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“She remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. ‘But it’s no use now,’ thought poor Alice, ‘to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person! ’

- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Years Ago

She watched in grim horror as Ronnie finished off the Agletarians, snapping their necks like toothpicks.

Sometimes he reminded her why she was so afraid of him and why she couldn’t escape.

He turned to look at her, blood from a dozen people dripping down his face.

“You’re just going to sit there?” He sounded vaguely disappointed, like he wanted her to join in the carnage.

“The least you could do is take one or two of the little ones.” He pointed to one of the Agletarians’ lookouts, who was running away.

“How about that one? Surely you can kill him… ” It sounded almost like a wager or a dare.

But she just kept staring at him, transfixed in terror and disgust. Suddenly, every bad decision she’d ever made in her life was seemingly brought to the surface, somehow filling her mind all at once.

Ronnie was every bad decision she had ever made.

Everything she was afraid of becoming.

He was only here because she had agreed to go with him. Agreed to give him control. And in retrospect, she should have just let him kill her.

It’s what Roy would have wanted .

He had told her not to…

As it was, her weakness and terror were an affront to a good man’s memory.

She’d chosen to wear Roy’s costume, but… she wasn’t Roy. She’d never be Roy, because she was… evil. She’d been forced to make a choice, all those years ago, and this is where it ended up. Watching as Ronnie killed a tavern filled with people. And took great pleasure in doing so.

She was deeply, deeply disappointed with herself.

But Ronnie always seemed to know how to get her to do what he wanted. Always knew juuuuust the button he could press, which would make her a willing accomplice to his horrors.

And in that moment… she made up her mind to kill him. She’d probably die herself in the attempt, but it would be worth it.

She’d served the devil for too long. And it was looking more and more like she was the only one who’d be able to stop him.

She stood up, starting to walk towards her psychotic partner, as the man casually grabbed a shotgun and emptied it into the back of a fleeing man.

He tossed the empty weapon aside, turning in a circle, looking for some new violent diversion which could occupy his deeply troubled mind.

His vision set on Brendan, who was lying sprawled under the wreckage of the bar.

Ronnie’s face instantly brightened, like a child who’d finally located a toy he’d forgotten all about.

“Ah, Brendan!” Ronnie sounded absolutely thrilled.

“Have I got plans for you , my boy.” He prowled closer, then straddled the man’s chest. “I am going to stuff you in the trunk of that car over there,” Ronnie pointed at the vehicle in question through the tavern’s open door, “then mail your corpse back to the Agletarians, with exact postage stuck to your forehead.” He paused to consider something.

“I wonder how many stamps that will be?” He tapped a bloody fingernail against his tooth.

“I’ll probably need to take your body back to the States first, to avoid paying international rates… ”

She silently reached down to grab one of the knives from the floor. It was one of Ronnie’s knives. An Eimin Blade. It could supposedly cut through anything, even invulnerable people. Not that she thought that Ronnie had any real superpowers… but she wasn’t willing to risk it.

If she moved against him, she wanted it to be fast and permanent.

She wanted to make sure that…

“I don’t think the knife will be necessary, Kitten.” Ronnie assured her, somehow knowing she had the blade in her hand, despite the fact that she was standing behind him. “I think our dear friend Brendan is quite subdued now.”

She paused in her tracks, debating with herself what to do.

He knew she had picked up the knife in order to kill him.

The consequences for that would be the same whether she acted on it or not.

He was either going to kill her or he’d make her wish she was dead.

Her hand tightened on the hilt of the weapon.

Ronnie straightened, slowly standing up. “Are you a hero now, Kitten? Is that it?”

“Maybe.” She firmed her jaw. “But either way, I’m done with you .”

“Would you like me to tell you a secret about human nature, Kitten?” He turned to face her.

“No matter how much good you do for an evil woman, you can’t make her good, and no matter how much evil you array against a good woman, you can’t make her evil.

You are born one way or the other. We are who we are, deep down in the dark.

Cast complete and fully formed, by gods and devils.

You can’t break the mold.” He met her eyes and she felt like she was looking into utter blackness.

“Sadly for you.” He started towards her.

“The old man saw that. That’s why he kept you on a tight leash.

He recognized that you were a creature designed only for evil.

That there was simply no way you could turn out any other way, despite his best efforts to the contrary. ”

“ I don’t want to do these things!” She spread her arms wide. “Don’t put your atrocities on me, Ronnie! This is all you!”

Ronnie started laughing. “You’ve always done what you wanted to do, Kitten. I’ve never forced you into anything.”

“That’s a lie!”

“No, it’s not.” His smile grew. “And you know it. It’s…”

At Ronnie’s feet, Brendan started to stir, looking confused. “Who… who are you talking to?”

She frowned in confusion over that, trying to decide if the man was delirious or not. “What? What does…” She turned toward Rondel. “What does he mean?”

“Nothing.” Ronnie assured her instantly. “Ignore him.”

“No, no,” she waved him off, feeling like this was important, “ tell me what he means! ”

“Don’t go looking into that, Kitten.” Ronnie told her again, his voice serious. “You won’t like the answers. ”

Brendan began pulling himself to his feet, blood spilling from several deep wounds. “ There’s no one else fucking here, Mercygiver! ” He shouted at her, hacking up a spray of blood in the process. “ What the fuck are you on!?! And why the fuck do the Agletarians want YOU!?! ”

She stared down at the man in horror, then slowly turned to look at Rondel again.

“Aww, shit. Now you’ve gone and done it.” Ronnie threw his arms out in exasperation, beginning to yell at Brendan. “Do you have any idea how long this is going to take to undo, you asshole?” He pointed an angry finger at him. “ I’m going to kill you for that alone! ”

“I don’t…” Brendan began, but whatever he’d been about to say was cut off by Ronnie snapping his neck.

They both stared silently at the man’s body for a long moment.

And she recognized that Ronnie was right. She didn’t want to know what it was she knew she was about to find out.

She took a frightened step away, the blade dropping from her hand.

“You’re just a freak, Kitten.” Ronnie told her, sounding almost sad.

“The result of some kind of twisted lab experiment the Agletarians were doing for decades, because they got sick of their country being destroyed by rampaging super-types every few years. So the government over there kidnapped. And raped. And tortured. And killed. Hundreds of empowered people. Until they got me .” He turned to her, holding out his arms wide.

“The end result of all that death and horror. I am evolution’s nightmare. ”

She took another step away.

“Selectively bred for every horrible attribute and world-shattering power the Agletarians dreamed of and intended to turn on their super-powered foes.” He continued.

“Implanted into some poor empowered girl, like she was a goddamned broodmare.” He casually held up a finger to make an important point.

“Fun fact: they used her own father for the deed, by the way. They wanted to reinforce those genes, so they forced them to... Well…” He trailed off.

“I saw the tape of it once. Emotional stuff. Not exactly the feel good film of the year, I’m afraid.

They were both crying. But the magic happened anyway.

Which was humiliating for them and hilarious for the guards watching.

And nine months later, they cut me out. Made plans to add me to their system, mixing and matching attributes like they were breeding fucking schnauzers .

Until they could achieve the perfect living weapon.

The ultimate killer.” He started towards her.

“But what they never expected? What they couldn’t conceive in their squishy little minds?

” His lips curved in an insidious grin, barely human.

“They already had . The process was already completed. They got exactly the monster they were after, without knowing, because it didn’t look like the monster they expected to see.

They were fooled by its mask.” He gestured back and forth between them. “They made us .”

She backpedaled away from him, her feet slipping in the blood and debris on the floor. “That’s… that’s not true…”