“I had guessed you’d be here. And I saw your eye, hiding in a corner. I sent my guards away so you’d come and try to kill me . . .” Rosemary spun around to face the couch, and Thomas saw three red wires cleave through it into thirds, exposing Thomas’s hiding place and sending a chill down his spine. “And I could kill you myself!” Rosemary had coiled a set of wires into a large red fist and pulled herself towards the sliced-up couch, sending her flying towards Thomas.

“Whoops. Wrong address,” Thomas shouted, trying to hide the panic in his voice as he used his powered-up legs to jump up back through the hole in the ceiling, narrowly missing Rosemary’s fist as she let out a primal scream. Thomas had decided to cut his losses, fleeing towards the edge of the building, before turning around and seeing that Rosemary had flung herself through the hatch as well, sending her flying into the air, before letting out a series of red wires that coiled into eight larger ones, crawling towards Thomas on her scarlet spider legs.

“I’m looking forward to unmasking you, Phantom Limb. Finding out who this thorn in my family’s side really is. Wirebaby!” she shouted, vaulting herself towards Thomas, who was nearly pinned at the edge of the building.

“Then, you’ll have to wait a while longer! PHANTRANA!” Thomas let out a volley of fists, including the earlier two he had created to slow his fall. They flew at Rosemary’s main body at breakneck speed through the black air, but only two managed to hit as the others were torn to shreds by the sharp red thread. Thomas felt his nerves rise.

“How are you feeling, Phantom? You seem nervous.” Rosemary shouted as several threads split off from her ten-foot-long red legs and flew towards Thomas, prompting him to scream in panic. He vaulted off the edge of the building, but his hand was snagged by one of the snaking wires—torn through—causing him to dangle over the edge of the building like a fish caught on a hook. He yelped in anger, trying to pry himself away as Rosemary grew closer. However, he couldn’t unhook it. It was in his veins. Thomas felt his hand slowly melt, turning to liquid as he let out a piercing wail of fear and pain. “That’s sulfuric acid, Phantom Limb. It’s going to melt you. Should make your phantom hands a bit less useful, shouldn’t it?” Thomas started breathing heavier and heavier, staring down at the ground below. More wires were snaking their way into his hand, melting it faster and faster. “Tonight was a really unfortunate night for you to arrive, Phantom. I had something big planned for tonight, and I was worried you were going to show up and ruin everything. But now I know that the audience will just be a bit larger.”

“What the fuck are you going to do?” Thomas hissed.

“Oh, you’ll see.”

Her vagueness was making Thomas even more afraid.

“There’s a group of officers taking the train here right now. They learned something unsavoury about this place’s construction, and I’m going to make everyone proud by making sure they never tell anyone.”

She’s going to blow up the fucking train, Thomas thought. “Oh, I’ll see indeed!” Thomas shouted, sending a phantom hand out of his melting appendage right into Rosemary’s face. Unfortunately, she was able to block it, but fortunately, it didn’t matter, as the hand was covered in phantom sulfuric acid, melting through her wires and colliding with her face. The damage to Thomas’s hand was enough to finally melt a part of it away and dislodge him, sending him falling to the street below.

He had managed to break his fall by kicking the wall and sending him to the nearest train platform, except now he had a different problem. He was surrounded by bouncers. Rosemary let out a shriek as her nose melted away, her eldritch silhouette visible above The Snapping Jaws in the neon light. Despite Thomas’s presence being made perfectly clear to the bouncers, however, none of them seemed to make a move against him. The train was coming, and Thomas was running out of time to act. How the fuck is she going to blow it up? Thomas thought, clutching his melting hand and letting out occasional grunts of pain as he felt the effects of the acid spread.

Thomas could see the train rounding the corner. Its headlights illuminated the bouncers, who all stood silently, waiting on the platform. It gave him enough light to see that they weren’t bouncers at all. They weren’t even people. He could see that they were skin sacks of some sort made of cobbled-together body parts. He could see the seams running in a grid along their body. And they were leaking gasoline. “NO!” Thomas shouted in a panic as the train got closer and the living sacks of gasoline sprinted towards the tracks and lit themselves on fire, creating a massive explosion on the side of the train, sending it toppling to the side, leaving burning wreckage of fire and twisted metal. He could hear dozens of people scream as they crawled out of the doors, which were now facing upwards. But some people weren’t getting out. Some people were stuck—stuck burning in a metal oven.

Thomas looked at Rosemary, cackling in the purple light as people ran from the trainwreck and towards The Snapping Jaws. Thomas could see people’s hands reach out when he turned back, and he didn’t hesitate to sprint towards the burning wreckage, summoning as many phantom left hands as he could muster to help him pull people out. The flames were licking at his suit, beginning to set it ablaze, causing Thomas to lean back before plunging his arms inside. As he pulled out survivors, he saw Rosemary Krokodil saunter past the crowd of screaming disaster survivors as Thomas pulled out a young girl with dark skin and black hair. She was unconscious. There was shrapnel from the train embedded in her body, including near her heart. The blast had hit her almost directly. Thomas looked over at Rosemary closing in on him, a wide grin crossing her red lips. Thomas looked back through his mask. “PHANTRANA!” he shouted, and a phantom heart appeared and flew into the chest of the young girl, replacing hers. Thomas went partially limp, his heartbeat having been slowed. Rosemary’s eyes widened as she stepped back and Blair awoke.

* * *

“That was you, wasn’t it?” Thomas said, his eyes opening after experiencing the previous memory.

“Maybe I’m just blinded by what you did eight years ago, but . . . I know there’s good in you. Again, maybe just a tiny bit of good. That might be the only selfless thing you ever did. But there’s still something in there nonetheless. And I feel like I owe you, Thomas.”

“You don’t.”

“I know, but I sorta do. You’re the reason I’m here. And I want to make the life I was given useful.”

Thomas saw the dark determination in her eyes again.

Blair took off a backpack that she was carrying under her faux fur and threw it on the table.

Thomas opened it up, pulling out his mask and uniform.