Showdown

Sorry it took so long. We've been traveling pretty much non-stop for the last little while catching rides where and when we can so my time to write has been limited. Anyway no more stalling here's what happened.

I heard Ladua speak and this broke me from my enchantment and I peeked out from under the bench. The Muffin Man was holding a... hopefully unconscious and not dead, but I doubt it, servant in one hand while the rest were seemingly scattered around on the floors in various states between: awake, but injured; unconscious and dead. Ladua had lain Catherine down on another bench and was now facing The Muffin Man.

"Put down my servant," he ordered and Muffin dropped the guy.

"And who are you supposed to be? An agent? Here's a tip for you dying your hair and wearing a suit doesn't make you your master it makes you look like a punk accountant," Muffin spoke. Ladua smiled at this.

"I am called The Second. I am well aware of who you are and the service you have done me and my compatriots in the past. As a result I am willing to overlook your transgressions here if you leave now,"

"Not happening," Muffin responded and got into a fighting stance. Ladua's smile vanished and his eyes narrowed. Well actually he did say Ladua was just an alias and he called himself The Second now so I guess Ladua might have just been a symptom of Catherine's damaged memory. Anyway The Second's smile vanished and his eyes narrowed.

"I have already chosen to spare your life twice so far and that is the limit of my mercy. You were a fine servant, but I'm afraid I'll have to kill you now,"

"I don't remember ever having my life spared by some Dark Prince of bean counting so you can take your mercy and shove it!" Muffin Man responded and moved forward. Before his foot managed to hit the ground though, The Second had already moved. A black knife seemed to simply appear in his hand and he flung it at The Muffin Man. It hit him in the shoulder and he stumbled back. The Second was on him then grabbing the hilt of the knife and twisting it with one hand as he delivered a savage punch to Muffin's gut with the other. Muffin let out a scream of pain that was silenced by the rush of air from his lungs and he fell against his attacker. The Second stepped back then, dropping Muffin to his knees, and stared down at him with contempt.

"A servant who forgets his place must be punished and one as impertinent as you is unlikely to learn his lesson therefore he must be dismissed," The Second stated and swing a fist at Muffin's face. Muffin caught it and squeezed hard. A look of minor annoyance appeared on The Second's face which was amazing since from what I could see the bones in his hand should have been crushed.

"You say you know all about me... Yet you expected me to go down that easily?" Muffin responded and then twisted his hand pulling The Second off of his feet and quickly moving on top of him and proceeding to punch him repeatedly in the face and throat. I couldn't see The Second's face from where I was, but Muffin's outraged cry of "Show some emotion, you freak!" meant he probably still wasn't showing much reaction to the pain being inflicted on him.

What happened next didn't seem physically possible. Muffin had been straddling him, but the next second, The Second's legs were pressed against Muffin's chest and launched him across the room. The Second then just seemed to rise to his feet without moving his legs or arms, just rotating 90 degrees to a standing position. Muffin began to get back up, but The Second seemed to disappear from where he was standing and reappear in front of Muffin and kicked him into the air and against the wall of the building at which point a black tendril launched out of The Second's chest and impaled Muffin through the gut pinning him against the wall.

"Insolent, little human..." The Second spoke, his voice seeming to fade in and out and his face seemed to disappear as well becoming just a blank mask. I could see fear beginning to register on Muffin's face as he looked down at The Second.

"Oh this was a mistake..." I heard Muffin say shortly before a second tendril formed out of The Second's chest and launched towards Muffin's head. I was about to scream when someone else beat me to it.

"NO!" it was Catherine and the tendril stopped inches from Muffin's face. Both tendril's then disappeared and The Second's face returned to normal. He turned to look at Catherine as Muffin fell to the floor behind him.

"You've awoken?" The Second asked and Catherine nodded as she stood up and approached him. She reached him and then proceeded to punch him hard in the face. He fell on his ass and his face contorted into a look of confused outrage. He stood back up, looking angry, but his rage instantly abated, "You're crying?"

"You've murdered a bunch of people and were about to kill another in my name. How could you do this. I hate killing and you know that..." Catherine said in a hurt voice.

"Well I wasn't going to kill this one cause of you... It was because he's a disloyal-" The Second started.

"-Would you have had any intention of killing him if it wasn't for him being here right now trying to stop you?" Catherine cut him off.

"... no." The Second responded.

"Then it's in my name. Go away Second. I don't want your protection. I have others for that now," Catherine commanded.

"If The Rake gets you..." The Second reminded her.

"Then he gets me. I'd prefer dying, even at his hands then continuing to live knowing you had to kill people to make it happen," Catherine explained angrily. The Second lowered his head and then raised it and another black knife was in his hand and pointed at Catherine's throat.

"I said I'd rather kill you myself then let him get you," he stated in an even voice.

"Go ahead and do it," she replied evenly staring into his eyes. They stood for a few seconds like that then he dropped the knife.

"You know I can't..." he finally stated his voice broken. Catherine nodded.

"I do. Amanda and I will be leaving. Don't follow us," she ordered him and then came over to me.

"... Lisa. You called me Second," The Second said quietly.

"Yeah... I lost most of my memories when I... died. When I was... ripped away from you. I suppose many of them are still there. When you put me to sleep I think you unintentionally gave some of them back. It's why I knew you'd never really kill me," she explained.

He smiled weakly blew her a kiss and then disappeared. Once he was gone the two of us went over to Muffin. He was still conscious.

"That was Slendy in a human form wasn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah it was," Catherine answered.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Never been better," he said and grinned, "I survived a straight up fight with The Slender Man!"

"Well, he doesn't really have full access to his powers in that form-" Catherine began.

"-Don't care, I'm awesome," he cut her off.

"You're also losing a lot of blood and have a hole in your gut. Do you need to go to a hospital or something?" I asked.

"Nah... It'll heal on it's own. I'm extremely resilient. Just you know carry me away from the crime scene and call Portnoy and Dr. Malice for me and I'll be fine. You guys continue on your way I'll catch up if you need me," he explained.

We did so, dropping him off a few blocks from the bus station and called Portnoy... Er Patrick... Whatever and then continued off on our own.

As we walked on Catherine told me everything she remembered now about her past. She also told me she always hated the name Catherine Higgins and that I should call her Lisa Siles from now on. Oh yeah guess I probably should have been doing that in these posts...

Eh screw it I'm lazy.

Got to go!