Watts had been lagging behind his opponent for a good while now. He was in a worse condition than James, his aura still trying to battle the damage done during the fall of Atlas.
Without any sense of time or change in weather, Arthur had quickly gotten lost in a miasma of thought and wonder, delving into the deepest and most repressed parts of his unconscious mind.
The ways he'd kill Cinder. The ways he'd get his revenge. All of them included Salem rescuing him.
But such a thought was fantasy. Arthur had been struggling to come to terms with the logical conclusion. That he'd been duped from the start.
Damn you James….
It was painful to keep moving forward. His body was screaming in different places. His eyesight, now just one working eye, was poor. The other side of his face had been utterly eviscerated, blasted to pieces from razor sharp glass and scorching hot flames. His ripped up clothes served as an impromptu bandage. One went all down his face, the other across it and over his nose.
His belly would growl and he resisted the urge to devour the little bit of rations he had left. There was no actual sunlight to dry them out, so they remained wet and soggy.
Arthur was probably going to die here. There seemed to be no exit anywhere he looked. Just green grass. James wasn't anywhere either. He no longer knew if he was following him or not.
Will I go mad here, without ever getting back at her?... Without ever finding out why?... Why Salem just… threw me to the dogs!
It had hurt his psyche badly. The idea of being unwanted by someone who had seemed so reliant on his talents. It reminded him of the past. Of why he turned from Ironwood in the first place.
I can't survive if my mind is consumed by this!
He furiously kept walking onwards. He tried to keep all thoughts of himself out. For some reason it was difficult. As much as he tried to focus on marching onwards, such thoughts returned.
What is going on? Why can't I stop thinking about these things?
This wasn't just a matter of not being able to get something out of his head. No, Arthur began to suspect something was going on. Am I going insane? Or is it this place?
His one eye caught a small figure in the distance. James!
Arthur began to painfully increase his pace. If he was going insane then he needed someone else. Someone to return him to sanity, even if it was the tin man.
But he noticed that there were small, subtle changes going on around him. He didn't see them at first, but they increased in frequency as he got closer to Ironwood.
For the first time there was a change in the surroundings. The faux sunlight was fading and becoming dimmer with each step he took. The green grass that was endless slowly became nothing but a grey mass, losing any semblance of shape and becoming entirely flat.
All around him, there slowly came the fog. Colorless. Wispy. It was surrounding them. What's happening? Shit! James! He looked at Ironwood and saw him lying down on the ground, utterly unaware of the changes around him.
"James! James wake up! The fog!"
Pushing past the pain, Arthur broke into a sprint. He didn't last long, falling to the ground. It was agonizing, but he grit his teeth and pushed himself back up. He refused to die here.
"James! Get up!" he said to the now roused general.
Ironwood looked confused. "Wha? What is going on? Fog?"
Watts had a shrill and angry huff. "Look around, you idiot!" Ironwood widened his eyes as he looked around and saw the same thing as Arthur. Empty nothingness. The colorless fog.
"What caused this? Was it Salem?" he said in a fearful panic, eyes wide open. His natural instinct was to reach for Due Process. He ripped it out of his holster and aimed it at Watts. Arthur backed away from Ironwood.
"No!" Watts nearly fell on his ass when James pointed his gun. "I don't know! I'm as clueless as you are James!"
Ironwood calmed his breathing and slowly lowered his weapon. It was only after that he remembered the thing was utterly useless. He shifted it to use the grip as a bludgeon. Watts was cautiously looking around, trying to see what could have caused this.
"Can you see anything James?"
Ironwood was straining to see anything but grey nothingness. Though if anyone was going to see it would be the man who still had both eyes. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just fog."
The two of them glanced at one another. Neither moved for a good while until Watts took a step forward. Then another. Soon, James was following. The two of them apprehensively moved through the fog.
"Wait" James said from behind Watts. "I saw something." He lifted his arm and pointed a bit to their right.
"Are you sure? I don't- no… I see it too. It's coming closer." James came to stand by Watts and kept laser focus eyes on what appeared to be something moving closer through the fog.
Slowly, he handed Arthur Due Process. The doctor took it and held it up as a weapon. James was perfectly capable of fighting hand to hand.
"Could it be Cinder?" Watts asked him in a whispered voice. James shook his head no. He'd seen her fly off with Salem. Whatever this was, it was from this realm.
Stepping out of the fog was Arthur Watts. The two men were not prepared for that. "What?" the first Watts said in total confusion.
The Watts from the fog looked exactly like the Arthur Watts standing besides James. Except there were differences. The Watts from the fog looked immaculately dressed. He had no injuries, no burn marks, no destroyed face and no torn up clothes. He was an Arthur Watts untouched by recent damage that the first Watts had taken.
"What the hell is this Arthur?" James asked, looking at the two Arthur's with suspicion. How did he know this wasn't something the doctor had planned?
"I've got no idea James. It's… it's me?"
Arthur took a few steps towards Other Watts to examine him. Other Watts didn't seem to react, but his eyes followed Arthur as he did so. He walked around the Other Watts and looked back at James. With a snort of superiority, he waved the other self off.
"A pretty replica, but suffice to say, this isn't me. The eyes are yellow. This must be some sort of magic. Something to protect the vault I would guess."
"Kekekekeke" the Other Watts chuckled, causing both men to look back at him. "Always so confident that you're the smartest man in the room, aren't you, Arthur?" Other Watts sounded exactly the same as the first one.
"Always struggling to prove it, aren't you? To make sure everyone knows. Your genius! Ironwood has to know! Salem has to know! Cinder has to as well! Because she isn't worthy like you are! Isn't that right?"
Watts narrowed his eye and gripped Due Process tightly. "I beg your pardon? What do you know about me? You're just a tool. Something to scare off intruders from this vault."
Other Watts tut tut's and wagged his finger. "Come now, that's no way to speak to yourself. I know everything to know about you! After all I am you."
Both Ironwood and Arthur were dumbfounded. This…. whatever it was…. claimed to be Watts? It was ludicrous. Watts made it known to Other Watts.
"You're just some shade. Anything but me. No brains about you."
Other Watts imitated Arthur's mannerisms eerily. From his walk to how he talked. It was unsettling to say the least. But Watts wasn't going to let them keep him reserved.
"Pahhh. Come on! You're still talking about your genius!" Other Watts looked to Ironwood, his yellow eyes narrowed, a smirk on his face. "How precious! You're still telling everybody that's what it's all about right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," the real Watts scoffed.
"Oh no-one appreciated my genius! So I sold myself off to the first person who made me feel worthy! Isn't that right Arthur? Isn't that what you really wanted? For someone to consider you the best. To truly and deeply appreciate you. So that you'd feel like you were invaluable to someone! Worth their time! Poor James, so unaware of what you really wanted?"
Other Watts laughed and sneered at Arthur, who looked pale and had lost his vigorous and barbed tongue. It seemed Other Watts was right on the money. The unconscious truth.
"That's… that's not true…" Arthur said meekly, trying to regain his fierceness back and put up a fight.
James on the other hand looked at Arthur with surprise. That's?... Is that the reason? Is that why he joined Salem? A deep-seated desire to belong? To be wanted by someone?
What he originally thought of betrayal based on a petty slight from a man with an ego bigger than deserved, was now more complicated than he once believed.
"So much so that you threw away your humanity for it! Isn't that precious James? How many people did you murder for Salem? Just for her to want you there? It made you feel worthy didn't it?"
"Stop- you.. You don't know what you're talking about! You're not… you're not…"
James had never heard Arthur sound so vulnerable and weak. It was incredible, if he wasn't also paralyzed with fear. Just like when Salem appeared before them all. He was incapable of acting. What was this thing? It knew things about Arthur not even the real one would admit.
"I already said it! I am you, you blithering idiot! How sad is it? She gave you so much gratitude and left you to die!"
Ironwood could see the painful effects of Other Watts on Arthur. The real doctor was gritting his teeth, hands shaking in anger and shock and denial. This isn't good… somethings not right here.
"Arthur! Get a hold of yourself!" James shouted, but it was too late.
"You are nothing but a magical conjuration meant to terrify us! An empty shadow! You are not me!" Watts screamed at Other Watts.
The yellow eyed Watts hummed and put a finger to his lips as if he was in thought. "You're right! I'm not you!" he started laughing. The colorless fog began turning black and spinning faster. Other Watts looked like his melting into blackness.
There was a flash of darkness, a booming laugh and fog blasting them back. "Arthur! What just happened? Are you alright?"
Watts was on his hands and knees when Ironwood ran to him. His black metal arm cautiously reached out to help him up. Watts took it and stood up. "That bastard…"
How much more is there to Arthur Watts than I knew? he wondered. However, there was no time to think about that right now.
Towering above them was a monstrosity. Mechanical legs held up a dark, Grimm like blob. Gigantic arms made of steel and wires flailed madly and lunged for where it thought the two of them were. Embedded in the dark mass was a large computer screen. The screen had tears flashing on it, turning on to reveal a digitized version of Arthur's face.
"I'm better than you!" it cackled. "My genius against yours!"
The Other Watts creature attacked the survivors.
A/N: More to come. The fog reveals itself. How will they survive this?
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