Difference between revisions of "Summary:Shadows of Self"

[[Waxillium]] gets off his horse and tells the teenage [[Wayne|kid]] who'd been following him to stay with the horses. He enters a grungy saloon and asks the barkeep about [[Granite Joe|"Granite Joe"]], the outlaw he has been tracking. The barkeep tells him that if he'll pay, he might know someone who knows Granite Joe. Once Wax says he will pay, the barkeep leads him to a small room near the stairs, telling him to wait. While waiting, a [[Lessie|woman]] carefully breaks in through the window, an unlit cigar in her mouth. When she realizes that someone else is in the room with her, she swears and points her rifle at Wax. After a standoff, they work out they are both after the same quarry and resolve to work together and split the reward. When Wax tells her that he asked the barkeep about Joe, she's incredulous, telling him everyone in the saloon belongs to Joe. They realize it is a trap, but when they try to escape back through the window, they are stopped by a sharpshooter. They peek out the door and see that the thugs in the saloon are obviously reluctant to face Wax. They decide to make for the next floor and escape through a window on the other side of the building. They run up the stairs, Wax firing and missing everything but the piano, and make it up to the second floor. Wax remembers seeing her before as a dancing girl. Wax whistles a couple of times for his horse so they can jump into the saddle and ride off, but he doesn't show up. Eventually the kid walks up and tells him that Destroyer (the horse) is still drinking. As they consider jumping anyway, Wax trusting in his [[steel|coinshot]] abilities to land safely, he notices a moving blue line from across the street and the sun glinting off something, so he immediately pulls himself and Lessie to the ground as a shot is fired. The sharpshooter had shifted around. Wax realizes that Granite Joe is likely in the basement, so he grabs Lessie while rolling to the ground and then uses his [[Feruchemy|feruchemical]] ability to tap and store weight along with his [[Allomancy|allomantic]] ability to Push on metal to crash down through the floor to the basement. The pair crash down onto a dining table, interrupting Granite Joe's meal. Granite Joe has two bodyguards -- armed with non-metallic weapons -- so Wax is caught in a standoff. He talks to Wax, stalling for reinforcements. Joe stands up and draws, and Wax Pushes himself to the side, just avoiding a crossbow bolt. He shoots the female guard and Pushes on the male guard's gun, ruining his shot. His Push also sends his own gun into the face of the bodyguard, dropping him. He starts moving to attack Joe when he hears a weapon click behind him. He stops and sees Lessie pointing a crossbow at him. He realizes that Lessie had been bought out by Joe too, and that the whole situation had been a set up. Wax desperately tells her that he likes her legs, and she sighs and shoots Joe in the neck. As reinforcements scramble down to the basement, Wax strikes a dramatic pose next to the body of Granite Joe. The sight intimidates the thugs who had just come down, who then immediately return the way they came. Wax and Lessie firtflirt for a bit, then he holds onto her and Pushes themselves back up to Wayne and his waiting horse.

Wax and Wayne return home. Darriance informs Wax that [[Ranette]] had been by and had left some equipment for him to test. Wax briefly talks to Steris, who reminds him about [[Lady ZoBell's party]]. She informs him that someone tried to kill the governor, but she has it on good authority that he's still going to attend. Wax decides he will need to talk to the man who tried to shoot him. They head out in a carriage driven by the new guy, [[Hoid]]. Wax puts in his earring, wondering if it had been made by killing someone, to which a distinct voice replies, startling Wax. [[Harmony]] talks to him, telling him that a [[kandra]] (now known as the Faceless Immortals) named [[Paalm|Bleeder]] is wearing the body of Bloody Tan and is the culprit behind the murders. He tells Wax that he can't stop her because she is only using one Blessing at a time, meaning she's mad, but unable to be controlled by Harmony. Wax discovers Harmony can read his thoughts, and Harmony explains that he can while the earring is in. Preservation enables him to hear Wax; Ruin enables him to speak to him. Harmony also explains that his hands are tied, and he's not able to track Paalm down himself. Hence his plea for Wax's help, though Harmony is promising to send help. During this talk, Harmony also tells Wax that he might have made life too easy for the people. He mentions some technological advancements, like radio and aviation, that they haven't bothered to discover. Harmony tells Wax to be less harsh with Marasi who is also Harmony's agent on [[Scadrial]].

Wax leaps out into the Mists[[Mist]]s. Once on the ground, he hears a car start up and speed away. He decides to chase it, hoping it's Bleeder. He lands on it and crushes it with enhanced weight, but only finds a cab driver trapped inside. Bleeder had already jumped out of the car on Tage Street. He goes there and searches but finds nothing. Suddenly, the door to a warehouse opens up revealing a dozen men, guns blazing. Wax's steel bubble protects him from all bullets but one, which gets him in the arm. He desperately retreats and is pinned down by gunfire. He sees more guys on his flank; he shoots a couple of them, and a couple of them are attacked by someone else: [[MeLaan]] (Milan). She was sent by Harmony to help Wax. Wax figures his uncle is behind this because of all the [[aluminum]] bullets, and he fears that Bleeder and the Set may be working together. They split up to attack two different groups. Wax kills several with his guns. Then, when he's out of ammo, he uses Ranette's hook device to kill the rest with some help from MeLaan. He sends MeLaan to a tavern while he goes to check on Lord Harms (due to Bleeder's threat about Wax's "father"). He Pushes past the remaining snipers and into the canal, then Pushes on the mooring rings to quickly swim away from danger.

Marasi looks up at Father Bin's corpse, nailed to the wall by two spikes, one in each eye. The conventicalists (workers at the church) are not talking, so Aradel has Marasi interrogate them instead of Reddi. She empathizes with them and gets them to reveal what happened. A Pathian priest named [[LongspurLarskpur]] had started preaching to the congregation, gathered for the mistdawn, then lowered a drape revealing Father Bin nailed to the wall. Marasi reports to Aradel and he orders Reddi to get tea for the witnesses. Marasi complains that he's making him hate her, and Aradel says he's doing it because Reddi is worthless unless he's competing with someone. Marasi suggests that the murders and the unrest in the city are all related -- all the work of Bleeder trying to make the city fall. Even the flood, causing the food shortage, might be attributable to sabotage. She also tells Aradel of her secret file on Governor Innate. Wax shows up and demands to see the body himself. Aradel resents Wax because he can do whatever he wants, and he has to clean up his messes. Wax doesn't think the spikes are hemalurgic but asks for a sample anyway. He invites Marasi to his meeting with MeLaan so they can figure out Bleeder's abilities and motives.

{{summaries|done|date=?}}

{{Mistborn|eraEra 2}}

[[category: Mistborn|*e2+2.2s2]]

[[category: Mistborn Era 2|*2s+2]]