Third Sin: Swansong of the Second Night (Pt. 4)- Enraging Teenagers (For Fun And Tactics)

--- Mercer ---

Seeing as how Swansong was distracted with Romulus he decided it would be in his best interest to put a cap on this little mess before Virtue could burn everything down with his rule stickler ways.

And so -after creeping out of everyone’s sight- he walked up behind Virtue and calmly pointed out the, “Fun fact cannibalism isn’t actually illegal in most states.”

Virtue nearly jumped out of his skin as the youngest of the Vigils turned around and pointed his staff at Mercer. (At least he can recognize the biggest threat in the room.)

“Mercer…” Virtue glared at him as if Mercer had shot him.

Only he was allowed to do that. (And to be fair, that was just a concussion round… to the dick… for being a dick…)

“Virtue.” He nodded before glancing at the others. “Why don’t you lot get going? I know where to find you when I need you.”

Scarlet looked like she was about to protest before-

“They're not going anywhere.” Virtue told him.

“But they haven’t done anything wrong?” He asked in a purposely curious tone.

“She’s eating someone’s hand!” The brat practically yelled.

“Waste not want not.” He shrugged, letting a grin slip into his voice.

“And where exactly did she get that hand?!” Virtue snapped.

“No idea. Guy was dead when we got there.” He admitted, knowing it was technically the truth. And then to be an asshole he added, “It was probably that wolf monster that was running around for a bit.”

From behind Virtue DeWolf made a pained face. Less because the man had killed someone who’d kidnapped his daughter, and more because he was blatantly using the werewolf to taunt a Vigil. (Which he really should’ve expected.)

“That wolf monster?” Virtue repeated, not bothering to hide his skepticism.

“Well yeah, this was a bunch of Covenant exiles or about to be exiles anyway. So of course the Arcane of the lot are going to summon a few monsters.” He reminded the brat. “Hell ask Kin-Ken, I mentioned having to deal with a bunch of skeletons.”

Virtue’s eyes narrowed as the brat resisted the urge to see if anyone had heard him say ‘Kin-Ken’. Once more proving just how paranoid the Vigils were about their secret identities.

(And here I am running around with my actual name without any of them being able to realize it. Complexity bias at its best.)

Virtue visibly paused to listen to whatever Kennedy was telling him before shaking his head and resuming his glare. “Fine, even if she didn’t kill anyone that doesn’t change the fact that she is eating someone’s hand.”

“Which again isn’t illegal.” He reminded Virtue. “Was really surprised when I found that out. Especially with all of the Malcontent and Deadmen running around, but apparently most politicians handed the issue over to Sanctuary and the Heroes’ Guild before wiping their hands clean of the mess.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Admittedly that wasn’t every state, but given how less than a dozen bothered to make it illegal to make it look like they were doing something in Deadman heavy areas while reeling in those sweet gullible voters. (Even though it did jack and shit to the actual statistics.)

“Oh, which reminds me. Did you know that Deadmen legally can’t vote because they’re legally dead?” He asked by way of distraction as he spotted Swansong carrying Romulus out of the alley.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Virtue growled.

“Just tangentially connected, and I know you Vigils are oh so curious about everything.” He explained, once more making his smile audible. “Especially when it comes to things people have zero intention of being helpful with.”

Virtue inhaled deeply before exhaling. “Even if she didn’t -And I don’t believe she didn’t.- kill whoever that hand belongs to, and even if it isn’t illegal -Which sounds like bullshit-”

“Ah, language.” He interrupted, taking a step forward. “There’s a child present.”

Said child glared at him, knowing full well that if he was talking to anyone else he wouldn’t give two shits about anyone's fucking language. (But I’m talking to this seven teen year old in particular.)

Virtue began grinding his teeth together before forcing out. “None of that changes the fact that she is desecrating the dead and tampering with a crime scene.”

“Well technically she was desecrating the dead and tampering with a crime scene.” He pointed out just to annoy the Vigil as he wagged a finger through the air while putting a hand behind his back. “Given how she’s no longer doing either of those, it's past tense at best. Whatsmore once she’s finished digesting it, you kind of lose all evidence of what she’s doing since I didn’t really see any cameras in there.”

“I have my mask’s camera.” Virtue helpfully reminded him with yet another glare.

He snapped his fingers. “Almost forgot about that.”

Faster than Virtue could react he stabbed the Vigil’s mask with his knife. More specifically he stabbed the exact spot where he knew the mask’s memory drive was, and no further as they both leapt away from each other.

“What the fuck was that?!” Virtue screamed, earning a curious look from Swansong who’d picked up exactly what he’d done.

“Just me disabling your camera and destroying any footage you had of that girl doing anything semi-illegal.” He shrugged while playing with his knife. “Hate to ruin a kid's life over a small mistake like this, and once you get a felony your life is pretty much over with the way our criminal system works.”

Virtue began to pant in anger. “The footage auto-uploads to the Watchtower’s system as long as it can catch a signal.”

“I’ll be sure to break in and destroy that footage too.” He shamelessly admitted. “After all it’s not like your latest update can do anything to stop me from breaking into all of your bases. Which belong to me.”

The over-stressed Vigil snarled as he turned around, “That’s not going to stop me from arrest…ing… her…” Only to find Swansong behind him and no one else.

“What? Forget I told them to run like five minutes ago?”

---

“You think this is far enough?” Scarlet asked.

“Fuck no.” DeWolf scoffed. “As long as the Vigils are after us we aren’t safe until we get back to the way. Keep running.”

“Are we really leaving Mercer all alone with those two?” Bell asked with more than a small amount of concern. “What if he needs our help?”

“Ha! Mercer isn’t the one who needs help.” DeWolf laughed. “Hell, if you really feel bad about it, here's the truth of the matter: We aren’t leaving him alone with them. We’re leaving them alone with him and no backup.”

The werewolf let out another laugh. “Honestly if the kid wasn’t such a dick I might feel bad about doing that.”

---

Virtue stood frozen for a solid minute processing through the immense impotent rage the kid felt at realizing he’d been once more outsmarted by someone who had been in the game almost as long as the young Vigil had been alive.

Swansong gave the kid a concerned look. “Virtue?”

The youngest Mask present tightened his grip on his staff.

“Eh, he’s fine.” Mercer assured Swansong, even as he leaned back to avoid being struck by the staff. “Might be a little hangry though. Did you skip din-din? A growing Vigil needs his vitamins.”

“I’m going to kill you.” Virtue told him bluntly.

“Meh, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve died.”