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“That’s a ventriloquist dummy.” Natalie informed him, like a tour guide.

“Why do you have it?”

She snorted. “Why does anyone have a ventriloquist dummy?”

“Ventriloquism?”He guessed.

“Do I look like a stage performer, Oz?” She rolled her eyes.

“Then why?”

“I just told you!” She threw her arms out in exasperation. “Jesus, are you going to make me repeatedly explain why I own everything I own?” She tossed an armload of miscellaneous clothes into the suitcase, then stuffed the remainder back into the drawer without thought to order.

Oz kept staring at the dummy. “It isn’t one of those dolls from a few years ago that hypnotizes people, is it?”

“Not if you don’t look at it, no.”

Oz snapped out of his trance and turned away from the doll. “Why on earth would you keep something like that in your living room? A madman creates a dummy that hypnotizes people into doing the doll’s bidding, and you keep that around?”

“I like it. I think it’s cute.” Natalie tossed some more clothes into the suitcase. “I traded a stuffed iguana and three left boots for it.”

“Why did you have three left boots?”

“Because I still wear the right ones sometimes.”

Oz had no response to that.

“I wish you’d take your life a little more seriously, Miss Quentin.” He told her instead.

“You know, if my biggest problem in life was that I never felt good, I’d spend my time seriously trying to change that, rather than lecturing other people on how to fix theirs. But you don’t. Your solution is to close yourself off further from the world.”

“The world is most of the reason I don’t feel well.”

“ You are the reason you don’t feel well.” She sounded annoyed with him. “You’re unhappy. And that unhappiness is manifesting into imagined physical ailments.”

“My physical ailments are making me unhappy, mostly because I see more with my powers than other people do. I can see the filth and the germs that they overlook. That’s what my powers do. I can feel them everywhere around us…”

“So?” She snapped, like none of that mattered. “Just tell the filth and the germs to leave you alone then! You control them, they don’t control you! Tell them to fuck off!”

“It… it doesn’t work like that.”

“ Make it work like that!” She stuffed a toothbrush into her suitcase without first securing it in a sterile housing.

The brush was currently touching her clothes, collecting all manner of contaminants.

It would be like brushing your teeth with socks and underwear.

She didn’t appear to even notice the nightmare she’d just created.

“Believe me, Oz, I’ve had some crazy fucking powers in my life.

And every single one of them can be made to toe the line and not fuck with your day.

Take charge of your own life, Oz. For God’s sake.

Stop trying to save other people and recognize that you’re the one dying! Living like this is killing your soul!”

“Let me ask you something, Natalie: how’s your life going?” He crossed his arms over his chest, unsure how this had become an argument, but suspecting it had to do with his own defensiveness.

“It’s going fine,” she sniffed indignantly, “if people would butt out of it!”

“No, I mean your real life. Because I look at you and I don’t see someone who has got everything together.

Roach is probably the person you’re closest to in the world, and he didn’t even know you were a woman until this week.

You have closed yourself off from people too, don’t you pretend that you haven’t. ”

“I’m doing it for the safety of others though, and…”

“The safety of others?” His eyebrow soared at that obvious lie.

“Please. You know half a dozen people who are impervious to all harm, at least two who can bend reality at a whim, several who claim to be completely immortal , and dozens of others who would gladly lay down their lives for you if it meant that you were in it. Myself included.” He shook his head.

“You’re not protecting anyone. You’re protecting you . ”

“Yes. Yes, I am!” She pointed at him, now angry.

“Let’s get one thing straight: I like the Consortium crew.

They’re funny. They’re entertaining to spend time with.

But I do not trust them. At all. I am an independent contractor, I have serious trust issues.

Most of our coworkers are either idiots, evil, or an unknown.

” She went back to packing. “I steer clear of them if I can manage it. Because when the shit hits the fan, I don’t know what they’re going to do. And I don’t like the unknown.”

“Neither do I.”

“That’s why this whole ‘Monty is in charge of the proverbial launch codes’ thing is crazy.

That asshole is like If Jack the Ripper and Ayn Rand had a baby.

I don’t get what the hell Harlot is thinking on this one, and is the perfect example of why I don’t get involved with the Consortium’s internal politics. ”

“I understand it.” He leaned against the doorframe, getting an odd enjoyment from watching the woman haphazardly toss stuff into the messy bag.

It was everything in the world that usually freaked him out, but when she did it, it was somehow adorable.

“They tried to kill her father. They hurt Harlot’s husband. She hates them now.”

She nodded. “Touching Wyatt is like killing John Wick’s fucking dog, yeah. You don’t do that and live.”

“…So, she’s playing her most evil and hateful card.

” He continued. “And she doesn’t care what Monty does to them, just so long as she doesn’t have to be afraid of them anymore.

I understand that. It’s a perfectly natural reaction for anyone to have.

But Harlot isn’t anyone, Harlot is supposed to be a superhero.

Whether it’s her husband or a perfect stranger, she needs to consider what will happen if she does this.

Montgomery is not Poacher. He’s not a terrier she’s trained to do tricks for her, because it loves her.

Montgomery is a wolf. Wolves don’t do tricks.

All they do is eat things, and the more you feed them, the stronger they become.

And this is putting him in a position to hurt a lot of people.

Us included. Because Montgomery hates everyone.

That’s who he is. Someone hurt him and now he hates the world.

So, if you want my honest opinion, I agree, it’s a very bad idea to involve him.

She should have come up with a better plan.

I don’t agree with it. But I don’t make the decisions in this organization, all I can do is try to minimize the damage he inevitably causes. ”

She stopped her packing and turned to look at him. “What would you do if someone was trying to kill someone you cared about?”

“I’d kill him myself.” He reminded her. “And I’d work with Montgomery to find the other men responsible, if that were the only option.” He shrugged. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do exactly the same as Harlot, just that I don’t think it’s the right choice.”

“Well, I guess the best offense is a strong defense.” She paused. “Wait, or is it ‘best defense is a strong offense’ ?” She thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “I’m going to say both.”

“The best offense and defense is to have a strong offense and defense?” He summarized. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It makes perfect sense!”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Oh, shut up.” She pulled something else out of the crowded closet and handed it to him.

“Here, check this out. It’s one of the Eimin Blades, forged by the ancient sensei of the Neru Clan thousands of years ago, deep in the mountains of Hokkaido.

The blades are stronger than any metal known to man and will kill anything; body and spirit.

They say the soul of a demonic killer was forged into the metal of the blades and his monstrous screams can still be heard howling in the wind when they are used for evil.

” She took on a haunted, ghostly tone. “To even see the blades… is to see death.”

“Uh-huh.” He glanced down at it, then back up at her. “It says ‘Made in China’ on your antique Japanese sword.”

She squinted down at the engraving. “So? Maybe the ancient swordsmith was Chinese.”

“Don’t you think it’s more likely that someone just bought a cheap decorative samurai sword at the mall? Maybe someone looking for a way to culturally appropriate a ninja backstory in a hurry because she needs a new identity every day?”

“Possibly.” She looked over her shoulder in confusion, as if trying to spot something in the chaotic closet.

“Shit... I wonder where the Eimin Blades went then? I’ve got two of the damn things.

Huh. I’m pretty sure I have them around here somewhere .

” She gave up searching and shrugged. “All well, I got a lot of swords and they’re one of them.

If you see any little sword-y dagger things that look like they’re capable of killing the dead, try not to stab yourself with them.

Death blows, Oz. Trust me, I been dead a few times and everyone on the other side is a dick. ”

“Why have you been dead a few times? What happened?”

“Umm… you don’t want to hear about that.”

“Meaning, Mercygiver did it to you.”

“Yes. We were together for a long time.” She paused in her packing. “And it was always bad. Sometimes it got really bad.”

“I don’t understand why you would ever let him treat you like that?”

“I… I don’t know either. I ask myself that all the time.

” She paused for a long moment, voice breaking.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to take a backseat in your own life, Oz?

” She looked down at the floor. “To give someone control and watch yourself doing things… Things that you don’t want to do, but you do them anyway because, in that moment…

you think you do? Because you were told to want them?

Like a madness in your blood that you can’t get rid of? ”