Duality

Interlude 1/4

Vlad

"No. I don't CARE what time it is. Get the entire P.R. think tank up. You've got until yesterday to turn this around." And before the sleep-deprived and underpaid secretary could get a word in, the CEO of Dalv Co. hung up.

Dalv Masters missed the era of the landline phone. If there was one thing that was lost in the transition to the mobile world, it was the sensation of forcefully slamming the phone on its base with a most satisfying rattle. A simple one-tone beep hardly had the same stress-relieving qualities.

Whatever there was to be found on the vessel would be found. There was no reason to stick around, so with a sigh of resignation, Dalv slid back into his car drove away from his spot in the warehouse parking lot overlooking the marina.

Dalv was a firm believer in being fashionably late, particularly with potential clients who have no leverage. Giving them a half hour, hour, or more to squirm on whether they got the right place or time was a very effortless way to evoke stress in the second party. And a stressed negotiator is a poor negotiator.

Dalv always made sure he was well-rested before those meetings.

On the other hand, there were occasionally days like today, when Murphy showed his face, and that planned late hour became an unplanned late hour… which became two, and then three late hours, and before long not even he could pretend it was —

Dalv's Porsche jolted in impact and the brakes screeched as he rammed his foot down on the breaks and stopped suddenly.

Dalv immediately got out of his car and slammed the door shut.

Face red, Dalv started yelling, "I am on a tight schedule and I am going to sue you for every last penny you're worth if… my… com… pany…"

Dalv stopped his rampaging threat as his mind struggled to change gears from rage to confusion.

There had been but a fraction of a second between the collision and Dalv getting out of his car. But beyond the sizable indent to his hood, there was no sign of whatever he might have struck. No automobile, no injured person, and not even a stray projectile, such as a cinder block.

Well… that wasn't entirely true. Something glowing a radioactive green trailed the pavement. The business man kneeled before the alien substance. He prodded the matter with a gloved hand, confirming the viscous nature of whatever had been dragged across the blacktop.

Dalv may have otherwise dismissed the sight as the machinations of some prepubescents with too much time on their hands, but no, this green matter pulsed. And upon further inspection, some similar matter was found splattered on the hood, but not near enough combined between the two surfaces to justify the indent and impact.

"Curious…" he murmured to himself.

He picked up a larger sample of the material before turning the glove inside out into a makeshift pouch.

Duality

At about the same time, Vlad Plasmius invisibly peeled himself off the parked luxury vehicle and continued staggering his way to Fenton Works and away from the warehouse.

Time. Vlad needed more time.

With more time he could have finished Jack off.

With more time he could have delivered deserved comeuppance to his confused and misguided son.

Vlad didn't have time.

He could only guess how much time he had to reach the ghost zone before he became irrevocably unbound from his obsession. The fact that his levitation had already given up on him wasn't a promising sign at all.

Vlad could still feel his obsession; it was there, but broken, hemorrhaging, and most pressingly, unable to sustain him for much longer.

He wasn't going to make it. There just wasn't enough damned time.

His path became bathed in light and Vlad looked over his shoulder. Behind him, the car he had just collided with was following him.

And yet, Vlad Plasmius was still invisible. The driver couldn't possibly be following him.

Despite Vlad's self-assurance, he changed his pace. The car adjusted to match it.

Vlad changed direction. The car turned with him.

Perhaps… there was a way to turn this curiosity to his advantage…

Duality

Dalv slowed his Porsche to a halt and stepped out.

There were easily more pressing, and more time-sensitive, things to warrant his full attention.

But Dalv couldn't seem to help himself as sloppy green footprints proceeded to materialize with the stride and grace of a local drunk. If it weren't for the unimaginably real indent on his luxury car, he'd suspect he was drunk himself.

But now, the prints led themselves into a secluded alleyway, which his car was now perfectly blocking. Whoever this curious invisible man was, he wasn't going anywhere now.

Though however unsurprising, Dalv didn't see anyone there as he made his way in. The footprints became less a singular path and more a jumbled rat's nest. He attempted feeling about where he thought the tracks actually ended, to no avail.

The man growled to himself. He had wasted enough time as it was to spend any extra on phantoms.

"Perhaps this was a prank after all," he said to himself.

"Hardly," replied an intruder.

Duality

Vlad Plasmius faded into view on the hood of Dalv's car, startling the man in question. Vlad put on his most charming grin as he did so, making sure to expose his elongated canines.

In truth, it was little more than an attempt at bravado. Vlad had reached the breaking point in being able to sustain concealment, and the grin was as much an intimidation tactic as it was a play to mask his own pain.

Dalv Masters made a visible effort to steel himself.

So the human felt intimidated. Good.

"I couldn't help but notice that this is an odd place to be parking your vehicle," Vlad said as stroked the hood of the car from where he sat and eyed the now-obvious means of tracking. "You wouldn't happen to be planning on trapping something in here? Mm?"

The man's right hand balled into a fist while his left remained almost cupped over his pocket.

Interesting.

The sharply-dressed man opened his mouth, closed it as if thinking better about what he were about to say, then actually spoke.

"Who are you with? What government?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come now, you expect me to believe some political power would let this… this…" he waved his free arm in emphasis as he picked at the right word, "advancement in spy technology go unchecked?"

Keeping up a poker face when you're in immortal peril is difficult enough on its own without additionally fighting the desire to roll your eyes. The idiot was literally in the presence of a manifestation of death and all his little brain could wrap itself around was something out of a comic book.

"You could call me an independent. Although, I was hoping to change that…" Vlad replied while eyeing the cornered businessman. "How would you like to join me… Mr…?"

"You may refer to me as Dalv Masters." The unimpressed man crossed his arms. "And why, pray tell, would I want to do that?" He had the air of a man who had heard one too many pitches of this or similar natures.

Vlad gave a toothy grin and licked his lips. "Power. The likes of which you've never witnessed. The opportunity to be a part of something greater… Me."

"Not. Interested," stated Dalv with mild venom, glaring at the pool of green dripping over the grill of his car.

"Oh, you're one of those types," replied Vlad dismissively.

The businessman narrowed his eyes. Vlad responded by making his glow even brighter, which visibly unsettled Dalv.

Vlad Plasmius jumped off the car and, before Dalv could act, draped an arm over his shoulder in an all-too-friendly and, above all else, certainly unwanted gesture. "Imagine it… you with the abilities of a ghost… intangibility, levitation, or even the ability to do this…"

Vlad's arms glowed briefly before shooting a small explosive blast at the ground before Dalv's feet. To his credit, the businessman didn't flinch, though that may have been due to him trying to remove Vlad's sticky arm from his shoulders with two fingers while making as little physical contact as possible.

"Mm hmm… And I can only assume you're offering this out of the goodness of your heart." Dalv rolled his eyes. "What's the catch?"

"Catch?" Vlad made a series of patronizing tsk-tsk noises with his tongue. "There is no catch."

"Yeah… um… no. Not buying it," said Dalv. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more important things that need taking care of.

Dalv turned to march back toward his car, but Vlad grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to face himself.

"Focus, you nitwit. I'm presenting you the chance of a lifetime. Lesser men would give their lives for what I'm freely offering you," Vlad spat.

Dalv slapped the vampire-like ghost aside. "Unhand me, you cretin. I don't know, much less care, at this point what you're actually selling. Nor do I get why you want… me to… take… it." The man's words slowed as a dawning formed on Dalv's face. "No… it's not that you want me to accept your deal … It's as though you need me to take it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Vlad countered whilst looking away.

"Don't you?" Dalv took a step forward and ground his heel in a puddle of ectoplasm. "Now, I'm no zoologist, or biologist, or whatever it possibly is that applies to studying whatever you are, but I'd think that if this green material were blood, you'd have lost enough to kill a man five times over."

Vlad uncharacteristically said nothing.

Dalv chuckled darkly. "So it's not that you want me, and not even just that you need me, you need me now."

Vlad made a dismissive noise. "How ludicrous."

"Is it? Is it really?" Dalv asked, getting unpleasantly close to Vlad's face.

"Now are you going to accept my gift or what?" Vlad snapped.

Dalv grinned devilishly. "Now now, why rush these things? It'd be a shame to make any sort of decisions we might regret. Why don't you go home and we'll all sleep on it."

"You presumptuous in-sect," Vlad hissed, complete with forked tongue. All trace of worry was wiped from his face and replaced with something so positively predatory that it gave Dalv pause.

"You think yourself so clever. 'Aww… I figured out the big bad ghost's motives.'" Vlad mocked heartlessly. "Never it be said that I didn't try to do this the easy way."

Before Dalv could open his mouth to question, Vlad's arms and eyes burned in violent magenta. It was the only warning before the ghost lunged and immediately phased into Dalv's chest.

The man yelled and actively trembled, as if a strong electric current was running through his body. His hands locked his head in a vice grip and he dropped to the ground. The ability to stand was both impossible and irrelevant as his mind went to war with itself.

Memories, simultaneously foreign and familiar, clashed as they painted pasts contradictory and nonsensical.

Graduating business school with a masters degree in dairy farming. Discovering how to stabilize ectoplasm by investing $30K in low-interest commercial districts. Rocking out on stage in a punk band at a suit and tie symphonic concerto.

Dalv struggled to pick apart which aspects were his, and which were alien, but the memories kept flying and the entire situation was nothing like anything he could possibly have prepared himself for, and his grip on himself was slipping…

Getting happily married and ready to spend the rest of his life with a complete stranger. Earning his first million dollars by adopting a cat. Pulling a gun on the pleasant dude from marketing who always brings extra coffee for everyone at the meetings.

Subject matter and intensity aside, it was not unlike Stage 1 of non-REM sleep.

Sleep.

In some distant level of Dalv's mind… he understood the intruder was trying to invoke unconsciousness on his mind. In other words, Vlad was compelling the dominant mind to become the dormant mind.

Lamenting having to spend holidays alone with close friends and family. Having an allergic reaction to the Packers winning their first Super Bowl. Standing on the cutting edge and advancement of antiquities.

It didn't make sense; he didn't understand what he was doing, but Dalv Masters reached out and fought it.

Ice cubes down the back. The blare of an alarm clock. Kids crying. A fat man in an orange jumpsuit hugging a wom—

Dalv was knocked back with the recoil of Vlad shooting out of his body. Dalv forced himself to stand before getting a chance to regain his sense of up and down. He staggered drunkenly and leaned on the concrete wall of the building behind him for support.

"What… was that?" Dalv asked softly in a mix of shock and stupor.

Vlad Plasmius, for his part, looked significantly worse for wear. He lay limp on the ground while taking harsh, uneven breaths. A puddle of green was quickly collecting around the perimeter of his body.

But Dalv didn't get a chance to even think of escaping. Just seconds later, Vlad peeled himself off the ground and with feral abandon rushed at Dalv while yelling gutturally. Dalv's arms instinctively protected his own neck and face, but the terror simply crossed into him unimpeded.

But this time, the assault on Dalv's mind was tired, worn, and weak compared to the one he had just thwarted. In fact, it was practically effortless to reject the invasive entity.

Pulling back the wedding veil and ready to kiss - that guy from before.

Vlad was rejected from Dalv's body with similar force as before. He landed in the pavement to continue sliding on it painfully for a good yard and a half before stopping. His arms and legs fell limp.

Dalv stood, hunched over, clutching his heart as he tried to both calm down and recover from the surge of adrenaline. He watched the monster with suspicion, waiting for another go.

Instead, Vlad stayed put. Upon closer inspection, not only was he still leaking that green viscous material, but his formerly solid form was starting to look soft and malleable, not unlike jello.

Dalv lurched over to Vlad and gave him a solid kick. There was something somewhat stress-relieving about leaving a shoeprint-shaped indent on his face. He followed up by grabbing Vlad's hair and pulling it up so he had no choice but to make eye contact.

"For all your so-called power, you're actually quite pathetic," Dalv said with mock sympathy. "Who is that box-shaped man, and just what sort of power does he have over you?"

Vlad Plasmius glared silently. It might've been more intimidating were his face not sporting a shoe print.

"Tsh. Whatever. I know your weakness; that's all that matters." Dalv paused as he considered all this. "So… consent… you need that don't you? You were so set on me agreeing to your idiotic self-serving narcissistic deal… but then you negotiated."

Vlad laughed and a non-coincidental amount of saliva sprayed on Dalv. "That's a laugh. You think I'd willingly deal with an ill-bred mongrel like you."

Dalv frowned and dropped Vlad's head, letting it hit the pavement unpleasantly.

"No, no you wouldn't. But then, you don't really have a choice do you?" Dalv said as he took a cursory view of the area beyond his abused car.

It was probably 3:00 AM. There probably wouldn't be human activity around for another three hours.

Rather than reply, Vlad's arms glowed magenta again and he reach weakly for Dalv.

Dalv, rather than try to dodge, merely waved a single condescending finger 'no' and said, "I may not be an expert in whatever it is you are, but you look positively half dead. How much time left do you really have? Can you afford being thrown out a third time?"

Vlad held his position, hesitating, but didn't actually dismiss the flames. It looked to Dalv like Vlad was seriously considering trying again anyway.

"My, my. That a difficult a decision for you? You're either desperate or stupid, but I admire your tenacity, and while I'm no fan of your pedigree," Dalv said with obvious distaste, "It'd be a shame to let a potentially useful specimen like you go to waste. So why don't you start over and tell me exactly what you can do, what you are, what you need, and what makes you tick and this time, I'll be the one dictating terms."

Vlad made to open his mouth but Dalv interrupted. "And just so you know, I deal with lying cutthroats every day, and I wouldn't have climbed to the top if I wasn't darned good at reading them. So please, don't bother wasting our time. Granted, there's little I can do to stop you from trying and failing, but I get the impression your time is more limited than mine."

Dalv pulled out his smartphone, opened it up to the clock app, and stood it up so it remained conveniently in Vlad's field of vision.

Dalv Masters wondered why he'd ever thought smartphones were a bad idea.

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Sorry about posting a week late. We weren't expecting Vlad to take half the votes, and by the time we realized he was going to win the contest, we hadn't actually started his interlude. Whoops!

Anyways, you may still vote for the next interlude. Remaining choices are Jack and Maddie (as one interlude), Valerie, and Jazz.