Instance 6: Paul

My scream was raw, bloody, and angry. But it was filled with a horrific undertone of sorrow.

I watched as Cynthia nearly decapitated Rebecca and Maeve, ripping her throat out after brutalizing her body with two strikes previously. Or, at least, that’s what I’d assumed as I’d shaken off the blindness to see the Cynthia Andromeda hybrid bring it’s claws down on my girlfriends throat, and tear every shred of light from her body in the process. Her head lulled, sickeningly hanging on to what remained of her neck via a few bloody strands and chunks of flesh from her throat, lifeless eyes looking at me with nothing left in them but a sickening and recurring reminder.

Everything Cynthia had said in the process ringed in my head, finding no meaning save for the sound of her voice provoking only anger, as she stepped over Rebecca’s body, just as Maeve left it, nearly incorporeal as one of Andromeda’s wings scooped her up, and forced her into her form. Less then a second later, the fused pair’s form shifted slightly, to incorporate Maeve’s dress, now a skirt which razor sharp edges, and the remainder of the porcelain forming into a pair of gauntlets and arm guards which still left room for the pairs razor sharp claws on the arms. She stepped forward without any more inhibition.

We…no. I. Atlas was in the backseat now. My anger, my emotions, my power being what fully flows through now. Evander swung from my right, not in a position to fire the rifle, and instead trying to use Zephyr’s speed and the firm rifle as an improvised melee weapon, the blow coming at me at an unreasonable speed.

In response, swung wide with my free arm, the resulting gust of air generated from the sheer force of the blow knocking back Evander to the ground. I heard Cynthia approaching from the rear, fast and light footsteps moving for an attack at my rear. I spun, axe in hand and letting out another roar of anger, threw backward a blow with all of my might. Cynthia dodged, ducking low to the ground with the reaction time she’d likely still had preset from Maeve after Rebecca had it. She hit the ground, but wasn’t there for long, as just as I had time to swing again, she was sliding close to the ground, the slide transforming into a roll across the concrete towards Evander, likely trying to face me with help rather then in two isolated fields. She sprung to her feet, taking up the martial arts stance I’d recognized as the one Rebecca had learned with Maeve in the attempt to fight the larger Evander. So the skills had carried over from Rebecca. That somehow made me madder, that even a shred of her work now dwelt within the traitor.

Just as she got to her feet, I charged, Evander finally having been bought the seconds needed to level the rifle at me and squeeze the trigger twice. Atlas’s front armor was only dented slightly, next to the four other dents they’d inflicted so far in an attempt to bring me down. I let out another massive yell, before leaping into the air with all my shadow empowered might, getting at least seven feet airborne, as I extended one armored hand downwards in an attempt to grab Enzo, with the intent of slamming him into the ground with all of my might. Instead, he used Zephyr again, moving like a blur to my left, as Cynthia dove right, though not before I clipped her with my axe on the way out, a clean cut across her feathered side, gold and green blood spilling from the wound and somewhat oozing onto the concrete below.

My impact with the ground put a massive hole in the concrete, a web of cracks spreading around the surrounding area, small bits of the paved area surrounding this formerly clear walking path scattered for at least ten feet in all directions. I stood, as Evander came to a stop from the speed burst about fifteen feet away.

“Come on now, Paul. At this rate you’ll wake up the whole campus. I’d hate to have to deal with bystanders, and I’m sure come morning if this place is destroyed by what looks like the work of the devil, I’m sure the police will be very interested in the supposed cult even more now!” Enzo called out, filtered through Evander. Tauntingly. Smugly. Trying to appeal to something in me he was surely certain was there. I considered his words for maybe half a second, before looking his direction.

“Unfortunately for you. I don’t much care about that any more.” My voice, and the emptiness that carried throughout it was barely filtered through Atlas. The only thing which reminded me of the shadow at this stage was the fused form I wore. I was thankful, almost. Me and Atlas had always gotten along. He’d given me advice when I’d asked, and had given me space when I’d asked. We’d existed symbiotically, fulfilling each others needs. And now, he was continuing to do that. By giving me full and unimpeded control to take my fucking revenge.

I sprung forward with shocking force, even for Atlas, propelling myself towards Enzo, who’d looked prepared for a snide remark or continuation of his monologue. I showed him why that wouldn’t be happening. He moved to flee with Zephyr, but I got ahold of him first, getting my gauntlet pressed against Evander’s chest and heaving directly downwards with crash.

My strength had made another hole in the ground, in the shape of Evander, dirt spraying in a foreseeable radius. The fact that he hadn’t been reduced to a fleshy imprint beneath my hand showed he had at least some form of extra durability through all of this-but I’d at the very least disarmed him, his rifle had gone flying into the bushes nearby, jutting out and barely hanging upright as it faced the sky. I raised my hand and struck Evander’s face again, then a third time, causing small craters, but not enough. I wound up a fourth blow, but they used Zephyr again, scoring a blow straight to my center of mass, knocking just enough wind out of me for another Zephyr activation through their legs to send them out of the pit, and onto their feet, Juno’s mask flaring and healing their wounds, as the Iris mask also began to glow, and I was forced to cover my eyes again as I moved to charge where I’d last seen him, the blast of prismatic light going off a moment later, before fading. I pulled my arm away, seeing spots, but not blind like I had been before. That was a mistake that, thanks to Rebecca, I’d never make again. I thought that particular piece of advise with as much bitterness as I could possibly self impose.

Evander had gotten about forty feet away thanks to Zephyr, and had recalled their rifle to them, lowering the weapon towards me and squeezing the trigger once-grabbing a large swathe of nearby stones, plants, and debris, before squeezing the trigger three times and sending it all flying towards me as I charged for them, covering the area in a screen of dirt, debris and plants, however, I powered through, and burst forward, seeing Enzo about to run again and not liking my chances of keeping up on foot, I pulled my axe back, and threw.

Going whirling through the air and towards where Enzo had been poised to run, the weapon went slamming into their chest, piercing their uniform and sending them to the ground, allowing me to close the distance. I was reaching for the axe, at the same time that I planted my steel booted foot on their leg and pushed down with all of my might, feeling the limb break beneath me, getting a cry of pain from either Enzo or Evander. Or both. I really, really hoped it was both, as I reached for my axe.

Suddenly, however, the axe sprung out. But not in the normal way, where I could call it to my hand, but instead, it wildly flung outwards, I could feel the pulse of the recall, but I hadn’t used it, as it instead flung backwards into my armor, lodging through and cutting into my hardened flesh beneath. I let out another roar, as I hit a knee, releasing my foot’s purchase on Evander and allowing another Zephyr activation to fling them backwards, Juno’s mask glowing to attempt to repair the newfound damage and get standing again. I looked to my right, seeing movement there, Cynthia approaching, hand outstretched towards me.

“Christ, he’s stronger then we thought” She said, calling out towards Enzo.

He just grunted in response, moving to repair his limb. I gritted my teeth, and held out one of my hands, the axe flying out the wound and into the outstretched gauntlet, golden blood pouring from the wound and caking the lower armor, but I didn’t care, charging towards Cynthia like a raging bull. She moved to sidestep, but I held out my tree trunk of an arm, slamming her in the gut and sending her flying over twenty feet, landing on the concrete there, not moving. I moved to approach, ready to cut her head off, but she stood first, stretching out the thus far unused wings to a massive wingspan, flapping once before taking off into the air just as I closed within ten feet. I leaped, despite knowing I wouldn’t make the height, but out of pure need to try, to put every ounce of my being into getting my hands on her and inflicting every bit of pain possible onto her before crushing her head underfoot. I didn’t make it, but moved to throw my axe towards her midair, the weapon streaking straight on target for her, with enough force to split metal. She simply held out her clawed hand, and the axe’s momentum changed, reversing completely and sending the weapon straight down towards me as I fell. I impacted the ground, making another small hole, and held out my gauntlet. The axe impacted, biting through my armor and into my flesh, but I had caught it, pulling it out with my other hand and moving to attempt to think of a way to deal with the flying Cynthia without throwing my weapon.

“How is she doing that. What’s Andromeda’s power?” I turned my thoughts inwards, attempting to ask Atlas for guidance of what I could do, or any insight at all.

“I do not kn-“ His reply was cut off by a pair of heavy impacts to my back. Turning over, Evander had his rifle drawn, having made significant distance, and having begun firing on me again.

“I do not know.” Atlas finished, as I turned, charging Evander, who activated Zephyr to start making distance. The flap of wings indicated Cynthia was still in pursuit from her safety in the sky. “Andromeda was referred to as the ruler, someone who got what she wanted. I am unsure how that corelates to her ability with a host, however.” His voice was measured, but even I could hear the worry.

I didn’t know what the hell that meant either. The ruler. What did that even mean, in this context?

I focused on the battle. I decided I’d try to test things a bit more and see if I couldn’t get an answer. In my mad sprint towards Enzo, I passed by one of the display topiaries of the garden picking it up with ease as I ran, I turned in a fluid motion, running backwards and keeping my balance by some miracle, I tossed the plant with one arm upwards the flying form of Cynthia, but she simply held out a hand. The topiary unwound into the sum of it’s parts, branches, leaves, vines and roots, before circling down to strike me in a surprising sharp onslaught, one which left me inhibited slightly, plants wrapped around my body in a meager attempt to restrain me. But it did buy Evander time, making two more dents in my back armor, one of which struck the back of my head. With each telekinetic shot, my armor was weaker, my skin was more bruised, and I tired more. I’d need to end this. Soon, or they’d win via attrition. And I couldn’t let them win. That would mean they’d get away with it. I turned, breaking the vines and poising a throw, tossing my axe towards Enzo, a feat which saw the weapon fly over a hundred feet, but with more then enough time, he dodged, the axe embedding into a nearby building with a resounding thud, the brickwork shaking slightly. I was uninhibited, though, and kept charging in a chase. More projectiles struck my back, again and again. I wasn’t sure what they were, but I assumed they sourced from Cynthia, given circumstance, but I didn’t care about those, either, until they started hurting me. Despite their attempts to use Zephyr, I was slowly but surely closing with Evander, my strides starting to carry me almost ten feet if I tried, and Evander, seeing this, switched directions, moving to go back the way we’d come. Perfect. They were probably trying to regroup with Cynthia, but that wouldn’t help them as much as they thought. They ran down the path, and I followed, leaving craters in the concrete. They turned, now, attempting to fire off a shot to slow me from catching them, as they were about twenty feet away from it. My axe. Outstretching a hand, I focused, and called Atlas’s weapon to me.

It dislodged from the wall in a shifting of brickwork, and began moving in a defined arc. It would normally be heading straight for my grasp, but unfortunately for it, a very confident French rifleman was in it’s way. The weapon lodged firmly in Evander’s grasp, just as they pulled the trigger, shot going wild as they bled copiously, Juno moving to abet, but that meant they weren’t focused on using Zephyr, allowing me to close, and slam the pair’s head into the pavement, pulling my axe free during the slamming motion and moving to slam it down, severing one of the fused pair’s arms, and definitively pinning them, looking down at Enzo with no expression visible behind my helm, as I struck them, again, and again, and again. Juno’s mask glowing, not quite keeping up with the amount of damage I was inflicting, simply regrowing the limbs and barely keeping the pair alive as I struck over and over, with both axe and fist. I couldn’t remove the head, I found, for whatever reason, so I kept to more superficial blows, as they began to slowly add up, more and more black blood pouring from my foes body.

My rage had me barely register the lights filling my vision. As a voice I barely registered called out “Hey! Get off of him!”

Shining flashlights at me, one in the front and one behind, were campus police. I registered them, before moving to continue my beatdown, only for the idiots to move forward, trying to tear me off of him. I shook them off as lightly as they could, but they just kept trying. I was convinced I’d broken one of their arms by the fifth time.

It got to the point where I wasn’t watching Enzo. Just long enough for Juno to heal him.

I registered this as they summoned their rifle back, Barrel leveled right at the side of my head.

I moved to swipe, but it was too late. Two squeezes of the trigger, and I was down. Helmet and likely part of my head partially caved in and bent, I hit the ground heavily.

Evander stood.

“Thank you for your help officers.” Enzo said through his shadow, before spinning his rifle around in a fast arc before either could respond, knocking both down to the ground, before pointing to one, and squeezing the trigger twice. He moved to do the same to the other, the former’s head being crushed like a grape. I moved to get up, to stop him from taking another life, but I felt a sinking feeling into my leg, accompanied by a stinging pain, looking to see my own axe embedded in my calf. I moved to rip it free, but it cost me the time needed to save the other officer, who met the business end of Enzo’s weapon. I finally got halfway to my feet, but Enzo swung the rifle around with Zephyr speed, squeezing the trigger twice and denting my chest plate further, which sent me sprawling back, bleeding, and head ringing from the previous injury, I nearly slipped into unconsciousness before correcting that potential error, keeping myself awake. I had to keep fighting.

Evander approached, firing off their rifle again and again, inflicting crushing blow after crushing blow, the ones which managed to hit flesh compounding over and over again, the pain spiking as I let out another roar of rage.

“Not so strong now. You nearly had me there, but I turns out you care after al-“

Enzo was cut off by two things. One, movement behind him, which my eyes followed so he did too. Secondly, a layer of lines settling over a solid box around both me and him, said lines composed of golden light and conveniently all missing me. He recognizes it last second, and moved to back away, get out of the radius, but he was too late. The lines solidified into a full construct, half a dozen threads impaling him, and snaring him. One of the figures of movement I’d seen before became clear now, letting out a soft golden glow into the night, gauntlets with fingers shaped like pen tips being recognized anywhere. Orion, merged with Mark, looking down towards Enzo with disdain as he struggled to free himself, just as a pair of glowing tipped arrows embedded in his back. Stepping down the sidewalk, also merged, was Kelly and Artemis, as the pair moved to withdraw another arrow, their form almost unseen in the night area.

“Enzo. Give it up. And this won’t hurt any more then it needs to” Mark and Orion spoke as one, both of their voices passionate but firm.

“But, let’s be clear, it’s going to hurt either way, you betraying piece of shi-” Kelly moved to follow up, when she and Artemis let out a cry of pain. Swooping in from behind and slashing down with impressive technique, before taking back to the sky was Cynthia, and I could feel her own smug energy from here. Orion turned, their surprise evident, as they scanned but saw the merged form of Cynthia.

“Cynthia, what are you doing?” The pair called, with both confusion and anger, as Artemis stumbled forward in injury.

“I’m securing my future. You really should do the same.” She replied callously.

Orion, by now, saw the skirt and gauntlets.

“Did you…?” They asked questioningly, and this time, Enzo down below, answered.

“Of course she did. And you’re next!” Evander pulled free of the threads, ripping their flesh but giving them mobility back, swinging the rifle again and taking advantage of the distraction to discharge a crushing blast into Orion, sending the flying shadow into the nearest building, but thankfully mostly unharmed. This caused Artemis to run forward, drawing a pair of glittering blades, and moving to engage Evander up close, Zephyr being the only thing allowing it to be anywhere close to an even fight, the occasional discharge from Iris also doing some favors. Meanwhile, Orion recovered and began flying again, and seeing Cynthia swooping towards to flank Artemis, began drawing more more lines, on their route to intercept the traitor.

And then, there was me.

Slumped down, but slowly standing, excruciatingly slowly, a few inches every ten seconds, as the dim sounds of the brawl faded further and further from my perception the less I focused on it, and focused more on rejoining it. As I did, I heard Atlas’s voice in the back of my head.

“Paul. Don’t do this. With the injuries you’ve sustained…when we unfuse, and you lose your durability…you may die, and it becomes more and more of an uncertainty the more you maintain.”

I considered his words. I truly, wholly did. I trusted Atlas.

But then my thoughts drifted to Rebecca. Her body wasn’t far, rotting and still likely bleeding from the wounds Cynthia had inflicted on her.

She’d helped me more then anyone else had. She’d broken my shell. She’d gotten me to have faith in humanity again, after all I’d seen for years back home was despair and monotony. She’d made me feel more at home then any football team ever had. We’d understood each other.

And now she was gone. And the world felt horrible again. And my one chance to make things right, to avenge her, to even have the potential of ever making things right…

Was to make sure Enzo died screaming. And looking up…

Artemis had the upper hand. But I didn’t know for how long. Orion was thoroughly trouncing Cynthia, various lined constructs cornering and whittling her down. But she had them occupied. Evander could get away at any point.

I had to finish this.

“I’m sorry Atlas. I can’t do that. I’d…rather die…” I pulled myself up with completely more strength then I’d had a moment ago. “…standing.”

A pause, then the shadow responded, as I pulled my axe up, at my full height now.

“I understand. We are alike, there. I will fight with you, until the end.”

Beneath the shadow, armor, and false flesh, I smiled. Then charged Evander from behind. Bringing the axe down in a massive display of might, I cleaved through his back, axe head puncturing skin but not going all the way through. The momentary distraction, however, gave Artemis a chance to plunge two blades into Evander’s gut, sparkling energies jutting out the other end of his body.

Meanwhile, Orion had seemingly bested Cynthia, a makeshift cage of strands threatening to shred Cynthia if she moved. Seemingly accepting this, Orion moved to join the fray, drawing out lines which crossed through Evander as the two of us continued to beat on him, Juno working overtime to keep him standing.

I was confident. I might die, but I’d die with Enzo dead, Evander bested and absorbed. Then Mark or Kelly could take the shadows, and figure out what to do next.

I was confident, until Artemis was struck from behind with three of their own arrows. Until Orion turned, concerned, only to get struck with a rifle blast, getting knocked away. Until Enzo took my blow to his open back and stayed standing. Until I looked over, and saw the cage holding Cynthia having turned away, and tied itself into a knot, the shadow of her winged form cast over the group.

Until Evander channeled Zephyr, and landed an unarmed blow to my throat, then as I was staggered, one final rifle blow to the chest.

It was over. I could feel it.

The fused form falling away in chunks, shadow and person separating in a silent and empty affair. I was falling forward, dozens of mortal wounds opening on my body as I fell, Atlas remaining standing in my wake, still throwing blow after blow, which, despite being spiritual, still found purchase on our collective foe, even as the shadow began to be absorbed by the now very confident looking Evander. Fulfilling his promise and fighting with me until the end, even if I and he were both truly doomed. I tried to move. Tried to do anything, as more wounds I’d sustained and mitigated opened across my body. I tried…to be angry. But even that failed me. Rage…the small spark in the back of my head, slowly extinguished itself to the cold wind which blew through my entire being, a chill I couldn’t even shudder at.

The cold embrace of failure and death moved to envelop me on all sides. A feeling which one could likely only feel once, and never tell a soul about. It was crushing. And the worst possible part was that I couldn’t even think to hope to do a thing about it. I could only feel myself slipping away helplessly into nothing.

I was gone before I could even hit the concrete, spared from any further impact or pain, my last thoughts only filled with the last spark of rage and incomprehensible sorrow.

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