Thanks go to 10burgers, Wingah, EpicSlayerGuy99, ZeraoraTheKnight, 2Strong2SignIn, Zack Frost, TiredWhiteMayge, Oboi, and Guest!
Thanks for waiting! Next chapter should be up two weeks from today, on October 26th!
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(P.S. Read DoubleScramble on Tumblr at DoubleTaleAU)
"Bad night to try and rob me, pretty boy." Lexi's exhausted eye twitched wrathfully, barely even registering Xander's request that she hear him out. She kept the barrel of her gun lined up with his head, which he didn't bother moving.
"But you see dear that's just the thing! You're not the one who's been robbed." Xander explained, keeping his hands in the air while he crossed one leg over the other. Lexi was getting real tired of people not freaking out when she pointed a gun at them. "I'm the one here who's been stolen from."
"So what? I robbed ya once and now ya want revenge or something?" Lexi's tired brows furrowed, and she reached up with one hand to scratch the side of her confused head. The longer this situation went on and the more her exhaustion strangled brain thought about it the weirder it got. "Also if ya call me 'dear' again I'm gonna splatter your brains on the nice chair you're sitting in."
"You haven't taken a thing from me, friend. Quite the opposite." Slowly and carefully, Xander The Gatherer lowered his hands. He folded them together over his lap, smiling in a way that was entirely too perfect while he corrected his posture. "I want you to help me reclaim what has been taken from me."
"Explain faster, femboy." Lexi's shoulders sunk, her sleepless and swollen eyes blinking slowly. Her gun was beyond heavy, or maybe her arms were just beyond weak. She was so tired... But this dumbass was keeping her awake, and regrettably her thin PATIENCE kept her listening to whatever crackpot thoughts he was spewing.
"I'll get to the point." Xander shut his eyes briefly, lifting one hand to wave it and dismiss her worries. Then, he opened those violet eyes once more, and they glimmered with some strange fire. One that almost drew Lexi in, put her at ease... "A very greedy family member has tried to have me assassinated after my father's recent passing to try and take the money that is rightfully mine to inherit. I want you to help me kill him and get my mansion and money back. In exchange I will pay you more money that I'm sure you have ever seen in your life."
Now, I was tired, sad, irritated, and directionless. So being offered an alleged shitload of money didn't exactly sound bad. But I wasn't about to make a deal while I was half asleep, Jade taught me better than that.
"... I'm going to bed." Lexi's arm dropped, and her finger flipped the safety back on her pistol. She slid the gun back into its holster, and then turned her back on a recoiling Xander. She grumbled, scratching her lower back while she sauntered towards her room's door. "You stay put, and don't touch anything. I'll hear ya out after I wake up."
"Sounds good to me." Xander shrugged, shock still apparent in his semi-wide eyes. Though Lexi didn't see it, relief was clear on his face. Seeing as he was homeless and without a cent to his name, he had nowhere else to go and nothing to lose. That was why the barrel of her gun had not scared him, and that was why the moment he watched her room door close and heard a lock click into place he sighed with relief, decompressing in his chair.
Chapter 73: The Sin Of Sacrifice
Or: The Sin of PATIENCE Part 3
Slept like a rock. Woke up and it was morning the next day. Must've been a lot more tired than I realized.
Groaning with exhaustion, Lexi shoved open the door of her room. Blinking her eyes groggily, she reached one hand up into her long black hair, scratching her head. She wore a white T-shirt and pajama pants with some black and purple pattern. Hadn't really been paying much attention to what she'd thrown on - in fact she had completely forgotten she had a visitor until she spotted Xander standing in her kitchen across the basement.
Now looking at him with rested eyes, she perceived just how poor of shape The Gatherer was truly in. It appeared that he'd washed his face and his hair and his hands as best he could in the sink, or maybe he'd used the shower. It was hard to say, Lexi had been out cold for somewhere close to twenty hours. Regardless, he was unable to change out the filthy clothes he was wearing. Black slacks with tears here and there, a few thorns still jammed in the fabric. The mud had been washed from his shoes to the best of his ability, but white laces remained stained. His white button up was missing one of the buttons near the top, also torn in places from what Lexi guessed was crashing through thorn bushes. All of this was pulled together by the yellowish grey sweat stains under the pits of his white shirt.
"Oh, you're awake!" Xander perked up, flashing his perfect smile her way. Lexi continued to frown while she sauntered closer to the kitchen, eyes still a tad sunken in despite her day of rest. The smell of bacon and eggs hit her nose, and she arched a brow as Xander lifted a plate from his side of the counter, setting it on her side as an offering. "I made you breakfast. Hope you don't mind; I just thought it would be a nice thank you for not shooting me in my face."
"... Still thinkin' on that decision..." Lexi muttered as she took a seat at one of two bar stools opposite to Xander's side of the counter. The kitchen was small; a fridge, a microwave, and a dishwasher with a few cupboards. All jammed into a little corner of the basement, which was lined by a six by two counter that had a taller section elevated above it, which was where Lexi's food now rested. She leaned her chin into her palm, jaded eyes glossing up from the scrambled egg and bacon to Xander. "... So, you're just some crazy guy, right? That shit you said before had to have been a lie."
"It's all true, and that's a promise." Xander kept his perfect and convincing smile painted on his face, reaching out one hand to Lexi. She eyed this hand skeptically, like she was afraid this was the set up to some kind of trap. But, it wasn't, and Xander introduced himself confidently. "My name is Xander, heir to the Fortune Foundation."
"..." That got Lexi to squint. She didn't have the details, but she knew the Fortune Foundation was a pretty important name. Something to do with the city's history, or something. She'd lived a sheltered life in this basement however, and all Jade had ever taught her about this city was that it was poison. Regardless, when she peered up into Xander's violet eyes, she thought the boy did look familiar. Was he famous, had she seen him before? Skeptically, she took his hand. "... Lexi. Heir to this basement you're standing in."
"It's a very nice basement!" Xander assured positively while he shook her hand, but Lexi scowled.
"Don't patronize me." She warned, pulling back her hand as soon as the shake was done. Her warning did not seem to bother Xander however, who calmly folded his hands behind his back. "Now... Why don'tcha run this situation by me one more time, and we'll see if I buy it."
Xander clued me in on how shitty the past week of his life had been. Looks like I wasn't the only person having their worst day ever, go figure. Guess his dad died, said dad's big money bags were left entirely to Xander, and his scumbag uncle on his late mom's side wanted that money for himself. 'Course he had no claim to it, he wasn't even related by blood to the father that all that money was coming from and was essentially just living pretty off of his generosity up until he died.
So - get this - the asshole enlists the fuckin' ghoul to kill Xander! Guess with how his killing sprees include people of all classes, that uncle figured the Ghoul killing Xander would keep any and all suspicion off of himself. Wouldn'ta believed it if the news reports hadn't been yapping about the big heir going missing and ol' pasty being the prime suspect. They even threw up a picture of Xander's face, which confirmed to me that he was in fact the guy he said he was.
Now, I don't know why the Ghoul would take money to murder a kid. Didn't really seem like his schtick; guy wasn't a bounty hunter, he was just an asshole. I don't think money meant a thing to that man, which probably meant he had something to gain from fucking with Xander. Just like he had something to gain from fucking with me. And while Xander didn't elaborate much on how he went about getting around Fortune City's boogeyman or what the guy really wanted with him, he did let me in on the fact that in his first rampage, one of the Ghoul's biggest kill's was Xander's grandad. The mayor of Fortune City at the time.
Somewhere in escaping The Killer he somehow got a lead that there would be help at my address. Now he didn't wanna say it, but the lack of consistency in his story told me everything I needed to know. If my hunch is right, then the Ghoul let Xander go and pointed him Jade's way. But I didn't wanna press for answers, because I didn't wanna ever think about that pasty douchebag again. I didn't care much about how he got there; what mattered was there he was, and there was evidence backing up the big pay day he promised. And, without anything else to do, anywhere else to go, or anyone else to rely on... I was in.
"This is amazing..." Xander commented, leaning forward and resting his palms against the cruel wood of Jade's research table. She'd left her secret room's door wide open to go chase Lexi two nights ago, but Lexi tried not to think about that. Instead, she focused on lining up her throw with the stupid picture pulling the room together, holding a knife by its blade between her fingers. Xander rambled on, "A detailed map on the Ghoul's locations, notes on his activities, his entire schedule researched and the timeline for every reported murder he's ever committed up until this latest rampage started..."
"Your mentor was a brilliant detective." Xander concluded, glancing over towards Lexi, who had one eye shut while she tried to line up her throw. She tried her best not to think too hard about Xander's words or put a face to the mentor he mentioned. "Why didn't she ever bring all this information to the police?"
"My mentor was an impoverished black woman with a criminal record." Lexi stated matter-o'-factly, her one open eye narrowing slightly while a frown tugged at her lips. She chucked her knife then, and with a thunk! it stuck right between the Killer's eyes in his photo. This punctuated her next statement, "Piggies would've shot her thirty seven times in the chest before she got within five hundred feet of the station."
"Oof, hot take..." Xander mumbled, grimacing some at Lexi's unforgiving statement while he looked back to the table before him.
"Accurate take." Lexi doubled down fearlessly, picking up another throwing knife from the table's corner and whipping it with reckless abandon at the wall. It stuck into Killer's cheek.
"Didn't say it wasn't." Xander assured absentmindedly, fingers tracing the yarn lines that Jade had intricately wrapped between the pushpins once upon a time. He furrowed his brows thoughtfully then, exhaling a sigh and standing up straight. "... Well, this is an amazing bunch of information, and certainly useful for evading a Ghoul related doom, but I'm not sure it helps us with our mission."
"... Yeah. You said you wanted to Gather a team, right?" Lexi turned her head towards Xander, furrowing her brows thoughtfully. He nodded to confirm her memory, and then she hesitated. Glancing to the side, she reached up, taking gentle hold of her chin. "Well, if independent people who are down to commit crimes are our people to pick from... I might know a guy. And knowing the Ghoul's patterns might actually help us find him."
I didn't know anyone in Fortune City. The closest thing to a 'friend' that I had also happened to fit Gatherer's recruitment requirements. Ruthless criminal, lacking moral compass, reliable in what he does, and most importantly: has a weakness for Xander to exploit.
If there was one thing I remembered about Anarchy after meeting him just hours after fighting his dad, it was how sick he must've been. He had the eyes and he had the fangs, but his body needed to heal. He didn't seem invincible like his dad did. At least, he didn't then. So, that meant that Xander could use the big cash money wad to pay off the second generation Ghoul's hospital bills.
After we had the plan for his recruitment laid out, it was just a matter'a finding him. And with the map that his copy cat Killer followed laid out in Jade's secret room, we just had to watch out for sightings in areas outside of The first Ivory Ghoul's patterns. It took a day or two, but eventually we had a good idea of where to look. And it wasn't long before we found him.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Lexi spoke into her walkie talkie, watching a familiar hooded man wander out of a gas station with a gallon jug of water in hand. She stood on the roof of the short building, the hood of her cloak shadowing her face and the street lights reflecting in her cyan eyes. Her cloak billowed some in the wind, and she held her scythe's blade low to the ground to hide it from the light.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far." Xander's voice responded through the walkie talkie that she held beside her head. "But, sometimes in life you have to gamble on success."
"Oh yeah?" A slight smirk pulled at Lexi's lips, a cool gust of wind pulling a long strand of hair down between her eyes. She rested her fist on her hip, keeping the fingers of that hand wrapped around the handle of her scythe. "Guess ya don't need me here then, huh mister high roller?"
"Lexi if you abandon me I will curse your name while he eats me." Xander responded hastily, and Lexi's smile only widened. Of course she wasn't gonna leave him to die now, but she liked reminding him that he needed her to survive.
"Better find your balls, X. He's walkin' by." Lexi commented while she watched The Anarchist saunter past the alleyway that Xander had been waiting beside. And a moment later, though she couldn't hear what was said, something made Anarchy snap his head to look in Xander's direction. And the moment he did, that crowbar slid out of his sleeve and into his grasp.
I remember thinking something along the lines of "Ah fuck, how did Xander get his attention? 'Ay bitch'?"
... And, that doesn't really have any significance to the story at all, but it's kinda funny to remember.
"Ahem." Gatherer straightened his tie, adjusted his suit. Apparently he'd had the rest of his three piece tux with him the entire time, and he'd decided to put the jacket and vest back on to cover just how terrible he looked beneath. Not that Anarchy would have any room to speak on people looking like shit; it was a few days later and he was still wearing the exact same clothes Lexi had first met him in. She didn't wanna think about that meeting though, didn't really wanna think about that night at all. Her head felt... Pressurized when she did. Xander's voice reached her ears, a casual tone. "Predator."
Guess that's my cue. Lexi thought when she heard her previously discussed code name. Xander had said she needed something scary, something to strike fear into people when they heard it. Something that would imply she was dangerous, that she was hunting them. Lexi had thought back to the old movies she had watched on repeat growing up, the old VHS's she had dug up to enjoy. And at the top of her list, with the scariest and coolest hunter she could think of, was her favorite action movie series. Predator.
She jumped fearlessly over the ledge of the short building, hooking her scythe's blade around the ledge and swinging down before kicking her feet into the brick, detaching from the building and dropping down right behind the looming albino. And as she landed, she swung her scythe, curving the blade's bend around Anarchy's throat and assuring that he not take another step closer to her client.
"So, you're the one who's been rampaging all through the city, yes?" Gatherer tilted his head to the side with his question. Lexi watched him carefully, intrigued. He didn't flinch, fear did not appear in his eyes when he looked upon the Ghoul's heir. She wished she could say the same, but the truth was the resemblance to his father made her skin crawl. "The murderer everyone is so afraid of?"
"So what if I am?" Anarchy finally spoke, his lips cracking upwards while he nodded back towards Predator. She remembered his voice alright; similar to The Killer's, but with a different attitude driving its words. The Killer was condescending and cocky, like he believed he was smarter and better than everyone. Anarchy was gruff and unrefined, like he didn't have any thoughts at all about anyone but himself. "You gonna have Black Mamba here kill me?"
"I might." Predator spoke, those ice blue eyes narrowing as she brought that blade closer to Anarchy's throat. Ironically, Black Mamba was in fact another action movie name she had briefly considered. Almost felt relieved she hadn't suggested it now. "If you don't put the crowbar away, that is."
"Go ahead and chop my head off." Anarchy grinned over his shoulder at her, madness flickering in his eyes like a basement light in a horror movie. Her jaw tightened at the sight of this, but the world did not go dark. She had braved the first ghoul's stare, she could withstand his bastard son's. "Just don't be surprised when I pick it up off the ground and use it to beat you to death."
"Take it easy, Lexi." Gatherer spoke with a calmness that earned him Predator's glare. What exactly, she wondered, was the point of code names if he was just gonna first name her in front of the enemy? "We aren't here to pick a fight."
"Then whaddaya want?" Anarchy narrowed his eyes back at the Gatherer. He still stood there, unphased by the blade at his throat and crowbar tight in his grip. It was as though he truly believed Lexi and Xander were the ones in danger, and that the metal threatening his Adam's apple would not break his skin. Lexi reckoned he didn't remember her from a few mornings ago, either. But she already didn't think his psycho brain would be particularly reliable. "I'm a busy man, so make it quick."
"I've been watching you." Gatherer confessed, holding his hands behind his back. Straight and to the point, he understood that Anarchy meant it when he said 'make it quick'. So calm and collected in the face of a man who would murder him, but maybe that was just because Predator was in position to kill Anarchy first. "You kill like nothing I've ever seen. You hunt people like a wild animal."
"I am a wild animal." Anarchy frowned, hand balling into a fist. A bold statement, but certainly not an unfounded one. Predator was close enough to smell him, and he definitely had the stink of something that just wandered out of the woods for the first time.
"You're a wounded animal." Gatherer's lips curved up ever so slightly, and Anarchy grit his teeth. Lexi was starting to doubt her suggestion in Anarchy, but clearly Xander was committed to bringing in the ruthless albino. He must've understood the value of employing a Killer.
And to Predator's surprise, Xander's statement actually made Anarchy look contemplative. Those lethal red eyes lowered, looked down at whatever body was hidden beneath his torn hoodie and jeans. Whatever bit of human that was left must have understood his mortality, that must have known this was not a sustainable lifestyle.
"You shamble through the pain, but you understand that your body will fail you in these conditions." Gatherer narrowed those cold, analytical eyes of his. "You know you can't keep up this lifestyle, even while you claim to be unkillable."
"... What do you want from me?" Anarchy narrowed those eyes, watching Gatherer carefully. A solid sentence, logic and reason being applied. Predator almost couldn't believe it; she didn't know whether to be happy about this or disturbed. Maybe it would have been better if Anarchy was just a wild animal, and not some creature like his father...
"Something has been taken from me. I want to reclaim it." A frown settled onto Gatherer's face at some unpleasant memory. An intensity flared in his previously docile eyes, one that caught the intrigue of the madman before him. "Surely you can understand that?"
"'Fraid I can't." Anarchy blinked his dead eyes, raising his crowbar. He waved the disgusting thing around like its weight did not effect him, like he did not feel its grime against his ivory flesh. "Only thing I've ever had is this, and I stole it from someone to get it."
"Hm." Gatherer's lips curved upwards some at those words. His violet eyes narrowed, gleamed with some venom hidden beneath. "Then I suppose you have more in common with my associate behind you."
"... Hey." Anarchy spoke casually, nodding over his shoulder to Predator. She smiled in a way that was less than friendly, returning his nod. Somehow, the grimy, injured cannibal was just a little more charismatic than his father.
"My point is, I have a very large inheritance clutched in very greedy hands. Hands that the money must be pried from, once they are cold and dead." Gatherer narrowed his eyes, and his hands clenched tight behind his back. "Cold and dead. I'm certain that is something you understand very well."
"... Yeah. I do." Anarchy squinted his red orbs suspiciously, analyzing Gatherer's every movement. Something told Lexi he knew a lie when he heard one, but Xander was being honest, so he didn't have to worry. "How much money are we talkin' here?"
"Enough to get a hospital to look at those injuries and keep their mouths shut about your identity. Enough to pay for some antipsychotics to keep whatever disorders strangle and twist your brain at bay." Gatherer smiled convincingly, tilting his head to the side. Suddenly he had switched from that strange, bloodthirsty and revenge seeking persona to one of a calm and collected man. Someone who had no personal stake, who was merely doing business. And Predator didn't know which of these attitudes were real and which was the persona. They were both far too believable. "Enough to give your dangerous life a bit more of a guarantee."
"..." Anarchy went quiet. Narrowed his eyes, looked to the crowbar in his scarred hand. And then, his lips peeled back. A mouthful of sharp teeth, still tinted red by the valuable blood of the humans who had rejected him, grinned at Gatherer's proposal.
"... So who do you need to die?"
With Anarchy recruited, our little group just needed one more person. We had the leadership in Xander, the skill and precision in me, and the brute force in Anarchy. We just needed somebody to be the brains of the operation. And as you may have already guessed Xander had somebody in mind, but we didn't actually meet him until after the operation.
This elusive new guy - who Gatherer only identified by codename - was our key into the mansion. Drop the security, shut down the power, open the front door for us via brainy nerd nonsense. I didn't really trust him at first, but after operation steal back Xander's big cash money wad, all three'a the boys had proven they were reliable.
Now, I could go into detail on how the first of many raids on Xander's property went down, but that's more Xander's story than mine. What's more important is the aftermath. See, Jade was the only person I'd ever had. And, directly after her death, these three people just kinda... Fell into my life? Like immediately? And I remember that it was really weird, but... That I also felt safer around them. Maybe I was just kinda desperate to have someone to care about again, but even though they were no doubt all completely bonkers in one way or another... They had my back. And when you're a street rat, that means something.
So, the next few days after the raid were strange. We cleared out any of the uh... Bodies that Anarchy left behind, and the one Xander left behind, and then we had to spend a few days laying low in the mansion. Anarchy was laid up in a bed in the attic, sedated while the handful of doctor's Xander had paid to make a house call and be quiet about it cleaned his festering wounds, gave him antibiotics, and even performed a few minor surgeries. It was amazing to me how screwed up and damaged Anarchy really was. Or, actually, the amazing part was that he powered through that for like two weeks, to the point where it really didn't seem like he was injured at all.
Xander gave us all the big payouts he promised, but in those few days we were all spending together in the mansion, he pitched an idea. We made a great team, yada yada, we can run the city, you know the story. Me, Anarchy, Angel and Xander all stick together and run a crime syndicate for two years.
... What's, really important here, is the first time I actually met Angel in person.
"So you're that Hacker guy G's been on about, huh?" Predator crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the back of Hacker's head. He was facing the several monitors that lined the back wall of his room, but spun his computer chair around to face her after a moment of key clicking. She stood in the doorway, smiling just a little at the sight of him.
At this point in my life, I'd kinda... Receded back into myself without really knowing it. I was acting more on my wackier and goofier side, both so that I wouldn't think too hard about the things that bothered me and so that no one would see beneath the surface of who I was. I guess I just preferred it that way, if no one thought of me particularly hard. I'd spent most of my life hiding from the world after all, a part of me is always gonna despise the spotlight just as much as another part of me is always going to thrive in it.
"You don't look like I thought you'd look..." Lexi stroked her imaginary beard, narrowing her eyes as she leaned closer to get a better look at Angel. She'd kind of expected him to shrink into his chair, but instead he just arched a brow at her like she was being weird, and her face remained just a little too close to his. That was fine though, she had nothing to feel awkward about! He was the dork in the chair, she was the super cool acrobat named after a ninja warrior space alien. "Don't really fit the genius bill Gatherer talked you up to be."
"Yeah well you don't really fit the four pronged mouth alien bounty hunter bill Gatherer built you up to be, either." Angel shrugged with a bland expression. Then, he reached up with both hands, wrapping two fingers from each hand around his mouth to mimic the aforementioned alien's mouth. He wiggled and waved those fingers, and made a pretty goofy "Rar" noise.
Now, I hadn't ever really talked to a boy prior to meeting Xander. That said, Jade had warned me about all sorts of guys. Guys like Xander, even guys like Anarchy if ya could believe it.
Predator's eyes widened just a little at his response - he had seen her favorite movie of all time?! Bewildered and excited and amused by this reference to one of her most favorite things, she laughed while she leaned back and got out of Angel's face. She felt the distinct urge to nerd out and talk about the ridiculous sci-fi action movie she'd adored, but quickly reeled herself back in. Maintained her persona, and instead recovered with "You're funny. What's your name, anyway?"
But, guys like Angel... I don't know if she knew there was guys like Angel.
"Angel." The Hacker answered casually, smirking lightly. He looked pretty proud of himself after he got her to laugh, and Lexi thought it was kinda cute. Did he really get a sense of accomplishment just from making a pretty girl laugh?
"Angel, huh?" Lexi said thoughtfully, before extending her hand out for a handshake quite eagerly. Frankly, she hadn't expected this meeting to go this well. In fact, she'd thought he would be a total dork who had no idea how to talk to girls. Ironic, considering the fact that he was only the third boy her age that she'd ever spoken with. "Nice to meet'cha! They call me The Predator! My name is Lexi!"
Conversation went on like that, Angel making little jokes here and there and keeping me giggling. I felt comfortable around him; he was fun and easy to be around. Wasn't intense like Xander and Anthony were. And, I know our relationship kinda ended in him betraying me and arranging my murder, but before that? He was actually pretty sweet. A month or two into crime syndicate life, he won me over with something... Surprisingly romantic.
Knock knock knock!
Lexi perked up from where she stood in front of a shelf in her room. She'd been adjusting the little ghost plushie holding a scythe so that it was no longer leaning on the unmarked, wooden urn beside it. Then, she straightened out the urn, giving it a bittersweet smile before she turned towards her door. She hastily walked over to it, before turning the knob and pulling it open to see just who was knocking.
"Hey, Lex." Angel greeted, a bowl of popcorn under his arm. He smiled in his unique way, and Predator noticed that he looked a little more cleaned up than usual. "You busy?"
"Not especially. Whaddup with the popcorn?" Her cyan eyes darted down to the bowl of popped kernels before jumping back up to Angel. She smirked just a little, "Xander's gonna throw a hissy fit if you get crumbs in the carpet."
"Ha, yeah..." Angel trailed off just a little awkwardly, and Lexi arched a brow at him. He was being weird, but he didn't give her too much time to piece together why. Instead, his eyes jumped back to her, and he asked in a hasty way that was unlike him. "Wanna watch a movie?"
"Oh, so that's why you brought popcorn." Lexi's smirk grew some; she didn't know why Angel was being so awkward, but she certainly didn't wanna miss the opportunity to tease him a little. He'd teased her plenty after all - it was just how the two interacted. Subtle flirting, plausible deniability... So why was he being awkward now? "You asking me on a date, lover boy?"
"Maybe." Angel flashed his own smirk, even though it was just a little shaky. His shameless response made Lexi's eyes widen a little, her cheeks tinting a light shade of red. This seemed to restore Angel's confidence just a little bit, enough for him to reach out and take her hand. He turned around, leading her away from her lonely room. "C'mon, I have something to show you."
"H-heh, whoa there cowboy! At least take me to dinner first!" Lexi joked despite the red shade on her face. Angel's face was turned away from hers, so she couldn't see the pink on his own cheeks while he lead her by the hand down the halls. His palm was kinda sweaty, but Lexi tolerated it.
Angel didn't actually have a response to her little joke, which only made this instance more confusing. Eventually, they made it to one of several large rooms in the mansion. A unique room with a pool table and air hockey and all sorts of fun things, but all those fun things had been pushed off to the far wall. The only furniture in the room now was the mass of pillows and blankets laid out on the floor around a single queen sized mattress, and the only light in the room came from the projector. Its beam of light flashed straight up, using the flat and blank ceiling of the room as a screen. And the video being projected was in fact Lexi's favorite movie, Predator.
"Tuh-dah!" Angel exclaimed with a sheepish grin, stepping forward while he released Lexi's hand and spinning around to face her. In his spin, he grabbed a single flower off the table the upward facing projector rested on and eagerly presented it to her.
... In his life, Angel has done horrible things. Betrayals, hurting people, killing people... But, every now and again, his KINDNESS shines through. And every time it does, it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. And I can't forgive him for what he did to me and people that I care about, but I also can't forget how special and loved he used to make me feel. And I don't want him back and I don't feel that way about him anymore, but I also don't ever want that green light inside him to fade.
"You, did all this for me..?" Lexi's eyes glossed around the room, before drifting up to the ceiling. The blue light of the projector reflected in her eyes; he'd been listening when she talked about the things she cared about. In fact, it felt in that instant like he'd listened to and cared about every word she'd ever said to him. She looked back to Angel, and timidly took the flower that he offered to her. She didn't know what kind it was - she was very far from a florist - but even though it was dark and virtually impossible to make out its colors, she thought it was pretty.
"Do you like it?" Angel asked, his sheepish smile never fading. The green of his eyes glowed in the dim lighting, illuminating his face in a gentle way that she hadn't ever seen it before. He laughed, and it sounded so genuine and special to her. "I stole the flower from the neighbor's garden."
"My favorite movie and crime?" Lexi got ahold of her senses, grinning playfully back at Angel. She kept careful hold of the flower he'd given her, lowering it and stepping forward. She boldly leaned in, kissing Angel's cheek and hopefully turning him to an even darker shade of red. It was hard to see though what with how dark it was. "You really do get me!"
And that's the story of how I got my first boyfriend and had my first date. Also technically the story of how Angel got his first handjob but that would've been a little weird to go into detail on.
... My arm, kept getting, tired, and, it's, kindofembarrassingbut ANYWAY!
And that was pretty much how most of our relationship was. It wasn't really serious, usually we were just teenagers having fun. We didn't really argue because we never really talked about anything all that important. We just spent a lot of time with each other because we liked each other. The sexual aspect of the relationship was pretty innocent too; we did a handful of horny things semi-regularly, but there was never actually uhh... Weiner, in, hole.
... That fucker definitely did eat me out though! I know he tried to deny it in season 4 but that shit happened! OFTEN! And he can try to make up for his time in the gang but there's no amount of character development that's gonna un-tongue my coochie. That's the real lesson here.
For the next two years or so, everything was going great. Dating Angel was fun, and as far as work went, we were winning every day. After about a year every other gang had fallen in line, and from that point on it was like we had all of Fortune City under control with an army of the people that the city had failed. Before, the city had been in total chaos. Aimless crimes, random violence. With Xander in charge, everything was brought into order. Drug trade was clear and well mapped out, the handful of warring gangs were all brought together under one banner. And crime that went on outside of our orders, it got dealt with immediately. For curing that chaos, the city became loyal to our gang. Police kept their heads down, let people go if The Hacker contacted them and told them that person was one'a ours. I couldn't believe how much power we had just... Reached out and taken.
Sometimes, I think about how things would have been if we were less selfish. If we really were just trying to help. The people we could have protected if we'd thought about them, the communities we could have put together if we'd taken the time. But, we didn't. We just got everything under our control, and then we sat complacent. I think that's probably what bred that doubt that Angel was able to capitalize on, and that's how our organization ate itself alive from the inside out. But, the only instability I ever noticed before the fallout was right in our mansion.
"Welcome back!" Angel The Hacker looked up from his laptop and stood from the living room couch he'd been seated in, turning his head towards the door. He watched Predator and Anarchy enter through the doorway, the former pulling her hood down and grinning right at him and the latter looking straight ahead and continuing to march forward. "You two did great out there, as per usual."
Just like usual, Anarchy didn't register Angel's existence. Or at least, he pretended not to. Instead, reaching up to wipe the blood staining his cheek away, The Anarchist bumped his shoulder into Angel's and continued right on past him. This immediately drained the smirk from The Hacker's face, and Lexi frowned some as she watched a snarl replace it. Before she could say a word, Angel had already looked over his shoulder and said something nasty. "You know, you can stop pretending I don't exist any day now."
"Go fuck yourself, Hacker." A clear and concise answer from The Anarchist, brutal as it was. Lexi almost flinched when she heard it; Anarchy had just been in a good mood after all. Why was it always like this? They'd been in this house together for two years now, why did these two just keep growing further and further apart?
"That's not my name!" Angel snapped in a voice that Lexi had never heard from him before. He spun around to face The Anarchist, who continued to turn his back on him. Planting a hand on his chest, Angel shouted. "You know my name! Stop pretending you don't know me!"
"Or what?" Anarchy's head turned, and shadows slipped unnaturally over his face. The freakish glow of his one furious red eye made Lexi flinch, but Angel didn't even react. His nerve was unshaken, and she didn't understand. Anarchy could kill him in an instant, didn't he know that? Didn't he understand the power behind his Killer stare?
I didn't know back then that Angel could produce the same stare.
"... How the fuck did you end up like this?" Angel's eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened. And Anarchy's eye went wide when he heard those words. His palms opened, his fingers twitched, and Predator found herself watching his left hand to make sure his crowbar didn't drop out of his sleeve and into his hand.
"... You want me to stop pretending you don't exist?" Anarchy's hands clenched into fists. He turned his head forward, looked away from Angel and turned his back on him in a way that was familiar. Then, his voice a gravely rumble, he snarled. "How about you stop pretending you don't know what you did?"
Angel didn't have an answer for that. He tensed up, his jaw tightened like it was stopping words from escaping. Then, Anarchy marched forward and down the hallway to his room, and Angel gradually exhaled. His hands unclenched, but the frown remained engraved in his face. Lexi slowly walked up beside him, glancing over and frowning at his tense expression.
"Angel... What was that?" Her brows furrowed, confusion and worry drawn across her expression. For two years she'd avoided this topic; she tried not to think too hard about where Anarchy came from because she feared what she might learn. He was her friend, but he was also connected to the man who took her mom from her. And perhaps she feared complicating her relationship with Angel - things were fun when they were casual. If she learned about the darker parts of him, and he learned about the darker parts of her, then that fun might fade, and she didn't know if she would like that. But she had to know, this had went on too long. If she couldn't figure out a way to help, then she feared what might happen to her little family.
... It was two days before we fell into Undertale.
"... So, this is, Anarchy's old house." Predator spoke into her ear piece, looking upon the small and delipidated building before her. She stood at the end of a gravel driveway, overgrown now with weeds. No dandelions, nothing even remotely visually pleasing. Just those weird little picker bushes. Windows were tinted brown with dirt and dust, one of them was shattered. It appeared that a black garbage bag had once been filling the space the shattered window left, but rain or wind or bugs had brought it down, where it now laid barely taped to the window sill, leaning forward onto the worn wood of the house's front.
"A little less homey than I remember." Angel's voice spoke to Lexi through her ear piece. His words didn't do much to ease this pit of anxiety looking upon this building gave her, but she still brought herself to wander forward and towards the front door. Angel continued, "When he was a kid, Anthony took care of his mom more than she ever took care of him."
"He must've really done a lot for her if the place has gotten so rundown in his absence..." Lexi muttered, glancing over to the odd, crusty red stain on the basement window near the front door. She tried her best not to let her imagination wander.
"... Yeah." Was the only comfort Angel's voice offered. Lexi was wearing a baseball cap, and attached to its bill was a little camera through which her boyfriend watched the same things she did. She skeptically took hold of the screen door's handle, slowly pulling it open to reach the wood of the door behind it. Then, she hesitantly reached up and knocked against the wood. Angel's doubtful voice chimed in, "I, don't think she's gonna be answering, Lex."
"... Look, I know how Anarchy is, but..." Lexi gradually lowered the fist she had just knocked with, gently opening her palm and resting it against the faded white paint on the door. "He wouldn't kill his own mother."
"... Anthony's mother was a vile woman, Lexi." When her knocking got no response, Predator gulped before slowly wrapping her hand around the doorknob. It turned all the way, but when she tried to push it open, it stuck in the frame. Furrowing her brows, she pushed a little harder against it, before bashing her shoulder into the wood. It budged a little, and on her second bash, the old door creaked open, and Lexi's nose scrunched up at the stale odor that poured out from within the home. "I don't have all the details, but the way she treated him..."
"Hello?" Lexi called out into the home, and no response came. Anxiously, she gripped the handle of the scythe strapped to her back, but she didn't pull it out just yet. She paused, and listened. A voice, a creak of a floorboard, a TV, a footstep, anything. But nothing came. Only once she was certain she was alone in the eerie silence did she respond to The Hacker. "What are you getting at, Angel..?"
"What I mean is that Anthony wasn't always how he is now. The life he had between these walls changed him into Anarchy."
"..." Predator furrowed her brows. She could feel a few drops of cold sweat break out on her forehead while she contemplated Angel's words, and slowly she wandered down the hallway that the front door lead into. The corridor didn't end in an opening, instead ending with more wall. But, light shined in from the side, leading Lexi to believe that the hall actually opened up on its right side. The walk down the corridor felt longer than it was, but that's probably just because of how slow she was walking. "How do you know so much about Anarchy..?"
"... When I was a kid, Anthony was my best friend." Angel's voice was different. Everything about him was. He was usually making jokes, being snarky, keeping people laughing and stopping anyone from thinking particularly hard about who he really was. Now, she was learning important details about her boyfriend. Things she wasn't sure she ever wanted to know. "He was a sweet kid."
"Anarchy, sweet..?" Predator mumbled as she stepped out of the hallway. Just like she'd thought, there was a doorless doorway at the right side of the halls' end that lead into a living room. It was a simple little room, a worn couch sitting in front of a dusty box TV. Predator scowled at the sight of a used needle on the couch's sunken in cushion. "... What did she do to him?"
"... When I was a kid, I watched her through the basement window." Angel's distant voice was listened to carefully by Lexi while she stepped carefully into the living room. The floorboards creaked, dust glimmered in the sunlight beaming through the crusty window. Certainly the most dead living room Predator'd ever seen. "She beat him. He was just a kid, and she was hitting him with a crowbar."
"What the fuck?!" The first loud noise Predator dared make in this desolate place. She stood up straight, hastily glanced around the home with her furious expression. One hand on her scythe's handle again, it was like she half expected some red eyed woman to come screaming out of the shadows to attack her. And she almost wished one would, just so she could decapitate it with her scythe. "What kinda mom would do that?!"
"The scars that cover Anarchy's body now, I'm sure she's responsible for most of them." Angel paused then, like he too was disgusted by the house he was seeing through the camera. By the story he was daring to tell. "... And the crowbar he kills people with today? I'm certain it's the same one she used."
"..." Expression tense with some mix of rage, disgust, and fear, Lexi continued deeper into the home. Across the living room, she grimaced at dark, crusted footprints left ages ago on the scratched wood floor. She walked through the path left behind and towards another hallway. Her thoughts drifted back to The Killer, to the reports she'd taken from Jade's room and read. The consistent crowbar killings in his first rampage, and the lack of a crowbar in the second rampage, only for it to return in Anarchy's hand with the cannibal killings... This wasn't a coincidence. "... If you knew what was happening to him, why didn't you do anything?"
"I was a kid, I didn't understand." Angel's voice was defensive - Lexi figured she shouldn't press. That one sentence was enough for her to understand that Angel had already thought himself sick on the subject. But despite Angel having just been a kid, it seemed pretty clear that Anarchy blamed him for his miserable upbringing. "Eventually, I had to move away. After that, Anthony was alone with his mom. Now he's Anarchy."
"... Yeah. I think I can fill in the blanks." Predator made it to another hallway. This one was short, detailed with one shut door and one wide open door, and leading into what appeared to be a kitchen. Skeptically, Predator approached the shut door, which was the closest to her. And though she hesitated a little, she did eventually wrap her hand around the knob and push the door open. This door, too, took a moment to budge. Clearly it hadn't been opened in a very long time.
Things were silent again. Predator sauntered slowly into what appeared to be the house's master bedroom. A sheetless queen sized bed still had blankets bunched up and pillows laying haphazardly on it in the room's corner. There was another two needles laying near the top corner of the mattress, where a spring had broken through the fabric. A handful of bottles laid on the floor near the bed's most sunken in and sweat stained side. What a sad story for a bed to tell.
She wandered past the bed and to the back wall of the room, where a dusty and smudged mirror stood atop a wooden dresser. Lexi peered into the jammed and half open drawers as she stepped closer to the furniture - the bottom drawers were stuffed full of unfolded clothes, and the top two were filled with random junk. Loose change, empty pill bottles, empty plastic baggies with varying powder residue left in their corners. The crown jewel of these meaningless possessions was a photo frame. It's back was still open, and it laid useless on its side atop the dresser and in front of the dirty mirror.
"Huh..." Lexi skeptically picked up the frame, inspecting it carefully. It was without a picture, empty and sad. But, something about it was strange. It had been carefully opened, like there had been something useful inside it that was retrieved. And then it had been left there, tossed aside carelessly as though it had no further value. "Whaddaya make'a this?"
"Empty frame. Who knows what that crazy bitch did with the picture, if there ever was one."
"... Right." Predator set the frame back where she found it, before turning around. There was nothing else to this room, nothing else that she wanted to see at least. So, she made her way back to the door, and carefully shut it behind her. Didn't know why, it was becoming increasingly apparent that this home was long abandoned.
With that room out of the way, she stepped carefully to the wide open doorway that came after it. From what she could make out in the dark of the little room, it was a bathroom. But, when she reached in and tried to flip the light switch, no lights came. That was an uncomfortable feeling, expecting the safety that light brings and being denied. With no other option, she retrieved a flashlight from her pocket, ignited its beam of light, and pointed it into The Dark.
Lexi grimaced, more beads of cold sweat breaking out on her forehead when she spotted more of those bloody footprints leading up to the shower at the back wall of the bathroom. This shower was tinted all sorts of red - it looked as though someone had dumped a bucket of scarlet paint on the linoleum and then tried to wash it down the drain with the shower head. Shaking her head, Lexi flicked off her flashlight and stepped away from the bathroom door. "Feels like I'm walking through a horror movie set..."
"I've already explained how I know Anarchy, and you've already seen a lot. You can come home now, Lexi. I don't want to see this, either." There was a distinct care and worry in Angel's voice, but still that underlying dead tone that had been there since she talked him into exploring this.
"... No. There's something else here." Lexi turned her eyes towards the kitchen, and gathered her nerve while she marched into it. Pots and pans still sat in a long dried sink, a few dishes had mold built upon whatever food had been left within them when they were abandoned on the table. Some of these bowls and plates had been shattered on the floor, like they'd been hastily pushed aside to clear up space. Space that was now filled with left over medical supplies. Empty bottles of hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol, used up bandage rolls, band aid wrappers, a stapler... It all lied on a kitchen table crusted with blood. Predator gulped... "Something that we need to see. I just don't know what it is."
"I've got a pretty good guess. And I don't think you wanna see that."
"..." Lexi frowned at Angel's dry but reasonable response. She looked past the desolate kitchen without daring to open the fridge and see what filth resided in there, instead focusing on the door at the backwall of the kitchen and the stairway beside it. With DETERMINATION in her step, she marched up to that last door and rested her hand on the wood. The door might have been slammed shut on account of the wind coming through the broken window in the kitchen, it seemed odd to find a closed door. Everything around here indicated that the last person to be here had left in a rush.
Regardless, Lexi pushed the door open and peered into the small room within. A twin sized bed, a single window at the room's other end, a bedside table, and a closet that was still open. Clothes were hung up in that closet, they looked about Anarchy's style. Some of the hangers had fallen to the ground, a backpack had been half filled with supplies before being abandoned there. A long sleeve still reached out from it's unzipped maw.
Lexi turned her attention to the bed and the table beside it. She wandered a few steps across the carpet, it only took about three steps to reach the other end of the room. The mattress on the bed was sheeted, the pillows were cased, the blanket was still a bunched up mess at the foot of the bed. This was by far the cleanest room in the house, but somehow that just made it all the more unsettling to Lexi. Like she was standing somewhere sacred, somewhere forbidden.
Her eyes drifted to the bedside table. There was a scratch across the wood, pointing Predator's eyes to the corner of the room opposite to the table. There, a lamp had been reduced to a pile of broken glass and wires. And in the pile of lamp rubble, another photo frame laid broken. Furrowing her brows, Lexi wandered over to the frame, carefully leaning down and picking it from the trash it had been cast into.
It was a piece of paper inside the frame, some art piece from a forgotten time. It was an illustration of a little boy with red eyes, suspended in air by the hold of another boy. One with wings. A green eyed Angel held the boy up, their hands locked together in an unbreakable grip. And they both looked so perfectly happy, grinning as they soared through a cloudless sky. Now, its frame was shattered. Broken in two from an impact at it's side, the glass had exploded apart and the frame had nearly entirely broken away in what Lexi guessed was a crowbar fueled launch from table to wall. In what glass remained in the bottom right corner of the frame, there was a bloody thumb print.
"... Leave it. Please..."
"..." Lexi frowned at the sad sound of Angel's voice. He nearly whispered his request, like there'd been a lump in his throat. So, she leaned down, and gently set the shattered frame right back where she'd found it. Maybe, she thought, some things are better left forgotten.
She turned around, and she nearly tiptoed her way out of Anthony's old room. She carefully and quietly shut the door behind herself, as though she was afraid she would wake someone or something. And from there, there was only one place left to explore. She turned her cyan eyes to the pulsating dark of the basement steps, and she heard the sound of her pulse in her ears.
"... You don't have to go down there, Lexi. You can turn around right now, I won't think any less of you."
Predator didn't respond. She just inhaled slowly, let the filthy smell seeping up from that basement hit her... And then, began down the creaking steps. And the further she descended, the worse the odor became. The stink of rot and decay, it grew more and more powerful. The steps creaked and moaned, begged her to come closer, to see the rotten heart of The Dark. And when she reached the bottom step, she found a broken doorway. A cracked chrysalis, the sign that something had escaped.
The wooden door laid flat on the bottom steps. From the look of the broken doorframe and shattered hinges, it seemed like the door had been pried open. With a crowbar, Lexi thought was obvious. But it hadn't just been pried open, it'd been ripped off the wall. Destroyed in a rage, made an example in a brutal act of defiance. It was clear now, this place had been a prison to young Anthony, one that Anarchy had broken him out of. But where was the warden?
Carefully, Lexi walked across the flat surface of the door and let her boots hit the cool concrete of the basement floor. Then, she turned and peered into the slithering darkness. The shadows shifted and moved unnaturally - it made her hair stand on end. That disgusting scent was washing out of this vile place in waves, like a beating heart. And skeptically, with a clammy and shaky hand, Lexi retrieved her flashlight from her pocket again.
The beam of white light split The Dark, and revealed to The Predator and The Hacker poor Delilah. At least, they had to assume it was her. But her skull was so mutilated, her face so devastated... Her entire body, it was hard to see that there had ever been any human with those pieces. Limbs were twisted in wrong directions, pulled from the body entirely. Meat picked from bone, human teeth marks on certain areas like some voracious creature had been gnawing on her. And as brutal as the understanding of her death was, there was also the horror of her decay.
Blood had spilled out of every hole Anarchy had made and every hole that was already there. It all laid in a blackish red puddle beneath the massacred Mother. Skin peeled away by time, organs broken down to a gas in her husk of a body and said gas now sticking to the walls. Her filth and the brutality of her destruction painted and permeated this rotten place, a never fading testament to The Anarchist's rebellion.
And when Predator's mortified, shrunken pupils watched black maggots spill out of Delilah's damaged eye sockets, she lurched forward and wrapped a hand around her mouth. She wanted to vomit, the shadows giggled and whispered for her to spew chunks and add her own filth to this vile place. But that thought terrified her, she didn't want this wretched place to take anything from her. One hand clamped over her mouth, Lexi raced back across the broken door and up the steps. Steps that screamed, demanded that she return to The Dark. She didn't listen.
Up the steps, into the kitchen, over the table and out the broken window. The moment Predator landed on the dead grass of the front lawn, she lurched forward and she hurled. Greens, yellows, greasy chunks of breakfast. It spewed past her lips and squirted out of her nostrils for seconds, before finally stopping so she could inhale. She sucked in air tainted by her own vomit, and that made her spit up a few more drops of bile. Gasping and gagging, she leaned there, clammy hands resting on shaky knees.
"Are you okay?" Angel's voice was urgent in her ear, so worried that it made up for how stupid his question was.
"N-no..!" Lexi shouted in response, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the puke that still dripped down her chin and upper lip. Hysterical, she stumbled away from the house, spinning on shaky legs and turning around to face it after she'd reached the end of the driveway. "H-how could that happen..?! How could people do that to each other..?!"
"Lexi, I-"
"How could a place that horrible exist?!" Lexi snapped, lurching forward and stifling the urge to puke again. Now outside of that wretched place, all the puzzle pieces she'd gathered dropped into place. A sweet and innocent boy, tortured and forgotten. Dreaming and wishing for someone to come save him. But nobody came. And that torture twisted him into... Into..! "How did we let this happen?!"
"Lexi, there's nothing we could have done..."
"There has to have been something..! There has to be something..!" Lexi raced back through her memories. Jade's room, all the evil she knew was going on. But this wasn't The Killer, this was just some broken home he'd left alone. Further back, all the way to her earliest memories. To the red eyed boy she had shoved down in that alley, to the horrible words she had called him. And when her hysterical brain told her this tragedy was her fault, she puked again.
... I don't know why my first instinct was to blame myself. Anthony's life was completely out of my hands, the most I could have done was be nice to him for the two seconds we met as kids. And that wouldn't have gotten him away from his mom, it wouldn't have made the world be KIND to him. But for whatever reason, I didn't see that wretched house as a place where a monster was born. It always looked to me like the place where an innocent kid died. And for some reason I couldn't cope with that.
I went home to the mansion. Hung up the phone, didn't talk to Angel on the way back. He tried to comfort me when I got home, but I told him I needed to be alone. I went back to my room, locked myself in. Paced, cried, held Jade's ashes. I don't know why, but seeing Anarchy's mom mutilated and rotting sent me into a panic attack. I thought about the life I'd lived, hiding from the world. Trying to strike out like some hero and getting my own mother killed. Being selfish and living for myself, abusing the power our gang had just to live an easy life.
I thought back to the last conversation I had with Jade. When I screamed at her, accused her of watching this city fester and the people die. But I was the same, I might've even been worse. I felt like a coward. And when I felt like I couldn't pace and I couldn't cry anymore, I realized there was someone I had to talk to. Someone I had to reach out to. The same person who'd tried to help me after my parents were taken from me, the same person who got me laughing after I got my mother murdered.
But, you guys know that part of the story. I apologized to Anarchy in the basement of the mansion, told him that Angel told me about his childhood. We had a little argument, and then I told him that him, Xander, and Angel are the closest thing to a family that I've ever had. Then I... Kinda, projected about how I felt about our morality. Anthony told me I wasn't evil, and I told him he wasn't evil.
That conversation meant a lot to me. Looking back, my entire friendship with Anthony meant a lot to me. He was the first friend I had who wasn't a mom figure or a boyfriend. And yeah, I'd seen him kill, and I knew he was The Ivory Ghoul's son. But, somewhere in him... I knew Anthony wasn't dead. Angel thought the sweet little boy that Anarchy had grown into was gone, but if that were true he would have been like his father. If that were true, I never would have cared about him, he never would have been my friend, he never would have told me I wasn't evil. And, he never would have sacrificed his life to save me. In so many ways, he made me feel like we were still standing in the rain, and he was still holding the umbrella over my head.
... After talking to Anthony, I went to see Angel. I still felt awful, even though Anarchy's words had helped. But, you guys know that part of the story, too.
The Hacker sat alone in his chair, clicking keys carelessly. His comfort game flashed on the screen, an upside down gold heart blasting away little robots while a very fabulous man danced on the screen. But, when he heard footsteps coming up the hall, he looked over his shoulder, cocking a brow into the darkness.
And when Lexi stepped into view, he smiled lightly, spinning around in his chair. For the moment he didn't take note of the fact that her head was down, her long black hair falling over her face. He'd likely distracted himself with his favorite video game, managed to forget the guilts on his mind and the horrors he'd seen that morning.
"Wassup Pred-" His eyes widened as he heard her sniffle sharply, concern overtaking his expression and forcing him to a mid sentence stop. Quickly he stood from his computer chair, stepping closer towards her.
"Whoa, Lexi, what's wrong?" He skeptically reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, tilting his head to the side while concern glowed in his green eyes.
"... Angel..." She spoke quietly, not looking up into the KIND stare that he provided. It didn't seem she had the strength to. "Am I a bad person..?"
"What..?" He tilted his head to the side in confusion, which slowly overtook his expression. He spoke softly, genuine disbelief in his tone. She wondered if he'd really never considered that she might be bad, or if he just never thought she would consider it. "Where's this comin' from, Lex..?"
She didn't speak, she just slowly stepped forward. She reached out and wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head on his shoulder for comfort. And, though he hesitated, he did lift his arms and return her hug. Holding her, he gently smoothed her long black hair down her back. It made her feel safe.
The next day, Angel betrayed our gang and tried to have me killed. But, that night, I felt more safe with him than I have with anyone. And, I still don't know how to feel about that. After Xander told me Angel had organized my assassination, and that he had known he was going to kill me while he stayed up late talking with me and comforting me... I felt so naïve. So used and so stupid. I loved him, and I thought he loved me too.
And fucked up things have happened to me a lot, but at least most of those were direct. Losing my parents, losing Jade, that just made me feel sad and weak. It didn't make me feel stupid and vulnerable like Angel's betrayal did. I let him close to me, trusted him more than I trusted anyone, and he stabbed me in the back. And if I didn't already have the friends that I had in my crew at the time I learned it, I think that would've given me some serious trust issues. But, even though what Angel did was terrible and I can't ever forgive it, it doesn't define me. I have other people who really do care about me, and I'm not gonna push them away just because one person screwed me over.
Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I ended up falling asleep on Angel's bed that night. He was holding me, and I just kinda relaxed and went to sleep. But, when I woke up he wasn't there. And that made me feel a weird and powerful kinda loneliness. But, I figured I could address it after the very simple mission we had. Just a little trade deal, routine negotiations. What. Could. Go. Wrong.
Anarchy and Predator stood side by side, their hands raised above their heads and their backs against a wall. Sweat beaded down their foreheads while they looked out at the wall of criminals that blocked their path. There was about eight of them, several of them pointing guns at the two, including the one who stood at their center.
The lead of the gang members was a slender and tall man, wearing a black duster that was open in the front, revealing a white tank top and dirty, torn jeans. He was an intimidating man to most, but the only power he held over the two of them was the glock in his hand.
"The Anarchist and The Predator." He grinned, ash dropping from the cigarette in his mouth while he tilted his head to the side. "We're gonna be a real big deal after we make examples outta you two."
Lexi's shrunken pupils darted between the punks and crooks before her. They'd gotten the drop on them, shot and killed all four of the poor scumbags the two had brought with them as backup. Now four of them had handguns drawn, one of them was brandishing a knife, and the other three were arrogant enough to stand there with their arms crossed, smirking condescendingly.
This didn't make sense, Lexi was thinking. How had this happened? Who could put together a plan like this, and why? Didn't these idiots know who her and Anarchy were? Clearly they did. There must have been more to this if they really thought they could get away with biting the hand that fed Fortune City.
Her eyes drifted over to Anthony. The Anarchist was keeping his cool, but Predator knew. She could see the rage in his eyes, grinding of his teeth. He hated being trapped, Lexi knew that to be true.
She didn't want to die. Not yet, not like this, not so suddenly. She'd only just realized what she'd been doing wrong, she needed more time! To fix this wretched city, to do the right thing, to make up for all the fuck ups she'd been making! There had to be more time!
"Lexi." Anarchy spoke softly and out of the corner of his mouth, shaking Predator from her panicked thoughts and catching her attention. She glanced over to him, and was almost a little reassured just by the absence of fear in his eyes. Did he have a plan? Was there a way out of this?
"We're screwed, right?" Lexi whispered back to Anarchy out of the corner of her own mouth. Something close to a joke, dry and morbid. Kinda like the joke he'd told her after Jade died. If she was gonna get gunned down side by side with somebody, she was glad it would be Anarchy.
"I'm going to make an opening, and you are going to run." Anarchy told her clearly and concisely, catching her off guard. It was so sudden and jarring in so many ways, Lexi's cyan eyes went wide and she had to doubletake.
"Wait, what?" Of course The Predator was surprised, she never thought Anarchy the type to sacrifice. Whether that sacrifice would be a bit of food or his life, he had never seemed willing to part with either. It made sense, he had spent his childhood giving and giving while everyone he cared about took and took, now he was his own top priority. Or, at least she thought he was. Why would he care about saving her?
"Get ready." Anarchy's eyes locked onto the lead of their enemies, lowering his hands and balling them into fists. He gave her no time to consider, he didn't hesitate and she admired that. He was always so certain, so sure and DETERMINED in all that he did. Even if that meant dying.
"W-wait, Anthony!" Lexi spoke in a harsh whisper, reaching out and grabbing the sleeve of her friend. It was all she could do, though it wasn't much at all. Suddenly, her thoughts were drifting back to the alley. To the abandoned mall. A third time? Someone giving up their life for her for a third time?! Why? She wasn't worth it! Didn't he get that?! "There's gotta be another-!"
"You said you don't think I'm evil?" Anarchy cut her off, those ruby eyes striking her with all of their intensity. He wasn't going to hear her doubts, and he didn't care what she thought about herself. In that instant, it was apparent to her that her life had value to him, and that's why he wanted to protect it. But, that didn't make sense... There was something more. Something he had to prove to himself. He wanted this. He wanted her to live and he wanted to die to make it happen. This wasn't like her parents, it wasn't like Jade. Somehow, this didn't feel like a sacrifice for her. And for some reason, that lessoned the burden on her shoulders.
"Well... Yeah. And I meant it..." Lexi furrowed her brows with concern, her mouth hanging open some, as if she wanted to say more. But no words came. They were choked in her throat by the lump growing there. Her eyes were burning, she just didn't understand. He was a Killer, he was supposed to only care about himself. He was supposed to be a bad person. But it was obvious now, Anthony was never gone. Here he was, standing in the rain, holding an umbrella over her head.
And Lexi watched as Anthony The Anarchist turned his head back towards the enemy. She heard him exhale through his sharp teeth, she watched the vicious red murder inherited from his father appear in his eyes and for the first time in her life it made her feel safe.
"... Then let me prove you right."
... It was super natural. When I first met Anthony, he didn't seem invincible like The Ghoul was. But when he walked forward, the shadows started to move. I watched him paralyze eight grown men armed with guns and knives with a look. Lights flickered, and I felt the same Dark presence I'd felt residue of in that basement in full effect in that warehouse.
Bullets and knives, he felt no pain as he ripped through the poor idiots in front of him. I was baffled, so entranced that I almost wanted to watch more. It was amazing, seeing bad humiliated by evil. Haunting and humbling in ways that I can't even describe. I only watched for something like ten seconds after he made the opening, but it felt like ten hours.
Metal rumbled, and Predator grunted and grumbled as she shoved the heavy sheet metal door of the warehouse wide open. Light flooded into the building from the setting sun, freeing Anarchy's victims from The Dark's grasp and distracting them with Predator's light. Heads turned momentarily and foolishly, inviting Anarchy to snap a man's neck with his bare hands. And as gunshots rang out between the rabid snarling of The Anarchist, Lexi clenched her eyes shut tight. The image of the boy with the umbrella appeared in her mind one more time, and she didn't dare look back to see his end. Instead, she ran.
Down the streets, through the city at full speed. And once again, she didn't know where she was going. Tears streaming down her face, mind racing. This was an organized betrayal, someone was out to get her. It felt like something was chasing her. Doom on her heels, she rushed down the alleyways. Past where her parents had been killed. Right by where little Anthony had offered her his parasol. Right through where Jade had picked her up and fled The Killer with her in tow.
For the third time, she had lost everything. Now where was she gonna go? The mansion? No, she thought Xander had to have executed this betrayal. If she went there, he would likely already have people waiting to kill her. And that meant that Angel was probably already dead. Jade's basement? Xander knew where that was, too. She would have to start over from scratch, again. And she knew she wasn't strong enough for that.
Eventually, she found herself at Fortune Bridge. The city's biggest landmark, with a tole booth to keep the poor from ever escaping. Thinking about it now, this whole city was like that basement, and that bridge was the door. Locked, and she didn't have Anarchy to pry it open.
Too many times in her life she'd let herself believe this city was worth saving, and that it was her responsibility to save it. Killing The Ghoul, being one of The Fortune City Four. But this city wasn't afflicted by evil, it was the root of evil. And it had won. Stomped out all embers of hope, killed every hero that was ever born within its walls.
So, there she was. Lexi The Predator, standing on the ledge. Looking out at the rushing water hundreds of feet below. The wind blew her hair, it was cold. Everything was cold. And over the horizon, the sun was shining as it set. A rare instance of the clouds parting. But, this wasn't a hopeful sign, this was Fortune City's celebration. Everyone who could save it was dead, she was all that was left. And she didn't feel like saving anyone anymore.
She stepped closer to the edge. Just looking at the drop made her dizzy. But that was okay, she wasn't afraid of falling. She took another step, let the front of her boot lean over the drop. So she couldn't save the world. She couldn't heal Anarchy, couldn't bring back Jade, couldn't stop The Killer. But, she knew what she could do.
Everyone who is born in this city spends their lives waiting to die. And Lexi The Predator was tired of waiting. Tired of running around, playing games, struggling against this evil place just to find herself right back in the same place. Hide, and someone will come save you. Wait, and salvation will come. But the only salvation she could see here was the cool water below. This life was a bust. Maybe the next one would be better.
She spun suddenly on her heel, and she cracked a smile back at the wretched city behind her in spite of the tears streaming down her face. Then, she threw up two middle fingers, and did the only thing that had truly made her happy. Performed an acrobatic stunt, a perfect backflip right off the edge.
She plummeted back first, fingers raised to the sky. An act of defiance, she assured herself. Fuck the world. But, as she dropped, the world flickered. Lights went off and on, and then... The bridge growing more and more distant became golden petals and blinding light, and she landed back first on a bed of flowers.
... I wanted a new life in a different place, and my wish came true. Now I'm gonna use that second chance to make things right. I'm gonna find Anarchy, I'm gonna stop Gatherer. And I'm not gonna stop trying until I'm dead, which ain't happenin' anytime soon.
"Uh, boss?" The sound of a knock against her door caught Predator's attention, and she sat up swiftly from where she'd been laying flat on her back, flashing her middle fingers to the ceiling while she reminisced. Furrowing her brows, she stepped out of bed and stretched her arms over her head while she wandered towards the door that Clover's voice had came through.
"What's up?" Predator's semi-sunken in eyes drifted up to the shaded eyes of her right hand man after the door slid open, her hair a mess atop her head. He frowned a little at the sight of her - didn't know whether to be relieved or worried about the lack of tear stains on her face. Muffet's death had rocked the entire crew, but they didn't have time to mourn. He was sure Predator knew that better than anyone.
"His highness is awake." Clover got straight to the point, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. His words made Predator's eyebrows raise - if this had been Melanie or Ralsei, they likely would have asked if she was okay, but Clover must've already known she was in no mood to discuss her feelings. Instead, he presented her with something to distract herself with. A way to get closer to her goal. Clover was a smart guy, Predator thought with a grin forming on her face. He understood that grumbling and whining about her problems wouldn't cheer her up, only finishing more of her work would.
"Well let's go see what his deal is!" Predator exclaimed, reaching up and shoving her messy hair back into something close to its regular style. Clover smiled when he watched the mad woman grin flash on her face, he was glad to see her act like herself.
"Eugh..." Future rubbed his head of black hair as he sat up on the twin sized bed he'd woken up on. He blinked his eyes a few times, then glanced down to both of his hands. He flexed his fingers, clenched and unclenched his fists. Looked like his arm had grown back at some point. Didn't know if he had his red soul or the fluffy goat boy by his bedside to thank for that.
"Try not to move around too much, okay?" Ralsei requested with a polite smile, holding his hands together over his lap while he watched the king adjust his jaw. Future ran his hands over his face, which had previously been beaten to a bloody pulp by Character. Must've been checking to make sure everything there had healed properly, and what he found was that his five o'clock shadow had grown into full facial hair while he was asleep. He'd have to shave the first chance he got. "I'd still like to heal a little more just to make sure everything is completely fixed. You got pretty banged up..."
"Yeah, I remember..." Future grumbled sleepily, resting his face in his hand for a moment. But, then he smiled politely over towards Ralsei, managing to look just a little royal despite his sunken in eyes. "Thanks. You uh, mind explaining where I am?"
Just as Ralsei opened his mouth to speak, the metal door across the room slid open with a mechanical whir. The two both lifted their heads to see Lexi The Predator marching into the room with Clover in tow, and Future grimaced just a little at the wily expression on Predator's face. It was more than a little weird to be confronted by an ex girlfriend that he thought was dead for upwards of a decade, especially one that was fifteen years younger than him.
"Daddy Angel!" Predator exclaimed boldly, pointing aggressively at Future as she marched closer. Future instantly recoiled, his face lighting up in red.
"Don't call me that!" He barked, instantly aggravated and embarrassed by the two unfortunate words that Lexi had addressed him with. Ralsei casually stepped aside, letting his boss walk right up to his patient's bedside.
"My ship, my rules your DILFness!" Predator continued to exclaim boldly, and Future groaned at her words. He reached up and ran a hand down his face, going over in his head the list of poor decisions that had lead him to this very moment. Lexi didn't have any such thoughts though, she had no interesting in the past. Now, she was completely focused on what was to come. So, she slammed her hands down on Future's bedside, making the king arch a brow at her. "Now I got some questions, and you're gonna answer them!"
"... Well, Predator, I'll tell you right off the bat." Future lowered his hand away from his face, leaning his head back and looking at her with sunken in emerald orbs. His serious expression wiped any smile from her own face, and she watched his eyes narrow and a frown dig into his face.
"If you aren't the one who won Anarchy's location, then we're in some deep shit."
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