Chapter 8 - The First Showdown
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Notes/Disclaimer: The Discworld and all its characters are the sole property of Terry Pratchett. If I could worship him as a God, I would, but I'm not quite sure how he'd take that. At any rate, no money is being made off of this.
Warning: Little bit of Greebo/Vimes, little bit of Greebo/Vetinari.
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They sat under the dripping eaves of the Patrician's office and watched the rain pour down.
"Are you sure you're alright, Sir?" Carrot asked for the third time.
"Fine," said Vimes irritably. I just need to pluck my own eyes out, he thought to himself. He ground his teeth. This thing had better attack tonight; he was going to be really pissed if this was all for nothing.
"What are we looking for, exactly?" Carrot asked.
"Something evil," said Vimes. He pulled his coat tighter around himself. Damn, it was getting cold. Had it been this cold before? Or this dark?
"You mean like that?" Carrot asked, pointing.
"Huh?" said Vimes. He followed Carrot's pointing finger and saw… well, darkness. Or maybe not so much darkness as Darkness. The blackness roiled like a thick cloud of smoke, drifting forward out of the street towards them like an evil mist. Black mist, thought Vimes derisively. How unoriginal.
"Yep," said Vimes. "That's probably it. Go get 'em, tiger."
Carrot blinked at him. "Huh? Just me, Sir?"
Vimes nodded. "I've got faith in you, captain. Go for it."
Carrot shrugged, looking a bit skeptical, but his salute was as crisp as ever, and he turned and walked steadfastly towards the thing.
Let's hope this works, Vimes thought fervently.
The Darkness moved eagerly towards the Leader's building, aware that this would be a good way to start the cataclysm. It shivered. If it had had lips, it would have licked them.
Two figures stood in front of the building, and the Darkness was about to consume them, drive them into a chaotic panic, when one of them suddenly stepped forward. The Darkness paused. This was a Challenge. But… but… this was all wrong. No one was supposed to face it except the Being of Light and Good. And this was just some guard, except…
Except…
"Shoo," said the being. "Go away. Get out of here. You stay away from the Patrician!"
Obviously, the Darkness knew, it should just go forward and roll over this pathetic human, but, somehow, it found itself cowering. Theoretically it knew that it was waiting for the other Being, but there was something so familiar, so resembling Good and Light that just seemed to hover around this man.
The Darkness had never been confused before. The story wasn't quite supposed to work this way. Perhaps… perhaps if it just backed off, regrouped a little and tried this again later, maybe things would have sorted themselves out.
Mind made up, the Darkness slowly recoiled backwards, glaring venomously at the man. It would return.
Vimes looked on in resigned amazement at, first of all, the fact that Carrot actually thought that saying, "shoo" to the thing would work, and secondly, the fact that it actually was. He told himself that he should be used to this sort of thing from Carrot by now, but somehow he couldn't help but feel slightly cheated.
As the last of the black mist dissipated, Carrot walked calmly back over to Vimes, smiling. "What now, Sir?" he asked.
Vimes sighed. "I suppose we go back to the watch house and talk to the witches about what to do next," he said. "Maybe they'll-"
He was interrupted by the Patrician's door opening, and the small, balding head of Vetinari's secretary poking out. "Excuse me, Commander Vimes?" said the man. Vimes turned to look at him. "Lord Vetinari would like to see you in his office first thing tomorrow morning."
Vimes's jaw clenched tightly at the very thought of having to face Vetinari after tonight. But… he supposed he could avoid the Patrician forever. "Sure," he ground out. He turned on his heel and began walking back towards the watch house. He heard Carrot falling into step behind him.
He might as well go see Vetinari the next morning; it wasn't like he was going to be getting much sleep anyway.
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