Redo 2

I was not a fighter. Every fight that I had gotten into was when Milgram was controlling my body. My reflexes were poor, and I froze when I heard Harsh, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.

That was a mistake.

A thin cord wrapped around my neck, encircling it fully. As I stood up and lunged towards the door, it started to constrict. I clawed at it desperately as my skin bled and my chest heaved. I suffocated, and looked around the room. The other man in the room was facing me calmly. He had other loops floating in the air between us.

My head boiled in pain and rage. Black spots filled my vision, and I tried even harder to get my fingers underneath the circle. I failed. I trembled with rage, and lack of oxygen as I thought, Milgram…take them down. With pleasure.

Milgram took control of my body after I collapsed. The loop continued to tighten around our neck, but he didn’t seem to be concerned. I felt the pervasive rush of happiness and pleasure again. The sharp senses assaulted us, along with a new one. We could feel the air around us, every particle. The cord tightened even more, but our neck was like iron now.

We looked up at the man with the cords and shot him a feral grin. With a twist of our shimmering hand, Milgram commanded the air to flow away from his lungs, just as he exhaled. The man’s eyes bugged out. The circle tried to constrict fully, but it was futile. Eventually, he stopped twitching, and we turned our attention to Harsh.

We ripped the loop off and threw it away. “You shouldn’t have done that!” Milgram crowed viciously. He gestured again, intending to suck the air out of Harsh’s lungs when-

Harsh cleared his throat and leaned back. “Now, a brief test,” he raised a single eyebrow. “You passed!”

I was in control of my body again. What the shit Alden! What just happened? I looked around the room. The loop man was standing passively, his cords gone. Milgram was locked away again, without the usual timeout or death. I stared at Harsh.

“You just killed me,” I stated, my mind working furiously.

Harsh was very surprised. “You remember? That’s…unusual. My power allows me to change the future, to put it simply. You don’t remember the first time?” He looked at me quizzically.

“What first time?” At this point, we were both confused. Do you know what he’s talking about? Not a gosh darn clue, buddy.

Harsh’s brow wrinkled. “The first time you came here, I told you to take a cookie. The second time, I told you to take a brownie. You remember the brownie, right?” I nodded frantically.

“So you remember the brownie, and the attack?” I nodded again.

“Yeah that’s right.” I paused. Wait, the attack. “Hey, change the past again.” I asked him.

Harsh’s mouth tightened. “I already did. I assume you didn’t notice anything?”

I shook my head, “Nope. But, I’ve got an idea.” My mind was racing at this point, the attack almost forgotten. “My power only kicks in when I’m dead, so maybe I only remember the futures I die in?” Or when the future changes when Milgram is in control.

Harsh contemplated this, and slowly agreed. “Very well. I must apologize. I test everyone’s powers, but there’re very few people who notice the changes. I assumed you would be no different than the rest. I will not make that mistake again.”

I accepted his apology with a tilt from my head. There was a slightly awkward pause. Veritas stepped out of nowhere, and leaned in to whisper to Harsh. I pretended not to notice, and twiddled my thumbs. She stepped away, and Harsh spoke.

“Something’s come up. You will leave now, Veritas will escort you out,” he said with an air of finality. Veritas opened the door, and I walked out. I followed her down the street and looked back at the house. It was gone.

I shook my head and picked up the pace. Illusionists, man.

“So, why’d you join up with Harsh?” I called out. Veritas glanced over at me with an odd look. “What? I’m just trying to make some conversation here.”

The sound of Veritas’ heels echoed of the trees for a moment, as we strolled in silence. “I rolled with him on the outside. He took over my old gang, and I worked my way up the ladder. They took me a month after Harsh.” She chuckled softly. “I left Boston, ran back to NYC. It took nearly all of the Tactiles, all of the Aegis League ‘heroes’,” she made finger quotations and looked slightly proud and smug, “To bring me down. They had to fly in that FUCKING CUNT,” Veritas yelled that last part, “Lady Aegis, to see through my pictures. Even then, it hurt her, gave her a nosebleed. That’s part of the reason Queen leaves me alone, I’m hell on telepaths.” She grinned at me. “So now, I’m number two in the Harshes.”

“Why’d you do the quotation thing with heroes?” I said.

“That’s what you got out of my Cinderella story? That’s all you have to say?” She seemed surprised.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Why don’t you think the Tactiles and the Aegis League are heroes?” I raised my voice. “Fuck, they threw me in here. They’re the reason I got powers in the first place, but I still think they’re heroes. They put away the-” I stopped talking when I realized what I was about to say. Awkward.