Skye was still nailed to the wall. Her insides glistened in the sun in a way which made me queasy. I kept my gaze on him, letting the rage build. I wanted to just throw a Furball at him and get started.
But I can't resist a villain's monologue.
And he looked like he wanted to monologue.
As I approached, he jerked a thumb to Skye's corpse behind him. "Interesting conversation we had before she died," he said. "Real interesting. You're a sick fuck, aren't you? I could see you coming all the way down the highway, you know."
"Detect Evil?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You know that one?"
"Eh," I said, coming to a stop on the other side of a dead firepit which would stand as a guard between us. "I think I know them all by now. Sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
I shrugged, tapping my head. "My Intelligence stat's higher than normal, so it's all in there somewhere. Smooshed up in my brain. It just needs something to pull it out."
"Huh." He chewed on that thought. "I didn't put any into that. I was worried it'd mess up my mind."
"You go full Strength, or mix it up with Stamina and Agility?"
He snapped his mouth shut with a grunt. "I don't think I should answer that."
"Maybe not." I glanced at the police car. "So, you're the cop who stopped us?"
"One of them," he said. "My partner was in charge. He told me to let you go. I would've anyway. You didn't look like who we were supposed to be searching for. But you're him, aren't you? You killed those other cops and stole a helicopter."
"Helicopter?" I frowned. "I don't know anything about a helicopter."
He stared at me, his face a blank mask.
I stared back at him, lifting my eyebrows. I mean, I didn't know what he wanted from me. How would I even steal a helicopter? It's not like I could put it in my pocket, and I sure couldn't pilot one.
The System can sometimes make people think things they didn't mean to. I wondered if that's what was happening to him. If he was imagining I'd committed a whole bunch of crimes, it could get messy.
Especially if he really took to the whole Paladin thing and started thinking good and evil were real and not just differing points of view.
"Right," he said after a longer pause. "Maybe they got that part wrong. But you kidnapped your lawyer. And a bunch of others. All women."
"Kidnapped?" I shook my head. "I don't have a lawyer. I don't know where you're getting that story from, but it all sounds a bit too Hollywood, doesn't it? You're saying I killed some cops, stole a helicopter, and killed a bunch of women? Really? All by myself?"
"I know you did it." He tapped his forehead. "You're forgetting, pal. I got the same thing in my fucking head as you have. It told me what you did. And the TV confirms it."
"Did it tell you my class?"
"The quest says you're The Nekomancer," he said, surprising me. "I'm guessing that's not just a title. Add to that, there's a catgirl pinned to my trailer. She called herself a Neko. I figure that's a decent amount of evidence pointing to your class and what it does."
"It told you that?"
"I don't think it likes you very much," he said. "It wants me to kill you, too."
"Eh," I shrugged. "Standard bounty quest. I got one for you, too. That's how it works, you know. The System… It likes balance."
I saw his own eyes widen at that. He didn't know much about the System. That's why he wanted to talk to me.
He was gathering intel.
"Why'd you do it?" He asked, his eyes watching me like I was prey.
"Do what?"
"Why'd you infect us?"
"Us?" I turned on my heel, ready to run. "There's more of you?"
"Not anymore," he said, calmly. "My partner, though. He got infected, too. Because of you. You gave it to us."
"I don't know why you've got the System," I told him. "But I didn't give it you. At least, I don't think I did. If I'm honest, I wouldn't know how."
His blue eyes were cold. I didn't like them.
"The beer," he said. "We were tired. Real tired. I figured a mouthful wouldn't hurt. We were near the end of our shift. No one would know. I gave some to Scott. Didn't figure such a hot chick would have cooties. I was wrong, though, wasn't I?"
"You're saying you got it from Skye's beer?" I wrinkled my nose. "Why were you drinking her leftovers? I mean, eww. And you called me sick?"
"We'd been on that fucking road for days! We'd hardly slept. I wasn't thinking straight. Neither of us were. But you! You had to know what it'd do to us!"
I wondered if it was even possible to spread the System that way.
If it were, why didn't the System just give me a quest to have a bunch of Nekos all spit in the water supply? It'd be quicker, wouldn't it?
The wheels inside my mind spun wildly but eventually gave up that thought. Water would be treated with chemicals and whatever else they used to make it clean. That'd cancel everything out. It wouldn't work.
Maybe there was something I was missing. After all, the quest wanted me to populate the world with Nekos. Was there a reason for it? Did they have some ability to spread the System that I didn't?
I couldn't recall anything from Neyteria which pointed to that. But maybe I'd missed something.
I felt a piece of my mind pick up that thought and walk away to think about it some more. I let it go, and looked down at the paladin, whose body had tensed like a tiger about to spring.
"Well, I didn't know," I said. "To be honest, I didn't think it worked that way."
"Scott lost his mind because of you." His lips spread into a snarl as he spoke through his teeth. "He kept saying he had orders. Like he was in the military again. Only these orders were for him to kill everyone. He came to the station with one of those Japanese swords and went berserk. I got there just as he finished. I had to kill him. My partner. My best friend. And I killed him. Because you put this thing in our heads. You made us crazy."
"I didn't make you drink her beer, man."
"You gave it to us," he insisted. "That was your plan all along. To give us beers. I know, because I made her talk before the end."
I tried to remember the plan we had. "I think the goal was just to have you think we'd been drinking so you'd get the idea were just a bunch of kids."
"Bullshit. You knew what you were doing. She blabbered on about you. The great and awesome Bexley. It made me sick. It made me think. No one loves like that. No one feels that way about someone else. Your power is mind control. You controlled her mind. So, you made her infect us."
"Mind control?" I blinked at him. Was he crazy? I didn't control anyone's mind. I freed their minds. I took away the cages the Demons had put them in.
That's all.
I just… I just…
"My head hurts," I rasped.
"Mine, too," he said, tapping his temple. "Every time I try to think about what's real and what's not."
I glanced back at the car. I couldn't see Shadowpaw. She must've stealthed into the trees. But Tippy was there, scowling in the paladin's direction. Her gaze flicked to mine, then back again.
She was focussed on him.
Had I controlled her? Had I made her do something she didn't want?
I couldn't believe that. It couldn't be true. I'd never hurt the Nekos. Never hurt the... the… I'd never hurt a woman. My dad had always told me that. It doesn't matter what you do. You should never hurt a woman. I'd never even raised a hand to one. Not even my voice.
Sure, I'd never had a real girlfriend, but there were plenty of times I'd wanted to yell at a woman. Like my manager. I'd always wanted to shout at her to leave me alone. But I didn't.
What was her name?
Sapphire. I was going to call her Sapphire.
But what was her real name?
Sapphire. It had to be Sapphire. No other name suited her.
I had to… I had to free her.
From.
The.
Demons.
Had to protect. Nekos.
My ears popped and I shook my head. Touching my lip, I found a line of blood sliding down from my nose.
Looking up, I saw the paladin had slid from his chair and was eyeing me warily.
"Sorry," I said, wiping the blood with the back of my sleeve. "I think it's the high Intelligence. It makes me feel strange if I think too much about some things."
"You're completely crazy, aren't you? There's nothing left of you. It ate your brain."
"I don't think so," I said, closing my eyes and bringing up my list of Achievements. Some of them were blurred, but most of them I could read. "I'd have an Achievement for it if it did. But I don't. So, I'm still me."
"Yeah," he said, mostly to himself. "And I'll end up like you, won't I? I'll be its slave. Following its orders like Scott did. Not caring what it makes me do. You know, it wants me to go on a crusade."
"I care," I spat, snapping my eyes open and pointing a finger at him. "That's why I'm here. To end your foul reign. You… You're obviously a Corrupted Paladin. That's why the System wants me to put you down. You're a threat to my Nekos. You want to hurt them."
He snorted at that. "Your Nekos? Have you stopped and listened to yourself, kid? They're not yours! They're women! Women you infected! They're not following you because they want to. Whatever they were is gone. They've been scooped out and all that's left is some pretty shell. They're like robots."
"You're wrong."
"They can't remember anything from before." He pointed back at the mutilated corpse behind him. "This is Amanda Shillings. She was a chopper pilot. She has two kids, and she couldn't even remember that! She said I was lying even after I showed her pictures. They're all over the news, so she must've seen them. And she didn't even recognise them! Her own fucking kids! And she didn't know who they were. You did that to her! You took away everything that Amanda was and replaced her with a stupid kid's perverted fantasy."
"No," I said, reminding myself what he was. A Corrupted Paladin. Serving the Demon Lord. He must've made a bargain with them. Hell's spawn were tricky. They must've given him a story to tell me which would make my head hurt like this. I staggered back a step, fighting the urge to throw up. I had to resist his lies. "No. I protect!"
"You corrupt," he hissed, pointing at his eyes. "I can see it. It's all in the name, kid. Detect Evil, remember? You even know it. You know what it does, right? It sees evil. It shows me a thick black cloud around anyone evil. Now, a lot of people have got a bit of a cloud. You? You're like a whole thunderstorm crawling over the horizon. It's all around us right now."
"You're corrupted," I shot back. "You accepted the lies of the Demon Lord."
"Demon Lord?"
"There!" I jabbed a finger at him, feeling stronger as my certainty grew. "I fought him. I liberated Neyteria from him. I freed the Nekos from his yoke. He'd do anything to get revenge. And that's what this is, isn't it? It's him using you as a pawn to get revenge on me."
"Freed? Neyteria?" He shook his head at me. "That a place? Alright. I'll bite. How did you free everyone? Did you turn them into these freaks? What about everyone else? What'd you do to them?"
Why would he ask such a stupid question?
"I killed them, of course." I told him. "They were demons."
"See? You're not protecting anything." He reached under the chair and pulled out a dirty old machete. "You're a mad dog. You need to be put down for your own good. For everyone's good. I didn't believe the words it was giving me. That I had to save the world from a madman. But after letting you talk, I believe it. I won't let you hurt anyone else."
"I don't hurt anyone," I insisted, despite the blinding pain behind my eyes. "I protect them. I'm the Champion, not you."
"Not anymore," he said, lifting the machete and pointing it at me. "I got that title now. I'm the Hero of Earth."
"Hero?" I choked on the word, clenching my fists at the absurdity of his words. "You think you're the Hero?"
"That's what the words tell me, kid."
"Look what you did to her," I growled. "You slit her open. That's not something a Hero does. I've never done that. I don't hurt people. You tortured her. You ripped her apart. That's why… That's why I'm here. To protect the Nekos. From you. You hurt her. You hurt my Neko!"
He glanced back at his work and shivered. "Yeah, that part was in the quest. I don't know why, and I never want to do it again. But the words were right. It brought you here, didn't it?"
I felt like four walls were pressing in on me.
Each was trying to say something.
Each was important.
I looked into his eyes, feeling the burning heat of my hate. None of that mattered. The why of it wasn't important. He'd hurt Skye. He'd said horrible things about her. That she'd forgotten her children. She'd have never forgotten her own kids.
No mother could.
Only if her mind had been completely destroyed could she forget that. And that didn't happen. I transformed her. I didn't destroy her. I wasn't a Necromancer.
I wasn't anything like that.
I was… I was a Protector!
The paladin took a slow step forward and I felt everything inside me go quiet. In these moments, the world was simple.
Monologuing was over. Quests were accepted. Cutscene complete.
I pulled back my lips and spat a single word. "Furball!"
***
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