at the broken bracelet pieces still sitting on the cushion.
"Two days from now. They said if I didn't provide information by then, they'd trigger the kill switch." He scratched his wrist one more time out of habit, then caught himself and stopped. "I suppose that particular problem has been alleviated."
He looked up at Morrigan and his expression shifted. The relief faded, replaced by a sharper and more focused expression.
"What's the plan now?"
Morrigan scratched her chin with one claw, the water in her basin rippling gently with the motion. Her eyes drifted toward the ceiling as she thought.
"I'll call the Guardians together. Pazuzu included, much as that pain in my ass might grumble about it." She tapped the side of her bottle against her knee. "We need a proper strategy. Those Lacert fuckers are expecting a report from their little spy in two days. When that report doesn't come, and when the bracelet signal goes dead, they're going to assume one of two things."
She held up a finger. "Either you're dead and they lost their asset." A second finger. "Or you've turned on them and the village knows."
She lowered her hand. "Both of those options end the same way. They send a force to deal with it."
Grub's jaw tightened. He had already reached the same conclusion on his own. "So we get ready."
"and prepare." Morrigan echoed with a nod. "Let's gather everyone and come up with a plan, shall we?"
Grub wasn't entirely sure how he felt about sitting in a room with the Guardians. The last time they had been near him, several of them had beaten him into the ground. And being in the same space as that horned maniac while trying to plan a defense didn't sound particularly comfortable. But comfort had never been something Grub prioritized.
What he did prioritize was results. And right now, the Lacerts who had strapped a kill device to his wrist, forced him into espionage, and threatened his life for weeks were about to learn that their leash had been cut.
Grub looked down at the two halves of the Mgbaaka Maara lying dead on the couch cushion. Then he picked them up, turned them over in his hands, and set them on the table.
He wouldn't be needing those anymore.