After the four left, one of Dr. Rosenthal's contacts had rushed back to his clinic, telling him that a group of Urasaria students would be investigating him soon. He had often been paranoid about this possibility, and at its possible reality, he threatened to trigger Schizoid in her if she didn't try to delay them, and cancelled the rest of his day's appointments at his clinic.
After he watched her leave, he stepped in to his office and prepared to cancel his appointments for more important work. Sitting at his desk, he remembered his fear last December: an emotion that the past months had made dust.
His first weeding had been to someone who attempted to rob him, though he had not planned on killing this assailant when he brought him back to his clinic, Schizoid-implanted. As with the others, Dr. Rosenthal told him that it could be triggered remotely.
The anesthetic had shrouded his victim's mind, and before Rosenthal could stop him, post-surgery, he had said his name, and Schizoid shredded him in to seven sheets. A sense of panic came over him when he heard his secretary stepping back inside; she had accidentally left her purse under her desk before leaving, and they talked only a room away from the corpse.
He disposed of it that night, and reasoned to himself that he was only using society's destitute: could anyone really complain? Dr. Rosenthal became adept at lying to himself, even when he was that much more proficient in lying to others. Narratives that made their deaths unavoidable came from unknown pieces of his mind, forming the point of a man who would have been unknown by history before.
By now, he did not remember his first victim's name, and the cloud once over his head had passed and the crisis had lifted, because with time, everything dims.
+++
Five minutes later, two arrived at the front doors of his clinic, flanking the walls.
"Hopefully it can't be triggered remotely." winced Serena.
"I'll make sure to kill quickly." muttered Mia, hand on the door.
A flash of fire scarabs burnt the door down, and with no time to waste, the women swept in to the main lobby, hall at the other end; they rushed across the room and down the hall, and as they turned in to the first room right -
- Rosenthal was at the other end, facing away, a dozen feet separating them and he; and as he turned -
"- I - I surrender." he said and kneeled, hands behind his head. "My Revenant is Schizoid. When implanted, it kills anyone who is about to say my name. The source of the Revenants -"
"-you - what?"
" - was a young man from a nearby storage facility. I have no desire to fight you."
Carefully, Mia stepped toward him until her thoughts could immolate him. "Remove your Revenant from Serena and Yuruko."
"Of course. I'm terribly sorry. It was automatic."
The incorporeal scissors flew out of Serena's ears and disappeared.
"What were you doing with the stolen Revenants?" said Mia.
"I have nothing but respect for the law. The homeless - they attract - drug addiction, crime. They're wastes to society. Useless. But I thought, that if I could create a way to allow someone to host two Revenants - it would be unprecedented. With my expertise. I needed to test them. There's one on her way, with three Revenants, to your friends, now, but I cannot call her back -"
" - you fucking experimented on them?! The shredded bodies -"
" - were of drug addicts - homeless - I lured here, by various means. I understand it was traditionally unethical, but the lives it would save, if I were allowed to perfect it. It would be unprecedented." He met Mia's gaze. "If you would like, there's a thousand dollars in my desk drawer. You're women of character, I'm sure, but I understand Urasaria's salary is low. I'll confess to all of it in court - on the condition that it not be public."
Mia stared at him.
"But my talents." he said. "I would be well suited for researching Revenants -"
" - you can't pay back what you owe in prison."
"Brace yourself, dipshit." grunted Serena, and in the next instant -
- streams of black fog filled his ears with TNT, and a fire scarab lit the fuse -
- and his body exploded in a dozen chunks of gore, painting the room red.
"…man. We really are violent."
"Utterly fucking despicable." muttered Mia. "There's no reason to feel anything for scum like that, Serena."
"I was the one who chose TNT, right?"
Mia nodded, looking over the pieces. She was reminded of something Matoi had told her about violence as a driver of history: even social progress was made by the threat of it.
"Um, what are we gonna say happened?" said Serena.
"…well, we did deal with the culprit." muttered Mia. "Er, follow my lead. We need to let Yuruko and Tuyuan know about the other Revenant."
"Alright."
Mia ran out. Serena glanced to Rosenthal's desk drawer, then took the bribe before following after her.
+++
They had already received Yuruko's distress signal by the time they arrived at the sidewalk opposite their hotel, road up ahead, parking lot beyond, hotel finally there. With no time to waste, the two rushed across the road, in to the lot, and as they reached the hotel's front doors -
- they heard a window shatter above, and turned their eyes up -
- and saw Yuruko launched out of the fifth-story window, dropping with the speed of a chemist, titanic fall on to the asphalt behind&below -
- but the next scene was instant.
" - Worldwide!"
A platform of ice formed where she would land -
" - B-Blackburn!"
- and streams of black fog filled the block of ice with an enormous pillow, a single fire scarab vaporizing its frozen cover -
- and Yuruko fell on to the pillow back-first, bouncing as she landed, safe but panting.
"S-Shit." she winced, standing up with eyes still above, and ran up to the two at the front doors.
"We dealt with Rosenthal -" panted Mia, and Yuruko nodded, speaking quick.
"Woman up there, but Tuyuan should be -"
" - hey!" shouted a familiar voice from the hotel lobby, and as they turned -
- out of the ethereal doors ran Tuyuan, catching up to the three quick and gesturing wildly behind. Desperate for space, the four ran back across the lot, cars flanking them as they ran, speaking quick as they rushed out to the sidewalk adjacent.
"God, she's a real bitch to deal with -" panted Tuyuan, Ethereal's primary lever in hand as they stepped back, eyes on the front doors two hundred feet away.
"What's she got?" panted Serena, four in a line with Revenants readied.
"These fucking arrows or something, I swear to shit -"
- and ahead, their female foe burst out of the front doors and to the lot. She crouched to the lot below, hands a wild flurry on the asphalt. An arrow formed and pointed towards the four, and in the next instant -
- the cars were launched with the speed of sound towards them, and as Mia readied to form a wall of ice -
- with aghast senses, she felt her scarabs not respond to her mental command, moving as if against an invisible wall forward; the cars burst in to flames -
" - Ethereal!" shouted Tuyuan, levers he had placed on the cars as he ran prior flicking each to incorporeal -
- and the ghastly ends of each phased through the four, landing and disappearing in to the street behind.
"Can't move forward?" sighed Mia, catching the metaphorical trend quick.
"It's a real pain in the ass. Careful how you move." groaned Yuruko, holding her gloves back. She stepped back, keeping her hands in-place until they were in front, the rest moving the same at her sides.
But on the horizon, their foe still ran in pursuit, and as another dozen automobile projectiles screamed towards them -
- a dozen levers flicked ethereal the screaming missiles, leaving the four safe again as they stood in place.
"Got most of them." winced Tuyuan. "I don't know how the fuck we're going to get in range of the -"
" - Doctor Rosenthal is dead! You're safe!" shouted Mia -
" - already tried that!"
Silently, Mia&Serena regretted leaving the corpse at the office; but ahead, the woman still ran towards them from a hundred feet away, and as another car shot through the air towards them -
"I didn't Ethereal that one!" shouted Tuyuan; but the heroes were in-tune. The four swept single-file back, Mia at the front, and as the automobile hit her head-on -
- a pillar of white flame claimed her body and charred the car to ash, leaving the four safe as they backed away to the center of the road, woman on the horizon standing still now.
"I've got something." whispered Yuruko at Mia's back, relaying it quick. Mia stepped back ad Yuruko stood still, Serena third and Tuyuan fourth.
Inch by inch, the four stepped back, a trail of minuscule gunpowder forming at Yuruko's boots as they came backwards to the sidewalk. Another nod to swap position, building at their backs as they stepped to a horizontal file.
And not catching the trick, their foe ahead ran in pursuit across the lot, and hurtled to the sidewalk, searching for more cars as she ran out to the road. She ran out to the tip of the fuse, and as the four readied to step back, single scarab lighting the fuse -
- but felt with aghast backs an invisible wall, seeing the woman place an up-arrow at her feet, leaving the four with no escape against the impending explosion, spark traveling rapidly through the ground below -
" - Ethereal." groaned Tuyuan, and a flick of Ethereal's lever turned the gunpowder incorporeal -
- and four groans escaped them as they saw the down-arrow still in the parking lot, leaving both they and their foe immobile but for strafing, fifty feet separating she and they.
And her eyes filled with tears as she realized, stumbling and falling to the ground, patting desperately the concrete below -
" - no - you stupid!" shouted Tuyuan, and before any could react -
- they felt with aghast right arms an invisible wall form -
" - please - do not place another arrow!" shouted Mia, utterly aghast -
- and the woman fell limp to the ground, sobbing in one direction, the four only able to move left now.
"Please stay still." panted Mia. "We want to help you! Please, please stay still."
"Get your tablets out. Just in case." winced Yuruko, fourth-right. "Shit, someone has to get mine."
"I-I will." nodded Serena, third-right.
Yuruko pressed her tablet off her back and left, and as it fell to the ground, Serena took it with her left hand -
- and sighed as she found herself unable to type, all rightward movement blocked.
"This shit never ends." muttered Tuyuan, fourth-left, as Serena flipped the tablet upsidedown.
"The… third tab, Serena." said Mia, eyes on the screen. "Nuiko's name is at… the top. Speech to text."
With a nod, Serena flicked carefully through the settings. Mia relayed the Revenant in quick order, and Serena sent the message out.
"Least we won't die here." chimed Yuruko. "Any ideas?"
"… can only move left." sighed Tuyuan. "Barely got an inch here."
"We could keep going left, but…" Mia sighed. "We can't leave her here."
Yuruko dropped her voice. "I can try to form respirators. Hydrofluoric gas will kill her if it hits her."
"Can't move forward, though." mumbled Serena; but her eyes went odd. "… wait. Um. When you - got launched out of the window…"
"Was trying to put some distance between us. I was going to flick her down to the first floor, buy some time." muttered Tuyuan, not catching the trend.
"Yeah." said Yuruko. "She placed an arrow and launched me out, and I ran up to -"
- and the four realized it then.
"Let me try first." murmured Mia. "Worldwide."
A pillar of ice formed below her feet, launching her skyward -
- and she sighed aghast as it melted instantly, hearing but not seeing the skittering of a rival set of scarabs, placing her ground-level again.
"She copies Revenants, too?" winced Yuruko, and Mia sighed.
"P-Please help me…" sobbed their foe, still trapped fetal.
"We we will!" said Mia. "Just stay calm. Please don't move."
"This is like a shitty puzzle." sighed Yuruko.
"Real Tower of Hanoi." said Tuyuan.
"Try to lean back. I'm coming left."
The three nodded.
"Okay." said Yuruko, sashaying carefully past the three left. "Gotta just - fuck, alright."
As she reached the leftmost position, she nodded and strafed left, stairs of stone forming as she walked up. The other three followed behind, and as they came up a dozen feet from their initial position -
- and there, the woman stood on a stone platform of her own, the arrows still on the sides as she shuddered and sobbed; Tuyuan clenched back his urge to yell.
"She can't be doing this of her own volition." muttered Mia. "She must have realized by now that Rosenthal is dead."
"And she can't -" - groaned Serena - " - god. She can't even reach the arrows, can she?"
"… wait." muttered Yuruko. A step of stone formed underneath her right boot's heel -
- and underneath the woman.
"She's gotta have lost control of it." sighed Yuruko. "It's just - it's gotta be copying our shit, but…"
"I've got an idea." winced Serena, right of Mia, and the mentor caught it quick. "It might be doing the opposite, but the only way to get a way to heal one of our wounds, is if…"
"…do it." muttered Mia, teeth clenched as she braced herself.
Streams of black fog flew between her mouth, and in the next instant -
- three pairs of scissors filled her throat; she threw her hands to her neck, yanking them out in three geysers of blood -
- but a bizarre scene met their stare ahead.
"SOLO NOBRE!" shouted an otherworldly tone, and in the next instant -
- streams of black fog filled the women's throat with scissors, a dozen geysers of blood; a pillar of orange flame burnt her legs to ash, and as her corpse turned ethereal -
- her body disintegrated, only a beating heart left on the ground.
"What the fuck?!" shouted Yuruko, relevantly.
"Her - that voice?" panted Serena, fog refilling Mia's wounds -
"What the fuck was -"
" - S-Serena, d-did you have to use 3 pairs of scissors?" gagged Mia.
"U-Um, sorry."
"… alright." nodded Yuruko, starting to calm. "I - fuck. I - guess we got her, but - shit."
The invisible walls gone, the four drew up to the beating heart, Revenants still readied.
"…yeah. We gotta destroy it, too." winced Yuruko, crouching down. "This is gonna be really risky to do in an area with civilians, but…"
"They've all cleared, it seems." muttered Tuyuan.
She set to work on forming full-face respirators as they spoke.
"Alright, if this turns to gas, I need… Mia. I need you to keep it as cold as you can. Uh, don't let any of it hit anything. It reacts violently with water."
"Alright."
"Tuyuan, Serena, get back."
The two scattered, and Yuruko formed a container of Teflon around the heart. Glove outstretched, her left hand tapped it -
- and corroded a clear hole through the Revenant, Mia watching beside as the rest of the acid dissolved the heart.
"Good?"
"Yep." grinned Yuruko.
Mia nodded. "Let's go back and search his office."
The four set back towards Rosenthal's office, and as Serena moved beside Yuruko, they walked less closely than usual.
Noticing this, Yuruko thought back to their conversation the night before, and she wondered if her mother had been right about her: if her autism gave her a lack of empathy that would inevitably emerge in her relationships. Her hands clenched, and she hated that a man like her father had settled for her. There was a dream she once had, as a teenager, where he had married a woman from his work instead. She had not reflected at all during it, until she found her pillow that morning was slightly damp, and now wondered if she had still been sleepwalking through life.
[END OF ARC 7: 21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN]