by Gold Baron
"I know what you want," she purred.
He didn't seem to hear; he just talked to himself in an incoherent way.
"I can help you find them." She moved up close to him and let her coat fall open, pressing her warmth against him. "Help you make everything right."
His head jerked back almost spasmodically. "What's the catch?"
"Catch? You're a very powerful person in the universe. You could easily swing the balance in our... your favor--"
"Lies!" He threw her back with an inhuman power, and she skidded to the ground against the wall. "I WON'T BE USED! NOT BY YOU, NOT BY ANYONE!" His eyes glowed with an eerie light, a swimming black clouding them over. The sword began to hum in his hand. The incredible cold became a throbbing heat as the keen edge drew more blood from his hands, but he didn't seem to notice. He was possessed.
And then, as quickly as it began, it was over, the woman huddled in a pathetic, mangled heap at the back of an alley, lost to the annals of time, a lock of fiery red hair on the ground, the glow gone from her emerald eyes. He stepped out once more into the streets, his head much clearer now, his purpose resolute.
"Master, I must have a word with you." The hooded figure bowed his head, his voice like needles down the back of the spine.
Christopher Trinity grunted, "Who the hell are you?"
The scream passed into the night air like the gates of Hell burst open. It was the second such scream that night, one that chilled to the very core of the soul. Everyone in the city felt it, whether they knew what it was or not.
Eclipse and Sol knew what it was, but they didn't slow in the least. The large building was a haze of dust risen off the floor, suspended in the air. It was probably some sort of warehouse, long abandoned, the chains and pulleys dancing as the air rippled with violent intent.
"You know that sound, don't you Tricksy? I can see it in your eyes. What is it I see? Is it fear? Fear in the eyes of the fearless hero? Yes, it is, isn't it? He's coming for us, but who will it be? Only one of us can walk out of here with him. You know that. This ends here, now!" His voice was cold, but full of desire and malicious intent.
Sol ignored him. He could see where the fight was going. Their swords lay smashed side by side, rent apart as they danced in a deadly fight across the open floor, each matching the other, a perfect mirror. Their meager protection was hanging in tatters, each matched the other with a cut across the face, the arms, the chest. When the swords broke, they didn't stop; they couldn't stop. It was the ultimate battle of good versus evil for the fate of everything; the thought sank like lead in his heart.
"Neither one of us will win; you do realize that, don't you? We share each other's thoughts, each other's souls. We are one and the same, cast from the same mold. Kill me and kill yourself."
"Ah, Tricksy, your name seems so fitting!" Eclipse laughed, brimming with confidence, all this a game to him. "Your words ring hollow with me, more hollow than steel on steel."
Was it anger that crept into his voice, or did he too feel the same sense of foreboding? Regardless, judgement was at hand. He cast a long shadow across the room, across both their faces. It froze them in their tracks. He looked tired and gray, broken and beaten. Was this the man? It couldn't be. It wasn't right. It was so... anticlimactic.