"Bone Shot!"

Thud.

Alex interposed his metal arm to catch the bone bullet as he charged up the building at Mister Deadman. Each window was like a step on a ladder as he jumped from one to the other, throwing himself after the man. Mister Deadman didn't flinch, though, his finger trained on Alex as he charged.

"Bone Shot!"

Ting.

Two arms coated in jagged metal pieces formed the wall against the man's bullets. Alex didn't completely understand Mister Deadman's curse, but he understood it had something to do with bones. The man could shoot out his bones and form weapons made of bones as hard as steel. He remembered a giant bone scorpion in another part of his memories, but Alex guessed Mister Deadman wouldn't use that part of his curse unless he had no choice.

That would completely wreck the game of memory manipulation.

If Jean's theorizing were correct, the larger the disruption, the harder it would be to maintain the masquerade. That meant that Mister Deadman would try to end the fight quickly without turning into a giant scorpion or making a scene. That gave Alex some leeway in the fight.

"Step."

He jumped up the last window, his legs blurring with extra speed as the aether flowed through his legs. He kicked off the window and through the air. A bone bullet shot past where he had been as he cut the distance between himself and Mister Deadman in an instant.

"Steel Hammer!"

"Bone Scythe."

Thud.

He brought his fist down onto Mister Deadman, and Mister Deadman raised two hands in response. A long white bar appeared in his hands, extending out from one into another before extending over his hands and into two long curving blades. Alex recognized the weapon. He'd lost an arm to it before.

That damage would have been permanent if it hadn't been for his experimentally augmented body.

"Hoop."

Alex pushed off the scythe, gaining some distance and landing away from Mister Deadman on the rooftop. Mister Deadman kept his distance, staring down Alex with cold, calculating eyes. Because this wasn't their first fight, they both had an idea of what to expect out of each other. Mister Deadman was being just as cautious as Alex.

"I'm guessing you were the incursion earlier, you hear?" Mister Deadman spun his scythe through the air around him absently until he came to a wide stance with the scythe held to his side. "You were never one to just keep your cool and follow along. I should have expected it all along."

"I wish I were the one to break out of it first," Alex said, holding up his metal arms like a boxer. "But I can't take credit for it."

"Then I wonder who can?" Mister Deadman smiled. "Death's Advance!"

Thud.

He instantly sliced the distance between them, sliding forward like he was surfing a wave with his long scythe. He swung at Alex, one scythe blade coming from below as he twisted his hips. Alex dropped one arm to catch the shaft, using it to throw himself up into the air and above Mister Deadman. The second swing came after, with a reverse of Mister Deadman's hips, bringing down the second blade of his scythe.

Thud.

Alex caught it, his splayed metal hand hitting the ground as his right caught the scythe shaft. His body was held between the ground and the scythe for an instant, and Alex used that moment to kick. He lashed out with his legs and slammed them hard into Mister Deadman's chest.

Crack. Thump.

Mister Deadman fell back to the ground, and Alex fell to the side. He caught himself on both arms as Mister Deadman's scythe tumbled to the ground. Alex pushed himself up to his feet again as Mister Deadman jumped to his own feet.

Snap. Snap.

"I knew it," he said, shaking his head as one hand rifled through his pocket. "I knew you were going to be a problem. I told Miss Malone, you hear. I told her you wouldn't be able to be cool with the entire operation. I told her you'd be the one to mess it all up."

"And she didn't listen to you," Alex said, shaking his head. "Can you believe it when your boss makes a bad decision, and you just have to deal with it?"

"That's why I came prepared." He pulled an object from his pocket, a small gem.

Alex's eyes widened, then narrowed. Did Mister Deadman know whose gem it was? Did he know that breaking one would incapacitate someone? Everything in the next few moments would depend on that answer.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"And what's that supposed to do?"

"You know exactly what it is," Mister Deadman said. "The spider's reaction earlier. Them charging out to find nothing. That was all you, you hear?"

"Maybe it was." Alex shrugged.

"There's no maybe," Mister Deadman said. "If you've got your memories back, you just can't play it cool with a 'maybe,' you hear?"

"I'm waiting for why that little gem is important to me." Alex raised his fist, lining up his punch.

"Do that, and I break it," Mister Deadman said. "It's one of your crew's gems. I know what happens when you break one of these, you hear? They'll freeze up, but so will you!"

Alex narrowed his eyes.

"How do you know it's one of ours?"

"Gathered them extra special after we caught your ship in the web." Mister Deadman grinned. "We never found the last one, but I got four of the remaining five. Miss Malone took the last for her own needs."

That math didn't add up. There were five crew members, and Mari had seemingly been unaffected. If Alex had gotten into her hands by whatever means, then there should have been only four. Did they have a sixth crew member?

The knight.

Even with Alex's partially restored memories, the knight was the only one he couldn't place. Alex frowned. He didn't like the idea of one of his crew, his people, his friends being left out of being free, but that didn't change the challenge before him.

"You don't want to break that," Alex said. "It might let you get a cheap shot in on me, but then you're dealing with two of us."

"Not if I kill you in the instant that I break it, you hear?" Mister Deadman smiled.

"Giving yourself a lot of credit for that," Alex said, leaning forward.

Alex didn't know if Mister Deadman was bluffing. His body could take a lot and regenerate. However, he had seen the limits of that regeneration before. It wasn't immortality or invincibility. He also had to think about the rest of the crew. They would get hit with the same stunning effect that he would.

He wasn't without options, though. His senses reached out around him on the roof, and the coins scattered earlier in his attacks at the spiders heeded the call. They would be a great distraction for him to try and grab the current gem. He just needed the right moment.

"What do you want?" Alex asked.

"I want to return things to how they were, you hear?" Mister Deadman pointed at him with one finger. "I want you to give yourself over to the next batch of spiders and give up your memories. You can go back to that pathetic life you were living, and you and your friends could be safe."

A glint in his eye told Alex all he needed to know. If he cooperated, he would be just as dead as if he didn't. He wasn't going back into the haze of lost memories. Being dead was better than being locked in chains.

"Safe?" Alex laughed. "What will you do when the Military Police or the Scions come knocking? What if they send an Apostle to clean up this mess?"

"They won't," Mister Deadman said. "Not if we keep it cool. Wheels are turning bigger than you, outlaw. Deals are being made, and supplies are being moved. The Scions need the Underground. One island isn't much to give up for negotiations, you hear?"

That Alex didn't expect. Granted, he didn't know everything about the internal workings of the Empyrean, just the basics like pretty much everyone else. However, he couldn't imagine the Scions just giving up on an island, much less the Military Police. They were too much about controlling and maintaining their territories. That was why the Military Police were so quick to violence.

"That sounds horrible." Alex sighed, reaching out to the various coins across the rooftop in his senses and pulling them up into the air around them. "Scrap Field"

Fwip.

"Step."

He jumped the distance between them without waiting to see Mister Deadman's reaction. If he gave a moment's hesitation, he already knew it was all over. Giving in wasn't an option.

He reappeared next to Mister Deadman, who was dodging the various coins swirling around him. Alex reached out with his metal hands, grasping the gem. His fingers closed around the gem as Mister Deadman caught sight of them. It would be close. Alex couldn't be sure that he grabbed the gem in time.

Crack. Clatter.

His vision blurred as a memory wrapped around his vision.

Swish.

"Huff." A knight swung his blade in the air as Alex and Sayed watched him.

Sayed had his face again, which told Alex whose gem it was. He only hoped that it hadn't been at the wrong time. His mind was occupied with what was happening outside the dream, but he couldn't help but notice the faceless knight had returned.

"Again!" Sayed barked.

Swish.

"Huff!"

"Again!"

"I—huff—I don't think this is working." The knight stammered. "I have duties that I am shirking!"

"Those are the lies of laziness." Sayed smiled. "Focus your will into the blade. Your blessing can be used for more than just a shield!"

"What—huff—about you, Alex." The knight turned his shadowed face to Alex. "Do you think—huff—it is bollocks?"

"No, he has a point," Alex said. "If you can create a shield, there's no reason you can't make two. Slap them together along your sword, and that'd be sharper than any metal edge."

"He may not even need a sword, brother." Sayed raised one finger. "Unlike my blessing, his could create a blade."

"I worry—huff—it is a lie." The knight kept swinging. "But I will try."

Crack.

Alex's eyes fluttered open as the scythe came down, cutting into his shoulder. Searing hot pain flared, followed by a cold sensation around the metal sticking through his flesh and bone. Mister Deadman stood over him while he knelt down. Alex didn't think, reacting with his curse.

"Rail Fist."

Bzzt. Thump.

A blue light flashed beside him, and a massive ball of metal appeared beside him before it shot out and caught Mister Deadman in the chest. Mister Deadman's eyes went wide as he was flung away from Alex and off the building. Alex fell to his hands and knees afterward, his vision wavering. He noted absently that his metal arms had disappeared. Only flesh remained, covered with cuts.

How long had he been out? He didn't know. The memory was a faint blip, and it hadn't been enough for Mister Deadman to take him down. However, that didn't change that the Finger had three more gems to crack.

He only hoped everyone else was still alive.

"Rrr." He reached up and pulled out the bone scythe still stuck in the arm, letting it fall to the ground as he regained his feet. "Need to stop him."

He stumbled toward the rooftop, just in time for Mister Deadman to return, jumping to the roof ledge with a white gem in his hand. Alex tasted copper as he bit down on the side of his cheek. He didn't have time.

"No!" he charged toward Mister Deadman.

Crack.

A wicked smile crossed the Finger's face as he crunched down on the second gem. He wasn't fast enough. Alex's vision blurred again as he was wrapped up in another dream.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.