Chương 169: Act 3, Chapter 23: Syncopation

Day in the story: 7th January (Wednesday), around 5. 30 a. m.

"You will die now for what you've done." His breath smelled of something rotten as his face came closer to my mask. My sword dropped to the ground with a loud clunk, followed by the sound of shots fired from Caroline's handgun. I used this brief distraction to put my back against the wall, move both my legs up, and kick the man with all the force of my enhanced body right in the chest, throwing him away from me and allowing myself to teleport freely away from the opposition that contact with him posed for me.

The shots, of course, amounted to nothing more than a mosquito bite would. He scratched his neck as the world shifted, placing me next to Caroline.

"Get me that sword," she said, and I teleported it right into my outstretched hand, giving it to her at the exact moment the Rhythm stretched his arms to the sides and a wave of shadowlight spread all around him in every direction. This made both the ground and the cold winter air shimmer with some form of latent energy expressed in a film of blue and purple shadowlight.

His movements became erratic as seen from outside the dome he created, as if there were no connection between them, and he was visible only when the beat hit. Caroline looked at the blade I gave her, and soon it shone with golden light as she coated it with the one she had an Authority over.

"Let's put him down," she hissed through her teeth and moved into the dome, with one brief look toward Loki still on top of Gerard's unmoving body—still looking as if she were keeping hold of him by wrestling with an invisible rope clenched in her mouth. The dog in turn watched her master as she went after Robbie, with most of her canine body as immovable as the person she held. Translucent wall popped like a bubble of air as she passed it, just to recreate itself in that place.

Immediately, the fast-paced beat of the song he was playing started attacking her with, for lack of a better word, sound bullets—each one staggering her stance, until something changed. A lightning-like effect jolted out of her chest area, and those freed bolts of energy danced around Caroline, intercepting the incoming sound waves. It looked as if they were yellow lightning snakes trying to catch invisible birds coming at her through the air.

And apparently they were succeeding, as she moved freely toward the man now. He was surprised briefly but soon made his move, shifting into a dancing rhythm similar to capoeira masters, swaying left and right just to move to one side with increased vigor. Due to the staggering effect his Dome was creating, it looked as if he was teleporting short distances, blinking in and out of existence.

I summoned my Ghostflame, took a deep breath, chose one of the cards inside that dome, and appeared there instantly, pivoting toward him, going low to counteract Caroline's high attack with the sword. Both of our blades met the air, because even though he was there when we attacked, apparently he was really behind Caroline, punching her back with so much force she went flying forward, as her lightning tongues tried to hit him back but failed.

It was then that he noticed me, and I was thrown away by the force of his music. Music that changed once again to a song I knew. No Time for Caution. I listened to it after watching Interstellar last year with the guys. Quick beats and an ever-increasing tempo. He moved like the devil himself now. I dodged him when he appeared next to me, only to get hit by him anyway, as if what I saw wasn't really what happened. My body tumbled in the air briefly before I teleported away to a card in a safer place.

Caroline tried to cut the guy with her sword, but despite waiting for the right moment and slashing at him, the blade went through as if he were made of mist. He appeared next to her, striking her with his fist again, laughing maniacally while doing so. An afterimage was left in his wake, then another when she dodged an attack. Those ghastly echoes of himself just hovered behind, unmoving—a version of his brother's ability, lacking the momentum, but ones that would crash on us at the time of his choosing.

In the meantime, the tempo of the song was increasing, and we were closing in on the crescendo I feared would be bad for us. What he was doing to trick our senses wasn't an illusion, as my Shattered eyes saw everything just as my regular ones did. Or maybe, as my other brain suggested, it wasn't working on what we saw as much as what we perceived with our other senses, like hearing and the rhythm itself.

"He is creating a stagger, and our brains don't know how to interpret it!" I shouted to Caroline from outside the dome, trying to outdo the music's volume. But she couldn't hear me, focused on trying to hit an opponent that weaved in and out of being like some kind of ghost. I closed my eyes. All of them, as each one reacted to my needs now. My vision became entirely black for the first time in a very long time, and I focused on one sense that wasn't affected by any of the madness he created—a scent.

My painted bear's nose picked up on him immediately as the winter wind spread it around. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. An Old Spice mix with sweat and blood, and unmistakably the fish he ate. He moved toward Caroline, who smelled like her dog. Each step firmly set on the cold, crunching ground.

I jumped into his makeshift arena, facing repercussions from his sound instantly—a hit to my side, then another to my face—as I tried to push through, closer and closer. I faked a move, then turned another way, trying to avoid at least part of the attacks. I dropped down to a crawl, then sprang forward next. And when he moved aside to dodge Caroline's sword attack, I smelled him, pivoted underneath him, and opened my eyes to see him being hit.

I knew, though, that the knife I thrust into the empty air right next to him struck true, as I turned it inside his body, twisting apart whatever intestine I carved. As he staggered, impaled by me, the dome around us dropped, revealing his true self falling to the ground. Caroline wasted no time. She reoriented herself and made a high swing with a twist of the blade, and when it reached the highest point she turned it downward and used all her strength to thrust it straight into his chest.

He looked at both wounds with terror in his eyes—only to turn into blue and purple shadowlight and reappear at one of his afterimages' positions, when all the others crashed with a discordant sound reverberating throughout the area. The music changed again. To Without Me by Eminem. He smiled at us widely and, with a scar on his cheek, looked like some kind of demon of the night.

"You two are giving me more trouble than I imagined."

"You can go willingly with me and face a fair trial," Caroline answered, pointing the sword at the guy.

"I ain't dumb, bitch," he replied when the lyrics asked us to guess who's back. He moved then, and another afterimage was left behind, then another after the next beat, and another and another, as he jumped around on the balls of his feet, seemingly happy.

"You'll go first," he said when the beat increased and continuous hits went after Caroline, each one taken down by her anti-air lightning system—until at one point the beat didn't come from the air, but from the ground, throwing Caroline upward.

"I've created a monster"—the song announced—and all the afterimages turned into some kind of shadowlight armor around the Rhythm, and he quickly thrust his long, purplish arm toward Caroline, grabbing her from a good ten yards away and smashing her against the ground in one wicked movement. At the same moment, whatever Authority she'd given Loki dispersed and Dr. Gerard Jugger woke up from his slumber, throwing the weakened dog off his back.

Tens of eyes on his monstrous body blinked in unison as they took in the scene happening around. I was suddenly alone against two monsters instead of one. I could use that.

"Get the fuck out, Jugg, or I will mince you too!" Robbie shouted toward him.

"It's out of your fuckin' league!" he added, and Jugger considered his words for a second, his arms hitting the ground with plenty of fingers. Then a big mouth in the center of that mass opened.

"Fine."

"What?" I asked. I was hoping to turn them against each other somehow to my advantage, but the man that started this disaster for us was changing back into human form now. He pointed at Robbie, shouted that they were not done, and fucking ran away. I was shocked by that, but I should have joined him in his escape. I knew it. I was as outmatched as I'd been before—more so, as he'd shown more tricks tonight to overcome us, and he looked like nothing had happened to him.

"I will make you beg for your life, bunny girl. I will break all of your toys, fuck your breath away, and drop your lifeless body onto the street, exactly where the likes of you belong." He told me, but he didn't attack yet. And as I looked closer, I realized that I was wrong in my initial assumption. He wasn't as good as new. His chest heaved and he was wet with sweat.

He was in the market for time, and luckily for me I was willing to offer that for a chance to get closer—exactly at the point when he was the weakest.

"I hate that your shadowlight looks like his, minus the gold, that is. You shouldn't be using it. You don't deserve it." He looked outraged by that comment, his fists clenching with pressure until he pointed a finger at me.

"Oh fuck no. You ain't speakin' 'bout him, bitch. Not one word. You understand shit!"

"Yeah, I do. That's why I know the likes of you so well. You are this shit. You are what he'd become if he were to stop caring about means and only about the goals. Right?" I asked, and he eased a bit, looking back at me while I took a step. His music was still playing, but he didn't attack. I took another.

"You wanted to be a hero too, get him and your family out of poverty. Be better than your hood. But you took a shortcut here, then another one there, and before you knew it, you were so deep in the ass maze you didn't see any way out but to become the biggest shit there was." He laughed.

"I might fucking like you, actually. In another life. Maybe. Or maybe fuckin' not." He said, and then the song changed to the biggest bass drop of some techno and death metal mix I'd ever heard. My ears bled from the noise as my body dropped to the ground, hit by the power of the soundwave. I tried to teleport away, but the discord continued, messing with my connection.

"I fuckin' plugged your rabbit hole. There's no escapin' now, bitch. I am gonna plug another one very soon, ya know? How does it feel to lose all control!?" he said, and despite the whispers and the noise I somehow could hear him perfectly. He was the one making steps closer now—each one slow and deliberate—a cat playing with the mouse it was about to eat. A continuous wave of force was on me now, pinning me to the ground.

I wanted to reach for Liora to help me, or for the sword to make it fly, or teleport away, or do anything—but all of my shadowlight links went awry and I couldn't find myself in my own aura. [I am fighting this. I am doing everything I can.] Anansi spoke to me—my good friend and a guardian. Don't. Let his Authority win. I thought back to her, and she obeyed instantly. No hesitation, no begging, none of that sort. Everything went still beside the brains' links and I was back to being just me.

My Authority relinquished. No eyes besides my own, no increased hearing, no strength from the suit. Just me and the predator coming closer. He felt me giving up and eased the pressure.

"I'll do it slowly," he whispered again as he grabbed me by the hood and lifted me off the street, part of his power still pinning my lower back to it. I grabbed his hand with both of mine then.

"I know you!" I shouted and reached to all of the eye-cards now free of my Authority. They lay scattered in dozens of places all over here and the park nearby. I focused all my strength on establishing connection with them again, declaring them art and reestablishing links with them. You are all his ears now! I commanded them within my mind, and they obeyed.

My head and arms dropped to the ground as he let go of the hood and grabbed his own head instead, shrieking like some banshee of legend—his eyes bulging and flooding with blood from popping veins as he pressed his ears with both hands.

"What have you done!?"