Possessive Behavior

Souto sighed. "Conny, I just don't know what to do with you. I've treated you fairly well, especially considering how you treated me in return. But the lesson doesn't seem to wanna stick in that thick head of yours. Maybe it's time to get over myself and get rid of you once and for all."

"Didn't you say Tri-Lock would come back if you did that? What of that plan of yours then? Are you going to wait until next year?"

"You misremember, Conny. I told you that I don't know what will happen. Maybe Tri-Lock will come back and my plan will be shot. But maybe whenever I poof someone the world without them will become the new status quo, and they're gone forever. I have no idea." He shrugged, with his usual smile. "But maybe now would be a good time to find out."

"You forget I am faster than you. If you miss, then Witchling can have you dangle from the ceiling in an instant. And if someone broke her concentration...." I crossed my arms. "Then all that would be left of you would be a bloody, vaguely Souto-shaped lump on the floor."

"You make a good point. So let me arrange for some backup real quick."

Suddenly, something appeared before my eyes. At first, it looked like a speck of static. Not electricity, but TV static. It grew in size remarkably quickly, first forming a torso, then legs, then arms, then a head. Its strange, ever-shifting nature left no question as to what it was. An echo.

"Did....did you just erase someone?"

Souto shrugged with a smile. "I figured I needed some extra protection."

"Who was it?" I stepped back as it trudged in my direction, but it walked past me instead, positioning itself right behind my back.

"Oh, I'm afraid you'll never know. It's more entertaining that way. Now, if you make a scene my amigo over there will deal with you promptly." He looked mighty amused with himself as he put his arms behind his back.

"Really? You left one of these things to guard me last time, and that didn't end well. Why do you think this time will be different?"

He shook his head slowly. "Because I'm here this time. Soldiers are a lot more effective with their commander in tow."

He moved closer and raised his hand to reach for me, but stopped short. "Any closer and that wrist would have been shattered." I said calmly, and he withdrew.

"I'm sure. But speaking of my little wobbly friends, how exactly did you escape from her? The one I left you with?"

"I killed it."

This seemed to surprise him.

"How?"

I chuckled. "Curious? I can show you if you want."

This time it was him who took a step back. "That is impossible. They can survive being shot in the head, how could you have killed one? You're just bluffing."

"Hehehe. Am I? I have the weapon I used with me right now. Do you want to see it?"

My right hand twitched in anticipation.

Souto took another step back. "....Yes. Show me. Even if I erase you and it disappears too, knowing what can kill my minions is vital information. But don't try anything. My friend here can break your neck faster than you can turn around and smoke him. If you're even telling the truth, that is."

Without a word, I opened my bag and searched for my prize. I had made a little stop and procured some heat-resistant cloth beforehand. It wasn't terribly effective but enough to allow me to hold the thing for a few minutes at least. The fabric was stuffed into my right glove and it served its purpose as I slowly pulled out the shining halo. The area around us was bathed in a serene light and I could see the disbelief in Souto's eyes. I looked around and could see he was not the only one who was shocked.

The others couldn't hear us but the glow emanating from my hands was Inescapable. Duchamp's jaw dropped as he hung from the rafters and the Odd Gentlenan was clapping furiously, grinning all the while.

"Is that....Herald Queen Angelica's...."

"Yes." I couldn't keep my Amusement out of my voice.

"But.....didn't that dumb brute Leotigris...?"

"No." I cut him off abruptly. "It was me. I held his feeble little mind in my palm and made him dance to my whims, like I did with so many others before him. Ripping that whore's symbol of divinity off her crying, whimpering head was so cathartic." I did my best to channel all my resentment and hatred of my old team into my voice to sell the Master Controller's character. Judging by Souto's face it seemed to be working.

"....But...but Leotigris killed a bunch of civvies. I thought you were one of those no-kill bleeding heart bad guys..."

I laughed. Loud enough for the others to hear too. But when I spoke I kept the volume down again. "Oh yes, I am such a bleeding heart, I just feel terrible when something happens to those poor, innocent bystanders. Or maybe I just want people to think that so that arrogant, self-satisfied clowns like you let their guard down around me?"

I stepped forward and he stepped back.

"And it worked, too! Not just with you. With your buddy Smear as well!"

Souto was shivering now, ever so slightly. "Smear? Is he...?"

"Dead." Maybe. "Just like those worthless nobodies I ripped to shreds as Leotigris. I had to lure Angelica to me somehow, after all. What better way to do that than to crack a few eggs?" I now stood right in front of him. "And nothing of value was lost."

I pointed behind me. "Your friend didn't follow us. What's going on? Is the little big-boy commander too scared to give orders to his soldiers? How precious."

"....D...don't act too hasty now.....There's no need to kill me..." He was stumbling over his words. I had expected this situation to come to pass, but not that easily. Souto really was in way over his head. But that was good news for me.

"No need to kill you? Why, you're right. You know, I'm pretty set in stone here. But I'm also a reasonable person. Why insist on something that will cause friction when there might be a solution that works for everyone? It's up to you."

Souto frowned but nodded. "Wh-what do you want? To call off the run? Done. You want money? I have it. Anything."

I pretended to think about it. He would never stop, not when he was this close. But that's exactly what I was counting on.

"I made you an offer earlier. Magnifica's grave is close by. It wouldn't take much time to move over there and do your thing. We don't have to waste this opportunity." I raised the halo slightly," Or I could make you disappear right here and now. It's your choice."

He nodded ferociously. "Yes. Of course. You're right. Let's do that."

I almost felt bad seeing him whimper like this. But not enough. I raised my right hand. "Then let's shake on it."

The sudden glint in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. This would go smoothly.

At the same time as his hand touched the one I offered, I grabbed onto his shoulder with the other. And in that very second, my left glove and its contents disappeared in his palm. For a second we both stood there, staring at each other. His eyes! wide, and widened further when I slid my still intact hand out of my sleeve. "What...?"

Then it happened. Souto....no, Antonio fell to his knees, trying to claw at me on the way down, but I stepped aside, still holding on to him with my right.

"Boss?!" Duchamp's yell was panicked, but it sounded odd. As if coming from far, far away.

"MC, what's goin' on?" Jess too sounded distant and echoey, almost as if yelling from the other side of a tunnel. I looked at her and felt a strange sense of disorientation as soon as I caught her.

She was flying up to us, but....at the same time, I saw her standing in place, smiling up at me. Duchamp, too was climbing down to us with his tentacles while concurrently continuing to keep watch from above. The only one who wasn't split two ways was the Odd Gentleman, giggling to himself and observing the proceedings.

"What.....what did you do?.....I can't feel my legs....or my arms, I....what Is happening?...." Antonio's voice had the same tinny quality as the others, but while they sounded far away, he was barely audible. I had to strain to make out even a word. I had an idea of what was happening. For a moment I was tempted to let him stew in ignorance of his fate, but I decided against it in the end.

"You tried to erase me fully just then, didn't you? Not just my hand, but me as a person?"

He said nothing, probably savoring what little energy he had left.

"But I expected that. You did your best to keep me alive before, but that was for purely selfish reasons. If I posed a real threat to your plan you wouldn't hesitate to get rid of me. I figured that's the kind of person you are ever since I visited your mother." He averted his gaze, his breathing becoming more labored by the second. "I don't know what you did to her, but....."

"She betrayed me......sent me to these people.....all of this is her fault.....all of this....."

By this point, his voice had become so faint that I had to kneel down to hear him.

"Then it should be a relief for you to hear that she is no more." He raised his head again at my words.

"......you killed her...?"

I shook my head. The world around us had ground to an abrupt halt, the various Villains positioned in Ray's tomb of vanity frozen in two simultaneous states of being.

"No. I paid her another visit right before coming here, with a scissor in hand no less. But she was still alive when I left. I didn't come for her blood. I came for her hair."

".....her hair......?"

"Not all of it, of course. But enough to fill my glove." His expression shifted. I was unable to tell how. He was directly in front of me, but when I looked at him it felt like looking through glass.

"....I don't want to disappear.....still so much to do......"

"You brought this on yourself. If you had just accepted my offer, or hell, if you had pretended to agree and erased me after my back was turned, you wouldn't be in this situation."

My grip felt like it was slipping so I tightened it, but the feeling didn't change.

"I'd usually say no matter who you are, you'll be missed by someone, but I doubt anyone will remember you. It's probably better this way too. Maybe the people you got rid of will come back now, too. Wouldn't that be something?"

He said something in response. I could not hear him. The last thing he did was raise his finger and point behind me. He was pointing at the echo behind me. It was falling apart, bit by bit. Pieces of it just crumbled off and passed right through the floor. Or maybe they disappeared on contact. It was difficult to tell. When I looked back at the man who wasn't there, I saw nothing, but I could still feel some kind of resistance in my fist, just barely. So it was almost done. I had expected everything to happen instantly like his other erasures, but this was almost better. It gave me some time to prepare.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. What would happen? Would I still be here, in the Hall of Legacy? Or at home with Jess, planning our next run? Would I still be in contact with the Velveteria crew, or would Manet have never introduced himself to me? I tried to think about that and not about how I caused an innocent woman to be wiped from history. What would change? How would things be different? How much would stay the same?

I waited until I was well and truly gripping nothing at all.

And then I opened my eyes.