Cognitive Deviance

79. Point of No Return

Margo finally opened her eyes. She saw the Multi Man standing above her, his clothes and mask coated with dried blood. His lackeys stood around him, masked and unclean and barely keeping their rage in check. She couldn't move her neck or her back. She felt encased in cement.

"I can see it in your eyes," said the Man. "Your antipsychotic meds wore off a long time ago. There's probably a hundred people in your head now, isn't there?"

Nope, just me, said Ellie's voice.

And me, said another.

And me.

And me.

And me. 

And me. And me. And me. We're here. And me. Don't forget. And me.

Margo squinted her eyes shut before the prickling of the dagger's tip into her neck prompted her to open them once more.

"Well," the  Multi Man said, "I guess I was wrong. You're not losing yourself on purpose. You're being chased away by the fragments of your own mind. Brian Royce told me it had you down. I thought he was just a hypocrite and a coward, but it turns out he was right. Too bad he's not around anymore."

Margo looked up at the Man, her eyes asking for her, What did you do to him?

"It's like anyone else. I only did so much. The rest he did on his own, including his death. I didn't even know he brought that handgun with him."

"He shot himself?" she said.

"That's right. I made him lose his balance, but he chose where to fall. As did the rest of Psychwatch."

Margo looked away from the Multi Man and gazed into the lights above her, staring until her eyes watered. She curled her fingers into a fist.

"Indeed, it's been a long time since that day," said the Multi Man. "Enough time for your wounds to heal. They put up a hell of a fight. Lots of bright lights and explosions and ash and smoke. But once they realized they were losing, they started killing each other. What few walls remained of Psychwatch were bathed in the blood of the very people who kept the system in power."

"You're lying," Margo said.

"That really doesn't matter anymore, Margo. But if it brings you any relief, Holden Sanger didn't have to see what his colleagues had become."

Nausea boiled in her stomach. Her pulse fired on all cylinders. She heard laughter amongst the masked crooks around her. She tried turning her head to see any of them, see which ones she'd kill first once she'd reunited with her Fatemaker, but her body betrayed her, left her motionless, nothing more than an object to mock.

"What did you do to him?" she said.

"Say that again, Margo," the Multi Man replied.

"What the fuck did you do to him?"

More laughter amongst the masked men. All but their leader.

"Well," he said, "it wasn't exactly by my hands. And he went out far cleaner than the rest of them did. I saw his body on the floor with a broken neck. Maybe that uncle of his did it. Carl Maslow? Who knows what kind of people he gives control to—"

"FUCK YOU!" Margo shrieked. "FUCK YOU, YOU MONSTER...YOU...YOU..."

"You what, Margo?" said the Multi Man. "What else am I? Spit it out."

The young officer couldn't say much else. She screamed and cried and tried thrashing about, only to remain glued to the table she rested on, nothing more than a specimen to be sliced open and studied. Her face and eyes burnt so red, she'd expected herself to melt through the table and sink into the floor.