Mike sat in the metal chair, the bag pulled from his head, as he sighed with a sense of invincibility at Alexander.
"Not the slightest glimmer of fear behind those eyes, is there?” Alexander asked.
“Faith and confidence, nothing mortal can touch me.” He said as Alexander threw a right hook and almost flipped the chair.
“ALEX!” Tanner yelled.
“Perhaps the urge to touch was too much temptation to resist. You forgive him for touching Nadja, love, surely that little touch was forgivable.” Alexander growled.
“Alex, stop, leave us alone. You’re too…hotheaded for this. I’m safe in here with him. I may be the only living person who can say that truthfully.” She said as he strolled off to the door.
“Ninety-nine point one.” Mike chuckled. “Don’t worry, he’s not a threat to me, and he’s not hot headed enough for me to hunt. 99.1 degrees. Human.” Mike clarified.
“Mike, what is wrong with you? I don’t know if you’re being drugged and played or if you just snapped and went insane, or if you always were insane, and I never even knew you?” she sighed, sitting down.
“You knew me. You were the only one who really knew me. That was a different Mike back then. It wasn’t a lie, it was genuine, it was just an un-evolved form. What you don’t understand is what I am now…what I have to be. A monster.” He chuckled.
“Mike, you don’t have to be one. We’ve all done bad things, you can go back to being you, she’s drugging you, and it’s not your fault. You’re not in your right mind. Anyone can be made to do terrible things they don’t want to do with enough brainwashing and drugs, and believe me, I know what drugged out of your mind looks and feels like. You’re high and drunk and brainwashed. You need to detox and come back to us. Go back to being Mikey. You’re safe here, she can’t get to you.”
“She already has me. You make a deal with the devil, and you can’t just back out while the devil is still alive to claim you.” He smiled.
“So why didn't you just kill her ass? You killed some of the meanest fuckers alive in that safehouse, while drunk and armed with home-made shit. Why can’t you kill her now? She has to sleep some time, when she does, you just shoot her.”
“I’ve tried.” He shrugged. “I’ve shot her in the back, and the head, slit her throat. I cut her heart out of her chest and dismembered the body. She doesn’t stay dead very long. She’s not a killer corrupted by evil, she’s not human…anymore or ever.”
“Mike, you have been fucked up and sleep-deprived, hallucinating. Damnit the demon thing isn’t real.”
“You of all people know better. You’ve seen what’s inside them. That blackness, the heat they give off, those were just people with something IN them that altered their flesh. She’s not a possessed person, she’s evil that grew her own flesh.”
“…nobody saw that but you. The black heart, the glowing in the thermal scopes. Nobody but you saw that because it’s not real. You’re not well. I lied because I wanted you to feel safe with me because you were doing the right thing, killing people who were evil. I wanted to believe, I almost did, but there’s no voice, no glowing demons. Nadja is just a Russian spy and a master manipulator. She’s deadly and buttfuck insane, and yes, pure evil. But she’s human. She’s just…human, Mike. You’re delirious. She’s hypnotizing you. You’re mentally ill and on a ton of drugs, under her control. Just stop.” She said, as he looked shocked and defeated, staring blankly at her and fighting his own surge of emotions.
“You never believed any of it, did you?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I believed some of it, I doubted some of it, you said faith is having doubt and doing what’s right anyway, so I never really believed all of it, but I believed in you, always, and even now. You’re special, you’re the best hitman out there, and you chose to do good…when you were yourself. When you’re riding that line of sanity and in control, not battling your own psychosis and her tricks.”
“Tanner, this isn’t you either. You had faith, you were doing my work and taking my place, and you still will, when you finally believe and when you’re ready. You’re never ready because you don’t believe yet. You will. You’ll see. You have doubt, and it’s my fault you lost that faith because I let you down. I’m sorry, but I thought I was meant to teach you until you were strong enough to replace me, but I have a different path you can’t follow me down, and I see why now. You don’t believe yet. Don’t tell me you never did and never saw those things, you were so close and you just…weren’t ready. Maybe this is a test for you, maybe I didn’t train you well enough, I failed you, or part of the great plan was always for us to be broken apart, but please never lose your faith, Tanner!” He yelled. She threw her arms up in frustration.
“I can’t. I just can’t do this. I don’t know if you need to detox and sober up to listen, or if you’re really just too far gone to save now. You’ve killed innocent people with Nadja, FOR Nadja. Just cops doing their job, not crooked cops working for the criminals. Strangers, not pedophiles and rapists and the monsters you used to hunt, just people. You think now you can see evil without even using the scopes? How do you even know?” she asked.
“Because it keeps working. It’s not paranoia if you’re right, it’s just being prepared. You’re not crazy if it’s real, you’re just enlightened or intuitive or informed. How did I know Carl’s assassins were there before they even made their moves? How did a crazy man look into a scope and hallucinate an enemy, if the enemy turned out to be real? Coincidense? Insanely good luck? Maybe once. But not every time. I took out every one of the 8 bodyguards at the concert in the dark, with a single shot to the head, because I can see them in the dark. They were working for Sage Ember, who is the promoter and backer for the most corrupt politician in the country. She needed to die, they were her chosen security, not the venue security.”
“You killed a singer because she took money to shill for a candidate…the one who’s clearly a Russian sympathizer…wouldn’t that be a GOOD thing for Nadja? Wouldn’t that benefit her to have her alive?” Tanner asked.
“I chose the targets, not her. I’m working her as much as she’s working me, trust that my soul is stronger than her. That my faith is… not me. I’m willing to die for this, because it’s my job.” He sighed.
“Just, listen to yourself. You took out 8 security guards with impossible headshots in the dark…according to who? You were the only one who was shooting. Maybe you saw the first few security guards wearing uniforms before the lights went out and just knew where they were, maybe the others were just people in the crowd you shot because they glowed in your mind. How do you know? How did you confirm there were 8? How do you know you didn’t just kill the only 3 guards and then just murder 5 innocent people on faith? You’re the only one who saw Nadja die and come back. What if you dreamed it? What if she just told you it happened while you were asleep and drugged or hypnotized, or while you were fucking magic Russian pussy delirious? The pussy can’t be THAT good. Who saw her die other than you, Mike?”
“The hotel maid saw her body tied to the bed and throat slit. After the mayor execution.” He sighed.
“The maid that was found dead? The dead girl saw you kill Nadja, or you killed the maid and Nadja told you something else? They found that girl in the hotel room with her throat cut, tied to the bed. It was on the news. Did she kill her and drug you, or did you kill her and imagine it was Nadja? Did she just sneak up on you drunk and high on adrenaline and you reacted? Maybe you just saw a woman behind you and slashed, instinct, thinking it was Nadja, and your fractured mind didn’t wanna think you killed some random cleaning lady so you dreamed it was Nadja you killed. Maybe when you sobered up… there she was still alive. Lying to you. Did you tell her you killed her, or did she tell you that?”
“I don’t…remember that clearly. I remember going to the hotel, tying up Nadja, and I knew I had my chance then since the mayor was dead and Carl was dead. I could finally end it. She was the last loose end, and I killed her on the bed and I felt…horrible. Like I made a mistake. But there she was right after. Alive. She killed the maid before I could stop her. And then everything got blurry and I woke up. But it wasn’t an isolated event. We hit a gas station the other night, Carl had assassins waiting for us. They probably had orders long before he was dead. Still ready to strike. She killed the lights, I shot all of them, Nadja killed the 2 innocent people in the crossfire. I can’t control her when she gets like that. And afterwards we celebrated, we drank, and part of me was pretending to celebrate and drink away the guilt that 2 people died that didn’t have to. Part of me was celebrating taking out Carl’s men. I had to fake it for her. I waited till she was distracted and took the new gun. Big 45 blackouts and an expanding 7mm hollowpoints. Shot 2 in the back, one in the head and I walked away. Nothing could survive that. Counted it down. And she was just…waiting for me. Laughing at me. Bloody and alive. She fought and killed several Archangels not long after, and didn’t even slow down. If anything, she was stronger, faster."
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Conveniently no witnesses?" Tanner asked.
"That night we captured Sage. I didn’t even drink, I filled a vodka bottle with water to stay sharp, and in the middle of a round of wild sex, tied up and vulnerable, I stabbed her in the heart. I cut her heart out to see that it was black and decayed like the other one that …I know you saw. Remember Joe, the child predator?” He explained. “Except Joe stayed dead. She didn’t. She followed me to the lake like nothing even happened.”
“Mike, I cut Joe's heart out myself to find out. He deserved it, but it was just a human heart. YOU saw it black and decayed, turning human again when it stopped beating. I just saw a human heart stop beating. Mike, honey. The gas station massacre was on the news. 6 people dead in the building. Just normal people, not assassins, and 5 dead vigilante archangels outside. They found a girl down the road dead too, she was just the attendant who ran away, 45 blackout rounds in the back, one in the head. Don’t you understand what’s going on? She’s feeding you lies and booze, we found PCP and cocaine in your jacket. She’s getting you ripped high off your ass, and instigating murder sprees for her own enjoyment and when you kill someone you know was innocent, and start to sober up and realize it, you just…revert into some kind of delirious fantasy that you just killed Nadja, who very much fucking deserves that, so you don’t have to realize you just killed regular people. Normal people. Not assassins sent by dead Carl. Not demons or Nadja, who comes back from the dead. You killed a hotel maid who probably startled you, you killed a gas station worker running away, probably just seeing glowing white demon shit, and you probably cut out Sage Ember’s heart thinking it was Nadja. Nobody found her body. Which seems more likely? Drunk and high, on enough drugs to make a sane person see demons, fucking Nadja on some weird sex binge, and then she throws Sage Ember dead on the same table and whispers in your ear to kill the demon, so you cut her heart out, and then when you realize sobering up what she made you do…your mind just copes with it, telling you it was all Nadja, because deep down you CAN’T kill her. You’re under her control. You know that, you know she’s worked her way in your mind so deep you can’t do it, so you imagine it, and see her reviving as she takes the place of the people you killed.”
“That’s not true.” Mike sighed.
“It’s not your fault, you’re on enough drugs OD some hardcore addicts I knew, back when I was one. I don’t know how you can even form sentences or stand up right now let alone shoot and fight, but I’ve seen you do that before, drunk and stoned on like 5 of MY Percocet 10’s and a 5th of vodka. With heart meds! That should have killed you, and you fought through a safehouse like a damn Viking lord. You’re so…trained or engrained with that hitman autopilot when you can’t even think, you just…auto kill. Except instead of driven by vengeance, thinking I was dead and mowing down a house of killers, now you’re just driven by a Russian spy with probably Russian spy drugs…and you’re mowing down whoever she tells you is the enemy. She’s steering you like a tank and aiming you at anything she wants to kill. She’s not immortal, she’s just hypnotized you into believing she is. Please. Just. Stop. We’re all fucked up, but we’re a family, and you’re home and safe now. This is the last chance you have, Mike, I can't do this anymore. You just need to sober up and trust me. Have faith…in me. I’m your Tanner, your buddy, your student. I used to be your girlfriend. We loved each other…remember? Before Agent Double-0-tits gave you the Russian sleep experiment LSD and turned you into an MK Ultraweapon for her sick enjoyment?”
“Tanner, I can’t explain it. You want me to trust you and I want you to trust me, because we both believe we’re right. Only one of can be right and if it’s you then I’m already too far gone, and I deserve to die for what I’ve done. If I’m right, then Armageddon is about to rise, and I’m the only one that can stop it. I can kill her, nobody else can. I found the solution in a dream, but you won’t believe me. There’s no sane way to explain it, and you’d be in danger knowing the details. I’m protecting you, and protecting the world, and I hate that I can’t save every innocent person in her path, but I can’t. That’s what makes me a monster. That’s what makes me something you don’t understand, and why you deserve better. I’m the monster that sleeps with the devil and watcher her kill people, pretending to not care, so that she thinks she’s won. And I’ve gotten numb to it. If people have to die for the right moment to kill her to arrive, then I’m sorry, but I accept that sacrifice. Watch the death of 30, 40 innocent people, or watch the world burn? I wish it wasn’t the only options, but you’re part of the world that will die if I don’t do this. So I’m sorry, but I’m Mister Black AND Mike Finn. I’m not her plaything. I’m her destruction, her Judas, and sadly, the sacrificial beast that will die as penance for the sins that have been committed for this mission. By both of us” He said softly, looking cold and exhausted. Tanner stared with tears in her eyes, unable to process what she just heard.
“I just can’t believe that you’re completely fucking insane. Mikey, that’s delusions of grandeur, it’s a sign of schizophrenia and a sign of drug abuse and the Mike I know wasn’t like this. I CAN’T believe you’re just a psychopath out of control. As a former addict, I know in my heart it’s the shit she gave you making you like this, magnifying your wonderful crazy Mike stuff, into Mister Black, the monster with a god complex. Nobody could stay sane on the shit that’s in your system. Nobody. You’re just a man, a brilliant and slightly nuts, but good man, who’s been forced into this insane shit that you never asked for. This is an intervention, a rescue detox. You’re not leaving until you are clean and maybe medicated, maybe not… I dunno I mean we can’t take you to a rehab center, you’ve killed like a hundred people. They’d give you the death penalty, they won’t understand, Nadja will just fucking vanish like a ghost and leave you holding the gun, and you’ll get blamed for that shit too, everything. You just have to hold on and fight it. You’ll sober up, you’ll detox, you’ll be okay, but it’s not gonna be easy, and you’re not gonna like it. But that’s what friends do. We keep you out of prison and the lethal injection room, by locking you in a safe room till you get better, and we pray and have faith that you can do it. I believe in you. You’re not gone, way down in there you’re still Mike. The crazy is just too deep to swim through alone. I’m fixing you, Damnit. And you’re gonna hate this next part before you thank me.” She said, crossing her arms stubbornly through the tears.
“No. I’m not. You’re gonna thank me later, and you’re not gonna like the next part. But even more than you, your boyfriend is gonna hate the next part even more. Sorry in advance, but he’s gonna feel this in the morning. I’m leaving, and he’s going to try and kill me, and I’m gonna have to fuck him up a little bit to prevent that. It’s not personal. I hope he makes you happy, I hope you two are great for each other and have a life together, but he hates me because you still love me, and you would leave him for me even knowing what I am if I said I was better. And if he hates me now and can’t help but throw a cheap shot at an old man tied to a chair…he’s gonna REALLY hate me after this little act.” Mike chuckled. She stood looking blank. Distant, void.
“What? You gonna break those police issued handcuffs and tear that steel chair apart, Hulk-smash through a concrete wall and sucker punch Alex on the way out? You’re gonna hurt yourself trying, maybe fall over, break your own wrist, maybe just give up. Please don’t make me taze you, it hurts, and it’s humiliating. Just stay there, please. For me?” she asked politely.
“Sorry. Voices are very clear on the instructions, and you know I follow orders when they give them. Even if you don’t like it. You may wanna restrain Alex, actually, I don’t have to defend myself if he’s in one of these chairs too. He’s not getting out of one, even if he does have the magicians hat and eyeliner. You know what…send in big ol Yuri instead. He’s a challenge for anyone, he can take a beating better than little Alex, and probably be fine. It’s really your choice who you’d rather have guarding me when I break loose. Who do you want hurt? The Russian tank you don’t love, or the hothead loose cannon boyfriend who’s gonna get broken ribs for your honor because you know he doesn’t know when he’s outmatched. He’s in love. Like you. Love makes you do stupid shit and get hurt.” Mike said with a smirk. "Like sell your soul."
“I hate it when you’re right, Mike. You’re delusional and high and out of your damn mind, but you’re right about one part. One of you is going to do something stupid, and I have to separate you two boys. I’ll remind Yuri he can’t kill you, but if you do something stupid he’s got permission to defend himself, and he’s bigger and younger than you, and you’re cuffed to a metal chair. You wanna make a deal? I’ll keep Alex safe from you if you keep yourself safe from Yuri. He promised he wouldn't kill you. He never promised not to beat your ass.” she said, teeth gnashed.
“How about I just reject that offer and leave, and you decide who you want me to fuck up on the way out. No negotiations. Just you and a choice. I’ve made all of mine and nobody is going to stop me until God decides I’m done. I got a few more people I NEED to kill before that’s over. None of them in this house. Get everyone out of my way, or pick who gets in my way. That’s your choice, Tanner. We both know what you’re gonna choose. Bring Yuri. Tell eyeliner to sit his ass at the kids table. Tic-tock, Tanner. What's the choice?”