Sinless Days (5): Shadows, Fights, And Interruptions

--- Scarlet ---

“What are you doing up here?” Mercer asked her.

“I’m laying in the sun.” She told him, opening one eye to look at him wearing his helmet. “Didn’t really get much of it in the labs, and that weird warmth it's got going on is nice.”

“Makes sense.” Mercer nodded, before moving towards the roof ledge.

“What are you doing?” She frowned, stretching out her arms and back.

“I’m going to run a quick patrol through the Way. Someone stole something from Betty and I’m hoping if I dig around enough I’ll be able to find it.” Mercer answered, aiming his arm up towards the overpass above them.

“Need some help?” She asked, figuring that it would let her give Bell the space she seemed to want, given how the other girl had been running from her all morning.

“Nah, it’ll be fine. It’s honestly mostly going to be boring stuff with hours of wandering around and doing little else.” Mercer assured her.

(He’s lying.) Her other-self told her, and while her other-self wasn’t quite as good at knowing things she shouldn’t as Bell’s were, she was inclined to believe her wilder side on this one.

Which is why she narrowed her eyes and told him, “That’s fine. Honestly, I just want to get out of the house for a while.”

Mercer paused for a moment, which was all she needed to know he didn’t want her going with him. Which normally she’d be willing to accept given how she now had her own room and a TV with a bunch of shows on it, but at the same time (I’d rather not be stuck here with Bell in her mood.)

She rolled her eyes and let out a growl as she felt her teeth begin to itch. “You know you can’t keep us locked up here forever.”

“I’m not trying to keep you locked up.” Mercer argued. “It’s just… my job is dangerous and I’d rather not bring an… untrained variable with me.”

“Untrained?” She repeated, remembering the numerous ‘fights’ she’d been put through in the lab either against the machines the labs loved to throw at her or the other test subjects when they were feeling particularly assholish.

“Look, you don’t know how the Way works, and that can be… dangerous for both of us.” Mercer continued digging his grave deeper. “Especially with some of the monsters out there.”

She couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh at that, before reminding him that, “I am one of those dangerous monsters.”

“No.” Mercer told her, his voice taking on a certain sternness as she felt the Malice in her veins beginning to bubble. “You’re not a monster. You’re just a kid, and you should be able to live-”

She kicked off the ground lunging forward to prove that she wasn’t just some kid and that she was definitely dangerous enough to handle whatever monsters he was worried about.

Mercer dropped to his back as she tackled him, something she immediately realized had been too easy as he grabbed her by her head and her arm before somehow flipping them both onto her back. A position he followed up by putting a gun to her chin.

“-like a kid.” Mercer finished, before tilting his head. “A very angry kid.”

Mercer stood up before jumping away from her just as she leapt to her feet.

“Alright, you know what?” Mercer asked, shaking his head. “I was an angry kid too, so let’s see how dangerous you really are.”

Mercer’s helmet flashed with a red skull and she felt the Malice in her veins beginning to heat up as she felt the faint sting of her eyes flashing red.

They both stood there for a moment, staring each other down before once more she launched herself forward, this time aiming closer to his waist figuring he couldn’t flip her if she grabbed him so low. Which he didn’t, but instead jumped before vaulting over her and sending her crashing into the ground in a fumbled roll she quickly corrected with a kick of her legs and shove of her arms.

Skidding around on all fours she turned to him with a glare, and let out a growl when Mercer faked a yawn by patting the bottom of his helmet.

Once more she rushed forward, this time keeping her feet on the ground rather than leaping at him as she unleashed a flurry of clawed swipes at the man. Each of which he danced around while staying just out of her reach.

Spinning on her heel she tried to hit him with a swinging kick, figuring the extra range would throw him off enough to actually land a blow.

Which she did at the expense of letting Mercer grab onto the leg she’d kicked with, before kicking out the leg she was standing on with a blow to the back of her knee and sending her toppling towards the ground.

She slammed both of her hands into the ground to catch herself before using the leverage of his grip on her leg to send a backwards kick at his face. A kick he circumvented by shoving her captured leg upwards as he ducked, causing her blow to miss as she was forced into an awkward handstand.

A handstand Mercer disrupted by softly kicking her wrist with the back of his heel as he righted his own stance.

Unable to completely correct her balance from all of the different blows she found herself crashing onto her ass as she tried to keep from falling on her face.

“Hmm, not bad.” Mercer commented as he walked around her. “You’ve definitely got the instincts to fight and a fair bit of skill, but you also need a lot of work given how you were nothing but offense there.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Fuck you.” She growled, rolling onto her feet.

“Again, you’re too young and I’m too married.” Mercer told her, before looking up at the sun. “But you know what? I can spare a few hours, so if you want I can continue to fuck you up though. Let you work out all of that aggression you’ve got.”

--- Bell ---

Given how much of a rarity it had been for her and Scarlet to fight while in the labs, she wasn’t entirely sure how to go about apologizing for snapping at her sister. Something that made her every interaction with the other teen all the more awkward until she finally just started avoiding her all morning.

At least until Scarlet decided to go take a nap on the roof, leaving her all alone in the building since Mercer had decided to disappear to do whatever he was doing as well.

(Fighting…) Her other-selves informed her.

(Well, I guess I’m not really alone am I?) She couldn’t help but think with some resignation.

(We are never alone…) Her other-selves swore to her.

“Uh-huh…” She sighed, knowing that for better and for worse her other-selves were always going to be there.

A fact that had her thinking about the cause of her fight with Scarlet, as well as her resolve to actually start working with her other-selves or at least to tolerate them when needed at the very least. Which in turn reminded her that she didn’t really know the full scope of what her other-selves were capable of beyond the experiments the labs forced her through.

“Right… okay…” She nodded to herself, trying to think of what to try first. “There’s the… projected cognition thing.”

(Scarlet’s eyes flashed red, a feeling of excitement and fun flowing through her veins.

“Ooh, the scary eyes… weren’t scary the first time, kid.” Mercer taunted tapping his Renegade’s Rhapsody against his shoulder. Not intending to use it unless the young Malcontent began to transform further than she already had.)

She blinked before shaking her head, feeling like she’d just been dunked in cold water as she returned to her own body. (Okay… guess they really are feeling helpful today…)

She couldn’t help but wonder how long that would last.

“What else? There was the healing factor, which I… don’t really want to test out… and the shadow selves?” She tried to list.

A full body spasm overwhelmed her as her entire body was forced to shake and shiver until a pitch black copy of her stepped out of her body, its details just barely highlighted by faint traces of purple and blue keeping it from being completely black.

“Shadow Legion…” Her doppelganger corrected her, its movements unnerving in their stillness as it watched her with a tilted head, only to suddenly twitch its head to the otherside with a full body spasm.

“Yeah… that…” She swallowed, knowing that if she said that name she’d feel the Malice chilling in her veins as the world around her grew ever darker under their influence. A chill she could already feel beginning to build.

Her shadow watched her for another moment before seemingly sighing as it turned to black smoke fading on a nonexistent wind.

“Right, yeah, that’s enough of that for today.” She told her selves with a nervous laugh. “Plenty of progress made… baby steps and all that… We’ll do this again… sometime… maybe…”

--- Mercer ---

“You done?” He asked Scarlet, the angry teen having yet again been thrown onto her back.

“Why? Getting tired?” Scarlet smirked once more leaping to her feet, her healing factor the only reason she wasn’t exhausted after having his boot planted upon her ass so many times in the last few hours.

“Meh, pull a Hell Night or two and these last couple hours come off as easy.” He assured her, though even then he would’ve been exhausted after so much sparring if Scarlet didn’t telegraph most of her blows so much that he could simply step out of the way rather than having to actually take them. (Going to have to focus more on recon and stealth than cracking skulls when I go out.) “If you remember though, I did have something I needed to try and take care of tonight.”

Scarlet stared at him for a moment before, “You know what, whatever.” The teen shrugged before stretching out her limbs.

Now he watched her for a moment, noting that she didn’t look angry at him this time which was a significant step up from before they’d spent a couple hours sparring. “So, you’re not going to try and follow me the moment I swing off?”

Scarlet seemed to consider it for a moment before shaking her head. “Nah, I’m good.”

“Really?” He double checked, because as good as she was against regular minions he wasn’t used to operating with anyone who couldn’t class as a Vigil if they felt like it and he didn’t want things to go sideways because she followed him.

“I’m good.” Scarlet assured him. “Probably going to grab something to eat and watch TV or something.”

“Now when you say something to eat…?” He trailed off.

The cannibalistic teen rolled her eyes. “From the fridge.”

“Cool. Just needed to know where you are in case things go sideways.” He told her, because while he was pretty sure that that was basic sense when taking care of someone he knew teenagers made those rules wonky. (You know it just occurred to me how weird my own teenage years were that I don’t know this.)

Then again his mom was pretty pro-independence when he wasn’t in medical condition.

“Well I’m off.” He told her firing his grappler up towards the overpass above as he ran for the building ledge and using the overpass to swing.

--- Bell ---

As Scarlet stumbled down the steps she found herself once more fighting her instincts to flee, especially when her other-selves pointed out, (Running will solve… nothing…)

(I know…) She forced herself to admit, even as Scarlet gave her a curious look before going back into the kitchen. (Just have to figure out how to apologize for snapping the other day.)

Something she did not manage to figure out by the time Scarlet plopped down on the other side of the couch with a sandwich in hand.

Rather than saying anything to her, her sister just stared at the screen watching the Cartoon Bell had put on after clicking a box titled ‘Kids’ after turning the screen on. Some colorful show about

After several minutes of neither of them saying anything she opened her mouth to try apologizing-

--- Scene Interrupt ---

-before freezing as the front door was slammed open, causing her and Scarlet’s heads to snap to a blonde woman in an oversized red jacket stomping in while dragging a suitcase behind her.

“Alright, I’ve spent the last three weeks alone with my family and the last three hours wandering around the Way to find this place after you blew up our old house!” The woman yelled, setting her suitcase against the wall. “So here’s what’s going to happen, I’m going to take off my pants, while you are going to get on your knees and start apol…ogiz…ing…”

The woman trailed off as she finally noticed her and Scarlet in the living room.

After a good minute of staring each other down the woman closed her eyes before inhaling deeply and exhaling it all in one long sigh as she grew a pained look on her face.

“Damn it, not again.”