The two arrived back at Arraba by sunset, gasping and panting. After he caught his breath, Horan spoke first.
“Why? Why can’t we just get a single win for once? Especially against that guy?”
Mark slumped against a wall. “Honestly, I could’ve beaten him.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because you handcuffed me to yourself!” Mark stood up and glared at Horan. “This whole mess we’re in is your fault! You forced us to deal with the bounty! You blew our cover here! You handicapped us and made us lose the fight! Every time I try to deal with your last screw-up, you manage to screw up even more! You can fly! Shapeshift! Control the wind! You should be doing most of the work, not me! But even when I try to just go around the problems you make, you keep forcing me to actually deal with them! It’s like you’re trying to make this whole trip be as slow and inconvenient as possible! I thought you wanted to reclaim your throne or whatever from Thel! Then WHY? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS SO HARD?!”
Mark stood in front of Horan, breathing heavily from his tirade. Horan was silent for a while and waited for Mark’s breathing to quieten. Afterwards, he spoke.
“Look. I know that I haven’t been the most… useful person to travel with. I get that you’ve got your own way to solve problems. But so do I. Just give me a chance to deal with this my way, and I’ll fix th-“
“No. You aren’t gonna fix anything. You’ve already had a chance. A lot of chances. With Thel, with the canal, with this. But every single time, you get in trouble, and it comes to little ol’ me to clean up after you! You only make everything worse, and I have to fix it. Just like I’m going to now.”
Mark attempted to storm off, but was pulled back by the handcuffs. He gave out a long sigh and fell to his knees, shaking slightly. When he spoke, his voice was broken.
“Look at me. Veteran Special Forces with 37 confirmed kills. And here I am, in the part of the world where I used to be treated with respect, handcuffed to an Egyptian Primus who’s trying to get me killed. This isn’t what I wanted! This isn’t...”
He broke down, quietly sobbing. Horan looked down at him silently. Mark took out his medal and quietly caressed it. After a few minutes, he put his medal away and began examining his rifle.
“And now, because of his refusal to just not deal with things he can’t handle, I’m going to be killed by an… immortal weeaboo. Is this where my life has gone? Why can’t the universe just give me a break?”
Horan sat down. “I guess you want me to stay out of this one, then?”
Mark sighed. “The things I do to get by… Yeah. Just stay behind me and let me shoot the guy. If you won’t let me just run away, I guess this is my only option.”
“…Alright.”
-
Iman hovered a few feet off the ground as he approached Arraba. He pulled out his katana as the townspeople watched him approached, all terrified.
“Greetings, pathetic humans. It is I, Black Iman in the flesh! If you do not want to die painfully, surrender your town to me and let me begin my empire.”
Rayyan pulled out a battered pistol and began pushing through the crowd. But before she could reach the front, Horan and Mark stepped in front, putting themselves between Iman and the town.
Iman pulled the rags off his head and grinned, letting loose filthy waist-length silver hair.
“Ah, the heroes ret-Woah!” Iman hastily teleported away when Mark shot at him. He reappeared much closer and prepared to rush Mark when Horan shifted back into his true form.
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The increased size shattered the handcuffs, separating Mark and Horan. Surprised, Mark turned around.
“Wait, could y-“ Mark was interrupted by Horan shoving him painfully to the ground. Mark attempted to bring up his rifle, but Horan kicked it to the side.
“Hey, woah, what?” Mark was silenced when Horan stepped on his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs.
“So, Black Iman.”
Iman awkwardly stood up and cleared his throat. “Um, yes! It is I, the greatest warrior in the world!”
Mark wheezed quietly. “Horan… What are you doing?”
Horan ignored him. “Tell me, Iman, what exactly is your plan here? I’m just interested.”
Iman grinned. “You see, for many centuries I have been training, perfecting my mastery of the blade. And now that this ‘Thel’ character is challenging me, I shall defeat him and claim the world as my own! I, Black Iman, shall prove once and for all that I am the greatest villain ever known!”
Horan smirked. “Interesting. Hey, did you know that Thel is my uncle?”
Iman lowered his sword and took a hesitant step towards Horan. “No… Ah. You’re the Horan I’ve heard about, then?”
“Correct. Y’know, it would be a possibility for you and I work together to take Thel down. And I’d rather not associate myself with such pathetic trash as what we’ve got right here.”
Mark squirmed desperately under Horan’s foot. “Gah… Is this about me yelling about you? Really? You’re switching sides because I hurt your feelings!?”
Horan subtly waved his hand. The air around Mark’s head rustled slightly, producing a sound in Mark’s ear that sounded a lot like somebody whispering “Shush…”.
Iman chuckled. “An arc villain, eh? You definitely have the size to pull it off… I like it! Welcome to my army of highly detailed henchmen!”
Iman teleported in front of Horan, exposing his full profile to the crowd of townspeople once again. Rayyan emerged from the people and pointed her gun at Iman, arm trembling slightly.
“If you come any closer, I’ll shoot you.”
“Hah! Like you stand any chance against me. Minion, destroy the pathetic one.”
Horan turned on his heel, painfully twisting the skin on Mark’s chest. “With pleasure.”
Horan’s feet lifted ever so slightly, lightening the pain in Mark’s chest. As Mark planned to grab his rifle and shoot the traitor in the back, Horan rotated mid-air so that his side was facing the ground, pulled back one leg, and swept Iman’s feet with all his strength.
Iman let out a brief yelp of shock before hitting the ground hard. Before his target could react, Horan righted himself, summoned a sword and brought it down on Iman’s neck.
As the crowd reeled back, Horan let go of the sword and strode towards Rayyan, gun now pointed at him.
Rayyan pulled back the hammer of her gun “So, are you going to finish what he started now?”
Horan raised his arms. “Hey, I’m just turning in the bounty as promised. Am I free to leave now?”
Rayyan lowered her gun. “Um, yeah. Yeah, you’re free. You can go.”
Horan nodded and walked through the whispering crowd back to the car. He was so much taller than the townspeople, it looked like he was wading through a field of wheat. Once he had passed through, he turned back to look at the crowd.
“And you folks remember: It was Horan who dealt with that guy. Not Thel, not some human. Horan.”
People paid Mark no mind as he got to his feet and stumbled after Horan, still trying to process what had just happened.
Once Mark had caught up, Horan was pulling open the door to the car and climbing in. “You should figure out how to get this thing to lock.”
Mark absentmindedly opened the driver’s-side door. “Y-you…”
“Yeah, I fixed it. Don’t be so dramatic, you reacted more calmly to a Primus falling out of the sky.”
Mark silently got into the car. Horan shifted into human form to fit in the backseat. As Mark was trying to figure out what to do, Horan tapped him on the shoulder. Mark turned and looked at the reclining Primus.
“Now, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. You aren’t the one in charge. I’m only letting you take me to Greece because of that contract of yours. You aren’t needed, and you aren’t wanted. Keep that in mind the next time you feel like calling me useless.”
Mark, somewhat worried about his grasp of the situation, remembered just how many cards he was holding.
“Or what? You can’t hurt me and you can’t escape. Maybe you’re not too used to not being the one in charge, but you should keep in mind that I am the boss here. Doesn’t matter how useful you are, you’re my property until I pawn you off to someone else. So how’s about you get off your high horse, stop talking and let me get rid of you?”
Horan opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t. Angered, he sat back in the seat and sulked. Mark turned back and gripped the steering wheel for a while. After a few seconds, he sighed and spoke again.
“Alright. Maybe you’re not totally useless. I’ll admit that. We’re not equals, and you definitely aren’t smart, but… I guess I can figure out something for you to do next time.”
Without saying anything else, Mark drove away from Arraba so that they were completely out of sight, put the car seat down and went to sleep. Horan, while still silently angry, quickly followed suit.