(TATB) Ch 35: Return, The Place To Build The Future!

(Viral) 

Dust still hung in the air. My chest ached like hell. And that bastard—Victor—was walking toward me like he just stepped off a catwalk instead of kicking my ass six ways from Sunday.

Piece by piece, the mask on his face cracked. Little white chips fluttered to the ground with each step, like snow made of bone. And then—finally—it crumbled entirely.

He stood over me, face bare now. Calm brown eyes. A little sweat on his brow. But no smug grin, no gloating. Just... a tired-looking guy who'd had to do something he didn't want to.

"I really didn't want to use that power again," he said softly, crouching near me, hands on his knees. "Not if I could help it."

I stared up at him, breathing hard. My ribs felt like they'd been turned to gravel.

"You—" I coughed, wincing. "That mask... that strength—who the hell are you?"

He tilted his head like the question made him sad.

"I'm someone who gets it," he said. "The pain. The loss. The reason why you don't trust them."

His eyes flicked toward the others—toward Vu, Nemu, and the few others peeking from behind debris, wide-eyed and unsure.

"I know what the Brobs have taken. From all of us. But I also know what they can give, now... if we work with the right one."

I wanted to punch him in his face.

And maybe... also listen to him.

Which pissed me off more than anything.

Victor stood up fully and turned to the little crowd.

"So... what do you all say?" he asked, his voice carrying more weight than I liked. "We give peace a shot?"

There was a long silence. Like that moment after a storm when everything's waiting to see if the sky will break again.

Then one guy stepped forward. Then a woman. Then a few more.

Damn them.

"Alright then..." Victor said, turning back to me. His hand extended downward, open.

I looked at it like it might bite me.

But after a beat, I took it.

His grip was firm, steady. He pulled me up like we weren't enemies. Like I hadn't just tried to skewer him ten seconds ago.

I narrowed my eyes. "Fine. But don't think this means I trust your little Brob friend. I'm watching her. Always. And the second she steps outta line, I'm getting my people out of there."

Victor nodded, still holding my hand for a moment longer before letting go. "Understood."

I dusted myself off, groaning. My body felt like crap. My pride was bruised beyond repair.

But for the first time in a long while... I wondered if maybe, just maybe, the future didn't have to look like the past.

Still. I wasn't letting my guard down.

Not for anyone.

Especially not a giant.

***

(Vu) 

Victor walked over to us like he hadn't just gone full demon warrior ten seconds ago. Nemu was still holding me up, and Sawyer stood just behind her, quiet and a little wide-eyed—probably the most shaken I'd ever seen the guy.

Victor stopped in front of us, hands in his pockets, giving us that crooked half-smile of his. "You guys doing okay?"

I smirked through the pain radiating from my stomach. "Yeah, we're good. Thanks to you, apparently."

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Glad you're alright. Seriously. Town's already got too few people we can afford to lose right now. Losing any of you... would suck."

That caught me off guard a little. The guy joked so much I didn't expect him to get serious like that. But I could see it—behind the dumb comments and the mask tricks, he actually gave a damn.

I groaned and pushed myself up more in Nemu's arms, trying not to throw up or black out from the stabbing situation still happening in my gut. "I'll be okay... Just need to rest a bit. With my soul object I can probably teleport us back to Skylar's place, but... it'll drain me. Might knock me out cold."

Victor lifted his hand to his face like he was about to do the world's most dramatic facepalm. "No worries," he said casually. "I'll handle it."

I blinked. "Wait, wha—"

That's when it happened.

Right in front of us, a mask started forming over Victor's face again. Not the plain one from before. This one was different. Way different.

Sharp teeth. Blue glowing eyes that looked like something out of a nightmare. Three long, curved horns swept back like some kind of demon crown. And in the center of the forehead, a glowing spiral sigil pulsed with light.

He tilted his head at us and repeated it, voice echoing and slightly distorted through the mask:

"I'll handle it."

I stared up at him, feeling my ribs tighten.

Who the hell ARE you, Victor?

And then I felt it. Like a gust of wind spiraling around my body, but without air—like pressure, weightless and heavy all at once. My vision blurred, colors stretched, and suddenly one by one, we all started blinking out.

Sawyer disappeared first.

Then Nemu.

Then me.

I closed my eyes as the sensation wrapped around me, flipping my insides and stretching my mind like elastic. And just like that—

POP.

I opened my eyes again...

Soft couch cushions under me. Cool air. The familiar ceiling of Skylar's apartment.

I was back.

"What the hell," I muttered, hand still on my bleeding stomach. "What... the hell."

Victor stood near the balcony door, the mask already gone, just looking out at the city like nothing happened. Like he hadn't just opened a goddamn rift through space and dragged us through it.

I laid back slowly, head spinning. And again, the question looped through my mind.

Victor... what the hell are you?