Manus Fortuna (Virtue)/Death of a Seer - Birth of a Hero
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Death of a Seer, Birth of a Hero
Written By Garielle
The Plan
Seer Vance stood atop Fort Darwin, staring out over the water as if watching for something. He actually saw very little of what lay before him, his mind focused on what he must do. He has spent the past week trying to convince himself it was no big deal. Yes, he would need to kill someone, but it was not like that would be a first. Besides, he was a Praetorian, and even worse--a Praetorian version of himself. He was well aware of the atrocities such a man would be capable of. If Lucas didn't eliminate him, he would no doubt be part of Cole's invasion force. This was nearly a preemptive strike, and was the right thing to do.
Even as the thought went through his mind, he knew it wasn't true. He had done his homework in preparation for carrying out his plan. He knew that the Praetorian Lucas was a member of the Wardens, a group which appeared to oppose Cole. By all accounts, his counterpart had never crossed the line and taken an innocent life--which was more than he could say for himself. Seer Vance tried to push his current line of thought aside. What difference does it make? This was was not something he was doing by choice, this was necessary. Just this one last foul act, this one last black mark on his soul, and he could free himself from Arachnos and begin to make amends for the things he had done. He would just have to add this to the long list of things he must pay penance for.
A year ago, he had begun to develop the persona of Manus Fortuna. He used this persona to develop contacts in the Rogue Isles, as well as Paragon City. As Manus Fortuna, he was able to feed information to Longbow and other groups in Paragon City. He was always careful in the information he passed on. He didn't want to pass on anything which could be easily traced back to him. He didn't want either side to know his true identity--ever.
His end game plan had always been to somehow stage his own death, at the hands of Manus Fortuna. The one detail he was lacking was what to do about a body. Without one, Arachnos would continue to look for him. The whole point of creating the Manus Fortuna was so that the Archnos Seers would not know who they were looking for. This would make it much more difficult for them to track him. The recent flood of Praetorians into primal Earth presented him with the solution to his dilemma.
Laying a trap for his prey would be difficult. He knew that the Praetorian possessed psychic capabilities which were equal to his own. His physical prowess also seemed to match his own. The more intricate the plan, the more likely it would be that the Praetorian would see it coming, dooming it to failure. He had observed the Praetorian from afar, never getting close to him, never trying to probe him directly. He had, instead, gently poked the minds of those around his target to learn what he could. He had even been able to plant simple suggestions in some of their minds to get them to ask certain questions or be in certain places at the right time. As long as they did not know why they were asking or that they were asking the question for someone else, there would be nothing for the Praetorian to sense.
The plan had produced exactly the piece of information he needed. He learned that the Praetorian would be crossing to Primal Earth. He knew when. He knew where. He knew he would be alone. The time was at hand when he could complete the final phase of his plan and leave the Rogue Isles forever. There were still preparations to be made, but he was sure he could have them done in time. He would need to put a shroud in place to mask his psychic presence. He knew that it wouldn't work for an extended period of time, but he didn't need it to. He just needed to maintain it long enough for the Praetorian to carry through with their plan for coming to Primal Earth. Just an hour or two should do the trick.
