When we finally found him, I sighed, wondering how this man could lead the three of us on such a long chase.
Susie Shooter – or, Oh Christ it's her, RUN!– was on my right, a sawed-off shotgun pointed at the sniveling little man in the off-white rain coat that I supposed, if you saw it from far enough away, would resemble mine in a superficial way.
"Can I shoot him now?" she asked.
"Not yet. First I'd like to know –"
"I don't believe in you," he said, his hand over his eyes, shielding them from the terrible sight of the three royally annoyed players that confronted him.
"Who does he think he is? Jessica the Unbeliever?" came the ghostly voice of Razor Eddie, Punk God of the Straight Razor, from my left as he stepped into position next to me. I let my jaw fall slightly open and began breathing out of my mouth to protect myself from the miasma of stench that surrounded Eddie, without looking like I was doing just that.
"He's delusional," I muttered.
"Thinking he could pull of being John Taylor," Susie chuckled. "Yeah, I'd say his grasp of reality isn't very strong."
"You hold no power over me unless I believe you do," he shouted at us, peeking through his fingers for a split second, and then scrunching them shut beneath his splayed fingers. His knees knocked together, fluttering like some sort of farcical parody of fear.
Sid Vicious' screams from Anarchy in the UK split the night.
"Sorry," Eddie said, and silenced his cell phone. "I forgot to put it on vibrate."
"Now, if we can avoid any other interruptions…," I said, aware of how petulant I sounded. I turned back to the man who'd been going around for the last two nights, pretending to be me –
Two things happened simultaneously, well three actually, but who's counting. The man in question produced a gun and fired it upon us without looking, Susie returned fire, and Razor Eddie moved through a slice of space and time without any perceived motion.
When the smoke cleared, Susie looked smug and Eddie was now on the other side of the man.
"But, but, I don't believe in you…," the man said as he sagged to his knees and fell forward onto his face; a thin line of red appearing on the back of the coat was the only indication of damage.
"That was impressive Eddie. I never even saw you move. Is that a new upgrade?"
"After the Walking Man…" Eddie said, still facing away from all us. He turned his head slightly to the side, exposing one dirty cheek and a fever-bright eye. "I had to reassert myself on the Street of the Gods. You know, remind them to believe in me," he shrugged.
"Belief," Susie scoffed. "I think we've heard enough of that word for one night."
"Belief," he said, in a wispy, tired voice. "It's too late for him to learn this lesson, but perhaps the two of you will benefit from it: in order to fear something, you must believe in it."
And then he was gone, into another slice of reality and there we were, without the answers I had come seeking.