Grinning Devil

“Do you believe you can rest now?”

“After having fucked up everything?”

He opened his eyes wide open, the laser pistol already drawn and ready to shoot whatever came into his line of sight. Only the sound of his erratic breath filled his ears.

With a sight, he put the pistol back on its holster and fully leaned back on the chair.

"God…damnit…"

The sight of his trembling hand made him furrow his brow. It had been a close call.

Trying to outrun the blast was one thing, but getting Fjodor, Chiyome and Khutulun back to base with his battered body had pushed him beyond the limit.

Even now, if he lost focus for a second, he would lose consciousness. With unsteady hands, he opened one of the drawers. The purple vial inside of it rattled against the wooden confines. The Devil gently grabbed and laid it on the desk; the purple liquid violently moving about inside its glass cage.

“Should I…?”

“No, this is not the time to hesitate.”

After taking a deep breath, the Devil grabbed the vial, uncorked the top and poured the whole content in his mouth with one quick motion. The now empty glass vial fell to the floor, scattering in a million glass fragments all over the room.

The Grinning Devil clenched at his chest; his breath intakes becoming shorter and raspier with each passing second. His eyes had become red and were threatening to burst from their socket. He extended his arm forward, balled it into a fist and then struck himself on the solar plexus. The impact was strong enough to jump start his whole system, now his breathing, while labored, had normalized.

Then he felt his muscles flexing, all of them. His jaw put so much pressure on his teeth that some of them cracked under the stress they were under. Even if he wanted to, he could not move a single finger; his own body had trapped him in it.

The tearing of his muscle fibers was the only thing keeping him awake. Like Pheidippides after running more than 200 kilometers, his body started to give out. In that moment of weakness, an intrusive thought wormed his way inside his brain.

“Hunger…”“I need food…”

It spoke, nay it demanded. As if time had been rewinded, his sore muscles returned to their peak condition, but they did not listen to the Devil’s command. His body tried to move on its own but, using every ounce of his willpower, the Grinning Devil kept the beast at bay.

The whole process went on for what seemed like an eternity. This constant battle between the primal needs of his body against the rationality of his mind. As usual, mind over body remains the de facto best way to live life.

A big sigh escaped from the Devil after the whole ordeal.

“You think that’s it?”Here it was, the mimicry of a long gone friend. An incomplete imitation shaped by his own twisted guilt.

“Oh no, I am the real deal fucker…” - The Headless Shadow laughed - “You are the knock off here!”“...”

“Why do you not speak back to me? Tell me to shut up?” Its taunting earned him a glare from the Devil. The Headless Shadow frame became more real as time went on.

“You scared little man? You have not changed much from the day I found you.”No, the Grinning Devil was the same man he had found in his cell so many years ago.

“Is it the truth, oh great Grinning Devil?”

Yes, it was.

“No, it's not!” It shouted; its clawed hands clasped on his throat.

“You pathetic excuse of a human being! You bringer of misfortune! I should have never saved you that day!” The Headless Shadow put more strength into his grip.

The real… his friend would never say something like that.

“HAHAHAHA!” - The sounds of its laughter filled all the room - “But I am the TRUTH Devil!”“After all, aren’t you the one who knows what goes inside someone’s mind?” One of its claws digging into his flesh caused some blood to flow into his collar.

“If I was in your place, all of this would have never happened, Devil!”Maybe the Headless Shadow was telling the truth.

“Now, since both of us have nothing to live for…” - One of its hands went under his jacket and grabbed the Grinning Devil’s laser pistol - “... shall we put an end to this miserable spectacle?”

The cold barrel of gun jump started the Devil’s brain, frantically trying a way out of this situation.

“Tsk Tsk, I gave you everything… a place to stay… a reason to fight… even my one and only heart… and YOU SQUANDERED IT ALL!”

The gun started to heat up, in less than a second, it would be all gone. The man under the Grinning Devil’s mask closed his eyes for one last time. The image of a short haired black hair headed woman brought a smile to his face.

“DEVIL!”

A shrill voice shouted as he felt his body being pushed down from his chair. He felt something burn through the bridge of his nose for a split second before the back of his head hit the floor. The impact was strong enough to cause him a concussion, but he still retained his consciousness.

“You stupid Devil! What were you doing!?” The voice continued to cry as the Devil noticed a small figure banging on his chest.

“Oh… Evelyne?”

The child just continued to cry. He patted her head, which just elicited more cries from her. He frowned as his flesh began to heal itself, laser weaponry was quite effective on Enhanced Humans. Scar tissue is one hell of a bitch.

“You…are you yourself now?” She asked after a few minutes; before clearing her snout with her sleeve.

“That’s unhygienic, Eve. Use the handkerchief that’s on the desk.”

“You’re back!” She hugged him at his chest, so strong was her grip that the Devil felt all the air in his lungs disappear.

“I…I was seeing an old friend…”

“Yo-your eyes were purple an-and I thought…”

“You think a tiny dose of ACE is enough to make me kill myself? Ha!” He said with a grin.

There was a reason why he tried to hold off from taking ACE, even if the situation was critical. Unlike a Vanguard variant Enhanced Human, where it mostly affects their bodies, the purple liquid fucked with his brain too much to be worth the hassle. The first time he took some, there was Khutulun to stop him from doing something stupid, and now…

“There were you…”

He gently patted the girls back, then carefully pushed her away so he could get up.

“So…ehm… good to see you in good shape, Evelyne.”

She did not look him in the eyes, but just continued to stare at her shoes.

“Ahhh, she must be worried about Ludomir.”

Roy had been left to deal with him and the eventual “experiment” so he was sure that the young man would come out even better than before. Though the results of that interested him, he needed to know something else first.

“How’s Khutulum?”

“She… she is fine. Roy was able to take out every bullet fragment from her brain, but she is still in a comatose state.” She quietly answered.

They just needed to wait until she woke up to know if there had been damage to her memory.

“If she wakes up, that is…”

The Grinning Devil sat back on the chair, putting his hands on the back of his head, and thought.

“Was this truly necessary?”The excuse to find what had happened in Hong Kong? It was alluring, yes, but that is something that after so many years both he and Khutulum had decided to leave behind when trying to build their new life.

But once you are a part of this word, you will never be able to truly leave it. Its claws have sunk too deep. You may have escaped its grasps, but not its poison that is now coursing silently in your veins, slowly draining you until you come back to it.

After two years of civilian life, he noticed that she had become lethargic. She was slowly losing a reason to keep going forward. Like a wild animal that has been put into captivity, she was slowly dying.

So when Doc and Evelyne came to their doorstep, he thought he could come back again in this business. He still remembered how jubilant Khutulun was to get back into this world. She would have never said it to him though. She lied to him, telling it was fine and that she would get used to it, but he knew better. After all, one cannot lie to what courses through their veins.

But he fucked up. He fucked up so badly that he wished he could punch himself on his head until he could go back in time to fix his mistake.

“Story of your life.”The world seemed to have other plans for him and his partner. The Department of Human Development, the European Union of Poleis, the Lion’s Share, the Caliphate, the Church of Redemption and the fucking Black Hand. His little expedition started right when the world’s tensions broke and a new continental conflict started.

“My fucking luck I suppose.” He buried his face on his palms.

“Are you going to give up?”No, never. This was now the moment to show the world that it takes more than one nuke to kill off the Grinning Devil.

He got up from his chair, grabbed and put on his Grinning Devil mask and began to walk towards the door. Evelyne shortly followed behind him. Once he put foot outside and into the gray corridor, the sound of people laughing and shouting made him remember about a directive he had left to Roy.

He dusted himself off and straightened his clothes. He did so to Evelyne too, rolling up her sleeves so her glop would be hiding from prying eyes. Taking out a bobby pin from his jacket, he worked his magic on the girl’s hair turning the heap of messy hair into a somewhat decent ponytail.

After doing the finishing touches (aka cleaning their faces) the Devil and Evelyne began to walk towards the source of the noises.

“The hero always comes late, no?”

Quite surprisingly, the Grinning Devil hated parties. Too many people, too many variables to keep track of. He enjoyed dealing with small, controlled groups. But he understood that this wall was all necessary. The Lion’s Share survivors’ morale had hit rock bottom, so throwing a party for being alive one more day in this accursed world would do wonders for the tired members.

Unlike him, Fjodor was quite enjoying the banquet (if one could call it so, after all, synthetic jerky and some water with fruit flavor was hardly something to eat in a party). Although Fjodor's men were busy trying to outdrink him, the Devil did notice that his eyes always glanced at where his daughter was. The poor lassie was like a beaten dog, her metaphorical tale between her legs, there was no sign of that feisty princess of a few days ago. Nevertheless, she smiled when someone came over to toast or just to talk. Her weak smile opened a wound in the Lion’s Share members' hearts. Some of them promised to defend her better next time.

“There should never be a next time…” The Grinning Devil muttered.

“Hopefully.” Interjected another voice.

Somehow Hakon, the one handed right man, had spawned beside him without him even noticing. Maybe he was still reeling from the ACE aftereffects.

“No, you are just that oblivious.”“I thought the Grinning Devil would have enjoyed the party more?” He asked while eating some chips. Where did he find those?

“Too tired, too lazy.” Answered the Devil while leaning on the wall. The coldness of it made a shiver run down his spine.

“You had quite the work, yes…” His eyes moved towards the other members of the Lion’s Share. They were like in their own bubble, completely forgotten by the world at large. The Devil chuckled at that thought.

Fjodor’s gaze turned towards them, his predatory stare had not changed one bit, it still made every hair on the Devil’s body stand on edge. The bug Russian walked towards them, gently grabbing the other men from the shoulders and clearing his way.

“I kept my promise.” Said the Devil looking up at his eyes. Why did he have to be this tall?

“Indeed.”

“...”

“...”

“Not even a thank you?” Asked the Devil with faux tears behind his mask.

“I wanted to, but I did not want to give you the satisfaction.” Fjodor showed him a toothy smile.

“You overgrown feline.”

The Devil sighed.

“Are you planning for revenge, Lion?”

“...”

“...”

Many of the Lion’s Share members, who were already listening in, now called all of the others who were unaware of the conversation between the two legendary Enhanced Humans. All of their ears and eyes were glued to them. The Grinning Devil felt like being an actor on a stage, a feeling that he had quite gotten used to.

“... for now we plan to go North and recover our forces.” The big russian said between his teeth.

“North? The Autonomous Polis? I thought you guys hated each other.” The Devil crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Before Fjodor could answer, Hakon was quicker to interject.

“Well, now that the genie is out of the bottle… it is impossible to put it back.” His downcast expression quickly put a damper on the room’s mood.

True, the drop of a nuke had taken all by surprise. You would think that humanity would

have learned from his past mistakes, but a leopard cannot change his spots and humanity will never not be the worst beast to ever walk this green Earth.

“Not so green anymore…”“So we will see if he can come up with some arrangement with Vatutin and… improvise.” Fjodor’s eyes turned to his men. All of them did not look away, whatever was their leader’s plan, they would follow it without hesitation.

“That really does sound like a solid idea,” The Devil mocking said.

“Fuck off.”

The masked Unknown smiled.

“What if I were to offer you this?” He offered with his arms wide open, as to indicate the whole bunker facility.

“...”

Silence befell in the mess hall. The grin on the Devil’s face grew wider, he so loved leaving people speechless.

“You…you are not serious, are you?” The slight smile on Fjodor’s face turned into a frown as he asked the question.

It made no sense for the Grinning Devil to give them something this precious. And they would be right, but the masked Unknown did not want to leave a powerhouse such as the Lion’s Share to some wannabe independent tyrant in Northern Siberia. To be honest, the Devil did not know what Vatutin was, the information on him was quite scarce, which in and of itself was quite telling of his personality.

“W-why?” Was what Hakon was able to stammer out his gaping jaw.

“So I can keep you in my back pocket.”

“So that I can sow good karma with you all, of course.” The Devil put his arms behind his back and stood with his chest held high.

“Good what?”

“Kарма, sorry, I meant karma.”

“...”

“...”

Fjodor and Hakon glanced at each other for a few seconds. Then, after a coordinated nod, turned back at the Grinning Devil.

“What would the debt entail,exactly?” Asked Hakon with inquisitive eyes.

The Devil put a finger on the mask’s lips.

“Depending on how things develop, there is a chance that I will not even require your help…”

“Lies.”

The masked Unknown vigorously tapped the side of his mask.

“... but just in case, I want to know I have the Lion’s Share by my side.”

Fjodor’s brow creased; Hakon scratched his chin until his eyes lit up.

“You… you want us to help you against the EUP?”

As the Grinning Devil cackled, the members of the Lion’s Share looked at each other in confusion, the smarter ones looked at their leaders while holding their breath. After all, this was a declaration of war against one of the most developed factions in Europe. It was not a choice that could be taken immediately.

“Unless one is Fjodor Anisimova."

“If you give us this whole facility, I will stand by our agreement!” Fjodor’s words thundered in the mess hall.

“Sir! This is too-”

“Hakon, I know that it may seem impulsive, but the EUP already dropped a Гандон on our homes, what is to say that they will not come to clean the remains?”

“And they will come,” - added the Grinning Devil, doing his best to not laugh - “since I fucked up her plans.”

“The Leader of the EUP?” Asked Hakon.

“The Head Bitch.”

“The Head Bitch, yes.”

Both Fjodor and the Grinning Devil answered in unison.

“But,” - the Devil put one of his index finger in front of his face - “you will not in any way leak that you are related to me, for all you know I am the cause of the city’s destruction and you hate me to the bone.”

“Mh, hating on you is not hard, but you want to be the one to have killed thousands of people?”

“The EUP should have already begun spreading that rumor so it would be for the best for you to believe it.”

Fjodor’s face features softened.

“Is that pity I am seeing on your face, oh great Lion of Ural?”

“Your methods leave to be desired… but you are no monster. No monster would have saved us all.”

“Does it feel better now that someone said that to you?”The Grinning Devil tapped more viciously at the side of his mask.

“Thank you for saying that, but you still have some use, that is the only reason you are here.” The Devil’s sentence was delivered in a cold, monotonous voice.

“... you are still a Лошадь мочи.”

The masked Unknow chuckled.

Hakon sighed as his hand went through his short, red hair.

“I think you will have much to discuss now, so I will leave you to it as I have other much more important business to attend to.”

“One thing, Devil,” - Fjodor’s thick hand stopped the masked man in his tracks - “when you first came to my office, you introduced yourself as Ivan Anisimova…”

“Ah yes, I remember.”

“Do… why did you introduce yourself as him?”

The Devil had done that to get a rise out of the big man. After all, who would not get angry when mockingly impersonating a Russian war hero and, most importantly, your own blood brother.

“Now that I think of it, Ivan recited something with his last breaths...”

“Белеет парус одинокий

В тумане моря голубом!..

Что ищет он в стране далекой?

Что кинул он в краю родном?...

Играют волны - ветер свищет,

И мачта гнется и скрыпит...

Увы, - он счастия не ищет

И не от счастия бежит!

Под ним струя светлей лазури,

Над ним луч солнца золотой...

А он, мятежный, просит бури,

Как будто в бурях есть покой!”

“That’s…Парус, that was his favorite poem how…?”

“Was it now? I thought he had gotten poetical all of a sudden.”

“You met him?” The hand on the Devil’s shoulder started to grip him harder.

“During his last moments.”

“...”

“How… how did he die?”

“Pathetically.”Ivan had saved a group of children on the coast of Libana. His payment was one of them taking his knife and trying to kill him. Being an Enhanced Human, his instincts took over and he murdered the child with a quick sweep of his arm, his neck snapping from the sudden whiplash. The Devil still remembered vividly the look on Ivan’s eyes, it was not something that mere words were able to convey but both of them found themselves stuck in that limbo.

That was so until one of the other kids used their weakened mental state to sneak close to them, jump on Ivan’s back and blow up using his explosive vest he had hidden under his clothes. Ivan died on impact, only his ankles remained, while the man that would become the Grinning Devil survived by sheer luck with just a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen and third degree burns all over his body.

“Like a hero.” Answered the masked Unknown, using his enhanced strength to pry off the Lion’s grip.

A shadow fell over Fjodor’s face, his whole body started to tremble. As he let off the grip on the Devil’s shoulder he put both of his hands on his face and stood silently in the position. Hakon got closer to console him with some pats on his back and gently coaxed him to go and talk with Anya. Using this opportunity, the Grinning Devil snuck away.

All of the Lion’s Share looked at the Devil’s back as he was walking away. Some with fear, some with awe, some with gratitude and others with spite. Whatever emotions they had in their hearts, they began to burn the embers that were swept away by the nuke. The world was beginning to change, and the Lion’s Share will have a part in it. Good or bad, it was yet to be seen.

The Grinning Devil locked the room behind. After a deep sight, he dropped his mask to the ground and walked closer to the bed in front of him. On it, attached to many machines, was a maskless Khutulun, her long straight black hair covering most of her now regenerated face.

He walked closer to one of these machines, an EEG one to be exact. There was no sight of neuronal activity in her brain. All of the injuries caused by the gunshot had healed, Roy himself participated in the surgery to extract the bullet fragments in her head. That was yesterday and she had yet to show any sign of awakening.

It would be strange to pretend something like a natural recovery in these horrible circumstances, but Khutulun was not a normal Human; hell, she was not even a normal Enhanced Human. So the Devil wanted her to awake soon, she had to. If she did not get up…

“Was this all for nothing? Was it all my fault?”

The guilty began to eat at his heart and mind.

“Of course it is, it always is, you jinx.”

The pad in his pocket vibrated as Roy gave him updates on Ludomir post-op condition. Sometimes the Android would send him messages asking him on how to deal with Evelyne, for all its smarts, the robot could not deal with a kid.

“Quite the amusing situation.” Thought the Devil, a chuckle escaping from his lips.

He went on his knees closer to the bedside. His hands grabbed at Khutulun’s hand and brought it closer to his lips. Once he kissed it, he brought it to his forehead. The man stood in that position for hours, and he would put until she would awaken, for all this meant nothing without her. If there was no Khutulun, there would be no Grinning Devil.

“A Demon will take your place…”

Unfortunately, Khutulun never awoke… not officially at least.