Surrounded

Creak!

The entry-latch to the hideout was opened and closed soon after. Steps were heard coming down the ladder, and soon down the stairs to the hideout lobby.

"Someone just entered our hideout?!" Gian-Luca rushed to the lobby, and to his surprise, Venus followed in pursuit. When they'd made it there, Veronica was already sitting on the couch awaiting the intruder. A quick glimpse in Venus' direction made her jaw drop.

"Venus?! You're out of your room?!"

"Yeah…" He scratched the back of his head.

"No time for that right now. Who the hell just entered our place?!" Gian-Luca stole their attention. They all looked towards the door from the stairwell that would open any second now.

Creeeaak!

The door open slowly.

"I'm back." It was Ian.

"Ian?! What're you doing back here?"

"Why are you so surprised, Luca? This was my home for quite some time—"

"But you said you were disbanding from the Sins. You don't belong here anymore!"

He put a hand to his chest. "Excuse me? I 'don't belong here anymore'? Who are you to say that? You aren't the leader of the Sins."

Gian-Luca frowned. "I'm not. But after what you nearly did to us, you aren't welcome here anymore."

"What did he do?" Venus asked.

"The words 'obey' nearly came out of his mouth when we weren't agreeing with his argument. He tried to take control of us…"

Ian scoffed. "Seriously, Luca? You're saying that as if you weren't the one who'd officially broken the Pact."

"I did it to prevent you from doing it yourself. You were about to take complete control of us so we could go along with your plans as leader of the Sins, right? You're selfish, entitled, and abusive of your ability! That's why you don't belong here anymore! Why are you here?!"

The eerie latent smile grew across his face. "To make peace."

"Peace?" Veronica shot up this time. "After everything you'd tried to do? It's going to take a lot more than just amends to get us to trust you again…"

"I'm not looking for amends, Veronica. Pipe down…" Ian sighed. "I'm looking to make a deal, which can lead to peace between both parties."

"There's only one party here, Ian. You may have that gifted ability, but there's three of us and only one of you. You try and pull anything again, we won't show mercy this time around."

"Heh…" Ian covered his mouth to laugh. "I've always found you funny, Luca, you know? You were such a submissive coward for such a big guy when we were still back at the facility. Then ever since we escaped, you increasingly acted more and more like you'd broken out of your shell. You continue to act like you're becoming a bigger person. Will you stop it? You don't have nearly enough willpower to fill in those large ass shoes of yours."

"Shut up, Ian—"

"Blah, blah, blah. Quiet now, Luca. You said you guys were the only party here, right? Only 'one of me', right? Well then how about this?" Ian inhaled deeply. "STOMP!!!"

The ceiling above them began to pound aggressively, shaking the entire room as it filled with dust that fell from up above. The pounding got only harder and harder until even the light in the room began to flicker.

"What's going on?!" Gian-Luca steadied his footing. "What's happening?!"

"FREEZE!" Ian yelled. The pounding from above came to a halt. "Do you understand now?"

Gian-Luca's eyes grew wide with realization. The expressions of both Venus and Veronica were both just as shocking.

"My 'party' is larger, Luca. I've rallied a hundred people under my control and brought them here to the hideout. You three are surrounded completely."

Gian-Luca was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe what was happening.

"So I'm going to make a deal with you three right now. Appoint me the leader of this group and allow me to lead you three with my own personal set of objectives, or feel the wrath of my 100-man army up above. You're choosing between life and death."

"Tsk!" Gian-Luca's eyes were lit with anger.

Ian smiled with confidence. "Don't act like you three could fend off a hundred people on your own. What're you gonna do, Luca? Wipe their memories so they forget how to fight? That won't do anything. They're mindless zombies under my control, so they'll do what I tell them to do no matter what. And Veronica, you think your ability will help at all? You're only useful if there's emotion involved. When people are under my control, they're docile and emotionless. You are utterly useless." He turned to Venus. "You're their only hope, Venus. You're the only one here with the capabilities to confront a mass of attackers. But look at you, all withered and weak. You're nothing but a hollow shell left behind by the true potential you used to possess. The Sin of Pride is a hopeless burden now."

Venus was inflicted with rage of his own. He wanted to prove Ian wrong, but when the thought of blood spilling from his hands came about once more, he gagged. He couldn't bring himself to take lives anymore.

"So what's it gonna be, guys? Life, or death? Join me, or be demolished by a faction I was able to subdue with one simple word? I'll give you some time. So choose."

Gian-Luca couldn't hold himself back anymore. Ian was now an enemy in his eyes. He figured the only way out of this was by wiping Ian's memory of his ideas up until now. Maybe then he could make him forget he'd ever went rogue in the first place.

Gian-Luca's hand shot up instantly, and he initiated a memory-absorption from Ian as fast as he could.

SHANK—!

"URG—!!!" Gian-Luca immediately retracted his hand from its position. Dead-center in the middle of his palm, a thick knife was stuck and impaled.

"I knew you'd try and pull something like that." Ian swung out two more knives from his pockets. "Without your hands in which the ability was imbued, you won't be able to use it, right?"

"D-Damn you!" Gian-Luca held his wrist in pain. Blood began to drip down his right palm. Aside, both Venus and Veronica watched with shock as the event unfolded before them. Veronica shuddered with anxiety and fear at the thought of being useless in a moment like this, and Venus felt tremendous amounts of guilt for not being able to protect a comrade due to his weak mentality in the moment.

Suddenly, another thick-bladed knife was sent soaring in Gian-Luca's direction.

SHANK—!

"ARGH—!!!" Gian-Luca looked down at his left hand.

Both of his hands were now impaled. They'd now lost all complete function.

"NO! NO!!!" Gian-Luca fell to his knees and roared at the sight. The only parts of his body that ever made him useful were now left immobile. He shouted aggressively at Ian. "WHY?!!!"

"Because you'd already done it once, Luca. I was not about to let you sweep my mind again." He sighed in disappointment. "I really wish it didn't have to come to this, you know? Your ability could have played a key-role in my future aspirations. But now look at you. You've been left with nothing."

"IT WAS YOU THAT LEFT ME WITH NOTHING!"

"You're right, but whose fault is that? Maybe if you'd just gone along with me in the first place, something like this wouldn't be happening. You can only blame yourself for what you've become just now."

"What I've become…?"

Ian gave him a look of pity. "Useless."

Forsaken anger was released in that moment. Emotion Gian-Luca had never let get to his head had finally broken its shackles, and he screamed as loud as he could. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS, IAN!!!"

Ian took on a look of shock in response, as so it seemed. But in reality, something much more sinister played inside his head in that split-second of shock.

"̸̦̣̠̗̱͉̯̆Ǝ̷̡̫̲̤̣̑͠Λ̵̤̘͈͖̉͐̓̿̍̂̎̇̕̚͠∀̷̨̢͇͉͓͖͚͉͐̔͊̒̒͒̆̂̈́̀̔͝ͅƎ̷͚̟̞͎͎͍̿̂̾̽̉́̉˥"

The colors in his world fell to greyscale shadows and his sight had been imbued with a bloodshot red.

"W-What?!" Ian noticed the world had frozen for him.

"̸̦̣̠̗̱͉̯̆Ǝ̷̡̫̲̤̣̑͠Λ̵̤̘͈͖̉͐̓̿̍̂̎̇̕̚͠∀̷̨̢͇͉͓͖͚͉͐̔͊̒̒͒̆̂̈́̀̔͝ͅƎ̷͚̟̞͎͎͍̿̂̾̽̉́̉˥ oʇ pᴉɐs I" The horrendous voice commanded him.

"Leave?! Why?!"

"˙sǝɯoɔ ǝɥ uǝɥʍ ǝʌᴉʌɹns oʇ ǝlqɐ ǝq ʇou llᴉʍ no⅄ ˙lǝƃu∀ uɐ ɟo uɹoqʍǝu ɹᴉǝɥʇ puɐ 'ǝɹɐ sǝuo uǝsoɥƆ ǝɥ┴ ˙uǝɹplᴉɥɔ ʎɯ 'ƃuᴉɯoɔ ǝɹ,ʎǝɥ┴"

"But I thought you wanted me to come here and recruit these three to my team?!"

"˙sɹᴉǝɥʇ uɐɥʇ ʇuɐʇɹodɯᴉ ǝɹoɯ sᴉ ǝɟᴉl ɹnoʎ ɟo ǝǝʇuɐɹɐnƃ ǝɥ┴ ˙ǝɔɐld uǝʞɐʇ sɐɥ ʎʇᴉɹoᴉɹd ʇnq 'ǝɹnʇnɟ ǝɥʇ uᴉ uoᴉʇᴉsod ɹnoʎ ɹoɟ lnɟǝsn uǝʌoɹd ǝʌɐɥ plnoʍ ʎǝɥ┴"

"B-But—!"

"˙ʎɥɔɹɐɹǝᴉɥ ǝɥʇ uᴉ ɹǝɥƃᴉɥ spuɐʇs ǝH ˙uʍo ʎɯ ɟo ǝuo ʍou sᴉ sǝʌᴉɹɹɐ oɥʍ ǝɥ ǝsnɐɔǝq 'punoɹɐ ǝɯᴉʇ sᴉɥʇ ɥʇɐǝp oʇ uoᴉsɐʌǝ noʎ ʇuɐɹƃ ʇou llᴉʍ I ˙plᴉɥɔ 'uɐɔ noʎ ǝlᴉɥʍ unɹ"

Ian's eyes grew wide with his expression of shock. The grey frozen world unraveled in that moment, and he was finally back to reality.

"—GONNA PAY FOR THIS, IAN!!!" Gian-Luca's scream continued its interval. Panic arose in Ian after the way he'd just been warned. If even the horrifying voice in his head told him to leave, it seemed like he needed to leave, immediately.

"Tsk!" He gave one last look at his old comrades before departing. In a scurry, Ian turned around and sprinted up the stairs, making his way up the ladder.

"HEY—!" Gian-Luca was enraged. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?!"

The entry-latch slammed shut in response. Just as quickly as Ian had entered, Ian was now gone.

"W-What…? What happened to his proposal…?" Veronica wondered, still shocked by what had just occurred.

"How could he claim all of that and then just leave…? Why?" Venus was bewildered. On the ground, Gian-Luca laid his head, crying at the outcome of the events.

"Was it just for me…? He really just came to disable my ability and left…? Was that all that this was about? WHY?!?" Gian-Luca looked at his impaled hands, seeing the blood trails left behind by goops that soaked the floor. The three Sins were left in a state of complete shock and confusion. They didn't know what to make out of what had just happened, nor did they know what to do after. They all simply sat and stood while trying to regather their thoughts. This moment of quiet confusion would soon cease, permanently.

It would arrive soon.