Death of Thanatos

The building was dark, but not entirely silent. As Cai and The Beast made their way in, the obvious signs of super powered individuals were visible in the infestation of bugs and the holes literally punched in the walls.

“I think that Indbur’s office is this way,” The Beast said and began leading the way into the ruined shell of a building. Fluorescent lights hung at odd angles, some of them hanging onto life by the merest thread, shouting their defiance into the darkness that sought to claim them as they flickered, barely lit, buzzing into the shadows.

The door to Indbur’s room had been ripped from its hinges and for a moment, The Beast was certain they were too late, but then a soft, almost inaudible, even for his hearing, moan sounded and The Beast called out to Cai. “Get an ambulance here. He’s still alive.”

As they waited, The Beast’s attention was pulled into a display in the center of the room. Like many of the other things that The Beast had seen associated with Indur Enterprises, it was more advanced than it should be. The center of the display was the Black Box, with flyaways and pop outs pointing to different locations of the device and explaining different functions. In the bottom right of the open air display, there was a button that said execute…but execute what?

Slowly, the intent of the display and the computer behind it became clear. This was a worm, or something similar to a worm. It was meant to destroy one of the Black Box devices if something like this, something like Thanatos ever happened. It was designed to purge such a device and destroy its connective software.

The Beast hesitated for a bare moment. Thanatos was alive. Was it truly okay to kill him, just because what he was doing was inconvenient to the rest of them who were sharing the body? Just as he was about to pull away his hand, however, he remembered Carl’s joy over having a girlfriend. He remembered the violation of privacy and the danger, the mortal danger that Thanatos had put the rest of them in and The Beast’s hand slammed into the virtual button.

Fear gripped him as the Black Box activated, and he could feel Thanatos begin to try and insert himself into The Beast’s mind and reassert control. As the techno-virus began working its tendrils deeper into The Beast’s psyche, there was a scream that The Beast more felt than heard.

The tendrils coming off The Beast’s arm began to spasm and reach out to the technology around them. The Beast could feel the nanotech inside him trying to force him closer even as black, oil like droplets began to shed from the tendrils flailing around his arm.

“I won’t go out like this,” a voice screamed at him.

“I’m sorry,” The Beast said, “but you have to. For the good of the whole, you have to go.”

The Beast began to get flashes flying through his mind. Memories he’d never had. Thoughts he’d never considered. Thanatos’ control over his compartment of the mind was weakening, even as more drops began to fall like mascara tears onto the floor.

The Beast felt Thanatos’ desperation to make everything work. He knew that Thanatos hadn’t intended to destroy lives, but that had happened anyway.

“It doesn’t matter your intent if the result is damaging.”

“Where do you get off condemning me!” came the reply. “You have been lying to them all for years. You think they’ll appreciate if I tell them the truth? That you are more jailer than friend? What will they think of you then? What will Carl think when he learns the truth…that he’s just as fake as the other shattered shards of your psyche. You’re one sick fu…”

The Beast exerted as much force of will as he could and battered Thanatos back, taking control of his mind once more. “You’re just a piece of this shattered psyche, Thanatos Morse, and one that doesn’t fit with the rest of us. We’re better than that!”

Without any sense of motion, between one moment and the next, The Beast was standing on a high cliff over a roiling black sea. The grey storm clouds above the sea were known to him. He remembered the sense of being trapped down there every time that Thanatos had control. The Beast found himself standing on the cliff next to a dark figure. When he turned to the side, he saw Thanatos, gazing over the dark ocean next to him.

“This is you, Thanatos. This is what you have done to us. This place was filled with light and peace until you came. You brought this darkness.”

“This darkness was a part of you all along. You can’t have the light without the darkness. You can’t be good without understanding the corruption that hides in all men’s souls.”

“You don’t need to swim in the corruption in order to understand it, Thanatos Morse!” The Beast said and grabbed Thanatos to pitch him into the sea. Thanatos’ hands melted and flowed over The Beast’s arms, locking them together even as Thanatos lost his footing and tumbled over the edge.

“Help me!” Thanatos cried. Fear replacing his normally cold expression. “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to…die.”

“You’re the god of death. You’d think that this is normal for you,” The Beast responded. “I’m sorry, but it’s time for you to go. May you find peace in your next life.”

Tendrils snaked out from the ocean and latched onto Thanatos. Even as The Beast watched, the ropes began to drain Thanatos, starting at his feet, and moving their way up.

“No, please, you don’t understand. I had no choice. I had to act as I did. It wasn’t my fault. It was never my fault. Don’t let them have me. I don’t want to return to the whispers in the dark. I want to be part of the light, please!”

“It was never about you, Thanatos. Be free.”

Thanatos’ expression morphed from fear to rage between blinks. “If I can’t live, then neither shall you,” he said and began pulling on The Beast, trying to upset his ballance.

“I’ve got you,” Trip said and his arm grabbed him from the right side.

“You may all be baka, but you are mine,” Alice said and began pulling herself from the other side.

I looked over at her and saw Carl standing a little bit away from the ledge shaking his head. “Don’t look at me. I’m not even sure what I’m doing her, or even where here is.” he replied. Even so, I felt strength begin to flood me, and a figure appeared in the air over the abyss.

“Thanatos Morse, you have been accused of attempting to destroy the mind and steal the body of Carl Weisman. How do you plead?”

“Screw you!” Thanatos screamed at the nebulous figure in the air above him. “You’re not even real. You’re not a part of the whole.”

“There are many more parts to this than even you are aware. There is more to this. There is so much more. You stand accused. What is your plea.”

“I don’t recognize your authority over me.”

“The body accepts your plea of not guilty. The memories of the body condemn you. While it is recognized that you did not intend harm to the body, the body came to harm. The entity Trip has come to harm as a result of your actions one time. The entity The Beast has come to harm because of your actions on multiple distinct occasions. The entity Carl has been irreparably harmed by your interference and actions.

“It is the decision of the body, that you be purged. There will be no clemency.”

Thousands of strands erupted from the frothing waters below and began to wrap themselves around Thanatos, draining him ever faster. Even as he was being covered, a single strand shot out from Thanatos and he called into the darkness, “Execute Phoenix!”

But it was to late. The strands attached to his arms and the connection he was holding onto with The Beast melted away, even as Thanatos fell toward the ocean, melting.

“The will of the body has been upheld. Long live the body,” the figure in the air said even as it faded away.

The Beast was again unaware of movement even as he was suddenly back in the office. The last of the drops fell to the ground leaving his harm weeping blood from wounds where the black box had previously pierced his skin.

It was enough. The Beast could feel that the black wall was no longer there in his mind. They were free.