Season 1, Episode 3 - The Ring Dings XVII - "Reed vs Roman"

“When I met you that day,” Roman concluded, “Well, earlier today, I knew. You stand up, Reed. You know you have the power to change your destiny. You don’t take things lying down. You’re perfect for me.”

Reed pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“I have a number of issues with you,” Reed said. “Chief among them being that standing up for yourself shouldn’t involve killing random fucking people. But I’m not preachy like Isaac. I’m not gonna spend the next five minutes lecturing you. You want to know the truth? I’m just pissed off right now. Out of all the possible nights, tonight’s the night we end up locked in a store with the Mystic Killer.”

Audrey blinked and opened her mouth wide.

“No way!” she exclaimed, almost cheerfully, because it really was a mind-blowing event.

But when Roman nodded, Audrey realized the severity of the reality before her.

“Reed...we’re locked in a convenience store with a serial killer!”

Reed smiled ruefully. “Life comes at you fast sometimes.”

She looked back at Roman. “So, what are we gonna do now? It seems like there’s a lot of commotion going on outside right now. Why not let us go, and in exchange, we’ll let you go. Even steven.”

Roman laughed. “Let me go? Let me go?”

Reed smirked with arrogant determination. “We’re not locked in here with you...you’re locked in here with us!”

Reed slammed her sword downward in a violent arc that sent off a high-pitched, wailing sound wave. Before Reed had even sent the soundwave, Roman reached onto a nearby shelf and crushed a bag of potato chips; the sound wave suddenly stopped in its tracks right in front of Roman, disappearing into a harmless nothing.

“I’m never letting you go, Reed,” Roman exclaimed hungrily. “After I kill your friend, I’m going to take my time with you. I’ll wear your skin as a cloak so you never leave my side. I’ll hang your innards as posters in my room downstairs. I’ll keep your hands in my pockets at all times. You’ll always be with me, Reed, for eternity.”

Audrey almost burst into tears.

Reed looked at him blankly, then raised an eyebrow.

Roman smashed a box of cereal with a single backhand; Audrey couldn’t see them, but she could feel and hear things whistle past her, taking strands of hair with them. Reed ducked; she heard the sound of a dozen impacts on the wall behind her, blowing open cigarette cartons and backwoods packs, but when she looked, she couldn’t see what made the impacts.

“Audrey, get behind something!” Reed ordered, herself protected by the counter.

Audrey nodded and slid behind the thin end of a shelf on one side of an aisle just as more invisible things whizzed past, smacking into the wooden counter, leaving small, precise holes where they impacted.

Audrey breathed in deeply. Ok, Audrey, you’re locked in a store with the Mystic Killer who unironically said he wants to wear your best friend’s skin as a cloak. Let’s keep calm and take stock of the situation.

Audrey looked around her. There were five aisles in the store; from her left to right, it went left wall, aisle, first row of shelvess, second aisle, and the second row of shelves where she hid behind the end cap. To her right was the center aisle, where Roman was presumably now advancing, fortunately at a serial killer’s slow pace. A similar pattern continued after that. The vertical aisles were split in the middle by an open space moving horizontally, creating a sort of grid.

Link up with Reed, Audrey decided. Two heads are better than one.

As if to deter her, another round of the invisible missiles slammed themselves in the counter once more.

Reed was undergoing the same mental processes as Audrey from behind the counter. Fortunately, she had one big advantage: her sword could act as a mirror. Reed raised her sword above her at just the right angle so she could see into the aisles.

She sighed in relief, seeing Audrey safe behind the thin end of the shelf row. Advancing slowly down the center with a big grin on his face was Roman, smashing random boxes with one fist while crushing candy bars with the other.

Psychotic behavior...or something more?

The invisible missiles smacked her sword half a dozen times. Reed smirked. The Domino Sword, being the MFin’ Domino Sword, deflected the missiles away, scattering themselves into points along the wall or ground.

For a closer investigation of whatever the hell Roman was doing, Reed watched as he grabbed a box of cookies and crushed them in his hand. Both her eyes and her sense of the Rddhi confirmed it.

There’s Rddhi energy in his hands when he crushes them...does anything happen to the items he destroys?

Reed watched as he dropped the remnants of the cookies and box, which fell to the floor. They appear to be the same...wait, something's off about them. Something small, something on the tip of my tongue that I can’t just put my finger on...

Reed repositioned her sword to check in on Audrey.

Audrey, you gotta move. Your shadow is visible to him-

Shadow?

Reed moved sword back to look at the advancing Roman.

Roman’s shadow is there...so are the shadows of the aisles...the shadows of the items when he grabs them...but when he crushes them, when they fall to the floor-

Reed understood now. She formulated a counteroffensive in her mind, part of which including grabbing a carton of cigarettes for a victory smoke.

“Audrey, give me a shield!” Reed yelled.

Audrey, still on her knees and slightly trembling, snapped to attention and palmed an aloe seed. As energy coursed through palms into the seed, the leaves of the aloe grew to their usually enormous, thick proportions. The aloe plant, at full size and with even disproportionately larger leaves, blocked the center aisle almost completely.

Reed made her move, sending a sound wave as she jumped over the counter for good measure. The sound wave smacked the fluorescent lights directly above Roman. Between the shower of glass and the aloe leaves, Reed hoped she had enough cover to make it to Audrey; as she slid past the leaf blockade, she could hear the dull sound of impacts on the other side. Just as Reed made it past, the leaf exploded as multiple invisible pellets finally made their way through.

Reed did a barrel roll past Audrey, shielding herself behind the thin end of the last shelf on the left. “His power involves shadows,” Reed explained. “Every item he crushes, they lose their shadows. That shadow energy must be what he’s sending at us.”

“So, we just gotta kill the lights?” Audrey asked.

Reed nodded. “But that means every light in here,” she explained.

“But...how are we gonna see?”

“You have to feel things out in the Rddhi. Feeling the Rddhi is almost as good as seeing.”

When Audrey continued trembling, Reed gripped her shoulders.

“You got this, Audrey. Just focus.”

“I’m doing my best!”

“Your best?” Reed questioned. “Only losers whine about ‘their best.’ You know what winners do? Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.”

"..."

Reed stood. “Now, let’s go get this bastard.”

Audrey nodded and stood as well.

“I’ll distract him!” Audrey offered, vines exploding out of her palms.

Reed nodded and began launching sound waves at the various lights in the store. The fluorescent lights on the ceilings weren’t that bad, but she would also have to deal with each individual light behind every section of the freezer.

Audrey collected herself. C’mon, Audrey...just feel your way in the Rddhi.

Controlling a vine with each hand, Audrey manipulated her vines as they grew, snaking their way down the unoccupied leftmost aisles, until-

There!

The vines suddenly smashed their way through the shelves, directly onto Roman.

The invisible missiles smashed directly into Audrey’s vines, pummeling whole sections into oblivion before they reach could Roman. But I can see them! I can see the missiles!

The field of Rddhi was a field of black, white lines illuminating the outlines of objects. Roman appeared as the white outline of a human, his Rddhi energy red, as a lot of Rddhi energy was. Those little individual pellets looked like red tracers that followed a bullet, each one smacking her green vines, grinding off the edges and shortening them. There was only so much of a vine she could grow, so Audrey prepared a third one.

Just as her first two vines reached their limits, a third one suddenly smashed downward out of the ceiling above Roman. Before the vine could hit Roman, more shadow bullets struck upwards, knocking away the vine into a shelf.

“Those shadow bullets can come anywhere out of his body, Reed!” Audrey explained. “He doesn’t have to fire them from a particular location, they can be emitted from anywhere!”

“Good to know,” Reed answered, firing off her last sound wave. An explosion from the final light source, a light bulb in the corner of the store where the freezers on the left wall and back wall met, plunged the store into complete darkness.

“No light, no powers,” Reed surmised. “Now, attack!”

While Audrey advanced up her aisle, Reed boldly slid back over, arriving right in the center aisle just as she fired off a sound wave from her sword-

Reed felt the impact of several bullets on her arms and legs, blood trickling from the new, thin cuts on her limbs.

What the-

A well-timed vine attack from Audrey knocked Roman’s next volley off-target, but one bullet managed to slice Reed’s cheek. Reed retreated behind the thin end of a shelf and wiped away the blood.

That makes no sense. We killed at the lights in the store, how can he still be using shadow bullets?

Reed looked around in confusion. Red light? Where’s that coming from-

Reed blinked. The red light was coming from Audrey’s hands.

Reed was never one to back down, so she left her hiding spot and advanced up the center aisle once more, zigzagging as best she could in the limited space, ignoring the cuts of incoming bullets.

There! Audrey had her hands raised and was sending multiple volleys of rose thorns directly at Roman, who stood only a few feet away. In turn, Roman was sending back volleys of shadow bullets of his own. The two looked like they were a pair of battleships, firing broadsides at each other until one stood. The one who stood was Roman; Audrey was blasted back, smashing through the glass of a freezer door, multiple wounds on her body.

“Audrey, using the Rddhi creates light from the energy!” Reed called out just as a volley of bullets struck her, sending her sliding back to the front of the aisle. Her arms were raised and crossed in front of her face, so they absorbed most of the blow. “Just hang on!”

Ignoring the cuts on her arms, Reed slid over to the corner of the store, right in front of the iron-barred door.

He can only steal the shadows of objects he crushes. If those objects aren’t illuminated by light, then I should be able to attack from over here.

Using a low-intensity attack just in case, Reed swung her sword upward, gritting her teeth as she kept the red Rddhi energy to a bare minimum. The sound wave bounced off the ceiling, toward Roman; Reed couldn’t see past the aisles, but she could sense it, sense it as it reached Roman-

Roman had his hands raised; based on the white outlines in the Rddhi field, they appeared to be food items. Simultaneously as the sound waves connected with them, Roman crushed them. Moments later, Reed ducked her head right as shadow bullets came through the shelving in front of her.

Was the light of my energy visible there? It shouldn’t have been. What’s going on?

Reed could sense Roman moving toward Audrey.

Reed moved up her aisle and arrived on the far end of the horizontal split. On the other end, Roman pulled Audrey out of the freezer by her collar with one hand. He turned and faced Reed, holding Audrey up in the air. Her eyes were closed and her face and body were battered and bruised.

“Reed, my love,” Roman began. “You’ve been doing well so far. I’m sure you figured out by now that I steal the shadows of things I crush. I convert their shadows into my little projectiles, so precise, so...final.”

Reed narrowed her eyes, breathing heavily as she tried to regain her strength in the first pause of the fight.

“And yes, good job figuring out that the Rddhi also creates light...it was a discovery too late for your friend, but it helped you out. That last sound wave almost took me by surprise since I didn’t see the light.”

“Then where are these shadows coming from?” Reed questioned.

Roman smiled wickedly. “Did you know that shadows aren’t limited to light?”

Reed didn’t say anything, just stared him down.

“Those precious sound waves, each one carrying your harmonious tune, they work similar to light. Shadows are caused by the blockage of waves. This doesn’t always mean light.”

Reed raised her sword. “I’ll just kill you conventionally then.”

Roman laughed. “This fire in you...it inspires me so much, Reed. When we first met that fateful day, which I suppose was actually only seven hours ago, it changed my life. You were the first one to understand me! You also understand how limiting society can be. All these rules, going all the way back to the first social contract. That first surrender of freedoms for order. And where has it brought us? Are any of us happy? Society is stifling, Reed, so stifling-”

“Ah, for fuck’s sake, shut the hell up.” Reed pointed her sword at him. “If killing makes you happy, then you’re the problem, not society.”

Reed took a step forward, pieces of glass from the broken fluorescent lighting crunching beneath her shoe.

Roman tightened his grip on Audrey’s throat. “She’s still breathing, Reed. What do you think? Do you think by crushing her, I could steal her shadows? I admit, I’ve never tried it on a human before.”

“I’m not fooling around anymore,” Reed explained. “I’m not messing around with the Rddhi. There’ll be no more waves for you.”

Roman laughed wildly. “Reed, this is a new low in our relationship. I can’t believe you missed this important part of the equation.”

The arm gripping Audrey’s collar lit up with Roman's red Rddhi currents. Audrey’s shadow extended across the floor, her limp body blocking the light of the Rddhi.

Roman smirked. “At last, with her out of the way, we can consummate our love-”

“Not on your life!”

Audrey’s limp body sprung into action, the self-defense skills taught at training finally coming into good use. Audrey raised her legs and maneuvered them quickly, trapping Roman’s arm into a standing sit-out armbar. While Roman stood vertically, Audrey was now horizontally to him, her legs wrapped tightly around his neck, his arm extended straight out, trapped by her arms. Her legs pushed backwards while her stomach and chest pushed forward, threatening to snap Roman’s arm.

Things moved quickly. Red Rddhi energy exploded out of Roman’s free arm, which grabbed an illuminated can of soup he crushed mercilessly. He could shoot the bullets from anywhere; these new bullets came right out of his trapped arm, puncturing Audrey in a line up her body. Audrey’s grip loosened and she slipped off his body, hitting the ground with a thud.

Roman then turned his attention back to Reed, who was closing the distance toward him in a weird spinning motion.

I have you, my love. Let’s dance once last time.

With the last of his stored bullets, Roman sent a volley at the approaching Reed. She seemed to have timed her spin perfectly, for right when the bullets came, her body spun so her sword arched toward Roman, launching off a sound wave that shielded her from the bullets.

That spin’s backhanded...what is she hiding in her other hand...is she going to close the distance with a punch? I don’t have the time to steal more shadows, but it’s alright, I can just take the punch, and she’ll be too close to escape-

Reed’s spare hand revealed itself. It carried none other than a shard of glass from the fallen flourescent lights, gripped so tightly blood was trickling down it.

I can’t...I can’t get my arms up in time!

Roman braced himself, but he was right. Before his arms could shield his face, Reed’s spare hand connected with his throat, burying the shard of glass deep within it. She then plunged her sword right through his chest, so deep it came out the other end.

Both of them stood there for a moment, breathing heavily. Then Roman coughed up a wave of blood with his dying breath-

Not quite dying, Reed realized. His hand, it’s illuminated with his Rddhi! He’s reaching for the shelf-

A vine wrapped itself around Roman’s hand, stopping it before it could reach anything. Reed locked eyes with Audrey on the ground, and that brief moment of connection said it all.

After a tense moment, Roman’s body relaxed as the life escaped it. Audrey let go of her vine, and Reed let go of the shard of glass and withdrew her sword.

Roman looked at Reed for a moment, almost pleadingly, before collapsing in a pool of blood.

Reed immediately moved over and knelt next to Audrey. “Are you alright?” she asked with concern, seeing bloodstains on Audrey’s uniform.

Audrey coughed weakly, but moved herself to sit upright. “They were weaker bullets,” she said in a sea of sighs. “Made out of desperation. They didn’t penetrate below the skin.”

Reed breathed a long sigh of relief, then noticed how shaky Audrey’s hands appeared. Reed reached into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette.

“For victory,” she explained, but Audrey waved her off away. Reed shrugged and lit it up for herself.

Reed rose and extended her hand. Audrey looked up, saw Reed’s offer with that dumb cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth, and realized that Reed’s hands were just as shaky. Sighing deeply, Audrey took her hand and stood up, her whole body aching.

When their two hands held each other for a moment after, the shaking gradually ceased. The two held each other for another moment longer then let go.

“Now,” Reed said, that arrogant, dry smile returning to her lips. “Let’s go get that seven fucking seventy-two.”