What an absolute baby! No, really, I would be cackling like a hyena if it weren't so pathetically sad.
We went through so much trouble to track her down, the amount of bullets that entered my body are numerous, we almost got blown to smithereens, all because you wanted your revenge against the person responsible for your beloved Alesa's death. This is a grudge you've held for 7 years now, 7 years you've darted all around the world looking for everyone and anyone related to her death. So when this whole thing comes to a head, when you reach the edge of that cliff you've been walking towards your entire life, all of a sudden you fucking hesitate? And for what, so that another life can live out it's useless existence none the wiser? Ridiculous and very stupid.
But let us rewind and put the pieces in the right order.
So if you've read Malik's latest post, you'd know that we found Martha's living place, a nice looking house in a pretty quiet neighbourhood. Of course finding it wasn't easy, poor Franky had to hop around several cities to get us here, but I guess that's the benefit of having access to the Path, makes work like that far easier. After that we had to make sure that it was indeed her place, since before arriving here she would abruptly stop at various warehouses and cities, spending entire weeks in there before moving on, at the same time we had to put on a façade that we were fooled by her decoy and moved on, before going radio silent.
Once Franky tracked her to the house that she proceeded to stay in for an entire month, he Pathed me over so we would be able to make sure that this was indeed her actual living place. Reason he didn't bring Malik over with us is because Malik has been a mess for quite some time at that point, drinking himself stupid and passing out in random places, all because what our Faceless Friend showed him. Suffice it to say bringing him along in a state like that could easily blow our cover, kudos to Malik himself for realizing that himself, hence why I didn't face much opposition from him on going alone with Franky, to make sure that this was indeed the place.
Reason we needed to clarify is because Franky's a mute, so he kind of needed to show us what he found in order for us to make a clear judgment. So me and him stayed a good distance away from the house, simply observing the day-to-day happenings of the neighbourhood, the leading factors that confirmed Franky's suspicions of this being her actual living place were her comfort in going out for groceries, her attendance to various chores around the house and the most damning of them all, her pleasant exchanges with the neighbours.
We had her, finally. So when we Pathed back to our hiding spot I gave Malik the low-down on what I observed and he was convinced, he was just about ready to march right on there and start killing away, but I stopped him due to one simple issue, he was still shit-faced. After some arguing, I managed to convince him that him being shit-faced could jeopardize our cover, could lead to him making dumb mistakes allowing her to escape and etc. So we prolonged the wait a week longer just so he could sober up properly.
Only when he was ready did all three of us finally Path in back to the neighbourhood. Once there we waited for an opportunity, specifically we were waiting for her to get out of the house so we could sneak right in. Eventually, that's exactly what happened, a simple grocery run would end up being her last living moments. All three of us snuck right into her house without alerting any of the neighbourhood, Malik was intent on finding her room and holing up in there until her return, hence why he beelined for her bedroom, Franky following closely behind him. I on the other hand took the time to look around the house, to my surprise it wasn't overly posh, just a simple house, something a middle class worker would live in. My sightseeing was interrupted by Malik aggressively whispering to me from upstairs to get in her room before I alerted any of the neighbours through the windows.
And that's exactly what we did for the next 5 or so hours, sat around in her room, curtains closed, in complete darkness. It was a nice room, double bed, nondescript picture of a beach hanging over it, in the corner of the room was a computer desk the shelves of which were filled with books and various photographs of Martha and various different people alongside her, Malik didn't seem to pay much attention to the room though, he was on his phone the entire time, sometimes typing something, sometimes just staring at it blankly.
Whatever he was doing, his attention quickly snapped away from it once all of us could hear the lock on the front door of the house begin to click open. She was finally back home and the mix of excitement and hatred on Malik's face grew exponentially. All three of us quietly got into place, which was right behind the door of her room, patiently waiting for her to walk through the door. We could hear her every footstep from downstairs, the rustling of plastic bags, the light switches being turned on along with a kettle, the boiling of water in said kettle, you could feel the anticipation exuding from within Malik, so much so that he kept tapping away on the hilt of his sword with his fingers. I grabbed his arm, instantly stopping his tapping so that there would be absolutely no noise what-so-ever. Then the footsteps from downstairs began to get louder, a clear result of Martha beginning to come up the stairs, I could feel Malik's arm shake, to say that he was itching to burst out would be an understatement.
So it's no wonder that he launched at her like a freight train the second she walked through her bedroom door. They both tumbled to the floor, her purse landing not far from her. She was screaming, trying her hardest to struggle away from Malik, however he was in a far better position, slamming her head against the floor by her hair trying to force her to stay quiet but to no avail, she continued to thrash and struggle, that was until Malik managed to put the tip of his sword against her throat, that's when the room went dead silent for a moment.
It lasted for a good few moments, I guess she was feeling brave enough to break said silence: "How did y-"
"Shut the fuck up." Malik interrupted, I couldn't see his face because of his long black hair obscuring it, but that order came out with a lot of pent up aggression to it. There was no doubting it, this woman was going to die tonight.
Another prolonged moment of silence, at first I was trying to figure out what this whole silent act was all about, then I realized as I listened in, he was trying to catch his breath after the tussle him and Martha had, I guess he wanted to say a few things to her before lobbing her head off.
"How does it feel you bitch?" There it was, the power play, a classic among revenge seekers if a bit formulaic, humiliate your victim, make them realize how powerless they actually are. "You feeling fucking vulnerable? Scared? Pathetic?!" It's as if he was trying to stab her with his words rather than his sword, to Martha's credit, it didn't seem to have an effect, in fact, the woman didn't seem scared at all, she was staring right back at him with an intense look.
"Liste-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Oh he was absolutely fuming, the tip of the sword went in just about deep enough to cause a trickle of blood to appear, but nothing lethal. "You killed her! You KILLED HER FOR NO FUCKING REASON!" his grip was tightening around the hilt "Why..." A new inflection in his voice, much quieter, almost broken. "Why the FUCK did you kill HER!? She NEVER did ANYTHING!" So moving was his delivery that it caused Franky to come up to him and lay his hand on his shoulder, I remained behind the door, this wasn't my show.
"ANSWER ME!"
I have to give it to this Martha, the woman was not reacting the way that he wanted, her look didn't change at all, from her look alone I knew that she was about to ruin Malik's entire excitement and steal whatever power he thought he possessed in that moment with her answer.
"Because of you." Oh that voice, strong, confident, this woman was not afraid. "If you didn't start speaking up against command, I wouldn't be forced to make an example out of her." Hah! That phrasing, very careful, I can see why she was in a position of power. 'Forced', very clever, she was planting seeds of doubt in his mind, make him think the rabbit hole goes deeper, deny him the satisfaction of the kill.
"Wha-" His façade of power slipped for a moment and he tried to very clumsily put it back on "What the fuck are you talking about!?"
"Oh you forgot did you?" And a little bit of sass, whilst I admired her determination, she had to be careful if she didn't keep her tone steady, Malik might have just prematurely lobbed her head off, but then again I guess she figured it was a safe bet to take that tone, considering she was about to blow his mind "After the Timberwolf invasion, you put on quite a show, calling out those in power." Well that made sense "Did you really think there'd be no consequences for planting seeds of doubt in our organization?"
I saw his hands begin to tremble, she got him good with that one, I might have not been able to see his face, but I could tell, the gears were clicking, repressed memories were all of a sudden coming back in force. "Why not me then? WHY HER!?"
"Because you had potential, you could still be of use." Hence why they tried to frame the Timberwolves, made sense, make him desperate enough to come back into their fold, to rely on them in order to exact his revenge against the Timberwolves, give him direction, so to speak. "She wasn't."
I could practically feel the world start to suffocate Malik in that moment, the way his shoulders slumped gave it away, until the grip on his sword tightened again and I could hear that quiet, broken laughter coming from underneath his hair "Then I guess we'll both pay, won't we?" Then he put a palm of his hand on top of the hilt of the sword, ready to push it into her throat "You first."
But not so fast, see there's a reason I mentioned her purse falling near her earlier, throughout this entire conversation she was steadily reaching into it with Malik being none the wiser. As we would find out, she had a gun stashed away in there, but she wouldn't get the chance to use it, because as she was about to pull it out, a different voice broke apart the entire scene.
"Mom?" a young boy's voice echoed from the doorway. It was enough to force Malik to turn his entire body around along with Franky to see the culprit behind the voice. Gave Martha a perfect opportunity to pull out her gun and aim it at Malik and as for me? Well, see ladies and gentlemen, there was a reason I stayed near the door, I knew our dear Martha was a mommy. During my days of surveillance of the house with Franky, I've seen the young child happily hang out with his mom on a regular basis, it was obvious how much the child missed her, a sign of her not always being there for him most likely due to her shady operations as the head of the Proxy branch. But I didn't tell Malik about her having a son, neither did Franky although his reason was most likely due to the fact that he is a mute, mine was simple, why give him the distraction? Still, he could have learned of the child's existence if he payed even a little attention to her house, but like I said, that entire time he was in his own little world. So while Franky and Malik were turning around and Martha was pulling her gun, I was already holding the child in place with a sharp edged spike formed from my sleeve put up against his throat. This made everyone freeze in place, Franky and Malik probably due to the fact that they didn't expect the child to be here, Martha most likely due to her fear for her child, that hesitation on her end cost, because when Franky looked back at her, he immediately slapped the gun out of her hand and Malik immediately forced her down putting the tip of his sword by her throat again, whilst yelling back to me "WHO THE FUCK IS THAT!?"
"Let's find out, what's your name kiddo?" The poor thing was trembling in my grasp, was it my hands, were they cold? "Jeremy! Baby are you ok!?" And just like that we had a name "Jeremy huh? Well go ahead, answer your mom." Poor Jeremy was crying, I could feel his tears hit my hand, I wonder what got him so choked up, but he was a strong boy, just like his mom, managed to choke out an answer through those tears "M-mommy?" Absolutely adorable.
"GET HIM THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
"PLEASE DON'T HURT HIM!"
"SHUT UP!"
The cacophony of yelling was unending, the constant panic was spooking the shit out of poor little Jeremy, so I tried my best to calm the situation down "Just kill her already and let's get out of here." I could feel that Jeremy was about to start yelling himself, but my sharp edged sleeve getting closer to his little throat quickly quieted him down.
"Not until you get the kid out of here!" Now this was getting a little bit irritating, I understand him dragging out the kill before, humiliation right? Makes sense, falls perfectly in line with his goal, but now his hesitation was due to the child's presence, he was refusing to kill her, a person he hunted half of his life for, because now he had one tiny spectator, it was absurd and idiotic, it was time to give Malik a reality check. "How about no." I replied, staying right where I was, holding Jeremy firm in my grasp.
"Oh dear God, please don't hurt him, for-" Martha was begging in the background, her begging was being drowned out by Malik's own voice addressing me in an aggressive tone "I'm not fucking around here, get the kid out of here you sick fuck!" Ooooh he was threatening me, now I was curious. "Or else what, you'll let Alesa's murderer go in order to spare Jeremy the tragedy of a lifetime?"
"GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" He barked at me, Martha was still begging to let her poor boy go, although at this point I wasn't sure who she was begging considering neither of us was listening to her. A bigger issue for me was that Malik was getting cold feet all of a sudden, couldn't have that so I proposed a trade "How about this, either you kill her right now, or I kill poor, little Jeremy here." I guess Martha heard me because her wailing and crying became way louder than before.
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, WHAT IN THE FUCK IS WRONG WIT-" Now I was getting pissed off with his tone, so I snapped back "What's wrong with me? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" That promptly shut him up, along with Martha to my surprise. "You're telling me that the idea of leaving this kid as an orphan is enough for you to give up your vengeance fuelled crusade?!"
"NO IT'S N-"
I brought my sharp edged sleeve closer to Jeremy's throat, just enough to draw a bit of blood, enough to make him whimper, to make them hear his whimper "THEN WHAT THE FUCK IS IT!? Is it that you have a spectator now, is that it? In that case what does it matter, you already told him you will kill his mother. I DON'T THINK HE'S FUCKING DEAF!"
Between our yelling I could hear Martha trying to call out to Jeremy, telling him that it will all be ok, that once the bad men leave he will need to run out of the house to Mr. Simmons, I guess she was banking on Malik killing her before I kill Jeremy.
"You fucking RETARD! He doesn't need to see this! JUST GET HIM THE FUCK OUT! PLEASE!" He was actually tearing up, Jesus Fucking Christ, I could hear the crack in his voice, he was crumbling because of such a minute detail. "You PATHETIC piece of GARBAGE! ALL THIS TIME, ALL THIS TALK and that's IT!? An unknown, irrelevant nobody shows up and you FUCKING CRUMBLE!? No fucking wonder The Tall Fuck was able to break you so easily. You're a fucking WEAKLING!"
During my rant I could overhear Martha talking to Malik as well, telling him to kill her, she was actually encouraging him to do it, she had more fucking balls than him!
"SHUT UP!"
"COULDN'T PROTECT HER, CAN'T EVEN FUCKING AVENGE HER!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP"
"COME ON, FUCKING DO IT YOU PUSSY! FUCKING STAB ME YOU COWARD!"
"P-PLEASE SHUT UP!"
"MOMMY HE'S HURTING ME!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
And just like that, with one thrust, the room went silent.
Suspenseful am I right? Who stabbed who? So many questions! Well let me clear the suspense, sound of choking and blood gargling was not coming from Jeremy, it was coming from underneath Malik. He began to slowly stand up and move away from Martha, revealing the deep stab wound in her throat, she was laying there, small shakes going through her body, drowning in her own blood that was bubbling up out of the stab wound and her mouth. Malik began quietly walking towards the doorway where me and Jeremy were, his head down, face obscured by his hair, dragging his sword behind him. True to my word I let go of little Jeremy, who immediately ran to his dear mother, hugging her, pleading her to get up, trying his best to help her, a real trooper.
Once Malik was in the hallway, he leaned against the wall and slumped down to the floor, looking down the the floor. I walked towards him, but did not address him, there was no need, I'm not that selfish to request that he thank me for my encouragement. Franky was the last one to come out of the room, sitting down near Malik and laying a hand on his shoulder in comfort. I myself grabbed onto Franky, because I knew that he was about to Path us out of there back to our hideout.
After that we all departed to our rooms for the night, which leads me to waking up today and finding both Malik and Franky to be gone. And despite the fact that their stuff is still here, I have a feeling that they won't be coming back any time soon.
