Immune (NaNoWriMo2014)(Wattys 2014)

10) First Second and Third World Problems (Part 7)

Alex Hirsch gave me the idea. Everything I say is cannon. So, Nathan's middle name is Hanmir. It can now never be undone, for I have spoken, and my word, in this book, is law.

Bah, blasphemy.

Nathan felt the presence invade his mind, but this was... nothing special. He smothered it into oblivion, and rolled his hand along.

"Are you finished? Or is there something else you would like to try?" Nathan took comfort in the look of terror on Clint's face. He shuddered horribly, then snapped his head rigidly. His eyes met Nathan's, and he could feel a much larger presence in his mind than the petty orders he gave.

Receding into his own mind, he found that Clint was trying to do a manual takeover. He was going into Nathan's brain, trying to shut it down remotely, and he was not having any of it.

He imagined his mind, a huge black cavern. in the center lay his brain, illuminated with a golden shine from its core. After establishing where his mind was, he needed to create a barrier.

He wasn't worried that Clint would succeed. In the unlikely case that the guy managed to survive, his mind would be shattered beyond repair. He could always try using the healing staff - which he had somehow managed to keep a tight grip on this whole time - but that was a chance he wasn't willing to take.

He couldn't leave Suzy a bumbling love zombie, nor her parents a pair of yes - mans. He could, but he'd rather not. It would be rude, especially after what she had tried to do for him.

Pretty girls were the worst.

He wrapped his mind in a shell of brambles, armed to the teeth with poisoned thorns and, just because he could, coated in raging flames. Most usually protected their minds with solid walls and small armies. He favored the more... amorphous approach.

Clint's psyche came close to his. Nathan didn't make a move, and instead waited and watched. Clint's mind called up a weapon, a spear or lance, and charged. In one swift move, Nathan lashed out with a single poisonous, flaming tendril. The weapon was swiped out of Clint's possession, disintegrating without anybody to 'hold' it, and his mind was stabbed with a thorn.

The effect was immediate. Clint regressed out of Nathan's mind, physically pained by the mental assault. Nathan though he may have overdone it when the boy started to turn green.

He swung the staff over to Clint and cracked him on the head. The boy fell over, unconscious, but the color in his skin returned back to normal. He breathed evenly on the floor, lightly drooling on the carpeting.

"You idiot. In over your head." Nathan turned around and hoped that whatever happened to the rest of the family would be undone. That was not the case.

"CLINT! NO! BABY, NO, COME BACK TO ME - E - E - E!" Suzy shoved past Nathan and dove into Clint's body, sobbing hysterically. Her parents were still on the couch, now having a small conversation about their day.

"How was work today, sweetie?"

"Oh, the usual. These folk have no sense of manners, let me tell you."

Nathan rubbed his temples with his left hand, his right still occupied with the staff. Looking between Suzy and her parents, he shrugged.

Worth a shot.

He lightly tapped the end of the staff on Suzy's back, but it had no effect. He sighed, not looking forward to waiting for the bastard to wake up. He considered condensing the water molecules above his head and dropping icy cold water on his body, or even some of Riley's coffee.

Suzy stopped her hysterics, pushing herself away from Clint's body. Nathan leaned over curiously as she got up, and cracked a grin as she kicked him in the stomach. Suzy backed up, nearly tripping over the table, but just barely managing to hit the couch. She nodded silently at Nathan, hugging her knees to her chest. Nathan didn't blame her, with how disgusting his slimy, conniving mouth must taste like.