Others Like Me - Hotline Miami Fanfiction

Chapter 20

Enveloped in her fluffy white bathrobe, Corey stared at her collage of all things Jacket, and reflected on what had been done. She searched her emotions, her soul, trying to determine how it was she felt about her "transformation" as well as the release they had given the city, relieving it of dozens of Eastern European thugs. She tightly closed her eyes, attempting to pressure cook some kind of reaction or a revelation, anything... to her surprise she identified the feeling hanging over her like one ton weight. She was unfulfilled.

She glanced into the living room, as she opened the bathroom door. Tony was still sound asleep, laying sideways on the couch, his arms tightly crossed against his stomach for warmth. Corey checked the time, it was three in the afternoon. Tony would probably sleep into the late afternoon if she didn't try and wake him. She shook her head and went back to checking on the freshly washed clothing, slipping her orange pants and hot pink sports top on, before hanging up the robe.

Was this it? Was she a fool to expect anything more? Corey was near paralyzed as question after question began to circle within her mind. What was it she had hoped to feel after all of this? Pride? A sense of accomplishment? Corey realized she probably hoped her new self would have become one with her, and replace the boring, glum Corey with the cool adventurous zebra persona she had created. Only, thats not what happened.

Corey still felt like her old self. She thought about going back into the waste basket, to fish out her ruined mask, hoping it was simply her lack of immersion keeping her from what she wanted, but she knew the problem ran deeper then that. After all, all she had really had done was kill a whole lot of people.

Her eyes darted towards her wall of vigilantism through the open doorway, in realization. Jacket hadn't just killed a lot of people, he had killed them all. He did what she had done, but on a far grander scale. Over a dozen buildings were linked to Jacket's bloody spree. He killed his way all the way up to the top, to the leader of the Russian crime syndicate, who had blown his own brains out, rather then face Jacket's wrath. Of course she didn't feel fulfilled, of course she would feel numb. Jacket didn't clap his hands and pat himself on the back after his first vigilante spree, he kept going, he finished what he started.

Corey's eye's filled with newfound determination. They were not done yet. Roman's apartment complex was not the only target they had considered for their vigilante spree. They knew where Roman was supplying the drugs to his dealers, a shady used car lot in one of the seedier neighborhoods in Miami. It would be a step down from their assault on Roman's building, but it would at least be something.

No doubt Darius would want them to deal with the dealers non lethally, to send a message to the rest of the degenerates of the city. While it might get them in better standings with the Fan Club bar, she had her first taste of blood now. It would be nearly impossible to ask her to go back to non lethal restrictions.

All she needed now was to share her revelation with Tony. She woke him up by fixing them dinner (Tony's breakfast) just a half dozen eggs, scrambled in a skillet. She clomped her feet, she slammed the fridge door, banged the pans, making every action as loud and sudden as possible so that Tony could wake up "on his own"

When he finally got the hint and redressed himself, he proceeded to wolf down most of the eggs, staring straight ahead in silence, still in a daze from his power sleep. When she explained her revaluation, that they had to keep going and finish off Roman's organization while they were still reeling, Tony looked at her like she had sprouted a second head.

Corey was surprised, to say the least, that Tony rejected her plans outright. He seemed to need this more then she did, on a purely biochemical level. After some convincing though, Tony begrudgingly agreed.