Chapter Text
Daud was expecting Corvo to come and inflict well deserved retribution for all the bloody deeds he'd done. But the first thing he saw were rats, a tremendous swarm of them, boiling out from under the table behind his desk. A Blink and a quick application of pull dealt with that swarm, but more appeared at his feet, and they were clearly coming from the void. Corvo, clearly, at last, but where was he. A time stop and a quick peek into the void showed the clear yellow form of the former Royal Protector crouched into a ball under his table.
If Corvo was going to bring furry minions into this fight, Daud would bring in his human minions to deal with them. Three men and one woman answered his call; Thomas, Rinaldo, Pavel, and Gallia Fleet. As time resumed they set to exterminating the mass of diseased rodents with enthusiasm, using both their long knives and their wristbows. Daud blinked over to his desk, stood on top of it, stopped time again, and shouted "now we fight the duel no others could fight, against the ticking of the clock!" Daud grinned tauntingly and stood with his arms raised in the shape of a Y, sword in his right hand, daring Corvo to strike.]
Corvo did not take the bait; Daud hadn't actually expected him to be that dumb. But instead of firing a bolt or swinging his sword, the Corvo rain for the stairs while summoning more rats. With time still stopped the rats could do nothing, and Daud dispatched them with a sweep of his sword.
Frustratingly, for long minutes the fight continued in this fashion; Corvo fought more like Granny Rags then the Royal Protector he had been. The Masked Felon stayed out of sword range, climbing to Daud's bed, then on top of one of the large wooden filing cabinet, and summoning more rats, hoping that his one trick would finally work. It never did; stop time, pull, and summoned assassins made short work of the summoned rodents, though both men had to have used at least five of Piero's remedies.
Finally, Daud stumbled upon a taunt that worked. "Is this how you protected the Empress? By skulking and letting others fight for you?"
That touched a nerve, and Corvo lept off the cabinet and fired a bolt, followed rapidly by a swing of his sword. An exchange of blows followed. The fight was still not really what Daud was expecting. Corvo was clearly very skilled, but he was also very much weaker then Daud. The assassin had not suffered a single wound, while Corvo was bleeding from several small cuts. When the two men's blades locked the Knife of Dunwall won the locked blade contest easily. Corvo stumbled back. Daud felt hope for the first time since he stabbed Emperess Jessamine. He would win the fight with his nemesis, rescue Lady Emily from the clutches of Admiral Havelock, and retire to Serkonos with...
Pain bloomed from Daud's hamstrings and he fell to his knees. Corvo had summoned more rats, and they had attacked Daud from behind. Then Corvo advanced on Daud, and began to thrust his blade into Daud's guts.
Daud blinked away at the last second, while the gut stab was still a large flesh wound. He wasn't quite sure where he was heading but he landed in the partially demolished building across from his office. Daud collapsed against a wall, utterly spent. But he realized, with some surprise, that he did not actually want to die.
Corvo walked over to Daud using the metal walkways, not bothering to use Blink or other supernatural powers, not even bothering to walk quietly. Corvo's sword was in his hand, and behind that terrible mask there was an equally terrible smile.
Daud spoke, softly this time, "I have one last surprise for you, bodyguard. I ask for my life." Behind the mask, Corvo's eyes widened. This was indeed an apparent surprise. But Corvo was always clever and good at thinking on his feet. He spoke, in a voice that was clearly disused and disfigured, saying "Daud will die today - one way or another." Then Corvo raised his crossbow, and loaded a green sleep dart. Then came a pin prick and oblivion.
The first time Daud woke up he could tell, by the … aroma… that he was in the Dunwall sewers. He was propped up against a wall while Corvo was apparently having some sort of bizarre fight against Granny Rags alongside…. Slackjaw, the Bottle Street gang leader… of all people… Corvo apparently noticed that Daud was awake, and switched from firing normal bolts at the witch to firing a sleep dart at him. Daud lost consciousness again.
The second time Daud regained consciousness he was greeted by the not at all reassuring sight of Anton Sokolov in all his bearded glory, along with a bespectacled assistant, looming over him. He was tied to a table rough wood table by hemp ropes, in what seemed to be some sort of engineering building. The Royal Physician screamed a Tyvian curse Daud had heard from Pavel once, followed by “Piero, dose him again now, we can’t handle the Knife awake with Corvo gone!
The bespectacled man replied, in a calm tone, “dose him yourself, you old goat, the prepared anesthetic syringes are right by your elbow…. Also, he’s tied to the table, there’s not much he can do right now.”
Sokolov said “many men have died from underestimating the Knife of Dunwall”, but he said it in a normal tone of voice, and Daud felt the prick of an injection in his right shoulder as he did so. Unsurprisingly, oblivion was swift after that.
After that, the next time Daud woke up he was lying on a proper mattress and pillow laid on a cot made of white enameled iron, with a manacle on his leg, and another, apparently custom-made manacle enclosing his entire left hand, effectively preventing the use of his powers. Sokolov was there, but instead of the chinless man who was apparently called Piero, stood Corvo Attano, once again clad in the full uniform of the Royal Protector. His death’s head mask was not on his face; Corvo had it in his hand, contemplating it meditatively. But he put the mask away when he saw that Daud was awake, and once again he spoke, his voice odd and rough, like it was out of use and damaged. “Daud, the assassin, the Knife of Dunwall, dies tonight. But you don’t have to die with him. I’m not good at talking, since Burrows and Campbell took my tongue, so I have the rest in a note.”
Daud took the note, words written in an elegant court secretaries’ script on plain lined exercise paper. At that point Daud noticed that his clothes had been removed and that he was wearing what appeared to be a woman’s nightgown, simply decorated with lace, and in a virginal white, though his whaler uniform had been laid out beside the bed. His wounds had been cleaned, stitched, and bandaged while he was unconscious.
Daud, the assassin, dies tonight. But you have a choice. You can put on your old uniform, and walk with me to Coldridge Prison, where, after a brief trial, you will receive a well deserved execution for your many offenses against the Crown and People of Dunwall and the Empire of the Isles. Or you can give up your name and your manhood and become my concubine. If you chose the second option, I will have Sokolov sedate you and castrate you Dunwall Tower infirmary. At the same time, the Royal Physician will surgically remove the Mark of the Outsider from your left hand, which should, we think, cut you off from the Void and all of the ‘gifts’ of the Outsider. Your testicles and the Mark from your hand will become the property of the Royal Physician to use in his studies. The same thing will be true of your entire body in the event that you choose execution. To chose the second option you will state, verbally, “I give you my name and my manhood.” I will give you a new feminine name at that time. I am quite aware that I am offering you two quite unpleasant choices. I am not at all sorry about that.
Corvo Attano,
Lord Protector, Lord Spymaster, and Acting Regent.
Daud raised his eyebrows. This was indeed a pair of unpleasant choices. Daud had been ready to die at the beginning of his fight with Corvo in the flooded district, but by the end of it he had genuinely wanted to live, and that hadn’t changed.
Sex was not really of much interest to Daud, and he was not physically attracted to either men or women, but Daud was not disgusted by sex either, and if providing Corvo with a human outlet for his urges would be of assistance to the Lord Protector, he was willing to do that. But the idea of his body being altered according to someone else’s whims, losing his name, the only thing he had left from his mother, and living the rest of his days as a “woman”, was extremely unpleasant. But in the end, Daud was a survivor, and he always had been. It was not in his nature to willingly walk to his own execution when there was any other alternative. “I give you my name and manhood.”
Corvo smiled. “I’m glad you made the more interesting choice. Thank you, Lydia.”
Then Corvo kissed him. It was a thorough and possessive kiss, with tongue, though it was as gentle as it was firm. Daud responded with a practiced simulation of ecstatic submission; it had been more than fifteen years since Daud had been a whore, but you don’t ever really forget some things. Corvo pulled up his sleeves. Then Daud felt the prick of Sokolov’s hypodermic near his neck, and oblivion claimed him again.