#Bim and Illinois have a fight in broad daylight

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Like a House of Cards Ch. 6: A Family of Eggshells

Summary: There’s precious little time remaining, and the city is set to change forever.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

It had all happened so fast for them. One moment they were all enjoying their time on the ship, and then the Host had come in to whisk them away because one of the Suits was coming to attack them. Of course, he hadn’t said that to Dark, but as they were waiting in the hallway the person that came around the corner wasn’t a hitman in a dark suit. It was Chase Brody, without a mask,

“Look Average, get out of the way, one of the Suits is coming down here,” King called out.

“The Host’s brothers and sister are mistaken, that is Clubs,” the Host corrected.

“Nah, can’t be right, he doesn’t actually use real guns, an’ Clubs’s killed like, a lot ‘a people,”[1] Yancy argued.

Illinois moved to start placing magical barriers, because if the Host said that was a Suit, Illinois was going to believe him.

“Illinois,” Brody called out, “did the Host tell yeh[2] why I’m here? I bet he didn’t.”

“Illinois should not listen to Brody,” the Host ordered.

“Why, ‘cause[3] we’re on the same side?” Brody sounded pissed. “Cause yeh’ve been lyin’ to him fer weeks? ‘Cause yeh ne’er cared about Dark.”[4]

“Brody has spoken a bold-faced lie!” the Host shouted. “Brody wants to kill the Madman and the Host is trying to prevent it.”

“He can’t die,” Brody dismissed. “All I’m gonna do is shoot him once an’ let him just fook off. I don’t know why yeh put us through this shite when yeh could’a just left us alone.”[5]

Just then the dome was shaken by the first hit from Logan’s robot. The walls flicked in and out of existence for a second and in that brief moment, Brody slipped through the wall.

He raced through the dining area and pulled a gun on Wilford and pulled the trigger, the magical round strike exactly where the very angry sniper had meant to hit: the left temple. Wil’s magic counteracting most of the blow, a light bruise and some blood from gazed skin would be all he would suffer from this wound.

But the dome cracked one final time and Brody raced for Dark who was braced with magic to attack. The dome snapped back to a smaller size and trapped Dark and the Suit inside.

Illinois took a second to realize what had happened, and raced over. He spared a glance to Wil who was grumbling as he picked himself up and motioned for Illinois to go on. So Illinois raced to the barrier and threw as much magic and physical force at the dome but it held much stronger than when the dome was larger.

“No!” Illinois screamed, trying to force a way in. “Come on, open.”

“Here, let me,” Wil tried to pick himself up and try to break down the dome but it refused to give. “Fiesty little bugger, ain’tcha[6]?”

“There is little point when the Anomaly isn’t done yet,” the Host walked up. “Clubs isn’t going to kill or hurt the Entity. They’re in fact in the single most protected spot in the city, at the moment.”

“Yeah, but we need to get him out,” Illinois told the Host.

The Host frowned, “Of course the Host and his family do but they need enough aura and the Host will have to get Marvin and Nate to help with that. If he could find a couple of the Sides that would help.”

“That was Clubs, what does he actually want?” Illinois demanded. “Bullshit time is over.”

“Clubs . . . he . . . Brody,” the Host began, trying to find a way to calm Illinois without making the situation worse.

“Host, this isn’t the time to be cryptic,” Illinois demanded. “What does he want?”

“Clubs wants Dark to be safe and to have vengeance for the Entity’s sake in equal measure,” Host forced himself to say.

“Well then this seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding then,” Wil huffed out. “Maybe we could talk to him then.”

“Brody is not interested in talking anymore,” the Host said.

Wil shrugged, and pulled out a gun out of thin air, “Oh well, we tried.”

“What does he want with the Ol’[7] Man then?” Yancy asked, and he looked around and saw the beanstalk shooting up into the sky. “The fook[8] is that?”

“Not our concern right now,” Illinois dismissed. “What does he want with Dark?”

“The Host already told Illinois,” the Host tried to evade.

“You’re being vague,” Illinois grumbled. “What does Clubs want and why does he look like Bro Average?”

“Because it is him,” the Host answered quietly.

Illinois glared at the Host in suspicion before looking at the dome, “Why is he so interested in him then?”

“Because in fifteen minutes Illinois and his siblings will lose one father and the other will grow distant in grief, and the Host has been desperately trying to prevent it. After the Madman dies, Brody and the Entity will—”

Illinois stormed off, wanting to get away from the situation, mostly because his mind couldn’t wrap itself around what the Host had told him.

Eric followed him over, Bim close on his heels. The rest of their family followed much slower, at least trying to pretend to give Illinois some privacy of thought.

When Eric and Bim finally caught up to him, Illinois was sitting on a pile of rubble. Eric came to sit down next to him, looking nervous. “Want to talk?”

“I just,” Illinois faltered, taking a deep breath. “I never thought about the possibility of there being another man in his life. They’ve always been together.”

“Maybe the old man got sick of Dad, he’s such a fucking hardass,” Bim thought out loud.

The adventurer turned to glare at his adopted brother, getting back on his feet, “Maybe it had less to do with the fact that Dark somehow betrayed Wil, and more to do with the fact that your dad is a cheating bastard who fucks everything that moves.”

“My dad?” Bim huffed in a rage.

“Now boys, there’s no need to—” Wil tried to cut in, but he was promptly ignored as he was walking up.

“Yes, your dad,” Illinois spat back, starting to get angrier. “Because maybe that fucker’s wrong, or maybe the rest of you actually don’t care because I spent fifteen damn, fucking years reversing whatever shit you managed to do in your first five.”

“Ex-fucking-cuse you?” Bim spat, his eyes going wild with anger, aura curling around him. “I didn’t do anything.”

“He never wanted any of us calling him dad, after five years of spending time with you. I kinda get it.” Illinois accused. “You had to have done something!”

“Guys, stop it,” Yan begged.

“Come on, we’s shouldn’t be fightin’,”[9] Yancy pushed his way in-between them.

“Get out of the way, Yanc,” Illinois shouted, pulling his lucky coin out of his pocket.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be placing the blame on me, I was never good enough!” Bim argued back. “He had to replace me with you!”

“I shouldn’t have had to replace you if you were a better fucking person!” Illinois shouted.

“Fuck,” King was just watching, trying to stay quiet before his brothers turned on him.

“Enough!” The Host shouted, his aura yanking Bim and Illinois apart.

“Boys, boys,” Wil moved in. “There’s no need for this, your father and I love all of you the same.”

“Not true, Illinois is the favorite,” Bim spat.

“I’m not the favorite, you are,” Illinois spat back.

“The Host said STOP!” The Host demanded, concentrating. “Now if Bim and Illinois are done airing their family’s dirty laundry where anyone can hear, there’s precious time and the hunters are closing in.”

“Fuck,” Illinois growled and most of the group headed back to the dome while King and Host went to go and find Marvin and Nate to help pop the barrier.

Dark woke up slowly, like being roused from a deep sleep. Groaning, Dark looked around to see he was in a bedroom, in a bed that wasn’t his and a home that wasn’t the Manor. Quickly Dark got out of bed and found he was still in his white suit. Which he found he appreciated a lot more the more he thought about it.

When he got to the door he opened it easily with his aura. There was no lock or barrier of any kind. And there was the sharp smell of bacon coming down from the hallway.

The only other doors he found were off to the side of the bedroom he’d been in that lead to a full walk in closest that contained all types of suits and clothes. In the hallway that was a bedroom with a bunk bed and a mass of clothes and toys strewn about inside. There was a hallway closet, an immaculately kept office that Dark found that he wouldn’t have designed the placement and decorations of any better if he had tried, and a hallway bathroom.

Following the scent of home cooked breakfast and bacon, Dark saw Brody standing in the kitchen. The hitman turned around and smiled at the Entity.

“Finally awake?” Brody smiled. “Good, I was a little worried.”

He separated out food and coffee onto two spots of the table, seated for four. As Dark watched from a cautious distance.

“I figured yeh didn’t trust me enough ta eat anythin’ I made, but I made some fer yeh anyways,”[10] Brody offered. “I got yer[11] coffee, just the way yeh[2] like it.”

“You’re right,” Dark scoffed, looking around. “I’m not going to take or eat anything you give me.”

Chase gave a wry, amused chuckle, sipping on his coffee. “I figured.”

Dark looked at the three shoes by the door, one pair of adult sized boots, and two pairs of black and white child-sized shoes. They were such small shoes, judging by the size the children who wore them couldn’t be any older than three or four. A nostalgic pang hit Dark as he remembered when Bim had been that small. It had been an incredibly difficult time in his life, but he didn’t regret a second of it.

“What do you want?” Dark demanded.

“I already have what I want,” Brody smiled as he sat back in his chair. “Yer in here safe, an’ in about fifteen minutes the barrier will dissipate on its own an’ yeh’ll be free ta go. In fact, I’m not e’en keepin’ yeh here. Host just turned on the Anomaly an’ we’re stuck here until it pops again. So I figured we should kick back an’ relax until it does.”[12]

Dark shielded himself in his aura and looked around the place. It seemed like a cozy home. There was a box full of toys in the living room, more evidence that the children who lived here were on the young and small side. “Who’s house is this?”

“Legally my name’s on all the papers,” Brody told him. “I live here with my family. It’s a nice place, not too big, not too small. The boys love it.”

“Yes, I saw the toys,” Dark tried stalling for time as he spread what aura he could spare from shielding himself to investigate the place. The front door wouldn’t budge, it was like it was a painting on a wall rather than functional . . . as were the windows and the back door. “And the shoes.”

“Oh yeah,” Brody hummed, he was staring at Dark.

Which was weird because there was no malice in the state and he’d taken great pains to make himself as comfortable in the kitchen chair as possible, so if he struck then Dark would have more than enough time to counter.

“Just tell me what you actually want,” Dark huffed out, unused to such singular attention. “Is it information?”

“I just want ta[13] spend time with yeh[2],” Brody frowned, “an’ I already told yeh, I don’t want any money or anythin’ like that.”[14]

Then his smile came back, “Besides, there’s nothin’ about yeh that I don’t already know. I know about Marc an’ about the fact that he an’ his whole family stole e’erythin’ from yeh. I know about what a shitebag yer ex was. I e’en know that there’s this lovely spot behind yer ear that yeh—”[15]

“Enough,” Dark spat, a dark grey-purple blush spreading across his face. “I do not appreciate being made fun of. Why keep me here if you didn’t want something? Everyone wants something.”

Brody waved his hand in dismissal, “That right there is our problem, but soon it won’t be a problem. The barrier will collapse an’ yeh’ll be free ta go about yer day. An’ I’ll be here, waitin’ fer yeh if yeh need anythin’ from me.”[16]

The house seemed to shake as an incessant pounding attacked the door. The protective dome around them shaking. With a couple shakes, the coffee mug intended for Dark rattled and fell off the table, shattering on the floor in a mess of lukewarm coffee and broken ceramic.

“Fook,”[8] Chase grumbled and ran to the door to throw his weight and aura at it to try and keep it closed. “Fook[8] off, Host.”

The house flickered twice and the tentative magic snapped. Brody saw four sources of magic pointed right at him: Nate, Marvin, the Host, and Illinois.

Their combined magic knocked Brody to the side.

“Darky!” Wilford rushed over as Dark saw in the distance the hunters start to converge on their location, finally getting through the destroyed parts of the city.

The Guildmaster and Dark took one look at each other in the chaos of the commotion around them. She took as much magic as she could collect, having saved up as much strength and aid from the myriad of magical items and trinkets she had collected over the weeks and months while the Suits — Spade in particular — had attacked her hunters and fired it at Clubs first but as he was removed Dark was still in the path of destruction. Which wasn’t a trade off she was lamenting.

And then Wilford cut right in front of Dark, trying to see if he was okay.

In an act of panic, born from the months he’d been on edge with the Suits, Dark threw a portal in front of him and Wilford unwittingly stepped through it. The portal took him several feet to the right and the Entity was hit by the full might of the single strongest attack he had ever felt in the hundreds of years of the demon’s existence.

The strike cut through the aura that he tried to gather up to shield himself, it hit Damien first whose soul was in the front. Celine screamed inside their shared mind . . . and the body flickered briefly to the much smaller and weaker being that had once inhabited it before the combined force of the Entity had pushed them out.

Toppling backwards, Dark blacked out and fell to the ground. The body’s form flicking dangerously between all of their appearances as Dark’s souls were starting to crack and break at the seams.

And Dark’s souls weren’t the only ones screaming.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations

1. Nah, can’t be right, he doesn’t actually use real guns, and Clubs has killed like, a lot of people,

2. you

3. because

4. Because you’ve been lying to him for weeks? Because you never cared about Dark.

5. All I’m going to do is shoot him once and let him just fuck off. I don’t know why you put us through this shit when you could have just left us alone.

6. aren’t you?

7. Old

8. fuck

9. Come on, we shouldn’t be fighting

10. I figured you didn’t trust me enough to eat anything I made, but I made some for you anyways

11. your

12. You’re in here safe, and in about fifteen minutes the barrier will dissipate on its own and you’ll be free to go. In fact, I’m not even keeping you here. Host just turned on the Anomaly and we’re stuck here until it pops again. So I figured we should kick back and relax until it does.

13. to

14. and I already told you, I don’t want any money or anything like that.

15. Besides, there’s nothing about you that I don’t already know. I know about Marc and about the fact that he and his whole family stole everything from you. I know about what a shitbag your ex was. I even know that there’s this lovely spot behind your ear that you—

16. That right there is our problem, but soon it won’t be a problem. The barrier will collapse and you will be free to go about your day. And I’ll be here, waiting for you if you need anything from me.