Brooding....
Tony didn't like this.
He paced restlessly back and forth across the hotel lobby, oblivious to the stares he received from the other hotel patrons and staff -- attention someone like him would always elicit no matter where they went. Every now and then he would pause in front of the door, staring out almost longingly, before moving on again. He'd shown an amazing amount of self-control, though; he'd consciously refrained from picking up or even touching anything so that he wouldn't break it, all the windows were still intact, and -- most importantly -- he had not left.
The day had been fine enough -- fighting and killing came as naturally to him as breathing -- but when the group decided to come here to E's safehouse, he felt like he'd been struck by a mountain. Enigma was the one member of their little crew who he did not trust at all, and knew he never would. By her own admission she had no identity -- she had lots of identities, but no real one -- she was a make-believe person. He tried to pretend she didn't exist, ignoring her instead of giving her a chance to get inside his head, to once again blur the line between real and imaginary. She was a walking contradiction like that -- obviously she really existed, he knew that -- but whenever she was around him she brought with her all those creeping doubts that still lurked in the back of his mind, doubts that only an insane person would have. And now, under the blanket of such an organization, in a building potentially filled with counterfeit people like that....
In short, Tony wanted out.
He'd kept all this to himself for the sake of the group; they already thought he was crazy, but he wasn't, he wasn't -- and he needed this group. Finding and protecting his remaining brothers and sisters, somehow destroying the seal that was being drawn around Austin, there was too much at stake here and Tony knew he couldn't do it by himself. He was not a planner, he wouldn't even know where to start. So he needed the others -- all except E. Her, Tony wanted absolutely nothing to do with.
He paused before the front door again, reached out slowly for the handle, then caught himself, pulled his hand back and stalked away like a caged animal.
He knew Evan had his reservations about her as well; he'd been very hesitant, exhausting every other option before deciding they should come here. The fact that Evan decided it was the only reason Tony was here at all. He trusted the son of Tyr more than anyone -- Evan who had, quite literally, knocked him back into reality, back to his senses. Evan made him feel grounded and stable; E made him feel nebulous and, well....vulnerable.
Tony hated feeling vulnerable.
That was why Tony would refuse to wear that damned armband, even if Evan decided he should. The only possible reason would be to hide him from the Fates, which would mean admitting he needed to hide. It might be prudent, but it was also cowardly and infuriating. Tony would sooner break the thing than wear it for even a moment.
And, speaking of things he would rather break than deal with, what could drive a Scion of the Smoking Mirror to seek his help? Tony wasn't privy to much of the inner workings of the Atzlánti, and he didn't care to be, but he did know that Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli didn't exactly get along. The situation would have to be pretty dire for this mystery Scion to ask for his help in the first place, much less owe him afterward.
Unless it was a trick. The Lord of the Smoking Mirror was a pretty deceptive bastard who always stirred up trouble, and the Scions don't fall far from the tree. There were a lot of things about that message that didn't add up, including a messenger whom none of them had seen and had trusted a scared shitless human ghost to relay for it. It was entirely possible that this whole thing was a trap -- a not-so-subtle one that even Tony could see. Tezcatlipoca working together with Tony's moon-faced aunt to take his father out of the picture.
Or Tezcatlipoca realizing that after Huitzilopochtli got the axe, he might be next. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all that.
Why else would Annie's vision, if she was looking for other Scions of Huitzilopochtli, take them to a dead person who had nothing whatsoever to do with the Atzlánti, if not because of that message? Isabella and the cyclopes were an unrelated coincidence, of that Tony was pretty sure. Trap or not, there had to be some sort of substance to it. Whether or not he had to was a moot point -- it was a risk Tony knew he was going to take.
He kept pacing.