Fifth Sin: Performance Past And Present (Pt. 3- Damnation, Pt. 2)

--- Mercer ---

Nightwatch glared at him, the illusion apparently getting fed up with his shit. “Mercer, do you realize how crazy you’re acting right now? You’re literally talking to the air!”

“I don’t know this is honestly like a six, maybe a seven for me. I mean I’m not running around naked trying to steal a pair of pants that halfway fit from the criminals I mug without being seen by any civies because someone blew my house up while I was in the bath.” He hated when that happened.

That fact that it happened twice made it all the worse.

“Mercer… you’re… you’re scaring me…” Virtue asked, looking as small as he did when he first put on that outfit several years ago.

He shot him in the dick.

Everyone stared at him, as Virtue turned to Mist.

He stared right on back. “What? I said I aimed for the dick. Besides shooting Virtue is like an ingrained addiction at this point, I’ve been doing it for years. And if we were going to fight then I was going to open with a dickshot, would you prefer it was you Safeguard?” He pointed his gun at said fake. “I got a caliber that cup of yours won’t do anything to stop.”

“Enough of this he’s going feral, we need to subdue him before hurts anyone else.” Vigilance ordered everyone.

“Oh, now you want to fight when it’s five on one -well technically it was six if we count the child shot, but that just makes it worse for all of you! Shame on all of you for trying to gang up on me like this, fight me one on one!” He ranted, keeping track of everyone’s position as Swansong attempted to subtly circle behind him and Nightwatch reached for her gun loaded with rubber bullets.

“Second rule of being a Vigil, never fight fair.” Vigilance reminded him, before as one everyone that could move did, Mercer included.

Nightwatch shot at him first, (which that bitch would be the first), the rounds that landed hitting him hard enough for the impacts to bruise even through his jacket as he moved to tackle Hard Knocks, knowing she was the weak link in this fight with Virtue already down.

As he picked the teenage girl off of the ground, feeling her slam her gloves down in a double handed strike as he did so, just before he slammed her into the ground.

Rather than letting him pick himself up, Hard Knocks clenched him, pulling his head in close as she pulled a hand back and switched on the taser built into her glove. His hand shot out and grabbed her hand by the wrist, twisting it at an angle that would keep her from actually putting the thing to his skin. (I don’t care how toned down it is, I do not need that at the start of a fight.)

He felt a cold cutting sensation as Swansong’s claws ran down his back, the illusion apparently deciding to go straight for her more lethal option, causing his grip on Hard Knock’s glove to waver for a moment, letting it get close enough that he could feel the static dancing on his skin.

Blindly he shot his leg out towards Swansong, a leg she grabbed telling him exactly where she was as he aimed his gun behind him and pulled the trigger three times over. From the sound of it, the first shot hit while she bled the momentum of the concussive round to roll out of the way of the other two.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Nightwatch aiming her gun at him once more and he shifted his weight atop Hard Knocks as well as his grip, his good eye waiting for the moment that she began to pull the- (Now!)

He pulled on Hard Knocks wrist just as he threw his entire body to the side, causing them to flip onto their sides where Nightwatch shot the younger woman he’d turned into a body shield.

Under the disorientation of both the sudden repositioning as well as the sudden impact to her back, the fake Hard Knock flinched, releasing her grip on the taser’s trigger and leaving him free to let her wrist go and slam her skull into the pavement with as much weight as he could throw. Something he was admittedly only willing to do because he knew this was a Mist Mimic rather than the teenage girl that he’d introduced to the Vigils himself, as proven by the fact her body began to dissolve into said mists.

Not getting a second to breathe he spun onto his back as he deflected a stomp from Swansong sending it to the dirt next to her and leaving her standing over him as he aimed his gun at her chest before pulling the trigger.

The concussive round barked out of his gun, only to be completely blocked as Safeguard’s shield took the entirety of the impact.

“Would you look at that? It’s just the old guard now.” He grinned, catching Safeguard’s shield with both hands as the illusion tried to drop it on his throat.

“You didn’t have to hurt the kids like that.” Safeguard growled, Mercer having touched one of the few nerves that would legitimately piss the usually jovial man off.

“Eh, if they were real they’d have taken worse than this and kept on kicking.” He scoffed, knowing just how much the younger Vigils had survived over the years. “And if they were still pissed at me I’d just buy Hard Knocks off with candy or some shit. She’s cheap like that.”

“And Virtue?” Safeguard’s eyes narrowed as he continued to press down, attempting to distract him from Swansong’s movements.

“His hatred only makes me stronger.” He grinned, before shoving the original Virtue’s shield to the side blocking the shot Nightwatch had aimed at his skull and leaving him free to fire his grappling line at Swansong, forcing her to dodge out of the way rather than create an opening for Safeguard.

When his line began to retract, he grabbed it with his gloved hand and pulled causing the line to whip around and latch onto the fake Safeguard, the twisting motions buying him enough space to grab his gun and aim it at the second Vigil’s crotch.

Rather than taking the shot, Safeguard dropped onto his knees pinning Mercer’s arm between his legs and throwing some more weight into a blow that would definitely leave him with a concussion later. (Eh, I’m running with worse brain damage.)

Safeguard once more raised his shield into the air, and rather than letting him bring it down Mercer threw his weight into the man pulling him into a grapple that while disadvantageous with his pinned arm was significantly more advantageous than taking an armed blow to the face. Especially when he managed to further push it into his favor by firing his grappling line into the dirt to build up some extra torque and throw Safeguard onto his back as Mercer pulled himself into a crouch.

He just barely had time to raise both of his arms to block a kick from Vigilance that threw him onto his ass as he lost his balance.

“Should’ve known you’d come to save the favorite.” He chuckled bitterly, before quickly aiming and firing his last few rounds, the first missing as Vigilance dodged but the next two landing as he switched targets to Safeguard.

Unfortunately, given how much armor the Mist Mimic had as well as the fact that his rounds grew weaker the further he got from his target this wasn’t enough to shatter the illusory foe.

It was however enough to keep him from noticing Swansong until she grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the ground, before pinning him with a knee to his chest and one clawed hand raised.

“Your cape is stupid!” He shouted, grabbing and pulling on said cape before she could bring the claw down and briefly choking her. Leaving her disoriented just long enough for him to steal one of the feather throwing darts that comprised the cape’s lining and driving it into Swansong’s leg.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The best melee fighter of the Vigils took that with barely a grunt before gripping her cape with one arm and twirling it in such a way that he’d be hit by not one of her feather darts, but all of the ones stored inside of her cape.

Not able to block or dodge the blow he covered his head with his arm and hoped that his jacket would be enough to keep the darts from turning him into a pincushion given how they were relying on their own weight to do so rather than any momentum.

A strategy that may have worked if this was the real Swansong rather than a Mist Mimic using Ethereal blows, forcing him to feel every single dart pierce into his skin even if they did no true damage beyond that.

“Fuck!” He cursed, before lashing out with his arm and wrapping it around the cape that, due to its semi-corporeal nature, hadn’t anchored itself into him with its dozens of feathers.

Using his more solid grip on the cape he pulled on it as he spun, flipping Swansong off of him before ripping out another one of her feathers and throwing it at- (Nightwatch is aiming!)

(Damn it!) He grimaced as Swansong’s claws dug into his stomach, less because of the feeling of knives in his gut and more because, (Safeguard was the damaged one, could’ve taken him out with that!)

Turning his frustration into rage, he grabbed Swansong by the bicep of the arm, digging its fingers into his stomach before slamming a fist into her face, a simple blow the real Vigil could’ve deflected. An action he repeated twice more as he ripped her claws out before laying into her harder than he had during any of their spars back when he was a Vigil himself.

By the time Swansong’s mimic shattered into mist he was panting, and too focused on eliminating the most dangerous fighter, before an impact sent him toppling forward and onto his already aching stomach.

While he was down a boot stomped on his back pinning him in place, as whichever of the Mist Mimics was on top of him held him down with an increasing amount of pressure on his spine. A pressure that was doubled as a second boot landed next to the first as another Mimic joined the first.

Knowing that he couldn’t break free by struggling in this position he instead fired both of his grappling lines into a nearby building, before using them to pull himself free. Releasing the line early, he used his sliding momentum to roll back onto his feet before spinning to face the illusionary Vigils.

“Okay… three down… and three to go…” He panted, really starting to feel this fight after so many intense exchanges.

“Maybe but you’re on your last legs.” Vigilance told him. “Stand down Mercer before this gets any worse for you.”

“You mean… any worse for you because… you’re all on your last legs too!” He argued, fully aware that his concussion was keeping him from bringing his banter A game. (Fuck, that was stupid…)

“Oh, let’s just end this!” Nightwatch called as she once more raised her gun at him, and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he fired a grappling line at her to keep her from firing. Before promptly using the line to pull her wheelchair out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground even as she stayed stuck to it.

“You haven’t hit me once yet, Kin-Ken!” He called at the Mist Mimic, slowly walking over even as he kept his good eye on Safeguard and Vigilance. “Really just… stop before you embarrass the real you any further!”

The reason the other two weren’t rushing him was made apparent a moment later when Nightwatch attempted to shoot him point blank.

Something that failed when he grabbed one of her wheels and tilted it so that she couldn’t actually aim at him.

“Also, I’m starting to feel like an asshole even by my standards.” He admitted, waiting for the mimic to finally quit firing before going around and raising her boot above the mimic’s glaring skull. “At this point I really do feel like I’m mercy killing you.”

As the illusory Nightwatch shattered beneath his boot he couldn’t help but be grateful that this Mist World was so lacking in electronics. (Bitch would’ve drone struck my ass three times over by now if I’d tried to pull half of this on her in real life.)

Pretending to be distracted by this, he was able to easily deflect Safeguard’s attempt to attack him, turning the mimic’s attack into a flip as he threw the illusory Vigil onto its back.

Not waiting for it to get back up he raised his boot to crush its skull like he had Nightwatch’s a moment before, only to jump forward as Safeguard raised his shield to block the blow. This of course allowed him to put the entirety of his weight into the stomp he delivered to the first Virtue’s crotch, killing the mimic via testicular manslaughter.

With a chuckle he turned back to Vigilance with a tired smile. “I know I said I’d shoot him there, but my gun is kind of behind you at the moment.”

Drawing his knife he made his way toward Vigilance as he inspected the blade. “You know there’s a certain irony to this given how I got -well, stole really- this from the real you. Not that he ever asked for it back.”

Once he was close enough to both attack and defend without too much awkwardness he entered a stance with a reverse grip as the rain once more began to fall upon him and the fake Vigilance.

For a moment he was half-worried and half-frustrated that the entity behind the Mists would keep trying to pull its emotionally manipulative bullshit, but thankfully the fake Vigilance entered its own stance as it finally decided to give him the fight he’d been wanting since he got stuck in this stupid illusion.

“Let’s do this old man.” He grinned, feeling anticipation for the rematch he’d been dying for -sometimes literally- for years. (It won’t be like last time. It won’t.)

At some unseen signal, one he’d later admit was probably the Mists reading his mind, both he and Vigilance rushed forward.

The true Vigil blocked Mercer’s knife slash off his bracers, the collision sending sparks into the air, before driving his own blow forward.

Mercer ducked to the side before using his knife hand to drive a weighted fist into Vigilance’s side, his previous block having left the opening.

Vigilance followed up with a second blow that Mercer had to hop back to avoid, before pursuing with another string of blows, forcing him to remain on the defensive.

At least until he stepped into one of his blocks, deflecting one of Vigilance's blows to the side before reversing his grip and grabbing the original Vigil’s wrist to pull him forward and leave his back wide open to a blade to the kidney.

That did nothing as Vigilance spun, grabbing Mercer’s grip on his wrist and using it to pull Mercer off balance in turn, causing the knife to merely catch the man’s cape, leaving a deep gouge inside of it.

With neither of them wanting this to descend into a grapple where neither could reliably pin or damage the other given their current positioning they both broke apart before slowly circling each other.

Mercer spun his knife in hand.

While Vigilance reached for one of his throwing weights.

Not willing to give Vigilance the ranged advantage, Mercer rushed forward spinning his knife in hand as he went for a lunging strike that he didn’t expect to land.

As expected, Vigilance easily sidestepped, before taking his throwing weights in hand and using it to reinforce the swinging blow he threw at Mercer’s head.

One that while he couldn’t avoid, he was able to block taking the bone cracking blow to his forearm, and giving him the opportunity to stab straight for Vigilance’s stomach.

A blow that did far less damage as Vigilance’s superior armor minimized the series of stabs to merely bruising.

Somewhere around the fourth stab Vigilance dropped his throwing weights and used his free hands to grab Mercer’s forearm, before doing the same with his other hand and Mercer’s knife hand. With his grip firm, Vigilance pulled his head back before slamming his helmeted head into Mercer’s unarmored skull.

He stumbled back before shaking off the dizziness, not caring how much worse that made his concussion just so long as he could still see Vigilance in front of him.

Deciding to go all in he rushed forward and tackled Vigilance to the ground, slamming the man onto his back and pulling back before he could be dragged into another grapple with his flagging stamina.

As Vigilance picked himself off the ground, Mercer lunged forward and grabbed onto the man’s helmet, remembering his time as a Vigil to press the emergency releases on Vigilance’s helmet.

Bucking against him, Vigilance drove an elbow into Mercer’s stomach before throwing him off, but not before he could remove the original Vigil’s helmet, revealing a dark haired man wearing a domino mask that did little to obscure his identity from someone who knew him. (Like me…)

The pair stared each other down, both in a half crouched recovery as they waited not even two steps from each other for their next clash.

“You know V… it’s rare for you to make a mistake this bad.” He chuckled, feeling his sanity begin to slip and loving it far more than was healthy.

Vigilance gave him a disgusted glare. “You’re right… I never should’ve taken you in. I should’ve left you to rot in the gutter.”

“Well, that and-” Mercer threw Vigilance’s helmet at his head.

Something the man easily deflected.

The cock of a gun hammer echoed through the air.

“-you threw me next to my gun.”

Vigilance’s eyes went wide, his mask doing little to hide the face of the man that was more a father to Mercer than the one he’d been born with.

That didn’t stop him from pulling the trigger on the thing wearing V’s face.