the Sixteenth Surgeon

Chapter 14 "The God of Death"

Silver Bullet stood silently, leaning against the wall of his cozy little den, watching the fireplace crackle and flicker. His robe was spotless and freshly cleaned, and his pistols were freshly polished and giving off a smell of anointing oil and newly cast silver in the chambers.

"Oh darkness, I can feel your approach. I have betrayed my oath and failed my vengeance, what is left of me but a corpse that has not run out of breath." he muttered, staring into the flames. "Was I wrong to seek revenge and challenge the powers that guide us, or was I merely too weak to handle the role of hero that I took on far too late in this great game? Before I die, I wish to know which sin has cost me everything." he sighed as footsteps approached.

"Neither." replied a voice from the darkness. He turned to see, not the god of death, but Roman, fiddling with the string of beads Silver had left on the counter.

"Are you here to claim me before death has its turn?" He asked Roman.

"No, just saying a few words. We never saw eye-to-eye but now we have a similar fate waiting us, don't we?"

"Thanks to me." he said, tossing a stick into the fire.

"You and I both know that the moment I made that move and put my name on the list that it was a matter of time. Someone had to kill me, and it was always likely to be Shiva. You never could stay out of the way, could you?" he asked. Breaking the string, and dumping the beads into his hand.

"It was never meant to be a game was it? It was a cleansing; A way of enticing the Surgeons too big for their own shadow, to make a scene and lure everyone into the great trap. You were the bait, and we all came running, publicly showing that we were arrogant enough to challenge the system, or at least the man who embodied it. You wanted to know who respected the rules, who could be bought, who's pride and arrogant lust for power would drive them from the darkness and into the streets so you could clean the filth and start fresh as the hero who purified the Organization." he said with a half smirk.

"Not entirely. I wanted to know what everyone was capable of, and yes, I did lure the corruptible from the darkness and obscurity...but I was never meant to be the last man standing. You got the ending wrong, Silver. Someone will come out of this victorious and the empire will rise fresh and new from the ashes...but it was never going to be me. I am old, tired, and I have passed through the same cleansing fire and been found bending the rules myself. That is exactly why my time is almost done. The throne is no longer best suited by me, it needs new perspective, someone strong without the rules being bent to make it so. You are not here because you committed a sin and earned death...you are here because like me, you are old and stuck in your ways. You resist change and you cling to the past.

You are obsolete because you are too stubborn to evolve and you are going to die because you let your emotions take over your rational mind, and you fell into the Mistresses trap too easily. You know me, Silver...we may have never been friends, but you know my list of flaws and vices. Murdering an innocent girl just isn't my style. She went willingly into this line of work and she let her pride become bigger then her brain. She tried to kill me, did a very impressive job, and as a result she got in the crossfire. Frankly I am insulted that you would think of me as some monster that devours young women like a piece of meat. She made her choices and she stepped into the ring with the big dogs when she wasn't ready. Her death was no different than ours will be...just part of the cleansing. Not your fault, not mine...just inevitable."

"Will I see her again?" he asked with a single tear in his eye.

"I'll see to it you get another chance."