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The Things Men Do – Chapter 8
April 16th
Dear Kim,
I blew it! All the signs were there, and I bloody well missed them. The killer we're trying to catch is a psychic, and I didn't even clue in until she pulled some tricks on us that made it oh so obvious. She kicked our butts, and if it hadn't been for Tara getting in a good shot while I had her distracted, I might not even be here to write this.
Anyways, the police ran her picture and blood, and it turns out she was in Paris when Monkey Fist attacked, where she lost her husband. Still doesn't entirely explain why she's doing this though. I mean, was it just too much for her, that many people dying at once? Or is their something else? I just can't shake the feeling that Monkey Fist had more to do with this than we think. Even dead, he's causing nothing but trouble.
I just… I just don't know if I can stop her. She just seems so strong, and if she was able to play me like that… I'm going to talk with Ron and Wade in the morning, see if they have any ideas. We don't have much time left.
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Bonnie stood smiling at her opponent as she stood a few feet away, watching Kristine frantically looking about at the sudden change of scenery. All around them lay the wreckage of Paris, though greatly exaggerated beyond the actual destruction. Fires raged around them, and the thick smoke swirled around them. Kristine choked and coughed, but Bonnie remained impassive.
"What… coff… where are we?"
Bonnie moved closer, watching the frightened expression on her face. "We're inside your mind right now, a little trick I picked up from the guy who did this. I figured it would give me a bit of an edge to this little game you wanted to play."
Kristine backed away, and tripped over a piece of debris. Crawling backwards, one hand over her mouth, she began to look panicked. "But you can't change the rules! This is my game!"
"Not any more!" A sledgehammer appeared in Bonnie's hands, and she swung hard.
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Bonnie winced as she watched Kristine fly backwards from the impact, but turned back to her work. She headed deeper into Kristine's mind, trying to find the answers she needed. It wasn't easy to do, splitting her focus onto two of herself, and had actually discovered it by accident when she was working with Ron one day. She should have realized it was possible. After all, Monkey Fist had done it, but the thought had never really occurred to her to try it herself before.
While part of her was fighting, with a huge advantage right away, she had time to delve deeper into Kristine's mind. Something about all this had bothered her right from the start, and she needed to find the answers to why if she was to have any chance to help her. It just didn't seem right that she could have snapped this badly, not to the point where she was hurting and torturing others. Something else must have happened.
Bonnie skimmed the most recent memories, trying hard not to look too closely at most of them. They weren't a pretty sight, and she knew the answer wouldn't lie with them. She had to go further back.
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Ron groaned, as consciousness slowly returned to him. His head pounded, threatening to split his skull in two. The loud noises he was hearing weren't helping, and all he wanted was to sink back down into oblivion, at least until his head agreed it would be a good idea. The noises got louder, and as realization of just where he was sank in, he realized they were voices.
"Ron, you have to get up now!"
Slowly, he brought one hand up to his head, pressing hard against his temples, and he opened his eyes carefully. Light penetrated, sending pain lancing through his skull, and he closed his eyes again. Trying again, he slowly opened one eye first and then the other, turning ever so slowly to the sound of the voices. "Any chance you can stop yelling please? My head is killing me here!"
Tara sank back, relief flooding through her. "Oh thank God you're all right! I was so worried about what she had done to you."
Ron slowly brought himself to his knees, and then he noticed both Bonnie and Kristine just standing there, their eyes closed, unmoving. "What…?"
Brick was still working at the bonds on his wrists when he replied. "Bonnie's doing some kind of mental whammy to her. Don't know anything more than that. Said something about getting past her defenses, and then they both stopped moving, just standing there."
Ron made his way gingerly over to Brick, and began carefully removing the restraints, taking care not to touch the blades handing only inches away. "Must be the mind fighting she did with Monkey Fist. Wish she had told me what she was planning."
Tara just shook her head, working on her own restraints. "She couldn't take the chance that she would read it off you. Is there anything we can do to help her?"
Ron finally got Brick's right hand free, and began working on the one at his waist. "I don't think there is anything we can do." He spared a glance back at the two women. "For now, I think she is on her own."
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"I thought you wanted to play?" Bonnie swung hard again, and the impact sent Kristine flying into a wall, knocking down what little remained of it. "I mean, it's like you don't want to play with me anymore."
Bonnie stalked over to the fallen woman, and watched her struggle to her feet. Bonnie swung the sledgehammer hard over her head, looking to bring it down over her head. Kristine dove out of the way, and the impact shattered the bricks at her feet. With a quick kick, Kristine knocked the sledgehammer out of her hands, and rose quickly. "You haven't been very nice to me you know. I don't like this game."
"Tough." Bonnie stretched out her hands, and green flame enveloped her hands. Kristine's eyes went wide. "Just something else I picked up from someone. Ready for round two?"
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Bonnie had delved into the memories, and had almost traced the correct moment in time. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary before the trip to Paris. In fact, she had been happy, even with her powers. Bonnie did note they weren't nearly as powerful as they were now, nothing more than a bit of empathic sense and mild telepathy. This only led to more questions. What exactly could have happened to her? And why couldn't she find the memories of Paris? They had to be there, she had even mentioned killing her husband as he was lying hurt, but she couldn't find a trace of it. None of it made sense!
She started scanning the memories again, hoping that maybe she had overlooked it somehow. She knew she didn't have much time before Kristine figured out how to fight her, and with her attentions diverted between her two "avatars", she knew she didn't have the strength to fight back once that happened. The answer to stopping her had to lie in that moment in Paris.
"Looking for something?"
Bonnie whirled quickly, and her eyes went wide at who she saw standing behind her.
"Monkey Fist?"
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Bonnie dove after Kristine, her hands flaring as she struck the woman across the face. She knew the fire wouldn't do anything more than tire Kristine out mentally, but it gave her an edge in the fight, keeping Kristine off balance, unable to focus. She did notice that the woman was starting to fight back now though. Ducking under a high kick, she punched outward, slamming both fists into her stomach, doubling her over. Bonnie raised her fists above her, preparing to slam them down over her head. Kristine raised her arms to block, and a shield appeared as Bonnie struck, blocking the blow. Kristine looked up in surprise and shock, before a smile creased her face.
"I know the rules now! Let's play! Hehehehe!"
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"Monkey Fist, how the hell can you be here?"
Monkey Fist slowly circled Bonnie, that evil grin lighting his face. He appeared just as he had before he had transformed himself with the magical talismans, before he had gone on his rampage. "My dear, I am not really here. You see, I'm just a manifestation of her mind. Of course, that doesn't stop me from hurting you if I so wanted. After all, I can't have you messing up my little experiment."
Bonnie's eyes went wide, and she tried to keep her distance from him. "Experiment?"
"Monkey Fist just smiled. "Of course, my dear. I wanted to see just what it would take to drive a person insane. And she was such the perfect little candidate, our Kristine was. Her mind was just so open to me. I just had to stop for a moment, just to see her. Of course, no matter what I showed her, it didn't change a thing, she just refused to do what I wanted. So… I changed her mind for her!"
"How could you do something like that? That… that's just…"
Monkey Fist's grin widened further. "Evil? I don't think so. After all, humans experiment on monkeys all the time."
"Monkeys aren't sentient creatures."
Monkey Fist moved faster than she had thought possible, driving a fist into her jaw, and Bonnie went down hard. Monkey Fist glared down at her, contempt evident on his features. "How DARE you say something like that to me! They are only lower life forms to you, but they are so much more. I felt it only fair to return the favour when I became so much more than human. How is that any different?"
Bonnie wiped the blood from her lip, glaring up at him. "You're just a sick prick, aren't you?"
The grin returned to Monkey Fist's face, and he allowed her to get to her feet. "Come now, is that any way for a young lady such as yourself to talk?"
A sword appeared quickly in Bonnie's hand, and she stabbed forward, impaling him through the chest. "I'm not a lady!"
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Bonnie found herself being pushed back as Kristine, now fully enraged, kept slashing forward with the four-foot scalpel in her hand. She had been able to block so far with her own shield, but Kristine just seemed to be getting faster and faster. She fired off a blast of energy from her hand that drove the woman back, but Kristine was no longer going down from her blows. She knew she had to find the answer soon!
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Monkey Fist just laughed as he pulled the sword from his chest, and Bonnie was aghast. "You didn't seriously think that would stop me, did you? After all, I'm not even really here. I'm just a… mental safeguard, to keep nosey people like you from getting in the way of my little experiment."
Bonnie cast her gaze all around her, trying desperately to find something that might help, and Monkey Fist just laughed. "You really don't think you'll be able to win? There is nothing you can do. When I augmented poor Kristine's powers, I knew she would be powerful enough to carry out everything I wanted her to. After all, the only one who could stop her would be me, and since I don't want to…"
Bonnie took off running, trying to find something that could help her, some clue as to where she should strike. She knew the answer lay in finding that day in her memories, but it seemed to have been hidden well. Frustrated, she began lashing out, destroying things at random. She had only been at it a moment when Monkey Fist attacked. She ducked under the blow, and twisted away, continuing to destroy the memories around her. Finally, when she blew apart a section of wall, she found what she was looking for.
A small, green monkey idol sat in the crater of the wall. It seemed almost innocuous, but Bonnie knew that had to be the key. Monkey Fist quickly interposed himself between her and the idol though.
"You'll never get past me!"
Bonnie sneered at him. "Who said I was going past!"
Bonnie leapt at him, and Monkey Fist just smiled and prepared himself. At the last moment, she re-shaped her leg in a long spear, almost faster than could be seen. It drove right through the chest of Monkey Fist, and shattered the idol into a million pieces.
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Bonnie could hardly move, as Kristine raised the scalpel over her head, prepared to drive it through her. "Game over!"
A wave of energy passed over Kristine before she could strike, and the weapon dropped from her hand as she fell to her knees. Bonnie slowly rose up, making her way over to Kristine. Her strength returned slightly as her other self returned to her, and she moved over the older woman.
Kristine's face was one of horror, as the events of the last month flooded through her. Clutching her head in her hands, she screamed in pain, and Bonnie moved to hold the distraught woman in her arms.
Tears flowed freely down Kristine's cheeks, as all semblances of the insane woman only moments ago gave way to the pained and suffering woman she now held in her arms.
"Oh God… what… what have I done? Richard…"
Bonnie patted her hair, trying hard to sooth this woman who had been trying so hard to kill her. "It wasn't you, you're not responsible. Monkey Fist messed with your head. It's over now."
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Brick was still rubbing the circulation back into his hands as he stood beside Tara and Ron as they watched the two women. "Any ideas yet on how we can help them?"
Tara leaned over to look into the face of Kristine. "Can't we just… you know, knock her out?"
Ron shook his head. "I don't know what that would do to Bonnie. If she's in her head, there's no telling what might happen."
A shot rang out, and all three freaked when half of Kristine's head splattered all over them. They turned quickly as Kristine and Bonnie's bodies slumped to the floor, staring wide-eyed at Will Du, pistol in hand and calm expression on his face. "It was the only way. She was too dangerous."
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Bonnie cradled the older woman in her arms. "Let's get out of here. There are people who want to help you, and I'm sure your family will be glad you're alive as well."
"But… how can I… after everything I've done?"
Bonnie smiled, helping her to her feet. "You have to hope that, with a second chance, you can make a difference. It's the only thing you can do!"
Kristine's smile was faint, but genuine, holding none of the malice that Bonnie had always seen before. "Thank you!"
Kristine's eyes went wide, and everything around Bonnie went suddenly dark. Bonnie felt as if every single piece of her being was being ripped to shreds and she tried to pull back to her own mind. She watched, horrified, as Kristine disappeared, and then everything around her disappeared as well.
Finally, the darkness took Bonnie as well!
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Author's Note – One more chapter to go folks!