Psycho Gem

Chapter 20: The Confrontation

Picture done by PrincessPetals

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"Are you ready?" I asked Tracks beside me, who nodded in return.

Everyone was in position, and everything was ready, I just hoped to the gods that it would work. Taking a breath, I dialled the location into my watch and opened a portal to the Hub. As we walked through I saw the pedestrians around me stammering about, completely unaware of what was about to transpire. The Chairman had been vegetized by Malcolm and paranoia spreads like wildfire in a. Malcolm said he would put the people of the Hub into a frenzied panic and then put him out of their misery, and Malcolm wasn't the kind of person to break a promise. A red portal opened across from me, and out of its crimson glow stepped Malcolm. It didn't surprise me because I had seen it before in the visions, but seeing him still sent a shiver down my back. Each time I had encountered him mentally or physically I had barely escaped with my life, but this time I was ready for him, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve. With this confidence still came a creeping sense of dread at the sight of his sadistic smile. He looked different from the last time I saw him, his skin was pale white and he wore a long grey coat. I knew it must've been the artificial body I saw in his lair.

"Ah, I see you've come to bear witness." he sneered through his teeth.

"Yeah, bear witness to the biggest ass-whoop in history." I responded with fake confidence in my voice.

I knew I didn't stand a chance against him alone, my past experiences being proof of that.

"And you brought my son, perhaps to bargain?" Malcolm continued, looking at Tracks.

Tracks stood there steeling himself so as not to show fear, but there was dread behind his eyes and Malcolm could see it.

"Nothing to say, boy? Not even a word to dear old Dad? Fine," he said, grabbing a passing pedestrian by the throat and holding her up, "Perhaps this will loosen your tongue."

Malcolm was testing if the coins of Lemore actually worked, and since by now something would have already happened, a devilish grin spread across his face. He couldn't be touched by the gods. The clouds in the sky began to darken and rumble with thunder. The Gods knew what was happening and they knew they couldn't do anything, and they were pissed.

I quickly pulled the passerby out of his grasp with my powers and set her down easily so as not to harm her. People around us were shocked and frightened, somebody just committed a violent act on neutral ground and hadn't been pulled down below Hell. I heard chatter about how this could be the guy who "killed" the chairman. They didn't know he had the tokens underneath his coat which allowed him to harm others in this place but we did. I had to get him away from the crowd or else he'd pick them off one by one. I knew I couldn't attack him because I wasn't immune to consequences like Malcolm was, but I could change that. I took the opportunity and pulled the necklace off his neck making it speed towards my open palm. It was stopped midair by Malcolm catching it with his wires. I exerted all the force I could to keep them from Malcolm. While he was distracted playing this game of tug-of-war, Tracks and I sped towards Malcolm, grabbing onto him and activating my watch to teleport us off neutral ground to a desolate earth so that we wouldn't harm any civilians with our battle.

The terrain was filled with giant rocks and boulders, good for cover. With his concentration broken I tore one of the coins off of the chain and caught it in my hand. I knew as long as I had at least one of the coins, he couldn't enact his plan. Malcolm caught the rest of the necklace and before he could stop me, I popped the coin in my mouth and swallowed. Malcolm's expression went from smug indifference to alarmed rage. Without a second's hesitation he violently lunged at me, his right hand beginning to glow like it did before. He was going to dig the coin out from my stomach. I quickly summoned a large force field around me to protect myself but he passed straight through it as if it weren't even there. In the split second I had to react I drew my pistol and unloaded all of my rounds at his chest. The bullets hit him, but he barely flinched. He grabbed me by the shoulder and was about to dig his other hand into my stomach, but another blaster bolt was fired from beside us, knocking Malcolm away. Tracks stood there with an arm stretched out towards us.