We Have All the Time in the World

[Laura Kinney]

"Oh, this better be good. Go on then."

[Roland Sackville]

"Go to your master and ask about Mr. Stanton's legal status. I'm sure I'm not going anywhere."

[Laura Kinney]

"If you think you're getting out of this on a technicality then you better think again. That all you got to say?" Laura growls back at him, clearly looking to end the conversation on account of being close to losing her cool.

[Roland Sackville]

"Well, I'm saying if the only reason you have for locking me up is "committing more crimes", then your work is done. Good show, well done and all that, but your work is finished.

If you prefer, I will swear on the land and the sky that I shall cause no harm and commit no crime against anyone going forward. You have nothing to fear from me."

[Laura Kinney]

"Listen here, buddy. I'm the first here who'll understand that sometimes you have to get your hands dirty for the greater good, but somehow I'm not feeling like you did everything you could to avoid killing somebody. And a flippant lack of remorse isn't making this any better. You kill someone when you have no other choice, not to avoid putting yourself between whatever's coming and the rest of the world!"

[Roland Sackville]

"What other choice do you believe I had? I'm all ears."

[Laura Kinney]

"You coulda talked to Samantha, for starters. And if she does go bonkers you could have fought to pull her out of it. And if that didn't work, then you might wanna start about killing people. But at the very least you could have fought someone actually responsible, not somebody who happens to know her in another world!"

[Roland Sackville]

"Where does Samantha enter into this? I have no interest in Samantha."

[Laura Kinney]

"She's the one who picked 'Morrigan' as her codename. I thought you were worried about her going off the deep-end and opening some kinda fairy realm."

[Isolde Schwarz]

"Perhaps he's made his peace with the inevitable," she chuckles.

[Roland Sackville]

Roland sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I see that this is all a giant miscommunication. Let me attempt to lay it out more plainly.

I am the Anvil of Dagda. The automaton, to the best of my reckoning, is the Spit of Nethin. The boy is the Cook-pot of the Morrigan. These are the three tools that constitute a blacksmith, as according to our ancient Triads.

It is written that, when the three are joined, the Rule of Man will be overthrown, and the Tuatha de Danann will retake dominance of the islands, and from there, the world. It would be the end of humanity as you know it -- subservient, slaves to beings beyond our comprehension. Man overthrew them once by being cunning and clever and catching them by surprise; it would not happen again.

The tools were originally simply artifacts themselves --- physical tools, "gifted" by the Danann to the Milesians; a showing of "good faith". They were, in reality, a clever stratgem, and once we learned of their true purpose, they were destroyed.

It is not that simple, however. They have been reincarnated, time and time again, in...representatives. Subjects. Aspects of the Gods themselves. The Spit is the spark, the idea that begins the act of creation. The cooking pot is the medium in which the world is transformed. The anvil provides the force that bends the raw elements to their new forms. They are naturally drawn together, and, if they remain together long enough, will break down the barriers between our realm and the Sidhe.

This is all fact. You may look it up in the ancient texts, if you so desire. It is also the reason why your automaton and her page were drawn back to my time -- two of the tools becoming drawn together. It overrides sense and logic, free will and fate. It is a danger, thrust upon us by those who would reclaim their thrones.

Death and chaos will follow if the Three Tools are allowed to establish themselves, and the Gods have become craftier. I have removed -- that is the term, removed -- several Cooking Pots from existence. I have sworn to defend Ireland in her hours of greatest need, and I shall continue to do so. I sit here because Ireland, for the moment, is safe.

The Gods have become craftier, though. Their current Spit is a being who is not alive. Their current Cooking Pot is a being who does not bleed. And their current Anvil is a being who can not die. I fear the day will come when I will not be successful in saving mankind. But until the spark of life on this world finally sputters to a halt, I shall try."

[Isolde Schwarz]

"Ah, but Battlecrow does not abide by the terms of surrender the Children of Danu brokered," she grins.

"I am certain some of my associates would chew your ear off to explain that one."

[Roland Sackville]

"The girl is not the Morrigan. If she had been, I would not have been able to defeat her Champion."

[Isolde Schwarz]

"You seem very certain in your alwayses and your nevers," she chuckles.

[Roland Sackville]

"The benefit of experience, my dear."

[Laura Kinney]

"Let me get this straight... There's three whatits. Tools. And only when all three get together do they usher in the age of... magic and shit. So instead of sitting your ass down in a cave and sealing off the entrance you go around and actively seek them out? Cause lemme tell you, I'm pretty sure we can dig pretty deep holes these days, maybe we should just stick you under some mountain where they keep all the radioactive waste and call it a day. Hell, I'm sure if Minamida set her mind to it she could shoot you into a stable orbit around the moon."

[Roland Sackville]

"And mankind has drilled into the depths of the mountain, and they've walked on the surface of the stars. It would only be a short delay of the inevitable. Fate is difficult to fight.

Believe me, I have tried to remove myself from the situation. The others find me, or I find them."

[Laura Kinney]

"Something being difficult to fight's never stopped me from trying. Have you ever considered that the tools being sentient beings now would make your job easier? That they'd share your goal and try to keep their distance? That three people could do your oh so noble task much better?" she says, glaring at Roland while something he said keeps nagging her in the back of her head.

[Roland Sackville]

"I attempted to obtain the assistance of your master automaton before. She refused. I attempted to have induct her page into the Fianna, my band of warriors, dedicated to defend Ireland. He refused.

I do have allies, who have helped me achieve my task. I do not stand alone on the mountain, spitting into the wind."

[Laura Kinney]

"I trust that 'automaton' more than I trust you right now. And that band of warriors of yours, they're all long dead, aren't they?" she calls what she is assume is a bluff pretending he has allies to come break him out.

[Roland Sackville]

"If my allies were all dead, they would not be particularly useful allies, would they?"

[Laura Kinney]

"You're talking magic bullshit. I got a werewolf in the cell opposite of yours. We had pixies stabbing people with needles and a pirate ship in the harbor. A bunch of undead Irish warriors would piss me off but not surprise me at this rate."

[Roland Sackville]

"...That's more than fair.

I swear that, to the best of my knowledge, the Fianna are all dead, except for myself, and that they plan to remain that way for the foreseeable future."

[Laura Kinney]

"Well, if you managed to make some new friends then they're free to try and bust you out. I'll be waiting."

[Roland Sackville]

"I'm not sure why I would have them bust me out. Again, Ireland is safe for the moment.

And, again, if your only reason to hold me here is to prevent more "crimes", as you put it, your work here is done.

[Laura Kinney]

"And if the tool reincarnates into another person I assume you'll go after them as well, so I think I'll just keep you right here. If your work is done then you should have no problem with that, yeah?"

[Roland Sackville]

"I would request to be transferred somewhere away from the Spit, for obvious reasons."

[Laura Kinney]

"Why? Two shouldn't matter, right?"

[Roland Sackville]

"No, but if there is a reincarnation this time, it would be simpler for the fey to place it in one location rather than to have to find two.

I do hope my solution will prevent that from happening, but no one ever suffered from an excess of caution."

[Laura Kinney]

"I'll think about it." she grumbles, despite the fact that she pretty much already told him he'd be moved eventually.

"What about you, you got anything new to add to your vague prophetic mumbo-jumbo about the light and the dark, while I'm down here?"

[Isolde Schwarz]

"Oh, none of it new. I just thought it was... oh, how to put it, fair to warn you?"

[Laura Kinney]

"Riiiight. Thanks a bunch for that." she says before turning back to Roland. "So you think you killed the, what was it, the 'Hearth' and now you're just going to sit here?"

[Roland Sackville]

"Cooking-pot, usually, though Hearth isn't entirely an incorrect translation," Roland said, flipping into lecture mode for a moment.

"And while I'd prefer not to just sit here, if that's the end of the story, I shall wait. Bricks decay, buildings fall, regimes change. I am patient."

[Laura Kinney]

"You know what, if you're really as old as Minamida says then maybe I'll even buy that as not a bluff. How did you put together a list of ingredients that disable one particular mutant no one knew existed until recently?"

[Roland Sackville]

"If you must know -- and this is public knowledge, I suppose -- I got it from a fish."

[Laura Kinney]

"Okay could you try that again in English please?"

[Roland Sackville]

"The Salmon of Knowledge feasted on hazelnuts from the Well of Wisdom, gaining all the world's knowledge. I ate of the salmon's flesh, and in turn, gained that knowledge."

He bit his thumb.

"Did I have you as a server at..."'Wannabee's', was it?"

"Anyhow, the visions aren't always specific -- the questions must be precise -- but knowledge is power, when properly applied.

It must be used relatively sparingly, though. Or infrequently might be a better term."

[Laura Kinney]

Laura blinks but is quick to regain her tough facade.

"Fine, you know things. Doesn't really matter how, right? Where'd you get all that crap?"

[Roland Sackville]

"Some of it I've picked up on my travels. And, as I said, I have allies who helped me achieve my task -- in return for favors I have done in the past. I had to call in quite a few, but I'm sure you'll agree the future of humanity was worth it."

[Laura Kinney]

"Assuming you are correct. Do those friends have names?"