Hallow London [Apocalyptic Urban Fantasy]

Up close… the creeping sense of wrongness Henry got from the Mad Prince was even more profound.

He probably looked like he was completely out of his league right now, to every one of his friends watching him from the sidelines. In front of him was this lithe, imposing-looking man in a mask and a black velvet shoulder cape that might as well scream 'I am a very evil person' with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and here he was, walking up to him in a ratty dress shirt and a half-open backpack.

If they thought that... then they were absolutely correct. This sort of thing never panned out well for him, and yet here he was walking up and asking for more.

Deep down, he hated the fact that he was starting to get familiar with it. He wouldn't go so far as to call it a tolerance, exactly, but his response was noticeably muted enough that he was starting to worry that he was getting overly desensitized. By this point, he could just barely match the gaze of that creepy-looking mask of his for more than a few seconds. It was a good thing he could even manage that. The Mad Prince wouldn't have been willing to even entertain a conversation with him if he couldn't.

"Oh. You again." he responded to Henry's taunt, voice dripping with barely hidden disdain. "Are you here to continue this pathetic little rivalry of yours?"

Henry grimaced, holstering the artifact pipe to discreetly fish for something in his pocket. "Come on," he called back with a bit of contempt of his own. "We both know that's not an accurate descriptor, and frankly I could do without the patronizing right now. Unless you mean to tell me our prior bouts weren't completely one-sided?"

"No, your assessment is on point," he agreed. "But I can't help but feel a little curious about this sudden return from hiatus. Up until recently, these little tantrums always arrived like… well, clockwork."

"Very funny." Not even a hint of a smile reached Henry's face as he said those words. "Though the only answer I can really give is that I've been busy. Which, by the looks of things, you took as an invitation to do the same."

He wasn't deemed worthy of an immediate response. The mask's cold expression scrutinized him from top to bottom, and the feeling of bugs under his skin intensified. It left an odd gap in the conversation, neither of them moving a muscle as they stared each other down from a few paces distance.

...What is this, a staring contest? He must really want to know what I've been up to…

Mercifully, the silent inspection ended shortly after.

"Indeed," the Mad Prince finally responded, seemingly satisfied with his superiority. "Your little showing here has given me some good ideas for refinements on my new conscripts… but they seem to be falling short at the moment. How unfortunate. I'd been hoping for a day off."

...Aren't all his days basically days off?

Henry kept the confusion off his face. In the meantime, he was delivered an ultimatum.

"So, before you die horrifically, I'll ask you again: Why are you in my way? Surely, it's not just for a repeat of last time."

The question, ironically enough, did not strike fear into Henry's heart as had been intended. Instead, a great sense of relief washed over him. His hand wrapped around the small coin he'd placed in his pocket, giving it a quick flip into the air for good luck. Heads. Just as he'd hoped.

Overall things were playing out in… roughly the direction Henry wanted. Usually, it was a toss-up between whether the madman was more in a talkative mood or a combative mood. Going into this, he'd had a rough idea of how to drag out both options for as long as possible, but of the two he definitely preferred the talking far more.

Mainly because it was a two for one deal. The fighting was always going to happen no matter what.

"Oh, I just so happened to be in the area, visiting friends and whatnot. Couldn't help but notice the bit of remodeling you started." He waved his hand around, gesturing to the path of destruction they'd cut into the center of the web. "To be honest... not a big fan. I never voted off on it or anything, so I decided it was high time I performed a little civic duty."

The Mad Prince let out a short, emotionless bark of laughter. "A parasite like you? Taking responsibility? Laughable."

"Hey, call me parasite all you want, but you're the one here with the insect theme."

Underneath that mask, that remark either greatly irritated him, or had him smiling ear to ear at being hand-delivered a justification for violence. "And that small-minded characterization," he explained, "is why you always lose against me. Until next time, I suppose."

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The Mad Prince lunged, not even bothering to transform for such a quick kill. In his eyes, Henry was already as good as dead. His reactive shield flared to life encasing him in all directions, a move that would maybe buy him a split second of time before he was obliterated.

A split second was all he needed. He flipped the coin again.

Even with his quick reactions, he still nearly ran out of time. The shield shattered completely less than an instant before the artifact's magic took hold. One moment, the suffocating aura around the Mad Prince was on the verge of tearing him to shreds. The next…

The next, the coin was falling back into his palm, and the two of them were at a respectable distance from each other. As if nothing had ever happened.

Heads. Just as he'd hoped.

"I'll ask you again: Why are you in my way? Surely, it's not just for a repeat of last time."

The Mad Prince repeated himself like a broken record, none the wiser to what had just taken place. Henry had to forcibly suppress a crooked grin. If only the crazy bastard knew how ironic his statement really was.

Deja Vu Coin was definitely the right name for this artifact. Fingers crossed that my luck holds out long enough.

This was the ace up his sleeve he'd picked up in absence of his copies. It had taken a few false alarms to figure out the rules of it fully… but knowing more about how it worked now, it was almost fiendishly clever. And he was in the unique position to take full advantage of it.

Usage was simple. You flip the coin, and it saved an 'image' of the local area somehow. Not a large area, just enough to cover, say, a two-story house. Every time you flipped it afterwards, it would reset all objects within that area to their original state. Memories, too, for those who didn't have any weird mental protections like he did.

It definitely was not time travel. And thank God for that. If it had been, he'd have been fully convinced that there was no hope for any semblance of normalcy going forward.

He changed his story a little bit this time around.

"Oh, I thought I might get your attention to ask a bit of a weird question. Since when did you start working with arch-vamps? I thought your stance on them was that they were beneath you."

"They are," he readily agreed. "But they're at least more helpful than my own creations, for the time being. Măcel in particular seems to be enjoying picking off your soldier friends one at a time, when he's not busy with my other plans."

Hearing such an open admission of collusion stung. Especially since it meant that people had died in his absence.

"Don't worry," The Mad Prince confided mockingly. "You'll join them shortly."

A snap from his fingers, and heavy coils of webbing threatened to engulf Henry entirely. The shield flashed. He flipped the coin. The scene reset.

"Why are you in my way? Surely, it's not just for a repeat of last time."

That's going to get old fast, isn't it…

"You know, it occurred to me that you've only ever fought Devils one on one. Any interest in seeing how far the scales tip once the numbers advantage slips away from you?"

"Awfully rich, coming from the man who still loses after bringing three extra copies of himself to fight his battles for him. If this is supposed to be some sort of ambush you've arranged with the help of the Constable, you're sorely mistaken."

"The Constable?" Henry cocked his head to the side, befuddled. "Why him and not... Why're you bringing him up?! Is he here?"

"Oh, so your idea of evening the playing field was just bringing the failed musician. Disappointing, even by your standards."

"Wait-!"

Shield. Flip. Reset.

"Why are you in my-"

"Have you seen the Constable recently?" he blurted out. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm kind of in a hurry."

That seemed to catch him off guard. Seemed to be he wasn't too used to being interrupted. The Mad Prince just went straight for the throat that time, not even answering his question.

Flip. Reset. Still heads. But that one was on him for being impatient.

Five heads in a row… can't imagine this holding out for much longer…

Once his lucky streak ended, there'd be no more tempting fate like this or he'd be dead. He'd need to make these last few questions count.

"Surely, it's not just for a repeat of last time."

"Maybe it is," Henry bluffed. "Maybe I won a couple battles that earned me some powerful allies. Maybe the Constable ended up on the wrong side of it, and had to agree to help me jump you this time around to appease his odd set of values nobody's really pieced together. Maybe he's ambushing you right now. You know…"

He aimed his shotgun towards the sky.

"Hypothetically."

Streaks of orange light blasted high into the sky above as he fired, imitating a signal from a flare gun. The Mad Prince whipped around, expecting an incoming attack but finding none.

It only fooled his opponent for a split second, but that was all the man needed to pick out a seemingly random location on the bank of the river's far side. Where there was seemingly nobody to be found.

The ruse was uncovered pretty much from there on. Henry was already a step ahead with another coin flip.

Everything snapped back to its proper place, and the coin landed on tails.

Well, useful while it lasted. Time for Plan B with modifications.

"Surely, it's not just for a repeat of- where the FUCK are you going?!"

This time, it was Henry's turn to not dignify the other with a response. He'd come to this fight prepared to delay for as long as possible, and that meant using every last magic item at his disposal. Including the cheap, plastic hoverboard they'd found in a garage with just the barest hint of magic charge remaining.

He pulled it out of the open top flap of his backpack as he ran straight past the single most dangerous man in Hallow London, ignoring him entirely. White-colored enchantment lines pulsed through the board like a heartbeat, slowly bringing the necessary magics to bear as he sprinted for the webs covering the river.

His heart went from at rest to nearly pounding out of his chest in three seconds flat. He took a leap of faith, praying that once the hoverboard reached the optimal distance, he wouldn't lose balance at the speed he'd ran off with. Was it the stupidest thing he'd ever done? Not really, since this had an outside chance of actually succeeding. Wouldn't argue that it wasn't pretty high on the list, though.

Plan B, version 2: Pin his attention on as many things as possible!