Nero and Alto awoke to nothing but the soft sound of the ceiling fan and remembered they had a very important appointment to get to, and they were thinking of going on a dinner date as well.
There was the matter of something more important to address first.
Shirtless and sweaty, Alto sat up, Nero rolled over, sticking to him, and mumbled something about ignoring whatever he saw.
"I don't know what I saw is the problem! Why were you barking and growling like a wild animal," Alto asked.
"Don't be speciesist," Nero balked.
" Don't dodge the question. I was in a dream with that man that looked like you and some other one!"
Nero sighed, rolled his eyes, and confessed.
The jig was up.
He promised to be more open and now he had to commit.
Various expressions varying from skepticism, deep concern, and disgust were shown over Alto's face as Nero detailed the numerous dreams he had, his meeting with Tamuz, and the declaration that his mother might still be alive.
"I worry that he's enabling your silly games of thinking you're a prince or duke or something," Alto groaned. "This has gone on long enough. "
"I am one! I can-"
"That sword is one thing, but you? You can't be related to the same people that destroyed my home planet. Why would you keep saying this?"
Nero rolled over, splayed his arms wide out, pushing Alto farther away, and he said nothing because the sad truth would be much worse than the lie.
"Answer me," Alto said.
"Sorry. I lied."
"That's it?"
Nero sat up and shrugged.
"If I'm lying, then that means you're cool with me killing people that didn't buy me from my family, that didn't hurt me. Is that what you're saying?"
"No, I-"
"So, I'm telling the truth, Alto. You married the son of the woman who killed your parents."
Alto still refused to believe, shaking his head in disbelief, but the more the silence continued, the more the two options replayed like a broken cassette tape, the less he believed himself.
Nero scooted closer over to him on the bed, held one of his hands, and smiled.
"Don't worry. We can kill them all, together . Family supports each other."
The monsters smiled at each other, giggling, detailing what they would do, flirting in the dark, apologizing, and after more gruesome descriptions of how they could stretch out tendons, they dressed up in their spy disguises as Nero lovingly called them.
They wore all black clothes, and Nero pretended to stab invisible enemies while waiting for his husband to finish in the bathroom. The sword grumbled and groaned, and Nero placed him on the dresser, tired of his complaints.
He noticed the rings he left from before, and he put them back on, no longer feeling naked.
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Duchess was tired.
She had a long day at work, staying late for two extra hours.
Well, not work work , but her cover job she did for her actual job as a madam. Three days a week she worked as a manager at a modeling agency, procuring more young people for Enemy.
Their product had a short shelf life, so Duchess always had to make sure that they were in constant rotation.
She leaned on the wall of the elevator as she rode to the 26th floor where her luxury apartment was. On the ride up she made a mental note to pick up her daughter from her slumber party in the morning, and to make sure to soak the beans for dinner tomorrow night.
When she arrived at her floor something smelled… off… As if a car was leaking fluid all over. She decided to ignore it and made her way towards her apartment, but the smell became even stronger.
She covered her nose and fished her keys out of her purse, making another note in the back of her mind to call the office about a gas leak.
When she unlocked her front door, she realized the smell was coming from her apartment.
Fumbling around in the dark, she locked the door and had difficulty finding the light switch.
"God this is nasty...I need to stay at a hotel tonight," Duchess grumbled.
When she finally turned on the lights she saw two men sitting at her dining room table, an Alterian and a skinny young man.
"Who are you, people! Get out!"
"Please don't yell," Nero groaned. "I have had such a long day, and you are going to have to sit there and help me finish this chore."
Nero gestured to a chair at the dining table. Alto smiled, proud of his hard work. Nero was a lot calmer than he thought he would be, surprised that he had come so far on his own.
"I will yell as much as I want! This is my house!"
"I don't think she heard you, Nero," said Alto. "Help her clear her head."
Nero stood up and walked towards Duchess, awkwardly searching through her cluttered purse for her gun, but she couldn't get to it in time.
Like the criminal he was, Nero snatched the purse out of her hand and threw it to the ground once he took the wallet out and put it in his back pocket.
"Sit down, Duchess," said Nero.
He pointed at the white, fancy chair at the dining room table, and she slowly made her way towards the chair, hands up, and sat down.
"I'm best friends with the former Chief of Police," said Duchess. "People will notice."
"We know," said Alto. "Why else would we be here?"
Alto assessed the snobbish woman as she sat in the chair.
She was a small woman, no bigger than five feet tall. She had pale skin, bright eyes, and short pink hair. Duchess didn't look like a Paradisian, nor an Alterian. Alto marveled at how such a tiny woman could cause so much pain, and he was impressed, her disguise so perfect to blend in with the meat.
Duchess noticed Alto's hungry gaze and tried to puff herself up and look as big as possible.
"What do you want? If it's money I have plenty!"
"It's so funny how you still think you're in charge," Alto said.
Nero walked behind her and grabbed her hair. He grabbed it until her head was forced to tilt back, staring up at him.
"Hey Duchess, I know you don't remember me, just like how Usher didn't remember me."
She flailed about at the mention of her co-worker's name, but it added more pain, neck tilted too far back, chunks of hair falling out, scalp bleeding, and quickly she gave up.
"What did you do to him," she screamed. "Did you kill him?! That's why he hasn't answered my calls!?"
Nero spit in her face and Duchess screamed out in shock and surprise, and Alto laughed louder the more she screamed.
"Let go of me! Please let go of me!"
She struggled and struggled, but Nero's grasp was firm on her hair.
"Who paid you, huh? Whatever they paid, I can pay you more. Twice, no, three times the amount!"
"Oh, Nero...She wants to know who is paying you. Tell her who it is," Alto laughed.
Nero pointed at Alto, cheeks turning red with pride.
"This is a very kind man, who has never met you a day in his life, but has decided to help me."
Duchess strained her head to look over at Alto, tears in her eyes, pulling against Nero's firm grasp, and he pushed into the chair, gripping the side of her neck, digging his nails in, making her cry.
"Why are you just watching? Why won't you help me?"
Alto took a stick of gum out of his pocket and began to chew. The woman sat in the chair, expectantly, waiting for an answer.
"Please help," she begged. "Please."
Alto watched her and scratched his nose.
"Nah. I'm fine over here. I just came for moral support."
Duchess began to sob. Her mascara left black streaks down her face, and she wailed, repeating that people would be looking for her and that she wasn't going to tell anyone if they left.
Alto began to pace the apartment, bored, but decided to stay, as a good partner should. It's all about being there, when things get rough, after all.
"Why are you doing this," asked Duchess. "Why?"
Nero ignored her question as he pulled her hair even tighter. She screamed out in pain, and Nero couldn't believe how weak she was.
"I don't know why I was so afraid of you," said Nero. "You're just a tiny pathetic woman who sells a bunch of kids too small to fight back."
"That's not true," said Duchess. She shook her head vigorously. "I have a daughter, I would never do something like that!"
Alto rolled his eyes.
"This bitch has repeated almost every line I have heard people tell me before they either talk or have their brains splattered all over the wall," said Alto.
"Shut your mouth! You don't unders—"
Nero pushed Duchess to the ground and stood over her, placing his boots over her stomach, pushing them deep in.
"What would he not understand," asked Nero.
Duchess looked away and tried not to meet his gaze.
"Help us understand," Alto said.
"I love my daughter," said Duchess. "I would never hurt a child. You don't have one, so-" Nero promptly kicked her in the mouth. She reeled, and she clutched her face, unable to speak.
She accidentally bit down on her tongue, and a piece of it was on the floor. Her muffled screams made Alto laugh louder, and she held her mouth, unable to keep the blood pouring out.
"I don't make assumptions about your life," said Nero.
He was filled with rage but his face was nothing but calm, assessing the situation and trying to decide how to punish her next.
He wanted to savor it.
"Don't lie to me, and don't try to tell me about mine," Nero said. "I don't need to be scolded by a dead bitch."
Alto's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"So ruthless. So bold," Alto whispered. "Put her in her place."
Nero squatted down low and met Duchess at eye level.
"I have a son. I would do anything for him, but you, you're a piece of shit," said Nero.
He took out her stolen wallet and waved it in her face, sticking out his tongue, mocking her.
"Thanks for the child support," Nero said monotonously, then stuck it back in his pocket.
Duchess shook her head no faster and faster, the mascara now mixed with the blood on her lips and kept drooling, a reflex to her wound, getting it all over her face as well, disgusting even herself.
"You tried to sell me to a bunch of perverts," he continued. "But before you paid Usher to tattoo my neck."
Duchess spat out blood and tried to speak, but most of what she said was intelligible nonsense.
"Speak up," Nero screamed. "I can't hear you!"
"We should do this more often. This is better than the movies," Alto said.
Duchess started to cry again, his red angry face shaking in front of hers. Flecks of his spit got on her face, and shook, gripping her face, her mouth burning from her half-torn tongue.
"Holy fuck, you're amazing, " said Alto. He laughed at her pain, happy that he could hurt someone since he had missed his chance to kill Araka.
Duchess didn't understand what was so funny.
Two strangers were in her house, torturing her, screaming things she didn't remember or care about. Alto walked over to Nero, and Nero got up from the ground. He took him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.
"I am never going to baby you ever again," he said.
Nero leaned in close and whispered, not now, please, someone is here.
Duchess squinted as if she was not seeing properly what was in front of her. Her assailants were flirting with each other, and then in horror, she noticed their matching rings.
Alto turned to stare down at Duchess, wanting to talk to her about asinine things. He noticed whenever he mentioned inconsequential things, it made his targets more afraid and confused but didn't know why.
He could never understand that it was because they were afraid of the man that could talk about his favorite types of food in the same way he talked about how to snap off limbs in a clean break.
" I ate the quiche in the fridge. I'd ask you for the recipe, but it was a little too dry when I ate it," Alto said. "Needs salt."
"Why are you so nonchalant," she yelled.
When the words came out of her mouth, blood simply dribbled down her chin as she made more incoherent noises.
"Cat got your tongue," Alto snickered.
The louder she screamed, the more blood dribbled out of her mouth on the pure white carpet, and the more she bled out, the louder Alto laughed.
"I think I might be strong now Alto," Nero whispered.
"What makes you say that dear?"
"I've never looked down at anyone before and thought they looked so… gross…so disgusting...What was I so afraid of before? She's so small and weak."
Nero took Alto's hand and stared at Duchess, bored.
"This is better than movie night but it's no fun when they don't fight back," Nero groaned. "Let's go out to eat after this."
Nero brought his leg back as far as he could and then swung it forward, right into her stomach, getting gasoline all over her short skirt, pink blouse, and heels.
Duchess rolled away, but there was no escape, when he stomped on her face, repeatedly with his boots, and she let out muffled groans and screams as he kept going.
"You don't remember me Duchess, but I do," Nero shouted. "I remember you! Every. Single. Fucking. Day."
Faster he went, still gripping his husband's hand, aiming for her mouth. He always hated her voice, how she tried to make it sound cute and nice.
"So disgusting," Nero screamed. "Filthy!"
She had given up trying to fight him and laid there as he continued to mangle her face, her nose now broken, and blood streaming down into her hair and pooling into her ears.
"You ruined me! It was one of the worst days of my life!"
A wet crack could be heard and Alto mumbled something about getting more quiche.
"For you, I guess it was just a regular Thursday."
Duchess shook and she began to cry again. Her jaw was broken, her face unrecognizable, eyes swollen shut, and her fingers danced on the carpet, trying to feel something, anything because she couldn't see.
"Let's go get that quiche you keep complaining about," Nero said. "I'm done, and I got person all over my shoes again."
Relieved, Duchess waited for them to leave, listening to the sound of her apartment door shut. She dragged her body, feeling around on the ground until she got to the table. She tried to pull herself up by a nearby chair to get her purse but didn't have the strength to do it.
A little clack could be heard, and the front door opened. She sobbed, knowing that they had returned. Horrible ideas of what they would do to her flooded her mind, and she prayed that this time they would make it quick.
"I am so sorry," said Nero. "I forgot something."
He snapped his fingers, and the apartment went up in flames.
Nero and Alto calmly walked down the hallway towards the elevator as the fire alarms went off. The sprinkler system covered them in water, but the fire raged on. It didn't matter how much water was poured onto the building, as Nero could simply start the fire again.
After showing kindness to Delphine, he made good on his promise to never give kindness for anything in return. His heart wavered when he heard she had a child, but then he remembered that didn't mean a thing to him.
It did nothing for him.
There was no reason for him to pity a child he had never met or knew, just as Duchess never did for him.
Nero and Alto left the building with the crowd taking the stairs.
They stood outside and watched as it took longer than usual for the fire department to arrive. They were busy dealing with the remains of the Triangle Corp. building in Kiruna.
They waited for the ambulances and police department to arrive, as people stood outside in their pajamas and underpants. Finally, the fire department arrived, but it was all in vain.
Nero sulked.
"That was too easy," he moaned. "That only took us like three hours, and that was only because she was two hours late!"
Alto kissed Nero on the cheek and consoled him.
"It's okay. Maybe we should go home and ask Carol to make us something to eat."
"I fired her."
A large gust of wind whipped up the fire, spreading it downwards on nearby buildings, and down the apartment building. The audience screamed as they watched nearby buildings and trees catch fire.
"I liked her cooking. Why?"
The firefighters asked for backup over their communication system, but none could be found. Since tonight was a giant night for tourism, many parts of the town were already on fire.
Fireworks were so much fun, yet so dangerous.
"She spat in my water jug next to the bedside table."
"She did what," exclaimed Alto.
The top half of the apartment exploded, and hot embers fell from the sky.
Many in the audience cried as their homes were destroyed. Numerous children who didn't understand the severity of the situation asked if they could have their toys replaced. Someone commented that they forgot to bring their cat along with them. A man took pictures with his phone.
"I heard 24th and East isn't on fire. We can eat at someplace there," Nero said.
"You know it isn't because you didn't set it on fire yet," Alto chuckled.
"Mmm. Yeah, " Nero giggled. "Let's go old man."
They left, off to find more food to complain about but to eat anyway.
It was a date night they would look back on often, quite fondly.